Mart Muller's Weblog

From the SharePoint blog:

AKS 2.0, to be released in Q3CY2008 will consist of the following:

• Smart Adapters – automation of control adapters through install settings
• Additional control adapters and remediation examples
  • Web part zone control
  • XHTML 1.0 Strict page level validation example – brute force approach
  • Another page level validation example against a standard DOCTYPE Declaration (DTD)
  • Additional requirements under Canadian Common Look and Feel 2.0 (CLF 2.0) guidelines
  • Improvements to accessibility and usability of SharePoint's Document Library functionality
• Examples of remediation to comply with WCAG 2.0 Level AA
• French language version of AKS 1.0 components

I received a question concerning the use of the 'stapler feature' for activating features versus the activation of features within the site definition (in the onet.xml). What is better and why choose the one or the other?

In my opinion, it is better to activate as many features in the site definition, as far as possible. The difference between them is the timing. When using the site definition, the features are activated during the site(collection) creation. If you want to deploy page layouts or site columns for example, you want to deploy them in the site collection before applying the site template, so you can use them directly in the (sub)sites.

When activating in the stapler feature, the features are activated after the site is created. This means that the site columns etc. become available just after the creation of the site(collection). If you want the features during the site creation, it is better to activate the features in the definition.

In some cases however, you must use the stapler feature. If you want to activate a feature that is dependent on another feature in the same scope (web, site), there is a chance that it activates the features in the wrong order. For example, you have a feature that creates a list in the site and one that adds a content type to the new list. In this case it can occur that the second feature will be activated before the list is created.. with an error as a result. The order of activation seems to be quite random, so if you use a stapler feature, you are sure the list is already created when you activate the second feature.

There is another reason to use the stapler feature, which is when you want to activate a feature on a site definition that is already in production, or to add it on a default site definition (MySite). It is not supported to change the site definition after is it being used in production, so you cannot change it. The stapler feature is here the only (good) option to use.

Also check out the following postings form more info:

• Stapler vs Definitions - http://www.sharepointblogs.com/jasonmedero/archive/2007/08/13/site-definition-customizations-versus-using-feature-stapling-part-2.aspx
• Stapler feature 'how to' - http://blogs.msdn.com/cjohnson/archive/2006/11/01/feature-stapling-in-wss-v3.aspx
• Stapler on MySite - http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mirjam/archive/2008/02/22/customizing-the-my-site-look-and-feel.aspx

There is a lot going on here in The Netherlands (and some other countries) about whether how 'Open' the government must be when it comes to software and standards such as ODF. The discussion is valid I think: in my opinion the government must be able to operate independent and open. The discussion that is going on here however, has some annoying aspects.

In the discussion (is it a discussion anyway?), the politicians are telling us (the people that work for the government) which technique we should use, instead of which guidelines we should follow. It's valid to say that the format of documents should be 'freely' readable and must confirm to certain standards and usability guidelines. It's not good that 'they' decide if we should use PDF, DOCX or ODT extension to store documents.

The discussion is also based on personal opinions. Basically it's Microsoft vs.. something 'Open'. To be honest, I don't really care about the Office version or which software vendor is chosen to install on the clients in our local city hall. What I do care is that the government is saying us what not to use. Basically they are saying: you can use everything except Microsoft.

Anyway, Bart Wessels (yes he's a Microsoftie, but he knows what he is talking about) has been posting a lot (in Dutch) about the ODF/OpenXML discussion. Check out his blog, and this article in particular. Some more information from 'Economische Zaken' about the use of open software can be found in this document.

By the way, I've been trying to open and store ODF documents in MS Office and found an OpenXML/ODF translator addin for Office. Check out the free downloads here. When making the screen shot I received the ironic alert which I didn't want you to miss :)

Find out firsthand how Microsoft enterprise search products make finding information within your organization easier than ever before. Download Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express for free today or try Search Server or Office SharePoint Server for 180 days.

Download here

Although I had to smile (and again) when going through the downloads, the concept is very useful for implementation partner doing SharePoint implementations. I'm talking about 'Gear up for SharePoint', a complete guideline set specified per role for implementing SharePoint in organizations.

The BuzzKit, which is also included, contains useful posters, email drafts, letters etc for setting up an adoption strategy for SharePoint.

The Gear Up site is divided into 4 sections:

• Get Ready
• Engineer
• Release
• Adopt

Seems interesting enough to go through!

Check out the Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint web site with sample demo's how to integrate Silverlight in your SharePoint application. Personally I really like the custom filed type sample.

I also heard that Patrick Tisseghem is preparing his Silverlight presentation on the SharePoint Conference.

HiSoftware has just released the Accessibility Kit for SharePoint version 1.1. This time, there are more control adapters for default portal web parts and blog controls. It also contains a new set of CSS and master pages to make MOSS 2007 more accessible.

"The AKS solution represents a set of files, programs and utilities that facilitate the enhanced accessible and usable output of SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. AKS v1.1 provides new cascading style sheets (CSS), master pages, multiple control adapters and reusable content examples through “best practices”. AKS is part of the Microsoft Public license and can be downloaded at no charge through http://aks.hisoftware.com."

Due to personal circumstances I have to skip the SharePoint Conference 2008 next week :(. Too bad because it seems that it will be a great event with many interesting people going there.

Anyway, two colleagues will be there to make sure Tam Tam doesn't miss anything interesting. They brought the MOSS 2007 personalized tagging and rating solution on VPC so I've you're there and interested please drop me a line and I'll forward it to them. I've had many questions about how it will be put on the market. The two guys who created it will licence it as a product and prices will be available soon, I will keep you posted on this blog. In my opinion it would have been great if they put it on codeplex or made it part of the Community Kit for SharePoint, but I am curious how this will go!

For the Dutch readers and conference visitors, Pascal Lagarde and Wouter Geurtzen (my colleagues) will present one of our enterprise search cases (Twynstra en Gudde) on Monday at the session MS Netherlands has planned. There will be time for you to give them your opinion about it. You can also drop me a line if you like of course.

For the other conference visitors, check out the Sharepint By Night evening at the Kells Irish Pub in Seattle on Wednesday. This will interesting and fun I guess! Many interesting people (MVP's, community people, etc) will have pint and chat about.. well SharePoint duh!

And, last but not least, Lawrence Liu will host the SharePoint User Groups Site meeting on Monday. This seems to be interesting for the DIWUG members.

Of course, I'm very curious about how it will be and I know there will be interesting sessions for everyone. So, have fun next week, and I will keep an eye on the SPC2008 blog postings!