Installing the SharePoint Infrastructure Update

I finally got around to installing the SharePoint infrastructure update on MOSS dev machine. Everything went very smoothly ... I had SP1 already installed (yes that's a prerequisite) so just three steps for me

1. First installed the update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695). Cancel out of the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard".
2. Install Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297)
3. Run the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard".

What's included in the Infrastructure update for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server:

• The new Enterprise Search features which were shipped with Search Server 2008 - e.g. the new federated search capability.Read more about the new Search features here.
• Fixes related with content deployment - Read more about the Content Deployment updates here.

For detailed information take a look at:

• Announcing : Availability of Infrastructure update
• Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x86
• Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x64
• Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x86
• Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x64
• Infrastructure Update - SharePoint IT Pro Documentation Blog

Be aware though that there are also some things that you have to watch out for when deploying these updates - I  think these are the main problem areas:

• Problems with Alternate Access Mapping  in an extranet deployment scenario with a reverse proxy or a network load balancer. Some people reported that this does not affect a deployment which uses ISA Server - Problem with SharePoint Infrastructure Update
• Problem with custom code which uses impersonation - take a look at this code snippet from Daniel Larson - KB: When is the SPContext.Current available ? (SharePoint dev)
• Infrastructure update kills view functionality in picture libraries
• Infrastructure update issues - informal interview with Troy

 

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,infrastructure+update,microsoft,moss+2007,wssv3

Why Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 might interest SharePoint developers ...

One of the reasons why Dynamics AX 2009 might be of interesting to SharePoint Developers is the Enterprise Portal functionality. Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 is built on ASP.net/AJAX, it uses Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and provides full power and flexibility  to  developers to build real , modern , interactive and responsive web applications for intranet, extranet and internet scenarios.

Resources [All links require Partnersource login]:

• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 installation guide and
• Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 VPC Image
• Presales demonstration toolkit for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 - contains 2 different VPC images as well as a number of demonstration scripts
• Rapid configuration tool for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
• Dynamics AX 2009 Enterprise Portal Quickstart
• Enterprise Portal Screencasts
• Demo data for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Tags van Technorati: dynamics+ax,ax+2009,sharepoint,moss+2007,moss,microsoft

Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS) on Codeplex

The Podcasting Kit for SharePoint is definitely one of the coolest projects on Codeplex using SharePoint - http://www.codeplex.com/pks

So what does Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS) do:

• It provides a platform for delivering audio/video podcasts (with support for Zune, Smartphone or other podcasting devices).
• I has a built-in rating system, tag cloud support and feedback through comments.
• Provide RSS feeds for updates about podcasts which are being delivered.
• Provides a Silverlight-based media plyer with support for progressive playback.

The source code for PKS is free for SharePoint customers under the Microsoft Public License.

I started playing around with PKS in june and after struggling to work myself through the 35 pages of installation documentation - I noticed that the June release was not compatible with Silverlight 2 Beta 2 (Bummer .... :-( ). Another important notice - PKS has been built to work on top of SharePoint Server 2007 - it does not work with WSS 3.0.

So what's new/fixed in the july release (still no support for Silverlight 2Beta 2 - expected for august release)

• Large file upload support via http and silverlight
• Podcaster search functionality working as designed
• RSS feeds working as designed
• Publish dates displaying correctly
• The RSS feeds have been updated to handle podcasting tags for any kind which will allow any podcast catching software to read them.
• The documentation has been updated significantly with many user-feedback requests added. One item that is specifically addressed in the documentation is the post installation configuration.

Can't wait to get my hands on the august release ....

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,codeplex,podcasting,zune,sharepoint+2007,moss+2007,moss,PKS

How to increase SharePoint user adoption

Adoption is definitely the toughest part about SharePoint projects ... if you want your project to be a success  a "build and users will come"-strategy is not a good approach. The next tips are a compilation of an email discussion with some other MVPs about user adoption.

