Export timephased ( or timescaled) project data to Excel from MS Project 2010 with visual reports

In MS Project 2003 you had a separate button – Analyze Timescaled Data in Excel, for those of you who are looking for this functionality in MS Project 2010 – take a look at the new Visual Reports feature in 2010.

Tags van Technorati: Excel,MSProject,Microsoft

The surprising truth about using [Today] in SharePoint 2010 Filters–showing items from the last 7 days

When you want to show the items created in the last 7 days in a specific SharePoint view you need to keep two things in mind:

• Make sure that you remove spaces from the filter value – otherwise you will get “Filter value is not in a supported date format” – so “[Today]-7” works but “[Today] – 7” will not work
• Apparently the “[Today]” parameter is MUI aware – so when you creating a formula with Dutch as language you have to use [Vandaag] (For more about MUI check out Multilingual User Interface (MUI) in SharePoint 2010 – Part I as well as Multilingual User Interface (MUI) in SharePoint 2010 – Part II)

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,MUI,views,microsoft

Microsoft Business Ready Security Trial Environment

The Microsoft Business Ready Security trial environment contains an interesting set of VJDs that you can use to evaluate protection, access, management and identity technologies from Microsoft as a pre-configured set of VHDs and is using the following products:

• Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010
• Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange/Forefront Protection 2010 for SharePoint/Forefront Protection for Server Management Console
• Forefront Identity Manager 2010
• Forefront Threat Management Gateway 2010
• Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010
• Active Directory Rights Management Services

Download Details – Microsoft Business Ready Security Trial Environment

Tags van Technorati: Forefront,UAG,RMS,Microsoft,security,identity+management

Book Review–Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Power User Cookbook

The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Power User Cookbook is  an excellent book which is aimed specifically at getting things done in SharePoint without requiring development or hardcore administration skills. And I must say I like it. 

This book is a must have reference guide for business power users who use SharePoint in their daily job but don’t need to know all the background about how SharePoint exactly works from a system perspective.

It is however also very useful for SharePoint administrators who need to perform common SharePoint tasks as well as for SharePoint business analysts and project manager who need a more practical view on how to accomplish things in SharePoint.

It contains over 70 recipes going from very basic tasks such as creating site columns, securing objects, etc … to more complex tasks such as creating external content types, creating dashboards using PerformancePoint Dashboard designer. Each of these recipes contains a number of different sections:

• Getting ready – explains for which version of SharePoint it works
• How to do it – step by step guideline about how to configure things in SharePoint
• How it works and There’s more – background information
• See also – reference to related recipes.

Each recipe consists of a limited number of pages containing the bare essential for getting your SharePoint task done. Great job from the authors…

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,book+review,sharepoint+2010,microsoft

Outlook 2010 Quick Tip – Showing week numbers

Just a reminder to myself – Outlook 2010 makes it possible to show week numbers in Calendar View. Go to the Outlook Backstage > Options > Calendar

and check Show Weeknumbers in the Month View and in the Date Navigator

Tags van Technorati: Outlook2010,microsoft

My favorite 5 sessions for TechDays 2012 Belgium

You smell that? Do you smell that? New technologies, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of new technologies in the morning… (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now) .

Yep, TechDays 2012 is coming near, so don’t forget to register – there are still some seats available. If you don’t know what to choose, check out my list of favorite sessions below:

• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 – Better Together
• HTML5 Quick Start
• SharePoint Governance Part I: Architecting SharePoint for Scalability and Enforceable Governance and Part II: Automating Governance and Management
• Building Cross-Platform Mobile Applications with HTML 5

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,techdays2012,techdays+belgium,microsoft,development,ITPro,HTML5,Governance

Wondering how companies are using SharePoint?

Are you wondering how other companies are using SharePoint Server 2010? Then you definitely need to take a look at these different surveys which were conducted in 2010 and 2011:

• How are business using SharePoint in the Enterprise (2010  - conducted by Global 360) 
• How are business using SharePoint in the Enterprise (2011 – followup survey from Global 360) – also check out the related slideshare presenation on State of the SharePoint market
• TEC Survey (Quest, 2011)
• SharePoint, ECM and Cloud Storage Adoption (Colligo, 2010)
• SharePoint Adoption: Content and collaboration is just the start (Forrester, 2011)

Tags van Technorati: SharePoint,user+adoption,sps2010,sharepoint+2010,microsoft,forrester,global360,colligo,quest

Final BIWUG Session for 2012 – SharePoint 2010 Variations (Level 400)

In order to finalize the SharePoint multilingual sessions BIWUG ( the Belux Information Worker User Group) – www.biwug.be has a special evening planned.

