SharePoint Customization

1
SharePoint Customization

• Tools of the Trade for
• Design and Development

2
SharePoint Customization

• Design vs. Development
• Customization Best Practices
• Tools Of The Trade

3
Design vs. Development

• In job descriptions, the titles Web Designer and
  Web Developer are often used interchangeably.
• This isnt accurate.
• Designing a Web site and developing one is really
  quite different.
• Does an Interior Designer perform the same
  function as a Property Developer?

4
Design vs. Development

• Two major components when designing and
  developing a Web site
• The front end
• The back end
• n-tier architecture goes beyond the scope of this
  presentation thanx

5
Design vs. Development

• There can be quite a bit of crossover.
• Design refers to the front end.
• Development the back end.

6
Front End and Design

• The Front End Is What Your Customers See
• The "pages" that display the graphics, the
  images, and the text on your site.
• Web Designers Concentrate On The Front End
• Choosing appropriate images and fonts
• Determining how images and text should be
  arranged.
• A Web Designer's Strength Is His Or Her
  Appreciation For Aesthetics
• Dont have to be a technical whiz
• Have an understanding of what works visually
• Knowledge of technical limitations when designing
  
• A Good Web Designer Will Also Have Experience In
  Collaborating With A Web Developer.

7
Back End and Development

• Developers are part of a new breed of internet
  professionals
• Web developers work on the back end.
• The development process is not visible to users.
• Development is essential to a positive user
  experience.
• Back end functions include
• Making images change or move
• Allowing users to view different pages or enter
  data
• Performing sales transactions

8
Learn to speak the language

• HTML, XML, CAML, AJAX, ASP.NET, Visual Basic, C
• Make sure your résumé includes the following
  skills
• HTML for text and framework layout of a web page
• Web imaging to create images for the web
• Javascript to write programs that run as part of
  web pages and to do tasks like validating form
  fields before submitting a form
• ASP.net to customize a web page for a particular
  user on the server before it is sent down to the
  user
• Java/C to write programs that are embedded
  within a web page - to do things that web pages
  alone cannot do, such as playing a game within a
  web page

9
Design vs. Development

• SharePoint (MOSS 2007)
• Web Front End
• Internet Information Server 6/7 (IIS)
• Application Server
• Index and Search
• Shared Database Infrastructure
• SQL Server 2005 Standard

10
Customization

• What Can Be Customized?
• Nearly every component of any SharePoint
  deployment can be customized
• Applications
• Look and Feel
• ASP.net Web Parts
• One element of SharePoint that cannot be
  customized is the Shared Database Infrastructure.

11
Windows SharePoint Services

• Collaboration
• Content management
• Version control
• Workflows
• RSS feeds
• Wikis
• Blogs
• Master pages
• Mobile device support
• Calendars
• E-mail integration
• Task coordination
• Surveys
• Required

12
SQL Server 2005

• Provides the backend database platform where
  configuration and user data is stored.
• Required

13
SQL Server 2000 SP4

• Can be used as the backend database platform
• Restricts database sizes
• Does not offer tight integration
• Generally Not Recommended

14
(MOSS 2007) Standard

• Enterprise search
• My sites
• User profile store
• Page layouts
• Notification service
• LDAP authentication provider
• Single sign-on
• Slide libraries
• Legal holds
• Records repository
• RSS content syndication
• Social networking features
• Optional depending on requirements

15
(MOSS 2007) Enterprise

• Data integration
• Forms services
• Business intelligence
• Business data catalog
• Spreadsheet publishing
• Report center
• Form import wizard
• Optional depending on requirements

16
SharePoint Designer 2007

• Create
• Web parts
• Master pages
• Cascading style sheets
• No-code forms
• Workflows
• Customize SharePoint Sites
• Build workflows driven by business logic
• Create custom applications to handle data from
  multiple data sources such as XML files, SOAP
  services, RSS feeds, SQL Server databases.
• Optional

