SharePoint Formulas and Functions

While working with a SharePoint List, I wanted to add couple of Columns with Formulas and I came across the below url from Microsoft.

“Formulas are equations that perform calculations on values in a list. A formula starts with an equal sign (=).”

“Functions are predefined formulas that perform calculations by using specific values, called arguments, in a particular order, or structure. Functions can be used to perform simple or complex calculations. For example, the ROUND function rounds off a number in the Cost column.”

Looking back at SharePoint Sri Lanka User Group

2011 was a successful year for the SharePoint community in Sri Lanka. Few of us with the help of Microsoft, started the SharePoint Sri Lanka User Group.  I will never forget the great help and encouragement received from Dinesh Priyankara and Gogula in making this dream come true. Oh! special thanks goes to Wellington Perera. Thanks all who contributed by conducting sessions and to all who attended and making each session a success.

I gave a promise of giving T-Shirts to the first 10 users. Let’s see, what if someone sponsors to give T-shirts to the first 100 users .

Keep on counting… it’s 2012, we have a lot planned for you.

1st Session

2nd Session

3rd Session

4th Session

5th Session

6th Session

7th Session

8th Session

9th Session

www.iusesharepoint.com

Ah, driving adoption. We know it can be tough to get a team to change its ways. But you don't have to resort to wearing disguises like our SharePoint champion. Use this handy kit to send the message: life is easier with SharePoint 2010.

Want to get your team using SharePoint?

Here are two ways to download and deploy:

Download the Lunch & Learn SharePoint Adoption Kit.
The Lunch & Learn kit contains all the materials you need to promote SharePoint within your organization. The kit includes instructions, templates, videos, quick reference cards and more to help you deploy an internal SharePoint resource site - a place to access SharePoint information and tools, and connect around the best part of the day: lunch. Download this kit to show your team how SharePoint makes life, and lunch, a little better.
Download this handy Adoption Kit.


Build an Adoption Kit that's right for you.
If your organization already has an established learning center, you can download individual pieces to post to and promote the destination that works best for you. These standalone pieces can be used to add interesting and helpful training content to your organization's site and to drive SharePoint learning and adoption. Choose to download one or more of these resources, like webisodes, Show Me How videos, quick reference cards, poster templates, table tents and more.

Download Tips & Tricks

Download Quick Reference Cards

Launch of www.SharePointSriLanka.org

This was a dream came true. Finally on 12th of January 2011 we were so happy to announce the launch of the Sri Lankan SharePoint Forum. The online forum which can be reached at www.SharePointSriLanka.org or www.SharePointSriLanka.com or www.SharePointSriLanka.net. The offline forum which will take place on second Wednesday of every month.

These forums are the official Microsoft Approved forums dedicated to SharePoint and related products. What you see above is the  logo of SharePoint Sri Lanka Forum. This logo has the meaning of collaboration which is the idea behind the product SharePoint. Its represented by the 4 colored people.

For the launch there were over 130 attendees. And there were two technical sessions held. The first sessions which was a the 1st of a series, on SharePoint branding hosted by Abul Azad a SharePoint UX Expert. The second session was on Claim-based Authentication hosted by me.

I’m so happy to be one of the founders of SharePointSriLanka forum. Also my special thanks goes to Gogula (One of the founders of SQLServer Universe and MVP SQL Server) who came up with the idea and was behind me nagging all times till we launch it. How can I forget, Dinesh Priyankara (One of the founders of SQLServer Universe and MVP SQL Server) the BI Guru for being there for me always (even paid for the soft drinks ) and helping in all matters to make the SharePoint Forum a success.

Also many thanks to Dinusha Kumarasiri and Abul Azad for the sleepless nights spent to bring the www.SharePointSriLanka.org up and running. And not to forget the one and only Wela, Wellington Perera, without your support this wont be a success, you know it well buddy.

Okay, this offline forum is not only for SharePoint Experts. We have planned to have two sessions each day, giving a chance for a newcomer to do a session on any SharePoint related technology or product. And the second session will be hosted by a person with more experience on the product.

Now you know, you have a place to publish your articles, blogs, ask questions on related technologies. So guys get registered soon and help make SharePointSriLanka a better place for you.

PDF in SharePoint 2010

This is a step-by-step guide to setup and configure Adobe PDF file search in SharePoint 2010.

Step 1
Download the Adode iFilter from the following url.
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025

Step 2
Download the pdf icon file. Download a 16*16 gif or a png file. Or else you can download it from the below url. http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html

Step 3
Extract the zip file and install the PDFFilter64installer file which you downloaded in Step 1.

Step 4
Open the “Run” window and open Registry Editor running the regedit command.


In Registry editor browse to location \\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\14.0\Search\Setup\ContentIndexCommon\Filters\Extension

Step 5
Right Click on “Extension” and add a new Key.

Name it as .pdf.

Step 6
Now add the following GUID as the default key.
{E8978DA6-047F-4E3D-9C78-CDBE46041603}

Step 7
Now is the time to set the icon for pdf files.
Copy/Move the pdf icon you downloaded in in Step 2 to the following folder.
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\IMAGES
Next open “Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager and Stop the service.

