This is a blog post in the series “How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013”. In this series, I'll use data from a fictitious company called "Contoso" to show you how to use search features to set up a website based on product catalog data. Note: Most of the features described in this series are not available in SharePoint 2013 Online.
For an overview of the blog posts in this series, go to How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013.
Quick overview
In previous blog posts, I showed you how to add a Content Search Web Part to a page, and how to configure the query for a catalog page. The next step is to do the same for the catalog item page.
In this blog post we'll learn:
Start stage 10
Defining how catalog items should be displayed on our Contoso site
The various products featured in the Contoso catalog are all available in different colors. For example, by looking in our catalog list, you’ll see that the Northwind Traders 50W Car Radio is available in five different colors. The color versions of a product are grouped under a common Group Number.
When displaying a product on our Contoso site, visitors should easily see that the product exists in other colors. For example, when visitors browse to a silver colored version of the Northwind Traders 50W Car Radio, they should easily see which other color options are available for that item. They should also be able to quickly view details about the product in another color, without having to go back to the category page.
So, on our catalog item page we want to display items that have the same Group Number. To do this, we’ll have to use the Content Search Web Part (CSWP).
Note: The item details page that was automatically created when we connected our publishing site to our catalog contained several Catalog Item Reuse Web Parts (CIRWP). There are scenarios where using CIRWPs to display item detail content would be appropriate. However, because the CIRWP is only able to display one item at a time, we can't use this Web Part for our Contoso scenario.
For information about how to customize the automatically created catalog item page using CIRWPs, see How to: Customize page layouts for a catalog-based site in SharePoint 2013.
How to add a Content Search Web Part to a catalog item page
Browse to the catalog item page. In our scenario, click the item "Northwind Traders 50W Car Radio" in the "Audio" category.
This page doesn't show any content. This is because we didn't add any Web Parts to the page when we created it.
Our catalog item page only has one Web Part zone. To add a CSWP to our catalog item page, repeat the steps from How to add a Content Search Web Part to a page, and add the Web Part to Zone 1.
As was the case when we added a CSWP to our category page, the Web Part displays some content (Audio, Cameras and Computers) -- but not the content we want to display. To make the Web Part display Contoso catalog content, we'll need to configure the query in the Web Part. To configure the query, we’ll use what’s known as a query variable. However, before we move on, let me first explain what query variables are, and how they’re used when configuring a query.
About query variables
A query variable is a placeholder that is replaced with a value when a query is run.
I completely understand if you thought that definition was as clear as mud, so let me try to explain it in the context of our Contoso scenario.
You might not have been aware of it, but in Stage 9 when we configured the query in the CSWP on the catalog page, we used a query variable. Here’s what we did: When we selected Restrict by current and child navigation terms, a query variable was added to our query. That query variable was a placeholder for the navigation value in the URL (audio, camera, mp3 etc.). Whenever a visitor clicked a category, the query variable in the Web Part was replaced with the navigation value in the URL. As a result, the Web Part issued a query for catalog items that had been tagged with "audio", "camera", "mp3" etc.
Coming back to our catalog item page, we want to display items that have the same Group Number. Remember how in Stage 3 we added Group Number as one of the list columns to be used as a Catalog Item URL Field. We did this so that the value of Group Number would be used in the URL.
The image below shows our final Contoso site. Notice that the group number, 5637145950, is used as the second to last value in the URL.
If we browse to another product, we’ll see that the group number for this product, 5637145875, is also used as the second to last value in the URL.
So, when configuring the query for the CSWP on our catalog item page, we should use a query variable that will represent the second to last value in the URL.
Query variables are contained within curly brackets like this: {QueryVariable}. I don't know about you, but I always get a bit edgy whenever I see these kinds of brackets, because they usually mean we are moving into something complex. But not to worry, it's not as scary or as complex as it looks.
As I mentioned above, when we configured the query in the CSWP on the catalog page, we used a query variable. However, we never had to deal with any scary looking curly brackets, because the nice-looking radio button, Restrict by current and child navigation terms, took care of that for us. To configure the query for our item catalog page, we’ll have to add a query variable with curly brackets. Luckily, we’ll have some friendly pull-down menus to help us along. So let's dive into the task of configuring the query.
How to configure a query in a Content Search Web Part on a catalog item page
In Advanced Mode, in the Query text field, you’ll see some text. This is the query text that represents our result source catalog - Products Results (we saw the same query text in Stage 9 when we learned about How to view details of the query configuration).
ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT is the managed property name of the site column Group Number (remember how I showed you the naming convention for this column in an earlier blog post). Contains and Value of a token from URL will create the query variable we want to use.
