Extending Companyweb with FrontPage

One of SharePoint's true strengths is the capability to extensively customize virtually all aspects of a SharePoint site from within SharePoint's web interface. However, you have even more options for customizing your SharePoint sites using Microsoft FrontPage 2003. Although the possibilities of SharePoint combined with FrontPage 2003 are virtually limitless, we will focus on how to use FrontPage to extend the SharePoint interface and overcome a few speed bumps you may encounter from following some of the customizations included in the chapter.

For example, you may have noticed that after you have created a custom web part page, there isn't any way to place a shortcut to that web part page on the Companyweb main page. The best you can do is place a shortcut to the document library that that web part page lives in, or add it to a Links web part on the main page as well, which isn't exactly an ideal solution. But you can put a direct link to that web part page on the Companyweb main page using FrontPage 2003.

Open FrontPage 2003 and select File, Open Site. In the Site Name field, enter http://companyweb and click Open. The site opens, and you can see all the individual pages and directories that make up your Companyweb site. Double-click on default.aspx to open the Companyweb main page. From here, you can easily add additional links to either the QuickLaunch bar on the right side of the page, or even the SharePoint header bar at the top of the page. After you've added your new link, simply save the page, and your changes will be visible on the Companyweb home page.

Besides adding links to the main page, you can further customize your web part pages. Depending on the layout you chose when you created your custom web part page, you may have noticed that different web part zones on the page had different orientationsfor example, some zones organized web parts vertically, whereas others organized web parts horizontally. If you have a web part page where you don't like the orientation of the zones, you can easily change that within FrontPage. With your Companyweb site open in FrontPage, open your web part page (in the folder list, expand the document library where your web part page lives, and double-click on the web part page). Find a web part in the zone whose orientation you want to change and right-click on the web part. In the context menu that appears, select Web Part Zone Properties. On the dialog box that opens, you can specify that the layout for that zone be either horizontal or vertical. Click OK to close the dialog box; then save your web part page.

When it comes to creating web part pages, many people would prefer not to just create a top-level web part page without having to store it in a document library. Although creating a web part page in the SharePoint web interface requires that the page be stored in a document library, you can easily create a top-level web part page in FrontPage without having to store it in a document library. To do so, in FrontPage simply select File, New, which opens the Activity pane on the right side of the FrontPage window. From the Activity pane, click More Page Templates, go to the Web Part Pages tab, and select the layout you want for your new page. After you've created the new web part page, you can add web parts and further customize your page within FrontPage. Note that because this is a top-level web part page, you need to place a link to this page somewhere on your Companyweb, or you will only be able to access this page by entering its direct URL.

One of the most exciting things you can do with FrontPage 2003 and SharePoint is to convert your normal web parts to Data View web parts and establish data connections between web parts. What exactly does that mean? Take the project documents you've been using throughout this chapter, where you have a document library that stores all your project documents and a SharePoint list that stores your project information. Let's say that you also have a SharePoint list that stores your customer information and a contact list that stores customer contacts. You're using lookup fields in the projects and contacts lists to look up customers from the customers list, and a lookup field in the document library to look up projects. This allows you to select the customer that each contact and project is related to, and to select the project that each document is related to. How can you filter and view all this data in a coherent and efficient manner? Wouldn't it be great if you could select a customer from a list and automatically see all the contacts and projects that relate to that customer? Well with SharePoint and FrontPage 2003, you can! The following steps allow you to create this functionality with a custom web part page:

1.	Start by creating a new web part page and adding the necessary web parts (Customers, Contacts, Projects, and Project Documents), placing them where you want them on the page.
2.	Edit the view of each web part to include the columns, filters, and groupings that you want.
3.	Open your web part page in FrontPage 2003.
4.	For each web part on the page, right-click on the web part and select Convert to XSLT Data View to convert the web part to a Data View web part. This effectively alters the web part so that it is aware of the data it is displaying, so it can provide that value to other web parts.
5.	After you have converted each web part to a Data View web part, right-click on the Customers web part and select Web Part Connections. This starts the Web Part Connections Wizard that allows you to filter other web parts (Projects and Customers) based on the value selected in this web part (Customers).
6.	The Web Part Connections Wizard starts. In the Action field, select Provide Data Values To and click Next.
7.	Select Connect to a Web Part on This Page and click Next.
8.	In the Target Web Part field, select the target web part (Contacts).
9.	In the Target Action field, select Filter View Using Data Values From and click Next.
10.	Choose the columns from each web part that have matching values. This usually is the lookup field in the target web part and the field in the source web part that the lookup field points to. For example, when you set up your Contacts list in SharePoint, let's say that you created a lookup field called Customer. The Customer lookup field pulled its values from the Name field of the Customer list. As a result, in this stage of the wizard, you would select the Name field from the Customer web part, and the Customer field from the Contact web part. Click Next.
11.	In the Create Hyperlink On field, select the same field from the source web part (Customers) as you did in the prior screen. Verify that Indicate Current Selection Using is checked, and that the field value matches that of the Create Hyperlink On field. Click Next; then click Finish.
12.	Repeat steps 5 to 11 to connect the Customers web part to the Projects web part, and repeat again to connect the Projects web part to the Documents web part.
13.	Save your web part page.

After you've finished the preceding steps, you can open your web part page in SharePoint. When you do, you will notice that the first customer in your customer web part is selected. As a result, the Contacts web part shows only contacts for that customer, and the Projects web part shows only projects for that customer. Additionally, the first project in the web part is selected by default, so the Documents web part only shows documents for that project. You can select a different project to view related documents, or select a different customer, which updates the Contacts, Projects, and Documents web parts accordingly. In little time, you were able to create a custom dashboard for your specific needs, which represents the great value that SharePoint offers.