What are Application Pages in SharePoint?
Ans : Unlike site pages (for example, default.aspx), a custom application page is deployed once per Web server and cannot be customized on a site-by-site basis. Application pages are based in the virtual _layouts directory. In addition, they are compiled into a single assembly DLL.
A good example of an Application Page is the default Site Settings page: every site has one, and it's not customizable on a per site basis (although the contents can be different for sites).
With application pages, you can also add inline code. With site pages, you cannot add inline code.
Typically, you link custom application pages to application.master, the master page file that is used by the default application pages in Windows SharePoint Services. You should also write application pages to inherit from a base class defined inside the Microsoft.SharePoint assembly named LayoutsPageBase.
UserControl or WebPart?
Ans: Advantages of Using User Control are :
Advantages
There are three primary advantages to user controls when dealing with SharePoint. They are: familiarity, reusability, and development speed.
*Familiarity:
One of the keys to development is managing the degree of change that the team is put through as it transitions from technology to technology. Part of managing that change is minimizing it where possible. This is one of the reasons that user controls are such a good solution for many organizations. User controls are a core ASP.NET construct, they are something that developers are likely already familiar with — or at least aware of. This familiarity increases the knowledge reuse coming into the project, which keeps morale high, improves productivity, and improves reuse of the experience after the SharePoint project.
*Reusability
Another way user controls are advantageous is that they can be used with other ASP.NET-based solutions. They aren't explicitly tied to SharePoint. If for some reason in the future you decide that SharePoint isn't the right platform for the solutions you're building — or you decide you need to reuse the technology in another non-SharePoint project — you have that capability.
*Development Speed:
Direct support by Visual Studio for a visual interface for user controls — as opposed to manually adding in controls through code — is a great advantage in development speed. Having a visual look and feel instantly available makes the process go faster.
*Debugging is faster too, as you can construct testing harnesses that fully exercise and instrument the user control. Web Parts are essentially only runable from within SharePoint. This means that you must deal with all of the SharePoint infrastructure while trying to debug.
ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts and their ability to be used with SharePoint hold promise, but since right now the story of SharePoint and ASP.NET 2.0 is still not perfect, it's more of a future consideration than a potential solution for today.
Maintenance is also easier and faster with User Controls, primarily because they are easier to understand and debug. The net of this is that developing with user controls is substantially faster than developing a Web Part for everything but the most trivial implementations
Q. When to use Diffrent Site Collections?
Ans. An Individual Site collection offers following :
For the Users:
Dedicated Recycle bins
Dedicated usage Reports
Distributed administration (site collection administrators)
Dedicated search scopes, keywords, and best-bets
Custom feature deployments
Dedicated language translation maintenance
Dedicated galleries for web parts, master pages, content types, site columns, site templates, and list templates
Dedicated shared libraries, such as site collection images and site collection styles
Dedicated real estate (Self Containment)
For the IT Administrators:
Site quota templates
Distributed administration
Site locking
Database maintenance options
Backup / Restore abilities
Content Deployments
InfoPath forms services global template targeting
why to use diffrent site collections:
1. Site quotas is one of the reasons. The issue is the recycle bin is based on site collections and the quota for a site collection. If everyone shares a site collection, then they share the recycle bins storage size.
2. Delegated Security and distributed administration is the next big thing. For eg, you have a IT department that doesn't know who should be able to see what content, besides how it should be organized. This is the job of the content owners and users. SharePoint site collections offers IT the ability to create a site collection for a project, team, department, document, or whatever the needs are, then assign an owner and hand it off to them.
3. In addition to these two points is the need to separate the content between databases.
What is Authentication and Authorization.
Ans : An authentication system is how you identify yourself to the computer. The goal behind an authentication system is to verify that the user is actually who they say they are.
Once the system knows who the user is through authentication, authorization is how the system decides what the user can do.
What are some of the accounts you create while installing/managing the sharepont.
Ans : Some of the accounts are specified here
What are Security methods(Authentication methods) available in sharepoint.
Ans :"Out of the box", SharePoint 2007 supports nine authentication methods. NTLM (short for NT Lan Manager, which is simply the Windows authentication that everyone is familiar with) and Kerberos (also a Windows "standard" authentication) are offered during installation, but I recommend to get started with NTLM, as Kerberos requires "special configuration by the domain administrator", while NTLM works without further hassle.
. What is the relationship between Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Windows Services?
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies (including SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services) deliver highly scalable collaboration solutions with flexible deployment and management tools. Windows SharePoint Services provides sites for team collaboration, while Share Point Portal Server connects these sites, people, and business processes-facilitating knowledge sharing and smart organizations. SharePoint Portal Server also extends the capabilities of Windows SharePoint Services by providing organizational and management tools for SharePoint sites, and by enabling teams to publish information to the entire organization.
• What is a SharePoint Feature? What files are used to define a feature?
A SharePoint Feature is a functional component that can be activated and deactivate at various scopes throughout a SharePoint instances, scope of which are defined as
1. Farm level 2. Web Application level 3. Site level 4. Web level
Features have their own receiver architecture, which allow you to trap events such as when a feature is
Installing, Uninstalling, Activated, or Deactivated.
The element types that can be defined by a feature include
menu commands, link commands, page templates, page instances, list definitions, list instances,
event handlers, and workflows.
The two files that are used to define a feature are the feature.xml and manifest file(elements.xml). The feature XML file defines the actual feature and will make SharePoint aware of the installed feature. The manifest file contains details about the feature such as functionality.
• Workflow can be applied to what all elements of SharePoint ?
Workflow associations are often created directly on lists and libraries, a workflow association can also be created on a content type that exists within the Content Type Gallery for the current site or content types defined within a list. In short, it can be applied ...
At the level of a list/library
At the level of a content type defined at site scope
At the level of a content type defined at list scope
• What are the types of input forms that can be created for a workflow ?
You can create four different types of input forms including
1. An association form
2. An initiation form
3. A modification form
4. A task edit form.
Note that these forms are optional when you create a workflow template.
