Real World SharePoint 2007: Indispensable Experiences From 16 MOSS and WSS MVPs

This book represents the efforts of 16 MVPs in the SharePoint community to present core areas of SharePoint 2007 products and technologies seasoned with significant field experience. This book is for the community of SharePoint professionals including architects, designers, developers, administrators, and engineers. Readers should have prior experience with SharePoint 2007 products and technologies. The topics were selected by SharePoint MVP and Editor Scot Hiller to represent a cross–section of the most important areas within SharePoint. The chapters stand alone as independent articles.

Specifically, here′s what the book covers:

• Introduction by Mike Walsh
• Forms Based Authentication by Stacy Draper: approaches to FBA, along with their strengths and weaknesses
• SharePoint Administration by Todd Klindt: backup, recovery, command–line utilities
• Developing Publishing Sites by Andrew Connell: challenges the conventional thinking
• SharePoint Designer 2007 by Dustin Miller: a powerful part of your toolkit
• Customizing and Branding the SharePoint 2007 Interface by Shane Perran and Heather Solomon: look and feel using master pages, style sheets, and graphics
• Creating and deploying of Web Parts using C# by Jan Tielens
• Robert Bogue creates custom workflows and forms for deployment in WSS using C#
• Workflow in SharePoint Server 2007 by Joris Poelmans: coverage of InfoPath forms and how to use them with MOSS workflows
• Business Data Catalog by Nick Swan: Using the BDC to allow MOSS to access line–of–business databases
• Excel Services by Luis Du Solier Grinda: presenting spreadsheet data to users through a browser
• Securing Communication by Adam Buenz: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Kerberos security, ISA Server.
• Information Rights Management by Jason Medero: setting up IRM and using it with libraries to restrict documents
• Different approaches to upgrading from SPS 2003 to MOSS 2007 by Shane Young

Scot Hillier is an independent consultant and Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) focused on creating solutions for Information Workers with SharePoint, Office, and related .NET technologies. He is the author of ten books on Microsoft technologies, including Microsoft SharePoint: Building Office 2007 Solutions in C# 2005 (Berkeley: Apress, 2007). When not writing about technology, he can be found presenting at industry conferences such as Microsoft TechEd and SharePoint Connections. Hillier is a former U. S. Navy submarine officer and graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. He can be reached at scot@shillier.com.

Robert Bogue, MCSE (NT4/W2K), MCSA:Security, A+, Network+, Server+, I–Net+, IT Project+, E–Biz+, CDIA+, is the president of Thor Projects LLC, which provides SharePoint consulting services to clients around the country. He has contributed to more than 100 book projects and numerous other publishing projects. He was recently honored to become a Microsoft MVP for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server. Before that, he was a Microsoft Commerce Server MVP, and before that, a Microsoft Windows Servers–Networking MVP. He blogs at http://www.thorprojects.com/blog. You can reach Robert at Rob.Bogue@thorprojects.com.

Adam Robert Buenz is a SharePoint Architect and Developer for ARB Security Solutions, LLC (sharepointsecurity.com). He focuses on security–centric collaboration environments that build off the SharePoint and .NET Framework. Focusing heavily on the security of SharePoint, along with integration of sister Microsoft platforms into SharePoint (such as ForeFront, ISA, MIIS, and DPM), he has developed against several of the largest health care, financial, and federal implementations of SharePoint within the United States. He is co–author of Professional SharePoint 2007 Development (Indianapolis: Wiley, 2007) and co–author of 7 Microsoft® Office Business Applications for Office SharePoint® Server 2007 (Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press, 2007). He lives wherever he is contracted, and can be contacted at adam@sharepointsecurity.com.

Andrew Connell is an independent consultant, instructor, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MVP with a focus on Web Content Management. He has authored and co–authored numerous books on the subjects of Microsoft Content Management Server and SharePoint, including the first published books on the latest release Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. Connell has spoken on the subject of Office SharePoint Server 2007 development and Web Content Management at various community events in the southeast United States, as well as national conferences such as TechEd, SharePoint Connections, VSLive, and the Microsoft SharePoint Conference. You can reach him at me@andrewconnell.com or subscribe to his popular SharePoint and Web Content Management focused blog at http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog. He would like to thank his wife, Meredith, for the support and encouragement in all his efforts; his son, Steven, who s always there to put things in perspective (as well as put a smile on his face); and the other SharePoint MVPs who make up the most incredible and diverse group of talented professionals that he has been privileged to be a part of.

Stacy Draper is 37 years old, married, founder of Wild Wires, LLC (a consulting firm based in South Florida), author, and member of PMI. He holds an MCSD certification and MVP award. Being involved with Web development since 1993 has led his life in a very interesting direction. He started out in UNIX and, since 1997, has had a strong concentration in Microsoft technologies. Draper enjoys public speaking and has spoken at conferences, code camps, and user groups. Draper would like to dedicate his contribution to this book to his wife, who is his driving force, and his little bundle of joy, Alicia.

Luis Du Solier Grinda is a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MVP. He worked a few years ago in one of the top Business Schools in Mexico City (IPADE) as a System Administrator, as well as designing and implementing the corporate SharePoint intranet for the company. After he became an IW and Collaboration expert, he joined one of the best Microsoft Certified Partners in Mexico City (PlexIT Consulting). Since then, he s been working on many projects designing, creating, and implementing collaborative solutions related to the Microsoft Collaboration platform, SharePoint Products and Technologies. He has provided new technology solutions based on SharePoint and Office platforms for many companies. He also helped to manage the User Group from his country, and writes several blogs (English http://www.sharepointblogs.com/ldusolier; and Spanish http://sharepointmx.mvps.org/blogs/ldusolier, http://geeks.ms/blogs/ldusolier).

