ASP.NET 2.0 N-tier Application Article

http://imar.spaanjaars.com/QuickDocId.aspx?quickdoc=416

SharePoint 2007 - Good One

http://www.sharepointkings.com/

10 Essential Resources for SharePoint Developers

I wanted this to be a “Top 10” list, I ended up with 14 items!

1. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) SDK and ECM Starter Kit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=6D94E307-67D9-41AC-B2D6-0074D6286FA9&displaylang=en

2. Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) SDK and Workflow Starter Kit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=05e0dd12-8394-402b-8936-a07fe8afaffd&DisplayLang=en
Note The MOSS SDK includes the WSS SDK documentation and a more robust starter kit

3. Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint Services (November CTP)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=19F21E5E-B715-4F0C-B959-8C6DCBDC1057&displaylang=en

4. Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites

· Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites
(Part 1 of 3): Understanding Web Content Management and the Default Features

· Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites
(Part 2 of 3): Extending WCM

· Customizing and Branding Web Content Management-Enabled SharePoint Sites
(Part 3 of 3): Creating and Configuring WCM-Enabled Sites

5. MOSS for Content Management Server Developers (Beta)
Three papers + an analysis tool:

· SharePoint Server 2007 for MCMS 2002 Developers
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms406043.aspx

· Assessing and Analyzing Your MCMS 2002 Application for Migration http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnmscms02/html/CMSAssessAnalyzing2002Application.asp

· Mapping MCMS 2002 APIs to SharePoint Server 2007
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/server/moss/2007/migration/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnmscms02/html/CMSVersionAPIDiffs.asp

· CMS Assessment Tool
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=360D0E83-FA70-4C24-BCD6-426CAFBCC627&displaylang=en

· Planning MCMS 2002 Application Migration to SharePoint Server 2007
http://msdn.microsoft.com/office/server/moss/2007/migration/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/dnmscms02/html/CMS2002PlanningForMigration.asp

6. Office Developer Screencasts (applies to all of Office)
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/aa905382.aspx

7. SharePoint Developer Map (also includes InfoPath and 2007 Office System posters)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=771aeb45-9d27-4d1f-acd1-9b950637d64e&displaylang=en

8. MOSS and WSS Online Clinics
Online clinics covering SharePoint technology are free for a limited time!!! Check 'em out:

· WSS Development: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/5045.asp

· WSS Infrastructure: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/3369.asp

· MOSS Development: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/5046.asp

· MOSS Infrastructure: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/3370.asp

9. MOSS portal on the Office Developer Center
http://msdn.microsoft.com/moss

· Includes the Upgrade and Migration Center for SharePoint Developers
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905505.aspx

10. SharePoint Developer Center
http://msdn.microsoft.com/sharepoint

11. 7 Development Projects for SharePoint – online book
http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/2/f/02f0f661-88e1-43c2-b523-88d2e9e6802f/7%20development%20projects%20with%20the%202007%20microsoft%20office%20system%20and%20windows%20sharepoint%20services%202007.pdf

12. MSDN Community Content
MSDN Community Content is a way of providing Wiki-style annotations to core Microsoft documentation. For example, you can add code samples, remarks or “gotchas,” translations, or other comments that enhance or supplement the core MSDN documentation.

· WSS – http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms441339.aspx

· MOSS – http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms550992.aspx

13. F1 Help from Visual Studio Document Explorer
Follow the steps in this blog post to receive F1 Help directly from your code in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005.
http://blogs.msdn.com/randalli/archive/2006/07/28/sharepoint-development-tip-getting-context-sensitive-f1-help-directly-from-the-msdn-library.aspx

14. Project SDK Download
I see a lot of questions about SharePoint integration with Project Server, and the Project SDK is also produced by my team.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2672f6f9-7028-4b30-99a2-18cb1eed1abe&DisplayLang=en

What Does SharePoint Server 2007 Add?

Since SharePoint Server 2007 is built on WSS 3.0, it inherits all WSS 3.0 services, site templates, Web Parts, and tools. In addition, SharePoint Server 2007 layers a more advanced set of services, tools, and applications on top of those provided by WSS, including the following:

Portal site templates. SharePoint Server 2007 includes a template called the Collaboration Portal, which provides the structure for an organization's top-level portal site and the new Publishing Portal site template for building Internet-facing corporate portals.

Content management applications. SharePoint Server 2007 contains several applications and prebuilt site templates for managing corporate content. A site template called the Document Center supports general document management processes, while the Records Center is geared to helping companies automate records-management file plans. In addition, SharePoint Server 2007 subsumes the Web content management features of Content Management Server (CMS) 2002, a product designed to help organizations manage content publication and maintenance of large, complex Web sites.

Business intelligence (BI) applications. A new SharePoint Server 2007 site template called the Report Center houses the product's new BI features. It includes the tools and libraries for building, storing, and managing key performance indicators (KPIs), reports, and dashboards.