• What are ways to create input forms for workflow ?
Two
1. You can create your forms by using custom application pages, which are standard .aspx pages deployed to run out of the _layouts directory. ( disadv: lot of code required when compared to Infopath approach)
2. Using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 (disadv: picks up a dependenct on MOSS, i.e. it cannot run in a standalone WSS environment)
• What is the difference between method activity and event activity in WorkFlow ?
A method activity is one that performs an action, such as creating or updating a task. An event activity is one that runs in response to an action occurring.
• What are content types?
A content type is a flexible and reusable WSS type definition (or we can a template) that defines the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a document in a document library. For example, you can create a content type for a leave approval document with a unique set of columns, an event handler, and its own document template and attach it with a document library/libraries.
• Can a content type have receivers associated with it?
Yes, a content type can have an event receiver associated with it, either inheriting from the SPListEventReciever base class for list level events, or inheriting from the SPItemEventReciever base class. Whenever the content type is instantiated, it will be subject to the event receivers that are associated with it.
• What two files are typically (this is kept generally) included when developing a content type, and what is the purpose of each?
There is generally the main content type file that holds things like the content type ID, name, group, description, and version. There is also the ContentType.Fields file which contains the fields to include in the content type that has the ID, Type, Name, DisplayName, StaticName, Hidden, Required, and Sealed elements. They are related by the FieldRefs element in the main content type file.
• What is an ancestral type and what does it have to do with content types?
An ancestral type is the base type that the content type is deriving from, such as Document (0x0101). The ancestral type will define the metadata fields that are included with the custom content type.
• Can a list definition be derived from a custom content type?
Yes, a list definition can derive from a content type which can be seen in the schema.XML of the list definition in the element.
• When creating a list definition, how can you create an instance of the list?
You can create a new instance of a list by creating an instance.XML file
• What is a Field Control?
Field controls are simple ASP.NET 2.0 server controls that provide the basic field functionality of SharePoint. They provide basic general functionality such as displaying or editing list data as it appears on SharePoint list pages.
• What base class do custom Field Controls inherit from?
This varies. Generally, custom field controls inherit from the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.BaseFieldControl namespace, but you can inherit from the default field controls.
• Can multiple SharePoint installs point to the same DB?
Multiple SharePoint installs can use the same database server. Not literally the same database on that server. That server must be SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005. It cannot be Oracle or another vendor.
• How to create links to the mapped network drives?
Creating links to mapped drives in WSS v3 or MOSS 2007 can be done via
the new content type for .lnk files.
• While creating a Web part, which is the ideal location to Initialize my new controls?
Override the CreateChildControls method to include your new controls. You can control the exact rendering of your controls by calling the .Render method in the web parts Render method.
• What are the two base classes a WebPart you are going to use within SharePoint 2007 can inherit from?
There are two base classes that a WebPart which is going to be consumed by SharePoint can inherit from, either the
SharePoint WebPart Base class
or the
ASP.NET 2.0 WebPart base class.
When inheriting from the SharePoint WebPart Base class your derived WebPart class will inherit from Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart. When inheriting from the ASP.NET 2.0 WebPart base class your derived WebPart class will inherit from System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart. It is considered good practice to use the ASP.NET WebPart base class since the old base class is meant for backwards compatibility with previous version of SharePoint, however there are four exception when it is better to leverage functionality from the SharePoint WebPart base class:
Cross page connections
Connections between Web Parts that are outside of a Web Part zone
Client-side connections (Web Part Page Services Component)
Data caching infrastructure
• What are the differences between the two base classes and what are the inherit benefits of using one over another?
The difference is the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart base class is meant for backward compatibility with previous versions of SharePoint. The benefit of using the SharePoint WebPart base class is it supported:
Cross page connections
Connections between Web Parts that are outside of a Web Part zone
Client-side connections (Web Part Page Services Component)
Data caching infrastructure
ASP.NET 2.0 WebParts are generally considered better to use because SharePoint is built upon the ASP.NET 2.0 web architecture. Inheriting from the ASP.NET 2.0 base class offers you features that inherit to ASP.NET 2.0, such as embedding resources as opposed to use ClassResources for deployment of said types.
• What is the WebPartManager sealed class? What is its purpose?
The WebPartManager sealed class is responsible for managing everything occurring on a WebPart page, such as the WebParts (controls), events, and misc. functionality that will occur in WebPartZones. For example, the WebPartManager is responsible for the functionality that is provided when you are working with moving a WebPart from WebPartZone to WebPartZone. It is known as the “the central class of the Web Part Control Set.”
• What does AllowUnsafeUpdates do ?
If your code modifies Windows SharePoint Services data in some way, you may need to allow unsafe updates on the Web site, without requiring a security validation. You can do by setting the AllowUnsafeUpdates property.
• What does RunWithElevatedPrivileges do?
There are certain object model calls model that require site-administration privileges. To bypass access-denied error, we use RunWithElevatedPrivileges property when request is initiated by a nonprivileged user. We can successfully make calls into the object model by calling the RunWithElevatedPrivileges method provided by the SPSecurity class.
• What does SPWeb.EnsureUser method do?
Checks whether the specified login name belongs to a valid user of the Web site, and if the login name does not already exist, adds it to the Web site.
e.g SPUser usr = myWeb.EnsureUser("hitenders");
• What is a SPSite and SPWeb object, and what is the difference between each of the objects?
The SPSite object represents a collection of sites (site collection [a top level site and all its subsites]). The SPWeb object represents an instance SharePoint Web, and SPWeb object contains things like the actual content. A SPSite object contains the various subsites and the information regarding them.
• What does a SPWebApplication object represent?
The SPWebApplication objects represents a SharePoint Web Application, which essentially is an IIS virtual server. Using the class you can instigate high level operations, such as getting all the features of an entire Web Application instance, or doing high level creation operations like creating new Web Applications through code.
• Would you use SPWebApplication to get information like the SMTP address of the SharePoint site?
