Saturday, January 30, 2010

E-Learning Clinics: What's New in Microsoft SharePoint 2010






Clinic 10277: What's New in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for Developers
This clinic covers the following topics:
  • Developing SharePoint 2010 Solutions with Visual Studio 2010
  • Integrating New Development Features in SharePoint 2010 Solutions
  • Developing Remote Clients for SharePoint 2010
  • Incorporating External Data in SharePoint 2010 Solutions
Clinic 10279: What's New in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 for IT Professionals
This clinic covers the following topics:
  • Introduction to SharePoint 2010
  • Managing Data in SharePoint 2010
  • Monitoring Data in SharePoint 2010

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

SharePoint Community Forums - My 1000 posts














I am very happy that I have reached the 1000 posts in the Microsoft SharePoint Forums
Achieving 340 answers out of 1000 means 34% of my posts have been marked as answers, for me it is great. In 5 months period of time this was a challenge.

I have started to be involved in these forums just to help and to be a part of the SharePoint Community; this helps me a lot more than I helped others.

I wish I could continue with this spirit.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint 2010



Business Connectivity Services (BCS) in SharePoint 2010 is all about connecting to external data. BCS enhances the SharePoint platform’s capabilities with out-of-box features, services and tools that streamline development of solutions with deep integration of external data and services. BCS builds upon its BDC predecessor in the key areas of presentation, connectivity, tooling and lifecycle management. For example, in SharePoint 2010 it’s easy to create an external content type with SharePoint Designer, create an external list in SharePoint’s Web user interface and take the list offline into Outlook as a set of contacts. Also, you can make updates to contacts in Outlook that will cause the data in the external system to update as well.

BCS Architecture
BDC Metadata Store – The BDC Metadata Store provides storage for a collection of external content types, each of which describes how to connect to the external store. The Metadata Store acts as part of the services layer. External content types are a fundamental building block of BCS.

BDC Server Runtime – The BDC Server Runtime understands how to reach into the back-end store and connect to data based on the external content types defined within the content type store. It’s important to note the new usage of the acronym BDC to refer to the set of services that provides connectivity that is a component of BCS.

Security – BCS provides integration with the Secure Store Service (SSS), as well as enabling your own security model.

Solution Packaging – Solutions built with BCS can be packaged as a Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) package to be delivered to a rich client, including SharePoint Workspace, Outlook and Word. BCS also exposes APIs to extend solution packaging to target additional clients.

Out of Box UI – BCS carries forward the ability to display external data through a Web Part UI and provides deeper integration through the addition of external lists.

BDC Client Runtime – A symmetrical runtime is provided for client and server, enabling you to take solutions offline with a client-side cache and to connect and push changes back to the server in a consistent manner. Use of the BDC Client Runtime enables offline operations, interacting with the external data cache.

Design Tools – SharePoint Designer provides a wealth of out-of-box functionality for creating BCS solutions, including the ability to define external content types and external lists, and to define InfoPath forms to surface the data to create simple solutions. Visual Studio provides the ability for the professional developer to extend those capabilities to create advanced solutions while leveraging the existing framework.

No more SSP in SharePoint 2010

















In SharePoint 2010 Shared Service Providers (SSP’s) are replaced by Service Applications. Services are no longer combined into a SSP. Services are running independent as a service application.

Benefits the new Service Model provides:
  • A more effective targeting of services to the Web apps you’ve created (Web apps consume services on an individual basis)
  • Each Web app can use any combination of the available Service Apps
  • You can deploy multiple instances of the same Service Apps – giving each one a unique name
  • This model also allows Cross-Farm Service Apps
  • You can also write your own services that take advantage of the SharePoint infrastructure!
 
With this new Service model, comes some new terms

Service: A set of bits installed on a SharePoint 2010 farm that’s capable of providing some functionality
Service Application: A specific farm-level configuration of the Service in SharePoint. For example, the specific configuration of Office Web apps Service in your new SharePoint 2010 farm.
Service Machine Instance: A machine-level instance of the Service running on an app server
Service App Proxy: A pointer to a Service App that exists on the WFE
Service Consumer: A SharePoint feature, such as a web-part, that talks with the service and makes its functionality available to an end user

What Service apps are NEW and what actually they do?


