Microsoft SharePoint

SharePoint is a web application from Microsoft that covers the following areas of application:

• Cooperation, such as managing projects, or the coordination of tasks,
• Social networks, for example, via personal websites, team websites, discussion groups and blogs
• Intranet portals,
• Content management on document management capabilities, content management, metadata and user- customized search functions,
• Business applications.

• 4.1 operating system, database and server
• 4.2 permissions
• 4.3 authentication
• 4.4 Administration Tools

• Customize 5.1 Layout and Design
• 5.2 Programming of applications
• 5.3 Developing Workflows
• 5.4 sandbox solutions

Generations and editions

The current generation of products is SharePoint 2013. Predecessors were SharePoint Portal Server 2001, SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS ) and Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010. In July 2012, Microsoft released the preview version of SharePoint 2013, which in November 2012 RTM status reached.

SharePoint 2013 is available in three editions:

For Internet portals or intranets with anonymous users SharePoint Server for Internet Sites is no longer necessary. Each edition can also be used as Internet server.

Functional areas

Survey

Microsoft lists six functional areas of SharePoint:

Sites

The central element in SharePoint are web sites. In them, all content is structured and presented. A SharePoint site consists of any number of individual web pages. These pages refer to the actual content. These can be:

SharePoint sites may in turn sub - sites contain, which can be hierarchically nested. Several websites whose permissions are managed together, are summarized in a site collection.

New websites can be corresponding rights provided to create easily using templates. Included with the SharePoint Foundation includes:

• A template for empty sites;
• A template for team sites with a document library, a calendar, a discussion forum, a announcement and a list of tasks;
• A template for document workspaces with a library for main document and supporting files, a tasks list and a Links list for links to relevant resources;
• Multiple templates for meeting workspaces for managing documents, attendees, decisions, and, where appropriate, images of a meeting;
• A template for blog sites.

With SharePoint Server a number of other templates will be added, including:

This template gallery can expand with rights to own templates implementers or users. Furthermore, users appropriate rights provided remodel predetermined sites:

The organization of the content on a page three basic types of pages are provided:

Communities

The applications My Site and My Profile are the central services for this area. Under My website, each user can store personal information, take for example the new calendar or its own mailbox, and your own documents, images and media and make available to others. Even a personal blog and sub ​​- sites can create the user. A user profile complements this information. Information, such as telephone, e -mail and department are mostly imported from Active Directory. The user can, for example, to complement its expertise or photo this information.

From this information, the user can select his personal social network within his organization. He can hold on activities in this network up to date on a newsfeed. An organization browser shows him the position of each person in the organization chart. With a bulletin board function, it can short notes and questions on the profiles of other leave.

Content

As in a classic document management system documents can be versioned and enriched with metadata in SharePoint. You can be turned on and checked out, and sighting and approval processes for documents to be furnished., Users can be informed as soon as the contents of a library, a list or a document be changed via RSS feed or e- mail notification.

Centrally managed content types support the classification of the documents. Each content type can be associated with a template. For each document library content types can be selected from the catalog, which are useful used in this library. When creating a new document, the available templates are offered automatically.

All these features are available directly from Microsoft Office applications.

In the Server edition other functions are available to support rule- compliant routing of documents. Storage Payable documents can be declared as a record. From this moment, it is ensured that - in accordance with ISO 15489 - within the statutory period there is no change or delete these documents.

By means of information management policies can be defined retention periods. For example, to specify that a document is a month after creating automatically declared as a record, and automatically deleted ten years later.

Even as a web content management system can use SharePoint. SharePoint Server meets the following requirements:

• Separation of content and layout;
• Provision of templates;
• Timed publish content;
• Automatically providing content from an author in a publication system;
• Approval processes for content.
• SharePoint sites are accessible; they reach Level AA of the 2.0 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
• The caching of individual pages can be adapted specifically.

Search

By default SharePoint pages contain a simple search box on the top right. Are you there in a search term, a full-text search is performed.

Already in the SharePoint Foundation, the elements are indexed, and it can own server for the search are provided. Content can be indexed easily and quickly found. The search is limited to the site collection in which the user is moving.

In the Server edition is a number of other options added:

• With refinement of results, the search result will be gradually reduced.
• Users can define fixed Search and get notified by e-mail or RSS feed about new search results.
• The Automatic search suggestions indicates a number of proposals, while the user enters a search term.
• The SharePoint search can be integrated into the Windows desktop.
• The display and narrowing down the search results may be modified.
• People can search specifically by means of personal characteristics.
• The search can be extended to search areas outside its own site collection.