Yes, since this is a Web Application level setting. You would iterate through each SPWebApplication in the SPWebApplication collection, and then use the appropriate property calls (OutboundMailServiceInstance) in order to return settings regarding the mail service such as the SMTP address.
• How do you return SharePoint List items using SharePoint web services?
In order to retrieve list items from a SharePoint list through Web Services, you should use the lists.asmx web service by establishing a web reference in Visual Studio. The lists.asmx exposes the GetListItems method, which will allow the return of the full content of the list in an XML node. It will take parameters like the GUID of the name of the list you are querying against, the GUID of the view you are going to query, etc.
Side Question: I got asked how I built queries with the lists.asmx web service. In order to build queries with this service, one of the parameters that the GetListItems method exposes is the option to build a CAML query. There are other ways to do this as well, but that was how I answered it.
• When retrieving List items using SharePoint Web Services, how do you specify explicit credentials to be passed to access the list items?
In order to specify explicit credentials with a Web Service, you generally instantiate the web service, and then using the credentials properties of the Web Service object you use the System.Net.NetworkCredential class to specify the username, password, and domain that you wish to pass when making the web service call and operations.
• What is CAML, and why would you use it?
CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language. CAML is an XML based language which provides data constructs that build up the SharePoint fields, view, and is used for table definition during site provisioning. CAML is responsible for rending data and the resulting HTML that is output to the user in SharePoint. CAML can be used for a variety of circumstances, overall is used to query, build and customize SharePoint based sites. A general use would be building a CAML query in a SharePoint WebPart in order to retrieve values from a SharePoint list.
• What is impersonation, and when would you use impersonation?
Impersonation can basically provide the functionality of executing something in the context of a different identity, for example assigning an account to users with anonymous access. You would use impersonation in order to access resources on behalf of the user with a different account, that normally, that wouldn’t be able to access or execute something.
• What are WebPart properties, and what are some of the attributes you see when declaring WebPart properties in code?
WebPart properties are just like ASP.NET control properties, they are used to interact with and specify attributes that should be applied to a WebPart by a user. Some of the attributes you see with ASP.NET 2.0 properties are WebDescription, WebDisplayName, Category, Personalizable, and WebBrowsable. Although most of these properties come from the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts class, ones like Category come out of System.ComponentModel namespace.
• Why are properties important in WebPart development, and how have you exploited them in past development projects? What must each custom property have?
Properties are important because WebParts allow levels of personalization for each user. WebPart properties make it possible for a user to interact, adjust, and increase overall experience value with the programmatic assets that you develop without having the need to use an external editor or right any code. A very simple example of exploiting a property would be something like allowing the user to change the text on the WebPart design interface so that they can display whatever string of text they desire.
Each custom property that you have must have the appropriate get and set accessor methods.
• What are ClassResources? How do you reference and deploy resources with an ASP.NET 2.0 WebPart?
ClassResources are used when inheriting from the SharePoint.WebPart.WebPartPages.WebPart base class, and are defined in the SharePoint solution file as things that should be stored in the wpresources directory on the server. It is a helpful directory to use in order to deploy custom images. In ASP.NET 2.0, typically things such as images are referenced by embedding them as resources within an assembly. The good part about ClassResources is they can help to eliminate recompiles to change small interface adjustments or alterations to external JavaScript files.
• What is a SharePoint Solution File? How does it differ from WebPart .cab files in legacy development? What does it contain?
A SharePoint solution file is essentially a .cabinet file with all a developers ustom componets suffixed with a .wsp extension that aids in deployment. The big difference with SharePoint solution files is is that a solution:
allows deployment to all WFE’s in a farm
is highly manageable from the interface allowing deployment, retraction, and versioning
Can package all types of assets like site definitions, feature definitions (and associated components), Webparts, etc.
Can provide Code Access Security provisioning to avoid GAC deployments
And much more..
• What is a .ddf file and what does it have to do with SharePoint Solution creation?
A .ddf file is a data directive file and is used when building the SharePoint solution bundle specifying the source files and their destination locations. The important thing for someone to understand is that the .ddf file will be passed as a parameter to the MAKECAB utility to orchestrate construction of the SharePoint solution file.
• What file does a SharePoint solution package use to orchestrate (describe) its packaged contents?
The solution Manifest.XML file.
• What deployment mechanism can you use to instigate Code Access Security attributes for your WebParts?
SharePoint solution files can add in order to handle code access security deployment issues. This is done in the element in the SharePoint solution manifest.XML, which makes it easier to get assemblies the appropriate permissions in order to operate in the bin directory of the web application.
• What are event receivers?
Event receivers are classes that inherit from the SpItemEventReciever or SPListEventReciever base class (both of which derive out of the abstract base class SPEventRecieverBase), and provide the option of responding to events as they occur within SharePoint, such as adding an item or deleting an item.
• When would you use an event receiver?
Since event receivers respond to events, you could use a receiver for something as simple as canceling an action, such as deleting a document library by using the Cancel property. This would essentially prevent users from deleting any documents if you wanted to maintain retention of stored data.
• What base class do event receivers inherit from?
Event receivers either inherit from the SPListEventReciever base class or the SPItemEventReciever base class, both which derive from the abstract base class SPEventReceiverBase.
• If I wanted to not allow people to delete documents from a document library, how would I go about it?
You would on the ItemDeleting event set: properties.Cancel= true.
• What is the difference between an asynchronous and synchronous event receivers?
An asynchronous event occurs after an action has taken place, and a synchronous event occurs before an action has take place. For example, an asynchronous event is ItemAdded, and its sister synchronous event is ItemAdding
1. What does AllowUnsafeUpdates do ?
If your code modifies Windows SharePoint Services data in some way, you may need to allow unsafe updates on the Web site, without requiring a security validation. You can do by setting the AllowUnsafeUpdates property.
