The SharePoint Web Developer Experience: Training by Dustin Miller

Applies to:

• WSS 2.0 (yes, really)
• SharePoint 2007
• SharePoint 2010
• SharePoint 2013 (again, yes, really)

This is a SharePoint class for the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers who insist on saying, “Enough with .NET! Enough with all those third party web parts! I am a SharePoint Hacker and I can do it myself using nothing but a web browser and a text editor!”
Instructor Dustin Miller announces a new course based on his ten plus years of experience poking, prodding, hacking and manipulating SharePoint. This course is designed for client-side web developers; SharePoint hackers and tweakers; and .NET developers who’ve had enough of the labor and overhead of writing and deploying custom web parts.
This course is for: JavaScript Gurus, SharePoint Rock Stars, Web Developers

Day 1

Reintroducing the Data View Web Part (DVWP)

What is this wondrous thing called the Data View Web Part, and why should you care? It’s only the best tool in your SharePoint toolbox. The Swiss Army Knife of web parts. It has been around since WSS 2.0, and since SharePoint 2010 has been the basis for every list view on your pages. Learn what it does, how it works and how to use it with any version of SharePoint.

XSL: More important than .NET

XSL, or Extensible Stylesheet Language, remains a mysterious concept for many web developers. There’s no need to fear it, and there’s no good reason to ignore it in favor of .NET for client-side presentation. Plan to spend a full day on this topic – and plan to be an expert on XSL by the end of it.

Day 2

Any markup, any time

Have you ever wanted to create your own HTML markup from a SharePoint list? Maybe because that cool jQuery plugin you found for an animated content slider requires specific elements in your markup?
On the second day, you’ll learn how to truly bend SharePoint list views to your will. Through a series of “bet you can’t do this” challenges, you’ll see how any client-side markup can be created from your SharePoint list data. This is need-to-know information — that is: you need to know it. You’ll learn and write the XSL necessary to create the following types of markup from your SharePoint list data:

• HTML5
• VML (Vector Markup Language)
• SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)
• JavaScript
• Plain text

Data View hacks

There are a lot of handy-dandy tricks to using Data View Web Parts on your SharePoint sites: rolling up list content; embedding custom views in your master page; creating a Data View Web Part ONLY page; re-using and packaging. You will do all this. And more.

Day 3

External data sources

Most of what you’ll learn here applies to SharePoint versions from WSS 2.0 onwards. Learn how to connect to external sources such as SQL Server, SOAP Web Services, RSS feeds, REST services (SharePoint 2010 and up), and OData endpoints (SharePoint 2013 only).

SharePoint & JavaScript for hackers

Get a crash course in the SharePoint ECMAScript (JavaScript) Client Object Model introduced in SharePoint 2010. From there, a dive into jQuery-free JavaScript hacking. By the end of the day, you will feel like a SharePoint Client Script Ninja, and there’s a good chance you will stop using third party JavaScript libraries on your SharePoint sites. But if you do want to embrace the goodness of jQuery, the next day will appeal to you.

Day 4

Custom forms

Take everything you’ve learned in the first three days. Bask in it. Then see how to apply all of it — all of it — to SharePoint list forms. Think of the possibilities! Too many fields on your list form? Turn it into a tabbed list form. Want to add your own autocomplete or external lookup? Let your geek flag fly – I’ll show you how to do pretty much anything you want with your list forms.

jQuery

But wait: There’s more! You will write the code to enhance your SharePoint views and forms with jQuery and jQuery UI. Basically everything covered in our jQuery workshop, without the introduction to scripting fundamentals, and compressed into a few hours. Not for the faint of heart!

Ongoing: Post-graduation community

When you finish this class, you will need to order new business cards. Your new title? Pick one:

• SharePoint Hacker
• SharePoint Lion Tamer
• SharePoint SuperGeek
• SharePoint Nerd Extraordinaire

Once you order those amended business cards, come back to the exclusive SharePoint SuperGeek Forum and continue to learn. Once a month, you’ll receive a new SharePoint SuperGeek Challenge. Solve it, and earn a virtual badge — like an achievement in those games you’re embarrassed to admit you play — that you can show off to your other, less geeky friends.
Taunt those .NET developers who keep writing custom user controls just to make a custom navigation web part with your SharePoint hacking prowess. You’ll be proud to share these achievements with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
And then, come back for more. Because it won’t stop. Instructor Dustin Miller will personally help you sharpen your SharePoint hacking skills every month. No charge.

