Philo's WebLog : SharePoint

A "drill through" web part

philoj — Wed, 27 Apr 2005 23:58:00 GMT

This MSDN article shows how to implement a SharePoint web part that can act as a consumer or a provider. However, if you try to use it as a "drill through" web part (another web part filters the results in this web part; clicking on this web part filters or populates another web part), it won't work (actually it will; but it will give unpredictable results)

The reason is that the filter value which filters the grid isn't available when the page is reloaded for the second click-through, and so the index returned on the postback points to the wrong row. The simple solution is to store the selected index in a ViewState variable and test against both the ViewState and the returned datagrid index, then filter as appropriate.

Philo
I had no illusions
That I'd ever find a glimpse of summer's heatwaves in your eyes

Book Review: SharePoint, Building Office 2003 Solutions

philoj — Sat, 17 Apr 2004 22:31:00 GMT

I bought Scot's book hot off the presses, since it's the first major SharePoint 2003 book. When I got it, I breezed through it, and I'll be honest - I was unimpressed.

Well, I had reason to browse through it again, and this time I just sat down and started reading it. That's when I realized - certain book publishers that use multiple authors had taught me not to bother reading computer books through, as they were so disjointed they worked better as technical manuals. So that's what I'm used to - being able to flip a few pages and find the thing I'm looking for.

Scot's book is different. It harkens back to a day where you could actually read through a book and learn a new technology in a structured manner. If you take the time to read the book from start to finish (it doesn't take long - if you skim the tutorials you can probably get through most of it in a single evening) it's a good thorough introduction to SharePoint. And I mean thorough - there are tutorials on building web parts, working with page templates, creating data views in FrontPage, integrating Windows Single Signon...

(Incidentally, I'm not trying to cast aspersion on one method of publishing over another - I'm simply trying to indicate the different “reading philosophies“ each may require)

He also has a nice walkthrough for creating a new portal from the ground up - laying out areas, sites, as well as explaining users and groups.

All in all, I give this book a healthy thumb's up for anyone who wants to learn SharePoint admin and development - for the first book out of the gate, it's an excellent reference to have.

Philo

SharePoint Planning

philoj — Sat, 10 Apr 2004 03:36:00 GMT

      The centipede was happy, quite,
         Until the toad for fun
      Said, 'Pray which leg comes after which?'
      This worked her mind to such a pitch
      She lay distracted in a ditch,
         Considering how to run.

-George Herbert Palmer

It's entirely possible SharePoint offers the best out-of-the-box experience of any product Microsoft has ever released. It's just Next-Next-Next-Next-Finish and you have a Portal to turn your webmasters loose on.

SharePoint offers a lot of power. So much power that it can often be in danger of not getting used at all. There's a hierarchy to SPS Portals, Sites, Pages, etc. There are area pages to aggregate information, groups, audiences, topics, “Best Bets,” and so on. There is so much to do, that an organization can spend all its time “planning” how to deploy a portal and never get around to actually doing it.

There is a story about a college, perhaps apocryphal (Larry Wall seems to think it's UC Irvine)

The college was building a large addition consisting of several buildings and a large quad area. After the buildings were completed, one of the Regents visited. He asked why there were no sidewalks between the buildings?

The college president replied that the architect had a good plan - open the buildings without sidewalks, let the students walk over the grass. Over time, trails will develop along the most common paths.

Then come back in a year and pave the trails.

Treat SharePoint the same way - lay out a basic hierarchy, some basic structure and templates, then simply let people start using it. Let them add sites, pages, content, lists, and so on. Let it build, let it grow. After a period of time, start reviewing the SharePoint reports and logs - then the areas, groups, and other aggregations you need should be apparent. If you need additional structure in the Portal, you can add it. Train the topic assistant and see what it turns up. Review help desk pain points and address those in the portal structure.

But all this time your users have been doing what SharePoint was designed to do - collaborate.

Philo

SharePoint Administrator's Guide

SharePoint Accelerator for Intranets (good background info on SPS)