1. Communication - involve people early. Provide a sandbox to play with before the production system system is ready. Provide short informal training sessions. This goes a long way, but it’s not enough.
2. Education and training  are key components for success. Try to use a "train-the-trainer" principle so that people within the organization will promote your solution.
3. People will resist change so deal with it. So people don't like it when something looks, and or acts differently than what they people are used to.  Through customization and development, you should be able to deliver a much more familiar experience and subsequently promote user-adoption. “Delivering a familiar experience” is good, but a lot of SharePoint concepts are just plain different, and people do need to change how they think. That’s hard, no way around it. Instead of a familiar experience, I aim for an obvious experience.
4. Use the "What's in it for me" principle. People probably won't use your SharePoint solution just for the fun of it (well some of them will).  So try to explain them the benefits using examples out of their daily work routine. If that doesn't work you can always try to appeal to their better nature, appeal to their egos. You don’t need to reward people with free stuff, but some sort of recognition for “most docs migrated” or “most posts” or any sort of recognition at all goes a long way.  You can even take it one step furhter by integrate SharePoint within role descriptions/responsibilities.
5. Look for senior sponsorship/leadership within the organization. People are sheep so look for need a senior project sponsor to actually use it and make it the way they do business.

Don't take the list above for an exhaustive list - you will probably come up with some other thoughts. Don't hesitate and leave a comment.

Other resources:

• 4 guidelines to drive SharePoint adoption
• Some more guidelines to a successfull SharePoint user adoption.
• SharePoint user adoption

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,user+adoption,microsoft,change+management

Installing Visual Studio 2008 SP1

I just finished installing Visual Studio 2008 SP1 (after cleaning up for extra disk space on C-drive).

Interesting new functionality/enhancements (something unusual for a service pack):

ASP.Net MVC

ASP.NET Dynamic Data

ASP.NET AJAX Back/Forward Button History Support

ASP.Net Routing (System.Web.Routing)

ADO.NET Data Services

ADO.NET Entity Framework

WCF 3.5 SP1

.NET Framework Client Profile : a trimmed subset of the full .NET 3.5 SP1 framework, targeted towards desktop/client applications. The trimming offers a few benefits - smaller size will make it easier to deploy online , trimmed API reduces the surface area of the framework on the client

SQL 2008 support for Visual Studio (I was waiting for this one :-))

Visual Studio Support for Classic ASP Intellisense and Debugging

 

Links:

• Download Visual Studio 2008 SP1
• Download Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 SP1
• Download .Net Framework 3.5 Enhancements Training Kit
• http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2008/08/12/more-things-to-know-about-installing-sp1.aspx
• Silverlight Tools Beta2 for Visual Studio 2008 (install after installing SP1
• Somasegar's announcement about SP1

Tags van Technorati: asp.net,visual+studio,vs2008,microsoft

Announcing International SharePoint Professionals Association (ISPA)

International SharePoint Professionals Association (“ISPA”) was announced mid july - see the press release as well as the announcement of Bob Fox for more details. I'm proud to work together with them as the ISPA Regional Evangelist for Belgium. I also registered BIWUG on their site. So if you have any questions - do not hesitate to contact me (but first check out the FAQ)

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 and guidance to the community  by establishing connections between SharePoint professionals and groups, resources, education and information.

Services which currently are available through the ISPA web site:

• SharePoint User Groups can request their own web site - Submit a request
• Add your user group to the listing - Submit your information here.

Definitely check out the site - http://www.sharepointpros.org

Tags van Technorati: community,sharepoint,microsoft,ispa

SQL Server 2008 RTM

SQL Server 2008 is now available on MSDN and TechNet, see the announcement here.

