SharePoint Blog

Redirection of My SharePoint Blog

2009-07-29T06:06:00.000-07:00

This SharePoint blog site and all its contents has been upgraded and transferred across to a new website. Note that I will no longer be updating new contents to this SharePoint blog site.

Therefore to read all my latest blog and any future blogs about SharePoint, please from now on go to: http://sharepointdotnetwiki.iblogger.org/

Thank you.

SharePoint verse Sitecore

2008-11-12T23:41:00.000-08:00

To find out the difference between two CMS products, i.e. MOSS and sitecore, go to this link http://jgnk.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!457F4BDBA1A371A5!271.entry

Agile Software Development

2008-10-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

Summary look of Agile Software Development

What is it?

Perform task in small increments in iterations, over a short time frame (typically last from 1 - 4 weeks).
Each iterations is worked by a team through the full software development life cycle including planning, requirements analysis, design, coding, unit testing, and acceptance testing when a working product is demonstrated to stakeholders.

Objectives
To have an available release at the end of each iterations, with new requested features added to each iterations.

Principles

emphasize face-to-face communication over written documents.
Team size is typically small (5-9 people) to help make team communication and team collaboration easier
Agile team will contain a customer representative. This person is appointed by stakeholders to act on their behalf and makes a personal commitment to being available for developers to answer mid-iteration problem-domain questions.
Customer satisfaction by rapid, continuous delivery of useful software.
Most agile methods share other iterative and incremental development methods' emphasis on building releasable software in short time periods (weeks rather than months).
Working software is delivered frequently.

Benefits

Minimise overall project risk
Allow project to adapt to changes more quickly
Documentations is produced as required by stakeholders
Minimal bugs
Agile methods usually produce less written documentation than other methods. In an agile project, documentation and other project artifacts all rank equally with working product

Techniques
1. Test Driven Development (TDD)
2. Behaviour Driven Development (BDD)

Test Driven Development Best Practice

2008-10-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

What is Test Driven Development (TDD)?
Testing methodology associated with Agile Programming in which every chunk of code is covered by unit tests, which must all pass all the time, in an effort to eliminate unit-level and regression bugs during development. Practitioners of TDD write a lot of tests, i.e. an equal number of lines of test code to the size of the production code.

TestDriven.NET is a good testing tools used for TDD.

Other TDD resources:

Software Testing Tools

2008-10-23T23:26:00.000-07:00

Testing types / activities	Functional Regression Load / Stress Performance Scalability Portability Usability (GUI) Localization Compatibility Configuration Security Installation Unit testing Integration testing System testing User Acceptance
Testing techniques	Black Box / Gray Box / White Box Ad Hoc / Exploratory testing Scripted and automated testing
Automated testing tools	Functional and regression testing: - Mercury Quick Test Professional - Selenium - AutomatedQA TestComplete - Mercury WinRunner - Rational Robot - Rational Functional Tester Load & stress testing of Web applications: - Mercury Load Runner - Rational Performance Tester
Own automation tools	BugHuntress Test Suite (Palm applications testing)
Know-how, special testing technologies	Load testing techniques GPS positioning testing approach Method of fast testing environment configuration Hardware emulation methods, etc NUnit TestDriven .NET
Bug Tracking tools	Mantis Jira Mercury Test Director BugZilla Test Track Miscrosft Visual Studio Team System 2008
Test planning and test cases preparations tools	MS Project Microsoft Office, Visio Rational Rose BPWin, ERWin

Testing Types & Activities

2008-10-23T23:15:00.000-07:00

Main testing terms, types and activities
> Manual and automated testing
> White-box and black-box testing
> White-box testing activities
> Black-box testing activities
> Other activities

Manual and automated testingManual testing is still very important and widespread because some kinds of tests cannot be automated (e.g., usability testing can be only automated partially). Moreover, some complicated faults are found by means of manual testing techniques only. Automation is realized with the help of special testing tools developed by such such manufacturers as IBM (Rational Robot, Rational Performance Tester), Mercury Interactive (Quick Test Professional, LoadRunner), Segue Software (Silk Software), AutomatedQA (TestComplete), and others (see also Software testing technologies, tools). Sometimes it is necessary to use specialized automation tools, for example, for unit or code style testing.

White-box and black-box testing
Black-box testing
Black-box testing implies that a tester doesn't know how an application is designed at the code level, i.e., it involves dynamic testing of compiled applications. The tester interacts with the software system via its interface and analyzes the application reaction. Therefore black-box testing is one of the most popular testing types as: 1) It doesn't require access to the code, algorithms, and internal data structure (all of them can be a closely guarded trade secret of a software development company); 2) It gives an opportunity to test software products from the point of view of the end-user.

White-box testing (also called glass-box or clear box testing)
In this case a tester knows the internal program structure and its code. As a result, the tester can execute each program statement and function; check each intended error handling, etc. This testing involves source code reviews, walkthroughs, as well as design and execution of tests based on the access to the program code. White-box testing requires deeper knowledge of programming languages and technologies than black-box testing.

White-box testing activities
Here are some of the white-box testing activities:
Code testing
The task of code testing is to test program classes, functions, modules as separate code units and check their interaction. As a rule, it is accompanied by development of special test classes, start functions, test data sets (including illegal/invalid data), design and execution of appropriate test cases.

