Collaboration Blog

My new blog location ... Introducing ‘The UK SharePoint’ team blog

2009-01-06T15:22:00Z

After careful thought, I have decided to join forces with the rest of the SharePoint team in UK Microsoft Consulting Services to work collectively on a new team blog called The UK SharePoint Team (http://blogs.msdn.com/uksharepoint/ ).

With many people contributing to the blog, we hope you will find great content being posted regularly. The focus will be on informative, useful articles based on all things SharePoint covering the full spectrum of development, infrastructure, architecture and best practices.

The team blog idea has worked well in several teams already within Microsoft including Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog and The Deployment Guys (MCS Deployment Team). The new blog will replace all of the following blogs from people who are now going to contribute to The UK SharePoint Team instead:

· My Collaboration Blog

· Martin Kearn’ A Marvellous Point

· Nigel Bridport’s Share Points

· Graham Tyler’s The Goldfish bowl

· Rob Finney’s To The Point

· Paul Holdaway’s Spare Thought

· Brian Wilson’s blog

· Paul Robinson’s SharePoint Treats

· Other ‘SharePoint team members’ that do not currently have a blog

We have already posted an article on The UK SharePoint Team called “SharePoint Ports, Proxies and Protocols...” which talks about inter-farm communications, firewall ports etc within SharePoint. This is a summary of a presentation that was recently given at TechEd 2008 in Barcelona by Martin Kearn.

So redirect your RSS readers to http://blogs.msdn.com/uksharepoint/ and enjoy! J

Xbox 360 Avatars in a Content Editor Web Part (using Microsoft Popfly)!

2008-12-05T19:19:00Z

I recently made a nice looking Web Part (shown below) which shows a picture of my Xbox 360 avatar and those of my friends. I used Microsoft Popfly to make it look so great and I thought I’d explain how you could make your own. This is aimed at all those gamers out there!

Stage 1 – Rip My Popfly control

Go to my Popfly project here.
Select Rip This
With a copy of the Popfly project open, click the Configuration icon (a spanner) next to the List box.

5. In the Value text box, simply type in your Xbox Live Gamertag and that of your friends (separate names using commas; e.g. JIMMY KEMP, friend1, friend2)

6. Click OK

7. Click Run to see your Popfly project in action

8. Click Save and enter a name for your Popfly project

9. Click Share

10. Click Embed and then copy the html source, which will look something like the following:

Stage 2 – Create a Web Part

On your SharePoint site, from the Site Actions menu, click Edit Page
Click Add a Web Part
Select Content Editor Web Part and click Add
On the Content Editor Web Part click Open the Tool Pane

5. In the properties pane for the Web Part, click Source Editor...

6. Paste the html source you copied at the end of stage 1

7. Click Save

Enjoy!

Free Microsoft Guidance and Software for SharePoint and related technologies.....

2008-10-24T12:47:00Z

If you work in a healthcare organisation, or just want free Microsoft guidance and software to help you create a sophisticated SharePoint environment, the following maybe of interest.....

Microsoft has recently posted lots of Microsoft Healthcare Platform Optimisation (HPO) content here to help organisations configure a desktop and server infrastructure that is easy to manage and will help staff to perform day-to-day tasks. This includes in-depth guidance and software for Active Directory, Windows Vista, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, SharePoint Server 2007 and Office 2007.

From a SharePoint perspective, the applicable content includes:

Active Directory Design guidance
Collaboration Strategy Guide - compares Groove 2007, Communicator 2007, WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007
WSS 3.0 Deployment Guide
SharePoint Server 2007 Deployment Guide
SharePoint Server 2007 Information Architecture Guide
Enterprise Search (for SharePoint)
Collaboration Fundamentals Solution Enabler - a Solution file (.wsp) that helps users create their own community sites within SharePoint
Managing Meetings Solution Enabler - a Solution file (.wsp) that helps users share and store information related to meetings by creating Meeting Workspaces (sites) within SharePoint
Scorecards Solution Enabler - a Solution file (.wsp) that helps managers track organisational or departmental performance by using Scorecard sites within SharePoint

Much of the guidance is in-depth and provides step-by-step intructions to help configure a secure and well-designed envrionment. At the same time, the guides aim to be concise, ensuring you can configure an environment v easily.

