Share Point Customization Best Practices

8/8/2019 Share Point Customization Best Practices

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SharePoint

CustomizationBest Practices

1-800-COURSES www.globalknowledge.com

Expert Reference Series of White Papers


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IntroductionSharePoint is Microsofts document management technology. From the standpoint of IT professionals, it is a setof products that work together to provide solutions to numerous business requirements. In this paper, we aregoing to tackle a subject that has raised many questions and an equally large number of answers. How do wecustomize our SharePoint environment, and what is the best solution?

SharePoints Major ProductsSharePoint consists of different products that can be used in different combinations to satisfy a variety of busi-ness needs. Microsoft recognizes that not all businesses require the same application solutions and that some-times there is a need for simplicity in design. In addition, SharePoint leverages the functionality provided byother products in the Microsoft lineup in order to provide a complete business solution.Table 1 on the nextpage describes the more recent Microsoft products and how they can be used in a SharePoint implementation.

Notice that use of Microsoft Office is labeled optional. Thats because users can create new custom contenttypes for SharePoint and, as long as an application exists on the users desktop that knows how to open thatcontent type, data from any application can be stored. That leads us directly into our discussion of customiza-tion. SharePoint can be customized in so many ways that the first and most critical decision may be whichaspects to customize.

In this white paper, we will define various types of customization and then discuss how each of these cus-tomization elements can be implemented in SharePoint.

Gale Pomper, Global Knowledge Instructor, Server +, MCSE, MCT, CTT,CNI, CNE

SharePoint CustomizationBest Practices

Copyright 2008 Global Knowledge Training LLC. All rights reserved. Page 2


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Table 1. SharePoint Implementation Components.

Customization:What Can Be Customized in SharePoint?It might be easier to define whatcannot be customized because almost every aspect of the SharePoint imple-mentation can be customized, including applications, look and feel, and web parts. Some of the more com-monly implemented customizations are identified in the table below. But first, lets discuss one element of SharePoint that cannot be customized the SQL Server database.


Product Name Role Required vs. Optional

Windows SharePoint Services3.0 (WSS 3.0)

Collaboration; content management; version control;workflows; RSS feeds; wikis; blogs; master pages;mobile device support; calendars; e-mail integration;task coordination; surveys

Required

Microsoft Office SharePointServer 2007 (MOSS 2007)Standard

Enterprise search; my sites; user profile store; page lay-outs; notification service; LDAP authentication provider;Single Sign-On; slide libraries; legal holds; recordsrepository; RSS content syndication; social networkingfeatures

Optional depending onrequirements

Microsoft Office SharePointServer 2007 (MOSS 2007)Enterprise

Data integration; forms services; business intelligence;business data catalog; spreadsheet publishing; ReportCenter; form import wizard

Optional depending onrequirements

Microsoft Office SharepointDesigner 2007

Creation of web parts; master pages; cascading stylesheets; no-code forms; and workflows; customizeSharepoint Sites; build business logic driven workflows;create custom applications to handle data from multi-ple data sources such as XML files, SOAP services, RSSfeeds, SQL DBs.

Optional

Microsoft Office (Professional,Business, Enterprise)

Interact with products developed using Office 2007applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook fromwithin Sharepoint sites. Older versions of Office alsoprovide some capabilities but best performance isachieved using Office 2007

Optional

SQL Server 2005 Provides the backend database platform where config-uration and user data is stored.

Required

SQL Server 2000 SP4 Can be used as the backend database platform butrestricts DB sizes and does not have tight integrationwith Sharepoint

Not GenerallyRecommended

Microsoft Project Server 2007 Allows organizations to perform life cycle project man-agement. Distribute information using the ProjectServers Reporting Data Services and the Report Serverfeature of MOSS 2007

Optional


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For now, SharePoint requires the backend database to be SQL Server. This is because SharePoint is written touse SQL Server-specific API calls rather than a generic database interface such as Open Database Connectivity(ODBC). However, you can access data from an Oracle database and present a view in SharePoint through aweb part or custom application. Native content, such as a new word document that needs to be stored in aSharePoint document library, will be stored in an SQL Server content database.In the following table, we list a number of different types of customizations and how these customizations canbe applied. You will notice that most customizations can be created in at least three different ways:

User customizations using standard SharePoint capabilities No-code customizations using SharePoint Designer Coded customizations using Visual Studio or ASP.Net applications

Table 2. Typical SharePoint Customizations.

