Mart Muller's Weblog

Angus Logan refers to Ishai's blog where the SharePoint Tips ustility Pack is available for download. Some interesting applications for easy development, like quickly change list settings, push webparts and recursively delete sites.

Use at your own risk..

Download here

Great work from S.S. Ahmed. WSUploadService is a web service for uploading documents in SharePoint 2007 environments.

"WS UploadService is a web service written for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and is meant for uploading documents into SharePoint. I have just uploaded the zip file to GotDotNet.com so it will take some time before the zip file appears in the list of downloads. For the time being, you can download the zip file from the following location:"

http://www.walisystems.com/ws1_dlc.asp (Download Size: 361 KB)

See Ahmeds post for full details and code examples.

Arno posted a nice list of poster-sized docments in Visio:

Models

• Model: Business Intelligence (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73117&clcid=0x409 )
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Application Security (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73118&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Backup and Restore (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73120&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Topologies (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73122&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Baseline Site Hierarchies (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73124&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Customization (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73125&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Database Administration (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73130&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Content Management (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73132&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Extranet Topologies (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73153&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Inter-Farm Shared Services (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73155&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Products Migration (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73156&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Search Administration (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73165&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Office SharePoint Server Shared Services (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73166&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Upgrading Office SharePoint Server Products (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73167&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Upgrading SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Office SharePoint Server (1 of 2) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73168&clcid=0x409)
• Model: Upgrading SharePoint Portal Server Version 2 to Office SharePoint Server (2 of 2) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73169&clcid=0x409)

Scenarios

• Scenario: Enterprise Content Management (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73170&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: InfoPath Forms Services Customer Interaction Form (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73171&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: InfoPath Forms Services Expense Reporting (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73172&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: InfoPath Forms Services Insurance Claims (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73173&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: InfoPath Forms Services Permits (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73176&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: InfoPath Forms Services Supplier Survey (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73177&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Keeping Connections to Data Sources Current (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73178&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Large Corporate Internet Site (Infrequent Changes to Web Content) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73179&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Call Center (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73557&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Corporate Intranet Portal Site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73181&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Departmental Portal Site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73182&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Equities Research (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73183&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Informational Portal Site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73184&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Office SharePoint Server Out-Hosted Portal Sites (ASPs) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73186&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Online News Internet Site (Frequent Web Content Updates and Searching) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73187&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Preserving "One Version of the Truth" for Distributed Workbooks (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73188&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Records Management in Office SharePoint Server (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73189&clcid=0x409)
• Scenario: Rendering Data from Spreadsheets to Web Parts (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73190&clcid=0x409)

Flowcharts

• Office SharePoint Server Planning Flowchart, Part I (application administrators) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73192&clcid=0x409)
• Office SharePoint Server Planning Flowchart, Part II (IT pros) (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73193&clcid=0x409)
• Office SharePoint Server Deployment Flowchart (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=73191&clcid=0x409)

There are some more language packs available for WSS 3.0, including the Dutch one. You can download them here. But beware, if you want to install them on a MOSS server, there will be problems when creating sites using language packs.

One of the problems is that now all enterprise feature translations are made in the language packs, which means they will not be traslated or shown the proper way.

One of the other problems is when you create a new list item, some JS files are missing (i.e. the spelling check).

So, let's wait for the MOSS language packs. More info can be found here.

Related Articles:

• Deploy Language Packs in Office SharePoint Server 2007
• Deploy multiple language versions of the 2007 Office system
• Language identifiers in the 2007 Office system
• Simplified design for multiple languages in the 2007 Office system

This white paper showcases compliance-related features and extensibility opportunities with the 2007 Microsoft® Office system, and demonstrates how the Office system can help you meet the demands of regulatory compliance. By focusing on a few core products, including Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server, Office client-side applications, and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, this paper introduces built-in features of the Office system that address compliance requirements. The paper also focuses on the opportunities for developers to use expanded tools support to build customized solutions that facilitate regulatory compliance without bogging down business processes.

Download here

Via Andrew:

Finally! MOSS 2007 RTM bits, the non-eval ones, are now up on MSDN Subscribers Download for those of you who don't want to use the eval bits. You'll also find Forms Server 2007, Groove Server 2007, Project Server 2007, and XBOX 360 Server 2007 (just kidding).

In case you didn't notice, all the Office 2007 RTM clients (including SharePoint Designer 2007) are also on MSDN Subscribers Download.

