SharePoint 4 Developers

Hi folks,

This post is the continuation of the lesson 1 Core SharePoint Features. In this post you can find the definition, utilization and example of views.

As a resource, it makes easier the selection and display of items, specially if your list/library has many items.

Have a good reading!

Views

Basically a view is a visual representation of data in a List/Library based on a selection criteria, which defines how data is displayed.

Why to use views?

Imagine a library full of items, maybe with hundreds of documents. It becomes difficult to find a document visually in the middle of others. In order to facilitate its localization, a view can be created, because it works as a filter.

The view All Documents was created automatically when the library VIDocs was created firstly, according the last post. Figure 1 displays the All Documents view by default.

Figura 1 – Default View

At this moment we have few documents in the library, however, depending on the utilization, this list can grow and then it can be difficult to localize documents.

So let´s create a view based on the column FileType of our last example.

Open the menu that contains all views and select Create View, according Figure 2.

Figure 2 – Create a view

A set of views is displayed according Figure 3, each one with specific features, detailed in the Table 1.

Figura 3 – View Format

Table 1 – Types of views available

Other types of views may be available. In the Figure 3 there is an additional type of view called Access view, which starts an Access file to create forms and reports that are based on the list.

Select the Standard View format.

We are about to create a view that groups documents of same type based on the column FileType, as displayed in Figures 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Figure 4 – View VIDocs (1/4)

Figure 5 – View VIDocs (2/4)

Figure 6 – View VIDocs (3/4)

Figure 7 – View VIDocs (4/4)

It needs to fill many fields (textbox / option fields) throughout the creation of view, according figures above. Depending on the view you need, other fields may be needed. You can find below a description in details of the displayed sections:

Table 2 – View Configuration

The following view will be displayed after clicking OK, which is grouped by the FileType column, according Figure 8.

Figure 8 – View VIDocs (Grouped by FileType)

Notice that each FileType group displays the amount of files. Click the symbol (+) to expand the grouping and see all contained documents.

Lesson 1 is not finished yet, today you could learn about views. In the next post I am going to present you web parts.

Hope it could help!

Reference:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/HA100215771033.aspx

Cheers,

Marcel Medina

Click here to read the same content in Portuguese.

Hi folks,

This post is the continuation of the lesson Core SharePoint Features. Today we are going to see definitions, types and an example of how to create Columns.

It contains many figures that facilitate the understanding and learning.

Let´s go to another post belonging to this series!

Site Columns

Site Columns are column definitions that can be assigned to multiple lists across multiple SharePoint sites (available at the scope of Site Collection).

Due to the fact they are shared, Site Columns eliminate the need to create repeated columns (redundancy) in each site, ensuring consistency of column metadata. However Site Columns can be copied to Lists and then to belong exclusively to the List, becoming List Columns.

Site Columns and List Columns can be added to Content types*.

Keeping up with our example started in the previous post, now we´re going to create a column called FileType in the library VIDocs, which will contain the definition of the file type that was created or uploaded.

Every time you create a column to your list, preferably add a column based on an existing column, through Settings > Document Library Settings > Add from existing site columns. If the column doesn´t exist (as in this case), firstly we must create the site column and then add it to our library.

In order to create the column go to Site Actions > Site Settings > Site columns (under Galleries), according Figure 1 and 2.

Figure 1 – Site Settings Menu

Figure 2 – Site Settings

Click Create.

Figure 3 – Site Column Gallery

Next step is the column creation, however the selection of the column type to our example is needed. Table 1 displays the existing column types available in SharePoint and their features.

Table 1 – Existing Column Types

In our example the column FileType must be a column of type Choice and have these elements: Word Document, Excel Spreadsheet, Portable Document Format, Text File, XML File and Image File.

Table 2 displays the column settings and figures 4, 5 and 6 display the screenshot details.

