Silverlight + Sharepoint 2010, demostración del Run Reload, Argentina

I want to share the demo that we did to the event Run Reload in Buenos Airs, Argentina. This demo combined the power of Silverlight and the new version of Sharepoint Server 2010. In this case you can see how we can create a application to answer a survey created in Sharepoint 2010 and as it save the all answers in a list of Sharepoint.
I need to thank Alvaro (Siderys Elite Software) that was working a lot of hours in the creation, animation and design of the application, without him, I couldn't have done it, thank you!”!!

In the next days I will share an article to show how we can create an application in Silverlight to Sharepoint Server 2010 and this application with parameters to use it in Sharepoint 2010.arepoint 2010.

Fabián Imaz

Run Reload, Buenos Aires Argentina

The last 24 and 25 of November Microsoft Argentina released the event Run Reload. In this event I had the opportunity to talk about SharePoint Server 2010 in 4 seasons.
I want to say “Thank you” to Alvaro, Diego and Javier of Siderys because they collaborating and help was very important to me. Also I want to say “Thank you” to the people of Microsoft  that worked hard to did the event.
Here there are photos of the event, my last season, the awards and the Uruguayan that went to this event.

[the third season – SharePoint 2010 – Image 1]


[the third season – SharePoint 2010 – Image 2]

[the closed of the event- Image 1]

[the closed of the event- Image 2]


[The awards- Image 1]

[Uruguayan in the event - Image 1]

In the next days I will share the demos, articles and source code of demos that I was showing in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Fabián Imaz

Creating an external list in SharePoint Server 2010

In this article we are going to see how we can create an external list in a SharePoint Server site. An external list is the possibility to have a content type binding to a data source (Database in SQL Server). In other article we discussed how we could create a connection to database with BCS (Business Connectivity Services); now we are going to show how to use this connection as a SharePoint list.

The first thing we need to do is to enter the SharePoint site where we want to create the external list, as we can see in Image 1.

[Image 1]

There are many ways to create a list in SharePoint. We are going to access through “View All Site Content”, as we can see in Image 1. When the link is selected, SharePoint will load a new page where we have a link named “Create”, as we can see in Image 2 and that we have to select.

[Image 2]

In the next page we are going to select the type of list that we want to create, as we can see in Image 3.

 

[Image 3]

SharePoint loads a new page to configure the new list where we have to fill the name of the list, a description, the navigation type and the most important thing, a section to configure the entity that we want use. This section has 2 icons, the first is to validate the name of the entity and the second is to open a search window, as we can see in Image 4.

[Image 4]

In the search window we can type an expression to find the entities or select the button “Find” to show all the created entities. Once we selected the entity that we want use in the list, we must press the button “Ok” to save the selection in the list configuration, as we can see in Image 5.

[Image 5]

When the configuration is completed we must select the button “Create” to create the list in SharePoint, as we can see in Image 6.

[Image 6]

As we can see the list was created and the default view shows all columns (columns from the data base) and all rows from the products table.

Fabián Imaz

Creating a connection to an external repository using Business Connectivity Services

One of the changed features in SharePoint 2010 is Business Data Catalog (BDC) to Business Connectivity Services (BCS). In this presentation I would like to show how we can generate a connection to an external system and create all necessary operations for data management in 5 minutes using SharePoint Designer. 

Open SharePoint Designer and select the “Entities” option in the left menu. Once there, we are going to press the button "External Content Type", as we can see in Image 1.

[Image 1]

SharePoint Designer creates a new tab to configure the external entity in which we must fill the configuration data, such as display name, programmatic name and other info, as we can see in Image 2.

[Image 2]

The next step is creating the connection to the repository for our external content type. We must press the button “Operation Design View” in the Ribbon toolbar and as we can see in Image 3 a new configuration window is opened.

[Image 3]

In this new window we are going to add a connection pressing the button “Add Connection”, this will popup the connection configuration window. The first value is the type of repository we want to connect to; after that we need to fill the values to establish the connection (In this example I’m using SQL Server) as we can see in Image 4.

[Image 4]

Once the values are completed and saved we can see the objects of our repository, in this case the Data Base Tables, Views and Store Procedures, as we can see in Image 5.

[Image 5]

For this example we are going to use the Products table and we are going to generate de basic operations (Insert, Delete, Update, Select and Identifier) for the entity. To do this we have to select the table and open the context menu to see the operation that we can create. We are going to select the option “Create all Basic Operations” as we can see in Image 6.

[Image 6]

SharePoint Designer will open a step by step wizard to configure the basic operation for the entity. The first step is to load the prefix for the operation and display name as we can see in Image 7.

