Social Networks in Business

   In the last few years, there has been a huge shift in business culture to create social networks. People are now the primary focus. The latest graduates demand it. Have you heard that? I have (many times, in fact). Think of Facebook, Twitter, and the recent demos you've seen about these social tools at our disposal. Joe can now post about a presentation he just put together and share it with everyone. “Likes” from colleagues about completed projects or promotions are plentiful. Sally just got back from her vacation with the family and has another scheduled later this year. Connecting people is great but how much of this information has real business value? Is it possible that too much emphasis has been placed on people?

   Now think back in time for a moment. When you were in school, did your parents ask who your friend Jennifer was dating? Did they care about Mike’s new girlfriend? Were there any questions about how bored everyone was in class? They probably just wanted to skip the gossip and know if you were getting your work done and how your grades were. Parents are busy people and don’t have time for every detail and have to filter out the “noise” in their children’s lives. Our individual lives are chaotic as is. Do you even remember those details which seemed so important at the time? We are all in a constant struggle to filter out the noise. Businesses are struggling to do the same and are giving in to the "peer pressure" without giving much thought as to why. As proactive as we'd all like to be, the reality is that we are generally more reactive to the environment around is. Success comes from being proactive and anticipating what happens next. Here’s your chance.

   Think about the following scenario. Its 10 years from now. Are you with the same company? Are you in the same role that you were in 10 years ago? What about colleagues? Have they changed roles, retired, or moved on to a new companies and/or opportunities? Owners, CEO's, Board Members all change. It’s inevitable.

   Okay, we’re back to today. When I think of SharePoint, I think of it as a tool for collaboration first and then focus on the document management side second. I also think of it as an ongoing historical record to be referenced at any point in the future. In the old days, video exit interviews were popular. I even saw these videos transcribed for historical purposes. Trying to find something from that is like trying to find a "needle in a haystack." How many times have you searched for an email to get specific details about a topic discussed a few months ago… years ago? As we search through all of our “junk mail” (I mean, giant inboxes), we realize that most of the relevance is gone and we’re just filtering out the noise. Those emails about sales, coupons, old boarding passes, jokes, etc. are just in the way.

   Let’s time travel one last time. Its 10 years in the future and you've been promoted. Congratulations! Now you’re trying to find some important information about a client. How much noise is in your way? Remember, we’re searching through an ongoing historical record in SharePoint. All those “likes” have a lot less meaning now. A few hours into your search, you found a search result on a presentation you were looking for! Wait... no, sorry that was just the note that Joe completed it. Well maybe you can do a people search on Sally since she also worked on it. You just have to get through all those vacation posts! Welcome to the world of social networks in business.

SharePoint Dev Toolbelt

Great set of links for any SharePoint Developer:

https://www.nothingbutsharepoint.com/sites/devwiki/articles/Pages/SharePoint-Dev-Toolbelt.aspx

SharePoint 2010: The List Cannot be Displayed in Datasheet view.....

The list cannot be displayed in DataSheet view for one or more of the following reasons:

- A datasheet component compatible with Miicrosoft Sharepoint Foundation is not installed.
- Your web browser does not suport ActiveX controls
- A component is not propelry configured for 32- or 64-bit support.

If you're a SharePoint Dev/Admin/Enthusiast using a 64bit system with 64bit Office / IE, chances are you will run into this issue. I was combing for a solution when I came across this MSDN SP2010 General Q&A forum post.

Special thanks to Jennie E [MSFT] for pointing us to the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components

SharePoint 2010 - PDF Security

IE8 and PDF files in SharePoint don't necessarily play nice together for a reason - security. By default you'll click on your PDF and get an option to either Save or Close. Here's a good explanation and the reason you should use an ‘Inline Download’ exclusion as opposed to the common (but not recommended) Browser File Handling setting in Central Admin.

Quick link to share via JB's Just Saying...

PowerShell Script:

$webApp = Get-SPWebApplication http://webapp.domain
 If ($webApp.AllowedInlineDownloadedMimeTypes -notcontains "application/pdf")
 {
   Write-Host -ForegroundColor White "Adding Pdf MIME Type..."
   $webApp.AllowedInlineDownloadedMimeTypes.Add("application/pdf")
   $webApp.Update()
   Write-Host -ForegroundColor White "Added and saved."
 } Else {
   Write-Host -ForegroundColor White "Pdf MIME type is already added."
 }

In addition, if you want your PDFs to open in a new window or even in Adobe Reader you'll want to change your local Adobe Reader client settings:

Open Adobe Reader
Select “Edit” –> “Preferences” from the menu system.
Select the option on the left called “Internet”
Either select or de-select the option called “Display PDF in Browser” depending on your preference.

