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Andrew Connell Profile |
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SharePoint 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2 amp; RBS: Just because you can doesnrsquo;t mean you should
Andrew Connell
pOne of the new things in SQL Server 2008 R2 is Remote Blob Storage (RBS) which allows admins to setup SQL to save data that would normally go into a BLOB field to be stored somewhere else using an RBS provider. This provider could store data on a cheaper disk solution (compared to the expensive disk solutions usually selected for SQL Server), to a SAN or maybe even into the cloud… it really doesn’t matter where. The point is that BLOBs can be kept out of a SQL Server DB./p pFor SharePoint t [read].
Posted: Wed, Mar 10th '10 |
Looking for more SharePoint 2010 Info? Check out these Free Webcasts by Critical Path Training
Andrew Connell
pWe at a href="http://www.criticalpathtraining.com" target="_blank"Critical Path Training/a announced a handful of free one-hour webcasts over the next three months devoted to SharePoint 2010. All webcasts are delivered by our premier SharePoint professionals such as a href="http://criticalpathtraining.com/Instructors/Pages/DavidMann.aspx" target="_blank"David Mann/a, a href="http://criticalpathtraining.com/Instructors/Pages/AsifRehmani.aspx" target="_blank"Asif Rehmani/a, a href="http://critica [read].
Posted: Tue, Mar 9th '10 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night ndash; SharePoint 2010 Pro Summit Edition
Andrew Connell
img alt="" align="right" src="http://www.21apps.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/sparepintmediumred-thumb.png" / pGoing to the a href="http://www.sharepointprosummit.com/" target="_blank"SharePoint 2010 Pro Summit Conference/a in Las Vegas the week of March 16-19, 2009? No? Well, are you a SharePoint person that’s going to be in the greater Vegas area? We’ll be doing another strongSharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night/strong in Las Vegas the night before the big show starts (or in the case if [read].
Posted: Mon, Mar 8th '10 |
SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 RTM in April 2010, released March 12, 2010
Andrew Connell
pa href="http://blogs.msdn.com/arpans"Arpan Shah/a of Microsoft a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2010/03/05/sharepoint-2010-office-2010-launch.aspx"announced last Friday/a that they SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 will RTM next month, in April 2010. /p pThis marks a big milestone… after a year of SharePoint and Office being in beta and available to many internal testers under the TAP program and a public beta late last year, we’re now on the cusp of a public release of the fi [read].
Posted: Sun, Mar 7th '10 |
SharePoint MVP Chat brought to you by MSDN
Andrew Connell
pMSDN has been hosting chats on various topics such as Windows CE, SQL Server, Office development, .NET Development… you name it. In just over a week’s time they will be hosting another on SharePoint… co-hosted by myself and fellow SharePoint MVP a href="http://www.robfoster.net/" target="_blank"Rob Foster/a (who’s also a co-host of the a href="http://www.sharepointpodshow.com/" target="_blank"SharePoint Podshow/a). Here are the details:/p blockquote pstrongChat with the SharePoint MVP E [read].
Posted: Thu, Mar 4th '10 |
An op for Microsoft to nail the low hanging fruit: Cloudify every apprsquo;s settings/config
Andrew Connell
pI’ve got an idea for something totally feasible and doesn’t seem like a ton of work for Microsoft to offer for free without a lot of investment but would be loved by many consumers: cloudify application settings./p pMany people use multiple computers. There are folks like I suspect most of my readers where you have one or more machines at home and one or more machines at work. Each application you use has different settings. Such as:/p ul liWindows customizations/li liOutlook’s signature [read].
Posted: Sun, Feb 28th '10 |
Irsquo;ll be speaking at TechEd 2010 North America on SharePoint 2010
Andrew Connell
pGot word this week that I’ll be presenting two sessions at a href="http://northamerica.msteched.com"TechEd 2010 North America/a speaking on SharePoint 2010:/p ul listrongDeveloping Document Sets in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Content Management/strongbr /In this session, learn about a new capability in SharePoint Server 2010 that allows users to create a single work product that is comprised of many components: Document Sets. This session begins with an introduction of the out [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 25th '10 |
Learn how to customize SP2010 sites with SharePoint Designer 2010 by Critical Path Training
Andrew Connell
pAre you looking to learn how to leverage SharePoint Designer 2010 to customize and create robust solutions with no code or physical access to the SharePoint 2010 server? strongWe at /stronga href="http://www.criticalpathtraining.com"strongCritical Path Training/strong/astrong have a new course devoted to using SharePoint Designer 2010 written by a leading SharePoint Designer 2010 expert and SharePoint MVP /stronga href="http://blog.sharepointelearning.com/"strongAsif Rehmani/strong/astrong./str [read].
Posted: Wed, Feb 24th '10 |
Roadmap (or lack there of) of my Visual Studio DX CodeRush/Refactor SharePoint Extensions
Andrew Connell
pOver the last few months I’ve fielded quite a few questions in person at conferences, via email or via Twitter from folks who were interested in what my plans were for my DevExpress a href="http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/Coding_Assistance/" target="_blank"CodeRush/a amp; a href="http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/Refactoring/" target="_blank"Refactor/a extensions I wrote for Visual Studio 2008 for SharePoint developers./p pIf you aren’t familiar [read].
Posted: Wed, Feb 17th '10 |
Data Binding SharePoint 2010 List Items in Silverlight 3
Andrew Connell
pRecently I ran into a little challenge recently on a Silverlight 3 project using the strongSharePoint 2010 Client Object Model/strong (ClientOM). I wanted to bind a collection of list items I was getting back from SharePoint to a list box. I wanted to have a way to easily use the elegant data binding syntax in Silverlight without having to write managed code… something I could reuse over and over in a few projects. /ppThe challenge is that the data in a SharePoint list item as seasoned ShareP [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 16th '10 |
Reminder: Irsquo;ll be presenting at the SharePoint Connections FREE Virtual Conference - February 16 amp; 18, 2010
Andrew Connell
pemBrief reminder if you’re interested, there’s a free SharePoint virtual conference going on today for the North American folks. There’s a European version (timing is different from the NA one). Register now… it’s free!/em/p pThe folks who bring you a href="http://www.sharepointproconnections.com/" target="_blank"SharePoint Connections/a, and this spring’s a href="http://www.sharepointproconnections.com/" target="_blank"SharePoint 2010 Pro Summit/a in Las Vegas, NV, are putting on a [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 16th '10 |
SharePoint ECM Team Blog is Active Again! Info on ECM, RM, DM, WCM, DAM, XYZ
Andrew Connell
pWhile it was quiet for quite a while, the SharePoint Enterprise Content Management (ECM) team blog is active again. This is the place where you’ll get a direct voice from the product team on the areas of all areas of ECM including:/p ul liRecords Management /liliDocument Management /liliDigital Asset Management /liliWeb Content Management/li/ul pNotice that last point… WCM is considered a piece of ECM and thus this is where you’ll hear about WCM from the product team./p p» a href="http:/ [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 11th '10 |
SharePoint 2010 Training, with Beta Pricing on both US coasts
Andrew Connell
pI will be teaching our (a href="http://www.criticalpathtraining.com" target="_blank"Critical Path Training/a) SharePoint 2010 Developer class in the Pacific Northwest and New England areas in the next 2 months. This five-day class, ba href="http://www.criticalpathtraining.com/Courses/Pages/DevelopingSolutionsWithSharePoint2010.aspx"SPT2010 – Developing Solutions with SharePoint 2010/a/b, covers every angle for developers who are looking to learn the complete SharePoint 2010 offering. bThe cla [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 9th '10 |
Cleaning up your SubText database
Andrew Connell
pfont face="Courier New"I use the open source project SubText to power my blog and have been for years. For me, it works great. However there’s one little dirty secret about it: it logs every single inbound URL request for trackbacks amp; pingbacks… just like most blog software does. All of this gets logged to two tables: subtext_Referrals amp; subtext_URLs. After a while, these guys can fill up to be quite big… specifically the URLs table./font/p pUnfortunately there’s a TON of crap and [read].
Posted: Mon, Feb 8th '10 |
Stupid API Rant: the SalesForce Web Service API
Andrew Connell
pSometimes throughout the course of your work you find something that just makes you wonder what the heck the developers were thinking. Recently that was me and working with the SalesForce Web Service API. So far there have been quite a few challenging things in working with this API that were new and strange to me… a big one being when you query for objects, you get an object back that has all the properties available, but if you didn’t explicitly put the field you need in the SELECT statem [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 2nd '10 |
SharePoint Live Virtual Conference & Expo – November 5, 2009
Andrew Connell
Did you miss the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas last week? Shame on you! No worries… there are other ops for getting up to speed on SharePoint 2010! Next Thursday, November 5, 2009 from 11a-5p ET there will be a virtual [online] **FREE** conference: SharePoint Live Virtual Conference & Expo. This show will feature big SharePoint names like Ted Pattison, Scot Hillier, Shane Young, Bob Fox, Wouter van Vugt, Joel Oleson, Mike Watson, Martin Tuip, Mary Leigh Mackie & me! Represent [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 27th '09 |
SharePoint Conference 2009 Interview – one real, one fun :)
Andrew Connell
After my last session on Thursday last week at the SharePoint Conference, I sat down with Sean Bordner for two quick interviews for his user group: TheSUG. One was more serious than the other (as you can see from my inability to keep a straight face). Check ‘em out: The real interview The fun interview Technorati Tags: sharepoint [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 27th '09 |
U2 360 Tour – Las Vegas :: The Best Concert I’ve Ever Seen
Andrew Connell
Last week after the SharePoint Conference 2009 wrapped up in Las Vegas, Meredith flew out for a long weekend. On Friday night we jumped on a party bus that left from the Bellagio and headed to UNLV to see U2’s 360 tour (set list here). It was BY FAR the best concert I’ve ever seen. Thankfully one of my favorite U2 songs was part of the act (the last song before the encore: Where the Streets Have No Name. Black Eyed Peas opened up and did a fantastic job getting the crowed pumped up… a TON [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 27th '09 |
SharePoint Conference 2009 – Wrapup
Andrew Connell
Wow… what a great show last week. It was filled with a TON of fun! We started it off with a great SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night at EyeCandy. Plenty of folks lit up Twitter & the blogs repeating all the great info that was now available now that the NDAs were lifted. I thought you’d see a flurry of a TON of blog posts on Monday morning at 12p ET when the NDAs were lifted, but only a handful came out. I put up four myself, three on how WCM has changed in SharePoint 2010 (part 1, p [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 27th '09 |
SharePint by Day @ SharePoint Conference 2009 Was a Hit!
Andrew Connell
Thanks to everyone who came last night! We easily over powered the bar as many of us had a very hard time moving around. Here are a few pix from the event that I took. If you took pix, make sure you tag them in Flickr with SharePintSPC09. Click for enlarged image Click for enlarged image Click for enlarged image Technorati Tags: sharepoint,spc09,sharepint [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
Critical Path Training, SharePoint 2010 & SharePoint Conference
Andrew Connell
The time is near… Microsoft is ready to lift the covers off SharePoint 2010 to the public in Las Vegas this upcoming week and share all the details with the world! It’s sure to be an exciting week. I can speak first hand that SharePoint 2010 is quite an exciting new version of SharePoint. My blogging has gone down quite a bit over the last year… why? Well…
What I’ve Been Up To…
Since late 2008 I’ve been part of a small team led by Critical Path Training that’s been teaching hundr [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
Part 2 – What’s Improved with SharePoint Server 2010 Web Content Management
Andrew Connell
There are five really big things to me that I’d consider improvements in Web Content Management (WCM) with SharePoint Server 2010. I’ll touch on a few of the things here, but dig deeper in future blog posts.
Content Query Web Part (CQWP) – I’ve called this the silver bullet in your revolver as someone who’s building WCM sites. This guy got two huge improvements:
Dynamic filters – The only way to implement dynamic filters in the past was to subclass the CQWP. No more! Now you can [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
Part 1 - Improvements to the Core SharePoint Platform & How the Benefit SharePoint 2010 Web Content Management
Andrew Connell
I’ve waiting to write this post for a long time. Actually… I’m going to break it up into three parts… in this first part I want to take a moment and talk about what is important to take note of the things that changed around and under WCM that directly impact it in a positive way:
Cleaner Markup – a common gripe about the verbose table-based design. In Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (MSF), what we used to know as Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 (just rebranded) did quite a bit [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
Part 3 – What’s New with SharePoint Server 2010 Web Content Management
Andrew Connell
Now for the part most are probably waiting for… what’s new with SharePoint Server 2010 Web Content Management! I’ll touch on just a few things in this post… obviously you can leverage a ton of the new stuff in SharePoint that’s available across the board such as Silverlight, leveraging the ribbon, and so much more.
Content Organizer
This tool has two purposes. First, there are those of you who have large page libraries with hundreds or thousands of pages in a single library. The conten [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
The New Service Application Architecture in SharePoint Server 2010
Andrew Connell
One of the most interesting and powerful new things in SharePoint 2010 is the shift away from shared service providers (SSP’s) and the move to service applications. This area is of great interest to me as I see this as having huge potential for SharePoint to have it’s own internal cloud!
