Customizing and Enhancing SharePoint

Because SharePoint sites are built on ASP.NET, they are extensible through the .NET framework. The Object Model is available for building custom SharePoint solutions, and SOAP access provides for remote programming. This provides a platform for customizations such as development of custom alert types to integrate with the organization's data sources.

In addition, Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 provide a number of tools that facilitate customization of the environment, and many third-party applications and add-ons are available.

Using the Browser to Customize SharePoint

In SharePoint Portal 2001, there was a template that contained three "zones" for placing Web Parts, producing a three-column view. SharePoint 2003 offers additional zone layouts to choose from, making customization much more user friendly.

There is also a new Web Part task pane that enables users to easily customize sites. It provides the ability to

• Drag and drop Web Parts onto a page

• Customize Web Parts

• Change the home page site logo

The site administrator can control what goes into the Web Part libraries and who has access to the libraries for adding Web Parts to a site. Figure 2.5 shows the Add Web Parts task pane, the available Web Part libraries, and several of the Web Parts contained within the Team Web Site Gallery.

Figure 2.5. Displaying the Add Web Parts task pane.

Development Enhancements for Site Templates

Windows SharePoint Services includes multiple templates that can be used when you create a new site. Each template includes a set of features from Windows SharePoint Services to satisfy a specific collaboration need. Templates are included for

• Document collaboration

• Team collaboration

• Basic meetings

• Decision meetings

• Social meetings

• Multiple meetings

Figure 2.6 shows the default templates available from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 along with two additional templates: the Great Plains Site template and a CCO Project Template.

Figure 2.6. Template selection options.

If these don't satisfy the organization's requirements, customized templates can be created by using browser-based customization features, FrontPage 2003 or another web design tool, or through custom programming. For example, if an organization always put its company logo on the home page and used specific Web Parts unique to the organization, the organization could save the site as a template and then just duplicate the template when necessary to maintain consistency and security.

Expanding on Microsoft Office Components

Microsoft Office Components take advantage of enhanced features of the Office 2003 products to provide an efficient and easy way to access information through a team website. The Office Components consist of a series of Web Parts and DSP adapters that help an organization customize and integrate the application interface:

• Pivot View Web Part Enables the addition of the Pivot Table or Pivot Chart components to a SmartPage for accessing and graphically viewing data. The information displayed by these components can come from either an external data source such as an SQL database, or from another Web Part. For example, the Pivot View Web Part could be used to display company sales data stored in an SQL database, or for reviewing trends and performance.

• Spreadsheet Web Part Lets you add the Spreadsheet component to a SmartPage for performing ad hoc computations, displaying and analyzing information from other data sources, or creating customized solutions. The Spreadsheet Web Part could be used for things such as linking to time sheet data and then calculating employee utilization.

• Web Clipper Web Part Lets you incorporate an entire web page or a portion of a web page into a Web Part. This type of Web Part is called a Web Clip.

• Quick Quote Web Part Retrieves summary information from the Stock Quotes service based on a user-supplied entry of a stock, fund, or index symbol. This Web Part also includes a lookup feature that accesses the MSN Money site for retrieving symbols.

DSP adapters are web services that access or manipulate information from various sources and return XML data. Two DSP adapters are installed with Microsoft Office Components for SharePoint Products and Technologies:

• Microsoft SQL DSP adapter, for accessing Microsoft SQL data

• Microsoft Business Desk DSP adapter, for accessing Microsoft Great Plains data

Improving on FrontPage 2003 Integration

In SharePoint Portal 2001, modifying SharePoint sites required FrontPage 2002, the Software Development Kit (SDK), or the limited set of browser-based tools. FrontPage 2003 offers enhanced features and is more tightly integrated with Windows SharePoint Services.

Web Parts can be previewed in FrontPage 2003 before being published to the SharePoint site. FrontPage 2003 can be used to back up and restore Windows SharePoint Services sites, providing a much needed feature lacking in SharePoint Portal 2001.

Other features provided in FrontPage 2003 include the ability to

• Create web packages, which are collections of files that can contain web pages, templates, web components, themes, graphics, style sheets, and other elements. FrontPage 2003 includes several predesigned web package solutions based on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services. Organizations can create web packages from scratch to meet specific needs.

• Search Web Part libraries directly from FrontPage 2003. This enables FrontPage 2003 to be a complete editing source for web pages, as opposed to a two-step process where the Web Parts would be added using the portal interface and then further modifications made in FrontPage.

• Create list templates and create, edit, and delete SharePoint list views. For experienced FrontPage users, the SharePoint interface may be cumbersome for performing functions such as these. Therefore, FrontPage can be more efficient for these users when creating templates and managing list views.

• Connect Web Parts across pages or on the same page to create a new user interface. Because FrontPage is a web development tool, it has more capabilities and is more flexible than SharePoint, thus features such as these are available for more complete customization.

• Use a new XSL data view Web Part that can bring data from external sources into SharePoint sites. This is a great new integration feature that shows Microsoft's commitment toward a truly integrated Office solution.

Enhancing and Expanding SharePoint with Third-Party Applications

As the SharePoint products grow in popularity, an ever-increasing number of third-party products are becoming available that enhance SharePoint's built-in capabilities and enable SharePoint-based sites and portals to connect to other applications. A review of the different products available is outside the scope of this chapter, but some information is provided in this section to assist in the research process.

An excellent place to start is on Microsoft's website, with its SharePoint Products and Technologies Web Component Directory (http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/downloads/components/search.asp). These components include

• Web Parts, ASP .NET server controls specifically designed to be added to pages in SharePoint sites to create composite applications

• Applications that leverage the web services exposed by Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and/or Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003

• SharePoint site templates

• SharePoint list templates

• Search IFilters

• Search protocol handlers

Because the list is extensive, (more than 350 listings), searches can be done by name, company, or category. Categories include the following:

• Antivirus and document filtering

• Business news and information

• Document automation

• Interactivity

• Knowledge management/offline

• Migration

• Mobility

• Multimedia/Special FX

• Productivity

• Server administration

• Site templates

More specific examples of third-party products that extend SharePoint's functionality are given throughout the book. Chapter 3, "Understanding Organizational Uses of SharePoint Technologies," discusses how some of the products are critical to the design of fully featured SharePoint solutions.