C#:
using(SPSite mySite = new SPSite("yourserver"))
{
using(SPWeb myWeb = mySite.OpenWeb())
{
myWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
SPList interviewList = myWeb.Lists["listtoinsert"];
SPListItem newItem = interviewList.Items.Add();
newItem["interview"] = "interview";
newItem.Update();
}
}
2. What does RunWithElevatedPrivileges do?
Assume that you have a Web Part in which you want to display information obtained through the Windows SharePoint Services object model, such as the name of the current site collection owner, usage statistics, or auditing information. These are examples of calls into the object model that require site-administration privileges. Your Web Part experiences an access-denied error if it attempts to obtain this information when the current user is not a site administrator. The request is initiated by a nonprivileged user. you can still successfully make these calls into the object model by calling the RunWithElevatedPrivileges method provided by the SPSecurity class.
C#:
SPSite siteColl = SPContext.Current.Site;
SPWeb site = SPContext.Current.Web;
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate() {
using (SPSite ElevatedsiteColl = new SPSite(siteColl.ID)) {
using (SPWeb ElevatedSite = ElevatedsiteColl.OpenWeb(site.ID)) {
string SiteCollectionOwner = ElevatedsiteColl.Owner.Name;
string Visits = ElevatedsiteColl.Usage.Visits.ToString();
string RootAuditEntries =
ElevatedSite.RootFolder.Audit.GetEntries().Count.ToString();
}
}
});
3.What is a SharePoint Feature? What files are used to define a feature?
A SharePoint Feature is a functional component that can be activated and deactivate at various scopes throughout a SharePoint instances, such as at the farm, site collection, web, etc. Features have their own receiver architecture, which allow you to trap events such as when a feature is installing, uninstalling, activated, or deactivated. The element types that can be defined by a feature include menu commands, link commands, page templates, page instances, list definitions, list instances, event handlers, and workflows.
The two files that are used to define a feature are the feature.xml and manifest file(elements.xml). The feature XML file defines the actual feature and will make SharePoint aware of the installed feature. The manifest file contains details about the feature such as functionality.
4. What are content types ?
A content type is a flexible and reusable WSS type definition that defines the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a document in a document library. For example, you can create a content type for a customer presentation document with a unique set of columns, an event handler, and its own document template. You can create a second content type for a customer proposal document with a different set of columns, a workflow, and a different document template.
5. Workflow can be applied to what all elements of SharePoint ?
While workflow associations are often created directly on lists and document libraries, a workflow association can also be created on a content type that exists within the Content Type Gallery for the current site or content types defined within a list. In short, it can be applied ...
At the level of a list (or document library)
At the level of a content type defined at site scope
At the level of a content type defined at list scope
6. What are the ways to initiate the workflow ?
1. Automatic
2. Manual (standard WSS UI interface)
3. Manual (Custom UI Interface)
7. What are the types of input forms that can be created for a workflow ?
You can create four different types of input forms including an association form, an initiation form, a modification form, and a task edit form. Note that these forms are optional when you create a workflow template.
8. What are ways to create input forms for workflow ?
Two different approaches can be used to develop custom input forms for a WSS workflow template.
a. You can create your forms by using custom application pages, which are standard .aspx pages deployed to run out of the _layouts directory. ( disadv: lot of code required when compared to Infopath approach)
b. using Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 (disadv: picks up a dependenct on MOSS, i.e. it cannot run in a standalone WSS environment)
9. What is the difference between method activity and event activity in WF ?
A method activity is one that performs an action, such as creating or updating a task. An event activity is one that runs in response to an action occurring.
10. What does SPWeb.EnsureUser method do?
Checks whether the specified login name belongs to a valid user of the Web site, and if the login name does not already exist, adds it to the Web site.
e.g SPUser usr = myWeb.EnsureUser("mmangaldas");
11. While creating a Webpart, which is the ideal location to Initialize my new controls ?
Override the CreateChildControls method to include your new controls. To make sure that the new controls are initialized.. call 'EnsureChildControls' in the webparts Render method. You can control the exact Rendering of your controls by calling the .Render method in the webparts Render method.
12. How to query from multiple lists ?
Use SPSiteDataQuery to fetch data from multiple lists. more details..
13.How Does SharePoint work?
The browser sends a DAV packet to IIS asking to perform a document check in. PKMDASL.DLL, an ISAPI DLL, parses the packet and sees that it has the proprietary INVOKE command. Because of the existence of this command, the packet is passed off to msdmserv.exe, who in turn processes the packet and uses EXOLEDB to access the WSS, perform the operation and send the results back to the user in the form of XML.
13. What is the difference between Syncronous & Asyncronous events?
Syncronous calls ending with 'ing'
E.g. ItemDeleting
Event Handler code execute BEFORE action is committed
WSS waits for code to return
Option to cancel and return error code
Asyncronous calls ending with 'ed'
E.g. ItemDeleted
Event Handler code executes AFTER action is committed
WSS does not wait for code to return
Executed in its own Worker thread.
14. What is ServerUpdate() ?
Any changes in the list, i.e. new addition or modification of an item.. the operation is complete by calling the Update method.
But if a List is set to maintain versions .. and you are editing an item, but don't want to save it as a new version, then use the SystemUpdate method instead and pass in 'false' as the parameter.
15. What is query.ViewAttributes OR How can you force SPQuery to return results from all the folders of the list?
If you use SPQuery on any SPlist .. it will bring back results from the current folder only.
If you want to get results from all the folders in the list.. then you need to specify the scope of the query by the use of ViewAttributes..
e.g. query.ViewAttributes = "Scope=\"Recursive\"";
How Branding can be achieved by Master Pages? What are the advantages or disadvantages of Master Pages?
Does sharepoint provide any way to grant read-only access to all the users of the company on the portal?
What are the steps to create a web-part?
What does the webpart .cab file include?
What are the benefits of using Infopath?
What are the different namespaces per Sharepoint Object Model?
What are the different Back-up and Restore methodologies?
What are the steps in running a custom WebService under the context of SharePoint?
How can you display content from one site in another under the same site collection ?
How to Create a custom list form?