Later this week, Thursday, October 22 @ 12p specifically, I’m presenting a session at the SharePoint Conference on creating custom service applications (session SPC406). This is a HUGE topic… definitely [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 19th '09 |
It’s time to break my personal NDA & out myself
Andrew Connell
Next Monday in Las Vegas Microsoft lifts all the NDA’s on SharePoint 2010 at the SharePoint Conference… good times and watch your RSS readers as I’m sure folks have queued up quite a few posts. So I figure now is a good time to break my silence… No people… not an NDA with Microsoft! A few years back I had a semi-Vegas moment that I’d like to thank the 150 or so folks have been kind enough not to let get out in the public domain. A few months back I fessed up on the SharePoint Pod Sho [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 16th '09 |
I’ll be presenting at the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas
Andrew Connell
In just under two weeks time the center of the SharePoint Universe will be at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas for the SharePoint Conference 2009. I absolutely love Las Vegas… can’t wait for some blackjack! For this show I’ve got two breakout sessions and one big post-conference workshop with Ted Pattison. The post-conference workshop has been sold out for quite some time so if you’re interested in going, your either out of luck or should check Stubhub! Session Title: Upgrading your website to [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 6th '09 |
Allowing a host machine to talk to guest VM’s in Hyper-V (and vice versa)
Andrew Connell
Those of us who use Hyper-V for development know of the challenge we face when we try to copy files or talk to the guest virtual machine or have the guest VM access the host machine. It’s frustrating because it was so easy to do in VirtualPC or VMWare Workstation as we had the easy copy files to and from the desktop just like we can do with Remote Desktop. There is a way around this though… it’s a simple networking trick. Now, I’m a bit of a networking-idiot and had to get Todd Baginski [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 30th '09 |
Avoiding those “Are you sure you want to navigate away from this page” in IE8 when editing SharePoint Publishing sites
Andrew Connell
Just stumbled across this via Randy Drisgill’s blog. It’s nagged me forever, but never had a clue what was going on. People get this when they are editing their Content Editor Web Parts… not that they are good or anything. Basically IE8 acts a bit different when calling certain JavaScript methods. The quick and dirty fix is to uncheck the Enable native XMLHTTP support option in IE’s advanced options. Great find! Read the following post for all the details on the issue and a fix. » IE8 [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 16th '09 |
Critical Path Training to give away $15,000+ of free SharePoint 2010 training and Amazon Kindles at the SharePoint Conference!
Andrew Connell
Last week in our monthly newsletter, Critical Path Training had some exciting news! We’ll be at the SharePoint Conference in full force the week of October 19th. Many of our instructors are presenting breakout sessions and presenting the two post-conference workshops on SharePoint 2010 administration (by Shane Young & Todd Klindt) & development (Ted Pattison & myself). In addition, we’ve got some killer giveaways! Not only will we be giving away multiple Amazon Kindle 2’s throu [read].
Posted: Tue, Sep 15th '09 |
Windows Deployment Services benefits even small shops/individuals
Andrew Connell
Ever installed an OS? I’m sure the readers of my blog have before… if not, then high mom, dad and Meredith (my wife). :) It’s a joy right? What about those of us that install OS’s more frequently than others for instance like creating new virtual machines? Always fun getting the install media or mounting ISO’s right? If you’re running Windows 2008 in your network, then you have a very slick zero-cost option available to you: Windows Deployment Services (WDS). WDS basically provides t [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 10th '09 |
Fixing a lovely (and maddening) time sync issue for a virtualized home office
Andrew Connell
For the last year+ I’ve been dealing with a maddening issue. All the machines in my house were always off by 3-8 minutes from the atomic clock. Not that big of a deal for most folks… but when you’ve got Windows Media Centers with the wrong time, you always have your recordings start a few minutes late. The way I’ve got my house setup is that I have a virtualization rig (Win2k8 with Hyper-V) that hosts my two domain controllers (all machines at home are on the same domain except a little [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 10th '09 |
NFL Season is *FINALLY* Back Upon Us!!!
Andrew Connell
Life is good… the NFL finally kicks up again tonight! Absolutely loving it… got two fantasy football leagues kicking this year, one we did the draft in just 60 minutes last night online! Very nice :) Go Jags! (I just don’t expect much from them this year)… least I still have my Florida Gators!!!! [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 10th '09 |
Patters & Practices - Developing SharePoint Applications
Andrew Connell
Microsoft’s Patterns & Practices group released the latest update which is basically the final version of the current iteration. There’s a ton of content there on helping people create LOB applications in and on SharePoint such as code samples, documentation and videos. Check it out!: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203468.aspx I was one of the contributors on the advisory board who helped in creating this fine resource… along with many others. Technorati Tags: sharepoint [read].
Posted: Tue, Sep 8th '09 |
Jacksonville Code Camp Recap
Andrew Connell
This past Saturday, August 29th, 2009, Jacksonville (my hometown & where I reside) held it’s annual Code Camp: www.jaxcodecamp.com. I presented one SharePoint session and covered for someone else who had a family emergency that turned into a fun “anything goes” Q/A session (well… not anything… it wasn’t a truth or dare type session). What really took me back was how professional the JAX Code Camp was this year. With over 700 registrations and 400+ in attendance at varying points [read].
Posted: Mon, Aug 31st '09 |
Indy SharePoint User Group (SPIN) Recap
Andrew Connell
Last week I presented at the Indy SharePoint User Group on the topic of High Performance SharePoint solutions. I had a great time as it was my first time in Indy (Indiana for that matter) meeting everyone and talking about all sorts of stuff. After a bit of a snafu, we ended up at the Indy Cigar Bar for a SharePint event. For those who are interested, you can check the speaking page on my blog to get a copy of the session. Technorati Tags: sharepoint,spin,performance [read].
Posted: Mon, Aug 31st '09 |
I’ll be presenting at the Indy SharePoint User Group next week… and SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night afterwards!
Andrew Connell
Next week I’ll be visiting Indianapolis for the first time and presenting at their SharePoint user group (SPIN) next Wednesday, August 26th 2009. Here’s what I’ll be presenting: High Performance Features and Solutions on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Performance should be one of the top areas of focus on everyone's mind when embarking on a Internet facing Microsoft Office Server 2007 site. In this session we'll look at the built-in caching capabilities in the SharePoint platf [read].
Posted: Wed, Aug 19th '09 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** MSDN: Real World Branding with SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published to MSDN. The article, Real World Branding with SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites, walks designers through the process of creating a custom brand in SharePoint Publishing sites as well as helping developers take the design and implementing it as a custom brand using Features and Solutions. Here's a summary on what the article is all about: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 publishing sites make use of the Office SharePoint Server Pub [read].
Posted: Tue, Aug 4th '09 |
*** NOW AVAILABLE *** Chapter 4 from our Real World SharePoint 2007 book for free on TechNet
Andrew Connell
Hey... it’s only been hour for a few years, right? What great timing! :P This is my chapter on creating Publishing sites in a structured and repeatable way. I wish I hadn’t used the term “smart” because it implies the other way is stupid… » Wrox Press: Real World SharePoint 2007 - Chapter 4: Developing Publishing Sites the smart and structured way Technorati Tags: sharepoint,moss,publishing site,wcm [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 30th '09 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night – SharePoint Conference 2009 Edition
Andrew Connell
Going to the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas the week of October 19-22, 2009? No? Well, are you a SharePoint person that’s going to be in the greater LA area? We’ll be doing another SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night in Los Angeles at the regular conference time: the Sunday evening before the show starts: Sunday, October 18, 2009 from 7p – whenever. After you register, come join other SharePoint professionals for a good drink and banter at the EyeCandy sound and lounge bar, righ [read].
Posted: Tue, Jul 28th '09 |
A nice upgrade to my virtualization rig – look ma… no fans!
Andrew Connell
In June of 2007 I built a custom rig with three things in mind: Super powerful and not requiring an upgrade for a few years Primarily a virtualization rig (hosting HyperV images) Stealthy quiet As a SharePoint developer, I live in virtual machines. After a nice quarter of revenue and at my wits end of dealing with external USB drives, I finally gave in and said “screw it, you get a healthy budget… go build a rock solid virtualization rig.” Because I worked in a home office primarily, and [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 23rd '09 |
Restoring Production MOSS 2007 Publishing Sites Into Development
Andrew Connell
When creating new content-centric Web sites using something like ASP.NET, developers usually follow a set lifecycle. I've been involved in my share of content-centric sites using tools like Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management. The process is pretty easy getting a site off the ground: We first create a basic site with the core templates, just enough to enter some dummy content in. We need this for things like content rollups and the l [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 23rd '09 |
Hiding Empty Content Areas in SharePoint 2007 [WCM] Publishing Sites
Andrew Connell
Ever had the desire to hide or not render anything on a part of the page when one of your content fields is empty? If not, you will… seems I get this question all the time… it even goes so far back as the Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 days! I had that need when building out the Critical Path Training site. Our course agenda pages need to have room for lots of modules as each class is very different. Each module contains three elements as shown in Figure 1: a required title, an opt [read].
Posted: Sat, Jul 18th '09 |
Hiding Empty Content Areas in SharePoint 2007 [WCM] Publishing Sites
Andrew Connell
Ever had the desire to hide or not render anything on a part of the page when one of your content fields is empty? If not, you will… seems I get this question all the time… it even goes so far back as the Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 days! I had that need when building out the Critical Path Training site. Our course agenda pages need to have room for lots of modules as each class is very different. Each module contains three elements as shown in Figure 1: a required title, an opt [read].
Posted: Fri, Jul 17th '09 |
Looking for a sneak peek into SharePoint 2010? Check out these free videos!
Andrew Connell
Microsoft just published three brief videos offering a sneak peek to what you’ll see in SharePoint 2010. The videos, an intro one, one for IT Pro’s and one for developers, is the first news Microsoft is sharing on the new version. Want more info? You got to hit the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Vegas in October! All three videos are available from the SharePoint blog: » SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek Videos Looking for some cool insights into the Office 2010 clients? Check out the following lin [read].
Posted: Mon, Jul 13th '09 |
What is SharePint - by SharePointReviews.com
Andrew Connell
I expect many are aware of SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night, but I’m equally sure many others are not. For those who aren’t familiar with it, I recently talked with SharePointReviews.com who wanted to do a little history & write up. So if you aren’t familiar with it, check out the article! » SharePint - A Happy Hour For SharePoint Pros Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepint [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 9th '09 |
I’ll be presenting at the SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas, NV (October 19-22, 2009)
Andrew Connell
Looking for details on SharePoint 2010? The Microsoft’s SharePoint Conference 2009 in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay October 19-22, 209 is THE place to be! I’ll be there in attendance, having a booth for my company Critical Path Training and also presenting! For now they haven’t announced the session lineup so I’m not sure about breakout sessions, but I am doing a post-conference all-day workshop with Ted Pattison. Space is very limited, so make sure you register today! This session is a dee [read].
Posted: Fri, Jul 3rd '09 |
I’ll be presenting at the Jacksonville Code Camp in Jacksonville, FL (August 29th, 2009)
Andrew Connell
I mentioned there was an open call for speakers the other day… looks like my session was picked! Hope to see you there! High Performance Solutions on SharePoint Server 2007 Performance should be one of the top areas of focus on everyone's mind when embarking on a Internet facing SharePoint Server 2007 site. In this session we'll look at the built-in caching capabilities. Topics include object model techniques, how to properly manage memory in order to avoid the dreaded OutOfMemory exception, [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 2nd '09 |
I’ll be presenting at the Microsoft Project Conference 2009 in Phoenix, AZ (9/14-17/2009)
Andrew Connell
What’s a SharePoint person doing at the Microsoft Project Conference 2009? As you may know, the two products, Office Project Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 have plenty of integration points and overlap between the two. Now, developers heading to the Project Conference 2009 in sunny Phoenix, Arizona September 14-17, 2009 can not get a SharePoint development primer as I’m presenting the only SharePoint development session there: Introduction to SharePoint for Developers Project [read].
Posted: Wed, Jul 1st '09 |
Introducing the Content Monster Web Part by Todd Baginski & Andrew Connell
Andrew Connell
At TechEd 2009 in LA a few weeks back, Todd Baginski and I co-presented a session OFC405 – Extending the Content Query Web Part to Aggregate Data Across Site Collections and External Sources where we introduced a solution that addresses a common challenge in today’s SharePoint sites: aggregating content ACROSS site collections. It took some time, but we finally got the code cleaned up and posted for you to download and kick the tires too. Now some will see this as a replacement to the Conten [read].
Posted: Tue, Jun 30th '09 |
5th Annual Jacksonville Code Camp – Saturday, August 29th (open call for speakers)
Andrew Connell
The 5th annual Jacksonville Code Camp is coming up… just under two months away! This year’s event will be held at University of North Florida and like all others, is free to all who want to register! Make sure you register early… it’s sure to “sell out” with an average attendance of 300+ in previous years. I’m helping them arrange a SharePoint track of sessions if we get enough speakers. Interested? Submit a session or two at the official site: » www.JaxCodeCamp.com Technorati Tag [read].
Posted: Mon, Jun 29th '09 |
PSA: My social networking / contact method TOS
Andrew Connell
Man that blog title sounds so darn official! A public service announcement (PSA) for my terms of service (TOS)? That’s not how I mean it to sound, but it will at least catch someone’s eye. The purpose of this post is to have something to point folks back to in the future and hope some people take note of it going forward. Like many other people, I’m on Twitter (@andrewconnell), Facebook and LinkedIn. Each of those services have ways to send private messages to other users… and for the mo [read].
Posted: Thu, Jun 25th '09 |
SharePint @ the SDN Event this week in Houten, NL
Andrew Connell
Going/attending the SDN Event in Houton, NL this week? Waldek let me know that there will be a SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night on Friday, June 26, 2009 @ 6p- whenever. Join other SharePoint professionals for a good drink at the Hotel Houten (Hoofdveste 25, 3992 DH Houten)! Oh… drinks are free until 8p! You can also start following SharePint events on Twitter at @sharepint as well as our new group on FaceBook! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,sharepint,sdn [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 24th '09 |
Sample MOSS 2007 WCM site now available – Adventure Works Travel
Andrew Connell
Recently you’ve seen a few people use a sample MOSS 2007 WCM site that Microsoft had a partner develop them. The site, Adventure Works Travel, is one that I’ve used in demos at TechEd EMEA in November 2008, the SharePoint Best Practice conference in London in April 2009 and TechEd US in May 2009 in addition to a few MSDN articles I’ve published (like this one). Finally you can download it too! The sample, used for the SharePoint On the Web training series, is now available on CodePlex! [read].
