Can anyone point to any good 'beginners walkthroughs' for the Business Data Catalog in MOSS 2007 Enterprise? It seems to be very powerful, but all the official guides assume preexisting knowledge.
Have a look at SharePoint 2007 Developer's Guide to Business Data Catalog. The authors (Brett Lonsdale and Nick Swan) have been developing tools and working with the BDC for 'ages' and really know their stuff.
There is an early access available now with the final due to be published in September 2009.
This has a great overview on the BDC, some examples on what it can do, and how to configure it:
http://sharepointmagazine.net/technical/administration/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bdc-part-1-of-8
It's a really great starting place that will help you get better footing when proceeding on to the more technical sites & how-tos. It's the best "starter" resource I've found yet.
Take a look at BDC Metaman, this tool will support you connecting to a BDC.
I played around with it a few months ago, and was able to display data from a db. Do you have a problem you're trying to solve, or are you just trying to get an understanding of what you can do with it?
By "preexisting knowledge", do you mean of Sharepoint, or the BDC itself?
Check out these links, as a start:
http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/In+the+Office/Introducing-the-Business-Data-Catalog-BDC/
http://blah.winsmarts.com/2007-4-SharePoint_2007__BDC_-_The_Business_Data_Catalog.aspx
Related
I'm looking for a page that provides a good, fairly basic and brief, end-user targeted overview of the capabilities of Sharepoint 2010, and another that does the same for Sharepoint 2013. I searched microsoft.com and couldn't really find much. Most of what I found was based on the assumption that the reader was familiar with Sharepoint already and was upgrading from an older version. I was hoping to find something for folks new to Sharepoint, checking it out for the very first time. Something kind of like a product info sheet that you'd see in a trade show booth, maybe.
Any pointers to something along these lines would be appreciated.
Background:
I work for a large university, and we offer Google Apps, Box, and Sharepoint (2010 now, 2013 soon) as options to support collaborative projects. I'm trying to help our user community understand the different capabilities of and optimal use cases for each tool. I've found good overview material for Box and Google Apps, but I'm getting stuck finding this for Sharepoint. And -- as luck would have it -- our users tend to be the least familiar with Sharepoint.
It's often hard to find decent information about SharePoint on the internet.. ;)
Maybe some of these links will help, but most probably you have already seen them all:
http://www.slideshare.net/pointbeyond/comparison-webinar3
http://sharepointpromag.com/blog/sharepoint-2010-vs-sharepoint-2013-small-step-or-big-jump
http://www.rharbridge.com/?page_id=966 [from a technical point of view]
http://www.fpweb.net/sharepoint-server-2013/features/end-user/
http://www.cmswire.com/cms/social-business/sharepoint-2013-social-features-highlights-019624.php
http://office.microsoft.com/en-001/sharepoint/sharepoint-2013-overview-collaboration-software-features-FX103789323.aspx [collaboration feature overview - and it's official! ;)]
JFYI: there are also a couple of frameworks and platforms available which improve the social capabilities, for example MatchPoint Snow is one I have heard of.
Update:
Ok, if you're willing to actually convince people to use SharePoint, try following query - I think there are some good results there (but maybe there also too tech-targeted): https://www.google.ch/#q=why%20should%20i%20use%20sharepoint
For example:
http://www.rackspace.com/knowledge_center/whitepaper/6-things-every-manager-should-know-about-microsoft-sharepoint
http://www.degdigital.com/blog/why-sharepoint-2013-considerations-for-your-platform-selection/
http://newsletter.stc-carolina.org/How+to+Encourage+Good+Use+of+SharePoint
I would love to use breeze.js to communicate with SharePoint 2013.
As we are starting to write apps for SharePoint, i think that breeze.js will be a great tool.
SharePoint uses an ODATA-Api, specs
What are the steps i have to take to get breeze to play nicely with the SharePoint backend? As far as i know, this has not been done - and i would like to show that this can be done.
follow-up question
Sounds like a great idea! We have no SharePoint expertise in house. But we'd be happy to help you be successful by answering questions. The place to start ... is trying to query a SharePoint resource yourself using the API you mentioned. Breeze is happy to communicate with OData endpoints. You might begin by reading the Breeze OData documentation.