Resources:

• SQL Server 2008 Demos and videos
• SQL Server 2008 Evaluation version
• SQL Server 2008 - What's new
• SQL Server 2008 Books Online.
• Planning a SQL Server Installation
• Installing SQL Server 2008
• Quick Start Installation
• Installation How-to Topics 
• SQL Server 2008 Feature Pack

Tags van Technorati: sqlserver+2008,microsoft

Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight - Part II - Update for Silverlight 2 Beta2

In Getting started with SharePoint and Silverlight - Part II I talked about the Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint. With the recent release of Silverlight 2 Beta2 I was wondering how easy it would be to get the Silverlight BluePrint to work with it. Unfortunately, things did not work quite easily - for an overview of changes in beta2  take a look at http://blogs.msdn.com/silverlight_sdk/archive/2008/06/04/breaking-changes-for-silverlight-2-beta-2-corrections-and-additions.aspx

For the HelloSilverlight sample the change is pretty simple:

• Rebuild Silverlight applications and copy the XAP file to the clientbin directory
• Remove the version property for the SilverlightControl - this seems to be removed in beta2.
• Rebuild and deploy to the GAC. Perform iisreset.

If you look at the Silverlight Mediaviewer webpart you will notice that this one is a little more complicated to update to Silverlight 2.0 beta.

The main problem with SharePoint integration and  Silverlight 2.0 beta 2 is the change  to HttpWebRequest class - delegates are called on a new non-UI  background thread. This means that you will need to use System.Threading.SynchronizationContext to update the UI on the background thread. It took me a while to figure this one out ... after I finally found the solution I found this great posting about the necessary changes (would have spared me a couple of hours) - Porting the Silverlight Blueprints for SharePoint to Silverlight 2 Beta2.

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,silverlight,silverlight2beta2,development,microsoft,moss,silverlight+bluepringt

Interesting free SharePoint platform extensions

Here are another couple of interesting tools that you can use to extend SharePoint - happy SharePointing

• Community Kit for SharePoint - especially the Enhanced Blog edition and the Enhanced Wiki Edition are quite interesting ...
• Search Community Toolkit - The Search Community Toolkit is comprised of a number of tools and code samples that have been contributed to enhance the Microsoft search experience (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) Search, Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express).  Most of them were already available but there are some new additions as well such as the Search ASP.NET controls - these controls replicate the Search Box and Core Results Web Parts but as ASP.NET Server Controls bound to the search web service. This way you can easily integrate it into your own web site.
• RSS Reader webpart - This web part serves as an alternative for the MOSS RSS Viewer web part, especially if you do not have MOSS or if you need to display RSS feeds on a WSS site. I needed to write this web part for that exact reason, I didn't have MOSS and I needed an RSS web part on my WSS site. The web part is Ajax enabled for faster page loads.
• Poll web part - Provides the ability to quickly and easily place a poll onto a site and get feeback from end users, without making them jump to a different page.
• SharePoint SearchCoder - allows you to use the Search object model in a cleaner fashion.

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,moss,moss+2007,sharepoint+2007,microsoft

OBA Composition Reference Toolkit

OBAs' (Office Business Applications) are an interesting concept but unfortunately I don't see a lot of traction in Belgium. Here's a short recap of what OBA's are about:

Office Business Applications are an emerging class of applications that helps business unlock the value of their line-of-business (LOB) systems and turn document-based  processes into real applications.

Agnes has some interesting postings about the OBA Composition Reference Toolkit

Related resources:

• OBA link love
• More about OBAs and RAPs
• Office Business Applications - crossing the chasm

Tags van Technorati: OBA,microsoft,sharepoint

MSDN Chopsticks - ASP.NET MVC

My colleague Maarten created some very nice MSDN chopsticks (webcasts) about the ASP.NET MVC framework - check them out

http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/post/2008/07/23/MSDN-Chopsticks-on-ASPNET-MVC-(screencasts).aspx

Tags van Technorati: asp.net,microsoft,aspnetmvc,mvc,development

Writing performant code in SharePoint

This is an excerpt from SharePoint 2007: The definitive Guide,

Note that the SharePoint object model contains a number of managed objects – most importantly in this instance are SPWeb and SPSite - which use unmanaged code and memory to do the heavy lifting. If you create one of these objects yourself with the constructor method, you should make sure that you add in the necessary code to explicitly dispose of the object when you have finished using it. You can do this by explicitly calling the Dispose method or through the use of the C# using construct (as shown in the previous code listing). Failure to dispose of the object can result in unusual behavior such as high memory usage, frequent recycling of the SharePoint application pool, etc … It is recommended to use the Dispose method instead of simply calling the object’s Close method. 