Posted: Tue, Jun 23rd '09 |
I’ll be presenting at SharePoint Connections Fall 2009 in Las Vegas
Andrew Connell
I missed it last year, but looking forward to it this year! The annual SharePoint Connections Fall 2009 show will be in Las Vegas at Mandalay Bay November 9-12, 2009. I love Vegas… I’ll be at the SharePoint Conference a few weeks prior (same city & venue), but you just can’t ever get enough Vegas… right? Maybe going there twice in a matter of a few weeks makes up for almost 2yrs away from the city? Hmmm… I can’t do that again! Come on… it *is* where I started this cool event we [read].
Posted: Fri, Jun 19th '09 |
And now for a brief update…
Andrew Connell
I usually don’t like blog posts that say “oh, I’ve been quiet lately… you’ll see more posts coming soon” because most of the time, those posts are a crock of bull as the authors never pickup the pace… but I feel like I need to drop a little message after a few inquiries and being so light on the posts the last few months… specifically since March. This might be a bit more therapeutic for myself, so please, indulge me for a moment (or mark this post as read in your RSS reader and [read].
Posted: Fri, Jun 19th '09 |
TechEd North America 2009 – Session recaps and follow-ups
Andrew Connell
I’ve been a bit delayed in getting these out… apologies for that. The week following TechEd we packed up and moved houses. That, coupled with having a 8mo pregnant wife and some last minute getting some baby prep out of the way kept as well as a few deliverables for clients delayed me in getting this update out. I’ve updated my speaking page with links and code downloads for two of my sessions at TechEd (OFC303 and OFC401). The other session OFC405 was the one that Todd Baginski and I pres [read].
Posted: Tue, Jun 2nd '09 |
TechEd North America 2009 Wrap Up
Andrew Connell
Almost home and have a bit of time on a layover to post a little recap from the week. All in all, this was a huge week for me. On Sunday my [business] partner :) and I launched a new company, Critical Path Training which is the result of evolving the SharePoint education company Ted Pattison Group into something bigger and better. Within 1.5 hours of launching the company, we were at SharePint where many folks had already heard the news! Gotta love email / web / Twitter / Facebook! The week was [read].
Posted: Sat, May 16th '09 |
***Announcing*** Critical Path Training
Andrew Connell
It is with great excitement that I announce Critical Path Training (www.CriticalPathTraining.com), a new company and joint venture between myself and Ted Pattison. You may already be familiar with the industry leading SharePoint training company I have been affiliated and have been promoting for the last few years, the Ted Pattison Group. Well, Ted & I decided we wanted to formally join forces and create *the* industry leading SharePoint education company! What happened to the Ted Pattison G [read].
Posted: Sun, May 10th '09 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night – TechEd North America 2009 Edition
Andrew Connell
Going to the TechEd North America 2009 conference in Los Angeles, CA the week of May 10-15, 2009? No? Well, are you a SharePoint person that’s going to be in the greater LA area? We’ll be doing another SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night in Los Angeles at the regular conference time: the Sunday evening before the show starts: Sunday, May 10, 2009 from 7p – whenever. Come join other SharePoint professionals for a good drink and banter at Ciudad (445 S. Figueroa Street / Los Angeles, CA 90 [read].
Posted: Tue, Apr 28th '09 |
SharePoint (WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2007) SDK Updated April 2009 (v1.5)
Andrew Connell
Microsoft has released the April 2009 refresh (v1.5) of the downloadable version (CHM files) of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 & Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDKs. WSS 3.0 SDK (online) WSS 3.0 SDK (downloadable CHM v1.5) Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK (online) Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK (downloadable CHM v1.5) Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,sdk [read].
Posted: Sun, Apr 26th '09 |
Made the switch back… no longer a Mac guy, now a Lenovo guy
Andrew Connell
Back in late 2007 I went way outside my comfort zone and bought an Apple MacBook Pro. I loved that machine… fantastic form factor, great screen, fast… you name it… it was a great laptop. I did have some issues with it unfortunately, like this nasty issue where the keyboard & trackpad would die, but thanks to some great support (and three tries), they replaced it with a brand new machine. However recently I’ve been hitting my head against two hard barriers that I just couldn’t get o [read].
Posted: Mon, Apr 20th '09 |
Do you use music to zone out and be productive?
Andrew Connell
For years I’ve always used music to get myself into the zone and be as productive as possible. It only works when I’m doing solitary stuff like development, writing a paper/article/book, or just knocking tasks out. At first I had to use headphones to not disturb others (our whole production room was silent with everyone blasting their headphones) then when I started working from home I was able to use my home office speakers. For me, it’s night and day on how much more productive I am with [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 17th '09 |
Recapping the UK SharePoint Best Practices Conference in London last week
Andrew Connell
Time for a quick little recap to my trip last week to London for the UK SharePoint Best Practices Conference. It was my first trip to London and I had a blast. It started out well too. I was booked in coach but had an exit row seat all the way through because business class was just too pricy. But when I arrived at the airport there was the always fun equipment change and I was moved to the middle seat 3 twos from the back. After talking to the ticketing agent, doing some quick math on how much [read].
Posted: Wed, Apr 15th '09 |
New SharePoint User Group in Orlando, FL – First meeting April 14, 2009
Andrew Connell
Orlando has a new SharePoint User Group (O-SPUG?). Check out next Tuesday night, April 14th at 6:30p by John Ross: 10 things everyone should know before getting started with SharePoint - A compilation of 10 common "gotchas" that you can run into when first working with SharePoint. Some of the topics that will be covered include server administration, governance, branding, and development. » http://www.orlandosharepoint.com [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 10th '09 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** MSDN: Configuring and Deploying Anonymous Publishing Sites for SharePoint Server 2007
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published on MSDN. The article, Configuring and Deploying Anonymous Publishing Sites for SharePoint Server 2007, covers things you should consider both in the early and late stages of a Publishing site project. Here’s the article summary on MSDN: Explore and learn how to address security and performance issues of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 publishing sites before launching them as Internet-facing publishing sites. » Configuring and Deploy [read].
Posted: Thu, Apr 9th '09 |
Looking to get into Silverlight and doing SharePoint work? Get this FANTASTIC book!
Andrew Connell
I know many folks who are SharePoint developers who are still getting into Silverlight development. I fall into that camp. There’s plenty of information out there on how to do SharePoint development and how to build Silverlight controls. A smart cookie and figure out how to do data binding and pulling data from the SharePoint Web Services. A few weeks ago I saw that my pal Steve Fox & Paul Stubbs released a book on the exact subject: Pro Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Development Using Microsof [read].
Posted: Wed, Apr 1st '09 |
MVP Renewed for Office SharePoint Server – 5th year!
Andrew Connell
Gotta love April 1st… that’s my anniversary date for my MVP award. You never know if you’re going to have your leg pulled or what. :) At any rate, got my email this morning that I got renewed for my 5th year. My first two years were as a MCMS MVP and the last two have been as a Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) MVP. Here we go for another year! [read].
Posted: Wed, Apr 1st '09 |
UK SharePoint Best Practices Conference Next Week: My Sessions and SharePint!
Andrew Connell
Only one week away from the London edition of the SharePoint Best Practices Conference. I’m looking forward to hitting London as it’s my first trip to England! I’ve got three sessions next week: DE203 - Understanding Differences between the Use of Field Controls and Web Parts in Office SharePoint Server Publishing Sites Monday, April 6th @ 2:45p - 4:00p DE208 - Building High Performance Solutions on Microsoft Office Server 2007 Tuesday, April 7th @ 2:45p – 4:00p DE211 - Go Live! Launchi [read].
Posted: Mon, Mar 30th '09 |
Looking for a good MOSS BDC Book? Check out SP 2007 Dev’s Guide to BDC
Andrew Connell
Do you do any work with the Business Data Catalog (BDC) in Office SharePoint Server 2007? If you do and you’re looking for some help, you no longer have to buy a book that has just a single chapter on the topic. Thanks to Nick Swan and Brett Lonsdale you get a complete resource on the topic. These are the guys behind BDC Meta Man. I’ve had the good fortune to get an early look at this resource and can say it’s quite good. So if you’re doing BDC work, this is a great resource for your boo [read].
Posted: Sun, Mar 29th '09 |
Get hip to Mesh… it rocks!
Andrew Connell
I’m surprised how many people aren’t familiar or using Mesh yet. I’ve found Mesh to be one of the coolest and most useful things I’ve started using in a while. For me, Mesh does two things, and does them very well. First, it allows you to create a “shared” folder across multiple machines as well as a Web desktop. For instance, I created a folder called “SharePoint Utilities” where i keep the small apps and PowerShell scripts I use on all my SharePoint tools like SharePoint Manage [read].
Posted: Sat, Mar 28th '09 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** MSDN: Understanding Field Controls and Web Parts in SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published on MSDN. The article, Understanding Field Controls and Web Parts in SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites, documents the differences between using field controls and Web Parts in Office SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites. It contains a lot of explanation on the underpinnings of each technology and implications of picking one over the other. In addition, I spent a good bit of time talking about the Content Editor Web Part. Here’s the art [read].
Posted: Wed, Mar 18th '09 |
Two thumbs up on the Amazon Kindle 2 after two weeks
Andrew Connell
For my birthday two weeks ago, my wonderful wife got me the new Amazon Kindle 2. After two weeks, I absolutely love it… more than I expected. I didn’t load it up with a ton of stuff… so far I’ve only bought a few things: subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal & USA Today, The Da Vinci Code (yes, I am the last one who hadn’t read it), my Pro MOSS 2007 WCM Development book (I just had to!) and copied a few papers over. I find it very easy to use and thought I’d post a few comment [read].
Posted: Sun, Mar 15th '09 |
MOSS 2007 WCM Development Training in Las Vegas – special promotion!
Andrew Connell
A few months ago I blogged about my upcoming class, WCM401 Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 2007 WCM class offered through the Ted Pattison Group the week of April 20-24, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. Not only did we add an extra day to the class and a new module on search, but we’ve also introduced a special promotion for this class in our newsletter this week. For those who register for the class, we’ll give you a $200 AMEX Gift Card on the first day of class. Oh, and for those [read].
Posted: Fri, Mar 6th '09 |
Chance of a lifetime – playing golf at Augusta National
Andrew Connell
I just wrapped up a little more than a 24hr visit to Augusta National, home of the Masters championship. Just walking the grounds was one heck of a treat. We arrived on Friday around 11a and headed straight to the practice tee for a quick warm-up and then to start the round. We started quick (and skipped lunch) because the weather was threatening the day. Saw Lou Holtz on the hole next to us as we were hitting on #2. Sure enough, the skies opened up and our back nine was waterlogged. But that d [read].
Posted: Sat, Feb 28th '09 |
As mentioned in my interview on the SharePoint PodShow - my PowerShell utility setup script
Andrew Connell
In the last interview I did with the Rob Foster on the SharePoint PodShow (#17), I mentioned a PowerShell script I use to prep my PowerShell command environment with stuff I need. Got a few hits on Twitter requesting this so here ya go.
Namely, it loads common SharePoint assemblies and sets an alias to STSADM. I got the idea from an old post on Karine Bosch’s blog (note, she has a new blog here).
Copy the contents of this file into a new text file and save it to a common place on your machine. [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 26th '09 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night – UK Best Practices Edition
Andrew Connell
Going to the UK SharePoint Best Practices Conference in London, UK April 6-8, 2009? No? Well, are you a SharePoint person going to be in the greater London area? We’ll be doing another SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night in London on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 @ 7p-ish. Come join other SharePoint professionals for a good drink at The Old Star (66, Broadway, Westminster, London, SW1H 0DB).
You can also start following SharePint events on Twitter at @sharepint as well as our new group on FaceBoo [read].
Posted: Wed, Feb 25th '09 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** MSDN: Approaches to Creating Master Pages and Page Layouts in SharePoint Server 2007
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published to MSDN. The article, Approaches to Creating Master Pages and Page Layouts in SharePoint Server 2007, demonstrates the two different options available to developers when creating custom master pages and page layouts within a MOSS 2007 Publishing site. Here’s a summary on what the article is all about: Every Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 publishing site—also known as a Web content management (WCM) site—consists of one of more mas [read].
Posted: Wed, Feb 25th '09 |
My second interview on the SharePoint Pod Show – this time with colleague Ted Pattison
Andrew Connell
Last week while we were both in Nashville, TN working on different projects, Ted Pattison and I sat down with Rob Foster for an interview for the popular SharePoint Pod Show… episode #17! In this interview Rob talked to us about different development techniques and tools… and just some random banter. As you can see from the photo, it was a very intense interview… and it was just the start of a fun evening. » SharePoint Pod Show #17: What is SharePoint Development, STSDev, SPDisposeCheck, [read].
Posted: Mon, Feb 23rd '09 |
Sneak Peaks into SharePoint Developer Tools in Visual Studio 2010
Andrew Connell
Check out Soma’s post first, then check out Reza on Channel9 talking about the new SharePoint developer tools that we’ll get in Visual Studio 2010. Your first sneak peak at the developer tools that are finally coming in Visual Studio! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,visual studio [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 19th '09 |
I’ll be at TechEd North America 2009 – Will you?
Andrew Connell
Got word this week that I have three sessions that are confirmed that I’ll present at TechEd North America 2009 this year in Los Angeles, CA the week of May 11-15, 2009. I’ll be co-presenting two of my sessions with some great folks. In addition, TechEd will be a great week… with lots of great news to share! Todd Baginski (MVP) and I have an advanced session where we’ll show you how to take the Content Query Web Part and extend it to aggregate content not only across the existing site co [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 19th '09 |
Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) – Very slick, but is it just me?
