Exploring Remote Development: Streamline your workflow for SPFx projects and beyond

Are you tired of cluttering your local machine with numerous 'node_modules' folders? Do you find it cumbersome to set up complex projects for simple activities like making a quick change or submitting a pull request? If so, remote development offers a hassle-free solution.

Join this session to explore various options for remote development, focusing on SPFx (SharePoint Framework) projects, which can be applied to other project types as well. We'll dive into the power of GitHub Codespaces, cloud-hosted development environments that enable you to swiftly start coding on any project. Learn how to create a Codespace and set up an SPFx project within it. We'll leverage Visual Studio Code for debugging and development, maximizing efficiency.

Next, we'll switch gears to a Linux-based Azure VM, where we'll interact with the VM entirely through commands using the VS Code 'Remote-SSH' extension, eliminating the need for GUI access. By installing Node.js on the VM and housing our SPFx code there, we'll achieve seamless development. We'll also explore how to access the required port 4321 on the VM, thanks to VS Code's remote-SSH with port forwarding capabilities.

To wrap up, we'll introduce you to the 'GitHub Repositories extension' and 'github.dev' site, empowering you to swiftly browse, search, edit, and commit to remote GitHub repositories directly within Visual Studio Code or the browser.

By the end of this session, you'll gain a comprehensive understanding of remote development options and be ready to leverage them in your upcoming projects with confidence.