This session will cover level 400 topics on SharePoint 2010 Variations. The following topics will be covered: concepts and internals of variations (page vs. site variations), concepts and internals of configuration, variation Timer Jobs internals, different flavors of variations (automatic, manual, different site templates, same site templates, …), the “famous relationships list”, stsadm and PowerShell commands which assist variations, changes between 2007 and 2010.

Demos will be performed while some coding aspects will be covered. It will be shown how variations can be used for other purposes than just implementing multilingual solutions

Pascal Benois is a SharePoint Premier Field Engineer at Microsoft.
He is into SharePoint technologies from the early days and has a strong focus on custom applications, ECM and multilingual deployments.

Date: 21/12/2011 at 18:00, you are welcome at 17:30
Location: Microsoft Belgium offices
Registration link: http://biwug2112-estwhdr.eventbrite.co.uk/

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,biwug,multilingual,variations,microsoft

How to install SharePoint Server 2010 Language Packs on Windows 7

When trying to install SharePoint Server 2010 Language Packs on top of Windows 7 you might receive the following error – “Setup is enable to proceed due to the following errors: this product requires Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 …” – to work around this you can use the same procedure with the language pack installation files as the one outlined for the normal SharePoint installation on Windows 7 – a great walkthrough is Setting up the Development Environment for SharePoint 2010 on Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008. Listed below are the exact steps

• Copy the language pack installation files to a folder on your computer where you are installing SharePoint and doing your development

• Extract the installation files by opening a Command Prompt window, and then typing the following command at the directory location of the folder where you copied the installation files in the previous step.

• For SharePoint Foundation 2010  - c:\SharePointFiles\SharePointLanguagePack.exe /extract:c:\LangPack

• For SharePoint Server 2010 -c:\SharePointFiles\ServerLanguagePack.exe /extract:c:\LangPack

• Using a text editor such as Notepad, open the installation configuration file, config.xml, located in the following path: c:\LangPack\files\Setup\config.xml and add <Setting Id="AllowWindowsClientInstall" Value="True"/> inside the <configuration> tag

• Proceed with the installation using the normal way of working

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepoint+2010,sps+2010,windows+7,development

 

Quick Tip – Solving WP7 DatePicker and TimePicker missing icons problem

To see the correct ApplicationBar icons in the DatePicker and TimePicker, you will need to create a folder in the root of your project called "Toolkit.Content" and put the icons in there. The toolkit provides the necessary icons, but you have to copy them from the PhoneToolkitSample project. They must be named "ApplicationBar.Cancel.png" and "ApplicationBar.Check.png" and the build action must be "Content"!

Source: WP7 DatePicker and TimePicker in depth | API and Customization

Technorati Tags: WP7,WP7BE,windows+phone,silverlight+toolkit,silverlight,development

BIWUG session about the SharePoint 2010 Multilingual User Interface on 30th of November

 

Doing a SharePoint project in a multilingual environment can be tricky. In this BIWUG session we will focus on how the new MUI (Multilingual User Interface) allows for multilingual collaboration scenarios. We will show you how MUI and the SharePoint variations framework relate to each other. Next to showing the out of the box features we will do a deep dive for developers explaining how to use the MUI framework in SharePoint custom solutions. The session will wrap up with some best practices and pitfalls as well as a round the table discussion to exchange ideas.

Hope to see you there.

Agenda:

18:00-18:30 – Welcome and snacks

18:30-19:30 – SharePoint MUI – Part I (Speakers: Andy Van Steenbergen & Joris Poelmans)

19:30-19:45 – Break

19:45:20:45 – SharePoint MUI – Part II (Speakers: Andy Van Steenbergen & Joris Poelmans)

20:45 – … SharePint!

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sps2010,sharepoint+2010,MUI,BIWUG,community,microsoft

Presenting SharePoint 2010 - to pie or not to pie?

I recently found an interesting discussion about the SharePoint pie – to pie or not to pie?  Most of you have probably use the image depicted below in presentations to potential customers – but is that such a good idea?

Here are some of my ideas about this:

• The SharePoint 2010 pie makes sense to talk to technical people who have worked with previous versions of SharePoint – also check out this one – Making sense of the SharePoint 2010 pie
• It is probably not the pie that matters but the story behind it – the translation to the business context of a specific customer which makes a difference - an excellent article about this is Effectively communicate the power of SharePoint to a business audience
• I haven’t found a comparable compelling graphic yet to explain such a diverse product (or platform) such as SharePoint – so I will probably still be using it for quite a while.
• The terms used within the pie such as composites, insights are probably not known with business users but they are commonly used by all SharePoint professionals so it makes it for customers  sometimes a little simpler to compare consultants and their sales pitch.