Some items to look at as a developer..
General info on WSS 3.0 development.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb530302.aspx
Application page. Allows the use of inline custom code. Application pages or "_layout" pages are stored on the SharePoint Web server and made available via a Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) virtual directory. Though application pages behave much like other ASPX pages and allow the use of inline custom code, they differ from content pages in that they cannot be used to host SharePoint features such as dynamic Web Parts and Web Part zones. For more information, see Creating an Application Page in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
WebParts.
http://blogs.tamtam.nl/mart/CreateASharePoint2007WebpartStepByStep.aspx
Server Controls. User Controls on creation and how to install / deploy them.
Content type. A reusable collection of settings to apply to a certain category of content such as documents and folders. Content types are designed to help users organize their SharePoint content in a more meaningful way. For more information, see Introduction to Content Types.
Custom action. Represents a link, toolbar button, menu item, or any control that can be added to a toolbar or menu that appears in the UI. You define custom actions by using a custom action element within a feature definition file. You can bind custom actions to a list type, content type, file type, or programmatic identifier (ProgID). For more information, see Custom Action Definitions.
Event receiver. Evaluator of an event and definer of the behavior of an application. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 allows you to define event handlers within libraries, lists, and sites. Event receivers can be defined by using a receiver element within a feature definition file. For more information, see Event Registrations.
Feature. A package of Windows SharePoint Services elements that can be activated for a specific scope and that helps users accomplish a particular goal or task. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 introduces this inherently portable and modular functionality, which simplifies modification of sites through site definitions. For more information, see Working with Features. -- Inside Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0
Master page. Pages that provide a consistent layout and appearance (look and feel) for SharePoint sites. They allow you to factor out layout, structure, and interface elements such as headers, footers, navigation bars, and content placeholders. Master pages in ASP.NET 2.0 and master pages in Windows SharePoint Services work in the same way. For more information, see Building Simple Master Pages for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
Module. A file or collection of file instances that define the location where the files are installed during site creation. Modules are frequently used to implement a Web Part Page in the site. You can define modules by using a module element within a feature definition file. For more information, see Modules.
Object Model. what is the architecture of sharepoint and how is it represented programmatically. You have to create a webapplication as the first step.. and specify a port number if the default port 80 is already taken. This is not accessible as yet for browsing.. but you can see that a new website is created in the IIS. Next step would be to create a SiteCollection (multiple sitecollection can be created in a single website). Creating a site collection creates a default root site. This root site is accessible through the browser. you can go ahead to create multiple child sites under the root site.
This was the administrative terms used. but for programming, to access the SiteCollection we have to use SpSite and for the Sites we have to use SpWeb.
SharePoint site: A Web site hosted in a virtual URL. A SharePoint site is a place for collaboration, communication, or content storage. Depending on your business needs, you can create sites such as team sites, blog sites, wiki sites, and others. You can customize a site's appearance, users, user permissions, galleries, and site administration by using the Site Settings administration pages.
SharePoint site collection: A collection of SharePoint sites that share common administration pages and site settings. Site collections allow you to share content types, site columns, templates, and Web Parts within a group of SharePoint sites.
SharePoint Web farm: A group of Office SharePoint 2007 servers that share the same configuration database. All site content and all configuration data is shared for all front-end Web servers in a server farm.
Custom List Definition.
http://ari.provoke.co.nz/archive/2007/04/18/creating-a-custom-sharepoint-2007-list-definition.aspx
Site definition. A set of files that includes a master XML configuration file that is stored on all front-end Web servers. A site definition provides the basic blueprint for how sites look, what lists they include, their default navigational structures, and so on. For more information, see Working with Site Templates and Definitions.
Site template. A package containing a set of differences and changes from a base site definition that is created through the UI or through implementation of the object model. The site template package is stored as a .cab-based file that can be downloaded or uploaded to site collections by users with the appropriate rights. Site templates offer a measure of portability to SharePoint applications. For more information, see Working with Site Templates and Definitions.
Solution. A file that is a bundling of all the components for extending Windows SharePoint Services in a particular way. A solution file has a .cab-based format with a .wsp extension. A solution is a deployable, reusable package that can contain a set of Features, site definitions, and assemblies that apply to sites, and that you can enable or disable individually. You can use the solution file to deploy the contents of a Web Part package, including assemblies, class resources, and other package components. For more information see, Solution Overview.
Theme. A group of files (CSS, images) that allow you to define the appearance (look and feel) of Web pages. Themes in ASP.NET 2.0 and themes in SharePoint Products and Technologies work in the same way. Themes are used to help organizations to brand their portals and team sites. Office SharePoint Server 2007 includes a set of predefined themes. However, as a developer, you can create custom themes for your company. For more information, see How to: Customize Themes.
Code Access Security -- general info. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms916855.aspx -- SPS 2003 but gives overall info)
HTTPHandlers in Sharepoint.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457204.aspx
Programming Jobs in Sharepoint.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc427068.aspx
WWF
Custom Webservices. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms464040.aspx .
Q What is Sharepoint?
Ans: Portal Collaboration Software.
Q What is the difference between SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services?Ans: SharePoint Portal Server is the global portal offering features like global navigation and searching.Windows SharePoint Services is more content management based with document libraries andlists. You apply information to certain areas within your portal from windows sharepoint Services or directly to portal areas.
Q What is a document library?
Ans: A document library is where you upload your core documents. They consist of a row and columnview with links to the documents. When the document is updated so is the link on your site. Youcan also track metadata on your documents. Metadata would consist of document properties.
Q What is a meeting workspace?
Ans: A meeting workspace is a place to store information, attendees, and tasks related to a specificmeeting.
Q What is a document workspace?
Ans: Document workspaces consist of information surrounding a single or multiple documents.
Q What is the difference between a document library and a form library?
Ans:Document libraries consist of your core documents. An example would be a word document,excel, Powerpoint, visio, pdf, etc… Form libraries consist of XML forms.
Q What is a web part zone?