I strongly recommend visiting the links above to find out more about each download. For those with SharePoint already installed, why not try the free wsp files (similar, but much richer, than the the fab 40 templates).

Enjoy!

How to hide the Quick Launch...

2008-09-26T12:47:00Z

The Quick Launch (a.k.a Current Navigation) is available on SharePoint sites to help users navigate to the appropriate lists, libraries and pages. However, on the rare occasion you are asked to hide the Quick Launch (shown in red) you can follow this post.

To hide the Quick Launch:

1. Open the appropriate page and from the Site Actions menu, click Edit Page.

2. Add a content editor Web part onto the appropriate page.

3. Click on Modify shared Web part.

4. Click the Source Editor... button:

5. Copy and paste the following HTML:

<style>

.ms-quicklaunch

{

display:none;

}

.ms-navframe

{

display: none;

}

</style>

6. Go to layouts section of the Web part and select Hidden:

7. Click OK to save your changes with no Quick Launch:

If you want to get the quick launch to appear again, just roll-back the above 5 steps. Nice and easy.

Enjoy!

Integrate IE7 Instant Search with SharePoint Search

2008-09-24T11:26:00Z

A nice way of increasing adoption of SharePoint within your organisation is to make SharePoint Search available from within IE7’s Instant Search Box (as shown below):

When a user enters a search term, clicks SharePoint and presses return, they will be presented with results from your SharePoint Search Center:

How to achieve this on one computer

To make this functionality available one computer (i.e. yours):

1. Open IE7, click the Instant Search drop-down and select Find More Providers...

2. In the Add Search Providers to Internet Explorer page, follow the 5 simple instructions in the Create your own section (in step 3 enter the URL of your SharePoint Search Center with the search term TEST included, example URL = http://yoursite/SearchCenter/Pages/results.aspx?k=TEST&s=All%20Sites)

3. Click Install

How to do it for multiple users

To make a SharePoint Search available to all users within your organisation is a bit trickier. To do this, you need to:

(A) Create a custom adm file, and

(B) Associate the custom adm file and the IE 7 inetres.adm file with a Group Policy Object (GPO).The GPO can then be deployed in the usual manner.

To do this:

1. Log onto a computer with IE7 and follow steps 1 and 2 of the “how to it on one computer” section (above)

2. Click Start, Run, type regedit and click OK

3. Within Regedit, navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search Scopes

4. One of the keys under the Search Scopes node will be the custom SharePoint Search scope:

5. Make a note of the 36 character node name (starting and ending with {}).

6. Paste the following into Notepad:

-----------

CLASS USER

CATEGORY !!WindowsComponents

CATEGORY !!InternetExplorer

POLICY !!PopulateSearchProviderList

#if version >= 4

SUPPORTED !!SUPPORTED_IE7

#endif

EXPLAIN !!IE_Explain_PopulateSearchProviderList

KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes"

VALUENAME Version

VALUEON NUMERIC 1

ACTIONLISTON

KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes"

VALUENAME DefaultScope VALUE "{79668451-BE03-40D8-80CC-F1FF21960036}"

KEYNAME "Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{79668451-BE03-40D8-80CC-F1FF21960036}"

VALUENAME DisplayName VALUE "SharePoint"

VALUENAME URL VALUE "http://yoursite/SearchCenter/Pages/results.aspx?s=All%20Sites& q={searchTerms}"

END ACTIONLISTON

END POLICY

END CATEGORY

[strings]

SUPPORTED_IE7="At least Internet Explorer 7.0"

WindowsComponents="Windows Components"

InternetExplorer="Internet Explorer"

PopulateSearchProviderList="Populate List of search providers"

IE_Explain_PopulateSearchProviderList="Makes SharePoint Search available from within IE7 Instant Search"

------------------

7. Replace all instances of {79668451-BE03-40D8-80CC-F1FF21960036} with the note you made in step 5

8. Replace http://yoursite/SearchCenter/Pages/results.aspx?q={searchTerms}&s=All%20Sites with the URL of a SharePoint results page within your Search Center, whilst ensuring the format http://site/results.aspx?q={searchTerms} is maintainted

