The SharePoint 2010 Client Object Model

Abstract

In previous versions of SharePoint, developers accessed content and performed operations via server side code called Server Object Model and/or used SharePoint Web Services. Now Microsoft has introduced a new way for developers to communicate with SharePoint Foundation 2010; this third way of writing code is known as Client Object Model. (SharePoint Server Object Model and SharePoint Web Services are still options). The Client Object Model (Client OM) API can be used in .NET based applications, Silverlight applications, and in ECMAScript (JavaScript) that executes in the browser. Although the Client OM API is not as rich as the Server Object Model, it has its own benefits, such as an object-oriented way of accessing SharePoint content without the complexities of Server Object Model and SharePoint Web Services, no packaging and deployment hassles, easy access to content stored in SharePoint list/libraries, quick and easy scripting, etc.