Sharepoint development without Visual Studio on server machine

Question

Till now I was doing Sharepoint development with Sharepoint server and Visual Studio on same machine.

Now there is a Sharepoint 2010 installed on my client machine with no Visual Studio installed.

I need to deploy a event reciever on it. I know I can deploy .wsp file using powershell.

But my problem is when we create a project in Visual Studio with Sharepoint event reciever template a Sharepoint Customization Wizard appers where it demands to validate the site url.

How do I get passed this?

So my question is it possible to develop an event reciever for a Sharepoint site without installing the Visual Studio on the same machine on which the Sharepoint is installed.

If yes, please suggest how this can be achieved.

Answer 1

If you're going to use the SharePoint Extensions for Visual Studio 2010 - it's a requirement to have VS and SP on the same box.

On the other hand - you can handcraft a WSP using a simple assembly project, writing the XML files manually, hacking a DDF file and run makecab. OR you can use WSPBuilder and tools like that.

Answer 2

Normally SharePoint development environment will have - SharePoint 2010/MOSS + Visual Studio + SharePoint Designer. SQL Server can be in the same or different machine. This way, you could deploy custom web parts and tools from VS to SP sites directly and in the end, you will just need to backup and restore your SP site from DEV to PROD. I would advise this method of development.

In your case, you will have to do as @Wictor has suggested. You will have to create all files required for an event receiver manually in Visual Studio, when you dont have SharePoint installed.