SharePoint Developers in Cincy?

If you're a SharePoint developer in Cincy or looking for some consulting work and willing to travel, drop me a line.

Apologies for the lack of updates lately. I've been buried on a couple of different projects.

Shared Service Provider Access Denied

Alan Coulter had a very convenient post regarding Shared Service Provider Access Denied. If someone other than yourself has setup a stand-alone MOSS environment, you will run into this. Aside from ensuring that you are a farm administrator and site collection administrator on the default portal, SSP and Central Admin you'll want to make sure that you have access to the SSP personalization in order to enable advanced usage analysis reporting.

Hello Twitterland!

Check out my new twitter page: http://twitter.com/mark_kruger
@mark_kruger

Hope to hear from everyone soon!

Could it really be? WebTrends for SharePoint!

Via Joel Oleson

Check out the new whitepaper on WebTrends for SharePoint

Reports include:

• WebParts Viewed
• Breadcrumbs Report
• Document Actions
• Activity by User
• User Specific Document Action

Demos: A six-part series on getting the most out of SharePoint Designer 2007

Demos: A six-part series on getting the most out of SharePoint Designer 2007

Powerful user interface and design tools
Customize SharePoint sites
Create and modify layout pages
Create and modify rules-based workflow applications
Build composite no-code SharePoint applications
Visual Studio integration

Attention: Important Information on Service Pack 2

Via Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog


"During the installation of SP2, a product expiration date is improperly activated. This means SharePoint will expire as though it was a trial installation 180 days after SP2 is deployed. "

Which products are affected by this?
Applying Service Pack 2 to any of the following products will result in this issue: Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites, Project Server 2007, Form Server 2007, Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is not affected by this issue.

Check out the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog on what you can do to fix the Service Pack 2 issue.

Microsoft SharePoint Development Panel Discussion

SharePoint MVPs interact in an open discussion about SharePoint development.
Microsoft SharePoint Development Panel Discussion

For the SharePoint Designer Non-Believers...

This clip relates to some of the discussions I had this week about using SharePoint Designer in an Enterprise environment. Tom Rizzo talks about SharePoint Designer becoming a free product and how useful it can be to any business strategy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvvVJamO3nQ

Service Pack 2 for the 2007 Microsoft Office System due to ship April 28th

Check out Office Sustained Engineering's Blog for more details!

Virto Ajax Web Part Calendar SharePoint

Virto Calendar can be used instead of built-in SharePoint Calendar. It provides you with powerful capabilities for more convenient events calendaring, e.g.:

Adding Event with a one mouse click
Event Coloring according to List Type
Date Picker for quick and easy navigation
Event duration editing with a simple resizing action
Event date changing with a just drag and drop
Single aggregated view of all your events from different SharePoint Lists not only single SharePoint Site
Resizing for fitting your web page design
Printing of any calendar View


Download Free Virto Calendar Now!

White paper: Working with large lists in Office SharePoint Server 2007

Via: SharePoint Server Technet

Microsoft performed performance testing against Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 to determine the performance characteristics of large SharePoint lists under different loads and modes of operation. This white paper presents their findings.

The test results in this white paper are intended to demonstrate the difference in the performance characteristics of SharePoint lists containing large numbers of items when different data access types are used to present list contents. Test results in this white paper show how to optimize list performance through limits on the number of items that appear in a list, and by choosing the most appropriate method of retrieving list contents.

Download this white paper as a Microsoft Word document (.doc).

White paper: Working with large lists in Office SharePoint Server 2007 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=95450&clcid=0x409)

Data access methods

• Browser


• SPList with For/Each


• SPList with SPQuery


• SPList with DataTable


• SPListItems with DataTable


• Lists Web service


• Search


• PortalSiteMapProvider

Analyzing the results
The test results in this white paper validate the fact that with proper testing in your own environment, it is quite possible that you can use more than 2,000 items in a container without an adverse impact on performance. The best results will be obtained if you write your own user interface to work with the data in the list, and make some carefully considered choices about what data access method works best for your requirements. The data access method you choose may very well impact other aspects of your site or list implementation.

For example, using data access methods that require the SPList class will greatly benefit from indexing columns used in a WHERE clause. However, the benefit of indexing these columns is marginal if the data is retrieved using the Search service, the Lists Web service or the PortalSiteMapProvider class. Conversely, if you are not using the SPList class for data retrieval, data access will likely be much faster if you are able to retrieve data based on the ID of items, rather than the value of a specific column in a list.


Additional Resources: Plan for performance and capacity (Office SharePoint Server)

SharePoint Drives Ferrari!