Now lets focus on manipulating the built-in customization features to change the Look and Feel of yourSharePoint site. In this process, we demonstrate how to go beyond what the tools allow you to manipulateand make truly custom changes to improve the user experience in SharePoint.


Customization Type Customization Tool(s) Customization Element(s)

Look and Feel Sharepoint built-in customizationelements

Sharepoint Designer

Visual Studio

Themes, web part gallery, site templates, logos,master pages, navigation

Modify Custom Style Sheets, create master

pages, design page layouts, etc Create Site definitions, page layouts, templates,new custom style sheets

Web Parts Sharepoint Designer Visual Studio Custom asp.net tools

Create web part pages Create new web parts Create new web parts

Workflow Sharepoint built-in workflows Sharepoint Designer Visual Studio

Customize existing workflows Create no-code custom workflows using the

Workflow wizard Create code-based Workflows for custom busi-

ness applications using WSS SDK

Features Visual Studio Custom capabilities

Forms Forms Server Sharepoint Designer Visual Studio

Publish browser accessible forms to sitecollection

Create no-code forms Create custom code-based forms

Search Sharepoint built-in site settings Central Administration Site

Add new search scopes, keywords, best bets, rel-evance settings to the site.

Add iFilters for each non-Microsoft documenttype


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Look and Feel CustomizationsSharePoint was designed to give users tremendous independence in deciding how sites should look andbehave. In fact, one of the most important premises of the SharePoint design is to establish a layer of separa-tion between server administrators and the content on the SharePoint site. By design, site security is managedby the content creators, and customizations follow that same model.Although SharePoint is security-trimmed,with the correct permissions, site users can change the themes, icons, web-part placement, and overall sitebranding just by changing the site settings. Later in this section, we will walk through a customization. Butfirst, some fundamentals.

In SharePoint, everything is arranged on a page. When you choose a site template, that template has an under-lying site definition that tells SharePoint which elements will comprise the site, whether or not there aresub-sites, which elements should go on the web pages, and where on the page they should be located. In fact,if you want to create your own web page, there is a set of predefined templates available that has the webpart zones already laid out in some standard formats.Adding additional web parts to a web part page is onemethod for customizing SharePoint. If you are a SharePoint administrator, or a have web designer privileges,your customization will show up for all users.

Here is an example of how the Look and Feel of the home page in a site collection can be modified. The typicalCollaboration site does not come with an Announcements list on the home page. Many companies prefer tohave an Announcements list so that the company can position important items of interest on the first pageseen by all users. Companies that are used to the Team site template are accustomed to seeing theAnnouncements list on the home page. If you try to add an Announcements list to this page in the normalway, by editing the page and adding the web part, you find the Announcements list is not in the web partgallery. The following procedure will allow you to add that Announcements list to your web part gallery so youcan add an Announcements list to any page.

In the site where you need the web part create anAnnouncements List . On the Quick Launch bar, clickView All Site Content. Click the Create button. Under the Communications heading, click Announcements.

Name it Announcements List.

1. Make sure the SharePoint Server Publishing feature is turned on in the site2. Site Actions > Edit Page3. Choose the web part zone where you want the Announcements web part to appear and click the "Add

a Web Part" link4. Click on the "Advanced Web Part gallery and options" link.5. Scroll through the Site Gallery of web parts until you find theAnnouncements List you created in

step one. Click on this item and "Add"

You now have an Announcements list on your home page or wherever you decided to host your announcements.

Replacing a Site IconAnother type of Look and Feel customization is changing the icon that appears in the upper left corner of every page.This is another example of user customization but, again, it involves just a little bit of up-frontwork. The first bit of work is the icon itself, because you want it to be able to fit on the page and have it sizedappropriately for the space.



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1. Open file in Microsoft Office Picture Manager (for this demo, we chose a clipart file from the MicrosoftOffice directory)

2. Click on Edit Pictures3. Click Resize4. Under Resize Settings choose Percentage of original width x height5. For our icon, we chose 15%.6. Save the file7. Upload this file into a Picture Library in your site

a. Click on Document Centerb. Site Actionsc. Created. Under Libraries choose Picture Librarye.Assign a namef. Click on Upload

8. Navigate to the Picture Library where you stored the icon9. Double click on the image in the library10. Rt click on image on the properties page and select copy shortcut

11. Navigate to the site where you want to imbed the logo12. Click Site Actions13. Click Site Settings14. Click Modify All Site Settings15. Select Title, Description and Icon16. Replace the name of the existing logo image and paste in the shortcut to the icon in the Picture Library

The site now has a custom icon in place of the default SharePoint icon. Each site can have a different iconusing this method, so each project could have its own mascot, so to speak. Just follow these procedures foreach icon you would like to deploy. All the icons can be stored in one shared library, or you can have a sepa-rate picture library in each site.

