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Keep up to date with ongoing discussions and developer related information from the Blackfin team.

8/12/2008

In case you haven't seen it, there is a packaged set of tools for working with SharePoint on Google code: http://code.google.com/p/rapid-tools/

There are a few nice tweeks to the setup and deployment of a SharePoint solution but this might not be for you if you already have a process in place. That is, it seems to be a compilation of free tools already available.

In our case, we use Nant and Nantcontrib to automate our builds per the target environment. This allows us to have different build/deployment configurations to choose from. The configuration chosen depends on whether we're deploying to the development, staging, or production farm.

In addition, we use PsExec, part of the PsTools Suite, to execute the stsadm.exe commands on the target server.

6/17/2008

Forms Authentication

I'm sure many of you are wondering why the infrequent posts on this blog. It's all for a good reason: I've been working on a set of forms authentication Features. Because, what's the point of a blog if we can't get feedback, right? Of course this has all had to take a back seat to other projects in the works here, at the Fin.

I didn't do it all on my own, I had a great start by modifying a project on CodePlex created by Stacy Draper, the Forms Based Authentication Tools and Utils for SharePoint. Not only was it a good, clean start but presents a good example of how to design SharePoint-styled forms that exist in the /_layouts directory.

The plan was to move a lot of the exisiting, inline code into class files, create forms for users to create their own account, and lock down the admin forms a bit. I know, I know: I don't have to put code in an assembly for SharePoint. Call me crazy - I just feel so naked leaving it visible to others.

The real problem is when I try to use a custom class for serializing user info to Xml. It seems that .NET doesn't like the way I'm either A) Setting up my Web.config file B) serializing class containing user data or C) SharePoint just hates me.

In the Web.config file, I've added the inherits attribute to the <profile /> node and set the value to the fully qualified class name of my user data class.

I've tried a few different ways of indicating how SharePoint should handle serializing the attributes in the class but, so far, my efforts are to no avail.

I'll keep everyone posted and throw the finished solution up here when it's ready.

5/7/2008

Developer Session 1

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, last night. It was a pretty good turnout and everyone had a something valuable to contribute.

I've uploaded the PowerPoint presentation for everyone to view, here. If there is something else you'd like me to expand on further, shoot an email over to SharePointIsMyAntiDrug@blackfin.com and we'll try to get something up here.

We've got some pretty good ideas for session topics to come. We welcome any suggestions to the following schedule:

Shared Services	Tuesday, June 3
Search Content Sources Crawl Rules Scopes User Profiles Active Directory My Sites
Solution and Feature Development	Tuesday, July 1
Project Architecture Visual Studio Setup File structure Package Architecture Build process Deployment Feature Development Feature definition Included files
Reporting Services	Tuesday, August 5
SQL Requirements Configure SharePoint Reporting Services Add-in Configure Central Administration Basic Reports SharePoint Site setup Required Features Report Viewer WebParts

4/25/2008

SharePoint Developer Sessions

Blackfin will be hosting a few summer sessions where we'll be discussing some lesser-known facts about SharePoint.

We're planning for this to be a sort of both an instructional session as well as a "meeting of the minds". All are welcome. Unfortunately, we are limited on space so we'll only be able to host so many. If you're interested, send an email to SharePointIsMyAntiDrug@blackfin.com. We're planning for the first session to be held at our place on Tuesday, May 6th at 5:30 PM.

Here's a brief overview of what we'd like to cover. If you have any suggestions please email us. We'll post it up here and maybe take a vote on which topics would be most valuable to everyone.

Server Setup
Go over configuration of hardware, which user accounts you should create and where to use them, initial tasks to complete and Shared Services setup.
Shared Services
Configuring search services and user profiles.
Solution and Feature Deployment
Examine project architecture in Visual Studio 2008, key points to developing features and how to package your feature for deployment.
Reporting Services
Review SQL requirements, configuring the SharePoint Reporting Services add-in, configuration in Central Administration, Report Viewer WebParts.

4/24/2008

SharePoint User Group Presentation

On Wednesday, April 23rd, I presented a overview of developing Workflows for SharePoint in Visual Studio 2008.

I have uploaded the source files for all to download. Also, I have uploaded the PowerPoint slides as a PDF file.

If you have any questions or comments about the discussion, feel free to shoot me an email: nromans@blackfintech.com.

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