Ferrari introduced their new Ferrari.com website, which is powered by SharePoint Server 2007, according to Owen Allen, SharePoint product manager.

The site is pretty sleek loaded with images, video and flash animation! Check out this preview video about the Ferrari.com site.

Via Softpedia, Owen Allen, Steve Clayton and Chris Parkes!

SharePoint List Association Manager - SLAM!

Most developers who have used SharePoint as an application development framework have run into the realization that SharePoint is NOT a relational database. In fact, the accepted wisdom is if you need relational tables, use ASP.NET/SQL straight-up, not SharePoint.

Enter SharePoint List Association Manager (SLAM). In short it allows you to define relationships (one to one, one to many, many to many) between SharePoint lists (or Content Types) and then leverage those relationships in webparts or custom field types using familiar and straight forward SQL queries.

Illustrated Guide to SLAM

SLAM Architecture

Check it out on codeplex!
http://slam.codeplex.com/

MOSS Installation and Deployment Guides

Well, here you go. A 200 page MOSS Installation Guide and a 400 page MOSS Deployment Guide from Microsoft ;)

Installation Guide for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Deployment for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Upgrading to Office SharePoint Server

Keep tabs on the latest document by checking out Newly published content for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Download SharePoint Designer Free!

SHAREPOINT DESIGNER 2007 IS NOW FREE! Be sure to watch the video in the "Related Resources" below to learn more about details and future direction. Office SharePoint Designer 2007 provides the powerful tools you need to deliver compelling and attractive SharePoint sites and quickly build workflow-enabled applications and reporting tools on the SharePoint platform, all in an IT-managed environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42

Home Page for SharePoint Designer 2007
Video of SharePoint Designer 2007 FAQ (6.2MB)
Video of SharePoint Designer 2007 FAQ (16.8MB)
Video of SharePoint Designer 2007 FAQ (82.9MB)

Data View Customization: Calculating the Number of Days Between Two Dates in XSLT

The objective was to display the number of days between two dates such as Today and last Oct. You can't do this in out of the box SharePoint so you have to go to the XLST to perform data manipulations. Unfortunately, XSLT 1.0 doesnt have any date manipulation so we looked at DDWRT.

My colleague, Michael Bollhoefer and I searched all over Google for terms like Date Manipulation, dateDiff xslt, xsl date comparisons, datedif xslt, date difference xslt, etc. We came across a template but for some reason it wasn't returning the correct value. Eventually we came to the conclusion that the date format had to be the root of our error. We needed to convert from a gregorian dateTime format (CCYY-MM-DDT00:00:00Z) into a Juliantime format. Then you can easily subtract or add to the julian numbers to get your desired result. Subtracting the gregorian results with a sub-string function didnt provide accurate results because you have to account for the number of days in each month.

Our research finally led us to Toni Frankola's post on endusersharepoint.com which resulted in the new XSLT:

<xsl:template name="DateDiff">
<xsl:param name="StartDate"></xsl:param>
<xsl:param name="TodayDate"></xsl:param>

<xsl:variable name="JulianToday">
<xsl:call-template name="calculate-julian-day">
<xsl:with-param name="Year" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($TodayDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),0,5)"/>

<xsl:with-param name="Month" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($TodayDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),5,2)"/>

<xsl:with-param name="Day" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($TodayDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),7,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="JulianStartDate">
<xsl:call-template name="calculate-julian-day">
<xsl:with-param name="Year" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($StartDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),0,5)"/>

<xsl:with-param name="Month" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($StartDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),5,2)"/>

<xsl:with-param name="Day" select="substring(ddwrt:FormatDateTime(string($StartDate), 1033, 'yyyyMMdd'),7,2)"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:value-of select="$JulianStartDate - $JulianToday"></xsl:value-of>
</xsl:template>

<xsl:template name="calculate-julian-day">
<xsl:param name="Year"/>
<xsl:param name="Month"/>
<xsl:param name="Day"/>

<xsl:variable name="JulianDay" select="floor((14 - $Month) div 12)"/>
<xsl:variable name="JulianYear" select="$Year + 4800 - $JulianDay"/>
<xsl:variable name="JulianMonth" select="$Month + 12 * $JulianDay - 3"/>

<xsl:value-of select="$Day + floor((153 * $JulianMonth + 2) div 5) + $JulianYear * 365 + floor($JulianYear div 4) - floor($JulianYear div 100) + floor($JulianYear div 400) - 32045"/>
</xsl:template>

This is the template that DID NOT WORK
http://www.exslt.org/date/functions/difference/index.html

