Microsoft Ups The ALM Ante With Its Bet On Teamprise

November 16, 2009
Microsoft Ups The ALM Ante With Its Bet On Teamprise
Expect VS 2010 To Accelerate The Shakeout In The Application Life-Cycle Management Market
by Jeffrey S. Hammond
with Mike Gilpin and Adam Knoll

Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (TFS) has proven very popular with .NET developers but not so much with Eclipse developers. This presents a problem for Microsoft, because many of its largest customers develop for both .NET and Java and want a consolidated application life-cycle management (ALM) solution that will support development teams regardless of what platform they use. Over the past few years, Microsoft has pointed to a partner’s product — SourceGear’s Teamprise Client Suite — as its recommended solution to the heterogeneity problem. This has proven unsatisfactory to many customers, so after a long internal debate, Microsoft has acquired the Teamprise code base. Microsoft will release an updated version of Teamprise as part of its Visual Studio 2010 release train and will reduce the new solution’s overall per-developer cost. The resulting product combination will prove much more attractive to large enterprises, which will now have the option of a lower-cost ALM solution for all the platforms they use, supported by the full force of Microsoft.

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements
By rriley

We’ve heard loud and clear that you want system requirements information as early as possible to assist in your budgeting and planning, so today we’re happy to announce (and confirm) some preliminary system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010:
1. SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only.
2. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.
3. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005.
In addition to the requirements listed above we also wanted to share with you some preliminary detail about SharePoint Server 2010 browser compatibility.
To ensure the best possible experience across multiple browsers we’re focusing our SharePoint 2010 engineering efforts on targeting standards based browsers (XHTML 1.0 compliant) including Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.x. running on Windows Operating Systems. In addition we’re planning on an increased level of compatibility with Firefox 3.x and Safari 3.x on non-Windows Operating Systems. Due to this focus Internet Explorer 6 will not be a supported browser for SharePoint Server 2010.
So, what can you do today to get into the best shape for SharePoint Server 2010?
1. Start by ensuring new hardware is 64-bit. Deploying 64-bit is our current best practice recommendation for SharePoint 2007.
2. Deploy Service Pack 2 and take a good look at the SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Checker that’s shipped as part of the update. The Upgrade Checker will scan your SharePoint Server 2007 deployment for many issues that could affect a future upgrade to SharePoint 2010.
3. Get to know Windows Server 2008 with SharePoint 2007, this post is a great starting point.
4. Consider your desktop browser strategy if you have large population of Internet Explorer 6 users.
5. Continue to follow the Best Practices guidance for SharePoint Server 2007.
6. Keep an eye on this blog for updates and more details in the coming months.
Below are a few common Q&A’s (which we’ll add to as required)

Q: What about Internet Explorer 6 and SharePoint 2010 publishing sites?
A: The Web Content Management features built into SharePoint 2010 will provide a deep level of control over the markup and styling of the reader experience. These features will enable customers to design pages that are compatible with additional browsers for viewing content, including Internet Explorer 6. A standards based browser such as Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.x will be required to author content.
Q: Is Internet Explorer 6 officially supported by Microsoft?
A: Official Microsoft Product Support for Internet Explorer 6 follows the lifecycle of the Operating System with which it was shipped. In order for customers to receive product support through the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases, they need to have installed a supported Service Pack. For example, customers who are using Windows XP must transition to Service Pack 3 by July, 2010 and are eligible to receive support for Internet Explorer 6 until April, 2014.
You can find additional information on Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Policy including specific dates, product information and support offerings here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy.
Q: Why are you only supporting the 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 for SharePoint Server 2010?
A: This decision was based on our current test data for SharePoint Server 2010 and real world experience from customers running SharePoint Server 2007 with 32-bit SQL Server. SharePoint performance and scalability can benefit significantly from 64-bit SQL Server and the throughput increases are significant enough for us to make the difficult decision to only support SharePoint Server 2010 on 64-bit SQL Server 2005 or 2008. It has been our strong recommendation for some time that SharePoint Server 2007 customers take advantage of 64-bit SQL Server due to the inherent performance and scale benefits it can provide.
Q: Where can I find more information on the advantages of 64-bit hardware and guidance on how to migrate SharePoint from 32-bit to 64-bit.
A: These two TechNet articles are a good starting point;
Advantages of 64-bit hardware and software (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
Migrate an existing server farm to a 64-bit environment (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

Linking External LOB Data to SharePoint Lists

You can connect external data from almost any data sources directly to SharePoint lists (no web parts) simply in the list settings dialog using the SharePoint Business Data List Connector (BDLC) found here:

http://www.layer2.de/en/products/Pages/SharePoint-Business-Data-List-Connector.aspx

All list features are available, e.g. alerts and workflows to start business actions in SharePoint, if external data is changed.