9. Save the file as sharepoint.adm into the C:\Windows\inf folder

10. Log into a Domain Controller (DC) as an admin

11. Copy sharepoint.adm and inetres.adm from the computer with IE7 and paste it onto the DC

12. On the DC, put sharepoint.adm and inetres.adm into the C:\Windows\inf folder

13. On the DC, click Start, Run, type gpmc.msc to open the Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). (If an error is thrown, you probably need to download GPMC from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0A6D4C24-8CBD-4B35-9272-DD3CBFC81887&displaylang=en)

14. With GPMC open, find the GPO node, right –click and select New:

15. Type in a name for the GPO, i.e. IE7 SharePoint Search and click OK

16. Right-click the new GPO and select Edit:

17. In the Group Policy Object Editor console, expand User Configuration, right-click Administrative Templates and select Add/Remove Templates:

18. In the Add/Remove Templates dialog box, click Remove to remove all existing policy templates, and then click Add

19. In the Policy Templates dialog box, navigate to C:\Windows\inf, select inetres.adm and sharepoint.adm and click Open.

20. Click Add to add the templates and then click Close

21. Expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates and Windows Components, and click the Internet Explorer node:

22. In the right hand-pane, double-click the Populate List of search providers setting

23. In the Populate List of search providers dialog box, click Enabled

24. Click OK and close Group Policy Object Editor.

25. To save the GPO, in the Group Policy Management console, navigate to the new GPO, right-click and select Back Up...:

26. You can then deploy the GPO in the usual fashion (for more guidance, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb964292.aspx).

For more info on creating IE7 Instant Search providers, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/918238/.

Enjoy!

Taking SharePoint Files Offline – When to use Outlook 2007, Groove 2007 and/or OneNote 2007

2008-09-19T19:39:00Z

Aim

This blog post aims to compare how Outlook 2007, Groove 2007 and OneNote 2007 enable users to take files offline from SharePoint. Hopefully, this will be useful for those who work remotely (away from ‘the office’) but want to view, edit and update documents and/or list items stored in SharePoint without having to use a VPN to dial into the corporate network.

Research

So...when comparing the 2007 version of three products, the main conclusions are:

· Although OneNote provides a 2-way synch between client and server, it only allows OneNote files to be synched. This is great if you spend most of your time making notes, but not so good if you want to take documents, spreadsheets and other types of files offline. You can of course embed files into notebooks, but for most people, this maybe a bit cumbersome.

· OneNote automatically manages the synching of files. There is no need for users to check-in and check-out files, as with Outlook and Groove.

· Using Groove, and the SharePoint Files Tool within it, it is very easy to add new files to a SharePoint library. You simply add it to the Groove workspace and let Groove do the rest.

· Groove allows users to indirectly add files to SharePoint. As long as one member of a Groove workspace can synch files with SharePoint, the other workspace members just need internet access.

· Groove provides a workspace to allow users to discuss offline files, making it easy to relate comments/discussions to recent changes.

· Groove and Outlook allow multiple files types (e.g. word docs, spreadsheets and pdf’s) to be taken offline.

· Groove and Outlook allow document metadata to be edited offline.

· Using Outlook, you need to configure a SharePoint library to receive incoming email if you want to add new files to it.

· Only Outlook allows list integration, including integration of Calendars, Contacts, Discussion Boards and Task lists. This is a key differentiator.

· Only Outlook renders RSS feeds, keeping you up-to-date with changes to lists and libraries (assuming they have RSS feeds enabled)

· Only Outlook allows files to be sent from a mobile to SharePoint (via email).

· Groove allows auto-synch of files with SharePoint according to a schedule. OneNote performs an auto-synch with SharePoint when connectivity is established between client and server. Outlook auto synchs lists but not libraries (requires manual check-in of files).

· All three products enable versioning to be maintained

Conclusion

With the above differences in mind it is possible to summarise when to use each product.

Use Groove 2007 when you want to:

· Take a SharePoint library full of different file types (e.g. docs, spreadsheets and pdf’s) offline

· Easily add files to SharePoint

· Take files offline but there are only one or two people in your team with regular connection to SharePoint

· When users want to store discussions/comments alongside offline files

Use OneNote 2007 when you want to:

· Take audio, video, hand-written notes offline

Use Outlook 2007 when you:

· Want to take SharePoint lists offline

· Are more interested in being informed of changes to lists and libraries, rather than making changes. RSS feeds from lists/libraries can be easily configured.