Andrew Connell
The Managed Extensibility Framework, aka MEF, is this new library Microsoft has been working on that is used in many places to provide a common plugin like capability. As they say on the CodePlex site: The Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) is a new library in .NET that enables greater reuse of applications and components. Using MEF, .NET applications can make the shift from being statically compiled to dynamically composed. If you are building extensible applications, extensible frameworks [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 17th '09 |
OK, so I do like Twitter… (I guess this is a mea culpa post)
Andrew Connell
So a while ago I poked my head into the twitterverse and decided it just wasn’t for me… but after hearing so much about it… I decided to give it another fair shake about 4 months ago. I can say that now I’m actually enjoying this. Don’t get me wrong… it’s still a lot a noise. Twitter is very much like walking into a bar at happy hour and hearing EVERYONE’s conversation at once. It’s definitely a time waster utility… yet fun, but it can also be a useful business tool. For ins [read].
Posted: Mon, Feb 16th '09 |
Getting even better IntelliSense for CAML when doing SharePoint projects – thanks John!
Andrew Connell
A while back I showed you (as have so many other developers in the blogosphere) how to add IntelliSense to SharePoint when you are editing CAML for use in SharePoint projects. Unfortunately there are a handful of places where the WSS.XSD is not fully complete… but more importantly, it doesn’t provide a lot of context. CAML aficionado & good friend John Holliday has recently offered up a more complete, with context documentation, better schema files to give us even more robust IntelliSen [read].
Posted: Sun, Feb 15th '09 |
Free MOSS 2007 WCM Learning Resources
Andrew Connell
Microsoft post a few free learning resources for those of you wanting to pickup MOSS 2007 WCM sites. This goes well with the MSDN webcast series they posted a while back, but it only goes so far. Good for self-paced stuff… don’t forget you’ve also got my book on the subject for self paced stuff. Of course this short class only goes so far. If you’re looking for a good classroom experience with some cutting edge content, check out my class I teach on the subject through the Ted Pattison G [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 12th '09 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: February 2009 Meeting: Dazzling SharePoint with Silverlight
Andrew Connell
Our *last* scheduled monthly meeting for a while is on Thursday, September 18, 2008. Here's the session title & abstract to help you get a better idea of what we'll be discussing: Dazzling SharePoint with Silverlight Silverlight and SharePoint are two up and coming technologies in the development world. SharePoint developers can create robust applications with a variety of tools, such as web parts, user controls, and workflows. Silverlight Developers can create aesthetically pleasing interf [read].
Posted: Mon, Feb 9th '09 |
A Quicker Way to Create Custom SharePoint List Templates
Andrew Connell
Ever tried to create a custom list template for a SharePoint 3.0-based site? Something you thought was likely to be not such a big task quickly turned in to a nightmare of XML and GUIDs, right? Creating custom list templates is not a trivial task... nor is it a terribly good story. It's pretty darn complicated and can be quite an undertaking. In fact, last year when Rob Bogue, Paul Andrew and I were coming up with the content ideas and reviewing the labs/webcasts for the Introduction to SharePoi [read].
Posted: Sun, Feb 8th '09 |
MSDN Roadshow – Tiki Hut Tour coming to JAX! jQuery, Azure, Data Services… some good dev lovin!
Andrew Connell
The MSDN Roadshow is coming to JAX… this time it’s called the Tiki Hut. Microsoft evangelists Joe Healy and Jeff Barnes will be presenting. It’s a great way to get some great content on some cutting edge stuff like using jQuery in ASP.NET, working with Azure and Data Services (on & off premise). The Tiki Hut Tour is hitting a handful of cities around Florida over the months of February & March… Jacksonville’s date is Thursday, February 19, 2009. Unfortunately that’s the same [read].
Posted: Thu, Feb 5th '09 |
Making external repositories work like document libraries in SharePoint Server 2007 (and a cool example using the CMIS spec)
Andrew Connell
Fellow Ted Pattison Group instructor & SharePoint MVP Scot Hillier just had an article posted on MSDN. It’s the first sample I’ve seen that leverages the CMIS specification announced by Ryan on the SharePoint Team Blog a few months back which essentially is an ECM interop spec so various apps can talk to each other more easily. His paper shows how to implement a document library in SharePoint but using a external repository that conforms to the CMIS spec. This isn’t some thrown togethe [read].
Posted: Wed, Feb 4th '09 |
SharePoint Conference 2009 – VEGAS BABY! (October 19-22, 2009)
Andrew Connell
The site is up for the next SharePoint Conference… this year it’s in Las Vegas (mmmmm). As they say on the website:
There’s an exciting mix in the plans for this year. This year’s conference will be looking towards the future with a broad array of deep content centered on the next version of SharePoint, codenamed SharePoint “14” and at the same time be firmly planted in the present, sharing real world experience and guidance to help you maximize your investment in SharePoint Server [read].
Posted: Tue, Feb 3rd '09 |
Blocking the use of the Content Editor Web Part in SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Sites
Andrew Connell
In the past I've written a lot about the differences between using field controls and Web Parts in SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing sites. For more info, you can read this blog post on the ECM team blog (cross posted here) or my article on MSDN about Prescriptive Guidance for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites. I won't rehash the reasons why you should not use Web Parts for content here... go read those posts for more details... However, I want to call out one Web Part in parti [read].
Posted: Sun, Feb 1st '09 |
European Best Practices SharePoint Conference - Agenda Set and SharePint Information
Andrew Connell
Looks like the agenda is now set in stone for the European Best Practices SharePoint Conference in London the week of April 6th, 2009. I have three sessions I'm doing, including a few panel discussions. I've updated my speaking page on my blog with my session numbers and times... but here they are for those who are interested:
DE203 - Understanding Differences between the Use of Field Controls and Web Parts in Office SharePoint Server Publishing Sites
Monday, April 6th, 2009 : 2:45p - 4:00p [read].
Posted: Sat, Jan 31st '09 |
SPDisposeCheck - This should be in EVERY SharePoint developer's toolbox
Andrew Connell
[via Paul Andrew] Today Microsoft released a tool on MSDN Code Gallery called SPDisposeCheck. It will look at your code in a SharePoint to make sure you are properly disposing objects to ensure you aren't consuming more memory than you need to be. This tool is incredibly helpful as this one one issue that many customers run into unknowingly. IMHO, all your projects should be run though SPDisposeCheck before deployment. Microsoft is also updating the dispose best practices article in the SDK that [read].
Posted: Thu, Jan 29th '09 |
Come learn MOSS 2007 Web Content Management... in VEGAS BABY (and a new module)!
Andrew Connell
I'll be teaching my WCM401 Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 20007 WCM developer class offered through the Ted Pattison Group the week of April 20-24, 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. Yup... you heard it right... this is the first time we're taking my class to Vegas. I *love* Vegas and usually come home with more cash than I left with (check out the last paragraph in this post). I'm sure there will be a few evenings I hit the strip for some blackjack action and maybe even see a Cirque sho [read].
Posted: Fri, Jan 16th '09 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: Next Meeting and 2009 Plans
Andrew Connell
Wanted to pass a little note about the Jacksonville Office Geeks group along the lines of our next meeting as well as plans for the rest of 2009 (and possibly further into the future). First, we're lucky to have the big time SharePoint blogger & twitter personality, the MossLover, or Becky Isserman, coming in from Kansas City to present for our February Meeting (no meeting in January). The meeting is on February 19th, 2009 from 6p-8p... you can RSVP and get more info here: https://www.clickt [read].
Posted: Sun, Jan 11th '09 |
Florida Gators - National Champions AGAIN!!!!
Andrew Connell
Just like two years ago, after winning the National Championship over the OU Sooners, it's time for another Alma Mater from this Florida alum... Florida, our Alma Mater, thy glorious name we praise All thy loyal sons and daughters, a joyous song shall raise. Where palm and pine are blowing, where southern seas as flowing, Shine fourth thy noble gothic walls, they noble vine clad halls! 'Neath the orange and blue victorious, our love shall never fail, There's no other land so glorious, all hail, [read].
Posted: Fri, Jan 9th '09 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night - Best Practices San Diego
Andrew Connell
I won't be there, but Andrew Woodward stepped up to the plate and arranged a SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night at the San Diego Best Practices conference coming up in February. It's at the La Jolla Brew House on February 3rd at 7p until whenever. [read].
Posted: Tue, Jan 6th '09 |
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Andrew Connell
Here's wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays... stop reading blogs and go spend time with family! ... but come back in a few days please. :) [read].
Posted: Wed, Dec 24th '08 |
Working around the CEWP's absolute links...
Andrew Connell
[via Stefan Gossner & Maxime Bombardier] The Content Editor Web Part, as many people have realized who've tried to use it in Publishing sites and then extend multiple Web apps or leverage content deployment, stores links as absolute references rather than relative ones. For instance, if you have a link to http://staging.adventureworkstravel.com/pages/contactus.aspx in a CEWP on a page and then do content deployment to http://www.adventureworkstravel.com, the link will be pointing back to the [read].
Posted: Wed, Dec 24th '08 |
Creating a Custom and Quiet Virtualization Rig with Microsoft's Hyper-V
Andrew Connell
Earlier this year I built a custom server with a few goals in mind: Very powerful & capable of running multiple machines for an extended time Must be quiet Fault tolerant Not requiring a hardware upgrade for a few years The specs for this box have made it something that's turned into a great business expense as I've got so much use out of it. It's a nice strong machine that runs VERY quiet: Dual Quad Core Intel Xeon 2.33Ghz (8 cores total) 32GB RAM FBDIMM DDR2-800 1.5TB 7200 RPM fault tole [read].
Posted: Wed, Dec 24th '08 |
When Best Practices Aren’t Best Practices
Andrew Connell
[via SharePoint Security] I couldn't agree more with Adam's latest post. Too many people get hung up on "best practices" and thing they are the panacea in their SharePoint deployment when they should ALWAYS be taken at face value and used simply as a point of consideration in implementations. Great post Adam... » When Best Practices Aren’t Best Practices Technorati Tags: sharepoint [read].
Posted: Sun, Dec 21st '08 |
SharePoint workflow forms development with ASP.NET 2.0 pages... without the pain!
Andrew Connell
[via Wouter Van Vugt] One of the biggest value add propositions of SharePoint's integration of Windows Workflow Foundation is the introduction of a human element. The biggest piece of this is likely the forms. Developers are given two options: ASP.NET pages (for WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007) or InfoPath forms (as long as you have a MOSS 2007 license). I usually prefer InfoPath forms because you can build and deploy a fully functioning form with zero or no code pretty quick. However, you're limited to ju [read].
Posted: Tue, Dec 16th '08 |
Microsoft releases a WSRP Toolkit for SharePoint
Andrew Connell
Earlier today Microsoft released the Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) toolkit on MSDN Code Gallery as a unsupported sample for SharePoint under the Ms-PL license. As defined by OASIS, WSRP: WSRP defines a set of interfaces and related semantics which standardize interactions with components providing user-facing markup, including the processing of user interactions with that markup. This allows applications to consume such components as providing a portion of the overall user application [read].
Posted: Tue, Dec 16th '08 |
*** NOW AVAILABLE *** Finding Developer Help for SharePoint Products and Technologies
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published on MSDN. The article, Finding Developer Help for SharePoint Products and Technologies, assists people in finding help and different resources when embarking on SharePoint projects. The trick is to know where to look to get good help: .NET SDK, WSS SDK or MOSS SDK. What about peer-to-peer help? Hopefully this article will attempt to nail these things down and point you in the right direction. Here's a summary on what the article is all about: Di [read].
Posted: Sat, Dec 13th '08 |
DevExpress' SharePoint Control Demo Site
Andrew Connell
[via DevExpress] Check out DevExpress' SharePoint ASP.NET demo control site: http://sharepoint.devexpress.com/default.aspx This slick new SharePoint site is being used to host a few of their ASP.NET controls within SharePoint. The demo for their grid control (below) is very slick... you get the full featured capability to drag columns around and to put them in the gutter at the top for grouping: » DevExpress ASP.NET Controls for SharePoint (announcement) Technorati Tags: devexpress,sharepoint [read].
Posted: Sat, Dec 13th '08 |
My Geek's Christmas Present Recommendations
Andrew Connell
So I see I've been tagged by both pals Nick Swan and Spencer Harbar for geek Christmas recommendations. So, these are the geek things I have that I absolutely love. All are for the road warrior, like me, except one that I've extracted the most value out of. APC Universal Battery Pack I love this thing... we've all got devices that are powered via USB from phones to games to bluetooth headsets to MP3 players. This little guy (and I mean little) charges super fast and can then be used as a power [read].
Posted: Tue, Dec 9th '08 |
I'll be at the European Best Practices SharePoint Conference (April 6-8, 2009) in London
Andrew Connell
Subject says it all... I'll be at the European SharePoint Best Practices conference in London, UK April 6-8, 2009. This will be my first trip to London and I'm looking forward to it. Expect some SharePoint WCM related content from yours truly! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wcm,moss,publishing [read].
Posted: Mon, Dec 8th '08 |
Using a Minimal Publishing Site Definition in the field
Andrew Connell
Earlier this year I blogged about how you don't need to create site definitions. The gist of that post was this: Custom site definitions are not very flexible and hard to create/debug. Create lightweight site definitions; in essence copies of Blank Site with a new name & ID, but nothing else. Create Features and staple them to the new site definition you just created. This process allows for effectively changing the site definition down the road via adding/removing stapling Features. I don' [read].
Posted: Sat, Dec 6th '08 |
A slick free drive imaging solution
Andrew Connell
Last week I posted about doing a rebuild of my laptop so that I could run Leopard, Vista x64 and Windows Server 2008 x64 in a triple boot fashion, as well as run Vista virtually in Leopard via VMWare Fusion. I really like doing presentations & demos of SharePoint natively off the bare metal for performance reasons. However the challenge was having a reliable imaging solution. Thankfully I found something with the help of my friend Dan Holme: the Windows Installation Automation Toolkit. The W [read].
Posted: Sat, Dec 6th '08 |
Triple Boot Goodness on MacBook Pro... now running Vista x64 native AND virtual!