Ans: Web part zones are what your web parts reside in and help categorize your web parts when designing a page.
Q How is security managed in SharePoint?
Ans: Security can be handled at the machine,domain, or sharepoint level.
Q How are web parts developed?
Ans: Web parts are developed in Visual Studio .Net. VS.Net offers many web part and page templates and can also be downloaded from the Microsoft Site.
Q What is a site definition?
Ans: It’s a methods for providing prepackaged site and list content.
Q What is a template?
A template is a pre-defined set of functions or settings that can be used over time. There are manytemplates within SharePoint,Site Templates, Document Templates, Document Library and ListTemplates.
Q How do you install web parts?
Ans: Web Parts should be distributed as a .CAB (cabinet) file using the MSI Installer.
Q What is CAML?
Ans: CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language and is an XML-based languagethat is used in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services to define sites and lists, including, for Eg, fields, views, or forms, but CAML is also used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint Servies database during site provisioning.
Q What is a DWP?
Ans: The file extension of a web part.
Q What is the GAC?
Ans: Global Assembly Cache folder on the server hosting SharePoint. You place your assemblies there for web parts and services to share them.
Q What are the differences between web part page gallery, site gallery,Virtual server galleryand online gallery?
Ans: Web Part Page Gallery is the default gallery that comes installed with SharePoint. Site Gallery isspecific to one site. Virtual Server gallery is specific to that virtual server and online gallery aredownloadable web parts from Microsoft.
Q What is the difference between a site and a web?
Ans: The pages in a web site generally cover one or more topics and are interconnected through hyperlinks. Most Web sites have a home page as their starting point. While a Web is simply a blank site with SharePoint functionality built in; meaning you have to create the site from the ground up.
Q What is Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services? How is it related to Microsoft OfficeSharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: Windows SharePoint Services is the solution that enables you to create Web site for information sharing and document collaboration. Windows SharePoint Services — a key piece of theinformation worker infrastructure delivered in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 — providesadditional functionality to the Microsoft Office system and other desktop applications, and itserves as a platform for application development.Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to provideadditional capabilities including collaboration, portal, search,Enterprise content management,business process and forms, and business intelligence.
Q. Who is Office SharePoint server 2007 designed for?
Ans: Office SharePoint Server 2007 can be used by information workers, IT administrators, and application developers.
Q. What are the main benefits of Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a single integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet,and Internet applications across the enterprise.
* Business users gain greater control over the storage, security, distribution, and management oftheir electronic content, with tools that are easy to use and tightly integrated into familiar,everyday applications.
* Organizations can accelerate shared business processes with customers and partners acrossorganizational boundaries using InfoPath Forms Services–driven solutions.
* Information workers can find information and people efficiently and easily through thefacilitated information-sharing functionality and simplified content publishing. In addition, accessto back-end data is achieved easily through a browser, and views into this data can bepersonalized.
* Administrators have powerful tools at their fingertips that ease deployment, management, and system administration, so they can spend more time on strategic tasks.
* Developers have a rich platform to build a new class of applications, called Office BusinessApplications, that combine powerful developer functionality with the flexibility and ease ofdeployment of Office SharePoint Server 2007. Through the use of out-of-the-box applicationservices, developers can build richer applications with less code.
Q. What is the difference between Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server2007 have identical feature functionality. While the feature functionality is similar, the usagerights are different.If you are creating an Internet, or Extranet, facing website, it is recommended that you useMicrosoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites which does not require the purchase client access licenses. Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition can only be used forInternet facing websites and all content, information, and applications must be accessible to nonemployees.Websites hosted using an “Internet sites” edition cannot be accessed by employees creating, sharing, or collaborating on content which is solely for internal use only, such as an Intranet Portal scenario.
Q.What suites of the 2007 Microsoft Office system work with Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: Office Outlook 2007 provides bidirectional offline Synchronization with SharePoint documentlibraries, discussion groups, contacts, calendars, and tasks.vabnix.page.tlMicrosoft Office Groove 2007, included as part of Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, will enablebidirectional offline synchronization with SharePoint document libraries.Features such as the document panel and the ability to publish to Excel Services will only beenabled when using Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007or Office Enterprise 2007.Excel Services will only work with documents saved in the new Office Excel 2007 file format(XLSX).
Q. How do I invite users to join a Windows SharePoint Services Site? Is the site secure?
Ans: SharePoint-based Web sites can be password-protected to restrict access to registered users, whoare invited to join via e-mail. In addition, the site administrator can restrict certain members' rolesby assigning different permission levels to view post and edit.
Q Can I post any kind of document?
Ans: You can post documents in many formats, including .pdf, .htm and .doc. In addition, if you areusing Microsoft Office XP, you can save documents directly to your Windows SharePointServices site.
Q Can I create custom templates?
Ans: Yes you can. You can have templates for business plans, doctor's office, lawyer's office etc.
Q. How can I make My site public?
Ans: By default, all sites are created private.If you want your site to be a public Web site, enable anonymous access for the entire site. Then you can give out your URL to anybody in yourbusiness card, e-mail or any other marketing material. The URL for your Web site will be:http:// yoursitename.wss.bcentral.comHence, please take special care to name your site.These Web sites are ideal for information and knowledge intensive sites and/or sites where youneed to have shared Web workspace.Remember: Under each parent Web site, you can create up to 10 sub-sites each with uniquepermissions, settings and security rights.
Q. How do the sub sites work?
Ans: You can create a sub site for various categories.
For example:* Departments - finance, marketing, IT* Products - electrical, mechanical, hydraulics* Projects - Trey Research, Department of Transportation, FDA* Team - Retention team, BPR team* Clients - new clients, old clients* Suppliers - Supplier 1, Supplier 2, Supplier 3* Customers - Customer A, Customer B, Customer C* Real estate - property A, property BThe URLs for each will be, for example:* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/finance* http://yoursitename.wss.bcentral.com/marketingYou can keep track of permissions for each team separately so that access is restricted whilevabnix.page.tlmaintaining global access to the parent site.