Static testing
Static testing takes place without running an application or its modules. It can include source code reviews, code inspections, peer reviews and software walk throughs.

Code style testing
This type of testing involves the code check-up for accordance with development coding standards and guidelines, i.e. using the rules of code comments use; variables, classes, functions naming; the maximum line length; separation symbols order; tabling terms on a new line, etc. There are special tools for code style testing automation.

Black-box testing activities
Functional testing
It is testing of application functionality and examination of its compliance with the software requirements specification (SRS).

Regression testing
The main aim of this type of testing is to make sure that the bugs revealed in previous tests are fixed properly and no new bugs appeared during such bug fixing. If possible, it's recommended to automate regression testing, as the number of software development / bug fixing iterations is usually large.

Performance testing
Test of application productivity and its conformity to requirements. It is especially important for complex Web applications and mobile software. For example, graphics processing can be crucial on mobile devices, so, it is necessary to check if the application works properly and, e.g., doesn't lead to display "freezing". Special tools allow getting productivity metrics. One of the subtypes of this testing is benchmark testing.

Load testing
It tests system work under loading. This type of testing is very important for client-server systems including Web application (e-Communities, e-Auctions, etc.), ERP, CRM and other business systems with numerous concurrent users.

Stress testing
Stress testing examines system behavior in unusual ("stress", or beyond the bounds of normal circumstances) situations. E.g., a system behavior under heavy loading, system crash, and lack of memory or hard disk space can be considered as a stress situation. Fool-proof testing is another case which is useful for GUI systems, especially if they are oriented at a wide circle of users.

Boundary testing
It tests correctness of application work when entering the boundary values of input data as well as proper processing of over-boundary values. For example, for a percent entry field boundary checks can be 0% processing (it should be processed correctly) and -1% treatment (it should not be allowed to be entered). Boundary values can be much more complex and demand much more complex boundary testing.

Usability testing
This is one of the most complex and interesing types of testing. It is very important for all sorts of application but it is the most acute for Web, mobile/wireless and mobile internet systems (see more in the article Mobile usability testing: problems and solutions).

Configuration testing
It checks how an application works in different configuration environments (OSs, DBMS, peripherals, mobile carriers, network capacity, hardware, etc.). A typical example is a printing application: configuration testing would include test printing on all printers available in the market or the most popular ones.
Installation testingOne of the widespread problems with software products is the installation issue. You might have faced a situation when after buying an application which you liked at your friends' place; you had serious troubles with the installation. Installation testing is aimed at making the installation as simple as possible, so that you understand what is necessary to be done without quitting the installation process. This testing is often combined with documentation testing.

Documentation testing
The aim of this testing is to help in preparation of the cover documentation (User guide, Installation guide, etc.) in as simple, precise and true way as possible.

Security testing
Security testing is conducted to examine an application from the point of view of possibility to affect the user safety and/or make his/her data available to third parties. This testing is especially important for payment systems and other applications which use critical data about a user.

User Acceptance Testing
Involves running a suite of tests on the completed system. Each individual test, known as a test case, exercises a particular operating condition of the user's environment or feature of the system, and will result in a pass or fail outcome. The test environment is usually designed to be identical, or as close as possible, to the anticipated user's production environment. These test cases must each be accompanied by test case input data or a formal description of the operational activities (or both) to be performed—intended to thoroughly exercise the specific case—and a formal description of the expected results.

Testing Best Practice

2008-10-23T22:52:00.000-07:00

Overview
This white paper looks at defining some guidelines for best practice when planning for the testing effort for any development project or when recruiting new testers. Guidelines that are covered here are:

1.1 The role of testing in an organisation or project
1.2 Planning the complete testing effort
1.3 Choosing the right people and resources for testing
1.4 Planning the test activities

1.1 The role of testing in an organization or project
1.1.1 The Test Team is not responsible for all Quality Assurance
Quality should be a project or organisational activity and driven by management not just the Test Team. Everyone taking part in the development process is responsible for the quality of their work. Systems that are developed from quality requirements, with quality development standards means that Testing is there to validate this quality rather than ensure the quality.

1.1.2 The purpose of testing is to find software bugs
While this statement is correct to an extent however the purpose of testing is not just to find bugs bet to ensure that the important bugs are found. It is often too easy to spend time testing less important functionality and log superficial bugs while critical bugs are being missed because they are not being tested.

1.1.3 Usability issues are important and should be raised
Testers are often the only people in an organization who will use the system as heavily as an expert. Formal usability testing should be recognised as part of the testing effort and if valid be addressed by the development team. Choosing to ignore usability issues may affect client satisfaction and lead to lost revenue.

1.1.4 Ensure that all bug reporting and metrics is put into context for management
When presenting bug reports all limitations to the data should be explained to eliminate the risk of management taking a “too optimistic” view towards the results.

1.1.5 Don’t leave testing to the end
An effective testing process involves extensive planning for the testing effort. Including testing earlier on in the development life cycle will promote a preventative approach to development with the test team providing a supporting role in the early stages with their input increasing as the project progresses. The test team will become familiar with the product and any issues identified can be resolved earlier rather than later.

