Rob Windsor's Weblog : SharePoint

Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7

windsor — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:12:00 GMT

I installed the public Beta of SharePoint 2010 on Windows 7 last night. There were several resources on the web to use as a guide, I found this one to be the best:

Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server

There are a couple main points you need to be aware of:

The setup contains a config file that must be edited to allow SharePoint to be installed on a Windows 7 or Vista
There are several prerequisites required before you install
There are a few hotfixes required after the install but before running the SharePoint Configuration Wizard
Install Visual Studio after you install SharePoint (this isn’t in the guide)

Technorati Tags: SharePoint 2010

SharePoint Site Columns and Content Types via a Feature

windsor — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:31:00 GMT

A few months ago I recorded a video for TechNet on Using Content Types in SharePoint 2007. This video focused on the end-user experience, creating site columns and content types using the browser. This week a colleague of mine, who is fairly new to SharePoint development, was tasked with building a Feature that would create a couple content types when activated. He wasn’t really sure where to start so I sat down with him to walk through the process I use.

Here are the steps in a nutshell:

Prototype out the content types using the browser.
Create a Visual Studio project with a feature and two element manifests. One for the site columns and one for content types.
Use SharePoint Manager (a free utility from CodePlex) to extract the CAML that defines the site columns and it to your Visual Studio project
Add the CAML for the content type, getting the ID from SharePoint Manager and adding the FieldRefs for the site columns that make up the type

Once you’ve gone through the process once, it’s pretty easy to repeat. Check out this video for an end-to-end walkthrough.

Watch the video on Vimeo.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint

SharePoint, AJAX, the UpdatePanel, Publishing Sites and BlueBand.master

windsor — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:09:00 GMT

I ran into this issue recently and it took me a long time to Google the answer. I've reposted with what I think is a title that will be more obvious to someone searching for the problem. Basically, web parts that use the UpdatePanel don't work properly in BlueBand.master (and possibly other standard master pages) because the WebPartManager is outside the form tag. Move the WebPartManager and all will be good.

You can find the original post on Gary Bushey's blog.

Customized versus Uncustomized Site Pages in SharePoint 2007

windsor — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:24:30 GMT

I taught our SharePoint developer class last week, and a couple people who were relatively new to SharePoint had a hard time understanding the difference between Customized and Uncustomized Site Pages. I explained the process a couple times and add the explanation here for others who may share the same confusion.

Let’s say I’m creating a new Visual Studio project for a SharePoint Feature. This Feature includes a page template and will provision an instance of the page template into the virtual file system of the current site when the Feature is activated.

Provisioning an instance of the page means that SharePoint will update the content database to indicate that there is a new page in the site. The database will also contain the path to the the page template in the SharePoint system folders and a placeholder for a customized version of the page. Originally that placeholder will be empty, indicating that the page is in an uncustomized state. If a user requests the page, SharePoint will see that it is uncustomized and will go to the system folders, load the page template, compile the page template into a DLL, and use the compiled image to render the page. If there is an instance of the same page template in another site, and that instance is also uncustomized, requests to this second page will use the complied image when rendered.

Later, a user may come along and edit one of the instances of the page template with SharePoint Designer (they may change fonts or styles, add text, add web parts, etc). When they save their work, SharePoint Designer will put the updated markup for the page instance into the placeholder in the database mentioned earlier. That is, the page for the site the user was editing is now in a customized state. When a user requests this page, SharePoint will load the markup from database and dynamically parse it using the no-compile mode feature that was introduced with ASP.NET 2.0. Customized pages do not get complied.

Finally, let’s say that the site page in question supports web parts. While we refer to the act of adding, removing, or editing web parts as a customization of the page, it is not a customization in the context being discussed. Information about web parts is stored separate to the page in the content database, so the act of adding a web part to a page using the browser interface does not put the page into a customized state.

For more information, check out Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Understanding and Creating Customized and Uncustomized Files in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on MSDN.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint

Toronto SharePoint Camp - January 24

windsor — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 13:25:00 GMT

It is that time of year again - the Toronto SharePoint Camp taking place next Saturday at Manulife Financial (200 Bloor Street - between Yonge and Jarvis) . This free event is organized by the people from the Toronto SharePoint User Group and will be of interest to developers, administrators, and end-users alike.