Q.How do I make my site non-restricted?
Ans: If you want your site to have anonymous access enabled (i.e., you want to treat it like any site onthe Internet that does not ask you to provide a user name and password to see the content of thesite), follow these simple steps:
# Login as an administrator
# Click on site settings
# Click on Go to Site Administration
# Click on Manage anonymous access
# Choose one of the three conditions on what Anonymous users can access:** Entire Web site** Lists and libraries** NothingDefault condition is nothing; your site has restricted access.
The default conditions allow you to create a secure site for your Web site.
Q. Can I ask users outside of my organization to participate in my Windows SharePointServices site?
Ans: Yes. You can manage this process using the Administration Site Settings. Simply add users via their e-mail alias and assign permissions such as Reader or Contributor.
Q. Are there any restrictions or requirements for accessing the Windows SharePoint Services?Ans: No. There are no system or bandwidth limitations for international trial users. Additionallylanguage packs have been installed which allow users to set up sub-webs in languages other thanEnglish. These include: Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian,Japanese, Polish, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish and Swedish.
Q. Are there any browser recommendations?
Ans: Yes. Microsoft recommends using the following browsers for viewing and editing WindowsSharePoint Services sites: Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 2, MicrosoftInternet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2, Internet Explorer 6, Netscape Navigator
6.2 or later.vabnix.page.
Q.What security levels are assigned to users?
Ans: Security levels are assigned by the administrator who is adding the user. There are four levels bydefault and additional levels can be composed as necessary.
* Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site.
* Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.
* Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.
* Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.
Q.What is the difference between an Internet and an intranet site?
Ans: An internet site is a normal site that anyone on the internet can access (e.g., www.msn.com, www.microsoft.com, etc.). You can set up a site for your company that can be accessed by anyonewithout any user name and password.An intranet (or internal network), though hosted on the Web, can only be accessed by people whoare members of the network. They need to have a login and password that was assigned to them when they were added to the site by the site administrator.
Q. What is a workspace?
Ans: A site or workspace is when you want a new place for collaborating on Web pages, lists anddocument libraries. For example, you might create a site to manage a new team or project,collaborate on a document or prepare for a meeting.
Q.How customizable is the user-to-user access?
Ans: User permissions apply to an entire Web, not to documents themselves. However, you can haveadditional sub webs that can optionally have their own permissions. Each user can be given any offour default roles. Additional roles can be defined by the administrator.
Q.Can each user have access to their own calendar?
Ans: Yes there are two ways to do this,
* by creating a calendar for each user, or
* by creating a calendar with a view for each user.
Q. What types of files can I upload / post to the site?
Ans: The only files restricted are those ending with the following extensions: .asa, .asp, .ida, .idc, .idq.Microsoft reserves the right to add additional file types to this listing at any time. Also, no content that violates the terms of service may be uploaded or posted to the site.
Q.Can SharePoint be linked to an external data source?
Ans: SharePoint data can be opened with Access and Excel as an external data source. Thus, SharePoint can be referenced as an external data source. SharePoint itself cannot reference an external datasource.
Q. Can SharePoint be linked to a SQL database?
Ans: This is possible via a custom application, but it not natively supported by SharePoint or SQLServer.
Q.Can I customize my Windows SharePoint Services site?
Ans: YES! Windows SharePoint Services makes updating sites and their content from the browser easier then ever.SharePoint includes tools that let you create custom lists, calendars, page views, etc. You can apply a theme; add List, Survey and Document Library Web Parts to a page; create personalviews; change logos; connect Web Parts and more.To fully customize your site, you can use Microsoft FrontPage 2003. Specifically, you can useFrontPage themes and shared borders, and also use FrontPage to create photo galleries and top tenlists, utilize standard usage reports, and integrate automatic Web content.
Q. Will Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 run on a 64-bit version of MicrosoftWindows?Ans: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office Forms Server 2007, andOffice SharePoint Server 2007 for Search will support 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2003.
Q. What are the features that the portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include?Ans: The portal components of Office SharePoint Server 2007 include features that are especially useful for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise intranet portals, corporate Internet Websites, and divisional portal sites. The portal components make it easier to connect to people withinthe organization who have the right skills, knowledge, and project experience.
Q.What are the advanced features of MOSS 2007?
Ans: * User Interface (UI) and navigation enhancements
* Document management enhancements
* The new Workflow engine
* Office 2007 Integration
* New Web Parts
* New Site-type templates
* Enhancements to List technology
* Web Content Management
* Business Data Catalog
* Search enhancements
* Report Center
* Records Management
* Business Intelligence and Excel Server
* Forms Server and InfoPath
* The “Features” feature
* Alternate authentication providers and Forms-based authentication
Q.What are the features of the new Content management in Office SharePoint 2007?
Ans: The new and enhanced content management features in Office SharePoint Server 2007 fall within three areas:
* Document management
* Records management.
* Web content managementOffice SharePoint Server 2007 builds on the core document management functionality providedby Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, including check in and check out, versioning, metadata, and role-based granular access controls. Organizations can use this functionality to deliver enhancedauthoring, business document processing, Web content management and publishing, recordsmanagement, policy management, and support for multilingual publishing.
Q.Does a SharePoint Web site include search functionality?
Ans: Yes. SharePoint Team Services provides a powerful text-based search feature that helps you finddocuments and information fast.
Q.What are the benefits of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?
Ans: * Provide a simple, familiar, and consistent user experience.* Boost employee productivity by simplifying everyday business activities.* Help meet regulatory requirements through comprehensive control over content.* Effectively manage and repurpose content to gain increased business value.* Simplify organization-wide access to both structured and unstructured information acrossdisparate systems.* Connect people with information and expertise.* Accelerate shared business processes across organizational boundaries.* Share business data without divulging sensitive information.* Enable people to make better-informed decisions by presenting business-critical information inone central location.* Provide a single, integrated platform to manage intranet, extranet, and Internet applicationsacross the enterprise.