With the FAST Search Server for SharePoint performance and comfort can be improved even further. For small organizations using only the SharePoint Foundation, Microsoft Search Server provides a way to increase the search performance. In conjunction with the SharePoint Server Search Server is not suitable because SharePoint Server includes all the functionality of Search Server.

Composites

This is a collective term Microsoft summarizes the possibilities to develop applications in SharePoint without the need to write code in a programming language such as C # or Visual Basic:

• With the SharePoint Access Services developed in Microsoft Access applications can be operated as a multi-user web applications in SharePoint.
• With the SharePoint Designer to customize layouts can define workflows, and make connections to external data sources.
• With InfoPath Forms for Web applications can be designed and simple business processes are modeled. Input forms for SharePoint lists can be edited with the InfoPath designer and enriched with rules and inspections.
• With the Business Connectivity Services SharePoint data can be included in business systems in SharePoint and displayed.

Insights

The term Insights Microsoft summarizes the business intelligence components of SharePoint. These include:

• The Excel Services that help can be directly integrated into the SharePoint interface Excel worksheets and charts.
• Special lists and Web Parts for the preparation of graphic performance indicators Key Performance Indicators.
• A Chart Web Part with an assistant that supports users in creating graphics.
• The ability to use SharePoint lists as a data source in Microsoft SQL Server.
• The Microsoft PerformancePoint Services have been integrated into SharePoint and replace the PerformancePoint Server, which is no longer being developed as a standalone product. With this component, dashboards can be designed and build.

Browser Compatibility

Full browser compliance, Microsoft guarantees only for the 32- bit versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer Version 7 and (limited) for the Windows versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. Other browsers work in most cases, but this is not guaranteed by Microsoft.

Even with Firefox and Chrome but there are limitations, including:

• The Datasheet view of lists does not work.
• Multiple file upload does not work.
• Drag and drop does not work.
• Establish the functions connect to Outlook, Connect to Office, and Sync to SharePoint Arbeitsbreich not work.
• Integration of Microsoft InfoPath 2010 does not work.
• The function of Microsoft Visio 2010 diagram creation does not work.
• Signing Forms does not work.
• The integration of Microsoft PowerPoint and the slide library function does not work.

This is because these functions are linked to ActiveX controls, which are only available in the 32 -bit versions of Internet Explorer. The restrictions in the 64 -bit versions of Internet Explorer be due to missing ActiveX controls. However, the 32 -bit version of Internet Explorer is made available on 64 - bit installations of Windows and can be used as an alternative to the 64- bit version.

Architecture and Administration

Operating system, database and server

The smallest possible installation of SharePoint Server 2010 consists of a single server machine. On this all SharePoint features, the 64 -bit version of the server operating system Microsoft Windows Server 2008/R2 and Microsoft SQL Server are available. With such an installation, evaluations can be carried out and operate non-critical solutions for up to 100 users.

As a development system to SharePoint Foundation can be even on a workstation computer using the 64 -bit versions of Windows 7 or Vista SP1/SP2 operate. Microsoft cites as minimum requirements a 64 -bit dual-core processor with 3 GHz and 4 GB of memory.

For larger, scalable installations a server farm must be set up. One grouped to the needed services in layers: a database, an application and a front-end layer. Depending on the expected or measured load the required services and applications are distributed between the servers. With such farm solutions can

• Redundancy and thus reliability of the services on offer;
• Be operated up to a few tens of thousands of users that generate few tens of queries per second;
• 2 terabytes access - to a maximum data volume of 1.

For even higher requirements grouped to the services in an appropriate manner, such as for applications, publication services, collaboration services and department services, and paid for every one of these services own server farm. These individual farms are then grouped into a total installation.

Permissions

Be assigned individual permissions in SharePoint via groups. Individuals get their rights generally through membership in an appropriate group. By default, each SharePoint site has three groups: owners, members, and visitors. Owner of a site have all admistrativen rights on the site. Members can post and change content. Visitors only have read access. In addition, SharePoint provides several other administrative groups available; also can be set up with differentiated rights other groups. The authorization groups are valid only within a site collection.

Overrides the authorization groups are the following administrative roles:

• Site collection administrators have full rights within a site collection. There you can create new websites, and other content, enable applications and delegate permissions.
• These are superior to the Farm Administrators group. These can be in the entire SharePoint farm to perform these tasks. However, the main part of her work focuses on the global configuration of the farm, the provision of global applications and services and the maintenance of the server farm.

Permissions are inherited within the hierarchy of content: One subsite are by default the same permission groups assigned as its parent site. This permission is inherited more about libraries and lists up to the individual documents and content elements. Inheritance can, however, be interrupted, restricted or if more sophisticated permissions are required for an item on a lower level. The right to manage rights may be delegated by a parent site to a subordinate level. For the safety of the contents of such a decentralized administrated website the site administrators are responsible.

