October 2007 - Posts

• Out of the Box Composite Apps - Custom Lists

  Most people that are familiar with SharePoint have seen the default lists and libraries that are available but there is one that is often overlooked.  SharePoint allows you to create a custom list that is essentially a blank canvas.   To create a custom list, choose Create from the Site Actions dropdown:     Then select Custom List from the available list options:     With a custom list (just like any list or library) you can then add additional columns:     Select “Create column” on the list settings page:     And then choose what column type you would like to use:     So, what kind of data would you store in a custom list?  Just about anything that could go into a spreadsheet would work well in a custom list.  You can even use the Edit in Datasheet feature to update the list like you would a spreadsheet:         Posted Oct 31 2007, 09:08 AM by rmitchell with 2 comment(s) Filed under: SharePoint Products and Technologies, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Composite Applications

• What are Composite Applications?

  For those of you that couldn’t make it to the SPUGs I thought I would start out with a quick post on what I mean by Composite Applications.  There were two pretty good quotes I mentioned at the SPUGs:   “A Composite Application consists of functionality drawn from several different sources within a service oriented architecture (SOA).” - wikipedia (9/30/07)   “Interactive tracking, reporting, and data management applications [built] using Office SharePoint Designer 2007 ‘no code’ features.” - Microsoft Office Online   The first quote is a little generic but definitely fitting.  The second quote is a little closer to what I’ll be posting about over the next few weeks.  I think of Composite Applications (within the context of SharePoint) as being sites or pages that have one or more of the following qualities: ·         Data - SharePoint List, XML file, Database, Web Service, etc ·         UI that supports interaction - filters, queries, data management forms, etc ·         Reporting - dashboards views, charts / graphs, etc ·         Workflows / Actions - sites or pages that do stuff   The next few posts will focus on what you can do with SharePoint out of the box.  After that we’ll throw SharePoint Designer into the mix and really have some fun. Posted Oct 11 2007, 07:43 AM by rmitchell with 3 comment(s) Filed under: SharePoint Products and Technologies, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Composite Applications

• SharePoint User Groups - October Recap

  Last week I presented at the Iowa and Nebraska SharePoint User Groups and today I presented at the Minnesota SharePoint User Group.  Today’s turnout blew me away.  We had over 160 attendants and tons of great questions!!!  The topic, for those that couldn’t make it, was Building Composite Applications on SharePoint (Using Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer).  It is a presentation that I’ve been hoping to give for about two years but the timing finally seemed right.  We covered a lot of ground but because most of the presentation consisted of live demos the slide deck really isn’t terrible useful (other than containing the resource slides).  Still, you can find the presentation here:  http://www.sharepointmn.com/Pages/Presentations.aspx.   Over the next few weeks I plan to capture each of the demos I gave today in the form of blog postings on this site.  I will flag each with the “Composite Applications” Tag and you’ll be able to view them directly from this link:  http://blogs.inetium.com/blogs/rmitchell/archive/category/1079.aspx.   Please post a comment or contact me (http://blogs.inetium.com/blogs/rmitchell/contact.aspx) if there is anything specific you have questions on!  For those of you that came to the User Groups this month - THANKS!   For the rest of you... see you next month?   http://www.sharepointmn.com http://www.sharepointia.com http://www.sharepointne.com Posted Oct 10 2007, 02:44 PM by rmitchell with no comments Filed under: General, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Composite Applications