JQuery for Everyone: Preview Pane for Multiple Lists

Paul Grenier (http://www.endusersharepoint.com/) has a great code snippet using jQuery that you can simply add to a content editor web part. The possibilities are truly endless. This can be used as an alternative to using CSS ( show and hide content ), navigation, or even Connected Web Parts. Check it out: JQuery for Everyone: Preview Pane for Multiple Lists along with JQuery for Everyone: Evolution of the Preview

Also, check out Toni Frankola's post: Deploy Custom JQuery Scripts to the SharePoint Site Collection and Chris Edwards post: Integrating jQuery for Use in Your WebParts and Application Layout Pages

Jan Tielens also has some great intros on integrating jQuery and SharePoint:
Integrating SharePoint 2007 and jQuery [Part One]
Integrating SharePoint 2007 and jQuery [Part Two]

Peter Serzo (via Joel Oleson's Blog) also gives the top 5 reasons to use jQuery.

Speaking of Jan Tielens, check out SmartTools for SharePoint

what is jQuery?
jQuery is a lightweight open source JavaScript library (only 15kb in size).

Office SharePoint Server 2007: Five Ways SharePoint Can Save You Money

Office SharePoint Server 2007: Five Ways SharePoint Can Save You Money
Overview
In this paper, we look at how Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies can help you to reduce TCO and maximize ROI for your enterprise solutions. SharePoint Products and Technologies provide a comprehensive suite of features in all areas of information management, and can enable you to consolidate all your enterprise solutions into a single, manageable platform. Many of the world's leading companies, such as MTV and the Bank of America, are already realizing benefits from the adoption of these technologies. The paper focuses on five specific ways in which SharePoint Products and Technologies can save you money. When you adopt SharePoint Products and Technologies in your organization, you can: • Reduce IT costs and complexity • Reduce development costs • Simplify management and training • Improve employee productivity • Enhance the effectiveness of customer service and sales teams

The Phantom Security Menace: Rogue SharePoint Sites

Neil MacDonald of Gartner estimates that 30% of SharePoint servers are deployed outside of the management of the IT department.

This doesn't surprise me in the slightest. This has been one of the big concerns I've had over SharePoint for some time. SharePoint requires organizations to work together... even to implement! Clear roles and responsibilities should be defined before any project gets started. The most common pitfall of any SharePoint project is the lack of agreement between the IT side and the business side within an organization.

Usually the experts are the folks in the middle. We're the mediators and the peace-keepers. SharePoint experts are able to communicate and understand business needs at the same time working under the umbrella of restrictions that IT holds. I've seen time and time again where IT holds the keys to the kingdom and all decisions are made under an oppressive IT thumb. (I'll save business justification for a later discussion or common pitfalls.) Last time I checked, IT works for the business... right?

I think it all comes down to a matter of trust and a solid governance plan. IT doesn't want to lose control and the business just wants their needs met. So it really doesn't surprise me that 3 out of every 10 instances go outside of IT, whom can stonewall any project.

The way I see it, there should always be an intermediate team that works with both the business and IT. I think the worlds are so different that there really has to be a translator. It doesn't make the process much easier and in fact, puts a lot of pressure on the experts stuck in the middle but it's for the greater good.

Now, as for me.... on to writing up 'tangible' MOSS benefits for the business and arguing with IT for SharePoint Designer rights in production. These are the chronicles of a SharePoint consultant! ;o)

Consuming SharePoint Lists via AJAX

Check out Kirk Evans' post on Consuming SharePoint Lists via AJAX and his companion screencast on Channel9 that walks through the entire process of creating a feature using VSeWSS. Kirk uses Features to accomplish the task of consuming SharePoint list data via JavaScript instead of Web Services.

Make sure you also check out Jan Tielens post that shows how to enable .NET 3.5 in SharePoint, the lazy way as well as Features for SharePoint, by Ted Pattison.

InfoPath and MOSS - Web Enabled Feedback Form

Via Stacke: InfoPath and MOSS

Here's a nice step-by-step walk-through for creating an InfoPath Form Library with a custom InfoPath form which is connected back to the InfoPath Form Library in MOSS.

The article gives some nice explanation on how to have InfoPath Forms saved back to your MOSS Forms Library with a custom name. This name can include the date with a title of your choice. There are also some very useful InfoPath troubleshooting tips.

Once the Form is published, you can allow it to be filled out over the web via web browser using Content Types and a little configuration of the Document Library (“Allow management of content types?” to Yes. Since we want to have the form accessible via the web client, we need to select Display as a Web page under “Opening browser-enabled documents”.)

Nice write-up!

Packaging and Re-using SharePoint Designer Workflows

Emile Bosch has some great step-by-step instructions for Packaging and Re-using SharePoint Designer Workflows. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Emile also released a Beta SPD Workflow Export Utility which can be found on codeplex! Download Link

SharePoint Designer to Become a Free Product?