SharePoint Administrators, don't forget your PDF iFilter for searching those PDFs!

Download SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 1

Download SharePoint Server 2010 SP1
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2460045

SharePoint 2010 - Content Query Web Part (CQWP) Slow Loading New Items?

We've recently implemented several Content Query Web Parts (CQWP) which I love. However, I noticed that new items weren't showing up so quickly. I did a couple of quick checks to make sure items weren't checked out or unapproved but to no avail.

Then, after some digging, I came across the following article from Michael Nemtsev: Why Content Query Web Part (CQWP) doesn’t return all results.

The workaround is a simple one:
set “UseCache” property to “false”.

Interesting note from the SharePoint Team:

Cite from SharePoint Team:

“You are only seeing your items in edit mode because the caching infrastructure of the CQWP does not cache checked-out items of individual users and we disable cache in edit mode. You can disable caching on your Web Part by setting the "UseCache" property to false”

Just a handy note in case anyone else has trouble with that very useful (but sometimes pesky) Content Query Web Part.

SharePoint 2010 Modal Dialog Window / Popup & XSLT Examples

Just wanted to share some of my XSLT snippets to create SharePoint 2010 modal dialog window / popups.

You can find some great info on Modal Windows here:
http://erikswenson.blogspot.com/

Also check out PAGETYPE Enumeration:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.pagetype.aspx


Here is a basic example of how to launch the Modal Window:

Show Bing In Modal Window

Now, some XSLT snippets for a discussion list view / toolbar

// New Form for Discussions

javascript:NewItem2(event,'../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=8&ListID={}&RootFolder=&ContentTypeId=0x0107&DiscussionParentId=');javascript:return false;

../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=8&ListID={}&RootFolder=&ContentTypeId=0x0107&DiscussionParentId=

 Reply 

// Edit Form

javascript:NewItem2(event,'../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=6&ListId={}&ID=');javascript:return false;

../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=6&ListId={}&ID=

 Edit 

// Display form to view attachments


javascript:NewItem2(event,'../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId={}&ID=');javascript:return false;

../_layouts/listform.aspx?PageType=4&ListId={}&ID=

_self

View Attachments

 Attachment(s) 

More useful links: SharePoint Developer Team Blog: How to Open a List Form in a Modal Dialog Box

SharePoint 2010 Limits, Thresholds, and Boundaries

Here are some key SharePoint 2010 Boundaries and Limits
Via: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx

Highlights

Content database size - 200 GB per content database

Site collection size - 100 GB per site collection

File Size - 2GB - The default maximum file size is 50 MB. This can be increased up to 2 GB, however a large volume of very large files can affect farm performance.

Documents - 30,000,000 per library

Major Versions - 400,000

Bulk Operations - 100 items per bulk operation

List view lookup threshold - 8 join operations per query

List view threshold - 5,000

List view threshold for auditors and administrators - 20,000 - This setting works with Allow Object Model Override.

Subsite - 2,000 per site view

Web Parts - 25 per wiki or Web part page

Users in a site collection - 2 million per site collection

Alerts - 1,000,000 per search application - This is the tested limit.

Keywords - 200 per site collection

Social tags, notes and ratings - 500,000,000 per social database

Blog Posts - 5000 per site

Assembly Development vs Artifact Development in SharePoint / Usage of SharePoint Designer in Production

This has been a hot topic for me recently. This article explains how SharePoint Designer can and should be used in a production environment by explaining Assembly Development vs Artifact Development or "Content" Development.

Team-Based Development in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb428899.aspx

Some key points:
- Content Developers can use SharePoint Designer to create and modify content

- Content Developers have the ability to modify the existing production environment and conduct publication using a content management path to the production Web Farm.

- The authoring environment can exist within the production environment

- From a team perspective, the shared authoring environment is more effective than individually separate authoring environments.

- SharePoint Designer artifacts do not need to be integrated with enterprise source control

- Enterprise source control (such as Team Foundation Server) should be used strictly for assembly development in a team environment, while the effort to integrate content management items into source control is not a supported process.

