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Mick's Breeze Blogs - Biztalk/Sharepoint/... - Thursday, April 05, 2007
Things hard and not so hard....
 Thursday, April 05, 2007
Recharge the batteries and look out for that Rabbit :)

I'm back from Perth survived the 'Red-Eye'

Take care,

Mick.

Thursday, April 05, 2007 11:54:20 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   Office  | 
 Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Today in class (in the beautiful city of Perth :) I was busily going through a class demo in BTS06 R2(Feb CTP) and I created a Project having:

  1. BizTalk project
  2. Test App
  3. BizTalk Wizard Published WCF Service hosted in IIS.

I then needed to give this out to the 12 students in class, so I (some something quick):

  • zipped up the project + Test App
  • exported the Bindings info (via a MSI)
  • Seeing I had made a few changes in IIS to the virtual directory/web app created I decided to use IIS Mgr, select the Virtual Directory, then under 'Tasks....' select 'Export to Config file xml' option

    This essentially saves the metadata (that's normally placed in the IIS metabase) into the file - I envisaged the students would be able to 'Import XML IIS Config file' and be done with it..........

    nice thoughts......

After all was said and done, the error we got was something like "Receive location /SERVICES/WCFSERVICE/page.svc" could not be found.

All was inplace and worked on my machine.....we did discover what the problem was and moral to this story.....

"/SERVICES/WCFSERVICE/page.svc" is treated differently to

"/Services/wcfService/page.svc"    (this was the actual BTS receive location path settings for the 'basicHttpBinding'.

Solution:

- either change the BTS receive location to capitals....or....recreate the Virtual directory under IIS.....or......modify the virtual directory config.xml file.

Now we know......fingerscrossed

Wednesday, April 04, 2007 12:43:46 AM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   BizTalk | Tips  | 
 Monday, April 02, 2007

What a week this is shaping to be - great bunch of keen students with a willingness to learn.

BizTalk 2006 R2 offers some great value in WCF, EDI, BAM, Adapters....the list goes on.

Just hope my voice will last the distance......got the Red-Eye back to Syd Wed night/Thurs morning :)

Monday, April 02, 2007 10:05:20 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   BizTalk  | 

Together we have trained over 150 students nationally in Australia with the MOSS 2007 Bootcamps during Feb & March.

It has been a big team effort. Thought I’d share some of the feedback we are receiving.

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/sezai/archive/2007/03/23/moss-2007-boot-camp-in-perth-western-australia.aspx

Thanks for the accolades Sezai!

*** updated ***

p.s. I just noticed Dustin's comment on Sezai's blog entry - I've had no such request to remove the name on their apparent exclusive monopoly use of the word 'bootcamp' (for years) - happy to talk. But I dont know how you can claim that word when so many industry groups use 'bootcamp' for many things - even Marriage Counsellors use it!

For the record: Breeze Training has been as heavily involved with Sharepoint as we are today right from the inception of the product with SPS V1 (being on TAP+Beta programs) working with Microsoft US + UK creating and deliverying training around Europe.

End result - we work very hard to make sure that you the student, get's the most informed and best possible time spent together. (as everyone's time is precious and we're not in the business of wasting it)

Monday, April 02, 2007 9:51:34 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [1]   MOSS | Office | Training  | 
 Thursday, March 29, 2007

Eric (MS) has been working hard in providing us (loving your work Eric!) with updated BizTalk documentation.
The folks are doing a great job over all of this. This is a massive PDF - a single one which encompasses a great deal of things within it.

Here's the email I got earlier.

------
Hello,
We have provided a new, updated Monster PDF of the BizTalk Server 2006 documentation set.  It is also available off of a link on the BizTalk Server 2006 Developer Center at http://msdn.microsoft.com/biztalk.  Highlights include:

·         The PDF is in a self-extracting zip file that is approximately 57megs.
·         The PDF tips the scales at  117 megabytes and includes almost 20,000 pages.
·         Links are rendered in blue with underlines but do not work. This may be addressed in a future enhancement.
·         Searching may be slow due to the size of the document.
·         Feedback, banners, and other content items have been removed to improve the PDF experience.

If you have any comments including ideas for PDF subset collections or for other content, please send them along.  
Thanks,
Eric

Thursday, March 29, 2007 2:34:29 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   BizTalk | Insights | Training  | 
 Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Any day now.....it'll be making it's way to the download area and then refreshed by the web front end servers and then.....viola!!! It will appear as a download.

Some great improvements around EDI (6000+ schemas out of the box)
- WCF + WCF adapters.
- there's a new LOB Adapter SDK that allows us to develop Adapters WITHOUT the need for BizTalk. So your one adapter has legs in many different apps.
- lots more.....