[Image 7]

The next step is to select the fields of the table that we want use in this entity, which field will be the primary key and which fields will be used in the selector control when we use it in SharePoint. We could select all fields, as we can see in Image 8.

[Image 8]

In the last step of the wizard we can create filters to use when we are searching for data. For this example we won’t create filters, as we can see in Image 9.

[Image 9]

Once the configuration is completed we are going to press the button “Finish” to close the wizard and we can see in Image 10 that the basic operations were created for the entity.

 [Image 10]

Now we are going to save the entity configuration with its operations, so, we have to select the button “Save” in the Ribbon toolbar and as we can see in Image 11 the save process begins.

 

[Image 11]

When the save process finishes our entity and its operations will be ready to be used in SharePoint, as we can see in Image 12.

[Image 12]

In future articles I will return to the functionalities of BCS since there are other things that we need to know.

Fabián Imaz

Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010

Here I would like to talk about the new version of the SharePoint Designer because it has changed a lot from its predecessor. The new version becomes an essential tool for those who work in SharePoint. This tool as all products in the Office system incorporates a Ribbon toolbar where you will find all common actions we are accustomed to use.

Let's start with the home page when we connect to a SharePoint site. In it we will find the configuration sections of the site where you can see the description of the site, created groups, sub-sites and many more settings. This information is editable from this page if we need to. Image 1 shows the homepage of the site we are connected to.

[Image 1]

Browsing the contents and sections is very simple and dynamic; Image 2 shows how by selecting an option from the left menu (Master Pages) the content is displayed in the right section.

[Image 2]

We can also pin the contents of an item in the left menu so that it stays always visible and have access to the information we want. In Image 3 we can see how the content of the Master Page section is displayed in the left bottom section and in the right area we are browsing a folder in that section.

[Image 3]

Sections and pages will be opened in different tabs so we can return to them at any time. In Image 4 we see how we are editing a Content Type in SharePoint Designer in a tab while others are still open.

[Image 4]

When creating a new item, a content type; a modal window will be opened to fill the information; we can see the new opened window in Image 5

[Image 5]

When edit a page we have a view where we can see the configuration information. If we are to edit the code we can do so directly by selecting the page in the horizontal navigation menu and selecting the Edit option as we can see in Image 6.

[Image 6]
 

The page editor is similar to the previous version where we can split the window in two parts and we have the toolbar at the right as we can see in Image 7.

[Image 7]


 

Last but not least, I want to show the SharePoint Designer options window, in which we can create new items. To access this page we have to select the orange icon in the upper right section, as we can see in Image 8.

[Image 8]

In the next articles we will be working with this tool because we will be creating a lot of things in SharePoint.

Fabián Imaz

How to create and configure personal sites for the users in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

In this article we are going to see how we can create and configure personal sites on the new SharePoint Server 2010 platform. When we work in MOSS 2007, personal sites are configured on the shared services provider and we have to set a URL where the personal site for each user will be created. The recommendation was to use a specific web for this purpose giving us a centralized application to manage the information. While in SharePoint 2010 the concept of shared services provider doesn't exist, we will anyway create the users site in a specific application. To do this, we must go to the section "Application Management” and then access the section that manages Web applications in SharePoint 2010, by selecting the link "Manage Web Application“ we have access to the configuration section, as we can see in Image 1.

[Image 1]

We are going to select the “New” button from the Ribbon toolbar; this will open a new modal window for creating a new web application, as you can see the information that we must enter is the same information we used in SharePoint 2007. We have a small difference in Sharepoint 2010; we can select an existing account for our application pool, or, we can enter an account and password for it. We are going to fill all the required values and press the "Ok" button. Once the process is completed we are going to close the window and the page will be reloaded showing the newly created application, as we can see in Image 2.

[Image 2]

The next step is to create two specific managed paths in our web application. We are going to select the newly created application as we can see in Image 2; the "Ribbon" toolbar will show the options to configure the selected web application, one of which is the option to create “Managed Paths”. We are going to select this option and a new window modal will be opened. In Image 3 we can see the opened window to configure managed paths in the web application.

[Image 3]

We are going to create two routes for this application:

1) “my”, this path will be used to create a site collection, as you can see the selected option is “Explicit Inclusion”.

2) “my/location”, this path will be used to create all the sites for the users. Unlike the previous one, it is created as a "Wildcard inclusion", so all user sites have this path as a base.

Now that we have created the two paths for our application, we are going to press the “Ok” button to close the modal window and return to the Web Application configuration screen. Well, we have created and configured the web application; the next step is to create the site collection that will be used to store all users’ sites. Once again we are going to go the section "Application Management”, but this time, we select the option "Create Site Collection", as we can see in Image 4.