Just download and evaluate for free.

SharePoint 2010 features

Microsoft has released guides which discusses in depth on the new SP2010 features:

Download this guide as a Microsoft Word document (.docx).

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167123)

1) End User Evalution Guide - http://bit.ly/DM5mH
2) Developer Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/21ezZ2
3) IT Pro Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/1IENu4

Sharepoint 2010 Beta is now available for Download

Sharepoint 2010 Beta is now available for download at

http://sharepoint2010.microsoft.com/try-it/Pages/Trial.aspx

Sharepoint Conference Highlights

Sharepoint Conference held in October, 2009 in LasVegas, this was for the first time when users were able to see Sharepoint 2010 publically, given below is the link for sharepoint conference highlights...

http://www.mssharepointconference.com/pages/news.aspx#26

Sharepoint 2010 for End Users, Developers and IT Professional

Microsoft has released guides which discusses Sharepoint 2010 features:

a) End User Evalution Guide - http://bit.ly/DM5mH
b) Developer Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/21ezZ2
c) IT Pro Evaluation Guide - http://bit.ly/1IENu4

Sharepoint 2010 for End Users

End User Evalution Guide
http://bit.ly/DM5mH

All New Office 2010 Developer Training Course

All New Office 2010 Developer Training Course

http://blogs.msdn.com/pstubbs/archive/2009/11/09/sharepoint-2010-developer-training-course-available-now-on-channel-9.aspx


http://channel9.msdn.com/learn/courses/SharePoint2010Developer/



The Office 2010 Workshop is one of the new developer training courses to debut on Channel 9 today. The release of this course consists of 29 videos with presentations and demos on Office 2010 development. That’s around 4.5 hours of content! Shortly after Office 2010 Beta becomes publicly available the training course will be updated with the hands-on-lab and source code for each unit. The training course includes these units:
• Office 2010 Developer Roadmap
• Office UI Customization
• Office Client Workflow
• Security and Deployment
• Business Connectivity Services
• Developing BI Applications
• Open XML
• Office 2010 Services
• InfoPath 2010 and Forms Services

Office 2010 is an evolved developer platform with new services and extensibility. It provides the best productivity experience across PC, phone and browser with platform power to connect to cloud and on-premises services. This course introduces developers to the concepts of Office development and the broad set of tools available for both client and server side development. These include Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4, InfoPath 2010, Access 2010 and SharePoint Designer 2010 to call out a few. With many new features, these tools help developers be more productive by providing greater flexibility in how they approach developing and deploying their solutions – all to deliver real value to information workers and organizations.

Enjoy!

Metro Office 2010 Instructor Led Training – San Jose, CA, Dec. 10-11, 2009
Invite your Metro customers to join us in San Jose, CA for this instructor led training course. Space is limited so be sure to get your partner/customer signed up early! Please contact Bruno Nowak or Donovan Follette for questions about the Productivity Rhythm in the Metro early adopter program.

Check Out the Office 2010 Team Blogs
If you would like to get caught up on the great innovations in Office 2010, here is a collection of links to the team blogs. Excellent reading!
• Office 2010 Engineering
• Word Team Blog
• Excel Team Blog
• InfoPath Team Blog
• Publisher Team Blog
• Access Team Blog
• OneNote
• Visio Team Blog
• Outlook Team Blog
• PowerPoint Team Blog
• Project Team Blog
• Natural Language Team Blog
• Office Global Experience Team Blog
• Open XML
• Office Web Apps Team
• SharePoint Workspace Team Blog

Office Developer Guild (ODG)
For all those that love Office development, get connected on Facebook with the Office Developer Guild. John Durant writes, “To make it easier for us to stay alert about events, up-coming content, etc. and more easily share ideas we now have the “Office Developer Guild”—a group of like-minded professional friends on Facebook.”

So join the ODG!