For more info take a look at these must reads for every SharePoint developer:

• SharePoint.Performance : Optimizing web parts
• Working with large lists in SharePoint
• Troubleshooting SPSite/SPWeb leaks in WSSv3 and MOSS 2007

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,sharepoint+2007,moss,moss+2007,microsoft,wssv3,wss3,csharp

Recording - Exchange Public Folders vs SharePoint - the battle (Community Day 2008)

Ilse Van Crieckinge and I did a session about how SharePoint can be a substitute for Exchange public folders.

Related links:

• Colligo Tools for Email management in MOSS
• Using SharePoint to Manage Email - Part 1 - EPFs or SharePoint?
• Using SharePoint to Manage Email - Part 2 - The Keys to Success
• Using SharePoint to Manage Email - Part 3 - Best Practices Checklist

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,sharepoint+2007,exchange,epf,microsoft,collaboration,community+day,community,moss,moss+2007

When SharePoint projects go bad ...

Some interesting background info on why IT projects fail - and trust me, SharePoint projects are no worse then other IT projects - but there are some complications as you will notice once you get through the next blog series:

• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 1 - The wicked problem theory
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 2 - The strange world of the project manager
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 3 - The Microsoft effect - Good enough ... Especially read the mythical conversation between a somewhat green, yet enthusiastic Microsoft evangelist named Bill Gates, who is discussing MOSS with key stakeholders at the company GOOSUNACLE. Their names are Scott McNealy, Sergei Brin, Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison. :-)
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 4 - The new product factor ... what does it do again?
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 5 - Infrastructure complexity an organizational maturity
• Why do SharePoint Projecst fail Part 6 - Leave us sensitive developers alone already! - also read this one - Why Specs matter 
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 7 - Senior management - can't live with them ...
• Why do SharePoint Projects fail Part 8 - Wicked problem or wicked process dogma

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,project+management,process+improvement,governance,quality,microsoft

What is Enterprise 2.0 - Meet Charlie

Check out the presentation on Slideshare - What is Enterprise 2.0 - Meet Charlie

Related posts:

• Enterprise 2.0 and organizational culture

Tags van Technorati: enterprise2.0,web2.0,collaboration

SharePoint - How we did it postings

The SharePoint product team blog has some excellent postings about SharePoint has been extended. Excellent reading material:

• How We Did It - Tag Driven Information Architecture using MOSS 2007 for the New Zealand Ministry of Transport
• BinaryWave Sonar - Component Level Performance Measurement Tool for SharePoint - How We Did It
• How We Did It: Building a News Workbench on MOSS 2007 for Microsoft's Corporate Intranet Portal
• How we did it: Australia National Native Title Tribunal website - advanced web content management
• Tomoye Ecco and SharePoint Integration – How We Did It and What We Will Do Next
• How We Did It: blueKiwi SharePoint Connector and OfficeAssistant
• How We Did It: Integrating Telligent Community Server Evolution 2008 with SharePoint Server 2007
• How We Did It: Connectbeam Spotlight Connect for SharePoint
• How We Did It: Christian Children’s Fund extranet powered by SharePoint

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,sharepoint+2007,microsoft,moss,moss+2007

[FUN] Site down - hilarious error message

Definitely an interesting error message:

My host, being satan incarnate, messed up the database. Im in Orlando still, so i shall be diligent and fix it when I return.

Tags van Technorati: error+message,fun

Musings about Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

I did a practice session about integrating Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 and the Business Intelligence capabilities of Microsoft SQL Server a couple of weeks ago.

