There is a new standards effort in the works that promises to unify the disparate ECM platforms currently available into a common set of interfaces. The Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) specification is the result of a collaboration between Microsoft, …
Continue readingCreating Tabbed Sections in an InfoPath Form
As we all know, tabbed controls make it a lot easier to enter data on a form. Surprisingly, InfoPath does not provide a built-in tab control. This leads to form designs that are much less intuitive than they could be.…
Continue readingThe Richest Man in the World
This week, Bill Gates will retire from Microsoft, so there is a lot of additional attention being focused on him right now, but a couple of weeks ago I got a rare opportunity to see for myself why everyone is …
Continue readingExtending STSADM with Custom Commands
The STSADM command-line tool has become a mainstay for SharePoint 2003 administrators. As a front-end for the SharePoint object model, it provides essential commands for managing SharePoint sites and users, backing up and restoring site collections and installing or removing …
Continue readingCareful When Working with Sealed Site Columns
SharePoint site columns offer a lot of functionality, but with that power comes a few caveats. One of these has to do with the way the sealed attribute works. To illustrate my point, consider the site columns that the Office …
Continue readingWrite Your CAML Queries in C# using CAML.NET
I’m always on the lookout for ways to work smarter, not harder. When developing SharePoint solutions, that means finding ways to reduce the overall “surface area” of the platform so I don’t have to spend so much time on the …
Continue readingWorking with CAML.Net – Part 1
Well, there’s a bit of a buzz growing around this CAML.Net idea, so I thought it might help to dive a little deeper into the technique to show what can be done. It’s really kind of interesting what happens when …
Continue readingWorking with CAML.Net – Part 2
In Part 1 of this series, I introduced the CAML.NET Framework, which provides a way for C# developers (and eventually VB developers) to construct CAML queries and other data structures using a strongly-typed .NET language instead of XML. This …
Continue readingContent Types – The Soul of a New Paradigm
As you probably know by now, SharePoint 2007 has a new feature called Content Types. Having been asked by more than a few friends and colleagues what they are, or more precisely, what benefits they offer, I decided to share …
Continue readingAre you an Office Geek?
I know it. You know it. Your wife or girlfriend, husband or brother surely knows it. If you’re reading this, you might as well admit it – you’re a geek. The question is: are you an “Office Geek”?
We’re not …
Continue readingSharePoint Designer To The Rescue
So I needed to setup a quick demo of the new SharePoint 2007, InfoPath 2007 and workflow. The task was simple – create an InfoPath form with a few fields, save the form to a SharePoint form library with certain …
Continue readingWill Workflow Solve the Software Crisis?
20 years ago, software legend Brad Cox (Objective-C) described the emerging software crisis and advocated a fundamental change in the way we approach software development.
Hardware engineers have discovered how to reuse each other’s efforts; to stand on the shoulders …