SharePoint 2007 Workshop

SharePoint 2007 Class at ITM

This course prepare students to make significant customization to Windows SharePoint Services in order to meet the needs of their organization's Windows SharePoint Services successful deployment.
This course will give IT Professionals a jump-start on how to install, configure, administer, use, customize and develop for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2007. It is intended for administrators, developers, designers, webmasters and others who need to acquire these skills.

The course teaches SharePoint development skills by having the students work through an application development project for a fictitious company.
The course will also focus on teaching the mechanics of installing, configuring and administering WSS v3 to acquire the required skills and the fundamentals for developing business applications with SharePoint 2007.
Student learning will be facilitated through a combination of instructor presentations and written lab exercises.

After completing this course, students will be able to:

• Understand the concepts and terminologies that are unique to MOSS 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services WSS v3.
• Understand the technical architecture and system requirements for MOSS 2007 and WSS.
• Install and configure WSS v3 in a single-server deployment
• Use the basic Web Parts that come with the portal "out-of-the-box"
• Understand How the Galleries and features work in WSS v3
• How to modify the WSS "look and feel" using Microsoft's Sharepoint Designer to achieve a custom brand utilizing SharePoint Cascading Style Sheets CSS using Microsoft's Sharepoint Designer
• Create new web parts, access databases from web parts, access web services from web parts, Create Part-to-part connections
• Install web parts on servers, Creating a CAB files to package and deploy web part packages.
• Export your customized site as a SharePoint Site Template
• Development and deployment of a custom web part that will allow the user to edit, from within SharePoint, customer data that is contained in the corporate application's SQL Server database, will be using VS.NET and SharePoint Web Part Templates

Student Pre-Requisites

The technical student should be familiar with IIS. You should be familiar with general programming in Visual Studio .NET. It is not required that you be a .NET guru, but as always the more background you bring to the table the more you benefit. If you are not up to speed with .NET, C#, or VB.NET, I believe you will find those sections dealing with them fascinating, inspiring, and of course challenging.

Everything in Microsoft is evolving toward total and complete adoption of the .NET platform and its various languages. This is an ideal place to take-a-look, even if its a bit over the top for you at the moment.

We provide an overview of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS). The more you understand about SharePoint out-of-the-box, the easier it will be for you to bend those rules.

Total Cost of this individual course is $900.00 (includes code hand-outs/project).
Note: You can always repeat the classes you have taken earlier (provided seats are available)

Agenda
Each day there will be a combination of presentations, code walk-throughs, and hands-on projects. The final project incorporates everything we've covered during the course.

SharePoint Class Outline

This module covers the fundamental constructs of SharePoint Products and Technologies 2007. It is necessary to understand the out-of-the-box functionality of the SharePoint platform in order to have a common understanding and vocabulary regarding the objects we will be working with.

Objects covered include: Site Collections, Top Site, Sub Sites, Site Templates, Web Parts, Areas, Area Templates (Contents, Topics, News, Sites, Directory, and Community), Workspaces (Document and various Meeting), Listings, Audiences, My Site (and other My stuff Web Parts), SPS Search, and more:

A great Windows SharePoint Services site deployment cannot be achieved without proper end-user SharePoint training.
In order to provide excellent support of the product, you will step into the end-user shoes.

For first few classes, you wear the hat of the end-users and will learn How to navigate and search SharePoint sites, How to work with document libraries and lists, How to add and modify content, How to use the document management features, How to use the new Outlook integration features, How to use the recycle bin, How to set and manage alerts, How to manage lists, How to use workflows, How views are used in SharePoint, How to create and use document and meeting workspaces, How to contribute to Wiki and Blog sites, How to create and manage lists, libraries and views, How to manage users and groups, How to create and delete sites, workspaces and web pages, How to customize a site, How to administer a site and How to leverage the features in Office 2007 to enhance collaboration and productivity.

Introduction

• Windows SharePoint Services WSS v3 Versus Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS)
• Overview of WSS v3 Out-of-the-Box
• Basic Features of a SharePoint Team Site
• Creating a Top-Level WSS Site
• Overview of MOSS 2007

The Underlying SharePoint Framework

So, what if SharePoint doesn't provision sites the way that you would like it to? Modifying a few of the underlying XML files can have a dramatic impact.
In this module we explore the underlying picture.
Once we understand what Microsoft is doing here, we can customize SharePoint sites by using SharePoint Designer 2007.
Frequently, when you know how something works you can overcome difficulties that present themselves that you would otherwise be unable to even understand.
At least you'll know your options.
We also learn about how SharePoint works within IIS to respond to a page request, the "12" hive, external data integration and custom workflows.
In this module, you will be introduced to SharePoint Designer and understand ways in which you can use it to enhance your SharePoint sites.