What you need to attend this class

For you:

• A solid foundation in HTML and CSS is highly recommended; JavaScript and XSL experience is a plus
• A basic understanding of the SharePoint framework
• This course is designed for experienced web developers

For your computer:

• SharePoint Designer (required)

What you will receive from this class

• Full color student reference guides and diagrams with post-class revisions and updates
• Access to recordings of all classroom sessions!
• Sample code and components. And we mean A LOT of code.

  Pricing Information

  Online Training: $1295/per registration for 4 days of online bliss.
  Private Training: $3,300/per day for 4 days (on-site) or 4 days (online) ($2,500/per day if online)
  
  
  Notify you when to register:

Yes, the SharePoint navigation really can work for your needs

A commonly misunderstood component of SharePoint is the navigation. People are really surprised and honestly, it is pretty anti-climatic! Here are a few things everyone should know about manipulating SharePoint navigation.

Your best friend is Site Settings

Site Settings is the first thing to get to know for SharePoint navigation. It can also be a little confusing at first because based on the type of site you are using, different options will appear. Check out the screenshot below.

 

If you are working with a publishing site (for example a site created from the Publishing or Enterprise Wiki template) then when you go to Site Actions > Site Settings in your SharePoint 2010 site, you will see Navigation as an option under the Look and Feel column. If you working with a team site, you will see Quick Launch and Top link bar. But if you are working with a team site that is a child of a publishing site, well then you see Navigation.

Publishing gives you more options

One of the benefits of using the SharePoint publishing features is a more robust and centralized navigation system. The key thing to remember with publishing sites is that where you would traditionally create a folder for a type of content in your web site directory, such as a folder for About Us or Press Releases, in SharePoint you create a sub site. We want our end users to see a nice, unified site and not bother them with the finer details that your SharePoint site is actually a collection of nested sub sites under a parent site. The global navigation, also known as the Top Link Bar, is going to help provide that central navigation.

Team sites are meant for focused content and uses. The goal is not to string together a bunch of team sites to create a larger web site. Publishing handles this need instead. That is why the options differ between publishing sites and any team sites that are children versus team sites that stand alone.

Options for stand alone team sites

If publishing isn't a part of your site hierarchy, then you can do the following with your team site navigation through Site Settings:

• Add new links
• Control the order of the links
• Nest the links under a heading style structure (Quick Launch only)

Options for publishing sites and their children

Here is a list of things you can accomplish using Site Settings for publishing sites and their children sites, whether that child site is a publishing site or not:

• Inherit the navigation system(s) used from the parent site
• Automatically show newly added web pages and/or sub sites
• Control the number of items to display
• Sort items automatically or manually
• Add headers, links and control the order
• Selectively hide sites/pages/links

Looking at the options for publishing sites and their children

Here is a screenshot of the settings you will see when you click into Navigation from the Look and Feel section of Site Settings. Handy stuff has been highlighted in red. And yes, there is a lot of handy stuff here

Realistic examples of using the navigation settings

A lot of people turn to third party navigation solutions. Often it is because of a lack of understanding on how to use and apply what SharePoint navigation can do out of the box. Here are some application examples for several of the navigation settings:

1. Display the same navigation items from the parent site - share a central navigation system across all your sub sites, thus creating the unified user experience and linking all your sites together under one navigation umbrella.
2. Display the navigation items below the current site - break free of the shared navigation system for a one off site or to reset the navigation for a large network of sites. For example if the Human Resources section of your large Intranet needs it's own navigation system, it can have a link back to Home but have it's own HR navigation going across the top that is then shared for all the HR sites and pages.
3. Option to Show Pages - every time a new product page, biography page, client information page, press release, etc. is added to the site the page will automatically be added to the navigation (likely in a drop down menu based on your structure). It is security trimmed so only users with access to the page will see the navigation item.
4. Option to Show Sites - every time a new client management, project management, department (or the like) site is created it will automatically be added to the nav, and is security trimmed as well.
5. Set the maximum number of dynamic items to show - stop run away navigation systems with too many options in the top level.
6. Add a link - include a link to another web site, company resource or common tool. The formatting of this added link will match the rest of the SharePoint navigation system.
7. Add a Heading - create your own drop downs in the navigation or nested structure in the Quick Launch. Many organizations have a smorgasbord of links they need to include to various affiliates, company tools or shared resources.
8. Hide an item - Only 14 out of 15 client sites should be displayed to employees. Hide one off items based on need while not affecting how other content is auto added to SharePoint.

Still need more?
 
If these settings don't meet your needs for SharePoint navigation, there are other options. Suggest you start with the Mega Menu series and use a custom list to control your SharePoint navigation.