Notice that ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT:{URLToken.1} has been added to the Query text field. So without having to know about query syntax or type in a curly bracket, we’ve added a query variable.
So now you might be thinking "OK, that was easy, but what does ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT:{URLToken.1} actually mean?" Well, let me break it down :
If we put the entire query together, this query means the following:
From the result source catalog - Products Results, search for items where the value of the managed property ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT contains the value that is currently used as the first value in the URL, counting from right to left.
In Stage 3, we defined that the item URL should contain both Group Number and Item Number as catalog Item URL Fields. This means that the first value in the URL, counting from right to left, is Item Number. We want to search for items that have the same Group Number, so we need to make a small change to the query variable.
Now the query in the Web Part will search for items where the value of the managed property ProductCatalogGroupNumberOWSTEXT contains the value that is currently used as the second value in the URL, counting from right to left.
Notice that five items are displayed under RelevantResults. This verifies that the query is correct, because we know that that the Northwind Traders 50W Car Radio is available in five different colors.
Even though this looks far from our desired outcome (three products are displayed instead of only one, we still don’t have a "Contoso look"), believe me, this is progress. The query in the Web Part has now been configured. In the next blog post, I’ll show you how to add display templates that will give our items the Contoso look.
Next blog post in this seriesStage 11: Upload and apply display templates to the Content Search Web Part
Additional resources
The Microsoft Office Interactive Content Pivot helps you find the SharePoint Server 2013, Project Server 2013, and Office 365 technical content that you’re looking for. The content pivot brings together content from TechNet and Office.com and allows you to filter on a variety of parameters, such as technical subject, job role, and IT lifecycle. Each tile in the pivot represents an article on TechNet or Office.com. Each tile is color-coded by IT lifecycle, and contains the title of the article, which products it applies to, and a summary of the content.
The pivot viewer initially looks like this and currently indexes over 2300 articles:
You can use the filters to narrow down the content set returned, for example by setting Technical Subject to "data, information, and assets", and Job Role to "analysts", you filter the set down to about 50 articles.
You can zoom in to see the titles of the articles displayed. Some tiles have icons on them that tell you if the article contains a specific type of content, such as a video or diagram. The article in the following image has a video.
You can open the article for viewing in another browser window by clicking the View button. You can also create your own pre-filtered list of articles by clicking the Add button on the tiles for the articles that you want, and then choosing Bookmark List from the Actions menu.
Try it out! http://www.microsoft.com/resources/Technet/en-us/Office/media/ITProPivotViewer/
- Samantha Robertson, on behalf of the SharePoint, Project, and Office 365 content teams.
The Test Lab Guide (TLG), Configure eDiscovery for SharePoint Server 2013, describes how to configure eDiscovery in SharePoint Server 2013.
This TLG takes you through the following eDiscovery configuration steps:
The resulting test lab is a place for you to begin learning more about eDiscovery configuration in SharePoint Server 2013.
Here is the set of TLGs in the Social Features Test Lab Guide stack:
If you have a suggestion about a SharePoint Server 2013TLG that we should be considering, let us know at tlgfb@microsoft.com.
To get started with SharePoint Server 2013, see the following:
Hal ZucatiTechnical Writer II
With Microsoft’s cloud strategy and engineering investment into Office 365, one SharePoint 2013 feature is a rising star: host-named site collections.
Host-named site collections are how Microsoft achieves scale in its multi-tenant environment. New features and existing features are optimized to work with host-named site collections like never before. However, it’s not just the feature that is important. It’s how it is configured — all host-named site collections are deployed to a single web application. The App model and Request Management, for example, are optimized for this configuration.
Being the author of many of the logical architecture design samples and articles that told you to isolate different types of content into different web applications, I recognize how disruptive this new recommendation might be for those of us who are SharePoint troupers. Nevertheless, the argument for moving in this direction is compelling. Because we run this configuration in our Office 365 environment, it is the most comprehensively tested and reliable configuration going forward.
Host-named site collections require more sophistication than the alternative, path-based site collections. It’s all described in a new article — Host-named site collection architecture and deployment (SharePoint 2013).
I’m proud to say that this article is the result of a close partnership with one of Microsoft’s field solution architects — Timo Heidschuster — who has implemented many production-level solutions using host-named site collections. Timo’s customers are early adopters of SharePoint 2013. He has been working with this feature set for several product versions and he provided valuable feedback to the product team throughout the release cycle. Timo provided the Windows PowerShell scripts and much of the guidance based on his experience in the field.