· Want to use a mobile phone to take files offline

Enjoy!

James

Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint Released!

2008-09-05T18:07:00Z

Codeplex has recently released the source code for the Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint project —based on the Silverlight Beta 2 release. The Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint provide a way for developers to better understand how to integrate Silverlight applications with SharePoint. Five blueprint samples are provided with the release:

1. Hello World

2. Media Player

3. Slider Control

4. Custom Navigation

5. Colleague Viewer

Documentation for each of the samples is provided along with the source code. The Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint can be found here .

Enjoy!

Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS)

2008-08-08T18:34:00Z

A few weeks ago a Tech Preview of the Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS) was made available on codeplex. The PKS is a free add-on for SharePoint Server 2007 which allows you to integrate Podcasts with SharePoint. The add-on enables you to:

Find the most relevant content using the five star rating system, tag cloud, search engine and provide your feedback via comments
Listen and watch audio/video podcasts, anywhere on your PC or mobile device (Zune, SmartPhone, or any podcasting device)
Share content by producing your own audio/video podcasts and publishing them to SharePoint
Connect and engage with podcasters via your integrated instant messaging program
Get automatic podcast updates by subscribing to RSS feeds fully compatible with Zune and other podcasting devices
Play podcasts in real-time using Microsoft® Silverlight™ and progressive playback
Retrieve instant ROI and metrics with the ability to track the number of podcasts downloaded and/or viewed, instant feedback via rating system and comments, and subscribers via the RSS feed
Access the richness of SharePoint to extend the solution: workflows, community sub-sites, access rights, editorial and more
Customize your own PKS User Experience

This is an example of the PKS within SharePoint:

A beta version is aimed to be released on codeplex in September this year. Until then a PKS Tech Preview can be downloaded from here. More general information on the PKS, including slide decks, the PKS roadmap and PKS partners can be found here.

Enjoy!

"Cloud Services" = SharePoint Online

2008-08-06T11:05:00Z

I recently came across a new product we are creating called SharePoint Online. As the name suggests, the product is web/cloud based and as a result is excellent for scenarios where you have people working remotely or in different geographic locations. By subscribing to SharePoint Online, Microsoft will host your SharePoint site(s) for you. Amongst other things, this saves you installing and maintaing your own SharePoint sites. With other products such as Exchange Online and Microsoft Office Communications Online also being developed, I anticipate seeing a lot of customers moving to a cloud-based model.

Enjoy!

Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) Released = Enterprise Search Features Available!

2008-07-16T19:58:00Z

The SharePoint team has recently announced the release of an Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297). This update includes Enterprise Search improvements for SharePoint Server 2007. To me, the initial "wow factor" comes from the Federated Search capability and a search administration dashboard. The user interface of both components seemlessly fits into existing installations and can add real value with very little effort.

Search Adminstration Dashboard:

Federated Search Results in an existing SharePoint Search Center (edit mode):

Federated Search Results in an existing SharePoint Search Center (published):

Amongst other things, the update allows results from search providers that conform to the OpenSearch standard to be displayed on a SharePoint page (as shown above). This means that when a user performs a search not only will they be shown content stored in SharePoint, file systems and possibly LOB applications but they will also see results from their favourite websites (e.g. Live.com, Wikipedia and TechNet!). Multiple search providers can also be displayed on a single page, allowing users to view search results from numerous locations.

From an admin perspective it is really simple to add federated locations (Central Admin> SSP >Search Administation > Federated Locations > New Location). A 'Federated Results' Web Part can then be added to a page and very easily configured to show results from a particular federated location.

More information can be found here.

Enjoy!

SharePoint KPI List in Digital Picture Frame!

2008-06-02T17:38:00Z

I have recently seen a very interesting blog post from Edward Wilde who has been able to integrate a SharePoint KPI list with a digital picture frame. This allows a CxO/Manager to track organisational performance very easily. I think this is a great idea and one which may catch on if developed further.

