Building the SharePoint User Experience

Building the SharePoint User Experience

Released April 2009
Publisher(s): Apress
ISBN: 9781430218968

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Book description

The SharePoint user experience is critical in application architecture and user acceptance. Using tools available to all developers, Building the SharePoint User Experience will show you how to rebuild a SharePoint site, taking it all the way from the default out–of–the–box experience to your very own customized user experience.

Along the way you will receive a solid understanding of the SharePoint architecture that will enable you to take full advantage of the capabilities of SharePoint as a platform. This will allow you to tailor the SharePoint user experience to increase the value of solutions and to work more effectively with projects. And that, of course, leads to successful SharePoint solutions in your business that your users are happy to accept and use.

What you'll learn

  • Learn the tools needed to create effective and highly tailored user interfaces and experiences.

  • Dissect an out–of–the–box site to learn how every user experience element is built.

  • Master the core functions of sites, lists, content types, and fields.

  • Build a site from scratch using tools available to everyone.

  • Speed up development time by using little known tips and tricks.

  • See how new skills can be applied to everyday tasks with simple exercises.

Who this book is for

This book is for SharePoint developers who want to learn how to work with designers and other developers to create custom and tailored user experiences, including custom forms, content types, lists, fields, pages, and navigation that will better match your project’s requirements. This is not a book for graphic designers—you’ll find no Photoshop tips here!

Table of contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. Contents at a Glance
  4. Contents
  5. About the Author
  6. About the Technical Reviewer
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. Introduction
  9. PART 1: Setup and Basics
    1. CHAPTER 1: Checking Your Gear for Departure
      1. Setting Up Your Environment
      2. Setting Up Your SharePoint Environment
      3. That's a Wrap
    2. CHAPTER 2: Taking a Crash Course in XML
      1. XML: A Definition
      2. XML Syntax
      3. XML Validation
      4. CAML
      5. XSLT
      6. </Thoughts>
    3. CHAPTER 3: Exploring Feature Basics and Not-So Basics
      1. Creating a Basic Feature in Visual Studio
      2. What Are SharePoint Features?
      3. Advanced Feature Concepts
      4. Site Definitions vs. Features
      5. Featured Finale
  10. PART 2: Dissecting the Default User Experience
    1. CHAPTER 4: Excavating the Site
      1. The Plan for Exploration
      2. Mission Objective
      3. Exploring Site Definitions
      4. What's the Global Site Configuration?
      5. Resources, Helpful Hints, and the Future
    2. CHAPTER 5: Evolving the Default User Experience
      1. Disclaimer
      2. Customizing Menus and Lists
      3. Using Control Templates
      4. Using Feature Stapling
      5. Customizing Application Pages: Master Pages, CSS, and Themes
      6. Using Delegate Controls
      7. Last Stop
    3. CHAPTER 6: What Lurks in the Forest of Lists?
      1. Overview of Lists
      2. List Instances
      3. List Templates
      4. List Forms
      5. Preparing for the Final Battle
    4. CHAPTER 7: Encountering the Monsters in the Cave
      1. Mission Statement
      2. What Are Views Anyway?
      3. A Web Interface with a View
      4. Checking Your Gear
      5. A Simple View of the World
      6. Asking the Right Questions
      7. A Slightly More Complex View of the World
      8. Advancing Our Perspective
      9. Wrapping It All Up
      10. Face the Dragon
    5. CHAPTER 8: The Liquid Nitrogen of SharePoint
      1. Content Type Basics
      2. Keep Your Parents Happy
      3. Folders Are Content Types?
      4. OK, Back to Content Type Inheritance
      5. So, What About Those Folders?
      6. Content Type Scope
      7. Your Best Behavior
      8. Content Type Authoring
      9. The End of the Ice Age
    6. CHAPTER 9: Strolling Through Fields of Gold
      1. Columns and Properties of Gold?
      2. Site Columns vs. List Columns
      3. Site Columns in CAML
      4. Field Types
      5. We Made It!
    7. CHAPTER 10: Intermission: The Mentality of a SharePoint Developer
      1. SharePoint Is a Platform, Not a Product
      2. To Boldly Go...
      3. This Time It's Personal
      4. Use the Right Tools
      5. The Most Important Tool of All
      6. Enough Already!
  11. PART 3: Building an Empire
    1. CHAPTER 11: Starting Field
      1. Mission Statement
      2. A Note on Custom Field Types
      3. Your First Field Type
      4. Some Advice on Custom Field Types
      5. Columns
      6. Our Empire So Far
    2. CHAPTER 12: Creating Your First Content Factory
      1. Mission Objective
      2. Content Type Startup
      3. Content Type Columns
      4. Time to Get Serious: Content Type Forms
      5. More Advanced Concepts
      6. Binding the Pieces Together
      7. Stop Being Cool
    3. CHAPTER 13: Accounting Gone Haywire
      1. Mission Objective
      2. List Templates
      3. Adding Content Types to Our List
      4. List Forms
      5. List Instances
      6. Adding the Categories List
      7. It All Depends on This...
      8. Fixing the List Deletion Problem
      9. Accountants, Go Home!
    4. CHAPTER 14: Pages and Pages of Fun!
      1. Mission Statement
      2. Basics of Page Authoring in SharePoint
      3. Adding a Global Page and a Code-Behind
      4. Last Page
    5. Chapter 15: Our Empire United
      1. Mission Statement
      2. Creating the Site Definition
      3. Your Empire Is Complete
    6. APPENDIX A: Fast Track to Feature Generation
      1. Tools of the Trade
      2. WSPBuilder
      3. Make SharePoint Work for You
      4. Time to Slow Down
    7. APPENDIX B: Questions from the Audience
      1. Question 1
      2. Question 2
      3. Question 3
      4. Question 4
      5. Question 5
      6. Question 6
      7. Question 7
      8. Question 8
  12. Index

Product information

  • Title: Building the SharePoint User Experience
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2009
  • Publisher(s): Apress
  • ISBN: 9781430218968