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Raymond Mitchell

August 2006 - Posts

  • Back to Lil' Shab

    It's that time of year again... time to unplug and get away from it all for a week!  This will be my second trip to Little Shabamuni and I cannot wait to get there!  Here's a little taste from last year:

    If all goes well, I'll be on the lake fishing by 10am Monday morning.  I'll be back on the 5th so Microsoft: if you could please wait until then to release the Vista RC and Office TR, that'd be great!

  • Cross-Site Data View Web Parts in SharePoint Version 2

    A common question I hear is how to display a list from one site on another in Version 2.  Of course, there are 3rd party products out there that will assist you in doing just that but what if you don't want to spend any money?  Well, if you have FrontPage, you've got options.  Here is a scenario where a user wants a shared list of contacts to display on every sub-web:

    On the top-level site there is a contacts list:

    Step 1: Open the sub-web in FrontPage.

     

    If you are concerned about Ghosting your pages, make sure to follow the additional steps outlined here to build your Data View in an un-ghosted Web Part Page.

    Step 2: Open the Data Source Catalog:

    Choose View --> View Task Pane from the menu bar.  Then choose "Data Source Catalog" from the list of available task panes.

    Step 3: Click Manage catalog:

    Step 4: Add a new data collection:

    Step 5: Browse to the contacts list in the Data Source Catalog Task Pane:

    Step 6: Insert the data view and re-format to fit your needs:

    For extra credit... export the Data View Web Part and you should be able to insert it in other webs (or even Web Site Templates)

  • Data View Web Parts and Ghosting in SharePoint Version 2

    Every now and then I hear people talking about how they'd like to use FrontPage to build custom Data Views but they don't want to un-ghost their pages by using FrontPage.

    A few thoughts:

    1. Ghosting is bad.  I wrote a post on this earlier this year
    2. Just opening a site in FrontPage will not un-ghost your pages
    3. Just clicking save in FrontPage will un-ghost your page (even if you haven't made any changes)
    4. Any Web Part Page created in a document library is un-ghosted by default - so it is ok to open it in FrontPage

    I love the Data View Web Part and I try to encourage people to use it because of the powerful things you can do with it.  Here's the process I usually walk people through:

    1. Create a new Document Library called "Pages" and set the document template to Web Part Page
    2. Create a new document (Web Part Page) and choose an appropriate Layout Template
    3. Open FrontPage and open the web of the Document Library you just created
    4. Browse to and open the page you just created
    5. Select a Web Part Zone and choose Data --> Insert Data View from the menu bar
    6. Insert the Data View you would like
    7. Save the page in FrontPage and open it in a browser
    8. Switch to Design Mode (Click "Modify Shared Page" and choose "Design this Page")
    9. From the Data View Web Part's context menu, choose Export and save the .dwp file
    10. Browse to your default.aspx page and import the .dwp file (Click "Modify Shared Page", "Add Web Parts", and choose "Import.")

    Once this process is complete, you will have a custom data view on your home page without un-ghosting it!

  • WebCast on LOBi

    Michael points us to a WebCast by Rob Koplowitz on LOBi for SharePoint Server.

    http://blogs.officezealot.com/kiselman/archive/2006/08/08/12163.aspx

    Key points:

    • Pronounced "Lobby"
    • Start working with SharePoint 2007 - it is the foundation for LOBi
    • Extends LOB systems into the Office user experience
    • Demo
    • CTP to begin in late 2007
  • InfoPath 2007 – Template Parts

    Say you have a list of forms to create and as you gather their requirements you notice that there are sections that are common to multiple forms.  You think to yourself "Gee... it’d be great if I could create a reusable component so I wouldn’t have to re-create that section 15 dozen times..."

    That functionality actually existed in InfoPath 2003 - though very few people used it.  The answer was to create an ActiveX control that you could insert into your form and then map it’s properties to xml data elements.  The problem is... who wants to create ActiveX controls, especially when all you really want is to re-use a collection of InfoPath fields?

    Luckily, InfoPath 2007 introduces a cleaner solution in the form of Template Parts.  Think of Template Parts as mini-forms or snippets to be re-used across multiple forms meant to save you time as a forms builder.  Here is an example of how to build a Customer Information Template Part:

    1) When you open InfoPath 2007 in design mode, you will see two options for what type of form you would like to design - a traditional form template or a template part.

    2) You can then design your Template Part just like you would any InfoPath Form, adding controls and layout tables to customize the user experience.

     

    3) After saving, you can consume your Template Part by creating a new traditional Form Template.

     

    4)  In the task pane, choose Controls from the Design Tasks menu.  At the bottom, you should see an empty "Custom" for custom controls.  Click "Add or Remove Custom Controls..." to add your Template Part to the project

     

    5) Choose Add, and then choose Template Part.  Note that you can still use ActiveX Controls if you would like and the process to add them to your form is very similar.

     

    6) Browse for the location of your Template Part (note the .xtp extension) and choose Finish.

     

    7) Your custom Template Part will then show up in the Custom section of your Controls task pane, for the current form and future forms.  Click and drag the control on to your form to add it.




     

    One thing to note: If you update your Template Part it will not update your form.  Any time you update your Template Part, you will have to re-add it to your Custom Controls.  Once it has been updated in your Custom Controls, you will have to delete any instances of it in your forms and replace it with the new version to see your changes.

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