Andrew Connell
[via Spencer Harbar] A while back I posted about how I followed Spence's slick triple boot instructions to setup a MacOS Leopard, Vista x64 & Windows Server 2008 install. I love this setup... finally did my first presentations from a native Windows Server 2008 install for my three sessions at TechEd EMEA in Barcelona earlier this month. The performance was second to none... thrilled with what I got. In that process I screwed something up: I installed Windows Server 2008 first and thus, the b [read].
Posted: Fri, Nov 28th '08 |
DevExpress CodeRush Shortscuts and Templates Cheat Sheet
Andrew Connell
[via Mark Miller] Mark posted earlier this week about a new cheat sheet for those getting into CodeRush. I often tell people it's a bit daunting using CodeRush for the first few weeks because it feels like the app gets in your way. Its similar to Photoshop for me... an app that's so powerful and complicated that it just takes time to get used to it... it isn't as easy as simply jumping in and using it right away and being efficient with it. Now you can grab a quick shortcut that should help in t [read].
Posted: Thu, Nov 27th '08 |
Free MSDN Webcasts & HOLs for MOSS 2007 WCM Development
Andrew Connell
Earlier this year I participated in a campaign for ASP.NET 2.0 developers to learn the basics of SharePoint development. This campaign, www.mssharepointdeveloper.com, contained free webcasts, hands-on labs and a preconfigured virtual machine. Building off the success of that campaign, Microsoft is pushing out a new series of webcasts and hands-on labs around the area of building MOSS 2007 WCM Publishing sites. The series, SharePoint Products & Technologies for Internet Site Development, star [read].
Posted: Tue, Nov 25th '08 |
SharePointReviews.com - Independent Consumer Reviews on SharePoint Related Products and Services
Andrew Connell
When buying a car, lots of folks head to Consumer Reports. When I buy electronics, I go straight to CNET and Amazon to read their reviews, but most importantly, to see what customers are saying with respect to the pros and cons. Finally, we have something like this for SharePoint! SharePoint Reviews (http://www.sharepointreviews.com/) does this just. It's got a whole slew of SharePoint offerings provided by the now huge SharePoint ecosystem. Have you used something? Now you can head straight to [read].
Posted: Fri, Nov 21st '08 |
Microsoft Certification Master for SharePoint - My Involvement in Helping Create the Certification Content and Some Thoughts...
Andrew Connell
Microsoft announced at TechEd EMEA 2008 two new certifications for SharePoint professionals. Both are additions to existing certification programs: the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM) and Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) Programs. These build on existing certification programs which you can read about here if you’re unfamiliar with them. Instead of rehashing what the MCM & MCA are (read up on them using the above links), here’s my $.02: The MCM is the top Microsoft technical certif [read].
Posted: Fri, Nov 21st '08 |
REMINDER: November 2008 Meeting: Creating & Debugging Custom Timer Jobs in Windows SharePoint Services
Andrew Connell
The Jacksonville Office Geeks is a user group / special interest group that covers developer topics surrounding the 2007 Microsoft Office System, based in Jacksonville, FL.November 2008 Meeting: Creating & Debugging Custom Timer Jobs in Windows SharePoint Services SharePoint introduced the concept of timer jobs, or scheduled services, that run within the SharePoint platform in WSS v3. These timer jobs are used by SharePoint for numerous things such as cleaning up old sites (aka: dead Web cle [read].
Posted: Wed, Nov 19th '08 |
Part 2 of my interview with the SharePoint Pod Show is up
Andrew Connell
Part 1 was posted back on October 27th... part 2 went up on November 16th. Enjoy! Technorati Tags: sharepoint pod show,sharepoint,wss,moss,wcm [read].
Posted: Wed, Nov 19th '08 |
MSDN Developer Conference - Catch the best of PDC 2008 in Orlando & Atlanta!
Andrew Connell
Miss PDC 2008 but live in the greater Orlando, FL or Atlanta, GA area? MSDN is bringing the best of PDC 2008 to you for just $99. I was blown away attending PDC 2008 and learning so much about the future of .NET and the cloud. Register today for the Orlando or Atlanta area (other cities offered as well): Orlando, FL - December 11, 2008 Atlanta, GA - December 16, 2008 » MSDN Developer Conference - PDC 2008 Recap Technorati Tags: pdc08,pdc,msdn [read].
Posted: Sat, Nov 15th '08 |
TechEd EMEA 2008 Developer - Session Recap
Andrew Connell
First, thanks to everyone who attended my talks this week at TechEd EMEA 2008 Developer in Barcelona, Spain. If you haven't submitted an evaluation, please do so! Not only do you have a chance to win the cool phone, but it helps the conference organizers and me as well. In my sessions I demonstrated a few things that I wanted to share in this post as some folks were trying to quickly take pictures or write done some command line stuff I did. I got a lot of questions about the sample site I show [read].
Posted: Sat, Nov 15th '08 |
Limiting the Page Payload with IIS HTTP Compression
Andrew Connell
This past week I presented a session at TechEd EMEA that covered various things you want to do before launching your anonymous, Internet-facing MOSS 2007 (WCM) Publishing site (session OFC309). One of the topics I addressed was striving for the smallest page payload for requested pages. The page payload is the combined total size of all files required for a page request which includes all HTML markup, images, JavaScript, CSS and other assets on referenced in the markup. The best way to address t [read].
Posted: Sat, Nov 15th '08 |
*** NOW AVAILABLE *** Implementing a Brand in a SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Site
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published on MSDN. The article, Implementing a Brand in a SharePoint Server 2007 Publishing Site, discusses three options for deploying files used in branding a MOSS 2007 Publishing site including the advantages and disadvantages of each. Personally I strongly prefer the last approach, but it's good to see all your options. The paper does NOT talk about how to make your site not look like SharePoint. Here's a summary on what the article is all about: Mic [read].
Posted: Wed, Nov 5th '08 |
New version of App Pool Manager out
Andrew Connell
Last week Spence posted that he updated and released a new version of his awesome Application Pool Manager utility that I've raved about. In this release he completely rewrote it from the ground up, added a ton of feature and also set it up so it would work for both IIS v6 and IIS v7. Check it out! » Application Pool Recycle Utility for SharePoint Developers Technorati Tags: sharepoint,utilities [read].
Posted: Sun, Nov 2nd '08 |
Blast from the past: AC's MCMS Utilities
Andrew Connell
Back in my days as a MCMS developer, I created a few utilities and posted them to GotDotNet. Unfortunately when I left that job to move onto new challenges, I forgot to get the code. Then GotDotNet was retired... and I forgot to snag my utilities. And thus, they were lost. Every few months I get pinged by someone asking for them only to sadly report "sorry, so sorry, but they have been retired in the global binary heap." :( No more! They have been found, thanks to my friend JakeW, and I've poste [read].
Posted: Sat, Nov 1st '08 |
I'll be at TechEd EMEA 2008 Developer
Andrew Connell
With PDC wrapped up, my next trip is to Barcelona, Spain for TechEd EMEA 2008 Developer. I'm heading over a few days early to tool around the city with my wife. I'm really looking forward to this trip as I've never been TechEd EMEA... actually haven't been to Europe since I was a kid (did a family trip to Ireland and on a school trip to Rome). I've got a few sessions @ TechEd EMEA. If you saw my previous blog post or voted on some of my sessions, you'll notice my agenda has changed. Shocker, I' [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 31st '08 |
PDC 2008 - Day 4
Andrew Connell
Ah... here I sit in the food court area where all the power is writing this last recap post, hanging with fellow SharePoint MVPs Spence, Andrew & Ben (only a few of us made it to this show). Kicked off the day with a session on REST & WCF where they announced the WCF REST Starter Kit. Next up I hit a pretty deep session on the Silverlight control model where the presenter was essentially going through the nuts and bolts on building reusable Silverlight controls and what's involved in ski [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 31st '08 |
PDC 2008 - Day 3
Andrew Connell
I kicked off Wednesday (day 3) at PDC with Spence hanging with Fitz & Steve from Nintext. Fitz took the time to show me Nintex Reporting & Nintex Workflow... two very slick products. If you're looking for a reporting solution for your SharePoint farm (specifically getting a pulse on your deployment), you need to check it out. As for workflow... one word: WOW. I'm VERY impressed. If you're looking for a slick workflow solution for users that provides more control and power than SharePoint [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 31st '08 |
Visual Studio 2008 Silverlight Tools - RTW?
Andrew Connell
It looks like the Silverlight development tools for Visual Studio 2008 were refreshed on Monday of this week for the final release (RTW) as the same link for RC1 is gone. At first I was skeptical as it had the exact same file size as the old one, but I uninstalled the old ones and installed the new. The installer definitely had a new step to it, forcing me to shut down IE. At any rate, go get 'em! » Microsoft® Silverlight™ Tools for Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Technorati Tags: silverlight [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 30th '08 |
PDC 2008 - Day 2
Andrew Connell
Day 2 brought two more keynotes and more sessions. The first keynote was awesome where we saw the new Windows 7, Visual Studio 2010 and a bit on Office. First off, Windows 7, was quite impressive. I walked away with the impression they are focused on working hard on the core and addressing some pain points with Vista. One of the coolest things I saw that SharePoint developers will like is native VHD creation & attachment. We can attach virtual disks with VMWare Worksation, but we can't creat [read].
Posted: Wed, Oct 29th '08 |
PDC 2008 - Day 1
Andrew Connell
The first real day @ PDC 2008 kicked off with the Ray Ozzie and friends keynote pimping Microsoft's new offering: Windows Azure. There are plenty of others who've blogged in detail about this so if you're interested in finding out the skinny, go check those posts out (Sam Gentile has a good rollup post). My take is that it is pretty much a game changer. Late in the day I went to a session that showed how to go about creating your first web application hosted in Azure. I was amazed how easy and s [read].
Posted: Wed, Oct 29th '08 |
PDC2008 - Day 0
Andrew Connell
As my first PDC, I figured I'd blog a bit about my experiences. I arrived late Saturday night and headed straight to the hotel to crash. On Sunday AM I got up early to head to the LA conference center & register. Have to say I was quite taken back at how skimpy the attendee bag. Course I'm sure this has something to do with the fact that all attendees are going to get a 160GB USB drive (we don't get to pick it up until Tuesday-Thursday for a limited 2hr window each day). Fine by me... I know [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 28th '08 |
Check out my interview with the SharePoint Pod Show
Andrew Connell
Rob Foster & crew have posted the latest episode of the SharePoint Pod Show. I was recently in Nashville, TN teaching a class and since Rob lives there, we took the time to record a nice long bit for the Pod Show. They just released part 1 of the interview... we talk about all kinds of stuff including one very interesting Vegas phrase. :) » SharePoint development: using SharePoint as an application development platform and SharePoint Web Content Management / Publishing - Episode 9 Technora [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 28th '08 |
SharePint makes the big site!
Andrew Connell
Check it out, tomorrow night's SharePint event made it as a featured event on the PDC 2008 site! http://www.microsoftpdc.com/Registration/ RSVP here everyone: SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night - PDC 2008 Edition Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepint,pdc08 [read].
Posted: Sun, Oct 26th '08 |
PDC 2008 - Here we go!
Andrew Connell
I'm giddy... I feel like I did when I was a kid at the top of my stairs with my brother on Christmas morning waiting for my parents to give the all clear that we could race down to see what Santa left us. Two years ago when I went out on my own, I swore I'd go to PDC, but alas Microsoft cancelled it [for good reason]. Next week's should be incredible... I can't wait! I'll be your classic conference newbie... likely snapping pix, posting updates to Facebook & Twitter (yes, I'm on the wagon. [read].
Posted: Sat, Oct 25th '08 |
DevExpress ASP.NET control support for SharePoint coming soon!
Andrew Connell
Subject says it all... this is awesome news from the top notch UI control company out there! » SharePoint Products From DevExpress Coming Soon Technorati Tags: sharepoint,devexpress [read].
Posted: Sat, Oct 25th '08 |
SharePoint Guidance by Microsoft's Patterns & Practices
Andrew Connell
A few months ago I blogged about the work Microsoft' Patterns & Practices group has been working on, specifically in the area of providing SharePoint developers some good guidance. If you haven't taken a look at the stuff on the CodePlex project (http://www.codeplex.com/spg), you really should. If nothing else, go download the latest drop (released last Friday, October 17th) and look at the included CHM file. There's a ton of great guidance there! Here are a few teasers: Technorati Tag [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 23rd '08 |
Chris O'Brien's Top 5 WCM Tips
Andrew Connell
[via Chris O'Brien] Chris O'Brien has posted the details from his recent "Top 5 WCM tips" presentation at a user group in UK. He's got some pretty cool tips here... some things I hadn't seen or considered. BTW Chris, thanks for the shout out on for my book, blog & recent WCM guidance article on MSDN. Best thing about these kinds of posts is that not everyone will agree on the same tips... but getting different perspectives is always refreshing. I really like his tips (with subtips) #4: plan [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 23rd '08 |
TechEd North America 2009 - Back to the 1 week format
Andrew Connell
THANK GOODNESS! I hated the 2 week format the moment I heard about it. Well it looks like next year's TechEd in Los Angeles has been switched back to one week! The new date is May 11-15, 2009. Wahoo!!!! » Microsoft TechEd 2009: Move back to 1-week format Technorati Tags: teched [read].