Most Valueable Professional

I am happy to share this news that Microsoft has announced Most Valueable Professional Award for me for the third consecutive year.

https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/khalil%20ur%20rehman

SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek is live‏

It’s live: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx


There’s 10 features in the overview, 6 features for developers and 6 features for IT Pros. Each feature is highlighted in the videos, there are feature descriptions and screenshots.

Visual Studio Team System 2010

Visual Studio Team System 2010 Overview

The marketplace has begun to mature and accept Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) as a proven discipline for creating high quality applications in a reliable fashion. However, existing solutions in the marketplace have not kept pace with the changing needs of technical users and the expanding inclusion of non-technical users as part of the lifecycle. The third generation of Visual Studio Team System – Visual Studio Team System 2010 – will address the needs of these customers with a robust and streamlined solution.

Every customer today faces a similar set of business problems:

• How do we build high quality applications that deliver real business value?
• How do we embrace the Application Lifecycle Management model effectively?
• How can we ensure that all members of the team – both technical and non-technical – are part of the process?
• How can we get the most value from our existing code assets?
• How do we make powerful modeling tools available to everyone in the application lifecycle?

Our ALM tooling specifically addresses these questions and helps customers create high quality applications that deliver value to the business. We are evolving the market beyond the first generation of ALM tooling, by:

• Building quality into the lifecycle
  • Ensuring architectural consistency through the lifecycle
  • Eliminating “No-Repro” bugs
  • Ensuring smooth build handoffs and high quality builds
  • Incorporating performance in the lifecycle
• Driving efficiency into the test effort
  • QA Team aligned with Business Analysts, Architects, and Developers
  • Eliminating tedious tasks
  • Improving setup and deployment of tests
  • Choosing the right tests
• Ensure Complete Testing
  • Focused test planning and progress tracking
  • Transparently see the quality of requirements and level of testing
  • Finding the gaps in testing and fill them
  • Ensuring changes are properly tested

The following sections highlight specific feature of Visual Studio Team System 2010 that address the common business needs.

Modeling that Works with Code

For most businesses only about 20% of the code being written today is for new applications; the majority of work is being done on existing code bases. A typical issue encountered when working on existing code is not having good tools to help the architect or developer understand the system. This can make it challenging to not only understand what needs to be done to make the required changes, but it makes it equally challenging to understand the broader impact of the changes. Often it isn’t until much later that an unexpected bug is discovered as a result of a change. Our modeling tools have tight integration into the actual code of the application. This means that a developer or architect can use models to explore existing code assets. The new Architecture Explorer in Visual Studio Team System gives developers and architects the capability of creating a full architectural picture of existing code; understanding how they fit together; understanding how they “work.” This leads to better information about how to use, re-use, or even whether or not to discard existing code. The Architecture Explorer provides architects and developers a mechanism for visualizing code assets in a number of ways including graphs, stacked diagrams and dependency matrices. The introduction of the Architecture Layer Diagram means that a developer or architect can use models to enforce constraints on code as well. The Architecture Layer Diagram can be coupled to code making it an active diagram that can be used for validation. For example, when an architect designs a system where the presentation layer should not talk to the data layer, you want to be able to enforce that model at check-in. VSTS 2010 can do that. These capabilities delivered in VSTS 2010 are part of the Microsoft’s overall modeling story. Learn more about modeling by watching the Trends in Software Modeling webcast featuring Jeffrey Hammond (Forrester Research), Cameron Skinner (Microsoft, Visual Studio Team System), and Clemens Reijnen (Sogeti).

The new Architecture Explorer enables individuals to create a visual representation of existing code assets. The Architecture Layer Diagram enables validation of code against a visual representation of the architecture.

Eliminating “No-Repro” Bugs

From the design of the application through to the actual writing of the code, one of the most difficult problems has always been that of the bug that can’t be reproduced – the “no-repro” bug. There are a lot of factors that drive these types of bugs and we have worked to create tools to help isolate the issue and enable faster fixes. One way this is solved in Visual Studio Team System 2010 is with the use of a tool that can specify the exact state of the build used by a tester and allow a comparison to the state of the build used by the developer when trying to reproduce the bug. It is often the subtle differences between these two that create the no-repro state, and a new tool within Visual Studio Team System 2010 has been designed to specifically address this. This tool – the Microsoft Test Runner – is a standalone tool that a tester uses to guide them through a series of steps to complete a test case. When the test case is started the Microsoft Test Runner takes a snapshot of the system data, including OS version and Service Pack and other pertinent system data. As the test is being run the tester can use the tool to capture images of the application under test, or even partial or full screen video of the test being run. If an issue is discovered, the tester can create a new bug in Team Foundation Server and attach these artifacts. When attached, the screen capture video is fully indexed with the test steps as bookmarks, making it easier for the developer to see what went wrong on the tester’s machine. All of these artifacts help to eliminate the no-repro scenario, and help build a better bridge between development and test.