Tests designed before the development team start coding can help to improve quality. The test team can inform the developer of the kinds of tests that they will run which in turn may help the developer during the design phases and in unit testing.

1.2 Planning the complete testing effort
1.2.1 Do not bias your testing effort to functional testing
This could be a danger as functional testing usually tests features in isolation. While this will ensure that the requirements for the project are met it means that critical bugs may be missed. Testers who are planning the testing effort need to be a little more insightful to identify test cases and scenarios that cover off critical paths that while they test a certain feature also ensures that dependant or affected functionality is also tested.

1.2.2 Do not underestimate the importance of configuration and integration testing
Often this type of testing is either forgotten or given less emphasis in the development process. These tests ensure that the developed product works on different hardware configurations and with different third party software.

While these tests are often forgotten because it is expensive to maintain test environments with the necessary hardware and software the use of virtual machines etc. will mean that most companies can cover a baseline for this type of testing.

1.2.3 Remember to factor in time for performance and stress testing
Often this type of testing is left to the end because it means that major development has stopped, most of the testing is complete and the system is the closest to it has ever been to being a potential release candidate. While this is the best time to start intensive performance or stress testing remember to factor in enough time for refactoring, optimisation and re-testing of the code in the instance that your product will just not scale to the level required.

Developers and testers should keep in mind any performance requirements while they are designing their code, planning their tests and performing unit testing or functional testing. Obvious performance issues are quite easy to detect in the early stages of development and testing.

1.2.4 Remember to test the installation procedures
To avoid embarrassing mistakes where the product won’t install on first go make sure that each release provides detailed Release Notes and Installation Procedures that have been verified by both the development and test teams.

1.2.5 Remember to test the supporting functionality such as online help or documentation
Testing the documentation means checking that all the procedures and examples in the documentation work. Remember to factor in enough time so that any modifications can be made. As often is the case the product may have changes from the original specifications so procedures and screenshots will need to be updated.

1.2.6 Ensure you have sufficient testing coverage
Plan to get coverage for all critical functionality across all areas of the system early in the piece. This may mean that you do not get to test all functionality on first pass but you should cover all the critical tests.

It is better to know the status of the system across all areas rather then falling into the scenario where you don’t start testing a new area until you finished the last. You will get a general feel for the stability of the system rather that having some areas that are tested to a high level while others are tested less thoroughly if shortage of time becomes a factor. You can also identify areas where there are high numbers of defects and work with the developers to mitigate this risk.

1.2.7 Correctly identify high risk areas
As part of the test planning all key stakeholders should work with the development and test teams to identify high risk areas in the product or system. These areas are typically high risk because they high visibility to system users or if failure could lead to either loss of property or in some cases even life. Some businesses have extremely complex business rules that need detailed tests.

Another good way to identify high risk areas is to review historical system data. Old bug reports and metrics may give you insight into the areas that require thorough testing.

1.2.8 Realise that testing requirements will change and be prepared to accommodate for this
It is inherent with development projects that requirements and hence testing requirements will change. Therefore no matter how well you plan your testing efforts make sure that you keep up to date with development changes so that you can make changes to your test plans and cases as necessary.

1.3 Choosing the right people for testing
1.3.1 Don’t use testing as a transitional job for new programmers
If you have hired someone who wants to be a developer don’t put them into a testing role. While some may argue that spending a couple of months as a tester will help the new person to understand the system and allow you to analyse how they grasp concepts before starting on the code this is not conducive to good quality. If a person has been hired as a programmer then that should be there primary focus.

1.3.2 Be careful of recruiting failed programmers as testers
While there are many good testers who are not good programmers and there could be equally as many good programmers who are good testers. Some programmers genuinely need a change programming and make a real difference to the testing effort.

However there are situations where the reasons that made a person a bad programmer will also make them a bad tester. For example, a programmer who had poor quality code with a high bug count because they had low attention to detail will more than likely be a bad tester as they will miss bugs for the same reason.

1.3.3 Look for the following qualities when recruiting your testers
When interviewing concentrate on the candidates intelligence and thought process. A good tester should have the following qualities:

> Methodical and systematic
> Tactful and diplomatic but firm when necessary
> Good troubleshooting skills. Able to notice and pursue oddities in the system.
> Skeptical about any assumptions and be able to validate whether they are true or not
> Good written and verbal skills in order to explain bugs clearly and concisely
> A knack for anticipating what others are likely to misunderstand this is useful for UAT and usability testing. If a tester has problems understanding then how will the client feel?
> An ability to think outside of the box to experiment and consider all possible scenarios.

1.3.4 Try and recruit testers who are domain experts in the area you need
While this is hard, especially in a consultancy firm where the domain expertise is varied try and identify the areas where Change is most likely to focus its work effort. Testers who do not have domain expertise find it hard to distinguish between important and irrelevant or superficial bugs.

1.4 Planning the testing activities
1.4.1 Plan tests before executing them
Historically poor test design like poor code design leads to poor quality. Planning testing activities allows the tester to analyse the scenarios and any special cases in advance. While jumping straight into testing activities may mean that these special scenarios are never identified and hence never tested.

1.4.2 Encourage peer review of test documentation
It is good practice to encourage reviews where a quick check of the testing approach and the defined test cases to ensure that sufficient coverage has been met and no critical tests have been missed.