Stay tuned......there's some great WCF channel examples being called by BizTalk in the pipelines.

Should see it under http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/biztalk/2006/default.mspx I guess sometime in the *very* near future.

We're supporting some clients through the R2 TAP program which is always an adventure :)

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 8:49:34 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   BizTalk | Insights | Tips  | 
 Tuesday, March 27, 2007

I ran across this great article if you're looking embark on customising your Sharepoint 2007 menus...from Site Settings through to drop down Actions menus, then here is a great MSDN article to start.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms473643.aspx

--- snip ---

How to: Add Actions to the User Interface 

Using Features makes it easy to add actions to menus of the user interface in Windows SharePoint Services. This example shows how to add actions to various menus through a Feature and how to activate it within the deployment.

Location and Group ID

To define a custom action for a particular menu, you must identify the menu by setting the location to the appropriate Windows SharePoint Services namespace, and by using the ID that Windows SharePoint Services uses to identify the specific location.

For example, to add a custom action to the Site Settings page, set the Location attribute of the CustomAction element to Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings.and specify a particular area within the page through the GroupId attribute.

The following table shows Location and GroupId values that are possible.

Area

Location

GroupId

Display form toolbar

DisplayFormToolbar

n/a

Edit form toolbar

EditFormToolbar

n/a

New form toolbar

NewFormToolbar

n/a

List view toolbar

ViewToolbar

n/a

Edit control block menu (per item)

EditControlBlock

n/a

New menu for list and document library view toolbars

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu

NewMenu

Actions menu for list and document library view toolbars

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu

ActionsMenu

Settings menu for list and document library view toolbars

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu

SettingsMenu

Upload documents menu for document libraries

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu

UploadMenu

Site Actions menu

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu

SiteActions

Site Settings Site Collection Administration links

Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings

SiteCollectionAdmin

Site Settings Site Administration links

Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings

SiteAdministration

Site Settings Galleries Links

Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings

Galleries

Site Settings Look and Feel links

Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings

Customization

Site Settings Users and Permissions links

Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings

UsersAndPermissions

Site Actions menu for surveys

Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu


Different actions may require using different CustomAction attributes to identify the menu in which to place a custom menu item. But you may also need to specify other parameters for the action, for example, to specify a version, user permissions required to perform the action, or placement in relation to existing actions in the menu. The custom actions of the following example show a variety of attributes.

URL Tokens

Windows SharePoint Services supports the following tokens with which to start a relative URL:

~site - Web site (SPWeb) relative link.

~sitecollection - site collection (SPSite) relative link.

In addition, you can use the following tokens within a URL:

{ItemId} - Integer ID that represents the item within a list.

{ItemUrl} - URL of the item being acted upon. Only work for documents in libraries. [Not functional in Beta 2]

{ListId} - GUID that represents the list.

{SiteUrl} - URL of the Web site (SPWeb).

{RecurrenceId} - Recurrence index.

Procedures

To add actions to the user interface in a site collection
  1. Create a UserInterfaceLightUp folder within the setup directory at the following location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES.

  2. Create a Feature.xml file in the new UserInterfaceLightUp folder to provide the manifest for the feature, such as the following.

    Copy Code

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <Feature Id="GUID" 
        Title="Light Up"
        Description="This example shows how you can light up various areas inside Windows SharePoint Services."
        Version="1.0.0.0"
        Scope="Site"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
      <ElementManifests>
        <ElementManifest Location="Lightup.xml" />
      </ElementManifests>
    </Feature>
  3. To replace the GUID placeholder in the previous Id attribute, generate a GUID by running guidgen.exe located in the Local_Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools directory.

  4. Create a Lightup.xml file to define elements for the various actions included within the feature. For the sake of example, the URL for each action points to an .aspx file and passes it a value that identifies the source of the request, as follows:

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    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
    <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <!-- Document Library Toolbar New Menu Dropdown -->
      <CustomAction Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.DocLibNewToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        GroupId="NewMenu"
        Rights="ManagePermissions"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
        Sequence="1000"
        Title="MY DOCLIB NEW MENU TOOLBAR BUTTON">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?NewMenu"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Document Library Toolbar Upload Menu Dropdown -->
      <CustomAction Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.DocLibUploadToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        GroupId="UploadMenu"
        Rights="ManagePermissions"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
        Sequence="1000"
        Title="MY DOCLIB UPLOAD MENU TOOLBAR BUTTON">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?UploadMenu"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Document Library Toolbar Actions Menu Dropdown -->
      <CustomAction Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.DocLibActionsToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        GroupId="ActionsMenu"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
        Sequence="1000"
        Title="MY DOCLIB ACTIONS MENU TOOLBAR BUTTON">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?ActionsMenu"/>
    </CustomAction>
    <!-- Document Library Toolbar Settings Menu Dropdown -->
      <CustomAction Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.DocLibSettingsToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        GroupId="SettingsMenu"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
        Sequence="1000"
        Title="MY DOCLIB SETTINGS MENU TOOLBAR BUTTON">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?SettingsMenu"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Site Actions Dropdown -->
      <CustomAction Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.SiteActionsToolbar"
        GroupId="SiteActions"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"
        Sequence="1000"
        Title="MY SITE ACTIONS BUTTON">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?SiteActions"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Per Item Dropdown (ECB)-->
      <CustomAction 
        Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.ECBItemToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        Type="ECBItem" 
        Location="EditControlBlock"
        Sequence="106"
        Title="MY ECB ITEM">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?ECBItem"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Display Form Toolbar -->
      <CustomAction 
        Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.DisplayFormToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        Location="DisplayFormToolbar"
        Sequence="106"
        Title="MY DISPLAY FORM TOOLBAR">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?DisplayFormToolbar"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Edit Form Toolbar -->
      <CustomAction 
        Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.EditFormToolbar"
        RegistrationType="List"
        RegistrationId="101"
        Location="EditFormToolbar"
        Sequence="106"
        Title="MY EDIT FORM TOOLBAR">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?EditFormToolbar"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Site Settings -->
      <CustomAction 
        Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.SiteSettings"
        GroupId="Customization"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.SiteSettings"
        Sequence="106"
        Title="MY SITE SETTINGS LINK">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?Customization"/>
      </CustomAction>
    <!-- Content Type Settings -->
      <CustomAction 
        Id="UserInterfaceLightUp.ContentTypeSettings"
        GroupId="General"
        Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.ContentTypeSettings"
        Sequence="106"
        Title="MY CONTENT TYPE SETTINGS LINK">
        <UrlAction Url="/_layouts/LightupHello.aspx?General"/>
      </CustomAction>
    </Elements>

    Other common GroupId values that can be used include ViewToolbar, ViewSelectorMenu, and PersonalActions (Welcome menu)

  5. Add a LightupHello.aspx file such as the following in the \TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS directory to serve as target for the links created in the previous step.

    Copy Code

    <%@ Page Language="C#"  Inherits="System.Web.UI.Page"%>
    <%
    string clientQuery = Page.ClientQueryString;
    if (clientQuery == "NewMenu")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the new document menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "UploadMenu")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the upload menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "ActionsMenu")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the actions menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "SettingsMenu")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the settings menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "SiteActions")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the Site Actions menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "ECBItem")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the document's context menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "DisplayFormToolbar")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the display item properties form.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "EditFormToolbar")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the edit item properties form.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery == "Customization")
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the Site Settings menu.");
    }
    else if (clientQuery.StartsWith("General"))
    {
        Response.Write("You came from the Content Type Settings menu.");
    }
    %>
  6. At a command prompt, type the following commands to install the Feature in the deployment, activate the Feature on a specified subsite, and then reset Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) so that the changes can take effect.

    Copy Code

       a. stsadm -o installfeature -filename UserInterfaceLightUp\feature.xml
       b. stsadm -o activatefeature -filename UserInterfaceLightUp\feature.xml -url http://Server/Site/Subsite
       c. iisreset
  7. To see the various custom actions that you have added, navigate to the following locations from the home page of a Web site in the site collection:

    1. Click Site Actions to see the new action on the Site Actions menu.

    2. Click Site Settings on the Site Actions menu to see a new action in the Look and Feel section of the Site Settings page.

    3. Navigate to a document library and open each menu on the toolbar to see a new action on each menu.

    4. In a document library that contains items, click the down arrow for an item to see the new action on the edit control block menu.

    5. On the edit control block menu for an item, click View Properties and Edit Properties to see new actions on the Display form and Edit form toolbars.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 10:52:23 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [3]   MOSS  | 
 Monday, March 26, 2007

Walkthroughs and webcast demonstrations on how the new Search works.

Enjoy

SharePoint Server 2007 Presentations: Enterprise Search Deep Dives

Monday, March 26, 2007 9:07:10 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   MOSS  | 

yeah baby :)
I wrote before Christmas how these were coming out....grab them here.....


http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/wssapps/templates/default.mspx
--- snip ---
Application Templates Available for Download
All forty application templates are available in English. The twenty server admin templates are also available in ten additional languages: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese (BR), Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Chinese (simplified), and Chinese (traditional).