Please leave a comment with your idea about this or fill in this poll

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepoint2010,sps2010,microsoft

Supporting links for SharePoint Foundation 2010 Development training Part 2

Module 8 – Sandboxed solutions

• SharePoint 2010 Sandboxed Solutions – Codeplex
• Creating Sandboxed Solutions with SharePoint 2010 (Training video – 1:06:08 and virtual lab)
• Developing, Deploying and Monitoring Sandboxed solutions in SharePoint 2010
• SharePoint 2010 Generic Solution Validator
• How to create custom feature and package validation rules for SharePoint solutions
• How to create and register a sandbox proxy

Module 9 – SharePoint Web Services

• JQuery library for SharePoint web services
• Chapter 10 : Developing Service-Oriented Applications for SharePoint 2010 (From Beginning SharePoint 2010 Development)

Module 10: LINQ and REST

• REST And LINQ (SharePoint Conference Video 1:19:12)
• TechDays 2010: Developing with REST and LINQ in SharePoint 2010

Module 11: Building webparts

• Module 1: Getting Started Building web parts in SharePoint 2010
• Advanced Web Part Development in SharePoint 2010 (Video SharePoint Connection 2010 –0:58:11)

BIWUG on SharePoint Governance and the past, the present and the future

BIWUG is announcing another session about SharePoint on Thursday October 27th 2011 in the Microsoft Belgium offices.

Agenda

18:00-19:00 Welcome with snacks

19:00-19:15 Introduction

19:15-20:15 SharePoint Governance (Speaker Patrick Sledz): Stop thinking about features features features when talking about governance.

When designing governance for a SharePoint implementation, a lot (not to say all) energy and words go out to technical stuff, SLA's and not to the things that define the business value. And the business value is not only a perfect technically tuned and performant SharePoint farm (if that even exists).

20:15-20:30 Break

20:30-21:00 The past, present and the future of BIWUG

During a seemingly quiet period, a lot has been going on behind the scenes. The result of all this secrecy will be revealed in the second part of the evening.

21:00-21:30 SharePint!

Of course there is also an opportunity to network, socialize and discuss the matter explained the previous hours... therefore SharePint!

Location: Microsoft Belgium Corporate Village - Bayreuth Building, Leonardo Da Vincilaan 3, 1935 Zaventem

Registration is now opened on the BIWUG site www.biwug.be

Technorati Tags: biwug,sharepoint,community,sharepoint+2010

Supporting links for SharePoint Foundation 2010 Development training Part 1

Module 3 – Object Model

• Debugging and logging capabilities in SharePoint 2010
• ULS Viewer tool 
• How to create custom SharePoint 2010 Application Pages using Visual Studio 2010 and Creating Application Pages for SharePoint and Creating a SharePoint Site Page with Code Behind using Visual Studio 2010
• Using Modules to include files in the solution

Module 4 – Client Object Models

• SharePoint 2010 Developer Training Course – Client Object Model – Videos and Hands On Lab
• Chapter 13: The Client Object Model and JQuery (From Professional Branding and User Interface Design)
• Chapter 14: Silverlight and SharePoint integration

Module 5 – SharePoint Permissions

• Granting a user or group permissions to SharePoint object is done using the SPRoleAssignment class
• Trimming WebPart Output with SPSecurityTrimmedControl
• Hide content or controls based on Permissions using SPSecurityTrimmedControl
• Running SharePoint code with elevating privileges using SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges method

Module 6 – Authentication with Custom Claims

• Form Based Authentication in SharePoint 2010 and what it has to do with Claim Based Authentication
• Building a claims viewer webpart for SharePoint 2010

Module 7 – Features and Solutions

• Core Development in SharePoint 2010 – Lesson 1 Feature Framework and Solution Deployment Improvements (Training video –1:04:25)
• Features in SharePoint 2007 (Basic introduction to features – still applicable for 2010)
• SharePoint Solution Installer (Codeplex)

BIWUG Presentation about Office 365 but mainly SharePoint Online from a technical perspective available on Slideshare

SharePoint 2010 Online from a technical perspective

View more presentations from Joris Poelmans

Attaching Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2

Attaching VHDs in Windows 7 works quite easily – just go to Computer Management > Disk Management. Select the Attach VHD in the Actions menu.

