SharePoint Config

The Managed Metadata functionality provided by SharePoint 2010 allows you to centrally manage metadata and keywords. In a previous post I covered how to provision a SharePoint 2010 managed metadata field and add this to a content type and a list definition. In this post I will cover how to add these types of fields to a publishing page layout so that content authors can add metadata and keywords to webpages they create using these layouts.

If there are a large number of content pages this type of tagging can help users find information as these columns can be used… Continue reading Adding Managed Metadata Fields to SharePoint Publishing Pages »

Findability is one of the most important factors in the success of a SharePoint site. If users cannot find what they are looking they will quickly use alternate methods to get results. Employees that cannot find information are less productive and less likely to use the system in general. Likewise users that cannot find information on an internet site will look elsewhere for products and services losing the company revenue.

SharePoint 2007 introduced some powerful tools for improving findability but fell short when it compared to larger Enterprise Content Management systems. SharePoint 2010 takes this a huge step forward with cutting edge enterprise ready findability features. Here are 10 new features SharePoint 2010 brings to the table in addition to the features available in SharePoint 2007.

Before getting into SharePoint 2010 I’d like to recap on some of the things I’ve learnt using SharePoint 2007. Much has progressed since I started working on SharePoint 2007 Technology Adoption Program (TAP) projects using the SharePoint 2007 Beta versions in early 2006. As a developer some of the biggest improvements I’ve noticed are the availability of tools and information.

In 2006 we were creating WSP files by manually maintaining DDF files and using makecab, a process that is now fully automatable (and integrated into Visual Studio) using freely available tools such as the brilliant WSPBuilder utility. I also remember spending two whole days trying to create a list definition as the documentation on MSDN wasn’t (and still isn’t) complete. Not surprisingly the ‘Creating a Custom SharePoint 2007 List Definition’ blog post I wrote afterwards still draws in over 1500 page views a month.

So below are a list of some of the ways I like to do things when creating custom SharePoint 2007 solutions (with a focus on Web Content Management). Continue reading SharePoint 2007 Development Tips »

This post describes how to use the ContentTypeBinding element to avoid an error that can occur creating publishing pages. Continue reading Error creating SharePoint publishing pages »

I’ve been involved in several public website projects that have involved using MOSS content deployment. While content deployment is easy to set up for simple scenarios, there are a number of things that can trip you up if you have a significantly customised environment. In this post I’ll give details and solutions to on some of the common problems, and general tips on how to make this process run as smoothly as possible. Continue reading MOSS content deployment tips and tricks »

Early last year I was involved in developing a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) based Intranet for the Ministry of Transport. This post explains how we utilised the tagging capabilities provided by MOSS to create this award winning Intranet. Continue reading How we did it: Tag driven Information Architecture using MOSS »

Fly Buys is New Zealand’s leading loyalty programme and is managed by Loyalty New Zealand. Fly Buys members receive points for shopping at participating stores, which they can then use to redeem a variety of rewards from coffee machines to television sets. The Fly Buys website allows members to search for rewards or participating companies, maintain their account information, as well as allowing Loyalty to maintain content and graphics for the site. Continue reading How we did it: Fly Buys website »

Following a busy few weeks the Fly Buys website I’ve been working on was launched last night. The site is built on MOSS and makes heavy use of the web content management features provided by the platform. Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting on some of the experiences I’ve had during the build process. Continue reading Fly Buys takes off »

If you have an ASP.NET control that contains validation controls in the masterpage or page layout for a publishing site (an ASP.NET login control for example). When you try to edit and check in a publishing page you receive the following error.

This page contains content or formatting that is not valid. You can find more information in the affected sections. Continue reading ASP.NET validation controls prevent publishing pages from saving »

If you are referencing resources such as style sheets, images, JavaScript etc in a SharePoint environment you need to be careful to ensure that URLs are relative to the current site (or site collection) so that if sites are moved the references don’t break. For example if you are referencing a style sheet from a master page in a publishing site you will probably want the link to be relative to the site collection so that sites below the root still reference the style sheets at the top level. Continue reading Relative URLs in SharePoint »