You’ve seen from the above that the architecture has been modified and they are lots of NEW Services available in SharePoint 2010. I’ve provided a brief list of some of the new Services and what they do below:

Access Services – Allows viewing, editing, and interacting with Access databases in a browser.
Managed Metadata Service – Provides access to managed taxonomy hierarchies, keywords, social tags and Content Type publishing across site collections.
Secure Store Service –Provides capability to store data (e.g. credential set) securely and associate it to a specific identity or group of identities.
State Service – Provides temporary storage of user session data for Office SharePoint Server components.
Usage and Health data collection – This service collects farm wide usage and health data and provides the ability to view various usage and health reports.
Visio Graphics Service – Enables viewing and refreshing of published Visio diagrams in a web browser.
Web Analytics Service Application – Enable rich insights into web usage patterns by processing and analyzing web analytics data .
Word Conversion Service Application – Provides a framework for performing automated document conversions

Saturday, January 23, 2010

A First Look at Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010


This series will look at the new features of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. Topics to include: SharePoint 2010 from the Technical Decision Maker perspective, SharePoint 2010 Excel Services, Forms Services, and Visio Services
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Overview for TDM's
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Overview for Developers
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Overview for Implementers
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Developing with Visual Studio 2010
  • Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Developing with SharePoint Designer

http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SearchResults.aspx?productId=26

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

SharePoint 2010 Training



Point8020 has released free SharePoint 2010 end user training that you can access from http://www.point8020.com/SharePointEndUserTraining.aspx
It includes 50 short videos for end-users & site administrators covering a number of different common tasks.


These videos are consumable, easy to navigate and free!

Tips Troubleshooting SharePoint 2010 Installations

Here are the best references I found:
- Ji Lie Installation Instructions and Warning

- Joel's 10 Tips Troubleshooting Installations for SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint Foundation

- CodeProject: Step by Step SharePoint Server 2010 Installation

- Microsoft (MSDN) for Win 7: Setting Up the Development Environment for SharePoint Server

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Windows PowerShell compiled Help for SharePoint Server 2010

Brief Description

Downloadable .chm file that contains Help for Windows PowerShell cmdlets for SharePoint Server 2010.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=045f7af5-b226-4a05-8ace-4e17cfdef856&displaylang=en

Microsoft 2010 Beta Product Keys

Most application products of Office 2010 Beta and SharePoint 2010 Beta can be activated using MAK (Multiple Activation Key) product key, including Office Professional Plus 2010, which is a suite of Office 2010 which intends for volume licensing customers. Best of all, the “generic” MAK product key (which is the same for every downloaders) can be used to activate unlimited copy of Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta, Visio Premium 2010 Beta, Project Professional 2010 Beta, and SharePoint Server 2010 Beta.


Here’s the list of all MAK product keys for Office 2010 Beta and SharePoint 2010 Beta or their related apps.

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 Beta Product Key
7XD2X-JWJ94-BCHBW-W9WXP-J2WPT
2PWHY-KT4X6-96PYW-XQR7V-HW2W9
YF79C-7Y4B4-PGM89-6BKGJ-46PBT
PYMDW-8DFY2-Y68BB-XHDGD-CT443

Microsoft Visio Premium 2010 Beta Product Key
MQQGY-6JQ3R-9M89C-F9VVT-VCCKT

Microsoft Project Professional 2010 Beta Product Key
TQHBF-DY3KV-KMFRM-P43FK-3M4DD

Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta Product Key
HRPDM-9C238-7YD9V-DBBR7-QB6BQ

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta Product Key
PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY

Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010 Beta Product Key
BV7VC-RMR6B-26P6Y-BTQDG-DX2KQ

Top 10 benefits of SharePoint Workspace 2010

http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/en/sharepoint-workspace/default.aspx


Microsoft SharePoint Workspace 2010, the new name for Microsoft Office Groove, expands the boundaries of collaboration by allowing fast, anytime, anywhere access to your Microsoft SharePoint team sites. Synchronize SharePoint Server 2010 document libraries with SharePoint Workspace so you can access, view and edit files anytime and anywhere from your computer. Lists such as Discussion, Tasks, and custom lists are supported as well. You can even synchronize Business Connectivity Services lists so access to your backend systems is easy and painless. SharePoint Workspace 2010 ushers in an entirely new way of working with your SharePoint team sites.

Saturday, January 9, 2010

SharePoint 2010 Virtual Conference









This FREE event requires no travel, no conference fees and no time away from work. You and your team can listen to the industry's most respected speakers on topics you must know, and solutions that make it all happen. You can also network directly one-on-one through the Virtual Expo Hall.


SharePoint 2010 Live's revolutionary Virtual Expo Hall gives you the full-fidelity experience of a real conference, without all the travel. Interact directly with real people in each virtual expo booth. Learn about their products, ask questions, and get the answers you need. Along with our live presentations, our Virtual Expo hall puts the "Live" in SharePoint 2010 Live

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products (Beta) Management Pack

Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products (Beta) Management Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c8a9d749-b7a8-412a-b2db-f3e464ed3fcf&displaylang=en

Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 (Beta) Management Pack
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=43D5EE9A-B9A6-441D-A35E-8A7B9B15E20C&displaylang=en

SharePoint Server 2010 Beta 2 - Download

Quick Details
File Name: 14.0.4536.1000_OfficeServer_none_ship_x64_en-us_exe\OfficeServer.exe
Version: 1
Date Published: 11/17/2009
Language: English
Download Size: 561.9 MB

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3ed6e43b-22da-4021-8e90-56e47536d772&DisplayLang=en