SPFX_SERVE_TENANT_DOMAIN docs point to voitanos

[brianpmccullough]

What type of issue is this?

Question

What SharePoint development model, framework, SDK or API is this about?

💥 SharePoint Framework

Target SharePoint environment

SharePoint Online

What browser(s) / client(s) have you tested

• 💥 Internet Explorer
• 💥 Microsoft Edge
• 💥 Google Chrome
• 💥 FireFox
• 💥 Safari
• mobile (iOS/iPadOS)
• mobile (Android)
• not applicable
• other (enter in the "Additional environment details" area below)

Additional environment details

• browser version
• SPFx version
• Node.js version
• etc

Issue description

in the set-up-your-development-environment docs, in the section about SPFX_SERVE_TENANT_DOMAIN there are links to voitanos. That company is folding. Recommend getting a cut of those docs into the official SPFx documentation. Could be as simple as a few commands that can be used to set the environment variable.

[Ashlesha-MSFT]

Hello brianpmccullough,
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. We will look into it and get back to you shortly.

[Ashlesha-MSFT]

Hello brianpmccullough,

We reviewed the documentation and can confirm that the referenced Voitanos articles are currently accessible. However, we understand your concern regarding the dependency on third-party content and the potential impact if that content becomes unavailable in the future.

We have shared this feedback with the engineering team for consideration. They will evaluate whether the relevant guidance for configuring the SPFX_SERVE_TENANT_DOMAIN environment variable should be incorporated directly into the official SPFx documentation or whether alternative Microsoft-hosted guidance should be provided.

[andrewconnell]

brianpmccullough said:

That company is folding... Recommend getting a cut of those docs into the official SPFx documentation.

First, as the founder, owner and author of Voitanos, that's not a fair representation of what I've said WRT Voitanos. I have NO intention of deleting all the content published on voitanos.io.

Second, as the primary maintainer of the SPFx docs for many years, we've taken the approach with the SPFx docs to only focus on the SharePoint Framework, not to document everything under the sun that could go in the docs. That's a maintenance nightmare. Setting environment variables on Windows or macOS has nothing to do with SPFx, hence why it's not in the official Microsoft docs. This was an intentional decision when I was tasked to update the docs at the direction of the product group. This ENVVAR is documented in multiple places in the official docs already:

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/set-up-your-development-environment#set-the-spfx_serve_tenant_domain-environment-variable-optional
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/set-up-your-development-environment-gulp-toolchain#set-the-spfx_serve_tenant_domain-environment-variable-optional
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/spfx/release-1.17.0#ability-to-use-spfx_serve_tenant_domain-os-environment-variable-for-serve-configurations

I simply created an article on my own site that went further and referenced it from the docs. This way, Microsoft & the SPFx team aren't responsible for maintaining content in the docs that has nothing to do with SPFx.

This isn't the first, nor the only time this practice has been followed throughout the docs.

Ashlesha-MSFT said:

However, we understand your concern regarding the dependency on third-party content and the potential impact if that content becomes unavailable in the future.

Referencing third-party content has never been an issue in the docs, and it's been an accepted practice. If that policy is changing, you'd need to remove the content for ALL THIRD-PARTY CONTENT throughout the docs.

Thus, I recommend closing this issue and the associated PR that singles out a single domain.