Posted: Wed, Oct 22nd '08 |
PDC 2008 Session Agenda / Timeline Posted
Andrew Connell
I hope all Microsoft conferences do it this way from here on out. Check out how the calendar was setup: https://sessions.microsoftpdc.com/timeline.aspx There's this cool timeline where you can see all sessions going on for a whole day in a matrix with the sessions you've selected colored in. Then you've got a list of all the sessions that day at the bottom (where you can also select them) and see their details. But what's really cool is the .ICS link at the top where you can add the entire age [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 17th '08 |
Free MOSS 2007 WCM Webcast
Andrew Connell
Ever wanted to understand what capabilities Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 has for creating Internet-facing content-centric sites with a publishing infrastructure? Looking to use MOSS 2007 Web Content Management (WCM) for your next content-based site? In this webcast I’ll show you the basics of what WCM is all about, the opportunities for developers and site / content owners and explain what you’ll learn in my Ted Pattison Group class: WCM401 - Developing Publishing Sites with Office S [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 16th '08 |
SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night - PDC2008 Edition
Andrew Connell
Going to PDC 2008 in Los Angeles, CA in just over a week (or live in the greater LA area)? Interested in hanging out in a casual social setting with other folks interested in SharePoint? We'll be doing another SharePoint by Day, SharePint by Night in LA the Sunday (October 26) @ 7p before PDC 2008 officially kicks off. So check into your hotel, drop your bags off and come on over to the Millennium Biltmore Hotel bar around 7p (till whenever) and join us (a few SharePoint MVPs will be there as we [read].
Posted: Wed, Oct 15th '08 |
Trying Twitter out again...
Andrew Connell
OK Joel, I'll give Twitter another shake. This time around, it is easier for me to use & consume thanks to better apps (TweetDeck & Twitterific). So I'm trying it again under @andrewconnell. Technorati Tags: twitter,tweetdeck,twitterific [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 14th '08 |
I'm all geeked up about PDC 2008!
Andrew Connell
With PDC 2008 around the corner, I'm all kinds of geeked up! You see, I'm a PDC virgin. I never could get approval to go to PDC at former jobs... frankly it was hard to justify it. When I went out on my own almost 2 years ago, one thing I said to myself was "I'm going to PDC no matter what" as I had no boss to check with (well, except the one at home). Unfortunately that year they canceled PDC, and I went crying all the way home (not that long of a commute considering I work from home). This tim [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 10th '08 |
Into SharePoint & Podcasts? You've got to check out the SharePoint Pod Show
Andrew Connell
I've been catching up on some unread blog feeds & listing to a few podcasts. One podcast I'm way behind on is the SharePoint Pod Show hosted by friends Rob Foster, Nick Swan and Brett Lonsdale. They've done seven shows so far and I've been quite pleased with them... lots of good info and content. You can download the show from their blog (linked below) or through iTunes (just search for SharePoint Pod Show). Next week I'll sit down with Rob and record a session on MOSS 2007 Web Content Manag [read].
Posted: Fri, Oct 10th '08 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** MSDN: Prescriptive Guidance for MOSS 2007 WCM Sites
Andrew Connell
An article I worked on has recently been published to MSDN. The article, Prescriptive Guidance for SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management Sites, addresses some common things you should keep in mind in planning, architecting, designing and implementing your Publishing sites. I worked hard to make sure the term "best practices" was not used as it's a term I despise. Why? One man's or woman's best practices could be very different from someone else's or another organization's practices. No o [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 9th '08 |
Publishing sites: field controls or Web Parts... that is the question
Andrew Connell
[via Enterprise Content Management Team Blog]
This entry is cross posted from my guest blog entry on the Enterprise Content Management Team Blog.
One of the most common problems I see with people developing Publishing sites stems from the lack of understanding in the core differences between Web Parts & Field Controls and when to use them. Many a consultant have dug a deep hole in this area. My goal in this post is to make you aware of the differences to make educated decisions when selecti [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 9th '08 |
So what's on your SharePoint development machine?
Andrew Connell
Occasionally I get a comment from someone who hit an old page on my blog called What's on My PC... an oldie that others were doing at the time. In the last few weeks I've been hit by a higher than normal amount of these in part due to my Setting up your SharePoint development environment post at the end of August. After migrating my virtualization rig to Hyper-V last week, I build out a brand new clean SharePoint development machine. So I figured I'd document what's on my primary SharePoint deve [read].
Posted: Tue, Oct 7th '08 |
Custom SharePoint Caching
Andrew Connell
[via Vincent Rothwell] Vincent Rothwell (aka "the kid") has recently put up a great post on doing custom SharePoint caching with SharePoint file dependencies... very cool and a useful read! » SharePoint caching and CacheDependency Technorati Tags: sharepoint,cache [read].
Posted: Mon, Oct 6th '08 |
Changing my virtualization strategy
Andrew Connell
A few months back I talked about building a monster virtualization rig and installing VMWare Server 2.0 on Windows Server 2008 to host a handful of VMs. It's been running fine for a while, but kept seeing minor networking and lag issues here and there. In addition, I get VMs from clients at times to test configurations, do performance testing, etc... and most of these are VHD files, Microsoft virtual hard disks for use with VirtualPC 2007 or Hyper-V. Most of my customers don't give me VMWare vi [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 2nd '08 |
Filtering in/out page layouts & site templates
Andrew Connell
This is going to be one of those posts some people brush aside saying "duh, I've known that" but for others will be the "ah, finally!" reaction they've been looking for. Nothing epic here... I frequently get a question that comes in one of two flavors: Why can't I create Blogs, Wikis, Team Sites or Blank Sites in my Publishing site collection (created with the Publishing Portal site template)? Why can I only create certain pages in the Search Center site in my Publishing site? To cut to the cha [read].
Posted: Thu, Oct 2nd '08 |
Free webcast on content replication in SharePoint: Colligo and Syntergy
Andrew Connell
People that know me know I'm a fan of Syntergy's Replicator product for complex and robust replication in SharePoint as well as Colligo's Contributor product for taking SharePoint sites offline. I just saw this come across my inbox for anyone who's interested: Colligo VP Ed Kaczor will share how client software increases SharePoint adoption by enabling users to easily access, modify, and create SharePoint content through familiar desktop interfaces. Learn how you can help your customers solve t [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 25th '08 |
Ted Pattison Group on Facebook
Andrew Connell
We just setup a new group on Facebook for fans ofthe Ted Pattison Group. Come join to find out about news and upcoming events. » Fans of Ted Pattison Group's SharePoint Training http://www.new.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12476014979 I've also created a group for alumni of my Developing Publishing Sites with MOSS WCM class I teach through the Ted Pattison Group. If you've taken my class, please join... it's an easy way for us to share information with each other, new sites that launch, and a [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 25th '08 |
New SharePoint design (not SPD) book available
Andrew Connell
My buddy Randy Drisgill (aka: MOSSMAN) just announced his new book (with friends) is now available. The book, Professional SharePoint 2007 Design, is all about implementing a custom brand in a SharePoint site. I had the privilege to review a lot of the content in this book and was quite impressed. It makes a great companion to my WCM development book! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,publishing site,design [read].
Posted: Thu, Sep 25th '08 |
Two new MOSS WCM sites recently launched
Andrew Connell
I love hearing back from customers and former students of my MOSS WCM development class when they launch a new public facing Publishing site. In the last two weeks I've heard back from two class alumni who launched brand new Publishing sites recently that are brand new sites on the platform (they didn't come from MCMS 2002).
Starz Entertainment
space150, an agency, recently launched the new Starz Entertainment site (www.starz.com) that serves as the home for Starz Movie Channel, Encore and few [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 24th '08 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: September 2008 Meeting: Enterprise Content Management - Document Retention
Andrew Connell
Our next meeting is on Thursday, September 18, 2008. Here's the session title & abstract to help you get a better idea of what we'll be discussing:
Enterprise Content Management - Document Retention
Document retention is an important part of content management. SharePoint provides out-of-the-box support for managing document retention using the built-in expiration policy feature of the information management policy framework. The built-in expiration policy feature includes the ability [read].
Posted: Sun, Sep 14th '08 |
Content Management Interop Services (CMIS) Spec Announced Today
Andrew Connell
[via ECM Team Blog] This is great news from Microsoft in the area of SharePoint Enterprise Content Management (ECM) on the ECM Team Blog today. From the blog post: Today, we're excited to announce the launch of a standards effort for Enterprise Content Management systems that Microsoft has been driving with several other major vendors (IBM, EMC, Alfresco, OpenText, SAP, Oracle) called "Content Management Interoperability Services" (or CMIS, for short). The goal of CMIS is to define a web servic [read].
Posted: Wed, Sep 10th '08 |
Ah... AC is a happy boy... it's football season again!
Andrew Connell
Finally... the season is back! College has been going for a week, but the NFL starts up for real this weekend (sans last Thursday night's game). I LOVE football! My Florida Gators are in prime position to make a run for the national championship (I've got my tickets for the UF-UGA matchup on November 1 in Jacksonville... doing a red-eye back from PDC to make that game) and LSU in Gainesville with 90k strong Gator Nation in October. In the NFL, my Jags are also in great shape to make a run at the [read].
Posted: Sun, Sep 7th '08 |
Join My Blog Network on Facebook
Andrew Connell
Want to be part of the conversation on this blog and general SharePoint development or WCM topics? Maybe just join a network on my blog... at any rate, you can join my network by clicking on this link: Join AC's Blog Network on Facebook. [read].
Posted: Sat, Sep 6th '08 |
Patrick, you'll be greatly missed...
Andrew Connell
Yesterday I got word that the legendary SharePoint developer, presenter, author, instructor, and friend Patrick Tissghem suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I had just talked to him over IM just a day earlier. If the name isn't familiar to you, well you have surely used some of this work. From the blog posts, the books, the screencasts... you name it, he's been instrumental in the SharePoint world for years. But it isn't just SharePoint. Patrick was a great person... someone who was a ton of [read].
Posted: Fri, Sep 5th '08 |
Customizing SharePoint Search Results
Andrew Connell
My buddy Matt McDermott, fellow SharePoint MVP as well as the one who contributed the search chapter in my WCM development book, has recently blogged about customizing the search results page to show image thumbnails. This is a great, detailed view of customizing search results: » SharePoint Image Search: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4 Check out his slick XML test page for search results post too! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,search results [read].
Posted: Fri, Sep 5th '08 |
SharePoint Performance, Capacity Planning & Best Practices Resources Centers
Andrew Connell
Two new great resource centers filled with lots of good content are now available: Performance & Capacity Planning Resource Center for MOSS 2007 ... allow me to introduce the (begin drum roll here) Performance and Capacity Planning Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007... We’ve rigorously reviewed, analyzed, folded, starched, ironed, and consolidated every existing bit of performance and capacity planning content available today in one easy-to-use page. Best Practices Resource Center [read].
Posted: Fri, Sep 5th '08 |
SharePoint (WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2007) SDK Updated August 2008 (v1.4)
Andrew Connell
[via SP Content & Resources Blog] Microsoft just posted an update of the WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2008 SDKs. As always they come in two flavors, online & downloadable offline CHMs: WSS 3.0 SDK (online) WSS 3.0 SDK (downloadable CHM v1.4) MOSS 2007 SDK (online) MOSS 2007 SDK (downloadable CHM v1.4) This update has some great new and updated content: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - new content NEW: Programmatically working with backup/restore UPDATED: to the Web Parts section NEW: Externall [read].
Posted: Mon, Sep 1st '08 |
Virtual Conference: SharePoint Mastery Online
Andrew Connell
I've been meaning to blog this but it slipped my mind. Then I'm thumbing through the latest issue of Windows ITPro (SEPT-2008) looking for anything related to SharePoint. I find an article on page 10 "Relieve Your SharePoint Pressure Points." So as I skim it, I see my name. Whoa... I don't remember being interviewed... oh yeah... now I know what this is about...
On September 30, I'll be presenting 3 sessions for the SharePoint Mastery for Developers online "conference". For just $99, you can see [read].
Posted: Mon, Sep 1st '08 |
Setting up your SharePoint development environment
Andrew Connell
I frequently get questions people asking how they should go about setting up their development environment. Many people take different approaches and one size does not fit all as some are big development teams and some are more like me, single man shop. You basically subscribe to one of two approaches, either: Working within a virtual machine where everything (OS, SQL, SharePoint & development tools) runs in a self-contained environment. This could be a machine on your local desktop (using [read].
Posted: Sun, Aug 31st '08 |
Microsoft Patters & Practices: Creating Good Guidance for SharePoint Developers
Andrew Connell
Earlier this week I had the pleasure of spending a day with the Microsoft Patterns & Practices group which is working on developing some good guidance for SharePoint developers. I'm real excited to see this being developed for those of us in the SharePoint development community. However, I'm even more excited that they are heavily relying on input and feedback from the community at large that sits outside the walls of Microsoft. I'm honored to be a part of this process which is a ton of fun [read].
Posted: Thu, Aug 28th '08 |
Keeping your SharePoint installations Updated
Andrew Connell
James Waymire, a Microsoft SharePoint support engineer, has a great recent post on his blog talking about patching SharePoint. In this post he addresses a common question support guys get (not to mention consultants) from customers: What patches do I need to keep my SharePoint [WSS/MOSS] Updated?" While it is quite straightforward to may folks, it isn't to others. I'd recommend this as a good read for anyone who's a bit fuzzy on the subject: » Patching SharePoint: getting up to date with the m [read].
Posted: Thu, Aug 28th '08 |
SharePoint and TDD
Andrew Connell
Fellow SharePoint MVP Andrew Woodward has posted a paper on doing test driven development with SharePoint. His paper walks you through building a Web Part the TDD way... a great read! Beginners Guide to Test Driven Web Part Development Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,web part,tdd [read].
Posted: Thu, Aug 28th '08 |
I'm the rain man apparently...
Andrew Connell
So I get swamped at home (Jacksonville, FL) last week from Tuesday through Saturday thanks to Tropical Storm Fay... then it rains all afternoon on Sunday when I fly out to Seattle. I get to Seattle and it's raining for the two days I'm there, but it was nice when I flew out on Tuesday AM. On the way to San Antonio we stop in Houston where, sure enough, it was raining. Today (Wednesday), it poured in San Antonio... On the way home tomorrow and I would put money on the fact it will be raining in A [read].
Posted: Thu, Aug 28th '08 |
Trouble installing Visual Studio 2008 SP1? A simple solution...