Q.Will SharePoint Portal Server and Team Services ever merge?
Ans: The products will come together because they are both developed by the Office team.
Q.What does partial trust mean the Web Part developer?
Ans: If an assembly is installed into the BIN directory, the code must be ensured that provides errorhandling in the event that required permissions are not available. Otherwise, unhandled securityexceptions may cause the Web Part to fail and may affect page rendering on the page where theWeb Part appears.
Q.How can I raise the trust level for assemblies installed in the BIN directory?
Ans: Windows SharePoint Services can use any of the following three options from ASP.NET and the CLR to provide assemblies installed in the BIN directory with sufficient permissions. The following table outlines the implications and requirements for each option.
1.Option Pros Cons Increase the trust level for the entire virtual server.
In a development environment,increasing the trust level allows you to test an assembly with increased permissions while allowing you to recompile assemblies directly into the BIN directory without resetting IIS. This option is least secure. This option affects all assemblies used by the virtual server.There is no guarantee the destination server has the required trust level. Therefore, Web Parts may not work once installed on the destination server.
2.Create a custom policy file for your assemblies. For more information, see "How do I create acustom policy file?" Recommended approach.This option is most secure.An assembly can operate with a unique policy that meets the minimum permission requirementsfor the assembly.By creating a custom security policy, you can ensure the destination server can run your WebParts.
3.Requires the most configuration of all three options.Install your assemblies in the GACEasy to implement.This grants Full trust to your assembly without affecting the trust level of assemblies installed inthe BIN directory.This option is less secure.Assemblies installed in the GAC are available to all virtual servers and applications on a serverrunning Windows SharePoint Services. This could represent a potential security risk as itpotentially grants a higher level of permission to your assembly across a larger scope thannecessaryIn a development environment, you must reset IIS every time you recompile assemblies.Licensing issues may arise due to the global availability of your assembly.
Q. Does SharePoint work with NFS?Yes and no.
Ans: It can crawl documents on an NFS volume, but the sharepoint database or logs cannotbe stored there.
Q.How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site Server?
Ans: Site Server has search capabilities but these are more advanced using SharePoint. SPS uses digital dashboard technology which provides a nice interface for creating web parts and showing them ondashboards (pages). SS doesn't have anything as advanced as that. The biggest difference wouldbe SPS document management features which also integrate with web folders and MS Office.
Web Part :
Web Parts are componentized, self-contained packages of user interface that can be dropped into place on SharePoint Web Part pages to provide discrete sets of functionality to users.
Sites,Site collections,Web and Web Applications :
It can be incredibly easy to get confused between sites, webs, web applications, and site collections. The farm is the topmost level in the hierarchy. Below the farm, you have web applications represented by the SPWebApplication class, which typically correspond to an IIS application pool. Below that, you have a collection of site collections contained in the SPSiteCollection class. Finally, you have site collections represented by the SPSite class and individual websites represented by the SPWeb class.
Features:
Features allow reusable pieces of functionality to be created and deployed to other sites,without modifying site templates.It is always better to deploy a feature in new site instead of directly embedding mountains of complex XML.Using Features, you can do everything from adding a link to the Site Settings page to creating a complete, fully functioning Project Management suite that can be added to any SharePoint site.
Features are organized in folders under the Features directory located under 12 hives; Where SharePoint Server 2007 puts all of its system files, at the following path: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12.
The two files that are used to define a feature are the feature.xml and Elements.xml .
The feature XML file defines the actual feature and will make SharePoint aware of the installed feature. It usually identifies the Feature itself and its element manifest file and sets the Feature scope to Web site.
Elements.xml file identifies the assembly, class, and method to implement in feature.
you can directly deploy a feature in sharepoint site with
stsadm -o installfeature -filename XYZEventHandler\Feature.xml
stsadm -o activatefeature -filename DeletingEventHandler\Feature.xml -url http://Server/Site/Subsite
iisreset
OR To Deploy it as solution package you need a solution manifest (manifest.xml).
Solutions:
Solutions allow you to package Features in a cabinet (.cab) file and define important metadata about those Features. After a Solution is installed on a server in the farm, you can then use SharePoint’s Solution management features to automate the deployment of that Solution to other sites within the farm.
The solution manifest (always called manifest.xml) is stored at the root of a solution file. This file defines the list of features, site definitions, resource files, Web Part files, and assemblies to process. It does not define the file structure—if files are included in a solution but not listed in the manifest XML file, they are not processed in any way.
Because the solution file is essentially a .cab file, use the makecab.exe tool to create the solution package. The makecab.exe tool takes a pointer to a .ddf file, which describes the structure of the .cab file. The format of a .ddf file is, declare a standard header and then enumerate, one file per line, the set of files by where they live on disk, separated by where they should live in the .cab file.
Features & Solutions:
The Feature Framework has been extended to allow developers to create custom Features. Features can be deployed by using SharePoint Portal Server 2007 new form of deployment, namely Solution Deployment. Solutions as you know, are custom packages (e.g. WSP file) or redistributable CAB files, created by developers and deployed by SharePoint Administrators. Administrator can deploy Features to the individual site or to all Web front End Servers.
Features are a method for developers to package customisations and deploy them to the SharePoint portal. They can then be activated and deactivated at the Site Collection level. Solutions are a way to bundle features together for deployment.
Can you restrict a user from deleting an item in a List? Yes this can be done by creating an EventHandler on the List.You can create a Event handler feature(itemdeleting feture) that can be deployed to a Sharepoint site,and thus can work to restrict the deleting of documnets. For more information see: Restrict Users to delete a Documnet in documnet Library(List ItemDeleting Event).
Event Receivers :
An event receiver is a piece of managed code that is launched in response to an event that takes place within SharePoint. These events can be triggered in response to changes to list items, creation of new lists, new list items, list items being deleted, and much more.
examples at:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/ExtendingSPS.aspx
http://blah.winsmarts.com/Post.aspx?postID=68
http://www.binarywave.com/blogs/eshupps/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=114
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