The picture frame works by rendering the RSS feed from the KPI List. I look forward to further developments in this realm, as Ed outlines in his post. See http://blogs.edwardwilde.com/ for more info and the source code.

Enjoy!

Making Web Parts in Visual Studio 2008? Use Smart Templates

2008-05-16T18:17:00Z

If you are looking for a starting point when making Web Parts in the latest version of Visual Studio (2008) it could be worth visiting http://www.codeplex.com/smarttemplates. The SmartPart Web Part project is a great initiative and can be seen in use here. For similar SharePoint Developer projects, see http://www.codeplex.com/stsdev.

Enjoy!

How to copy entries from a populated Outlook 2007 calendar to a MOSS 2007 Calendar

2008-04-18T19:13:00Z

This post aims to describe how to easily copy several Outlook 2007 calendar entries to a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 calendar.

1. Create a SharePoint Calendar

2. On the SharePoint Calendar, from the Actions menu, select Connect to Outlook

3. In the Microsoft Office Outlook dialog box, click Yes

4. With your calendar and the SharePoint Calendar now side by side, from the View menu, select Current View and then All Appointments

5. Ensure your populated Outlook calendar is selected

6. Select multiple calendar entries by using Shift and the Up and Down keys (↑↓)

7. Copy the calendar entries using CTRL+C

8. In the left navigation pane, select the SharePoint Calendar (e.g. My SharePoint Calendar)

9. Paste the calendar entries using CTRL+P

10. In the Microsoft Office Outlook dialog box, click Yes

11. When you visit your SharePoint Calendar online you will see it fully populated.

Enjoy!

Functions for use in a MOSS 2007 column ([Today] [Me] [Other??])

2008-03-28T19:30:00Z

Following the recent questions from my last post I thought it would be useful to highlight what functions are available when creating a column in a list/library within MOSS 2007. This can be useful when creating a:

Calculated column based on other columns within a list/library. For example, to calculate the number of days difference between a list item being Created and Modified.
View of a list/library that shows items that meet a certain criteria. For example, a View showing the tasks assigned to me.

Although the [Today] and [Me] functions are well know, other functions are not.

List of functions available

All of the functions available are listed below. I have only tested a sample of these in a MOSS 2007 list, but in theory most/all should work!

To get a more detailed list of the functions available:

Open a MOSS 2007 site.
Create a list.
On the Actions menu, select Edit in Datasheet.

4. At the bottom of the list, click the Help hyperlink. This will open a chm file.

5. In the chm file, expand the Function Reference tree

The chm file may also be found at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\1033\STSLIST.CHM.

Example use of a function

Requirement = calculate the number of days difference between two date columns.

1. Make two date columns, one called Date1 and the other called Date2.

2. Make a third column (e.g. DateCalc) to calculate the difference and ensure the column type is set to Calculated.

3. In the Formula box type =DATEDIF(Date1,Date2,"D")

4. In the The data that is returned from this formula is section, click the Number radio button.

Result within a MOSS 2007 List:

Enjoy!

How to see items added to a SharePoint list/library that meet a custom date value?

2008-03-19T13:38:00Z

This post will describe how to create a view of a SharePoint list or library which displays the items/documents that meet a custom date value.

Scenario

A 'New Employees' view is needed on an 'Employees' list to allow the Head of HR to see who has joined the organisation in the last three weeks. However, the HR secretary only adds the details of new employees every Friday, making the option described in the last post inadequate. To achieve what is required:

1. Create the list/library

2. Click Create Column on the Settings menu of the list/library

3. Enter Date Joined as the Column name

4. In the Name and Type section, click the Date and Time radio button

5. Click OK

6. Click Create View on the Settings menu of the list/library

7. Under Start from an existing view, click All items or All Documents

8. Enter New Employees as the View name

9. Check the Make this the default view check-box

10. In the Filter section, click the Show items only when the following is true radio button

11. In the first drop-down, select Date Joined

12. In the second drop-down, select is greater than

13. In the text-box, type [Today]-21

14. Click the And radio button

15. Under When column, in the first drop-down, select Date Joined

16. Under When column, in the second drop-down, select is less than or equal to

17. In the text-box, type [Today]

18. Click OK