1.4.3 Set guidelines and implement tools for good issue tracking and issue reporting
An integral part of testing is how to report and track the issues that are a result of the testing process. There are a number of free test bug tracking tools that can help you to manage this activity. Similarly there are many off the shelf products that offer the same functionality and then some.

What needs to be kept in mind is that while tools can help they need to be implemented and used properly. Guidelines need to be set so that testers and anyone reporting issues provide specific data that will help developers to investigate and if necessary fix the issue. Workflow should also be set so that issues don’t get lost in the system and are routed to the correct individuals as needed. An administrator may need to be set to oversee the whole issue tracking process.

How to display SharePoint Document Library within CRM

2008-02-26T02:07:00.000-08:00

To demonstrate how to display SharePoint document library in MS CRM 3.0 using IFRAME, go to http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using/deploy/iframesharepoint.mspx

Either WSS or MOSS document library can be use to integrated with CRM 3.0.

How to Install Windows SharePoint Server

2008-02-26T02:05:00.000-08:00

Window Server 2003 Standard Edition by default does not come with Windows SharePoint Server (WSS 3.0). It has to be installed separately if you want WSS. This are the steps required for installing WSS.

Requirement for installing WSS 3.0

MS SQL 2000 (with SP 3 or later) or 2005 has been installed.
IIS, ASP.NET, Common Files services has been installed.
*Frontpage extension server (if any) service is temporary shut down.
Read http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/WSS/en/library/dcdb7f80-5d48-4b7c-9cb5-affa5f2936531033.mspx?mfr=true

How to install WSS 3.0

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/WSS/en/library/b5ef8e96-c061-425a-881b-e0fd9226beca1033.mspx#InstallingWSSw2003

Log on to the Windows 2003 server as an Administrator.
Start the Add/Remove Windows Components Control Panel applet (Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs, Add/Remove Windows Components).
Select Application Server and click Details.
Select ASP.NET (which automatically enables network COM+ access), select Internet Information Services (IIS), and click Details, as the figureshows.
Ensure that Common Files, Internet Information Services Manager, and World Wide Web Service are selected. Click OK.
Click Next to begin the installation, and click Finish after the components are installed. Download the Windows Sharepoint Services software from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/sharepoint/default.mspx . At the time of this writing, the latest version (stsv2.exe ) includes Service Pack 2 (SP2). Execute the file to extract the SharePoint installation files.

To only extract the files and not start the installation, use the /t /c switches with the following command: C:\stsv2.exe /c /t:c:\wsssp2

SharePoint stores all its content in a Microsoft SQL database, which for Windows SharePoint Services can be Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) or, preferable, a full SQL Server 2005 or SQL Server 2000 installation (which uses Windows Integrated authentication mode). If you want to have SQL Server reside on a remote box, you need to initiate the installation of Windows SharePoint Services with the "remotesql=yes" switch. If SQL Server is installed locally, then this isn't required. To set up Windows SharePoint Services follow the steps below:

*Note: If the server farm has FrontPage server installed and running, :

Install WSS setup file as normal
Then go to IIS, and create a new SharePoint virtual directory under default website. Once a new virtual directory has been created, then read this article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823378 to remove FrontPage extension, reset IIS and extend the virtual server for WSS.
Then create a new top level site collection within Central Admin page for the new SharePoint virtual directory that you have just created in IIS.

How to install WSS SP 1 - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-au/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb735839.aspx

Requirement for installing WSS SP 1
The following checklist below needs to be implemented initially as a prerequisite before installing WSS SP 1.

WSS 3.0 has been installed.
MS SQL 2000 (with SP 3 or later) or 2005 has been installed.
Make sure that there is adequate hard drive space in your database files volumes, tempdb volumes, and Windows temporary folder on the servers running SQL Server, front-end Web servers, and application servers. The upgrade operation writes the progress of various steps into an upgrade log that can take up disk space, but if you plan for extra storage you should not encounter issues due to space limitations.
Read http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/WSS/en/library/91649a7e-6b5a-4e5a-9ee5-51951f4b857f1033.mspx

Introduction to CRM

2008-02-23T05:57:00.000-08:00

Microsoft CRM (Content Relationship Management) is a software tool that helps organinsation to build relationship, manage and maintain their existing and potential customers. The key objective purpose of CRM is to:

Build customer value: Customer value means that the organization makes products and
services so satisfying, convenient, or valuable to the customer that the customer
would rather devote their time and money to the organization than to any
competitor.
Build potential leads: Assist ogranisation to learn about the potential customer
audiences so the organization can prepare to meet current and future needs. It is
also important to identify customer audiences whose needs cannot be profitably
met.

For more information about CRM, watch the webcast below about CRM version 3.0

Download this PDF book title "MS CRM 3 Small Business Edition".

Resources:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/crm.aspx - CRM library webcasts
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=dd939ed9-87a5-4c13-b212-a922cc02b469&DisplayLang=en - Download CRM virtual machine setup disk

Renaming a MOSS server

2008-02-23T04:46:00.000-08:00

These instructions below relates specifically to configure MOSS on a VM server that will share network LAN connection with other computers.