Since the emphasis on using host-named site collections is relatively new, feel free to use this blog post to ask questions, comment on the article, request more information, or simply vent.
Brenda Carter, Long-time SharePoint Writer
The SharePoint writing team has been busy completing the permissions content for SharePoint 2013 by publishing the following:
We hope that with these new resources, it will be much easier to understand and manage permissions in SharePoint 2013. Please let us know if we missed something by leaving a comment on this blog post.
Enjoy (but only if permitted)!
Joe Davies Principal Writer
My esteemed colleague K.C. Cross has just published Demonstrate profile synchronization, a new Test Lab Guide (TLG) for SharePoint Server 2013.
This new TLG steps you through the configuration and demonstration of profile synchronization using the SharePoint Server synchronization tool. This tool synchronizes profiles between SharePoint Server 2013 and a single Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain controller.
While working through this configuration, K.C. also took the opportunity to test and improve two other TLGs for SharePoint:
Here is a portion of the TLG stack for SharePoint Server 2013 that shows the new relationship of these TLGs (click on it to see a larger version):
For anyone who has been challenged by the successful configuration of profile synchronization, this new TLG walks you through the entire process in the SharePoint 2013 three-tier farm test lab.
Hats off to K.C. for this great new addition to the SharePoint 2013 TLG suite!
See SharePoint Server 2013 Test Lab for the complete list of TLGs for SharePoint Server 2013 (there are now 18 of them), including the SharePoint Server 2013 Business Intelligence TLG stack.
For more information about TLGs, see Test Lab Guides.
Enjoy (synchronously, this time)!
This is a blog post in the series “How to set up a product-centric website in SharePoint Server 2013.” In this series, I'll use data from a fictitious company called "Contoso" to show you how to use search features to set up a website based on product catalog data. Note: Most of the features described in this series are not available in SharePoint 2013 Online.
In previous blog posts, I showed you how to create a category page and a catalog item page. I also showed you how to assign these two pages to terms within the Site Navigation term set. When we browsed to the "Audio" category, we couldn't see any content. This was because when we created the category page, we didn't add any Web Parts.
In this stage we will start to merge different pieces of what we have done in previous steps. In this blog post we'll learn:
Start stage 9
To display content on our Contoso website, we'll use the Content Search Web Part.
About the Content Search Web Part
The Content Search Web Part (CSWP) uses, as its name implies, search technology.
Most of us use search technology on a daily basis. Think about how many times a day you enter query terms in a search box, for example on bing.com; how after pressing Enter, you scan search results that are almost immediately displayed on a search results page (by the way, how did you find this blog post?).
When visitors browse to a page that contains a CSWP, they're probably not aware of this, but they're actually issuing a query. However, the thing that differs with CSWPs is that instead of entering query terms in a search box, the query is contained within the Web Part itself. This means that when a visitor browses to a page that contains a CSWP, this query is automatically issued.
Another thing that is different from the bing.com search scenario is that search results aren't displayed on a separate search results page, but within the CSWP. In most cases, visitors won't even know that search technology is being used to display the content they're viewing. To them, it'll look and feel like any other webpage.
How to add a Content Search Web Part to a page
Browse to the page where you want to add the CSWP. In our scenario, let's browse to "Audio".
In our scenario, we'll add a CSWP to Zone 3.
The CSWP contains a default query, so it already displays some content (Audio, Cameras and Computers) -- but not the content we want to display. To make the Web Part display Contoso catalog content , we'll need to configure the query in the Web Part.
How to configure a query in a Content Search Web Part on a category page
In the dialog box, notice that "Audio" is shown in the top left corner. This is the category which we navigated to and selected to edit the page from. Also notice, that in the RelevantResults section, the top three results, Audio, Cameras and Computers, are listed. These are the same three results that were shown in the Web Part when we added it.
A result source narrows the scope from which search results can be retrieved. When we connected our publishing site to our catalog, SharePoint Server 2013 automatically created a result source for our catalog. In our scenario, this result source is named catalog - Products Results. By selecting this result source, only search results from our catalog are retrieved.
For more information about result sources, see Plan result source and query rules.
When we selected this result source, the number of RelevantResults changed from 864 to 775. 775 happens to be the number of items we have in our catalog. Therefore, selecting this result source confirms that we're on the right path to configuring the query.
A key phrase in this selection is navigation terms. This refers to the category in the site navigation the visitor is browsing. In this particular case, the visitor is browsing the "Audio" category.
