SPO updates impact on SPFX components

Question

Does Microsoft guarantees that web part/extensions built using SPFX won't be impacted by SPO updates ?

I need to build an application with some pages that will be rich html and consumes API's like Yammer. The client wants to make sure that we use the technology that won't be impacted by SPO updates. Just like Microsoft guarantees that JS code injected through CSR in classic view will not be impacted by the updates.

Many Thanks, Tayyab

Answer 1

Disclaimer - I don't work for Microsoft and cannot officially speak on their behalf. However, I do work closely with the engineering team and am very familiar with SPFx and long term plans.

SPFx solutions developed using included, generally available APIs will continue to work regardless of changes to SharePoint Online. Solutions made with any released version do not need to be updated to the latest version to continue working. You only need to update them to take advantage of new features, not because they'll break.

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Here are some references to back this up:

SharePoint Framework is designed to be backwards-compatible. Microsoft guarantees that solutions built using any of the generally available versions of the SharePoint Framework will keep working until an explicit deprecation notice for the specific version has been given in advance.

-- Enterprise Guidance: Support and SLA

Since the SharePoint Framework is created for first- and third-party developers, and in growing use by Microsoft for future feature enhancements of SharePoint, it is also a safe bet for your organization. We can expect to see incremental updates and additions to the SharePoint Framework over time to close the feature gap between the classic SharePoint and the modern SharePoint experience.

-- Enterprise Guidance: Summary

The SharePoint page HTML DOM is not an API. You should avoid taking any dependencies on the page DOM structure or CSS styles, which are subject to change and potentially break your solutions. SharePoint Framework provides a rich API to customize the SharePoint experience in reliable ways and is the only supported means to interact with the SharePoint page HTML DOM.

-- Enterprise Guidance: In Perspective

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Microsoft is dedicated to using SPFx and keeping it running even while they are incrementally rolling out updates to SharePoint Online. In reality, however, stuff happens and things do occasionally break. In those instances, you can raise issues with premier support if you have it or you can submit issues directly in GitHub where both the product team and members of the community are actively involved.

Because Microsoft is using SPFx internally to build their own web parts and modern experiences, bugs get fixed pretty quickly.

Personally, I have SPFx solutions created with the very first releases that continue to run without issue. I feel very confident recommending this model for my clients and do so regularly.