I recently started at a new job where I'll be working with Sharepoint 2010 to set up (or actually upgrade) an intranet. Unfortunately, I have no experience with SP2010, and the last time I touched SP2007 (or a virtual server for that matter) was four years ago.
I'll be attending a course soon, but until then I have to make myself useful. I've already managed to install a working Sp2010 server and have played around with some web applications and site collections, and trying to find out how Sharepoint Designer works, but I don't really have an idea what I'm doing or what goals I should set for myself to actually learn useful stuff.
I've also watched some tutorials, but most are really problem-specific (problems I don't have yet) or dive into the code (which I won't, probably).
So.. where to start?
There are a lot of great training videos on Channel9.
Sahil Malik's book is organized as what are the basic things all SharePoint 2010 developers need to know. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-SharePoint-2010-Solutions-Professionals/dp/1430228652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1283973447&sr=8-1
It is a good place to start.
I would suggest video tutorials because:
They are FREE!
They give you more context than just reading what to do.
A quick search will get you specific topics.
Check out Bing videos on SharePoint 2010. There's lots of great content out there to get you going fast.
when i started with SP2010, i began by searching:
New features in Lists and Document
Libraries New search capabilities
DocumentSets (they are very interesting!)
Office Web Apps (Excel and Word web access)
A little bit of FAST Search Engine
Integration with silverlight
Changes in the object model
Workflows
New tools in VS2010
(MSDN, codeplex, codeproject, stackoverflow, and several blogs from Sharepoint MVPs are good places to look for)
I don't know if this would help but that's where I started.. if you need specific help you can find several groups in linkedin.. there are a lots of MVPs helping..
Good luck!
I would recommend you to check out the SharePoint guidance on codeplex. It comes with at sample portal application that is explained and with best practices and guidance for creating a SharePoint site. I am sure that this will provider vital information and knowledge for your project.
Kr., Bernd.
Follow the below link to learn sharepoint. It contains sharepoint tutorial videos and all.
http://www.fastsharepoint.com/
Basically i started my sharepoint learning with the following examples:
Create a feature to change site title
Create a feature to change site theme
Create a feature with feature stapling
Create a feature that activates another feature
Create a site through code
Create a list through code
Populate a list with data through code
Create a lookup column in list through code
These are the basic examples that you can understand what is Sharepoint as a beginner.
Please see the below link for more beginner programs:
http://blog.sharepointhosting.com/Downloads/SharePoint-Tutorials.aspx
Litso install a dev box on you machine and get started.
Try doing some migration from one server to the other.
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I'm starting a new job involving Sharepoint design/development. While the job will involve training courses on Sharepoint and other technologies I haven't used, I am interested to get a headstart and learn a little more about Sharepoint.
Are there any good articles explaining Sharepoint development and what I need to know (being a beginner in the technology)? I am strong with C# and ASP.NET as I use it everyday (job or no job), it's just the Sharepoint specific stuff I wonder. I am checking out MSDN. I did check out some other threads on this, but I am not really looking for a book.
A better question would be what blogs are there which focus on code snippets and best practises?
Thanks
There are lots of SharePoint virtual labs. They are good b/c they let you get your hands on the technology without too much of the setup hassle. :)
http://www.microsoft.com/click/SharePointDeveloper/html/Default.html
This site has the information I started with when learning SharePoint: webcasts from TechEd by Andrew Connell and Rob Bogue and the hands-on-labs that go along with them.
There are very many SharePoint MVPs that have blogs that are easy to find and many of them hang around on twitter so it's easy to get help.
http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2008/11/25/Free-MSDN-Webcasts-amp-HOLs-for-MOSS-2007-WCM-Development.aspx has info on some newer webcasts
http://www.sharepointpodshow.com/ and http://www.methings.com/podcast/70342/MOSS-Gone-Wild.php
are 2 excellent SharePoint Podcasts.