Remember, one of the first things we did in this series was to import catalog content into a list. We also imported terms into the term set Product Hierarchy, and associated each item in the list with a term from that term set. When we connected our publishing site to our catalog, we specified that the full site navigation should contain terms from the Product Hierarchy term set. Because we have used the same term set to tag the items in our catalog and to build our site navigation, we can use a term from our site navigation to search for catalog items that have been tagged with that same term.
So, our query in the CSWP will therefore display search results for items that are in the catalog - Products Results result source, and that have been tagged with either "Audio", or any of the children of "Audio", for example "MP3 players" or "Speakers".
This selection reduced the relevant search results to 114, which happens to be the number of items in our catalog that belong to the "Audio" group.
Another key phrase from the selection Restrict by current and child navigation terms is "current." I'll talk more about the importance of this phrase in the next section.
On the "Audio" category, the search results have changed to show different results.
If you browse to the "Cameras" category, you'll see three other search results displayed.
If you browse to the "MP3" category, you'll see three other different search results are displayed.
If you are now thinking "OK, I understand how we got the correct search results for the "Audio" category, because that is the category we clicked, and where we changed the query in the Web Part. But why do we see different search results when we browse the catalog? And shouldn’t we change the query for all the other categories as well?"
Well, let's take a closer look at what's going on.
About the query configuration
We only had to configure one query because the same page is used for all categories. Remember how in stage 8 we assigned the page ContosoCategoryPage.aspx to all terms within the Site Navigation term set? We assigned this page to all terms, so even though we edited this page in the "Audio" category, we could have edited it in any other category, and achieved the same result.
We only had to configure the query once, because the query issued from the Web Part differs depending on which category we browse to. Remember that the CSWP contains a query that is automatically issued whenever someone browses to a page that contains a CSWP, and that search results are displayed in the Web Part. Also, remember that we selected Restrict by current and child navigation terms when we configured the query in the Web part. The word "current" is very important, because it means that the query issued by the CSWP will change depending on the category the visitor is currently browsing. If you edit the Web Part from another category, you can see that the Web Part has changed.
For example, if I browse to the "Cameras" category and take a closer look at the CSWP, I can see that:
So, when I browse to the "Audio" category, the CSWP issues a query for catalog items that have been tagged with "Audio" or any children of "Audio", and displays search results. When I browse to the "Cameras" category, the same CSWP (remember, we only used one page for all categories) issues a different query, this time for catalog items that have been tagged with "Cameras" or any children of "Cameras", hence different results are displayed.
How to view details of the query configuration
To view details of the query configuration, click on the TEST tab. The actual query issued by the CSWP, is shown in the Query text field.
In our example, the query that is issued by the CSWP from the "Audio" category looks like this:
(contentclass:sts_listitem OR IsDocument:True) SPSiteUrl:http://contoso/sites/catalog ListId:3a3f66cd-9741-4f15-b53a-b4b23c3187ea owstaxidProductCatalogItemCategory:#c771504f-6a2f-423f-98de-0e12fcfa08c9
If this doesn't make any sense to you, don't worry! There is a logic to it, and I'll break it down to make it clearer.
In our Product catalog site collection, in the Product Hierarchy term set, you can see that the GUID represents the term Audio.
So now we have configured the query for the CSWP on our category page. We still have to do some configuration to make it display more than three search results, and also give it a "Contoso look." I will show you how to do this in a later post. The next step is to add a CSWP to our catalog item page, and configure the query to show individual catalog items.
Next blog post in this seriesStage 10: Configure the query in a Content Search Web Part on a catalog item page
Additional resourcesConfigure Search Web Parts in SharePoint Server 2013Scenario: Create SharePoint sites by using cross-site publishing in SharePoint Server 2013
In previous steps we have:
In this step, we will assign these newly created pages to the terms within the Site Navigation term set.
Start stage 8
Before we begin the task of assigning a category page and a catalog item page to a term, I want to explain a bit more about some of the features that are involved when doing this task.
About managed navigation
Managed navigation is new in SharePoint Server 2013. This navigation method lets you define and maintain your site navigation by using term sets.
One of the benefits of using managed navigation is that it separates the site navigation from the location of your content. With managed navigation, it's not the location of your content that defines where in the navigation your content will appear, but how you tag your content with terms from a term set. For example, in previous versions of SharePoint, if you wanted to add a new page under "About our company," you had to add that page under the "About our company" branch within your content. With managed navigation, you can add a page to the branch that makes the most sense to you. By tagging that page with a term, and using Search Web Parts, it will appear in the correct place in the navigation.