Works like a charm.

Tags van Technorati: windows+7,vhd,microsoft

Solving failed to lock the file error in VMWare on booting of virtual machine

Just delete the .lck files that you see in the VM folder and your virtual machine will boot up again nicely. Apparently these .lck files are used for locking the VM storage files (VMDK files) – in case that your virtual machine stopped unexpected – these files were not removed automatically – so it is safe to remove them manually.

Tags van Technorati: vmware,lock+error,lck

Next BIWUG session September 8th at RealDolmen

BIWUG, the Belux Information Worker User Group – www.biwug.be - is announcing another session about SharePoint 2010 on Thursday September 8th 2011 in the RealDolmen Huizingen offices.

Agenda
18:00-18:30 Welcome with sandwich lunch
18:30-19:30 SQL Server for SharePoint Geeks (Speaker - Thomas Vochten – @Thomasvochten). Topics: which SQL Server editions to use, configuration best practices, common misconceptions and its impact on SharePoint.
19:30-19:45 Break
19:45-20:45 Office 365 – but mainly SharePoint Online - from a technical perspective (Speaker - Joris Poelmans – @jopxtwits) Topics: focus on SharePoint Online both from an administrator and developer standpoint.

Location: RealDolmen Industriezone Zenneveld, Vaucampslaan 42, 1654 Huizingen, Belgium (Roadmap in PDF format)

Entrance is free but registration is required on the BIWUG site – www.biwug.be . Hope to see you there.

Tags van Technorati: BIWUG,community,SharePoint,Office365,SQLServer,SharePoint+2010,administration

SharePoint 2010 Healthcare site templates freely available for download

For SharePoint Server 2007 Microsoft made the Fabulous 40 stie templates available as sample site templates but decided not to upgrade the Fabulous 40 to 2010 although you could do it yourself.

Warning – it seems that Microsoft has removed these downloads – I will put them back when I find them again.

But apparently Microsoft released a new set of application templates for SharePoint in June called the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Templates for Health Organizations:

• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Request for Proposal - The Request for Proposal application template helps manage the process of creating and releasing an initial RFP, collecting proposal submissions, and formally accepting the selected proposal from among those submitted.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Help Desk - The Help Desk application template helps departments such as IT, Facilities, and HR manage service requests
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Physical Asset Tracking and Management - The Physical Asset Tracking and Management application template helps departments such as Facilities, BioMedical, and Surgery manage requests and the tracking of physical assets.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Team Work Site- - The Team Work Site application template provides a place where clinical and business teams, such as Medical Management or Environment of Care committees, can upload background documents, track scheduled calendar events, initiate discussion topics, and submit action items.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Clinical Trial Initiation and Management - For those who work in academic medical centers, the Clinical Trial Initiation and Management application template helps teams track clinical trial protocols, set objectives, select subjects, and manage the budget.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Employee Training Scheduling and Materials - The Employee Training Scheduling and Materials application template helps nursing educators and other instructors manage courses and related materials.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Employee Activities Site - The Employee Activities Site application template helps departments such as HR and Marketing manage the creation of and attendance at employee events.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Case Management - The Case Management application template helps case managers track the status and tasks required to complete their work.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects - The Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects application template helps project teams track and budget multiple, interrelated sets of activities.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Business Performance Reporting - The Business Performance Reporting application template helps managers in healthcare organizations track the satisfaction of internal customers/patients through a combination of surveys and discussions.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Event Planning - The Event Planning application template helps teams organize events efficiently through the use of online registration, schedules, communication, and feedback.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Knowledgebase - The Knowledge Base application template helps teams manage the information that is resident within their organization.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Change Request Management - The Change Request Management application template helps users track risks associated with a design change.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Call Center - The Call Center application template helps departments such as Billing, HR, and IT manage customer service requests, from issue identification to cause analysis and resolution.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Discussion Database - The Discussion Database application template provides a location where team members can create and reply to discussion topics.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Document Library and Review - The Document Library and Review application template helps people manage the review cycle common to processes like publication, knowledge management, and project plan development.
• Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations: Compliance Process Support Site - The Compliance Process Support Site application template helps both teams and executive sponsors manage compliance implementation endeavors, such as HIPAA.

If you want to try all of them out there is also a separate download containing of the different templates – check out Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Application Template for Health Organizations – All templates – single download

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint,sharepoint+2010,sps2010,healthcare,sharepoint+server+2010,microsoft