If you're looking for additional downloads including WSS v3 RTM, MOSS 2007 x86 120-day evaluation, check the RTW post on the SharePoint Team Blog: Announcing the RTW of WSS and Office SharePoint Server 2007 Standard and Enterprise Evaluation!

Finally, if you are looking for updated RTM SDK's, the MOSS and WSS v3 ones are up and live on MSDN (the downloadable CHM's will be available soon):

» WSS v3 SDK (RTM)
» MOSS 2007 SDK (RTM)

"Application Templates are out-of-box custom scenarios for the Windows SharePoint Services platform, tailored to address the needs and requirements of specific business processes or sets of tasks in organizations of any size.

Microsoft will release a new set of 40 application templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Some of the previous scenarios, such as Help Desk, Project Site, Knowledge Base and the Employee/HR templates will be improved to incorporate and highlight new capabilities in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. New scenarios will also be added to address specific customer needs and business requirements.

While Application Templates can be used to solve particular business needs, they can also provide a starting point for partners and developers looking to build deeper Windows SharePoint Services solutions. The new templates will make use of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 capabilities and be compatible with Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to help make customization easier."

See the full article here

For extending OpenOffice and offer an alternative for SharePoint (its everywhere on the site),  O3Spaces is an integrated solution for Collaboration, Document Management and Document Retention within teams and small businesses. Although everyone tells it is taking over SharePoint, I don't think it will go that fast. :)

Anyway, good thing to dive into.

http://o3spaces.org/

Download these posters to learn more about the new features and enhancement to the 2007 Microsoft Office System.

This download contains the following files:

• Developer Roadmap for the 2007 Microsoft Office System. Download this poster to view a developer roadmap for the 2007 Microsoft Office system programs, tools, services, and servers.
• Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 Managed Object Model Poster. Download this poster and get a deep dive into some of the new and enhanced objects in the InfoPath 2007 managed object model.
• Developer Map for SharePoint Products and Technologies Poster. Download this poster and discover the developer roadmap for Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.

Go here to download!

The following picture can help to decide which licence you should have to get the functionality you need.

Download this macro-enabled Excel worksheet to see a gallery of built-in icons available for solution development.

When opened, this Excel worksheet adds a group to the developer tab with icon galleries of built-in icons available for reuse in your solutions.

Use these icons in your Ribbon solutions by specifying the imageMso value for your controls. For example, <button id="myButton" label="My save" imageMso="FileSave" /> creates a button with the Save icon.

Download here

Finally, it is here! the RTM version of WSS 3.0 is available for download at the Microsoft site. According to other sources, MOSS 2007 will be available on MSDN subscriptions later today.

Windows SharePoint Services is a versatile technology that organizations and business units of all sizes can use to increase the efficiency of business processes and improve team productivity. With tools for collaboration that help people stay connected across organizational and geographic boundaries, Windows SharePoint Services gives people access to information they need.
Built on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services also provides a foundation platform for building Web-based business applications that can flex and scale easily to meet the changing and growing needs of your business. Robust administrative controls for managing storage and Web infrastructure give IT departments a cost-effective way to implement and manage a high-performance collaboration environment. With a familiar, Web-based interface and close integration with everyday tools including the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Windows SharePoint Server is easy to use and can be deployed rapidly..

Important:
If you intend to install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003, see "Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Server Running Windows Small Business Server 2003" at the Microsoft Web site. It contains important installation steps and procedures that you must perform to ensure a successful deployment.

Caution:
If you do not follow the instructions in "Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a Server Running Windows Small Business Server 2003," your configuration of Windows Small Business Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 might not work or might not be supported.

Download here

With the RTM of Office 2007, a lot of people want to upgrade their SharePoint environment from Beta 2 (TR) or from a previous SharePoint version (WSS 2.0 / SPS 2003) to the new version. On the SharePoint team blog, you can find very useful information about this topic:

"Version to Version Supported Upgrade Paths

With RTM recently being announced and code availability around the corner.  I'm posting a series of upgrade articles to assist in planning your upgrades to the RTM (Release to Manufacturer) versions of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007.  To better understand the different editions and SKUs of the various SharePoint Products and Technologies please refer to the recently published features comparison, edition comparison, and differences.