The Microsoft Test Runner enables testers to follow a set of defined validation steps and easily create an actionable bug, including system information, screen images and even a fully indexed screen capture video of the steps that were followed.

Identify the Test Impact

As developers make changes to the code, it is critical for them to effectively test their changes, not only to prove the new code functions as expected, but also to ensure there is no unexpected downstream effect. Test impact analysis and test prioritization identify the tests that must be run to validate the code changes. This helps developers quickly check-in code with confidence by running only the necessary tests, and reduces the churn created by unexpected failures. The new Test Impact View window enables a developer to view a list of tests that need to be run as the result of a code change. The developer can toggle between an Impacted Tests view and a Code Changes view. The Impacted Tests view provides a list of tests that need to be run and which code changes are covered by each of the tests. The Code Changes view provides a list of code changes and which tests must be run in order to validate each of them. These two views provide a easy way to discover what tests must be run in order to validate the changes to the code base without having to run all of the tests. This ensures that all changes are tested effectively. content taken by http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/bb725993.aspx

Microsoft ready to Bang Google with Bing

Microsoft ready to Bang Google with Bing
From: Wisdom Talks Wisdom Talks :: Talks about Anything June 01, 2009

Now after Wolfram Alpha, Microsoft has showcased a new search engine, Bing, which will specifically focus on travel, shopping, health and local business results. The Redmond-based giant is marketing the new website as a ‘decision engine’ that pro Read more at Wisdom Talks Wisdom Talks :: Talks about Anything »

Microsoft SharePoint "14" is now Microsoft SharePoint 2010

Microsoft SharePoint "14" is now Microsoft SharePoint 2010
By sptblog on Announcements


You have probably seen the news announcement today where we announced the public beta for the new Microsoft Exchange Server 2010. As part of that announcement, we also talked about some of the names for the "14" wave of products including Microsoft Office 2010 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. I wanted to answer some questions that I think will inevitably pop to the top of your mind:
What happened to the Office piece of the name? We love MOSS. . . .
The first thing you’ll notice is that the MOSS acronym goes away with the new name since Office is no longer in the SharePoint official name. No one should worry that SharePoint doesn’t work great with Office 2010 since we removed Office from the name, just like people didn’t worry whether SharePoint was a great portal product when we removed Portal from the 2007 name.
The primary reason why we took Office out of the name - lots of folks associate the name Office with the Office client. We wanted to take the opportunity to reestablish the Office name and brand to be synonymous with the client suite. I say "Give the people what they Want" so everyone should immediately think of Microsoft Office = Office apps.
Don’t try to acronym Microsoft SharePoint Server to MSS since MSS is already taken by Microsoft Search Server. Just remember, SharePoint is SharePoint is SharePoint.
What about Windows SharePoint Services?
When you read through the announcement, you may be wondering what happened to Windows SharePoint Services. While we didn’t announcement anything new for WSS, and I want to assure you that we’re definitely working on a new v4 version of the product. It’s too early to drill into any of the details but WSS is getting a lot of new features and will be a great release. We’ll talk more about WSS at a later date.
So, what was announced?
Here are my key takeaways from the interview with Chris Capossela:
• Exchange 2010 will lead the way for the 2010 (previously referred by its codename "14") wave of technologies and it will be available in the second half of 2009. You can download a beta today.
• Using Office Web applications, customers will be able to create, edit and collaborate on Office documents through a browser.
• IT professionals will be able to choose to either deploy and manage on-premises or hosted as a service.
• For developers, we are working on Open APIs, deep support for industry standards and developer tool support with Visual Studio 2010.
You can read the entire interview here.
Thomas Rizzo
Sr. Director
SharePoint

Announcing SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements

Announcing SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements
By rriley