• SharePoint Architecture
• An overview of the key elements in WSS, such as Site Collections, Webs, Lists and Web Parts
• SharePoint Databases and Tables
• Overview of SharePoint Designer
• Using SharePoint Designer create and publish a new site to the existing site collection
• Add a new SharePoint content to the site, Add new web parts to the site
• Look at the differences between templates and site definitions in SharePoint.
• Export your customized site as a SharePoint Site Template
• Create a new site in SharePoint based on your custom template

The Data Source and Data View

Using data sources, you can connect to SharePoint libraries and lists throughout your site collection, databases, XML files, server-side scripts, web services and Business Data Catalogs. You can import data into your SharePoint site from each of these connections using the Data Source properties in SharePoint Designer.
This module will show you how you can work with data sources and introduces the student to the raw power of the generic Data View Web Part.
You can use data views to present data imported using data sources.
Data-driven Web sites in Microsoft Designer 2007 are enabled by the Windows SharePoint Services Data Retrieval Service and support a complete set of WYSIWYG tools for creating and modifying XSLT Data Views.
These Data Views include industry-standard reporting tools for sorting, grouping, filtering, and conditionally formatting data.

• Creating a data view, Configuring the data source, Importing fields
• Working with conditional formatting, Editing XPath expressions, Applying filtering and style
• The Data Source Catalog
• Converting an Existing Web Part
• Creating Your Own Standard Views
• Displaying SharePoint Data
• Displaying Data in other SharePoint Sites
• Displaying Data in Any Other Data Store
• Manipulating the XSL
• Conditional Formatting

Working with Master Content Pages and Custom Style Sheets

In this module, you’ll learn about master pages. If you’ve worked with ASP.NET 2.0, then you may be familiar with master pages.
Master pages are part of ASP.NET 2.0 and SharePoint uses master pages to control the second of two modules focused on Central Administration,
You will also gain an understanding of how SharePoint Designer works with template pages and the options made available to you to roll back any changes made, you’ll learn how to do the following:

• Default master pages
• Creating new master pages, Associating content pages with master pages
• Page layouts, Placeholder controls
• Global customization, Single site customization
• Adding and configuring menu controls on master pages
• Customized versus uncustomized pages
• Undoing customizations and reverting to page template
• Significance of master pages and the _layouts directory
• Reviewing and Modifying the existing CSS properties
• Applying the custom CSS to other sites
• Reverting to the default CSS

Creating Workflows in SharePoint Designer

In this module, you’ll learn about creating workflows in SharePoint Designer and ways in which you can use workflows to enhance your existing business processes.
you’ll take create a workflow for a custom list within a SharePoint site and build a multi step workflow, which includes certain conditions being met before e-mailing customers and updating, and copying list items.

• What is a workflow and how can it benefit your existing business processes
• Review the SharePoint default workflows
• The relationship between SharePoint Designer workflows and Windows Workflow Foundation
• Walkthrough a basic workflow creation in SharePoint Designer using the Workflow Designer wizard.
• Working with events, actions, conditions and steps.
• Use the SharePoint Designer Workflow Designer wizard to create your custom workflow.
• Save and execute your workflow
• Run the workflow and review workflow status in your SharePoint site
• Review workflow logs on the SharePoint server.

Building Web Parts The Basics

You know how you want information presented but none of the techniques introduced thus far fit the bill. This module covers why, when, and how you construct your own Web Parts including a step by step approach that increases the likelihood you won't forget anything:

• Introduction to Web Parts for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies
• Purpose of an ASP.Net 2.0 Web Part?
• Web Part Framework
• Contrasting the Web Part Template for VS.NET
• Create a VS.NET Web Part in 10 Easy Steps

Building Web Parts Deployment Options

Once a Web Part is constructed there are several tedious steps that must be taken to make it available to your users. Deploying DLLs to various destinations, versioning, DWP files, other dependent Web Part resources, strong naming and safe controls, web.config alterations, STSADM, etc. This module covers ways in which we can simplify that deployment and reduce the likelihood of human error:

• Creating another Web Part
• Altering the Manifest.xml file
• Adding a CAB Project
• Deploying
• Testing

Building Web Parts - Debugging

Murphy said it best, If anything can go wrong, it will. That said, we better investigate how we can try to see what exactly is going wrong with the Web Parts that we build:

• Setting Up Your System
• Setting Breakpoints
• Attaching to the ASP.NET process
• Debugging
• Stopping the Debugger
• Trace

SharePoint Object Model and Manipulating WSS via the Object Model

To accomplish many of the things that we will want to do in our Web Parts we will need to interact with data that has been captured using SharePoint.
Microsoft has provided a rich API for SharePoint developers. We explore the object models that are available to us.
we’ll stay focused on the WSS object model and will continue to look at how to manipulate built-in functionalities in WSS using the object model.
And who hasnt heard that XML Web Services are the future? We explore SharePoint's own set of Web Services for developers to take advantage of:

• SharePoint core namespaces and Object Model
• SPSite and SPWeb context, SPList
• Programmatically accessing data
• Manipulating alerts, Handling events
• Extending the admin UI, Mining the audit logs
• Activating features, Tips and techniques
• WSS Web Services
• Use a Data View to consume a SharePoint Web Service
• Using a VS.NET Web Part to consume a Web Service

Administrating SharePoint Sites with SharePoint Designer

In this module, you will learn about how you can leverage administrative features in SharePoint Designer to remotely administrate your SharePoint sites, including establishing the security settings which will determine the degree by which users will be able to customize SharePoint sites.

• Configuring Contributor Settings
• Checking your site’s status with Reports, including usage analysis
• Migrating SharePoint sites
• Backing and Restoring a site
• Publishing feature versus backup and restore options

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