Just ran across Randy Williams' blog post that indicates this could be true or could be an April Fool's. As of April 1, the rumor is that SharePoint Designer will be free. Randy also mentions that the entry has made it to wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office_SharePoint_Designer

SharePoint Designer, Free as in Beer
SharePoint Designer will be a free download as of 1 April 2009
Get SharePoint Designer For Free

At least it gives us something to look forward to in addition to the April Fool's Jokes :)

SharePoint Silverlight Web Parts and Resources

Check out the walkthroughs and demos from Ian Morrish's site: SharePoint Silverlight Demo

Silverlight BluePrint for SharePoint

Another nice explanation of creating Silverlight applications for SharePoint in VS using the extensions can be seen on Andrew Whitechapel's blog.

Saurabhd Dasgupta works for Microsoft Consulting Services and posted these great articles:
An approach towards implementing information entry forms using Silverlight and SharePoint Part 1 and Part 2.

How to Create a Silverlight Web Part in ASP.NET for Use in SharePoint Server 2007

Silverlight webpart for SharePoint by Shantha Kumar

Simon's BinaryJam Silverlight Photoviewer Web Part

Kirk Evan's Hosting Silverlight in a SharePoint Webpart

Randy Williams: Tips For Writing Silverlight Web Parts in SharePoint: Part 2
Tips For Writing Silverlight Web Parts in SharePoint: Part 1

Silverlight Web Part in SharePoint

Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3 - Mar 2009 CTP

Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3 - Mar 2009 CTP

Announcing The Microsoft Translator Web Page Widget

Check out Michael Gannotti's blog for details on the Microsoft Translator Web Part Widget!

Groove – How to get it on and get access to SharePoint documents offline

Check out Maxim's post on the SharePoint for End Users Blog with a step by step for using Groove!

Mark Gillis also has a great performance tip... Group those list views!

How to Use SharePoint Discussion Boards in Outlook 2007

Via SharePoint Solutions Blog: http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.com/2008/11/how-to-use-sharepoint-discussion-boards.html

Let's face it, we all live and work in Outlook so this is a great way to bring discussion activity to your inbox (outside of using alerts).

The walkthrough explains:

• How to view your discussion board in Outlook
• How to reply to discussions (posting back to SharePoint)
• How to start new discussions on your SharePoint discussion board

Microsoft Releases New Themes for MOSS

via Randy Drisgill: Microsoft has release new themes for MOSS. Check out Randy's blog for screenshots:
http://blog.drisgill.com/2009/03/microsoft-released-10-new-sharepoint.html

Microsoft Download Link

Automatically resizing Sharepoint Page Viewer Web Part to its content

Check out this nice tip from Baris Wanschers: Automatically resizing Sharepoint Page Viewer Web Part to its content.

Using Microsoft Excel with SharePoint 2007

Nice article and tip for end users which is often overlooked is the ability to export a SharePoint list into Excel. Here's a nice write-up on how to do this. Using Microsoft Excel with SharePoint 2007

I would like to point out one major error in the article: "You can't use Excel to edit the data that's stored in SharePoint. That's because the SharePoint data is linked to Excel through a Web query file. In this particular scenario, a Web query file facilitates only one-way operations."

This isn't true at all. The authors of the article fail to mention the List Toolbar which does offer the ability to Synchronize your SharePoint list within Excel. You have to have edit rights to the list in order to write back to the list.

In Excel 2007
You can add the 'Synchronize List' option to your Quick Access Toolbar by clicking the Office Button -> Excel Options (bottom right) ->Customize -> Change the first dropdown to Choose Commands from All Commands and locate the Synchronize List option. Click Add. Now the shortcut will appear at the top of Excel next to your save, undo, and redo changes.

Note you can also click the small arrow next to the Quick Access Toolbar and select More Commands.

Don't you love how intuitive Excel 2007 is! (note the sarcasm)

In Excel 2003
Just enable the List Toolbar by View->Toolbars - List

One key point the article does make is the inability to apply formatting. In order to do that, you'll need to create separate sheets in your Excel workbook and use lookup formulas to the data.

No MOSS Required: Free Web CMS Built on SharePoint Services

Here's a pretty interesting concept that I thought the community would appreciate:

No MOSS Required: Free Web CMS Built on SharePoint Services

CompleteSharePoint.NET was built by Tommy Segoro, a Practice Lead working at L7 Solutions in Perth, Western Australia. It is currently a beta solution. Released on CodePlex in October of last year, CS.NET has been downloaded over 519 time to date.