Supported Version to Version Upgrade Paths:

• WSS RTM 2.0 SP2 -> WSS 3.0 RTM
• WSS RTM 2.0 SP2 -> WSS 3.0 RTM -> SharePoint Server 2007 RTM
• SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SP2 -> SharePoint Server 2007 RTM
• CMS 2002 -> SharePoint Server 2007 RTM (Migration)"

More specific info here

and:

"Build to Build Upgrade Path to RTM

We appreciate those of you who have participated in our beta and TAP (Technology Adoption Programs.)  If you aren't planning to do a fresh/clean install of WSS 3.0 RTM or Office SharePoint Server 2007 and are planning to upgrade from an earlier beta, please read this carefully.  Note, support is not available until after you have properly upgraded your environment to the RTM version of the software.  Look on this blog for steps on how to upgrade to RTM from Beta 2 Tech Refresh in the next few days.  If you are still running beta 2 please refer to the steps posted here.    

Supported Build to Build Upgrade Paths:

• WSS v3.0 Beta 2 -> WSS Beta 2 Tech Refresh -> WSS RTM
• WSS v3.0 RTM -> SharePoint Server 2007 RTM
• SharePoint Server Beta 2 -> SharePoint Server Beta 2 Tech Refresh Standard -> SharePoint Server Standard Edition RTM
• SharePoint Server Beta 2 -> SharePoint Server Beta 2 Tech Refresh Enterprise -> SharePoint Server Enterprise Edition RTM"

More info on that here

Some of my colleagues have been upgrading the Office 2007 client and ran into serious problems as well. An article from Patrick Schmid helped them a lot with fixing the problems:

"Steps:

1. Uninstall all existing Office 2007 suites and/or standalone apps via the Control Panel, if possible. Refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927222/en-us to see which products belong to the beta.
2. Go to Start/Run and type “installer” (w/o quotes). This will bring up the Windows Installer directory.
   Change to “Details” view if you are not in that view
   If you don’t have “Subject” as a header, then right click on the headers in the directory, click more, then choose “Subject” so you can see the Subject information for each item in that directory.
   Sort by Subject and observe any items that contain Microsoft Office 2007.
   For each Office 2007 msi listed:
   • Click on Start->Run
   • In the Open box type “msiexec.exe /x”
   • Drag the msi into the the Open box
   • Click in the Open box and press End to move to the far right
   • Press the space bar and enter the text “NOREMOVESPAWN=1″
   • Press Enter to begin the removal and then wait until it finishes before proceeding to the next one
3. Right-click on My Computer and choose Manage
   Expand “Services and Applications and then select Services
   In the right pane, stop the Office Source Engine service if it is running
4. Delete the following registry keys if present:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\Delivery\SourceEngine\Downloads\*0FF1CE}-*
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\*0FF1CE*
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ose
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Features\*F01FEC
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Products\*F01FEC
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\UpgradeCodes\*F01FEC
   HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Installer\Win32Assemblies\*Office12*
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UpgradeCodes\*F01FEC
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Installer\UserData\S-1-5-18\Products\*F01FEC
5. Find and delete all keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall with a valuename of UninstallString that contains a value with *\Office Setup Controller\setup.exe*
6. Delete the following folders (if present):
   %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\OFFICE12
   %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Source Engine
   %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12 (this is the default location but can be changed during the installation)
   On all drives remove all folders below the MSOCache\All Users folders containing the string *0FF1CE}-*
7. Clear the content of your temporary files directory (go to Start/Run and type %temp%)
8. Reboot
9. Temporarily disable antivirus software and related services"

Anyway, good luck!

Upcoming Friday, we will have a virtual opening of our new office in Second Life. Have a drink, chat with people from Tam Tam and see a company presentation, Tam Tam blogs and our job offerings!

Check the SL address here. See you friday?

Via Michiel:

"Microsoft confirms they're working on a Records Center Add-on Pack for Office SharePoint Server which will provide the additional functionality to meet the DoD 5015.2 criteria. The add-on pack will be freely available to all customers with Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Microsoft is slotted to take the DoD 5015.2 certification test on May 14, 2007 and they plan to release the add-on pack shortly after the certification process is complete."

Finally it is there!

This Community Technology Preview (CTP) of the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services contains the following tools to aid developers in building SharePoint applications:
Visual Studio 2005 Project Templates

• Web Part
• Team Site Definition
• Blank Site Definition
• List Definition

• Web Part
• Custom Field
• List Definition (with optional Event Receiver)
• Content Type (with optional Event Receiver)
• Module

• This stand-alone program generates a Site Definition project from an existing SharePoint site. The program enables developers to use the browser and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer to customize the content of their sites before creating code by using Visual Studio.