Courtesy: www.sharepointexperience.com

Upgrading Skills to Windows Server 2012 Jump Start Oct 23—24

IT professionals who want to upgrade their technical skills from Windows Server 2008 R2 to Windows Server 2012 won’t want to miss this Jump Start. It’s a complimentary accelerated two-day course, offering an engaging, demo-rich virtual learning experience—no hands-on labs. It also provides exam preparation material and maps directly to Exam 70-417: Upgrading Your Skills to MCSA Windows Server 2012. Register today. See related topics on the Born to Lean website. Certifications and Exams: New Courses and Exams on Windows Server 2012. Microsoft is pleased to release two new Microsoft Official Courses for Windows Server 2012; 20411A: Administering Windows Server 2012 and 20412A: Configuring Advanced Windows Server 2012 Services. We are also excited to announce the live publication of these Windows Server 2012 exams: 70-410, 70-411, 70-412, and 70-417.  Get started on your road to MCSA: Windows Server 2012 with these courses and exams. Read the full article »  15 Percent Off Plus Second Shot on MCSA: Windows Server 2012 Exams In addition to getting 15 percent off of the cost of certification, Second Shot doubles your advantage by giving you a complimentary retake of any of your MCSA: Windows Server 2012 exams, if you don’t pass the exam on your first attempt. It’s your extra shot at success—and it’s only available for a limited time. See related topics on the Born to Learn website. Announcement: New and Retiring Exams To keep up with the continual updates in the cloud and new technology releases, most exams for SQL Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2010, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 will be retiring on July 31, 2013. Exams for SharePoint Server 2007 and Project Server 2007 will be retiring on January 31, 2013.  New exams for SQL Server 2012, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012 are already available. See related topics on the Born to Learn website. Read the full article »

Training (Courseware, Courses, Exams, Clinics)

 

 Be the First to Experience Windows Server 2012

Join us for a one-day, in-depth review of Windows Server 2012. Learn about the new product features, and the latest Microsoft training and certification offering to help you get skilled and ready for this latest release of Windows Server.

See related topics on the Born to Learn website.

Microsoft Learning Partners: The Perfect Choice for your Training

Whether you want to learn a new Microsoft technology, prepare for Microsoft Certification or improve your marketability, Microsoft Learning Partners can help you achieve your training goals. If you need training on Microsoft technologies, always look for the official Microsoft Learning Partner logo. Delivered by premier technical and instructional specialists, Microsoft Learning Partners will lead you to a successful IT career.  

Use the Class Locator tool to find training in your area today.

Read the full article »

Reference: MCP Monthly Flash

Abel Solutions has what you've been waiting for: A deep dive into SharePoint 2013

SharePoint enthusiasts have been eagerly awaiting details of the upcoming SharePoint 2013 launch, especially since Microsoft's public beta release in July. Now that two of our senior consultants have just completed SharePoint 2013 Ignite training in Redmond, we're ready to share the details of this important upgrade with you.

Please register for the Abel Solutions SharePoint 2013 webinar on Nov 7, 2012 11:00 AM EST.

Mark your calendar for this important webinar on Thursday, November 7, where our Senior SharePoint Consultants Ben Nadler and Eric Gregorich will give you the download on their intensive experience plus share tidbits about the SharePoint 2013 upgrade we're already undertaking at Abel Solutions. Join us to learn more about:

• Improvements in the search architecture that allow users to drill right to the relevant place within the documents
• Social/community site enhancements that allow experts to share knowledge across organizational and geographic boundaries
• Vast improvements to e-discovery that make SharePoint a platform of choice for handling legal matters
• Workflows that are now 100% declarative, more portable, more powerful and run more efficiently
• New support for BCS, Workflows and Apps in the cloud (Office 365)
• Building business applications and the Office.com Marketplace

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

Reference:  www.abelsolutions.com

SharePoint Conference- November 12-15, 2012, Las Vegas, Nevada.

With only 4 weeks to go before SharePoint Conference 2012 we're excited to announce our keynote speaker lineup. If you register now you'll get to hear from key Microsoft executives on the vision for SharePoint 2013, how the acquisition of Yammer will change the way you think about Enterprise Social and what SharePoint 2013 means for developers.

Keynote Speakers

	Jeff Teper Corporate Vice President Office Server & Services Program Management		David Sacks Corporate Vice President Office Division Founder, Yammer
	Scott Guthrie Corporate Vice President Windows Azure		Jared Spataro Senior Director SharePoint

                                                                                                    

Don’t wait, we’re selling out fast and are expecting the largest capacity crowd ever.  Register now and be a part of SharePoint Conference 2012.  

Reference: www.sharepointconference.com