- Attempts to integrate items into enterprise source control that are considered SharePoint Designer content items and part of a content development require extensive workarounds involving manual processes and procedures.


"For content design and publication, a single authoring environment - in which multiple content developers can use SharePoint Designer to create and publish content - can simplify time spent in migrating content artifacts from separate environments into a production environment.

Useful SharePoint 2010 Links

Just sharing some handy SharePoint 2010 links...

Microsoft SharePoint Product Team Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/

Building a SharePoint 2010 Development machine
http://www.sharepointdevwiki.com/display/sp2010/Building+a+SharePoint+2010+Development+machine


SharePoint 2010 Demo Videos (Note: HUGE FILES)
Overview:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint2010_Overview_SneakPeek_Rizzo_mobile.wmv

For Developers:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint_SneakPeek_For_Developers_Andrew_mobile.wmv

For IT Pro's:
http://msstudios.vo.llnwd.net/o21/msstudios/0906/1001251/1001251_SharePoint_SneakPeek_For_IT_Professionals_Riley_mobile.wmv


SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Video
http://edge.technet.com/Media/SharePoint-2010-Central-Administration/



Compare SharePoint Editions
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/Pages/Editions-Comparison.aspx

Planning and architecture for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261834.aspx

Deployment for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262957.aspx

Operations for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262289.aspx

Technical reference for SharePoint Server 2010http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262798.aspx


SharePoint 2010 Top 10 Features and Resources
http://www.sharepointjoel.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=267


Upgrading Features in SharePoint 2010
http://weblogs.asp.net/jan/archive/2010/08/08/upgrading-features-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx

The Ultimate SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Content Management ECM Cheat Sheet
http://blogs.kma-llc.net/microknowledge/2010/08/the-ultimate-sharepoint-2010-enterprise-content-management-ecm-cheat-sheet.html

Wiki FAQs with SharePoint 2010
http://socialmedia.mikegannotti.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=404

SharePoint 2010 Developer - Courses you need to watch!

Channel 9 - SharePoint 2010 Developer

Units in this course

Getting Started with SharePoint 2010
SharePoint 2010 Developer Roadmap
Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint 2010
UI Enhancements
Lists and Schemss
LINQ to SharePoint
Client Object Model
Workflow
Services Architecture
Accessing External Data
Enterprise Content Management
Extending Search
PerformancePoint Services
Sandboxed Solutions

Download the SharePoint 2010 VHD

Via Paul Stubbs: Download the SharePoint 2010 VHD

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0c51819b-3d40-435c-a103-a5481fe0a0d2&displaylang=en

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2008 R2; Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise; Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard

In order to run this demo you will need the following: - Windows Server 2008 R2 with the Hyper-V role enabled. - Drive Formatting: NTFS - Processor: Intel VT or AMD-V capable - RAM: 8 GB or more recommended - Hard disk space required for install: 50 GB

Operating System Requirements of SharePoint 2010

Check out the latest Operating System Requirements for SharePoint 2010:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(office.14).aspx

Announcement:
http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2010/01/22/operating-system-requirements-of-sharepoint-2010.aspx

Notes:

To make developing for SharePoint 2010 easier, it is possible to install SharePoint on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista SP2 and Windows 7. Note that running production environments on these OSes are not supported and it will not be possible to upgrade deployments running on client versions of Windows to future versions of SharePoint. Instructions on installing SharePoint 2010 on client versions of Windows are a bit more involved and we recommend reading the instructions at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx.

SharePoint 2010 & Office 2010 Launch Dates Announced!

Sorry I am late on posting this:

Via the SharePoint Team Blog:

Today, we officially announced that May 12th, 2010, is the launch date for SharePoint 2010 & Office 2010. In addition, we announced our intent to RTM (Release to Manufacturing) this April 2010.

It’s an exciting time for us! We hope you can virtually join us on May 12th at 11am EST to listen to Stephen Elop, President of the Microsoft Business Division, announce the launch. You can register for the event @ http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/businessproductivity/proof/pages/2010-launch-events.aspx.


Arpan Shah
Director, SharePoint

Via Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog: Analysts’ review of SharePoint 2010

Check out what Gartner, Forrester, and IDC have to say about SharePoint 2010:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2010/03/12/analysts-review-of-sharepoint-2010.aspx