Forms management. Available as a stand-alone product or as a feature of SharePoint Server 2007, Forms Services supports server-side processing of forms designed with InfoPath 2007. Forms Services enables data from completed forms to be synchronized with enterprise resource planning and other back-end systems that expose Web services.

Shared services. SharePoint Server 2007 includes a set of midtier services (called shared services) that provide a variety of common functions that can be shared by multiple SharePoint sites. Among SharePoint Server's shared services are its search engine, the Excel Services server-based spreadsheet calculation and rendering engine (an important component of SharePoint Server's BI capabilities), and the Business Data Catalog, which allows SharePoint sites and applications to access data stored in line-of-business applications, such as SAP.

Single sign-on (SSO). A separate SSO service can map the identity of a SharePoint user to their corresponding security credentials in another application, such as a customer relationship management application, allowing the user (and applications running under the user's account) to access the other application without having to explicitly log on and supply credentials. (Microsoft's BizTalk Server and Host Integration Server also provide SSO capabilities.)

Advanced Web Parts. SharePoint Server 2007 includes about 50 prebuilt Web Parts in addition to the dozen or so Web Parts that are included with WSS 3.0. Many of these Web Parts support SharePoint Server 2007's advanced features—for example, one Web Part works with Excel Services to allow users to view and interact with spreadsheets in a browser; another shows the details of KPIs.

Advanced management utilities. SharePoint Server 2007 supplies a broader set of management utilities for controlling large site infrastructures and the additional features and services provided by the product.

What Does WSS 3.0 Provide?

WSS 3.0 is the foundation technology on which SharePoint Server 2007 is built. The following features of WSS 3.0 are the most important:

Lists and document libraries. WSS 3.0 provides facilities for creating, editing, and storing tabular lists of information relevant to site visitors. Lists are SharePoint's most ubiquitous form of content, and WSS provides a wide variety of prebuilt list types, such as lists for contacts, announcements, and task tracking; customers and partners can also create custom list types. A special list type called the document library supplies the base features for storing and managing documents. All items in lists and document libraries are stored in SQL Server databases.

Security. WSS supplies a role-based security model that maps groups of users to preconfigured sets of permissions that specify and limit the actions users can take on sites and site content. WSS 3.0 administrators can apply security settings at the item level (an individual document in a library, for instance).

Site templates for team collaboration. WSS 3.0 supplies a variety of Web site and page templates geared toward team collaboration. A WSS team site consists of a set of ASP.NET pages for site administration (such as creating sites and assigning permissions to users and groups), and a set of team pages that allow workers to view and manipulate the actual team data.

Prebuilt Web Parts. WSS 3.0 ships with a collection of prebuilt ASP.NET 2.0 Web page controls (Web Parts) that provide capabilities ranging from simple image display to document library management. Web Parts are one of SharePoint's most powerful features; without writing any code, ordinary users can quickly build custom, interactive Web pages by dropping Web Parts on pages and arranging and configuring them.

Management utilities. WSS 3.0 provides a set of tools and utilities for managing settings and configuration of Web sites and applications, and the infrastructure those sites run on.

Programming model. WSS 3.0 provides a .NET programming model that partners and customers can use to extend and customize the product. For example, partners can use the model to build Web-based applications, such as self-service portals for business applications and custom site templates for market verticals.

What Does SharePoint Provide for Portals?

SharePoint Server 2007 layers a variety of Web applications, services, utilities, and programming interfaces on top of several Microsoft products and technologies, including Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0, a Windows component geared to team collaboration sites; the SQL Server database management system; and the .NET Framework 3.0 application development platform, which includes ASP.NET 2.0 and the Windows Workflow Foundation workflow engine.

For corporate portals, SharePoint Server 2007 and the WSS 3.0 platform provide the following:

• Preconfigured ASP.NET Web site and application templates for portals
• ASP.NET 2.0 Web page controls, called Web Parts, that allow workers to view and interact with content on the portal; administrators and users with appropriate permissions can customize pages by adding, deleting, configuring, and rearranging Web parts
• Mid-tier services (called shared services) that provide a variety of common functions used by portal sites (such as search, security, and user profile management)
• Facilities for managing documents and tabular lists of information relevant to portal visitors, such as contacts, announcements, and tasks; all documents and items in lists are stored in SQL Server databases
• Tools and utilities for managing settings and configuration of SharePoint Web sites and applications, and the infrastructure those sites run on
• A .NET programming model that allows partners and customers to extend and customize the product.

What is a SharePoint site?

A SharePoint site is a Web site that provides a central storage and collaboration space for documents, information, and ideas. A SharePoint site is a tool for collaboration, just like a telephone is a tool for communication, or a meeting is a tool for decision making. A SharePoint site helps groups of people (whether work teams or social groups) share information and work together. For example, a SharePoint site can help you:

* Coordinate projects, calendars, and schedules.
* Discuss ideas and review documents or proposals.
* Share information and keep in touch with other people.

SharePoint sites are dynamic and interactive -- members of the site can contribute their own ideas and content as well as comment on or contribute to other people's.