NavigationHelping users navigate between SharePoint sites is an important task for SharePoint administrators. In this sec-tion, we will explore some different ways of customizing the site navigation again using built-in user tools.Were also going to discuss how to show and hide items that are displayed on the Quick Launch bar and alsoacross the top of the site page.

First, the menu that appears on the left-hand side of your site page is called Quick Launch, and its easy todecide whether or not something shows up in Quick Launch. When you create a new site or library, the cre-ate tool will ask you if you want that specific item to show up on the Quick Launch.What if you decide, afterthe fact, you dont want it? Youll have to follow a different set of steps depending on how you answer thequestions:

Question 1 Do you want all the sites on Quick Launch to go away? If yes follow these steps:a. Click in order Site Actions, Site settings, Modify all site settings, Tree View, and clear the check box in

front of the Quick Launch selection.



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If you answered no, meaning you want to be selective about what is and is not shown, follow these steps:b. Site Actions, Site settings, Modify Navigation, Go to the heading that says Current Navigation, select

the object, clickHide on the Navigation tool bar, and click ok.

When you create a new site or library, the create tool will ask you if you want that specific item to show up onthe Top Link bar.What if you decide later that you dont want it? Youll have to follow a different set of steps,depending on how you answer the questions:

Question 1 Do you want all the sites on Top Link bar to go away?If yes follow these steps:a. Site Actions, Site settings, Modify Navigation, Go to the heading that says Global Navigation, select

the site objects, clickHide on the Navigation tool bar, and click ok.b. To have a specific site be displayed, use the steps above but clickShow on the Navigation tool bar, and

click ok.

Question 2 Do you want to see a different object show up on the Top Link bar?a. Site Actions, Site settings, Modify Navigation, Select to have the item show up under Global or Current

navigation, and add the link to that element.The easiest way to do this is to navigate to the element,

copy the URL from the browser, and paste it into this page.

Suppose you want to replace the default Sites experience.When the user navigates to the Sites site, itdoes not actually bring the user to a list of the sites in the site collection. Instead, the user encounters a list of categories that they typically do not understand how to navigate, and it is a process that leads to a number of mouse clicks before they are able to expose the site they want to visit. To change this experience, replacethe navigation to the Sites site with the site list, which SharePoint creates when the administrator or sitedesigner populates the links for these categories.

Now, when the user navigates to Sites from the top link bar, they are only one click away from the site theywould like to reach.

SummaryIn this white paper we have explored how to change some of the default user experiences by customizing ele-ments of both the Look and Feel and the site Navigation. Many additional out of the box customization ele-ments are available. This paper has touched on those elements that are most frequently customized. As aSharePoint administrator, these customizations are easily implemented and empower you to place the itemsyour users need closer to their fingertips. The fewer mouse clicks your user community needs to navigate toreach their content, the more content they will be with using SharePoint . It streamlines their work processesand reduces the number of helpdesk calls.

Learn MoreLearn more about how you can improve productivity, enhance efficiency, and sharpen your competitive edge.Check out the following Global Knowledge courses:Implementing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007



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For more information or to register, visitwww.globalknowledge.comor call1-800-COURSESto speak with asales representative.

Our courses and enhanced, hands-on labs offer practical skills and tips that you can immediately put to use.Our expert instructors draw upon their experiences to help you understand key concepts and how to applythem to your specific work situation. Choose from our more than 700 courses, delivered through Classrooms,e-Learning, and On-site sessions, to meet your IT and management training needs.

Through expert instruction, you will understand key concepts and how to apply them to your specific work sit-uation. Choose from more than 700 courses, delivered through Classrooms, e-Learning, and On-site sessions, tomeet your IT and management training needs.

About the Author Gale Pomper has over 25 years of experience installing and designing computer networks. She holds numerouscertifications from Microsoft, Novell, and CompTIA, including Server+, MCT, MCSE, MCTS for SharePoint , andMCTS for Exchange 2007. She is the principal author for an exam guide for Windows 2000 Active Directorypublished in December 2001, and a contributing author for Windows XP Power Pack published in March 2003.

For the past 15 years, she has been an independent consultant providing network design services, customizedtraining, and SharePoint implementation services. She is also an instructor for Global Knowledge.


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Share Point Customization Best Practices