Download here

Well this is the 501st... on my way to the next 500!

Via Bink:

"Monday Microsoft will announce that the 2007 Microsoft Office system products have been released to manufacturing (RTM). This gold code milestone concludes the largest Office beta program to date, with more than 3.5 million people downloading Beta 2. RTM also marks a critical step toward worldwide business availability of the 2007 Office system, Windows Vista and Exchange Server 2007 on Nov. 30, 2006."

UPDATE 2006-11-06:

And now Official:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/nov06/11-062007OfficeRTMPR.mspx

Via Bill, I ran into a very cool application for tag clouds in WSS3.

"Have you used del.ci.ous or technorati? Tagging can help users easily identify the data which is relevant to what they are looking for. The tag cloud is the semantic map of the contents in your site, which can quickly tell us what’s popular in your site. Do you want to have tagging features in your SharePoint blog, wiki or team sites? We have implemented the Tag Cloud and Tag Browser Web Parts for Latest Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. Here’s the instruction about how to add the tagging web parts to your site and how to integrate your site into the web parts."

This download is a self-extracting executable that contains all architectures and languages of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Beta 2 Technical Refresh.

download here

Funny to see, when O-day is comming, the articles with mud throwing comments are suddenly everywhere! I realised this after an email that Michiel sent us about a CMS watch report. A lot of 'easy' critics is given as Michiel pointed:

• "the much delayed Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007"
• "For use as an enterprise portal, MOSS will remain an unlikely fit for most e-business scenarios or enterprise-wide deployments in large organizations"
• "However, after a major and potentially difficult transition, customers will find that MOSS 2007 brings many of the same limitations as its predecessor, according to the latest semi-annual release of the "Enterprise Portals Report" from independent analyst firm, CMS Watch."

Realizing the critics given by WinSmartS (metioned by Paul) which I have to (partly) agree on.

• Why did MSFT have to embed the Windows.Sharepoint.dll file in an orifice of windows that nobody would ever bother to look in?
• The XMLITIS sharepoint has. Oh my god!! Whatever was wrong with MSI files that sharepoint had to resolve to fiddly batch files, twidly command line utilities, hacky XML files, and hard-coded GUIDs and IDs all over the place to get the basic things done in Sharepoint?
• The "Lets restart IIS because someone in istanbul farted disease". Seriously, change the web.config to deploy a new webpart? And the have to run iisreset for pretty much everything you do?
• The "For the love of GAC, stop putting things in GAC". I thought GAC was a bad idea for every darned assembly. 
• The too good to be true promises. People, I want to break a heartbreaking news - MSFT marketing is full of poo. A very very small part of Sharepoint 2007 meets the legal accessibility requirements.
• Master page customization. Oh wait - but that was a good thing. Yes it indeed is a good thing, except for all practical purposes, it doesn't work :-/. Why? Well first of all, customizability in Sharepoint 2003 was a FUCKING JOKE.
• The world doesn't live on PST. Hmm okay so I bet Microsoft does, and most MSFT developers live in PST. But if you setup a site/sitecollection/whatever - it defaults to PST. Which means, when you are done configuring a whole bunch of jobs, and you suddenly realize that the timezone wasn't picked from the OS during installation, guess what - you have to go back and redo every darned thing because everything shifted by PST - YourTimzeZone number of hours. :-/.

(some parts are left, read the whole story for a complete overview)

But thenI ran into an article of John Newton, which describes the realease day of Office 2007 as the day "when heaven falls on our heads". Some highlights:

• "In addition, Sharepoint is not a very good platform."
• "So finally, it should be noted that Sharepoint is an Office Platform. Its purpose is to build upon and expand the Office monopoly and therefore utilize the capabilities of the latest versions of Office."
• "The biggest Halloween surprise will be if Microsoft actually declares that Sharepoint 2007 actually is."

At least Tony (from CMSWatch) has a point with the deadly comment: "And when will Alfresco have a production-ready blog and wiki?"

Have a seat and let the mud fight begin! :)

Via Carsten's blog:

"This is an application I have created to better understand the new SharePoint object model and at the same time ease some of the managing tasks of SharePoint. The first version is no more than an Object Model Explorer. Only managing the SharePoint FeatureDefinitions is enabled, but I plan to implement more functions in future versions. The application is not meant to be a windows form application version of the SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration, but to provide extra functionality that is only found in stsadm.exe or nowhere else. "

Download: SharePoint Manager 2007