Andrew Connell
While I had no problem installing VS2008 SP1 on my virtual machines, I've been having a heck of a time installing Visual Studio 2008 SP1 on my host OS ever since it came out. Since it shipped as an ISO, I simply mounted it using a virtual DVD drive. However every time I tried to install it, it would error out. I dug into the log file and found the following: Patch (F:\vs90sp1\VS90sp1-KB945140-X86-ENU.msp) install succeeded on product (Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Development Edition [read].
Posted: Tue, Aug 26th '08 |
New SharePoint MSDN Forums
Andrew Connell
One of my favorite ways to get support is customer-to-customer (aka: peer-to-peer). It's usually quicker but more importantly, there's tons of info in forums and other communities to usually find your issue and it's resolution from someone else having the problem. Let's face it, we aren't all that special and we aren't the first to see a bug. Like me right now having fits getting VS2008 SP1 installed. Microsoft has offered up newsgroups & Web-based forums in the past. The Web-forums were qui [read].
Posted: Mon, Aug 25th '08 |
Jacksonville Code Camp Recap
Andrew Connell
The folks who put on the Jacksonville Code Camp did one heck of a job pulling it off. They were able to, at the very last minute, switch it around to a different location due to tropical storm Fay & the fact is flooded the area of the original location. Great event! I've posted my sample code & slide decks to the two talks I did at the Jacksonville Code Camp on my speaking page for those who are interested. Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,jacksonville code camp [read].
Posted: Sun, Aug 24th '08 |
HOWTO: Optimize MOSS 2007 WCM Sites for Search
Andrew Connell
It's been a long week being preoccupied with tropical storm Fay. Usually you keep a close eye on these things for a few days and then they are gone. But this one... this one was REAL annoying. This one did everything it wasn't expected to do including stalling out for almost two full days dropping more than 30" of rain on Melbourne, FL (a few hours south of me in northeast Florida, about half-way between Jacksonville & St. Augustine). Then it just hung out... took forever to get out of here [read].
Posted: Sat, Aug 23rd '08 |
In search of ISA experts... want a free MSDN Team Suite subscription?
Andrew Connell
So I'm trying to setup ISA on my home network... but not as a firewall. There are just two things I want: VPN server - I've got stuff hosted inside my home network that I'd like to gain access to while remote, but not expose it. Such as source control, network shares, personal WSS sites used for organization and storage of stuff... etc. So basically all I want is to connect using the OOTB Vista client connection, using my home AD login, and be assigned an IP on my private network and act like [read].
Posted: Thu, Aug 21st '08 |
***NOW AVAILABLE*** Two Chapters from my Pro WCM Development Book on MSDN
Andrew Connell
MSDN has just published two chapters from my Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development book in their entirety. Enjoy! Chapter 14: Authoring Experience Extensibility Chapter 20: Incorporating ASP.NET 2.0 Applications Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,wcm,publishing site,msdn [read].
Posted: Wed, Aug 20th '08 |
Jacksonville Code Camp - Saturday, August 23, 2008
Andrew Connell
We're right around the corner from the next Jacksonville, FL Code Camp. It's next Saturday, August 23, 2008. If you're going, make sure you register & check out all the great sessions & speakers @ http://www.jaxcodecamp.com. I'll be presenting two sessions related to SharePoint: Introducing Features! A Deep Dive into the New "Feature" Infrastructure in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Structured Approach to Building SharePoint 3.0 Sites See you there! Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss [read].
Posted: Sun, Aug 17th '08 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: status & upcoming meetings
Andrew Connell
The Jacksonville Office Geeks is a user group / special interest group that covers developer topics surrounding the 2007 Microsoft Office System, based in Jacksonville, FL. It's been a few months since we've had a Jacksonville Office Geeks (JOG) meeting. We've got a few reasons for this. First, its no surprise we haven't had a great response with the JOG meetings. We've decided to move away from a monthly meeting schedule in an effort to possibly get a bigger attendance. Secondly, with only one [read].
Posted: Wed, Aug 13th '08 |
Using VMWare Server 2.0 RC1
Andrew Connell
Last month I blogged my saga of building a rig dedicated just for hosting virtual machines. So far I have been incredibly happy with the hardware. In the last week I've been going through the process of consolidating physical machines into virtual ones. Today I have a physical machine that acts as my (a) home AD domain controller, (b) SQL Server, (c) file share and (d) host for virtual machines. For all that stuff it works great, except it's a bit limited in size (trying to put virtual machines [read].
Posted: Wed, Aug 13th '08 |
Two weeks later with an iPhone...
Andrew Connell
After my last post on the iPhone, I went out and put an order in for a white iPhone 3G. I've now had it for just over two weeks and thought I'd had enough time to give it a report. First of all, I just love this device. Make note I'm not calling it a phone... because it isn't... its a device. I've set it up to sync with my Exchange mailbox for email, contacts and the calendar. I can sum up my thoughts to be in line with the mantra so many Apple junkies: it just works.
Some thoughts:
The Phone [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 31st '08 |
Teaching WCM in LA week of August 4th and Two User Group Talks in So Cal
Andrew Connell
I'm teaching my WCM401 Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 20007 WCM the week of August 4-7 at the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC) in Irvine, CA. There are still a few open seats available, so if you're interested, go here to get more info & register. There's a special 15% discount code available to people in the area on the SoCal .NET Events site that you can use when you register for the class. While in California I'll be speaking at two user groups in the area. First on T [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 24th '08 |
ISPA - For the community, by the community
Andrew Connell
Last week Bob Fox announced the International SharePoint Professionals Association (www.sharepointpros.com). Best explained on the homepage... The International SharePoint Professionals Association (“ISPA”) is the first independent, community-run, not-for-profit organization designed specifically for SharePoint Professionals. ISPA is a professional association dedicated to the promotion and global adoption of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies. The Association provides support [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 24th '08 |
SharePoint (WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2007) Infrastructure Updates Available
Andrew Connell
In case you missed it, last week Microsoft released something they call the Infrastructure Update for WSS 3.0 & MOSS 2007. This update adds some search features to SharePoint that were introduced in the Search Server products, fixes a lot of performance and scaling issues and content deployment fixes. The whole thing is outlined on the ECM team blog: » ECM Blog: Content Deployment & the Infrastructure Update The Infrastructure Update is not a service pack, but you could almost treat i [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 24th '08 |
I wonder...
Andrew Connell
I wonder where Starbucks employees go when they need to "make a run" ? Everyone I know makes Starbucks Runs when they need a break or a boost in the afternoon. Wonder where Starbucks people go? One of the reasons for the "runs" is to get out of the office or just a break... so they have to get out. Maybe Dunkin Donuts? Have a great weekend all... [read].
Posted: Fri, Jul 18th '08 |
Apple's iPhone 3G is pretty darn impressive
Andrew Connell
When the first iPhone came out I dismissed it pretty quick because I was addicted to my AciveSync DirectPush on my Windows Mobile (WM) 6 device and because the ATT network it was tired to is just slow. All the while I switched my MP3 player over to an iPod Touch and fell in love with the UI & iTunes. Then, upon hearing Apple was adding support for 3G, a GPS receiver and ActiveSync support made me come back and check it out. I've read up, especially over the weekend and played with one in the [read].
Posted: Tue, Jul 15th '08 |
Triple Boot Goodness on the MacBook Pro
Andrew Connell
Last week I got a call from the local Apple store that my replacement MBP was in. This was to replace my lemon MBP where the keyboard & trackpad kept dying on me. Finally they caved and cried uncle giving me a brand new machine. Cool thing is that this is one of the Penryn based models that gives me multitouch on the trackpad (ala zoom via pinching the trackpad) and a motherboard that can handle 8GB (albeit not officially). This time I elected to pave the machine the moment I got it. Went wi [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 10th '08 |
Following me on Twitter? I don't recommend doing that...
Andrew Connell
Little public-service-announcement here. A few months back I created a Twitter account and followed a few friends. I gave it a chance... but personally I think Twitter is a grand waste of time. I know, many people disagree, but for me, it's like walking into a bar at happy hour and hearing every single conversation at the same time. That's not a positive... that's a negative. It's too much effort to get anything of value. So if you happen to find me on Twitter, you can follow me, but you'll be s [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 10th '08 |
The Saga of an Ultimate Virtualization Rig: Part 3
Andrew Connell
In part 1 of this series I explained the reasoning and background on why I'm building a virtualization rig. In that post I included my experience with trying to get an OOTB Dell PowerEdge 2900 III. In part 2 I discussed the parts, buildout and price list. In this post I want to talk about the setup, install and performance testing. Burnin: Testing power & heat (and fans) Setup of the vRig was a piece of cake.. hardware wise it wasn't bad at all. Installing Windows 2008 Server was a piece of [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 10th '08 |
The Saga of an Ultimate Virtualization Rig: Part 2
Andrew Connell
In part 1 of this series I explained the reasoning and background on why I'm building a virtualization rig. In that post I included my experience with trying to get an OOTB Dell PowerEdge 2900 III. In this post I want to cover parts. The next part will be more about setup and installation of the virtualization software. Before electing to build a new machine, I did consider getting a MacPro and installing VMWare Fusion on it. The reason I didn't was because first, I could build a machine for muc [read].
Posted: Thu, Jul 10th '08 |
The Saga of an Ultimate Virtualization Rig: Part 1
Andrew Connell
Early last year Scott Hanselman & Jeff Atwood set out to build the "Ultimate Developer PC" for Scott. It was an entertaining series of posts on both blogs (check out this post for links to all the other posts). As someone who works exclusively out of a home office (except when onsite or teaching obviously) I've been eyeing doing something similar over the last two years. But as a SharePoint developer who doesn't do so much gaming, I was more interested in a virtualization rig rather than a d [read].
Posted: Wed, Jul 9th '08 |
When doing research, ALWAYS consider the source
Andrew Connell
In my days as a SharePoint professional living in the Publishing / CMS space, I frequently come across a customer who pits SharePoint against some of the other Web based CMS products out there. Most of these customers have been to a site called CMS Watch. Many times they quote what these guys say and write about as well as their "SharePoint Report." And so starts the saga of a long winded email chain, usually a few phone calls and possibly an onsite meeting shooting down, poking holes and mitiga [read].
Posted: Tue, Jul 8th '08 |
KB's are now out for the two content migration/deployment QFE's recently released
Andrew Connell
A few weeks back I blogged about the availability of two QFE's that fix 60+ issues in the content migration API as well as (aka: WSS 3.0) and content deployment (aka: MOSS 2007). Now the KB articles have been published that include mode detail on these QFE's: » Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: May 20, 2008 » Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: May 20, 2008 Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,content migration,content deployment,qfe [read].
Posted: Tue, Jul 1st '08 |
Change is good: thanks & good luck Bill!
Andrew Connell
Funny how so many of these media stories and blog posts out there focus on Bill Gates leaving Microsoft last week and not nearly as much as dedicating more of his time towards his foundation. I think this is a fantastic move all around... for Microsoft, their customers, the Gates Foundation and the world. I don't know Bill or never had the chance to meet him or can claim to know him so I won't say that it's good for him. Change is a good thing... it is almost always a good thing in my mind. Micr [read].
Posted: Tue, Jul 1st '08 |
A Windows guy using a MacBook Pro: six months later
Andrew Connell
Last December (12/2007) I ditched my Dell D820 and made the jump over to a MacBook Pro. Its now been just over six months since I made the switch and thought I'd pass a few thoughts off to those who are considering making the switch. First, I still love this machine. The only regret, and I'm not sure if this is really a regret, is that I went for the 15" over the 17". I do love the 15" form factor, but after seeing a few friend's 17" MBP's at the MVP summit and other events, I'm just blown away [read].
Posted: Mon, Jun 30th '08 |
Mastering SharePoint Deployments, Planning and Business Process
Andrew Connell
When you're ready to take your organization into the wide world of SharePoint, your rollout and planning process can be quite daunting. Most training options revolve around the use of SharePoint such as lists, libraries, etc. What you don't usually find are classes that deal with the planning and adoption process. Bob Mixon has a class, Mastering SharePoint, offered in a few different delivery mechanisms. It covers how to work with teams, manage projects, change management, governance, how to do [read].
Posted: Mon, Jun 30th '08 |
Looking for MOSS 2007 WCM Development Training?
Andrew Connell
Looking for some hard-core development training on building MOSS 2007 Web Content Management (WCM) / Publishing sites? I'll be teaching my class, WCM401: Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management, three times over the summer months through the Ted Pattison Group in two different formats.
Can't get away from the office for a whole week? Can't travel? The week of July 21-25 I'll be teaching my WC-WCM401 class (which is slightly modified from the hands-on class [read].
Posted: Fri, Jun 27th '08 |
TechEd 2008 EMEA Developer - I'll be there!
Andrew Connell
I'll be attending & presenting at the TechEd 2008 EMEA Developer conference in Barcelona, Spain the week of November 10-14, 2008. I'm real excited about this trip as I've never been to Spain! I've got a few sessions I'll be presenting: Creating & Debugging Custom Timer Jobs in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Creating Custom Document Converters for MOSS 2007 Publishing Sites Don't Be a Tool, Be a Better SharePoint Developer through Tools! You can check out the public list of sessions her [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 18th '08 |
SharePoint Debugging and Logging Tips and Tricks
Andrew Connell
I've long needed a single source to point people to when it comes to debugging and logging in SharePoint. I'm sure someone will say "oh look at my post" in a comment when this is read... please feel free to add comments to this post pointing to your debugging tricks. When developers get tripped up with a nasty bug or something when building custom components in SharePoint, from Web Parts to server controls or even custom Features without a line of custom code (just loaded up with CAML)... well, [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 11th '08 |
New MOSS 2007 WCM content on TechNet
Andrew Connell
[via ECM Team Blog] TechNet now has two new pieces up on the subject of MOSS 2007 WCM. I had a chance to review these and find them to be quite helpful and recommend both: » TechNet: Administering Web content management » TechNet: White paper: End-to-End Content Deployment Walkthrough Technorati Tags: sharepoint,moss,wcm,publishing,content deployment [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 11th '08 |
TechEd North America 2008 Dev - that's a wrap... on to IT Pro week!