Package Downloads

In addition to the following individual download links, you can get the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in these three convenient packages. Registration is required for package downloads.

Site Admin Templates: Get all 20 Site Admin templates as a single package download. Available in English only.

Server Admin Templates: Get all 20 Server Admin templates as a single package download. Multiple languages available.

All 40 Application Templates : Get all 40 Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as a single package download. Package only includes English versions.

Site Admin Templates

arrow
Board of Directors

arrow
Business Performance Reporting

arrow
Case Management for Government Agencies

arrow
Classroom Management

arrow
Clinical Trial Initiation and Management

arrow
Competitive Analysis Site

arrow
Discussion Database

arrow
Disputed Invoice Management

arrow
Employee Activities Site

arrow
Employee Self-Service Benefits

arrow
Employee Training Scheduling and Materials

arrow
Equity Research

arrow
Integrated Marketing Campaign Tracking

arrow
Manufacturing Process Management

arrow
New Store Opening

arrow
Product and Marketing Requirements Planning

arrow
Request for Proposal

arrow
Sports League

arrow
Team Work Site

arrow
Timecard Management

Server Admin Templates

arrow
Absence Request and Vacation Schedule Management

arrow
Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects

arrow
Bug Database

arrow
Call Center

arrow
Change Request Management

arrow
Compliance Process Support Site

arrow
Contacts Management

arrow
Document Library and Review

arrow
Event Planning

arrow
Expense Reimbursement and Approval

arrow
Help Desk

arrow
Inventory Tracking

arrow
IT Team Workspace

arrow
Job Requisition and Interview Management

arrow
Knowledge Base

arrow
Lending Library

arrow
Physical Asset Tracking and Management

arrow
Project Tracking Workspace

arrow
Room and Equipment Reservations

arrow
Sales Lead Pipeline

Monday, March 26, 2007 9:02:37 PM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #    Comments [0]   MOSS  | 
 Sunday, March 18, 2007

Hey folks - just when you wondering what to do MOSS and when should you jump on board and get cracking....

Microsoft has this great event in Sydney.

Angus Logan is chief organiser and doing a great job....here's a snippet from his blog

--------------------snip-----------------

The Conference

This exclusive Microsoft event is the third and final of three global SharePoint Conferences, following Seattle and Berlin. This world-class, two-day conference, to be held at the Hilton Hotel in Sydney from May 15-16, will showcase the latest innovations, features and functionality for the 2007 SharePoint products and technologies.

The conference will provide an unprecedented opportunity for customers and partners in the Asia Pacific region to meet and network with Microsoft Office System product development teams, fellow IT professionals and architects, and partners.

With only 500 places available, this event is not to be missed!

Expert Presenters

SharePoint experts from the Asia Pacific region and members of the SharePoint product group such as Derek Burney (General Manager), Mike Fitzmaurice and Joel Oleson (both Senior Technical Product Managers), will provide attendees with technical information and demos for the latest release of SharePoint products and technologies: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

And for the first time in Australia, information on Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 will be presented.

Brand New Deep Dive Content

Multiple tracks focused on specific solution technologies including Collaboration, Enterprise Search and Portals, Business Intelligence and Enterprise Content Management will be offered. Plus, there will be additional opportunities for attendees to learn about, and get hands on experience with, SharePoint products and technologies.

Technical “how to” breakout sessions covering subjects such as architecture, security, integration, deployment, migration, management and scalability, will help attendees develop, customise, integrate and build powerful, enterprise-ready solutions with SharePoint products and technologies.

** UPDATE - Plug about the Cabana Sessions **

Instead of just the normal "break out" sessions we will be running cabana sessions during the lunch break. These will typically be run by Microsoft partners about solutions or problems they have overcome - hopefully really cool stuff in good 30 minute sessions.

Event Details

Dates: 15-16 May 2007
Venue: Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia
Cost: $549.00 for two days (includes registration, Welcome Night, conference sessions, and evening entertainment event)

Save the Date

Registrations for this conference will open soon (look for an announcement on this blog), and seats will be strictly limited. Block off May 15-16 on your calendar right now, so you won’t miss out!

What about Partner Sponsorship?

** UPDATE FROM Nick Mayhew ***

"If you are an Australian Gold/Cert partner then you can contact your account manager. If you are a partner HQ'd outside Australia, and interested in hearing about sponsorship packages, then you should contact one of my team, Tina Thalmeier. Tina dot Thalmeier AT the usual microsoft.com"

Sunday, March 18, 2007 8:03:31 AM (AUS Eastern Standard Time, UTC+10:00)  #