I'm mostly a SharePoint guy but I  was pretty impressed with the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. Since Dynamics AX 2009 finally RTM'ed (Download on partnersource - https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/support/selfsupport/productreleases/DynamicsAX2009release.htm

For more info check out these links:

• What's new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 (Partnersource login required) - powerpoints of both new technical and functional aspects in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009
• What Will Be the Most Important Performance Enhancement in Dynamics AX 2009? Try Scaling of the AOS
• What's new in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 - technical resource (Partnersource login required)
• AX 2009 - Quick overview - Great blogpost from Arijit about MS Dynamics AX 2009.
• Channel 9: a preview of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 with the Dynamics Team (mp4) - (lowres version)
• Solution Monkey : AX 2009 Enterprise Portal architecture
• Dynamics AX 2009 : The Halo for Microsoft's app platform

The coolest thing for SharePoint developers is probably the ASP.NET based Enterprise Portal - everything is basically an ASP.NET web part which makes it a lot easier to develop a light-weight web access for your Dynamics AX back-end.

Something which still strikes me as odd though is the fact that almost all of the documentation is partner-access only - so you will need a Partnersource logon to take a look at the most interesting bits of info. I truly believe that the key to the success of a platform is the community which drives it  ... and it seems as if the Dynamics AX platform solely relies on its partner platform. Too bad ... [This is my personal opinion and not necessarily this of my employer]

Tags van Technorati: microsoft,dynamics+ax,axapta,axapta+2009

Interactive Media Manager (IMM) and SharePoint Server 2007

Interactive Media Manager is a Digital Asset Management (DAM) system built on top of SharePoint Server 2007. Some interesting features:

• Media (MPG,WMV, ...) is not stored in a SharePoint list, the media asset storage is completely separate which allows you to store in a SAN or leverage 3d party solutions such as Aspera and Telestream through a web services layer
• Provides an extensive metadata management layer which supports W3C Resource Description Language (RDF) as well as the Web Ontology Language (OWL)
• Web parts to handle rich media such as IMM import web part, a media viewer web part with support for annotations/comments, Silverlight based Rough Cut editor and the Media Library
• Adds extra IMM specific workflow activity blocks

For a great demo of the capabilities - check out IMM@NAB 2008 (Video)

Related links:

• Channel 9: Interview with Mark Kashman, Product Manager Interactive Media Manager
• IMM on Codeplex
• Interactive Media Manager - link to Starz Entertainment case study
• IMM Team Blog
• IMM MSDN Forum
• IMM Developer center on MSDN

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint+2007,sharepoint+server,MOSS+2007,MOSS,IMM,DAM,Interactive+Media+Manager,microsoft

Enterprise 2.0 and organizational culture

Enterprise 2.0 is probably one of these buzz words you have heard a lot lately. It is also a term which is surrounded by confusion. The simplest definition of Enterprise 2.0 would probably be "...the application of Web 2.0 technologies in the enterprise." . This is similar to the definition which has been put forward by AIIM in one of their studies recently.

Enterprise 2.0: A system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the extended enterprise.

Another cool one - probably my favourite:

Enterprise 2.0 is about empowering your end users to connect and collaborate.

Now let's talk about the key thoughts in the presentation.  The red line in the presentation is the link between organizational culture and Enterprise 2.0. But  what is not clear is whether your organizaiton needs a "culture of collaboration" to successfully use wikis and other Enterprise 2.0 tools or that these tools can enable your organization to embrace a "culture of collaboration".

This might seem like the chicken-and-the-egg problem ... 

I think that you will first need to create a mindset within your company which is ready to embrace collaboration and knowledge sharing before you can start thinking about Enterprise 2.0 - a view which is confirmed by this guy  - Enterprise 2.0 - Culture required?  But on the other hand for those people in your company who get it, you want to provide the necessary tools - so you might want to take a look at a platform which might already be present in your company - guess which one? SharePoint offcourse  ... LOL.

Related links:

• Knowledge and talent in a people ready business
• Knowledge is power! So why share your knowledge?
• SharePoint and Web 2.0
• The value in social networks
• Colleagues, Social Distance & Relevance in People Search, and other Social Networking tools in SharePoint

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,microsoft,web2.0,enterprise2.0,organizational+culture,knowledge+management,knowledgesharing