Andrew Connell
Yes sir-ee... one week of TechEd North America 2008 in the books and one to go. This past week was a blast... especially for me. I always love TechEd... the best parts are seeing old and new friends (which I think I'll pass on naming for fear of leaving someone off) and meeting customers working with SharePoint. I really wish I could have attended a few more sessions than I did, but such is life. Let me recap a few things and look forward to next week... Pro MOSS 2007 WCM Development Book Releas [read].
Posted: Sun, Jun 8th '08 |
Web Content Management Resource Center for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Andrew Connell
This page provides resources for IT pros to help you plan and implement a Web Content Management (WCM) solution using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. » TechNet: Web Content Management Resource Center for SharePoint Server 2007 If you are looking for developer information, check out MSDN: » MSDN: Web Content Management Resource Center Technorati Tags: sharepoint,moss,wcm,publishing site [read].
Posted: Fri, Jun 6th '08 |
I'll be speaking @ the Dallas/Ft Worth SharePoint User Group 2nd Anniversary Meeting June 17
Andrew Connell
I'm looking forward to going back to Dallas in a few weeks. While there, I'm going to stop by the Dallas / Ft. Worth SharePoint User Group on June 17th for their 2nd anniversary meeting to talk to people about various tools available to SharePoint administrators and developers: Don't Be a Tool, Be a Better SharePoint Developer through Tools! Developers know all too well that development in a Microsoft SharePoint environment can be a challenging experience with so many moving parts. However, with [read].
Posted: Thu, Jun 5th '08 |
SharePoint in Web 2.0 Fire Starter
Andrew Connell
A few people have noticed (and asked questions about) one of the slides in the Into to SharePoint for .NET Developers webcast series mentioning a Web 2.0 Fire Starter for SharePoint. Here's a bit more information on it (you can register for a Live Meeting based format as well): Did you know that SharePoint is the fastest growing Server product in Microsoft’s history? It’s not only an enterprise darling but also an IT pro dream in terms of maintenance. Now is the time to showcase its sweet s [read].
Posted: Wed, Jun 4th '08 |
*** NOW AVAILABLE ***: Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Andrew Connell
My book, Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007, is now available! If you're at TechEd North America 2008 Developer in Orlando this week you can pickup your copy. They are available at the Office TLC area for free. But there's only a limited amount... they've already given today's allotment out and will be giving more out throughout the week. We're working on a schedule when I'll be signing them for those who [read].
Posted: Tue, Jun 3rd '08 |
Hands on Labs from the Intro to SharePoint for .NET Developers are now available... and so is the main site!
Andrew Connell
If you've been following the Introduction to SharePoint for .NET Developers webcast series Rob and I are doing with Paul, you might be interested to know what we now have hands-on-labs that correspond to the same topics we've been discussing in the webcasts. Microsoft just posted the downloads here.
Technorati Tags: sharepoint,wss,moss,.net,hands on labs [read].
Posted: Mon, Jun 2nd '08 |
Just watched the space shuttle Discovery from my front yard 140 miles away.... how cool is that?
Andrew Connell
Subject says it all. Cape Canaveral is 140 miles south of my house. You can watch the shuttle launch on TV... wait about 5-10 seconds and then walk out in the front yard to see it streak across the Atlantic on it's way over Africa for about 10 seconds. I can't see the booster rocket separation, but you know when it happens because that's essentially where the visible smoke trail and engine's are no longer visible. But for abotu 20 seconds, you can clearly see the engine fire even on a sunny day. [read].
Posted: Sat, May 31st '08 |
PDC2008 Registration Open... and I finally get to go!
Andrew Connell
The Microsoft Professional Developer's Conference (PDC) 2008 registration is now open. It's in Los Angeles, CA from OCT 27-30, 2008. Register before August 15 and get $200 knocked off the price. I've always wanted to hit PDC... when its held I always crawl the blogs and CNET looking for the news to trickle out. Never have I had a chance as I haven't been able to make a case to a boss to go. While it wasn't part of the decision process, when I went out on my own in early 2007 one of the things I [read].
Posted: Sat, May 31st '08 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: June 2008 Meeting: Adding Custom Field Types and Custom Content Types to your MOSS Installation
Andrew Connell
Our next meeting is on Thursday, June 19, 2008. Here's the session title & abstract to help you get a better idea of what we'll be discussing: Adding Custom Field Types and Custom Content Types to your MOSS Installation Ever wished you could use a MOSS List as a mechanism for storing business data, but found yourself limited by the built-in WSS field types? WSS 3.0 includes the ability to define your own custom field types. Custom field types allow you to control the initialization, renderin [read].
Posted: Fri, May 30th '08 |
Introduction to SharePoint for .NET Developers Webcast Series - Demos & Slide Decks now available
Andrew Connell
If you've been keeping up with the Introduction to SharePoint for .NET Developers series, you can now download the slide decks and associated demos Rob and I have been doing the last two weeks. So far we've talked about Web Parts, Data Lists, Silverlight and Event Handlers. » MSFT Download Center: PPTs and Demos for Introductory SharePoint Developer Modules Need a virtual machine that's got everything you need installed and ready to go with these demos? We got one for you right here! » Windows [read].
Posted: Thu, May 29th '08 |
TechEd North America 2008: I'll be there!
Andrew Connell
TechEd North America 2008 Developer week is next week (June 3-6), followed by IT Pro week (June 10-13). I'll be there both weeks... amazing... they are actually letting a dev in the IT Pro week. Don't forget to pickup your free copy of my Pro SharePoint 2007 WCM Development book while you're at TechEd!
I'll be there all week for the developer portion and part of the IT Pro (the latter half). I have two sessions each week (and one ATE session IT Pro week):
TechEd Developer:
Don't Be a Tool, Be [read].
Posted: Thu, May 29th '08 |
SharePoint @ the TechEd ]inbetween[
Andrew Connell
With two TechEd's back to back (hey, it's new to us in North America),my fearless MSTF DE Joe Healy has been championing a special gathering of the Florida User Group Communities to create the ]inbetween[ conference. For you SharePoint junkies, there's a SharePoint Fundamentals (or fun-for-mentals as I like to call it) session presented by Josh Carlisle, Mikhail Dikov, Jacob Sanford, Doug Ware, and Ted Pattison. Check it out and register! » ]inbetween]: SharePoint Fundamentals Technorati Tags: [read].
Posted: Tue, May 27th '08 |
What I did to get Silverlight Working in SharePoint in Today's Webcast
Andrew Connell
In today's MSDN webcast, Introduction to SharePoint for .NET Developers: Silverlight & SharePoint, one of many in the Introduction to SharePoint for .NET Developers series, you'll see Silverlight 2.0 Beta 1 working within SharePoint. One thing you won't see is me configuring the virtual machine (VM) so that I can not only do Silverlight development in the VM but also to have it run within a SharePoint site. I thought it would be helpful to understand what I had to do to make this work.
Fir [read].
Posted: Tue, May 27th '08 |
ASP.NET Developers Introduction to SharePoint Webcast Series: Week #2
Andrew Connell
Here we go... moving into the second week of the ASP.NET developer introduction to SharePoint webcast series. Last week you saw Rob Bogue present two webcasts on Web Parts & Data Lists... if you missed them, use those two links to see a recording of them. This week you'll see me talk about leveraging Silverlight in SharePoint (Tuesday, 12p-1p EDT) as well working with event handlers (Wednesday, 12p-1p EDT). Like the others, they will be recorded in case you miss it or looking for something a [read].
Posted: Mon, May 26th '08 |
Understanding Total Hits & Paging in the MOSS 2007 Search API
Andrew Connell
[via Enterprise Search Blog] This entry is cross posted from my guest blog entry on the Microsoft SharePoint Enterprise Search Blog. One of the more discussed topics I’ve seen (and struggled with myself) is around the concept of obtaining the total number of hits in a search results when working with the MOSS API. For instance, when I search for “sales forecast” in my SharePoint site, I want to not only see a set of paged results, 10 hits per page, but also see that my search found 127 mat [read].
Posted: Mon, May 26th '08 |
The Insanity of SharePoint Licensing and WSS/MOSS post SP1 hotfixes
Andrew Connell
[via Spence] Seems I'm turning into the regular Spence fanboy. :) If you read/subscribe to my blog and you're primarily a SharePoint developer, you really need to make sure Spence's feed is also in your OPML subscriptions. Not only one of my good friends (and quite involved in the book). Spence has two killer posts that he recently put up. The first talks about licensing. You know, the funhouse all consultants love when the customer meeting takes a turn to what license and how many CALs do I ne [read].
Posted: Mon, May 26th '08 |
Jacksonville Office Geeks: May 2008 Meeting: Understanding and Making Code Access Security Not so Intimidating
Andrew Connell
Our next meeting is on Thursday, May 15, 2008. Here's the session title & abstract to help you get a better idea of what we'll be discussing: Understanding and Making Code Access Security Not so Intimidating Ever dealt with that SecurityException error in the yellow-screen-of-death? That’s fun troubleshooting. The easiest way to address it is to just bump the trust level up to WSS_Medium, Full to throw your assembly into the GAC. In this session you’ll learn how .NET’s Code Access Secu [read].
Posted: Sun, Apr 27th '08 |
** NOW AVAILABLE **: WROX BLOX on Extending the MOSS Publishing HTML Editor Field Control
Andrew Connell
WROX has published for purchase ($6.99 USD) a blox, a short paper (23ps) on the topic of Extending the MOSS Publishing HTML Editor Field Control that I wrote. I show you how to customize the OOTB editor including how to create a custom button. The new button in the editor that I show you how to create in this blox enables authors to add an XHTML Friends Network (XFN) link, a type of microformat as shown below: » WROX::Extending the MOSS Publishing HTML Editor Field Control Technorati Tags: sha [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 25th '08 |
Fantastic article on WSS content migration / MOSS content deployment API
Andrew Connell
If you've been under a rock like I have apparently over the last few months, you might not have noticed this little gem get published. In March MSDN published an article by a handful of Microsoft folks, one of which is very familiar to those of us old-skool MCMS junkies: Stefan.
First a bit of terminology. Most people are familiar with the fact that MOSS includes a capability called Content Deployment (CD). This facility is designed for organizations who author content in a staging environment a [read].
Posted: Thu, Apr 24th '08 |
MVP Global Summit 2008 - that's a wrap!
Andrew Connell
Man, what a week. Just like previous MVP Global Summit's, it is an intense week that's mentally exhausting. Last year the SharePoint MVPs started a new tradition of playing paintball on the first day of the summit so now it's also physically exhausting... but so much fun! There's a great picture of the whole group on the SharePoint Team Blog here. Collectively we fired off some 80,000+ rounds of paintballs! Now THAT is some serious fun! Some memories from this year's paintball: As I ran down t [read].
Posted: Fri, Apr 18th '08 |
Two New MSDN Visual How To's: Automating WSP Creation with MSBuild and Multiple auth Providers
Andrew Connell
Two more Visual How To's are up on MSDN based off two popular articles on my blog. The first one is based off the process I like to use where developers can leverage something such as MSBuild to automatically create WSP files every time the project is built (original blog article here): MSDN Visual How To: Automating Solution Package Creation for Windows SharePoint Services by Using MSBuild Learn how to use MSBuild to automatically generate solution package files for Windows SharePoint Service [read].
Posted: Wed, Apr 16th '08 |
More help on creating custom timer jobs (and a useful SharePoint site warmup tool)
Andrew Connell
A while back I blogged a few posts about creating custom timer jobs (here, here, here and here) and last week I pointed to a new MSDN Visual How To that shows how to do the same thing. There is also now a much more in-depth article I wrote that is now on MSDN that contains a lot of additional information about creating, deploying and debugging custom timer jobs. » MSDN: Creating Custom Timer Jobs in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 There are a few cool extra nuggets in this article that I want t [read].
Posted: Tue, Apr 15th '08 |
Understanding how SharePoint works: customized vs. uncustomized files
Andrew Connell
For developers getting into the world of SharePoint development, it can be daunting at first. I've always felt the best way to get around this was to simplify the product; make SharePoint easier to understand and not this big blue monster. A big piece of this is understanding how the file system works in SharePoint sites. Armed with this knowledge, it makes it much easier to understand errors and issues you may run into with your custom components. To this effect, I have recently had an article [read].
Posted: Sun, Apr 13th '08 |
Announcing AC's VS SharePoint Project Utility Tool Window
Andrew Connell
To many people this won't be anything new. If you saw one of my talks at SharePoint Connections in Las Vegas last November, my sessions at the Office Developer Conference in San Jose in February or the SharePoint Conference in Seattle in March, you likely saw this little gem.
Like many other SharePoint developers I've adopted a similar approach to building SharePoint projects and solution (*.wsp) files. My process is not unlike many others where I mimic the SharePoint "12" folder structure in my [read].
Posted: Wed, Apr 9th '08 |
Learn MOSS 2007 WCM / Publishing Site Development on the MSFT Campus April 21-24!
Andrew Connell
Can't wait until June for my book to be published? Want to get a sneak peak and learn in a fun, fast paced environment? Don't have any experience with SharePoint from the development perspective and looking for not only a solid Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 development primer as well as learning how to leverage Office SharePoint Server 2007 to host content-centric Internet, Intranet or Extranet sites using Web Content Management & Publishing sites? Does the appeal of learning on the MSFT c [read].
Posted: Tue, Apr 8th '08 |
Two new WSS 3.0 MSDN Visual How To's Published
Andrew Connell
Back in January I blogged about two VHT's I had been working on that were published on MSDN. Recently two more were published for WSS 3.0 developers: MSDN Visual How To: Adding Code-Behind Files to Master Pages and Content Pages in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Learn how to use code-behind files in custom content pages in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc411726.aspx MSDN Visual How To: Creating, Deploying, and Debugging Custom Timer Jobs in Windows S [read].
Posted: Mon, Apr 7th '08 |
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