Todd Klindt is an IT Professional working mainly with SharePoint technologies. He currently works at UGS and maintains their internal SharePoint deployment. He has been in the IT field for more than ten years, getting his MCSE in 1996. He has written for Windows IT Pro and TechNet magazines, as well as serving as a presenter at TechEd. Klindt lives in Ames, Iowa, with his lovely wife Jill. You can visit his Web page at http://www.toddklindt.com, or email him at todd@toddklindt.com.

Jason Medero, MCP, MCT, MVP (WSS) is a systems architect with a concentration in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server and its related Microsoft technologies. He is an employee of B&R Business Solutions, a central New Jersey based firm specializing in SharePoint and surrounding technologies, infrastructure, real–time communication, and application development. He is an active member of the SharePoint community, contributing as a mentor for both the SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) forums on MSD2D.com, along with many other popular forums. He would like to dedicate his contributions to this book to his family, colleagues, and soul mate, Kate.

Dustin Miller is the President and owner of SharePoint Experts (www.sharepointexperts.com), a leading provider of SharePoint Products and Technologies Training. He authored the first course devoted to SharePoint development and customization, the SharePoint Bootcamp (www.sharepointbootcamp.com), and also maintains two popular SharePoint Community sites, SharePoint University (www.sharepointu.com) and SharePoint Blogs (www.sharepointblogs.com). He lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife, his son, and his white German shepherd dog. He would like to thank his wife, Julie, for her support and confidence during his crazy–busy work days and hectic travel schedule, and his son, Graham, for his uncanny ability to sniff his feet whenever Dad most needed a laugh.

Shane Perran is a Microsoft MVP for Windows SharePoint Services living in St. John s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. He has been designing online user experiences for more than a decade. His strong passion for visual presentation, Web standards, and usability has paved the way for a successful transition into the SharePoint Products and Technologies world, where he has become well–known in the SharePoint customization space over the past five years. Perran s SharePoint Customization blog (http://www.graphicalwonder.com) is a popular stop for customization experts across the globe. He would like to say thanks to his family for their constant support and encouragement, especially his fiancé, Amanda, for her patience and late–night proofreading. He would also like to thank his friends and calming voices of JC, BD, RC, and WN.

Joris Poelmans has more than seven years of experience with Microsoft development. He works at Dolmen (www.dolmen.be), a Belgian IT services company and Microsoft Gold Partner. His main competence area is Information Worker solutions, where he currently focuses on the SharePoint Products and Technologies platform. In October 2005, he was awarded with the Microsoft MVP award for Windows SharePoint Services. He is also one of the founding members of Belux Information Worker User Group (BIWUG at http://www.biwug.be). He regularly posts some SharePoint stuff on his blog at http://jopx.blogspot.com.

Heather Solomon is a Web designer with more than ten years of experience designing and deploying online applications and sites. Specializing in SharePoint branding, layout, and usability, she has extensive experience with SharePoint technologies and Web Content Management. Currently, Solomon works delivering training, branding, and consulting services to help corporations maximize SharePoint s potential through her company, Solomon Creative. She is active in the SharePoint community, speaks at community events and conferences, is a contributing author to books and publications, and is active on her blog at www.HeatherSolomon.com/Blog. She would like to thank her family for their love and support. She says that words can t describe the enrichment they bring to her life. She is also grateful for the chance to be involved in the SharePoint community. Being a part of this group has been one of the more unique experiences in her life.

Nick Swan is a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server MVP who has been developing with Microsoftbased technologies for seven years since completing Software Engineering in college. Having become interested in developing on top of SharePoint, he decided to start the SharePoint User Group UK (http://www.suguk.org). His particular focus recently has been the Business Data Catalog (BDC), which has led to the development of the application BDC Meta Man (http://www.bdcmetaman.com). You can visit his blog, SharePointNick.com, at http://www.sharepointnick.com.

Jan Tielens is currently working for the Belgian company U2U (http://www.u2u.be), which delivers developer–oriented courses focusing on Microsoft technology all around the world. His areas of expertise are Microsoft BizTalk Server, ASP.NET, and especially Information Worker technologies, including SharePoint. He became an MVP for Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server in 2005 because of his work in the SharePoint community. He s known for his blog (http://weblogs.asp.net/jan) and the famous SmartPart Web Part. Tielens is also a frequent speaker on various Microsoft events across Europe. Besides writing code, he also enjoys photography and traveling with his wife and daughter.

Mike Walsh works as a consultant in Finland. Originally from the UK, he has worked in several European countries since 1970 first on mainframes, and from the early IBM PC days, on micros. He first came across SharePoint Team Services (STS) at a Microsoft conference toward the end of 2001, and started asking (and then answering) questions on it in the public STS newsgroup. Later, he started up an FAQ for the newsgroup to cover the usual questions being asked. Walsh became an MVP for STS in October 2002, and has been a SharePoint MVP (now for Windows SharePoint Services) ever since.

Shane Young is a recovering Server Farm Administrator and active SharePoint zealot. From his home base in Cincinnati, Ohio, he travels the country, and sometimes the world, supporting, teaching, and evangelizing for all things SharePoint. He is the founder of his own SharePoint consulting company, and has recently been invited to speak at TechEd on the subject of upgrading SharePoint. When he is not living the glamorous life of a Microsoft MVP, he can be found spending time with his lovely new bride, Nicola, and their dogs, Tyson and Pugsley.