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6/9/2008

Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (CodePlex)
The Podcasting Kit for SharePoint was announced today at the Web 2.0 Conference.  It's an open source project available on CodePlex.

We use a very similar version of this on our internal network for sharing audio/video information.  I especially like it so that I can do some "offline" training.


What Can You Do With Podcasting Kit for SharePoint (PKS)?:

  • Listen and watch audio/video podcasts, anywhere on your PC or mobile device (Zune, SmartPhone, or any podcasting device)
  • Share content by producing your own audio/video podcasts and publish them on PKS on your own.
  • Connect and engage with podcasters via your integrated instant messaging program
  • Find the most relevant content using the five star rating system, tag cloud, search engine and provide your feedback via comments.
  • Get automatic podcast updates by subscribing to RSS feeds fully compatible with Zune and other podcasting devices
    • Simple RSS feed based on a defined podcast series
    • Simple RSS feed based on a person
    • Dynamic RSS feed based on search results
  • Play podcasts in real-time using Microsoft® Silverlight™ and progressive playback
  • Retrieve instant ROI and metrics with the ability to track the number of podcasts downloaded and/or viewed, instant feedback via rating system and comments, and subscribers via the RSS feed
  • Access the richness of SharePoint to extend the solution: workflows, community sub-sites, access rights, editorial and more
  • Customize your own PKS User Experience
Posted at 1:46 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/29/2008

Mass Check In of Documents

Many times, I upload multiple documents to a library that requires Check Out. Once the files are uploaded, SharePoint keeps the documents checked out and there is no immediately apparent method to check in all the documents at once.

In WSS, you'll need to manually check in each document. Get your clicking finger ready!

In MOSS, there is a much easier method to do a mass check in, but it is not obvious. My approach uses the Content and Structure interface available in MOSS publishing sites.

** Note: Your document library doesn't have to be in a publishing site. It just needs to be a child of a publishing site.

Here's how I do it.

  • Go the top level site (because it is probably a publishing site). If it's not a publishing site, will you need to enable the Publishing features at the site collection level.
  • Go to the site settings page
  • Under Site Administration, choose Content and Structure

clip_image001

  • In the tree view, navigate to the site/library
  • Change the View from "Default View" to "Checked Out To Me"

clip_image002

  • Select all documents you want to check in
  • Choose Check In from the Actions menu

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  • You will be prompted to enter some check in comments and then wait for the process to finish.

All done.

The Content and Structure interface is very powerful and you should use it to accomplish many bulk tasks within MOSS.

Posted at 12:37 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: Management | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

3/19/2008

Filtering out Disabled Accounts When Importing Profiles

By default, MOSS uses the (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)) LDAP search filter when importing your user accounts from Active Directory. This filter imports all enabled and disabled user accounts to MOSS.

 

To restrict profiles to only “Active” or “Enabled” accounts, here is the filter string:

 (&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)( !(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))

 

To get this into SharePoint, do the following steps

o   Go into Central Administration

o   Click on SharedServices1 on the left hand side of the page

o   Under User Profiles and My Sites, click the first link: User Profiles and Properties

o   Near the bottom of the page, click View Import Connections

o   Mouse over the only connection you have and click the down arrow and then click Edit

o   Scroll down to the Search Settings section.  There is a box titled User Filter in that section.  Paste in the filter string from above.

o   Click OK at the bottom of the page

o   In your navigation breadcrumbs near the top of the page, click on User Profile and Properties

o   Near the bottom are several bulleted links.  Click the 5th one, Start Full Import


This process will go through your existing profiles and mark any previous disabled accounts as inactive profiles and they will no longer be show or accessible in SharePoint.  Disabled accounts not previously imported by MOSS will be ignored and no profile will be created.

 

Posted at 2:50 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: SharePoint; Management | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (2)

1/22/2008

Don’t Rename SiteDirectory to Sites

One of my customers recently received some bad advice:

Why don't you rename that "SiteDirectory" site in MOSS to just "sites" so it will be shorter to type for your users?

Many of you may already know that the "sites" top level url is reserved by default in MOSS.  But what you may not realize is that it is quite easy to change any site's url to use the reserved site names.  You will not be prompted that this might be a conflict.

