SharePoint Express

Friday, March 20, 2009

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

A new version of Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 arrived.

New features in version 1.3 include:

Can be installed on x64 Server OS machines running SharePoint x64. Previously only x86 Server OS could be used
Separate build commands for package, deploy and retract are added as Visual Studio menu items
WSP View improvements for consistency of deleting feature elements, merging features and adding event receivers to features
Command line build, package and retract commands are included enabling continuous integration and build servers. Previously command line build of SharePoint projects was very difficult
Refactoring support for renaming of Web Parts. Previously renaming a web part required changes in several files in the project
Solution Generator can now generate solutions from publishing sites. Previously only regular sites could be generated
Allowing partial trust BIN deployments of web parts
New project item template for SharePoint RootFiles items
Deployment will now optionally remove conflicting existing features on the development server prior to redeployment. Previously any feature name conflicts would result in an error
Ancillary assemblies such as for business logic can now be added to the SharePoint Solution WSP
Hidden features related to Site Definition projects are now shown in WSP View. They are no longer hidden
For advanced users a fast deploy is included to update only the compiled assembly on the SharePoint development installation
Deployment step logging is included
The List Definition from Content Type template now allows for the creation of a List Definition Event Receiver
The User Guide is now installed with the extensions instead of being a separate download

You can find it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B2C0B628-5CAB-48C1-8CAE-C34C1CCBDC0A&displaylang=en

More information you can find here: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/kirke/SharePoint-for-Developers-Part-1-Introducing-VSeWSS-13/

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

A Remote Content Editor Web Part in your SharePoint applications

A very interesting article was written by Christophe (or better known as PathToSharePoint) about a nice creative idea: How to control the home page (or any page) from your every SharePoint web on your every SharePoint SiteCollection on your every SharePoint Application. Christophe found (and implement) the idea to control those pages with the help of the Control Editor Web Part. This control will be connected to a shared file (over the entire SharePoint farm) and just execute the script from that file in your browser, so you can send mass messages to users, you can customize the page remotely (adding links, removing things from it), you can implement a custom security (or logging) mechanism with it etc.

The next step with this control is to create an administrative tool to manage the content of that file (not all users have JavaScript, HTML, CSS and SharePoint skills) and to integrate with your solutions, so your power users will have real time control over it.

Indeed, a very interesting idea.

You can find more about this, on his blog here.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Feed your CAML some IntelliSense

Do you have problems in remembering all the key words and formats in CAML? Now this isn't a problem anymore! Thanks to John Holiday and his CAML.NET IntelliSense project. You can find more information about this on his blog: http://johnholliday.net/post/2009/01/18/Feed-your-CAML-some-IntelliSense-so-it-doesnt-bite-you-in-the-you-know-what!.aspx

To download the installer for the project follow this link: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/camlintellisense/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2212

Friday, February 13, 2009

Free MOSS 2007 WCM Learning Resources

Microsoft post a few free learning resources for those of you wanting to pickup MOSS 2007 WCM sites.

These training modules provide architects with information about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management (WCM). The modules and accompanying videos explain the role of WCM architecture, building content management for your Web site, and server infrastructure and deployment. The modules also cover WCM design, security, and optimization.

You can download them from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=8b2c7980-b604-493f-b5ee-52c562458e34&displaylang=en

Friday, January 30, 2009

SharePoint Dispose Checker Tool

A new must have tool has been released by Microsoft! This tool is called SharePoint Dispose Checker Tool. This tool analyzes your assemblies and helps to identify potential memory leaks.

This tool was made to help you to check your assemblies that use the SharePoint API so that you can build better code. It provides assistance in correctly disposing of certain SharePoint objects to help you follow published best practice. This tool may not show all memory leaks in your code.

Please review the MSDN article on using Deploy in SharePoint applications here.
The SPDisposeCheck tool can be downloaded here.

Roger Lamb maintains a nice blog for the SPDisposeCheck team here.

Monday, January 26, 2009

SharePoint Skinner

A great tool for customizing and branding a SharePoint Web Site or portal is SharePoint Skinner.
It is a desktop application which enables you to visual edit the css for your SharePoint and save it as a SharePoint Theme. It is very easy to use and very productive. You should read more about it on its tutorial here: http://www.elumenotion.com/Blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=4
You will find it on CodePlex too: http://www.codeplex.com/SP2007Skinner