Another benefit of managed navigation is that it creates friendly URLs. In previous versions of SharePoint, the URL to a page contained a reference to the Pages library and any folders within that library, for example: http://www.contoso.com/pages/products/computers/laptops.aspx. With managed navigation, URLs are based on the terms in the term set that drives your site navigation, for example: http://www.contoso.com/computers/laptops.
In a previous blog post, I showed you how terms from the Product Hierarchy term set will be used to create a friendly URL.
Important: Managed navigation is not tied to a publishing method, and can be used both for author-in-place and for cross-site publishing. For more information, see Overview of managed navigation.
About the category page and the catalog item page
When you display information in a catalog format, the layout and structure of the category pages should be consistent across the catalog. For example, in our Contoso scenario, we want the category page for all MP3 players to have the same layout as the category page for all camcorders.
Also, no matter what type of product a visitor views, the catalog item page should be consistent. For example always display an image of a product in the top left corner, followed by tables of product specifications.
By combining managed navigation with category pages and catalog item pages, you don't have to create several pages for your catalog categories or for your catalog items. For example, in our Contoso scenario, we will use only use the two pages we created in Stage 7.
So, after all that theory, in the next section, I will finally show you how you can do this.
How to assign a category page and a catalog item page to a term
In Stage 7, we created a new category page and a new catalog item page. Now we want to associate these pages with the terms in the term set that drive site navigation.
In the Target Page Settings and Catalog Item Page Settings sections, there are four references pointing to two pages: Category-Electronics.aspx and CatalogItem-Electronics.aspx.
Remember in Stage 5 when we connected our publishing site to our catalog? In that stage, a category page and a catalog item page were automatically created and added to the Pages library. What I didn't tell you in Stage 5 is that references to these pages were added to this term set, as shown in the image above. In the next steps we will change these references so that they point to our newly created category page and catalog item page.
By setting this reference, when visitors browse to "Audio" on the Contoso site, the page ContosoCategoryPage.aspx will be used to display information. It is important to understand that visitors will not see the page name ContosoCategoryPage.aspx, but instead a friendly URL (I talk more about this in the last section of this blog post).
By setting this reference, when visitors browse to an item that has been tagged with the term "Audio,” the page ContosoCatalogItemPage.aspx will be used to display information.
After applying the new category page and catalog item page to all terms, you can browse to a category page to verify that the correct page is being used. In our scenario, when we browse to "Audio,” there's not much to see.
This is good, because when we created the category page in Stage 7, we created an empty page.
To display content, we will have to add Search Web Parts. I will show you how to do this in my next blog post.
About the friendly URL for category pages
When you use managed navigation, the friendly URLs that visitors see are composed of the terms from the term set that drives site navigation. To see how friendly URLs are composed, do the following:
The friendly URL is displayed in the Configure Friendly URL for this term section.
Similarly, when you click on "Car audio,” you'll see the friendly URL for this page.
If you want to change a friendly URL, for example from "audio" to "audio players,” you should change the actual term itself. That way, the friendly URL and the term that is used to tag your content will remain consistent.
If this was somewhat confusing, don't worry. I will explain more about how Search Web Parts work in the next blog post.
Next blog post in this seriesStage 9: Configure the query in a Content Search Web Part on a category page
Additional ResourcesOverview of managed navigationPlan to show catalog content in SharePoint publishing sitesAssign a category page and a catalog item page to a term in SharePoint Server 2013Scenario: Create SharePoint sites by using cross-site publishing in SharePoint Server 2013
With the release of SharePoint Server 2013 and the new Office 365, SharePoint is increasingly moving towards an “integrated services” architecture in which on-premises SharePoint Server features can be integrated with SharePoint Online to create what is commonly called a “hybrid” SharePoint environment. In this blog post, we’ll talk a little about what constitutes a hybrid environment, why you might need one, and how to find updated guidance to help you plan, design and configure your own.
Cloud services such as SharePoint Online in Office 365 can be an attractive alternative to on-premises SharePoint business solutions, but for a variety of reasons, you might need to deploy specific solutions in the cloud while still maintaining your on-premises SharePoint farm. New functionality in SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Online enables you to integrate services like search, Business Connectivity Services, and Duet Enterprise Online across the on-prem/cloud boundary.
In a hybrid SharePoint Server 2013/Office 365 environment, you can configure single sign-on (SSO) to federate your on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) domain with your Office 365 Enterprise tenant, just like you could in SharePoint Server 2010. SharePoint Server 2013 also includes native support for OAuth 2.0 to enable server-to-server trust relationships between SharePoint Server and SharePoint Online. A hybrid SharePoint environment uses this server-to-server trust relationship at the service level to deliver cross-boundary functionality and content on behalf of authenticated users.