We’ve heard loud and clear that you want system requirements information as early as possible to assist in your budgeting and planning, so today we’re happy to announce (and confirm) some preliminary system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010:
1. SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only.
2. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.
3. SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005.
In addition to the requirements listed above we also wanted to share with you some preliminary detail about SharePoint Server 2010 browser compatibility.
To ensure the best possible experience across multiple browsers we’re focusing our SharePoint 2010 engineering efforts on targeting standards based browsers (XHTML 1.0 compliant) including Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.x. running on Windows Operating Systems. In addition we’re planning on an increased level of compatibility with Firefox 3.x and Safari 3.x on non-Windows Operating Systems. Due to this focus Internet Explorer 6 will not be a supported browser for SharePoint Server 2010.
So, what can you do today to get into the best shape for SharePoint Server 2010?
1. Start by ensuring new hardware is 64-bit. Deploying 64-bit is our current best practice recommendation for SharePoint 2007.
2. Deploy Service Pack 2 and take a good look at the SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Checker that’s shipped as part of the update. The Upgrade Checker will scan your SharePoint Server 2007 deployment for many issues that could affect a future upgrade to SharePoint 2010.
3. Get to know Windows Server 2008 with SharePoint 2007, this post is a great starting point.
4. Consider your desktop browser strategy if you have large population of Internet Explorer 6 users.
5. Continue to follow the Best Practices guidance for SharePoint Server 2007.
6. Keep an eye on this blog for updates and more details in the coming months.
Below are a few common Q&A’s (which we’ll add to as required)
Q: What about Internet Explorer 6 and SharePoint 2010 publishing sites?
A: The Web Content Management features built into SharePoint 2010 will provide a deep level of control over the markup and styling of the reader experience. These features will enable customers to design pages that are compatible with additional browsers for viewing content, including Internet Explorer 6. A standards based browser such as Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.x will be required to author content.
Q: Is Internet Explorer 6 officially supported by Microsoft?
A: Official Microsoft Product Support for Internet Explorer 6 follows the lifecycle of the Operating System with which it was shipped. In order for customers to receive product support through the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases, they need to have installed a supported Service Pack. For example, customers who are using Windows XP must transition to Service Pack 3 by July, 2010 and are eligible to receive support for Internet Explorer 6 until April, 2014.
You can find additional information on Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Policy including specific dates, product information and support offerings here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy.
Q: Why are you only supporting the 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 for SharePoint Server 2010?
A: This decision was based on our current test data for SharePoint Server 2010 and real world experience from customers running SharePoint Server 2007 with 32-bit SQL Server. SharePoint performance and scalability can benefit significantly from 64-bit SQL Server and the throughput increases are significant enough for us to make the difficult decision to only support SharePoint Server 2010 on 64-bit SQL Server 2005 or 2008. It has been our strong recommendation for some time that SharePoint Server 2007 customers take advantage of 64-bit SQL Server due to the inherent performance and scale benefits it can provide.
Q: Where can I find more information on the advantages of 64-bit hardware and guidance on how to migrate SharePoint from 32-bit to 64-bit.
A: These two TechNet articles are a good starting point;
Advantages of 64-bit hardware and software (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
Migrate an existing server farm to a 64-bit environment (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 1

Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Beta 1
Visual Studio 2010 Beta 1 as well as .NET Framework 4.0 Beta 1, for MSDN subscribers and general public both new technologies were released on Wednesday, 18th May 2009.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/dd582936.aspx

How Do I? Videos

SharePoint Products and Technologies "How Do I?" Videos

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/office/sharepointserver/dd353225.aspx

CSS Reference Chart for SharePoint 2007

A comprehensive guide to identify and customize styles for your sharepoint sites
http://www.heathersolomon.com/content/sp07cssreference.htm

Plan for software boundaries (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007)

A nice article on Plan for software boundaries (Office SharePoint Server) by Technet
In this article:

Planning and performance guidance updates
Test environment
Test results
Guidelines for acceptable performance

This article provides information to help you understand the tested performance and capacity limits of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, provides information about the test environment and test results, and offers guidelines for acceptable performance. Use the information in this article to determine whether your planned deployment falls within acceptable performance and capacity limits.