1. Temporary disconnect the network plug from the server.

2. Log into the VM server as an administrator.

3. Change each alternate access mapping for your MOSS/WSS deployment in Central Administration:

Open Central Administration, "Operations" Tab, "Alternate access mappings" link.
Modify each mapping item to reflect your newly chosen server name. Don't modify the port number. Leave it alone. (see figure 1)

Figure 1

4. Run stsadm to rename the server

Open a command prompt window
cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN"
stsadm -o renameserver -newservername "newservername" -oldservername "oldservername"

5. Rename your Server via Change Name Operation in Windows Server 2003. Start Menu Control Panel System, "Computer Name" tab, "Change" button. Input your new server name. If the server was already setup with an existing domain name, the server won't allow you to do it because it requires network connection in order to communicate with the domain. Instead change domain to WORKGROUP first.

6. Shut down the server. Connect the server back to the network. Start the server and login in as administrator.

7. Change the WORKGROUP back the original domain name. Reboot the machine if server ask you to restart the computer.

8. Restart IIS. Go to command prompt. Type "iisreset /noforce"

9. Check all application pool identities in IIS (see figure 2) and update where the old machine name is still there.

Figure 2

Highlight the pool and view properties. Go to the identity tab. If the pool is using the “predefined identity” leave it set. Do not change it to configurable.You will definitely need to change Shared_Services_One, the two SharePoint and the SharePoint Central Administration. Be sure to review all the others to ensure they are correct (see figure 3). Simply edit the computer name portion of the user name, enter the password and click apply. Note the old server name in the picture was SHAREPNTSERVER.

Figure 3

You will be asked to confirm the password. Enter it and click okay. Then click OK to exit the pool properties screen. Continue changing the remainder.

10. Drop and rebuild search index.

11. Browse to URL for Central Administration and test site.

Resources

Become a SharePoint Writer

2008-01-13T18:06:00.000-08:00

Are you looking to earn income from writing blog material?

If you're interested in writing for Mindsharp, you can email your resume to Bill English at bill@mindsharp.com.

They do compensate well for good material. This material will be placed on theirpremium content web site. If you need to earn a few extra hundred - or even thousands - dollars, this is a great way to do it. You learn new material, you write at home and you'll gain some exposure too.

Bill English is the author of the SharePoint Resource Kit and most recently the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Administrator's Companion , owner and SharePoint trainer in MindSharp.

Sounds like a great opportunity!

Tutorial Training: Part 7 - Implementing Business Data Catalog

2008-01-07T18:03:00.001-08:00

The objective lessons to be learnt in this tutorial blog is to know how to implement a Business Data Catalog in MOSS.

A Business Data Catalog (BDC) is:

Metadata repository database that is located as a middle-layer software that seats between the back-end external applications such as SAP or an data source e.g. SQL (known as Line of Business (LOB) system) and the portal site (front end client applications).

BDC has features to integrate LOB system to enable user to bring, report, extract and display key data from various LOB applications to Office SharePoint Server 2007 lists, Web Parts, search, user profiles, and custom applications, without having to write any lines of code (claim by Microsoft but alot of XML involved. Why?).

In BDC, metadata describes entities: how to obtain instance information, relationships to other entities, and actions you can execute for an entity. The content of a metedata is in XML in a specific required format.

Anything that can be accessed by ADO.NET data provider or web service is BDC.

To practically begin using BDC, follow this step:

Download a free * Microsoft Business Data Catalog Editor.
Install the MS BDC editor onto the server farm that is running MOSS and/or on your development desktop PC.
Open MS BDC editor, connect to the existing LOB system data source and begin creating/editing the XML file to extract and display the specific data record.
Once the metadata XML file has been created, we need to import it to MOSS. How? Go to Central Administrator webpage. Then navigate to ShareServiceProvider -> Import Business Data Catalog Applications.
Browse and select the XML file.
Click the import button.
Edit the web page in MOSS that you want to display the BDC.
Select Business Data Catalog List web part.
Select the metadata name that was imported in step 4.
Click apply and it's finish.

*Note: There are other BDC editors availiable that you can use instead of using MS BDC editor like BDC Meta Man which you can download as a evaluation trail version for so many days that ahs some features has been disabled and require you have to pay for it after expiration in order to use the full version. One advantage of using MS BDC that I like is that it has an execution feature that allows user to test their scripts against the database before deploying the XML metadata to MOSS, while BDC Meta Man (currently at the time of writing this blog) doesn't have this feature.

For more information about BDC, watch this webcast:

Other Resources

BDC glossary term for definitions.
MSDN BDC
Watch Dnr TV webcast on BDC

Tutorial Training: Part 6 - Implementing Web Parts

2008-01-07T18:02:00.001-08:00

What is a web part?
Web Parts are components that enable users to gather information they care about and customize the appearance of Web pages in MOSS environment. For example, visit Pageflakes website, where one Web Part might display a user's appointment calendar; another might create a graph showing current sales figures; and a third might show a list of new business topics, each of which functions as a link to a video or audio presentation. Developers can also create custom Web Part components and make them available to SharePoint users, for building customizable pages that meet their needs.