17
Microsoft Office 2007

• Interact with products developed using office
  2007 applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
  Outlook from within SharePoint sites.
• Older versions of office also provide some
  capabilities but the best performance is achieved
  using Office 2007
• Optional

18
Project Server 2007

• Allows organizations to perform life cycle
  project management.
• Distribute information using the Project
• Servers Reporting Data Services and the Report
  Server
• Feature of MOSS 2007
• Optional

19
Database Access

• SharePoint requires the backend database to be
  SQL server.
• SharePoint is written to use SQL Server-specific
  API calls rather than a generic database
  interface such as open database connectivity
  (ODBC).

20
Database Access

• You can access data from an Oracle database and
  present a view in SharePoint through a Web part
  or custom application.
• Native content, such as a new word document that
  needs to be stored in a SharePoint document
  library, will be stored in an SQL Server content
  database.

21
Three ways to Customize

• Most customizations can be created in at least
  three different ways
• User customizations using standard SharePoint
  capabilities
• No-code customizations using SharePoint Designer
  2007
• Coded customizations using Visual Studio or
  ASP.net applications

22
Customization

• Demo Look and Feel

23
Look and Feel

• SharePoint was designed to give users tremendous
  independence in deciding how sites should look
  and behave.
• site security is managed by the content creators,
  and customizations follow that same model.

24
Look and Feel

• SharePoint uses ASP.net Security Trimming.
• With proper permissions, site users can change
  the themes, icons, web part placement, and
  overall site branding

25
Site Definition Templates

• The site template that you choose has an
  underlying site definition that tells SharePoint
  which elements define the site.
• The site definition specifies sub-sites, page
  elements, and location coordinates.
• Adding web parts to a web part page is one method
  for customizing SharePoint.
• Creating your own web page is a snap with a set
  of predefined templates available as a free
  download. They are known as The Fantastic 40.
  http//technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/s
  harepoint/bb407286.aspx

26
Look and Feel

• SharePoint built-in customization elements
• Themes, web part gallery, site templates, logos,
  master pages, navigation
• SharePoint Designer 2007
• Modify Custom Style Sheets, create master pages,
  design page layouts, etc
• Visual Studio .NET 2005 / 2008
• Create Site definitions, page layouts, templates,
  new custom style sheets Web Parts

27
Tools of the Trade

• SharePoint Designer 2007
• Visual Studio .NET 2005 / 2008

28
Tools of the Trade

• SharePoint Designer 2007
• Create web part pages
• Visual Studio .NET 2005 / 2008
• Create new web parts

29
Workflow

• SharePoint built-in workflows
• Customize existing workflows
• SharePoint Designer 2007
• Create no-code custom workflows using the
  Workflow wizard
• Visual Studio .NET 2005 / 2008
• Create code-based Workflows for custom business
  applications using WSS SDK

30
Search

• SharePoint built-in site settings
• Add new search scopes, keywords, best bets,
  relevance settings to the site.
• Central Administration Site
• Add iFilters for each non-Microsoft document type

31
Forms

• Forms Server
• Publish browser accessible forms to site
  collection
• SharePoint Designer 2007
• Create no-code forms
• Visual Studio .NET 2005 / 2008
• Create custom code-based forms

32
Features

• Visual Studio .NET 2005/2008
• Custom capabilities

33
SharePoint Designer 2007

• Uses technology reminiscent of FrontPage 2003,
  but the new name reflects the emphasis on
  creating and customizing sites on the SharePoint
  platform.

34
Conclusion

• Design and Development are different but you need
  to be able to communicate with both roles on your
  team.
• Customize anything but the SQL database using
  three tools.
• Tools of the trade built-in, SharePoint
  Designer, Visual Studio.

35
Thank You

• Brad Maust, CNA, CCDA, CCNA
• SQL Server DBA
• SharePoint Architect / Developer
• San Francisco Bay Area, California
• http//www.linkedin.com/in/bradmaust
• brad.maust_at_gmail.com