However, this principle of inheritance and delegation can lead to inscrutable dependencies. This is made difficult in that SharePoint fewer instruments for automatic management of rights available than for example in the Windows file system. It can be troublesome in the individual case, determine which persons have which permissions on a particular object. If a person changes roles in the company, should the rights which are connected to their old role extinguished. For this purpose, it may be necessary to remove them from a variety of groups, distributed across multiple site collections. With the on-board means of SharePoint, this is very tedious. Remedied by additional third-party products, such as Control Point Axceler.

Authentication

SharePoint supports the following authentication methods:

• Basic Authentication: The user must sign in with name and password to the web front-end. This method should only be used in conjunction with the SSL protocol so the credentials are encrypted.
• Digest authentication: a type of challenge-response method, in which the server sends a random string to the browser. This is calculated from this string in conjunction with user name, password, HTTP method, and the requested URI an answer and sends it back to the server for verification. The method is susceptible to replay attacks, but apart from that offers a basic safety and can be used universally.
• Certificate-based authentication, in which the Web server from the client computer requests a certificate. On the basis of this certificate, he assigns the client computer to a user account.
• Claims Authentication using Windows Identity Foundation or by using the Active Directory Federation Services.
• The NTLM authentication in Windows. In this method, single sign -on is possible: SharePoint can use the information from the Windows application in order to identify the user.
• Windows authentication in conjunction with Kerberos. In this method single sign-on is possible.

Further support SharePoint anonymous users. It is possible to configure different authentication methods for different zones in a SharePoint installation. For example, to ensure that the users are identified by Windows authentication in conjunction with Kerberos on the intranet, as they must identify themselves on the Internet using Digest authentication.

Administration Tools

In SharePoint a site called SharePoint Central Administration is included by means of a farm administrator can interactively perform all management and monitoring work. It includes:

• The application management, managed with the Web applications that can be modified and created and can be created with the Web applications, site collections and content databases,
• The monitoring tool for monitoring the farm and analysis of faults.
• The area of ​​security in which the administrative accounts and service accounts of the farm are managed.
• General Application Settings with functions for managing the site directory, the search services, content deployment features and the InfoPath Form Services.
• The System Settings to manage the servers in a farm and their properties.
• The area back up and restore for data backup and disaster recovery.
• The range upgrade and migration, can be managed and checked in the updates and upgrades.
• The Configuration Wizard, which allows a SharePoint farm can be configured interactively from scratch.

Alternatively Admininistrationsaufgaben can be perceived and automated using Windows PowerShell. SharePoint includes libraries that extends this command shell to specific instructions that facilitate managing a SharePoint server farm.

Design and develop in SharePoint

Customize Layout and Design

The appearance of SharePoint can be extensively modify - to such an extent that users no longer see that it is SharePoint. The design can be adapted to the requirements of an enterprise designs.

However, the appearance of SharePoint is based on the interaction of several components. Dependencies are complex. For profound changes time and knowledge are required.

The following components interact:

• Design Templates:
• The master pages;
• The CSS core file;
• Custom CSS modifications;

Design templates provide the easiest way to configure colors and typeface. In SharePoint a number of predefined templates is included. This original catalog can be expanded with its own templates. Design templates can be created and modified with PowerPoint (sic). You will thmx stored in Microsoft office design files with the extension..

Master pages define the layout of the components on a SharePoint page. You are not SharePoint specific, but are generally used. NET. CSS files define the appearance and in some cases the behavior of these components. The master file of SharePoint 2010 in the delivered condition is called v4.master. The CSS core file that contains all the CSS specifications, ie when delivered corev4.css. SharePoint experts advise not to modify these files directly, because:

• If Microsoft will overwrite the files in the context of a service pack, changes may be lost.
• If you make a mistake when changing, the entire user interface may become unusable. It is then good to have access to a master or core file in its original state.

Therefore you should create a copy of the v4.master, this adds to the catalog of available master files, and selects it as the master template for the affected site or site collection. This copy is modified by using the SharePoint Designer.

The corev4.css is integrated using a statement ( directive ) in the master file. It is possible to copy this file, modify, and change the directive in the master file so that it points to the new CSS file. The corev4.css is very extensive; For a better overview advises the specialist author Ulrich Boddenberg to create your own smaller CSS files, in which only the elements are included that must be modified. These files can be integrated via additional directives in the master file that definitions appropriate to replace their counterparts from the corev4.css.

Programming of applications

From the developer perspective SharePoint is a collection of libraries, classes, controls, and tools in the context of ASP.NET. SharePoint extends ASP.NET 3.5 SP1; ASP.NET 4.0 is not supported.