To understand what this kind of integration looks like at a functional level, here’s an example of how a company might use hybrid SharePoint search.
Company A wants to keep using their existing on-premises SharePoint environment, but also wants to use SharePoint Online to provide a collaboration solution for remote/branch office users and employees of partners or vendors (Company B and Company C). They also want to make it possible for all of their SharePoint Online users to search both SharePoint Online and on-premises SharePoint content to which those users have permissions.
In such a case, Company A can effectively extend their on-premises SharePoint farm by configuring a hybrid solution that integrates on-premises SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Online search services.
This hybrid search solution enables functionality like the following:
In late 2012, the SharePoint Server content team released white papers that described the end-to-end configuration of hybrid search for SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Online. The content in these white papers represented the best guidance we could assemble for this very complex configuration process at the time.
Using information gleaned from additional first-hand testing and feedback from subject matter experts and customers alike, we have been working hard to improve our guidance overall. We have greatly expanded the original content with additional details explaining the purpose and implications of each step, conceptual and topology diagrams, better context and validation at the procedure level, and new guidance for testing and troubleshooting. We’ve republished this revised content as a modular series of TechNet topics, and included topics that contain specific guidance for each supported SharePoint Server 2013 hybrid solution.
We start with a topic that describes the overall hybrid solution:
Based on lessons we learned from our own first-hand experience as well as customer feedback, we chose a modular content structure that breaks down the end-to-end hybrid configuration process into three phases:
By splitting the content up into modules, we reuse the common building blocks used in every hybrid solution (Phases 1 and 2), and provide separate configuration articles for the specific hybrid solutions that you want in Phase 3.
We’re interested to hear your thoughts about our approach to the content structure, and whether or not it’s more useful than a comprehensive document. We’re also interested to get opinions about where we should focus our content efforts.
Please send feedback to itspdocs@microsoft.com.
Following on the cool upgrade videos published by Samantha Robertson, the following new conceptual videos that describe SharePoint 2013 authentication processes are now available:
These videos step you through the details of claims-based authentication for user access to a secure SharePoint resource.
You can also view these videos from the following topics in the SharePoint 2013 TechNet Library:
Additionally, the following Test Lab Guide (TLG) overview videos are available:
These videos show you the stack (the set of TLGs that you need to configure) and the lab build-out, correlated with the steps in the TLG. The idea is to give you an idea of what's involved in building a given test lab in a short, to-the-point, and visually interesting way. You can then decide whether to take the plunge and make it happen in your test lab.
For more information about TLGs, see the Test Lab Guides portal page.
If you have any suggestions about to improve these types of videos, please let us know by leaving a comment on this blog post.
For additional videos for SharePoint 2013, see Video demos and training for SharePoint 2013.
Enjoy (quite visually, this time)!
We are excited to announce a refreshed version of the technical training materials for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013. This training package is for administrators, architects, and business analysts for learning all the new capabilities and functionalities in SharePoint Server 2013. Content doesn’t only concentrate on SharePoint configuration, but also covers the different new functionalities from user experience perspective.
This training package is publicly available from the SharePoint TechCenter and contains multiple videos and downloadable presentations that are used with the videos.
The released package contains many technical details across the SharePoint Server 2013. This is the refreshed version of the previously released training package, and all materials have been updated to match the RTM version of SharePoint Server 2013.
All videos include slide shows, and most videos contain at least one demo that shows the covered concepts in detail.
The material has been separated into to 14 modules. Each one contains one or more videos lasting anywhere from 5 minutes to more than an hour.
Refreshed version of this package has slightly different presenters than what beta version had. All presenters are working in Microsoft and have been closely involved with SP2013 product release since the early alpha versions of the product. There was lot of more people also involved from Microsoft to create the training materials from different organization units. Here’s short introduction to each of the presenters.
Bill is a Senior Product Marketing Manager at Microsoft. In this training package, Bill is responsible for the Business Continuity Management video recordings and the overall coordination of the content.
Chris is as Solution Architect at Microsoft. In this training package, Chris is responsible for social video recordings.
Sean is a Senior Program Manager at Microsoft. In this training package, Sean is responsible for the upgrading topics.
Steve is a Principal Consultant at Microsoft. In this training package, Steve is responsible for fundamentals of architecture, general farm configuration, enterprise search and security-related topics.
Vesa is a Principal Consultant at Microsoft and is also the program manager for the training package. In this training package, Vesa gives the general introduction and he also discusses miscellaneous service applications, Office Web Apps, customization considerations, ECM and WCM.
Here are a few frequently asked questions related to the refreshed package.
