Build Mobile - Become a Part of the Community
Contact

Building SharePoint Web Apps Using Sencha Touch: A Complete Developer Guide

Brooke

SharePoint web apps using Sencha Touch

SharePoint remains one of the most widely used enterprise platforms for content management, collaboration, and workflow automation. But as organizations move toward mobile-first digital experiences, the demand for SharePoint web apps that work smoothly on phones and tablets has grown rapidly.

This is where Sencha Touch, a powerful JavaScript framework for building high-performance mobile applications, becomes an ideal companion. With Sencha Touch, developers can build fast, touch-optimized, cross-platform SharePoint apps that feel almost native – without rewriting business logic.

If you’re exploring how mobile platforms expose APIs and device-level features to developers, our article Nokia Windows Phone: Question 4 offers insights into how Windows Phone opened deeper hardware integration through updated APIs.

This guide walks you through why Sencha Touch is effective, how it integrates with SharePoint, and best practices for building modern mobile web apps for enterprise users.

Why Use Sencha Touch for SharePoint Web Apps?

Sencha Touch was designed specifically for mobile web UIs, offering:

  • Native-like performance
  • A rich library of UI components
  • Built-in support for touch gestures
  • Smooth navigation and transitions
  • Strong MVC structure for scalable app development

For organizations using SharePoint, Sencha Touch provides a lightweight client-side layer that interacts with SharePoint data through REST APIs, CSOM, or external services.

How SharePoint and Sencha Touch Work Together

SharePoint can act as the data layer, while Sencha Touch powers the presentation layer on mobile devices.

✔ Common integration methods:

This means you can build a complete mobile web app interface without deploying server-side code inside SharePoint.

Steps to Build a SharePoint Web App Using Sencha Touch

1. Set Up Your Sencha Touch Project

Install the Sencha Touch SDK and create your app structure:

sencha generate app SharePointApp ./SharePointApp

This creates the MVC folder structure:

  • app/controllers
  • app/models
  • app/views
  • resources/css
  • resources/images

2. Connect SharePoint Data With Ajax

Sencha Touch makes API calls simple:

Ext.Ajax.request({
    url: "https://yoursharepointsite.com/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Tasks')/items",
    method: "GET",
    headers: {
        Accept: "application/json;odata=verbose"
    },
    success: function(response) {
        var data = Ext.decode(response.responseText);
        console.log(data);
    }
});

This fetches SharePoint list data, which can be bound directly to Sencha stores and views.

3. Build Touch-Friendly User Interfaces

Sencha Touch includes ready-made UI components such as:

  • Lists
  • Panels
  • Carousels
  • Toolbars
  • Forms
  • Navigation views

Example list view:

Ext.define(‘SharePointApp.view.TasksList’, {
extend: ‘Ext.List’,
xtype: ‘tasksList’,
config: {
store: ‘TasksStore’,
itemTpl: ‘

{Title}’
}
});

4. Implement Authentication

Depending on your setup, you may use:

  • Azure AD OAuth
  • Office 365 OAuth 2.0
  • NTLM (for on-premise)
  • Cookie-based auth

For Office 365, OAuth token exchange allows secure communication between Sencha Touch and SharePoint Online.

5. Package the App for Hybrid Mobile Deployment (Optional)

Using tools like Apache Cordova, you can wrap your Sencha Touch SharePoint web app into:

  • iOS app
  • Android app
  • Windows app

This gives offline storage support, camera access, push notifications, and other native features.

Best Practices for SharePoint + Sencha Touch Development

✔ Optimize API calls with caching

✔ Use List Paging to avoid performance issues

✔ Avoid heavy DOM operations

✔ Use Sencha Touch themes for branding

✔ Keep authentication tokens secure

✔ Test across multiple screen sizes

Building SharePoint web apps using Sencha Touch allows organizations to deliver fast, touch-optimized, mobile-friendly solutions without replacing their existing SharePoint infrastructure. With its strong UI toolkit and integration alternatives, Sencha Touch is a powerful option for enterprise mobile development.

If your team needs a modern front end for SharePoint that performs well across iOS, Android, and Windows devices, Sencha Touch is an excellent fit.

Brooke