Click for details : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Vs Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

It is very difficult to choice for organizations to select the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Vs Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Here you can find the true difference:

MOSS comparasion with WSS

Comparasion from Microsoft Site

Sharepoint Service Pack 2 (SP2) released

Sharepoint Service Pack 2 (SP2) is now released:

http://blogs. msdn.com/ sharepoint/ archive/2009/ 04/28/announcing -service- pack-2-for- office-sharepoin t-server- 2007-and- windows-sharepoi nt-services- 3-0.aspx

Business Data Catalog and MOSS

Business Data Catalog and MOSS

The Business Data Catalog is a very useful feature of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 that provides a way of integration of business data from back-end server applications, like SAP or Siebel, with your corporate portal to provide rich solutions for end users without writing any code. You register business data exposed in databases or through Web services in the Business Data Catalog by creating metadata that describes the database or Web service. The Business Data Catalog then uses this metadata to make the right calls into the data source to retrieve the relevant data.
The business data entities are available for use by any of the following business data features:

• 
  Business Data Web Parts
• Business Data in Lists
• Business Data Actions
• Business Data Search
• Business Data in User Profiles

for more details .....

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms546541.aspx

Business Data Catalog - getting started

http://www.lightningtools.com/bdc-meta-man/moss-business-data-catalog-getting-started.aspx

Ajax Update Panel in Publishing Portal

If ajax update panel are not working for you in Publishing portal try to move

asp:ContentPlaceHolder tag insde form tag.

In master page of publishing portal (BlueBand.master) this asp:ContentPlaceHolder is usually above the form tag , to make AJAX update panel work you can move this tag inside form tag by opening BlueBand.master in Sharepoint designer

HOW to use Microsoft AJAX in SharePoint webpart ??

HOW to use Microsoft AJAX in SharePoint webpart ??
Read it here
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/mike/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3

Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services v3 (WSS) demo site

Avery useful site for Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services v3 (WSS) demos, articles, resources.

http://www.wssdemo.com/default.aspx

What can be done with enterprise architecture

A good article on Enterprise Architecture


http://www.theeagroup.net/ea/Default.aspx?tabid=1&newsType=ArticleView&articleId=154&goback=%2Ehom

A handy Visual Studio template for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

A handy Visual Studio template for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
http://blogs.code-counsel.net/Wouter/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=c04a88a9%2Dd138%2D4ac3%2Da2bb%2Db95c9fdd114e&ID=78

Steps to Create & Deploy WSP

1) In your custom feature folder, create a file "feature.xml"
Following is the general format of the file:

Title="My Feature"
Description="This is my feature containing a list"
Version="1.0.0.0"
Hidden="FALSE"
Scope="Web"
DefaultResourceFile="core"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">





(Change the GUID of the feature with your own)


2) Create %YourFeatureName%manifest.xml file for the feature in the following format:


Name="Messages"
Type="108"
BaseType="0"
OnQuickLaunch="FALSE"
FolderCreation="FALSE"
SecurityBits="12"
Sequence="999"
DisplayName="My List"
Description="This is my custom list based on the discussions list"
Image="/_layouts/images/itdisc.gif"/>


3) Create a manifest.xml file for the feature:

SolutionId="EC2EFD73-DBA2-4c0e-9C18-C8FC43F72E6C" >






4) Inside the source folder, create a DDF file:
.OPTION Explicit
.Set DiskDirectory1="..\bin"
.Set CabinetNameTemplate="MyListSolution.wsp"
manifest.xml
; These directory names (DestinationDir) are used for the folders creation under 12\TEMPLATE\Features
.Set DestinationDir="MyList\ListTemplates"
MyList\ListTemplates\MyListManifest.xml
.Set DestinationDir="MyList\Messages"
MyList\Messages\schema.xml
.Set DestinationDir="MyList"
MyList\Feature.xml


5) Create a build.cmd file in the source folder:
build.cmd
@setlocal
@pushd.
@cd %~dp0
makecab /f wsp.ddf
@popd
@endlocal
5) Now, to deploy the solution; create the following steps:
DeployMyListSolution.cmd
@setlocal
@pushd.
@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN;%PATH% @cd %~dp0
stsadm.exe -o addsolution -filename MyListSolution.wsp
stsadm.exe -o deploysolution -name MyListSolution.wsp -local
@pause
@popd
@endlocal


6) After you have deployed the solution, go to Central Adminsitration > Operations > Solution Management. From here, deploy your solution on the web applications you want.