I'll be doing two developer talks:
- SharePoint 2007: A Developers Primer, and
- Building SharePoint Web Parts from A to Z

The other topics for the 2009 Camp include:
- Integrating SQL Server with MOSS,
- Social Computing with SharePoint and Silverlight,
- Advanced InfoPath Development with SharePoint, and
- MOSS Search: Why it’s not enough to just turn it on

It should be a great turnout so please visit the website and regsiter ASAP to secure your spot.

Easy(er) ASP.NET Workflow Forms with the WSS 3.0 Workflow Tools

windsor — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:21:36 GMT

[via Wouter Van Vugt]

WSS3 Workflow Tools helps developers create better WSS 3.0 workflows by providing a development framework and by integrating into the Visual Studio development environment. The primary focus for this first release is on making it easier to create ASP.NET workflow forms.

The first release consists of:

Base classes for all workflow form types
UserControl framework, quite similar to what InfoPath is providing in MOSS
Visual designers for InputForm, InputFormSection, InputFormControl and ButtonSection
Visual Studio templates for VS2005 / VS2008, for all forms and controls
Easy to use installer

Check it out at http://www.codeplex.com/wss3workflow.

Technorati Tags: [SharePoint], [WSS], [Workflow]

TechEd EMEA Resources and Demos - Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint 2007

windsor — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 07:24:00 GMT

I'm about two hours away from delivering my SharePoint/AJAX at TechEd EMEA and I realized my Resources slide is a little thin. Here are some additional links to resources along with a link to the session demos. I'm sure I've missed some so please feel free to suggest others via comments.

Slides
http://www.slideshare.net/rob.windsor/integrating-aspnet-ajax-with-sharepoint-presentation

Session Demos
http://shrinkster.com/12wg

ASP.NET AJAX Developer Center
http://www.asp.net/ajax/

mssharepointdeveloper.com
http://www.mssharepointdeveloper.com

MSDN RampUp - SharePoint Developers
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/rampup/dd221355.aspx

SharePoint Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint

AJAX Toolkit for SharePoint
http://www.codeplex.com/sharepointajax

Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
http://shrinkster.com/y2w

Technorati Tags: [Sharepoint, AJAX]

TechEd Developer EMEA 2008

windsor — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:16:00 GMT

I found out a few days ago that I've been selected to speak at TechEd EMEA in Barcelona. I'm really excited as this is not only my first time speaking outside of North America, it's my first trip to continental Europe. My session is on using ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint 2007.

Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint.
SharePoint provides a great infrastructure for quickly building intranet and Internet applications. ASP.NET AJAX provides a foundation for creating highly productive Web interfaces. Combined they are two great tastes that taste great together! In this session we will cover the basics of working with ASP.NET AJAX inside of SharePoint 2007. We will take a look at how to prepare a Web Application for ASP.NET AJAX and how to use various ASP.NET AJAX tools such as the JavaScript libraries, JSON-enabled Web services and UpdatePanels to build add rich interactivity to your SharePoint sites.

If you're attending the conference and find the session interesting the please feel free to go to the session list and rate it. I don't know for sure but I think that your rating and the number of people who give a rating have an effect on the scheduling of the session. I'm positive that the number of ratings you receive helps determine if your session will repeat.

I'm not going to be able to attend the PDC this year (this event and the PDC were too close together) so I'm glad there's a PDC track at TechEd. From all reports PDC is going to rock so at least I'll be able to get a taste of the content.

I'll be Twittering (http://twitter.com/robwindsor) and hopefully blogging from the conference. If you're there feel free to look me up or better yet drop by my session.

Technorati Tags: [TechEd, SharePoint, AJAX]

DevTeach Toronto Session Materials

windsor — Wed, 21 May 2008 08:21:00 GMT

Thanks to all of you who came out to DevTeach and cudos to the organizers for running a great event. I hope to see you in Montreal in December.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my sessions by clicking the links below.

Introduction to Windows Communication Foundation
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is Microsoft’s next generation API for developing distributed applications and connected systems. It combines and extends the four distributed programming technologies (ASMX web services, remoting, message queuing, and COM+) used in previous versions of the framework. This session will provide a solid overview to WCF. It will describe the essential programming concepts that are core to the technology and will demonstrate how build, configure and consume simple services.
http://shrinkster.com/13es

Strategies for Moving Your Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Investments to .NET
Co-presented with Beth Massi
Visual Basic (VB) 6 was used by millions of developers world-wide to build applications ranging from thousands to millions of lines of code representing significant organizational investments. The path from VB 6 to .NET has not always been clear, there is no one size fits all approach. We’ll cut to the chase, exploring the pros and cons of each option using real world examples. You will leave this session with the framework and tools to develop the right strategy for your organization to leverage your existing investments while taking advantage of the power and productivity the .NET Framework provides today and .NET Framework 3.0 will provide going forward.
http://shrinkster.com/13et

Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint
SharePoint provides a great infrastructure for quickly building intranet and Internet applications. ASP.NET AJAX provides a foundation for creating highly productive Web interfaces. Combined they are two great tastes that taste great together! In this session we will cover the basics of working with ASP.NET AJAX inside of SharePoint 2007. We will take a look at how to prepare a Web Application for ASP.NET AJAX, and how to use various ASP.NET AJAX tools such as the JavaScript libraries, JSON-enabled Web services, and UpdatePanels to build add rich interactivity to your SharePoint sites.
http://shrinkster.com/13eu

Technorati Tags: [DevTeach, WCF, Visual Basic, SharePoint, Ajax]

Webcast Series for ASP.NET Developers Who Want to Learn SharePoint

windsor — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:15:00 GMT

[via Paul Andrew]

[Microsoft is] doing lots of things around introductory SharePoint development for .NET developers over the next few months. Here is the schedule for a series of MSDN web casts on 10 introductory SharePoint development topics for .NET developers. If you are a .NET developer then chances are these are the most interesting ten introductory things you can do on SharePoint Products and Technologies.

http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2008/05/12/sharepoint-developer-msdn-web-cast-series.aspx

Technorati Tags: [SharePoint]

Using Visual Studio 2008 with SharePoint 2007 at Toronto SharePoint UG on December 19

windsor — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:06:00 GMT

Fellow ObjectSharpee and all around good guy, Barry Gervin, will be presenting at the next meeting of the Toronto SharePoint User Group. Here's the announcement:

Please join your peers on Wednesday, December 19 at 6:00pm for a presentation on “Using Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 with SharePoint 2007.” Visual Studio 2008 introduced new templates for dealing with SharePoint. Based on Windows Workflow Foundation, the new workflow template eases the process of incorporating custom workflows into SharePoint including design time support, automatic deployment and integrated debugging without resorting to heroic efforts. We’ll look at creating workflows, attaching them to document libraries or lists, and walking through the developer experience with Visual Studio 2008. Time permitting, we’ll also show how the new Language Integrated Query functionality of .NET 3.5 can be used with SharePoint to avoid using CAML directly to query your SharePoint data.

For more details and to register, please visit:

http://www.tspug.com

A Chicken Reviews the Toronto SharePoint Camp - Seriously

windsor — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:39:00 GMT

I really don't know what to say about this so I will leave it up to you to judge. I do have one warning - the illusion, so skillfully done early in the video, is shattered near the end. You may want to have your children leave the room while you watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGSfAb8zZAo

Toronto SharePoint Camp Session Materials

windsor — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 13:04:00 GMT

Thanks to all of you who came out this weekend for the Toronto SharePoint Camp. It was a fun and informative day and I know plans are already underway to make next year's event bigger and better.

You can download the slides and demos I used in my session by clicking the link below.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: A Developer's Primer

SharePoint, SharePoint, SharePoint

windsor — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 03:32:00 GMT

SharePoint is a hot topic right now and there's a lot going on in and around Toronto on the subject. I thought I'd take a moment to highlight a few.

Toronto SharePoint Camp - October 20

The good folks over at the Toronto SharePoint User Group are organizing the first Toronto SharePoint Camp. They're looking for speakers, sponsors and volunteers. For more information, to register, or to submit an abstract for a talk, visit:

http://www.torontosharepointcamp.com

ObjectSharp SMART Breakfast: Achieving Agility with SharePoint 2007 Technologies

Grab a hot breakfast and join your peers in a round table discussion about Microsoft’s widely distributed SharePoint 2007 Technologies. Microsoft Regional Director Barry Gervin will lead the round table in exploring how SharePoint can be used to achieve greater business agility, even in the face of disruptive change in your organization. Events will be held in Toronto, North York, Mississauga, Etobicoke, and Kitchener-Waterloo starting October 16. For more information, and to register visit:

http://www.objectsharp.com/smart/default.aspx

ObjectSharp Announces their New Course: Inside Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for Developers

This intensive 4-day course explores design and development techniques used when building business solutions with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The lectures and lab exercises dive into the WSS object model, developing WSS features and creating solution packages to deploy your development efforts in a staging or production environment. The first public course is running November 19-23. For more information on the course visit:

http://www.objectsharp.com/training/coursedetail.aspx?id=6010