A few months ago I was looking for decent SharePoint articles just to get an introduction to the technology. I found an entire section on CodeProject dedicated to it. Check it out if you haven't already, I found a number of good articles there.
Also, check out the SharePoint dev wiki
In addition to all the links provided by others:
Microsoft has a Best Practices Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007 on Technet
The official SharePoint Team Blog has some good info.
Sharepoint Joel has a list of Top 100 SharePoint blogs, though a year old provides a good starting point of blogs to look at.
Several MSDN articles such as:
Disposal Best Practices
Common Coding Issues using the SharePoint Object Model
Edit: Also just noticed that the Patterns & Practices team has a SharePoint Guidance project on codeplex.
Sharepoint was a disaster for me (as I've said before), but I'd be willing to give it another try once .Net 4.0 and VS 2010 are released.
I would definitely download the VS 2010 beta and give the new Sharepoint integration a spin. I hear that it is a big improvement over what we have now.
As for documentation, msdn was the best learning resource I could find. It was more concise than what you will get with most books, although books usually provide a storyline and cohesive progression of learning.
Hope that helps, Good luck.
Codeplex is good for examples of developement. Given the rate of change with "best practices" I have seen some books that have become out of date quite rapidly.
I personally have gained a lot of valuable knowledge from looking at questions on forums like this one, trying to replicate the issue on a developement VM. I would recommend having a VM for "play" as hands on will run you up against many of the strengths and weaknesses with different approaches.
If you can get a backup of an existing content database you are using, having lots of documents and document libraries is good for hitting real data and trying out different search configurations etc.
One additional site you shouldn't forget is myrampup.com. It's a community-based training site which will help you get the knowledge you need to develop solutions on the SharePoint platform.
Before learning SharePoint development, learn what SharePoint can do. Use it and become familiar with its features. Many people's first thought is to develop new features when much of what they want to do can be done with existing SharePoint features. It's a huge, complex product.
I've found some very good videos for learning Sharepoint at Point8020
Very good reference for SharePoint Object Model:
http://www.etechplanet.com/post/2009/08/28/Overview-of-SharePoint-Object-Model.aspx
A good starting resource is the Microsoft RampUp Site it's a free resource that has 2 tracks for SharePoint for developers. Each track consists of articles, slide casts and virtual labs to help you gain an understanding of what goes into developing for SharePoint. They are not all inclusive but it should give you a good starting point.
There is also a user centric overview on the Microsoft Office Site for SharePoint 2007 that can help get you an understanding of some of the features in SharePoint.
I don't know if any of the resources have been update yet for SharePoint 2010, but hopefully those will follow soon.
Also check Microsoft Learning with SharePoint 2010 around the corner you might find free courses. Microsoft usually releases free online courseware for new products around the time of release.
For uo to date announcements check out the SharePoint Team blog, usually there's lots of good information around there.
Good Luck.
...what are the essential components(files required) for a "Feature"..
and can anyone point to any best practice tutorials on creating features (using the "12 hive")...
sharepoint dev is new to me, and im just looking for best practice development.
tutorial/screencasts will be a bonus
thanks
A major headache, grounds for divorce, plausible excuse for murder, etc...
But actually the answer is a lot more complicated. The quick answer is it's a unit of deployment that generally includes content such as .aspx application pages, list schemas, customizations expressed in CAML (potentially huge XML files without much documentation.)
JD's suggestion for Ted Pattison's book is a good one but I suggest picking up a few books because you'll usually find something in one that you don't find in another and it will help you to see what is required by convention and what is just a particular author's preference.
You will really need to comb a lot of different sources and plan on spending a considerable amount of time with SharePoint before becoming comfortable with these concepts.
Check out the SharePoint Patterns and Practices information here and here
I also highly recommend picking up a copy of Ted Pattisons book Inside SharePoint Windows Services 3.0
These should be required reading for noob SharePoint developers. Good luck on your SharePoint journey.
This webcast about how to add social networking features to Sharepoint might be helpful.
And there's lots of videos here, some free and some not.
The minimum you need is feature.xml, and elements.xml if you want the feature to actually do something. I recommend the templates from WSPBuilder as a starting point.