This step is required as you are going to amend a file which is currently in use.

Step 8
Browse to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\XML and open the DOCICON.XML file. (use Notepad). And do a search for the <ByExtension> tag.

Add the line <Mapping Key="pdf" Value="pdficon_small.gif" />
(replace pdficon_small.gif with your icon name)

Save the file.
Start IIS Service

Step 9
Open SharePoint Central Administration. Under Application Management select Manage Service Applications. Open Search Service Application.

Step 10
Select File Types on the left menu. Click New File Type. Enter pdf and click OK.

Step 11
Click on Content Sources and do a Full Crawl (not an Incremental Crawl). After completing job, you know what to do. Do a search.

SharePoint Rocks!!

Microsoft MVP in SharePoint

1st of January 2011 was a day I could never forget. I stared the day with a pleasant surprise from Microsoft. I got awarded as a MVP (Most Valuable Professional). MVP in SharePoint.

Thank you God. Thanks Microsoft. Thank you Dinesh Priyankara, Gogula, Wela, Lilian, Susantha, Jinath and all who helped and guided me to come an MVP.

I have done few thing for the community and I have a lot to do.

SharePoint User Permissions

When SharePoint is installed, by default it will create a set of Permissions, which can be viewed by “Central Administration” => “Application Management” => “Manage WebApplications” => Highlight the WebApplication => Click on “User Permission”.



To secure the contents at various levels within SharePoint sites, it is these permissions that has to be enabled by the administrators. Each permission has a level of it’s own which can be; List, Site or Personal.

These Permissions are grouped/combined to create the Permission Levels. 

List level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Lists	Create and delete lists, add or remove columns in a list, and add or remove public views of a list.	List	Full Control, Design, Manage Hierarchy
Override Check Out	Discard or check in a document that is checked out to another user.	List	Full Control, Design, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Add Items	Add items to lists, and add documents to document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Edit Items	Edit items in lists, edit documents in document libraries, and customize Web Part pages in document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Delete Items	Delete items from a list, and documents from a document library.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
View Items	View items in lists, and documents in document libraries.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Approve Items	Approve a minor version of a list item or document.	List	Full Control, Design, Approve
Open Items	View the source of documents with server-side file handlers.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
View Versions	View past versions of a list item or document	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Delete Versions	Delete past versions of a list item or document.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Create Alerts	Create alerts	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
View Application Pages	View forms, views, and application pages; enumerate lists.	List	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

Site level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Permissions	Create and change permission levels on the website and assign permissions to users and groups.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
View Web Analytics Data	View reports on website usage.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Create Subsites	Create subsites such as Team sites, Meeting Workspace sites, and Document Workspace sites.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Manage Web Site	Grant the ability to perform all administrative tasks for the website, as well as manage content.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Add and Customize Pages	Add, change, or delete HTML pages or Web Part pages, and edit the website using a Microsoft SharePoint Foundation compatible editor.	Site	Full Control, Design, Manage Hierarchy
Apply Themes and Borders	Apply a theme or borders to the entire website	Site	Full Control, Design
Apply Style Sheets	Apply a style sheet (.CSS file) to the website.	Site	Full Control, Design
Create Groups	Create a group of users that can be used anywhere within the site collection.	Site	Full Control
Browse Directories	Enumerate files and folders in a website using SharePoint Designer and WebDAV interfaces.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Use Self- Service Site Creation	Create a website using Self- Service Site Creation	Site	Read, Contribute, Design, Full Control
View Pages	View pages in a website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Enumerate Permissions	Enumerate permissions on the website, list, folder, document, or list item.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Browse User Information	View information about users of the website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Manage Alerts	Manage alerts for all users of the website.	Site	Full Control, Manage Hierarchy
Use Remote Interfaces	Use SOAP, Web DAV, the Client Object Model, or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the website.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Approve, Manage Hierarch
Use Client Integration Features	Use features that launch client applications. Without this permission, users must work on documents locally and upload their changes.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Open	Allow users to open a website, list, or folder in order to access items inside that container.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Read, Limited Access, Approve, Manage Hierarchy, Restricted Read
Edit Personal User Information	Allow a user to change his own user information, such as adding a picture.	Site	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

Personal level Permissions…

Permission	Description	Type	Permission Level
Manage Personal Views	Manage Personal Views	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Add/Remove Personal Views	Add or remove personal Web Parts on a Web Part page.	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy
Update Personal Web Parts	Update Web Parts to display personalized information	Personal	Full Control, Design, Contribute, Approve, Manage Hierarchy

A blog post on Permission levels soon to be released.

Corporate portal with classic authentication or with claims-based authentication

These design samples illustrate a typical corporate deployment, with the most common types of SharePoint sites represented. The two samples differ only in the mode of authentication that is implemented -- one uses classic authentication and one uses claims-based authentication.

You can download it in PDF, Visio or in XPS formats from here.