Watch this webcast to see web part in demo with MOSS using VS 2005:

Resources

Introduction to ASP.NET 2 WebPart Framework

Web Parts Control Set Overview

Example - creating a web part with deployment http://www.developer.com/net/asp/article.php/10917_3620316_1

Lynn Langit blog

Implementing Masterpage in MOSS

2008-01-07T16:10:00.000-08:00

Overview

Page Layouts and Master Pages (MSDN) - overview of master pages and page layouts.

Master pages and page layouts dictate the overall look and feel of your SharePoint site. Master pages contain controls that are shared across multiple page layouts, such as navigation, search, or language-preference for multilingual sites. Page layouts contain field controls and Web Parts. The following figure shows how page layouts and master pages work together to create the layout for a Web page.

Master Page
1. Open the Site from SharePoint Designer
2. Navigate to the Master Page
3. Edit and Save As

Note: Resetting a customized page to the site definition restores the page to its original condition. However, if you are working with pages that reside in a document library, you have an alternative. For example, master pages reside in the Master Page Gallery, which is a document library, and you can use versioning for files in document libraries. If you have the versioning feature turned on for the Master Page Gallery when you modify a master page, you can subsequently roll back to a previous version instead of starting over by resetting to the site definition.

Home > Master Page Gallery > BlackBand > Approve/Reject
Master Page Gallery: BlackBand

Approved. This item will become visible to all users.
Rejected. This item will be returned to its creator and not appear in public views.
Pending. This item will remain visible to its creator and all users with the Manage Lists permission.

Page Layout

In SharePoint Designer, select File -> New -> SharePoint Content tab

Add a table and add a Page Content field in the second row. Save, check in as major version, and approve. Home > Site Settings Master pages and page layouts Approve dialogwelcome.aspx

Modify default.master and to work with a theme
A theme is just a CSS file and images, the layout of the page such as the location of the navigation, can't be altered.

A benefit to themes is that when you apply a theme, it also affects the pages in the _layouts directory, whereas master pages do not.

In some situations, both master pages and themes can be used. If you use a master page to style the site, using a custom theme can style the _layouts pages to coordinate with the look of the site. If you need to apply different color palettes for one design for sub sites, in MOSS use can use the alternate CSS setting, but that isn't available for WSS sites. You can create a custom master page for the WSS sites to use, then create and apply different themes to change the color palette of sub sites.

One drawback to a theme is that you have to apply it at the site level for each site. You can apply a theme (pick one that most closely resembles what you want to ultimately do with your site design) to your site, and then a copy of the theme CSS file will be created for the site. You can edit this file in SharePoint Designer (thus creating a copy of it in the content database and customizing the file) and create your customizations for your site. Custom CSS

Changing BlueBand to another theme Master Pages

Links

http://sharingpoint.blogspot.com/2006/06/extreme-sharepoint-design-_115108192207171602.html
http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/archive/2007/05/13/Master-Pages-vs.-Themes-Which-Do-You-Choose.aspx
http://www.heathersolomon.com/resume/salesintra.aspx

Tutorial Training: Part 4 - Implementing Content Management Solutions

2008-01-07T04:09:00.000-08:00

The objective lessons that will be covered in this tutorial blog will be:

Managing & Implementing Documents and Content with MOSS 2007

Web cast

Download the powerpoint slides

Training Tutorial: Part 3 - Implementing Portal Solutions

2008-01-06T21:06:00.000-08:00

This blog tutorial focuses on the portal-oriented features provided by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, by describing portal sites, collaborative features, and user profiles and audiences.

At the end of reading this blog, you would have learnt:

Implementing Collaborative Features

Download Presentation slides

Web Cast

Training Tutorial: Part 2 - Planing and installing MOSS

2008-01-04T06:53:00.000-08:00

The objective lessons that will be covered in this tutorial blog are:

Planning and installing MOSS Server 2007 (Download and read part 1 and part 2 presentation. Alternatively you can download the full installed tutorial)

Configuring MOSS Server 2007

Disaster Recovering For MOSS

There are also some video webcasts accompanying the Planning & installing MOSS presentation slides as follows:

1.1 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 1 presentation: Slide # 7 - Deploying Windows SharePoint Services

1.2 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 1 presentation: Slide # 14 - Installing SharePoint

1.3 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 1 presentation: Slide # 18 - Finishing SharePoint installation

1.4 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 1 presentation: Slide # 29 - Exploring Windows SharePoint

1.5 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 2 presentation: Slide # 12 - Configuring WSS for the extranet

1.6 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 2 presentation: Slide # 14 - Create content deployment path

1.7 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 2 presentation: Slide # 19 - Managing Timer Jobs & Service Accounts

1.8 Planning & installing MOSS Server 2007 part 2 presentation: Slide # 22 - Preparing for disater recovery

3. Disaster Recovery Strategies for MOSS 2007 - web cast

2. Configuring MOSS
2. 1 Web cast (Part 1 out of 2)

2.2 Web cast (Part 2 out of 2)

2.3 Managing and administering MOSS
2.3.1 PowerPoint - Download

2.3.2 Web cast

2.4 Configuring Search in MOSS
2.4.1 PowerPoint Presentation - Download
2.4.2 Web cast

Download MOSS Deployment guide document

Training Tutorial: Part 1 - Overview of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

2008-01-04T06:08:00.000-08:00

This introductory blog provides an overview of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007). The objective lessons that will be covered are:

Getting started with MS SharePoint technologies (Slides)
The benefit of using MS SharePoint (Slides & Web cast)

What is Share Point?
Share Point is a MS product that has many out of the box tools aimed at empowering collaboration within an organization between members and their partners and customers, to empower and increase productivity to end-users. In this context, a portal is just one of the possible practical applications of the term “collaboration”.