Enjoy,Vesa JuvonenPrincipal Consultant
Related links:
In my previous blog post, I showed you how to upload and apply a new master page. The next step in giving our site a "Contoso look", is to create new pages.
Note: This blog post will not cover how to create a page layout. It explains how to upload already finalized page layouts. These files will not be made available for download.
Start stage 7
About page layouts
A page layout is a template for a page in your site. This is where you define the layout and structure for the body of a page.
Page layouts contain page field controls and Web Part zones. Page field controls and Web Part zones are placeholders that define where content can be added by authors. They are added to a page layout at a specific position, for example on the left side of a column, and with specific style elements, such as bold.
In my previous blog post, I explained how SharePoint Server 2013 automatically converts an HTML master page into an ASP.NET page. The same rule applies to page layouts - you can create a page layout in HTML format, and SharePoint Server 2013 will automatically convert it into an ASP.NET page for you. This means that when you design your page layout, you can do this in your favorite HTML editor, focus on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and you don't have to worry about ASP.NET or SharePoint-specific markup.
For more information, see Overview of the SharePoint 2013 page model, and How to: Create a page layout in SharePoint Server 2013.
About pages and rendered pages
It is important to understand that authors do not add content to a page layout. Content is added to a page.
A page is created based on a specific page layout. Once you've created a page, authors can add content that they want to display on their website to the page. Because the page is based on a page layout with page field controls and Web Part zones, authors cannot add content outside of these areas.
When visitors browse a site, they will see a rendered page. In a rendered page, the master page is merged with the page layout, and the content for the page is displayed in the page fields and Web Part zones.
For more information, see Overview of the SharePoint 2013 page model.
How to upload a new page layout
In our Contoso scenario, we have two page layouts; one for the category page, and one for the catalog item page.
In my previous blog post, I showed you how to map a network drive. Because we have mapped our network drive, uploading these page layouts becomes very easy. Simply drag and drop the files into your Master Page Gallery.
In SharePoint, refresh the Master Page Gallery page to see that the two page layouts have been added. Also notice that an associated ASP.NET file has been created for each of the page layouts.
How to turn off versioning for the Pages Library
In our scenario, I am not using SharePoint workflows for approval. My files have already been approved, so before I create a new page, I want to turn off versioning for the Pages library.
To turn off versioning for the Pages library:
We are now ready to create our two new pages.
How to create a page based on a page layout
To create a new page:
After you click OK, the newly created page is shown in the Pages library.
In our Contoso scenario, we will also need a catalog item page. To create this page, I repeat steps 3 and 4 from the previous procedure, however for Page Layout, I select ContosoElectroniceCatalogItemPageLayout.
Our Pages library now contains two new pages: ContosoCategoryPage and ContosoCatalogItemPage.
Now that we have created these pages, the next step is to assign them to the terms that drive our site navigation.
Next blog article in this seriesStage 8: Assign a category page and a catalog item page to a term.
Additional ResourcesHow to: Create a page layout in SharePoint Server 2013 Add snippets to a master page or a page layout in SharePoint Server 2013 Scenario: Create SharePoint sites by using cross-site publishing in SharePoint Server 2013
In an effort to consolidate all of the best information about troubleshooting SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013, I recently published the Troubleshoot SharePoint portal page in the TechNet Wiki. This new portal page provides links to:
The SharePoint 2010 Best Practices portal page created and nurtured by Margriet Bruggeman and with additions from all over the SharePoint community is a great example of how we can all contribute to a definitive resource for SharePoint IT pros looking for deployment best practices.
In the same way, I invite you to lend a hand to review and contribute to the new Troubleshoot SharePoint portal page. Please feel free to add to the list of links and improve its organization so that SharePoint IT pros can turn to it as the definitive resource to find content for a troubleshooting issue with SharePoint.
Here's hoping you never have to "enjoy" troubleshooting content…
Business intelligence (BI) is all about bringing together data and turning it into meaningful information that people can use to make better business decisions. Just in case you didn’t already know, Excel 2013 includes a lot of exciting new BI capabilities, such as the following:
Those are just a few great features. Excel is loaded with capabilities that enable you to create powerful reports, scorecards, and dashboards, such as the example dashboard shown below. See What’s New in Excel for more details.
Once you’ve created your BI content, you’ll probably want to share it with others. And that’s where Excel Services (which comes with SharePoint Server 2013) and Excel Web App (part of Office Web Apps Server) come into play. These applications enable you to share workbooks that people can view and interact with in a browser window.