Deploy Project Server 2010 on SharePoint 2010

By any chance if you come across the requirement of installing and configuring Microsoft Project Server 2010, technet has provided a nice and easy guide of deploying Project Server 2010.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197280.aspx

In this section:

• Deploy Project Server 2010 to a server farm environment
  This series of articles describes the steps necessary to install Microsoft Project Server 2010 in a server farm environment. This includes installing and configuring Project Server, creating a Microsoft Project Web App site, and configuring reporting.
• Deploy Project Server 2010 to a test environment
  This series of articles describes deploying a test installation of Microsoft Project Server 2010 in a virtual environment. The purpose of this series is as follows:
• Install Project Server 2010 to a stand-alone computer
  Microsoft Project Server 2010 can be installed in a stand-alone configuration that uses Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Express. This configuration is useful for demonstration, but should not be used for a production environment.
• TechNet Webcast: Project Server 2010 upgrade and migration
  This Microsoft TechNet Webcast discusses Microsoft Project Server 2010 features, requirements, and deployment considerations that IT professionals need to know about.
• TechNet Webcast: Project Server 2010 - Backwards Compatibility Mode
  This Microsoft TechNet Webcast discusses the Microsoft Project Server 2010 Backwards Compatibility Mode (BCM) feature, which helps you to accelerate deployment of Microsoft Project 2010.
• In-place upgrade to Project Server 2010
  This article describes the process of doing an in-place upgrade from Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 to Project Server 2010.
• Database-attach full upgrade to Project Server 2010
  This article describes how to do a database-attach full upgrade to Project Server 2010, in which you back up the required databases in the old farm and then restore them in the new farm.
• Database-attach core upgrade to Project Server 2010
  This article describes how to do a database-attach core upgrade to Project Server 2010, in which you are basically using backup copies of your Office Project Server 2007 databases that contain your project data.
• Virtual migration environment (VME) guide for Project Server 2010
  The Project Server VME is a virtualized Office Project Server 2007 environment that contains all the necessary applications and utilities required to migrate Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 data to Office Project Server 2007. To migrate from Project Server 2003 to Project Server 2010, first you must migrate your data to Office Project Server 2007 format.
• Upgrade to Project Server 2010 from Project Server 2003
  This series of articles provides information and procedures about how to migrate from Microsoft Office Project Server 2003 to Project Server 2010.
• Deploy language packs (Project Server 2010)
  Microsoft Project Server 2010 language packs enable Project Server 2010 users to view Microsoft Project Web App and project sites in multiple languages without requiring separate installations of Project Server 2010.
• Deploy Project Server 2010 with Exchange Server
  These articles describe how to configure integration with Exchange Server, enabling Microsoft Project Server 2010 users to view Project Server tasks in Microsoft Outlook.

SharePoint 2010 Farm Topologies

Normally a SharePoint Farm topology vary on number of factors.

1) Number of users.
2) Redundancy requirements.
3) Service applications being used.

Looking back at SharePoint 2007, it was SSP (aka Shared Service Provider) we had. But with the new service applications model in SP 2010 the users have greater flexibility in deployments.

Given below are the different Farm Topologies used in SP 2010 Deployments.

Single Server Farm
This is ideal for a user base of less than 100. This farm consists of a single server catering the requirement of the Web Front End (WFE), Database Server and the Application Server.

Two Server Farm
This farm is equipped with one Database Server and one Webserver that performs all the application services. For high availability a clustered or mirrored database server is recommended. This farm can cater the requirement of 100 to 10,000 user base.

Two-Tier Small Farm
This environment is adequate for a user base of 10,000 to 20,000 with low service usage. Two Web Servers, one Web Server performing the tasks of the Application Server and the Database Server (clustered or mirrored).

Three-Tier Small Farm
Three-Tier small farm is much more similar to a Two-Tier Small Farm. A dedicated Application Server is added to cater the requirements of the Services. To improve the performance of the Search Service a the Search Database can be moved to a dedicated Database server. This Farm Topology is ideal for a solution with a Search Database containing nearly 10 million items which can be considered as a large Search Database. Though its optional, it’s a good practice to have a Database Cluster or a mirror.

Medium Farm
This is a Three-Tier Farm. The general rule in planning is to have 10,000 users for a WFE Server. In the First Tier we can utilize two or more Web Servers. In the Second Tier there are two servers dedicated to crawling contents and serving search queries and one or more servers for all other application services. In the Third Tier there are dedicated servers for Search Databases and one or more servers can be used for all other SharePoint Databases.

The middle tier can be expanded to to handle the growth by adding more servers to cater the requirement of application services.
*optional servers are in gray color.

Large Farm
A Large Farm is built on the Server Group concept as it used in the Medium Farm. Additionally a Large Farm could consist of dedicated servers for Sandboxed code.

It's always recommended to use the concept of “server groups” to group services with similar performance characteristics together onto a single server and then add servers based on the needs of those particular services.

SharePoint 2010 PowerShell Commands

I was playing with some PowerShell Commends. Suddenly came to my mind, how to get the whole SharePoint 2010 related PowerShell Commands. Simple as given below.

Open the PowerShell Window (aka SharePoint 2010 Management Shell), type the command…

Get-Command –PSSnapin “Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell” | select name, definition | format-list > C:\SP2010_PowerShell_Commands.txt

Have fun with PowerShell.