If you want to retract the solution you need to create the following file in the solution
RetractMyListSolution.cmd
@setlocal
@pushd.
@set PATH=C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN;%PATH% @cd %~dp0
stsadm.exe -o retractsolution -name MyListSolution.wsp –local
stsadm.exe -o deletesolution -name MyListSolution.wsp
@pause
@popd
@endlocal


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to know about the elements used in the above mentioned xml file formats, please view these links:
http://www.theartofsharepoint.com/2007/05/how-to-build-solution-pack-wsp.html
http://www.chrishines.com/techblog/default.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543741.aspx
http://geekswithblogs.net/evgenyblog/archive/2008/01/27/118966.aspx

Here's a list of the top 100 sharepoint websites by Ian Morrish

Here's a list of the top 100 websites http://www.wssdemo.com/Pages/topwebsites.aspx selected by Ian Morrish

A nice SharePoint Tool (AD Self Service provides a SharePoint active directory web part)

A nice SharePoint Tool Which Reduces SharePoint Administrators Maintaining AD Users Profiles. SharePoint What they need do is just configure some specific permissions and then those job can be done by users themselves.

AD Self Service provides a SharePoint active directory web part that allow current login user to see and modify his/her own Active Directory information through SharePoint.

http://www.microsofttechnologies.blogspot.com

Required Validator for CheckBox List

Step by Step tutorial explaining how to add required Validator on Checkbox List
http://codeclimber.net.nz/archive/2007/07/19/How-to-add-a-required-validator-to-a-CheckBoxList.aspx

A good article on Hands-Free TFS 2008 Install

A good article posted byGrant Holliday
almost hands-free TFS 2005 installation guide
(http://ozgrant.com/2007/07/17/hands-free-tfs-installation-introduction/)

Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio

from Oracle.com..

The Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio (ODT) is a tightly integrated "Add-in" for Microsoft Visual Studio. ODT is free and it is available for Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2005, and Visual Studio .NET 2003.
Integration with Visual Studio: Use Server Explorer to browse your Oracle schema and launch one of the many integrated Oracle designers and wizards to create and alter schema objects. Use Microsoft Query Designer to visually design queries.
Automatic .NET Code Generation: Use the Visual Studio 2005 Datasources Window, the Dataset Designer, and the TableAdapter Configuration Wizard to drag and drop and automatically generate .NET code.
Easy ASP.NET Web Development: If you're an ASP.NET web developer, ODT makes it easy to generate ASP.NET web applications with very little coding required.
Oracle Database Project with Source Control Integration: Generate SQL scripts for Oracle schema objects that your .NET application uses, manage them in an Oracle Database Project, check them into source control, edit the scripts in the Oracle SQL Editor, and execute them with a built in SQL*Plus execution engine.
PL/SQL Editor and Debugger: The fully integrated PL/SQL Editor and Debugger allows you to leverage all of your favorite Visual Studio debugging features from within PL/SQL code. You can even seamlessly step from your .NET code into your PL/SQL stored procedure code and back out again!
User-Defined Types (UDTs): Create UDTs in Oracle with multiple new designers. A powerful UDT Custom Class code generation wizard makes using UDTs from .NET code easy and fast. An application can be rapidly created that utilizes UDTs with almost no coding required.
NET Stored Procedure Deployment: The .NET Deployment Wizard makes it easy to deploy .NET stored procedures and functions into Oracle Database.
Data Editing, Stored Procedure Testing, Adhoc SQL Execution: When testing your .NET application you can use the Oracle Data Window to insert and update Oracle data. There's also a testbed for testing stored procedures and an Oracle Query Window for executing any SQL statement you choose.
Integrated Online Help System: The integrated context sensitive online help, including the Oracle SQL and PL/SQL Users Guides puts the Oracle documentation at your fingertips.
Import Table Wizard: This new wizard makes it easy to move tables and their data from external datasources such as Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access and Excel spreadsheets into Oracle Database.
Follow the link for details ....
http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/dotnet/tools/index.html

WebServices for Beginers

Those who just want to start of with WebServices , these step by step tutorial by Gopalan Suresh Raj are good reading for them


Building a Web Service Component using C# and .NET
Building a Web Service Client using C# and .NET

http://gsraj.tripod.com/dotnet/webservices/webservice_server.html