Converting an inventory system from ASP.NET MVC2 to Sharepoint 2010, any issues to expect?

While waiting for a Sharepoint 2010 install, I am creating an intranet inventory system using ASP.NET using the MVC2 and entity frameworks in Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2005(I believe) For some of the client side stuff, I am using jquery(date picker,some AJAX posting, etc).

The inventory system includes a list of stocked equipment as well as a check-out system.

My DB structure for the inventory system makes use of PK/FK relationships:

• Table for basic request information
• Table for requested items
• Table for inventory item
• Table for equipment types
• A request has one or more requested items
• A requested item is one inventory item.
• An inventory item is one equipment type.

In reading about Sharepoint 2010, I am under the impression that tables become lists and explicit PK/FK rela开发者_Go百科tionships are no longer used/available. In essence, I would lose some of the benefits of formal PK/FK relationships.

With that said, how much trouble am I looking at to convert the system from MVC2 to Sharepoint 2010?

Can I convert from SQL Server 2005 tables to Sharepoint 2010 lists fairly easy? Utility?

Am I better off starting from scratch?

Is Sharepoint 2010 friendly to jquery?

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Here are some quick answers:

• Lists are the native data store in SharePoint. While they have some characteristics you'll find in a relational database (relationships, referential integrity) they are not a relational data store.

• It's not hard to write a utility application that creates SharePoint lists from SQL tables. I think you can also do this using Access or exporting data to Excel and importing.

• SharePoint is built on WebForms and does not support MVC. At best you can use MVP in the custom pages/parts you create.

• OVERALL: While they share the same underlying technology, building SharePoint applications is worlds away from building traditional ASP.NET applications. I highly suggest you spend some time learn to learn SharePoint (from both an end-user and developer point of view) before you start on this project. For me, it took a few months to understand SharePoint development well enough to be competent and several months before I felt I was effective.