CompleteSharePoint Functionality
It is said to have some, but not all, of the same functionality as MOSS — SharePoint Server 2007. Some of these features include:

• Custom base publishing content type (named CompleteSharepoint.NET Article Page)
• Custom site actions menu
• Custom administration pages located in _layouts
• Custom controls such as page editing toolbar
• Custom field controls (eg. publishing page content field using FreeTextBox)
• ASP.NET VirtualPage to treat page layout as if it's a compiled .NET page

Example of CS.NET http://www.bmuu.com.au

Read more at the source...

SharePoint 14 Buzz!

Check out the latest SharePoint Buzz on SharePoint 14.

More Articles:
SharePoint 14, SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2012. The next version is a long way off by any name
Wonder What's Coming in Next Version of SharePoint?
SharePoint vNext – Rumours, Speculation and Confirmed Features
SharePoint 14: Everything We Know
SharePoint Conference 2009
Arpan Shah's Interview and Answers regarding '14'
No SharePoint 14 for you this year
Joel Oleson is writing a SharePoint 14 Book

MSDN Magazine: 10 Best Practices For Building SharePoint Solutions

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd458798.aspx

This article discusses:
Taking advantage of built-in SharePoint capabilities
Deploying SharePoint solutions
Creating testable code
Branding SharePoint for scale and maintenance

Custom Auditing in SharePoint - Document Download and List Item Counts

So you're interested in item counts and downloads by users? Have you read up on Audit Logs? Well for those on devs working on WSS, Ted Pattison has a great article entitled "Office Space: Custom Auditing in SharePoint" which includes a code download located on MSDN Magazine.

MOSS Ratings Module

Pilothouseconsulting has a pretty cool module to allow for ratings. Check it out at their site: http://www.sharepointrating.com/Pages/sharepoint_rating_home.aspx

After a quick registration you can gain access to the .wsp and to the installation instructions.

NearPoint for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Santa Clara, Calif .– March 17, 2009 — Mimosa Systems, a leader in next-generation email and file archiving solutions, today announced that it has extended its enterprise email and file archiving solution, Mimosa NearPointTM, to offer complete content archiving, data protection and e-Discovery support for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Mimosa NearPoint for Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides the industry with an extensive content archive solution that delivers enhanced information management capabilities to address critical requirements for storage optimization, recovery, information access, and e-Discovery in a single offering.
Continue at source...

Mainsoft links Microsoft SharePoint, IBM Jazz

In partnership with IBM, Mainsoft on Tuesday will ship an integration package that links Microsoft's SharePoint collaboration platform and IBM's Rational Jazz system for application lifecycle management, enabling business users to have their say in application development.
Continue at source...

Microsoft SharePoint Developer Challenge

Here is an opportunity for you to win great prizes by sharing your knowledge and breadth of experience with Developers in the SharePoint Developer Forum.

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointdevelopment/threads/

From March 1st, 2009 to May 31st, 2009 there will be three contests and 5 monthly prizes given. You can win an Xbox 360, a Zune 120GB , or a 7” digital frame!

For more information, including eligibility and entry requirements, see official rules at http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/pages/microsoft-sharepoint-developer-forum-challenge-official-rules.aspx.

How to use a URL parameter to filter a Data View Web part in FrontPage 2003

This works for MOSS as well...

Insert a Data View

To add a Data View to your Web, page follow these steps:

1.Click the position on the page where you want your Data view to reside.
2.On the Data menu, click Insert Data View.
3.Click the data source that you want to use for your view.
4.Click Insert Data View.

Modify the parameter binding location

To modify the Data View to accept data from a URL, follow these steps:

1.Open the page in FrontPage 2003.
2.At the bottom of the edit window, click Code.
3.On the Edit menu, click Find.
4.In the Find What box, type ParameterBinding Name="filterParam", and then click Find Next.
5.Find the Location attribute in this line.
6.Replace the current Location attribute value with the following: "Postback;Connection;QueryString(Param)" Where Param is the parameter in the URL query string that you want to pass to the Data View filter (i.e. default.aspx?Param=MyValue).
7.At the bottom of the edit window, click Design.
8.Add a filter to the Data View. To do so, follow these steps
a. On the Data menu, click Filter.
b. Click Click here to add a new clause.
c. Select the Field Name that you want to filter on.
d. For the Value to compare against, click [Input Parameter].
9.Save the Web page.

"Fantastic 40" SharePoint Application Templates

Lawrence has just posted the completion to the
Completing the "Fantastic 40" – 20 remaining application templates now available, plus more!

Dont forget to check out the Updated Installation Guide for the 20 server admin Application Templates for WSS 3.0