Common areas of work of the SharePoint programming are:

• The development of Web Parts. In addition to simple Form Web Part connectable Web Parts are possible, which influence each other. Using the AJAX support of ASP.NET Web Parts can be programmed to dynamically respond to user input and events without all pages to be loaded. The performance bondable Web Parts can be improved using AJAX. Also, Silverlight applications and other non- SharePoint applications can be integrated into Web Parts. If this application is external, outside the domain of the server farm, hosted, there is a complex security situation. In the form of so-called external application providers (external application provider, EAP ) Microsoft provides a technique available that attempts to meet the safety needs of such a solution needs.
• Modifying the user interface, among other things, by changing menu ribbons, it programmatically providing images, galleries, and other media elements and by controlling the status bar and notification area.
• Programmatically define and deploy data.
• Programmatic development of fields and field types. For example, it is possible to design fields whose content is checked at each use, without this having to be programmed in any form or WebPart specially. Even fields that always have a certain structure, such as credit card numbers or IBAN
• Programming event-driven applications. The events are triggered for example by changes to content, by receiving certain e- mails, or by events within workflow.
• Programmatic management of documents.
• Programmatic creation and use of templates for sites, libraries and lists.
• Programming of the search functions.
• As part of the Business Connectivity Services access to external databases, custom connectors and SOAP and WCF services.

Under SharePoint Foundation 2010 is possible to design applications as services. These services can provide functions of time and resources available within a SharePoint farm or even across multiple farms.

The main classes of the SharePoint server object model lie in the namespaces that begin with Microsoft.SharePoint. * Or Microsoft.Office. *. SharePoint classes usually have a name that starts with SP. For Web applications, the namespaces System.Web.UI.Web.WebControls and System.Web.UI.Web.WebControls.WebParts include relevant classes. The main classes and their hierarchy are shown in the diagram to the right.

For programming in SharePoint most. Net languages ​​can be used most commonly is C # at some distance in front of VB.NET. Development tool of choice is Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 or in 2012. There are templates for different types of SharePoint projects and templates for different content elements. Regardless of which template is started, the project can be expanded by adding additional elements.

The programmatic access to SharePoint lists and their elements is possible using CAML queries. LINQ to SharePoint provides an alternative, type-safe method for the same purpose. In addition, LINQ provides the advantage that is accessed from the programming language with common methods to different data sources - be it SharePoint lists, XML files, SQL tables, Excel spreadsheets and more. To be able to access SharePoint lists using LINQ, you must first create their own object model of these lists using the supplied with SharePoint spmetal.exe program and include them in the relevant SharePoint project.

CAML can be used to represent fields in Web forms and ( render ). This possibility exists in SharePoint 2010 mainly for compatibility with previous versions of SharePoint. The method of choice to render fields in SharePoint 2010 is the use of XSLT. SharePoint supports specialized field rendering for mobile devices; addition to the opportunity to make this yourself, SharePoint a number of pre- render templates for mobile devices.

Developing Workflows

As a general tool for the development of workflows. NET Windows Workflow Foundation serves. SharePoint 2010 utilizes this tool; however, not the current (as of 2012) version 4.0, but version 3.5. Thus, use of the capabilities of Workflow Foundation SharePoint developer; among other things it can do:

• Design both simple sequential workflows, as well as more complex state machine workflows, conditions and ramifications permit;
• Choose to encode the workflow between XAML code or conventional coding in one of. NET programming languages ​​.

As an alternative to programming in Visual Studio is in SharePoint Designer workflow designer available, the workflow can be modeled graphically. In the Enterprise edition of SharePoint workflow developer can also use Microsoft Visio, allow it to display workflows and their status. With the Visio 2010 Premium Edition can Workflows for SharePoint and then modify existing SharePoint workflows.

SharePoint Server 2010 provides seven predefined workflows that can be used as a template or directly without adjustment. The SharePoint Foundation only provides a template for a simple sequential workflow with three states.

Additional functionality in the graphical design of workflows provides the third-party Nintex Nintex Workflow with his product.

Sandbox Solutions

Up to version 2007 SharePoint applications were always provided at the level of the server farm. The applications thus have access to the server top-level objects. A poorly programmed application is able to complete a SharePoint operation paralyze by making a critical server object inoperable. Also, due to excessive resource consumption can put the operation out of action on an application server level.

With SharePoint Foundation 2010, Microsoft introduced therefore a so-called sandboxed solutions. These are implemented not at the level of the farm, but on site collections. Such applications can only set the site collection out of service, but not the entire farm. Also, the excessive consumption of resources can be addressed, because it is possible to accurately determine which resources may take a site collection maximum hogging.