Your organization might be using SharePoint Server 2013, Office Web Apps Server 2013, or both to share Office documents with others. However, when it comes to displaying a workbook in a browser window, your organization is using either Excel Services (SharePoint Server) or Excel Web App (Office Web Apps Server)—not both. A SharePoint administrator makes the call, and it’s a farm-wide decision. And that decision affects which BI capabilities are available to you when you’re viewing a workbook in a browser window. Excel Web App enables you to edit a workbook in a browser window, but it does not support workbooks that contain a Data Model or Power View reports. Excel Services enables you to view workbooks that contain a Data Model, Power View reports, external data refresh, and lots of other BI capabilities in a browser window.
We have detailed documentation that covers all of this. See the following resources:
We’re always interested in customer feedback. Feel free to use the Comments feature of this blog to tell us what you think. We take all feedback into consideration as we continue to improve the quality of our content. And we’ll pass along comments about product features to our product teams for their consideration. And Happy Dashboarding!
Denise Stendera
Writer, Excel Services
As described in Stage 5: Connect your publishing site to a catalog, we connected the publishing site to our catalog. When we connected, SharePoint Server 2013 automatically created some pages for us, on which some search results where shown. These pages all have the standard SharePoint look, so now it is time to give it a "Contoso look".
In this blog post, we'll learn:
Note: This blog post will not cover how to create a master page. It will only cover how to upload and apply an already finalized master page file and other design files that are stored locally on my computer. These files are not available for download.
For information about how to create a master page, see Overview of Design Manager in SharePoint 2013 and How to: Convert an HTML file into a master page in SharePoint Server 2013.
Start stage 6
About the master page
When visitors browse our Contoso site, they'll see different content on different pages. The displayed content is a combination of a master page and page layouts.
A master page defines the common layout and interface that you see on all your webpages, such as logo, title and navigation menu.
Layout and interface for the individual pages, such as the home page, or the page that displays Audio products, are handled by page layouts. I'll talk more about them in later blog posts.
In previous versions of SharePoint, you had to design master pages in ASP.NET. These master pages also had to include SharePoint specific markup, such as controls and content placeholders.
In SharePoint Server 2013, you can create a master page in HTML format, and SharePoint Server 2013 will convert this into an ASP.NET page for you. This means that when you design your master page, you can do this in your favorite HTML editor, focus on HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and you don't have to worry about ASP.NET or SharePoint-specific markup.
When you add an HTML master page to SharePoint Server 2013, an associated ASP.NET master page will be automatically created. Because the two files are associated, any changes you make to the HTML master page will be automatically updated in the associated ASP.NET master page .
About the Master Page Gallery
In our scenario, we have an HTML master page and some design assets, such as a CSS file and images, that we want to upload and apply to our Contoso site. All these files are stored on my local computer.
SharePoint expects to find design files in the Master Page Gallery, so this is where we should upload the files. To get to the Master Page Gallery, go to Site Settings --> Master pages and page layouts.
You can use the Upload Document button to upload a single file to the Master Page Gallery. However, using this button every time you want to add a document can be somewhat cumbersome. To make life easy for yourself, you can map your network drive. This will enable you to drag and drop files into the Master Page Gallery with Windows Explorer.
How to map your network drive
Note: The next steps will vary depending on your computer's operating system. My computer is running Windows 8, so I will show you how to map your network drive from Windows 8.
How to turn off versioning for the Master Page Gallery
In our scenario, I am not using SharePoint workflows for approval. My files have already been approved, so before I upload a new master page, I want to turn off versioning for the Master Page Gallery.
To turn off versioning for the Master Page Gallery:
Now we're ready to upload a new master page.
How to upload a new master page
Because we have mapped our network drive, uploading a new master page becomes extremely easy. Simply drag and drop the file into your Master Page Gallery.
If you have any associated design files, such as CSS files or images, you can drag and drop these into the Master Page Gallery as well.
In SharePoint, refresh the Master Page Gallery page to see that the new HTML master page has been added. However, note that an associated ASP.NET master page has not yet been created.
Because we dragged and dropped the HTML master page into the Master Page Galley, the content type associated with the file is Design File. For SharePoint Server 2013 to create an associated ASP.NET master page, we have to change the content type for the newly uploaded HTML master file. This is done by changing the file properties.
To change the file properties:
On the Master Page Gallery page, we can see that an associated ASP.NET master page has been created.
We are now ready to apply our new master page.
How to apply a new master page
To apply a new master page:
By clicking on the Audio page, we verify that our new master page is now being used.
The next step is to start working on the page layouts.
Next blog article in this seriesStage 7: Upload page layouts and create new pages in a publishing site
Additional Resources