Webcast - Getting started with MOSS

Download this webcast

For further reading on learning the overview of MOSS, you can download a PDF e-book here.
Also read Four Essentials for Building Your SharePoint Strategy (from this link)
To compare the difference between WSS and MOSS, click here.

Active Directory & SharePoint 2007

2008-01-02T21:13:00.000-08:00

Active Directory on a Windows Server 2003 Network

Active Directory is the information hub of the Windows Server 2003 operating system. The following figure shows Active Directory as the focal point of the Windows Server 2003 network used to manage identities and broker relationships between distributed resources so they can work together.

Active Directory on a Windows Server 2003 Network

Active Directory provides:

A central location for network administration and delegation of administrative authority. You have access to objects representing all network users, devices, and resources and the ability to group objects for ease of management and application of security and Group Policy.
Information security and single sign-on for user access to network resources. Tight integration with security eliminates costly tracking of accounts for authentication and authorization between systems. A single user name and password combination can identify each network user, and this identity follows the user throughout the network.
Scalability. Active Directory includes one or more domains, each with one or more domain controllers, enabling you to scale the directory to meet any network requirements.
Flexible and global searching. Users and administrators can use desktop tools to search Active Directory. By default, searches are directed to the global catalog, which provides forest-wide search capabilities.

Storage for application data. Active Directory provides a central location to store data that is shared between applications and with applications that need to distribute their data across entire Windows networks.

Systematic synchronization of directory updates. Updates are distributed throughout the network through secure and cost-efficient replication between domain controllers.

Remote administration. You can connect to any domain controller remotely from any Windows-based computer that has administrative tools installed.
Single, modifiable, and extensible schema. The schema is a set of objects and rules that provide the structure requirements for Active Directory objects. You can modify the schema to implement new types of objects or object properties.

Integration of object names with Domain Name System (DNS), the Internet-standard computer location system. Active Directory uses DNS to implement an IP-based naming system so that Active Directory services and domain controllers are locatable over standard IP both on intranets and the Internet.

Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) support. LDAP is the industry standard directory access protocol, making Active Directory widely accessible to management and query applications. Active Directory supports LDAPv3 and LDAPv2.

Active Directory Setup

Go to: http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_install_active_directory_on_windows_2003.htm

Watch this webcast below on the introduction to AD

RSS Viewer web part and authenticated feeds

2008-01-02T21:07:00.000-08:00

teRSS Viewer web part authentication requirements
In B2, configuring the RSS Viewer web part to display an RSS feed from a MOSS site nearly always worked without difficulty. In B2TR, you may encounter a stubborn error “The RSS webpart does not support authenticated feeds” when trying to display an RSS feed from a MOSS site. The authentication behavior has changed, to match the original design that was not implemented properly in B2. RSS Viewer will now only work with Authenticated feeds (default for MOSS) when the MOSS server is setup with Kerberos authentication. Technical details: In B2, the machine account was used to access the feed; since this account is part of “All Authenticated Users” most feeds just worked. However, use of the machine account was considered to pose a security vulnerability. In B2TR, this was fixed to connect to feeds as anonymous, then delegation support was explicitly added by having ASP.Net negotiate the authentication mechanism.

Changing to Kerberos authentication

1. On the Central Administration page, click Application Management.
2. Under the Application Security section, click Authentication Providers.
3. Click the Default provider, and change Integrated Widows authentication to Negotiate (Kerberos)

If SharePoint and the databases it uses are hosted on the same server, this is the only change required to enable RSS Viewer functionality to RSS feeds hosted by SharePoint.

If the SharePoint databases are hosted by a different server than is hosting SharePoint, further configuration is required to enable Kerberos delegation. This is the recommended scenario for farm deployments. To enable Kerberos delegation for a SharePoint web application, the account used for its application pool identity must be configured as “trusted for delegation” and have an SPN registered (see below). If using Network Services for the AppPool identity, then this applies to the machine account. Otherwise, it applies to the domain account configured for the AppPool identity. The machine account of the database server must also have an SPN registered, although it is not necessary for it to be trusted for delegation. The end-user accounts require neither an SPN nor “trusted for delegation.”

In an AD environment whose Domain Functional Level is set to Windows Server 2003, this level of trust can be focused using Constrained Delegation. This ensures that the delegation trust is only permitted between the SharePoint WFE servers and the correct database server.

SPN
The MSDN article Security Briefs: Credentials and Delegation discusses several topics regarding SPNs and Kerberos delegation that are appropriate for this scenario, including use of the SETSPN and KERBTRAY tools, the "trusted for delegation" attribute, and how to configure Kerberos constrained delegation.