[Image 4]

The next screen is known to us, it is the site collections creation screen in SharePoint 2010. In it we will fill all the required information to create it. The big surprise will be the amount of available templates to create sites; one of them is called "My Site Host" in the "Enterprise" section, as we can see in Image 5; this is the one we are going to select.

[Image 5]

We are ready, now we are going to configure the personal sites management on our server. To do this, we are going to the central administration home page, as we can see in Image 6 and we are going to select the "Manage service applications”.

[Image 6]

In the services management page, we will locate the service called "People", this service is used to handle everything concerning users’ profiles, data synchronization, and more. We are going to select it and the “Ribbon” toolbar will show a new set of options, as we can see in Image 7.

[Image 7]
 

In the toolbar we are going to select the option "Manage" to access the service settings, as we can see in Image 8

[Image 8]
 

On the service settings home page we are going to select the option "Setup My Site" to access to the configuration page, as we can see in Image 9.

[Image 9]
 

We will leave the Search Center configuration for another time. In the next section we will type the URL of the created site collection, where each personal site created will be saved. In the next section, we will type the base path for all personal sites that will be created, this means we are going to use the path "my/location" that we created when we configured the web application. The next step is to set how we want to create the personal sites; in this case, we leave the first option. The other options must be set according to our needs. As you can see all authenticated users have read access by default. Once all options are configured we are going to press the "Ok" button so that the configuration is saved.

We have all options configured, so let's create the personal site for my user. In the top right of SharePoint site, we have several options for the user, if we go to "My SharePoint" options, we can see that one of them is "My site", we select it to access our personal site and as we can see in Image 10, it starts the creation.

[Image 10]

Once the process is completed we will have access to the new site for our user; as we can see in Image 11, it is completely renovated and has many interesting features.

[Image 11]

Fabián Imaz

How to add a new option in the Site Actions menu of SharePoint 2007

In this article we are going to review how can create a new option in the Site Actions menu of the SharePoint 2007. The option that we are going to create is a lite Site Map that is showing the sites created in the site where we are and a link to return of the parent site as we can see in Image 1. To create this project I’m using the last version of WSPBuilder from Codeplex.

[Image 1]

The first task that we need to do is create a new project using the template installed by WSPBuilder installer. Once the project was created we must add a new item to the project using other template. This option must be a blank feature then we are going to find a BlankFeature template in the templates available to create our feature. The project in Visual Studio 2008 should be as we can see in Image 2

[Image 2]

The next step is to create a class (SiteActionSiteMap) in the root of the project as we can see in the image 2. This class must inherit from the WebControl class of Asp.Net because we are creating a custom control to add the options.
The last step is adding a CustomAction node in the XML element.xml to set our custom action for the Site Actions. In section 1 we can see the source code for the element.xml.

[Section 1]

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <CustomAction
    Id="CustomSiteActionOptionMenu"
    GroupId="SiteActions"
    Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
    ControlAssembly ="Sierys.Blog.Navegation.SiteAction,Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=711eed342842acee"    ControlClass="Sierys.Blog.Navegation.SiteAction.SiteActionSiteMap">
    <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/SpUsageSite.aspx"/>
  </CustomAction>  
</Elements>

Once the package was installed and the feature was activated we can see our custom option in the Site Actions menu. Remember you need permission to access at this menu.

Download Source Control

Fabián Imaz

How to extend the context menu of a list in SharePoint 2007

In this article we are going to review how we can extend the context menu of a list of SharePoint 2007 as we can see in Image 1. To create this project I’m using the last version of WSPBuilder from Codeplex.

[Image 1]

The first task that we need to do is create a new project using the template installed by WSPBuilder installer. Once the project was created we must add a new item to the project using other template. This option must be a blank feature then we are going to find a BlankFeature template in the templates available to create our feature. The project in Visual Studio 2008 should be as we can see in Image 2.

[Image 2]

The last step is adding a CustomAction node in the XML file element.xml. This node is using to add the option in the contextual menu of the list by SharePoint and the action as we can see in Section 1.

[Section 1]

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <CustomAction
    Id="SiderysBlogCustomContextMenu"
    Title="Check Item"
    Description="Check Item in the List"
    Location="EditControlBlock"
    RegistrationType="ContentType"
    RegistrationId ="0x01"
    ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/siderys_feature.jpg"
    Sequence="100">
    <UrlAction Url="~site/default.aspx?ListId={ListId}"/>
  </CustomAction>
</Elements>

Once the package was installed and the feature activated we can see the new option in the elements of the each list in SharePoint 2007. When we selected it the action that was declared in the UrlAction node will be fired to SharePoint.

Download Source Code

Fabián Imaz