So, what happens?  Any of the sites you formerly had under SiteDirectory will now generate an error when you try to browse to them.  In addition the Sites tab that shows up in a standard collaboration portal template will fail.

If this does occur, don't despair.  Follow these steps and you can get it reconfigured properly and not lose the sites.

  • Go to your top level site
  • Site Actions > Create Site
    Title: Sites2
    URL: SiteDirectory
    Template: Under the Enterprise tab, choose Site Directory
  • Click Create
  • Go back to the top level site
  • Site Actions > Manage Content and Structure
  • You should see Sites and Sites2 in the tree.  Expand the Sites tree
    Put your mouse over the first site
    Click the down arrow
    Choose Move from the menu
  • In the dialog box, click on Sites2
  • Click OK
  • Wait for it to finish
  • Continue moving the rest of the sites
    ** There are some lists here that you do not need to move.  You won't even see the Move option for the lists
  • Put your mouse over the Sites entry, click the down array, choose Delete from the menu
  • Confirm the delete
  • Put your mouse on the Sites2 entry
    Click the down arrow
    Choose Site Settings from the menu
  • Under Look and Feel, click the Title, description and icon link
  • Change the name from Sites2 to Sites
  • Click OK.

 

The sites should now be back to normal.

Posted at 5:17 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: SharePoint | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

10/5/2007

Restricting the use of Web Parts

Sometimes, you just don't want certain people adding web parts to a page. Content Editor and Image Viewer web parts are no big deal, but there are circumstances where the editing settings for certain web parts are beyond the skills of many page/site designers.

In SharePoint 2003/WSS v2, you could only remove the web parts and add them in later via the Import command. You can still do that, but with the advent of item level security in MOSS 2007/WSS v3, why not alter the permissions in the Web Part Gallery?

The Web Part Gallery is just another type of SharePoint library. It allows you to add items, modify properties -- and manage permissions. The Web Part Gallery exposes web parts to the entire site collection so managing permissions will apply to the top level site and any sub sites.

For example, let's say you don't want Designers adding the SAP IView web part to a page because it may require additional settings that are not readily available to anyone outside the SAP group. (Another good example would be any of the BDC web parts because you're really creating a mini-application by combining these on a page.) When you go to add a web part to a zone, you see something similar to the following screenshot.

To hide the IView web part -- or any others -- from specific people or roles, follow these steps.

  • Click Site Actions / Site Settings
  • If you are not already at the top level site collection, click on Go to top level site settings under the Site Collection Administrator heading.
  • Under the Galleries heading, click Web Parts and you will see a list of available web parts (.dwp files) in the list (see below).

  • Click the Edit icon next to IViewWebPart.dwp file
  • Click the Manage Permissions toolbar button
  • Click Actions / Edit Permissions and click OK when prompted
  • Check the box(es) next to any users/groups you do not want to see the web part
  • Click Actions / Remove Permissions and click OK when prompted

Next, have someone else with the demoted permissions go to one of the sites within the site collection, edit the page, and click to add a web part. When scrolling through the list, the IView web part should be gone and should appear as shown below.

****IMPORTANT NOTE****

This set of actions will hide the web part when someone wishes to add a part to a page. After the web part is on the page, anyone with edit page permissions will be able to alter the web part properties, and they retain the right to remove the web part from the page.

Posted at 4:08 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: Web Parts; Security; SharePoint | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (4)

10/4/2007

SharePoint Conference 2008

I'm going.  Are you?

March 3-6, 2008 in Seattle, Washington.

Conference Site

SharePoint footer

Posted at 6:19 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: Training; Me | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)
Welcome to My Blog

Hello. My name is Mark Eichenberger and I am a Business Productivity Architect for Microsoft. I support the Office product line in a pre-sales capacity within the Mid-Atlantic district. I specialize in SharePoint with an emphasis on using SharePoint as an application platform.

Prior to my employment at Microsoft, I spent 15 years in various software development and project management roles. I sold my first program at 17; received my computer science degree and an MBA; worked as a business analyst, programmer, project manager, and application development manager; and briefly ran my own consulting business.

Many of the posts you see in this blog will be SharePoint related, but I'll sprinkle in other items of interest as I see fit.

DISCLAIMER: The information and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and in no way represent those of my employer.

Posted at 4:48 PM by Mark Eichenberger | Category: Me | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)
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