How to add PDF including iFilter

2008-01-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

The procedure to add PDF iFilter in MOSS are as follows:

Download Adobe Acrobat PDF IFilter from http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/thankyou.jsp?ftpID=2611&fileID=2457
Install the IFilter on the server farm that has MOSS installed.
Open IE and click on “Images” link
Type ICPDF.gif in the search field and click the search button
In the search result, located 16x16 PDF icon image and click it
Then click the link titled “See Image Alone”
When the image appears alone in the browser, righ-click the image and select save picture as from the content menu
Save the image to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extension\12\TEMPLATE\Images
Open C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extension\12\Template\XML\DOCICON.XML with text editor
Locate "ByExtension" element and add the following tag below:
"Mapping Key=”pdf” Value=”icpdf.gif"
Save and close DOCICON.XML
Go to: Shared Services Administration: SharedServicesProvider01 > Search Settings > File Types (see pic below)
Then click the “New File Types” link
Type pdf into the file extension filed and click OK button
Close IE
Restart IIS

FREE SharePoint Hosting Space

2008-01-01T21:41:00.000-08:00

If you are looking to get a FREE hosting site for SharePoint, I've found this link.

No time limit
5 MB Free space
Up to 5 users
No credit card

Give people access to MOSS site

2008-01-01T17:30:00.000-08:00

When giving a person/people access to your MOSS site, the steps are as follows:

Go to Central MOSS administration website and logged in as an adminsitrator
Navigate to SharedServicesProvider01 > User Profile and Properties > View User Profiles > Add User Profile
Enter the person's account details and save it when all the person's relevant details has been entered.
Go to Your MOSS site that you want the person to have access to.
Navigate to Site Action->Site Settings->People and groups
Select the group you wan the person to be added
Go to the tab menu New->Add users
Add the user who will have access permission for that group

How to use AJAX in SharePoint

2008-01-01T17:27:00.000-08:00

The following steps on how to use AJAX in MicroSoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 are as follows:

Since MOSS was originally designed with .NET 2 framework technology, then firstly you need to download ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX Extensions v1.0 here
Install AJAX Extension v1 to the server farm that runs MOSS.
Configure the web.config file on the server farm. Click here for instructions.
Download SmartPart from codeplex and install SmartPart on the server farm. (check this screencast on how to install SmartPart on the server farm).

Now you can start building ASP.NET AJAX style user controls in Visual Studio 2005 and use them in SharePoint as *webparts

For more resources, click here

*Note: Web Parts are components that enable users to gather information they care about and customize the appearance of Web pages in MOSS environment. For example, visit Pageflakes website, where one Web Part might display a user's appointment calendar; another might create a graph showing current sales figures; and a third might show a list of new business topics, each of which functions as a link to a video or audio presentation. Developers can also create custom Web Part components and make them available to SharePoint users, for building customizable pages that meet their needs.

SmartPart on the other hand is a web part in MOSS that can host ASP.NET web user controls (ascx) and support AJAX extensions. SmarPart was an idea that since evolved by the SharePoint community to allo Developers to ceate .NET user controls and use them in MOSS developement by using familar design available in Visual Studio by dragging, dropping and clicking controls, instead of the whole approach of coding the UI object at run time and taking care of event handling and HTML rendering. Hence SmartPart increased development productivity.

Training Tutorial: Part 5 - Implementing Business Forms

2008-01-01T17:26:00.001-08:00

The objective in this tutorial blog is to learn the following:

Know how to use InfoPath to create business forms.

Know how to create workflows using Visual Studio 2005 and/or 2008

Using InfoPath
When creating a simple workflows that comes out of the MOSS box, using InfoPath application to create it is sufficient. Click this link to download and watch how to use InfoPath or watch the webcast below.

Adam Buenz of SharePointSecuity.com has published a set of comprehensive Mastering InfoPath Development Series.

Creating workflow with Visual Studio
Go to Shelton's Blog (Microsoft Evangelist) to get started on using workflow with VS 2008 for deployment to MOSS 2007.

Alternatively, I recommand watching this Microsoft Webcast presented by Shelton himself as well at: http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?EventID=1032359912&EventCategory=5&culture=en-AU&CountryCode=AU

To learn how to create workflows using VS 2005, click here.

*** Where Do You Start To Learn MOSS For Beginners?

2008-01-01T17:18:00.000-08:00

When I started off learning MOSS 2007, I didn't know where to begin as this is a hugh topic to cover. So I recommend downloading MS MOSS Training onto your desktop to get started and watch the webcast tutorials. This tutorial is useful for beginner to intermediate audience.

Then to become a more techncial user/Developer like myself (with programming background and keen to look under the hood) using Visual Studio 2005 with MOSS 2007, I had to firstly download and install the following VS 2005 extension software tools to be added:

Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services (WSS)
Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows Workflow Foundation
Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3 (WCF & WPF)
Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK & ECM Starter Kit

The system requirements for all the extensions to be successfully installed on VS 2005 is that the PC which you will be using for development has to at least have the following softawre below. Otherwise there will be some digging around (for me the hard way) if you don't have them:

Windows Server 2003 OS
SharePoint Server 2007

If you are a Developer, you can also use VS 2008 with MOSS instead of using VS 2005 and the beauty with using VS 2008 is that you DON"T need to install other external add-on applications because VS 2008 already has Office SharePoint add-ons and many more components out of the box.