Table 2 – Column Settings

Figure 4 – New Site Column (1/3)

Figure 5 – New Site Column (2/3)

Figure 6 – New Site Column (3/3)

Click OK to create the Site Column.

After creating the column, we need to configure our library VIDocs to display it. Open the library and go to Settings > Document Library Settings, according Figure 7.

Figure 7 – Document Library Settings Menu

Then click in Add from existing site columns according Figure 8.

Figure 8 – Document Library Settings

A new page will be displayed to select the column, according Figure 9. Select it and click OK.

Figure 9 – Adding columns from existing Site Columns

This way the column will be added to the library VIDocs. In the Figure 10 we can check out the updated library with the FileType column available (and filled).

Figure 10 – FileType Column

Once the column is created, our example will be used in the next part of lesson 1, which continues in the next post, containing explanations about views.

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content types* - Collection of content settings. (To be seen in another lesson)
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References:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms450825.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/HA101577691033.aspx
Book: Essential SharePoint 2007 (Addison Wesley Series)
Book: Essential SharePoint 2007, Second Edition (O'Reilly, 2007)

Cheers,

Marcel Medina

Click here to read the same content in Portuguese.

Hi folks,

This post is the continuation of Core SharePoint Features lesson. It will introduce you with definitions, types and an example of creating Lists.

This object understanding is essential to comprehend how WSS and MOSS store data and let it available to users.

Lists and Libraries

They are data tables, very similar to tables from a database. However we can´t compare a SharePoint list to a simple table from the database, which just stores records.

A List is a mini-application inside SharePoint, created from List Templates that support workflows, content types*, versioning and permissions.

Tables 1 and 2 show what lists are available with WSS and MOSS respectively.

Table 1 – Built-in List Templates provided by WSS

Table 2 – Additional List Templates from MOSS

Library is sort of a special list, which main difference from a List is the possibility to store files.

Tables 3 and 4 show what libraries are available with WSS and MOSS respectively.

Table 3 – Built-in Library Templates provided by WSS

Table 4 – Additional Library Templates from MOSS

Among all lists and libraries displayed in above tables, we are going to create a library that, besides having all features of a list, offers file storage.

Let´s check the creation of a library using the Library Template called Document Library, which by the way is the same used by Shared Documents library (Fig. 1).

This same example will be used in the next posts of lesson 1.

In order to view the existing libraries in the current site, click in View All Site Content (Fig. 1).

Figure 1 – Main page

Figure 2 displays some lists and libraries grouped by categories. By default they are available through sites every time a new site is created.

Figure 2 – All Site Content

Click Create. We are going to create a new list based on the template Document Library.

Figure 3 – Library Creation

The name of our library is suggestive of adoption and concerns about the utilization of lists for document files storage. It is going to be named VIDocs, as per Figure 4, which means Very Important Documents.

This is the way we should use libraries, just storing important documents.

Some companies insist transforming SharePoint as a file server, but they don´t analyze first some issues concerning Lists size growing and administrative tasks.

Warning: This is a polemic matter that I will bring it again in another post soon. Just store important documents, unless you know exactly what you are doing.

Figure 4 – Library Creation Details

Click New or upload some documents to check how simple it is. Upload lots of files, specially different types such as Word document, Text file, PDF, Excel spreadsheet, etc.
If you have Office 2003 Pro or Office 2007, you can use the feature Upload Multiple Documents.

Figure 5 – Documents Upload

There are other ways to bulk upload files that will not be shown in this post. If you are interested to know more about it immediately, please contact me, otherwise I will let a post of Tips and Tricks category available for this purpose.

Lesson 1 continues in the next post, with explanations about columns and views.

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content types* - Collection of content settings. (To be seen in another lesson)
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References:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd490727.aspx
Livro: Essential SharePoint 2007 (Addison Wesley Series)
Livro: Essential SharePoint 2007, Second Edition (O'Reilly, 2007)

Cheers,

Marcel Medina

Click here to read the same content in Portuguese.