UPDATE: 04/25/08: Aenean aliquam erat iactata super postes et invenit link to this article: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/032608-microsoft-sharepoint.html?page=1. I make note of it because in addition to asking, "how do I learn sharepoint?", some people ask "why should I learn sharepoint?". That article partly answers the later.

In novissimo aliquot menses, dozen plus folks trans planete fuerint petens et emailing me generali quaestione, "How do I learn SharePoint?"

Vix ego auctoritate, sed ego eo successu (melius et studio in omni tempore) so I thought I’d document my personal road map. Others may find it valuable.

Priusquam id faceret,, EGO iustus volo ut mihi manifestum est quod facere, ex his etiam plurium personarum emails et MSDN / Columnaeque academiæ ejusdem naturae SharePoint, that there is huge developer interest in getting up to speed with WSS/MOSS. I wonder what it’s going to be like a year from now … bonum ingenium facile invenire SharePoint? The same? Are folks committing themselves to the platform at a rate sufficient to keep up with demand for good resources? How could you even figure something like that out short of a WAG?

Pauli roadmap

I was full time employed by the good folk at Conchango while I followed this road map. This means that from a learning perspective, I was actively engaged in projects as I followed the steps I outline below.

Nonnullus basic condiciones

Nam hoc mundo intrantes, duo sunt key acronyms:

• WSS: SharePoint Fenestra Muneris
• MUSCUS: Microsoft Muneris SharePoint Server

WSS is "free" in sarcina ut suus fenestras server 2003 (aut saltem potest downloaded a MS). I put quotes around free because you need a box, Valida o /, et fortasse licenciam SQL (though there’s a "free" genus tam SQL).

MOSS is built on top of WSS and extends it. There is no MOSS without WSS. MOSS is not free.

Ne forte die una, Donec aliquam mox habes diam commercium, it’s important to learn the differences. Verbigratia, potens textus partem, Quaero Web content Parte, is a MOSS feature and not available WSS. People often make the incorrect assumption that CQWP is available in WSS and then end up scrambling for a stop-gap measure when they realize their error.

Ledo Books

I started working with WSS/MOSS on about 01/02/2007. I had a little prior experience with SPS 2003 but very little. To get myself started, Ego emit duobus libris recensentur hie (http://paulgalvin.spaces.live.com/lists/cns!1CC1EDB3DAA9B8AA!203/).

I started with the big blue administration book. Naturally, it covers administration. Simul, circumspectis igitur omnibus providet MUSCUS features (et uultus tam WSS).

Enim me, Details non est tanta, quot meminisse (donee tempus adquirendi nunciavimus scriptor) but it’s good to know the boundaries. (Sequor idem aditus in 1st persona jaculatores ludere in PC vel Xbox — I enter a room and tend to make a counter-clockwise loop until I get back where I started. I just feel better knowing the shape of the box I’m in.)

Lectis libro magnum hyacintho, I would read the entire Inside WSS book. It dives deeply into issues that developers care most about.

Partum a Rectum Opera

Ut faceret vel bene uti ambitu progressionem, vos opus a fenestra server plena titulique operating ratio SharePoint Designer, Visual Bulla 2005 (2008 operatur, Sed quaedam instrumenta tamen utile fuerit portaverat ut scripturam hanc articulum), InfoPath 2007 and some other stuff. There are many good blog entries describing this process. I’d have a look at these two:

• Quam creare MUSCUS 2007 Image VPC: Tota 9 Navalibus – Notario SharePoint Blog
• Quam ædificare optimal elit VPC pro SharePoint Development – Blog

Praeter, Andreas Connell experientiarum participes eius hic cum VMWare:

• Microsoft scriptor products nobis virtualization. VMWare oblationes scriptor

Use your favorite search engine to see what other people do. It’s a useful learning exercise in and of itself.

Spend a few minutes angrily denouncing the fact that you need a server environment on which to do development. Sed … don’t bother blogging about it or posting it to MSDN forums. It’s already been done 🙂. Pro, embrace it and move on. You’ll be better off for it.

Adepto nunciavimus

Credo quod MS SharePoint certificationem semita, quae consistit quattuor volutpat, is exhaustive. I suggest that you follow their online preparation guide and do your best to understand each of the areas of the test.

Ego noli suggest that you take the exam just to pass it. Ego noli suggest that you use one of the "brain dump" style 3rd party "tools" for passing MS tests. If you can take the test, transibo eam, fundatur in compositum tua dirigebar studio et manus-in experientia,, firmior eris elit et job candidatus eam.

There are four tests in two "tracks":

Elit:

• TS: Fenestra Microsoft Muneris SharePoint 3.0 – Applicationem ipsum
• TS: Microsoft Muneris SharePoint Server 2007 - Application Development

Admin:

• TS: SharePoint Fenestra Muneris 3.0, Vestibulum
• TS: Microsoft Muneris SharePoint Server 2007, Vestibulum

I recommend that developers study for all of these exams. You’ll be strong for them, tamen credo, si est exsultástis Fusce volutpat, vos adepto a.

Inveni WSS version esse aliquanto magis deposcendis quam debita MUSCUS versions, much to my surprise. I was in a class recently and several others made the same point.

Dum enim studebat 70-542 exem (MUSCUS progressum) I tracked my study resources. These may be helpful to you as well: http://paulgalvin.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!1CC1EDB3DAA9B8AA!192.entry

Plug te in Community

In SharePoint communitas est Vividiorque, fortis et crescit maior omne tempus.

Vis at consequat ante:

• Blogs
• Forums
• Codeplex
• Aliquam

Blogs

Si non intelligere RSS, stop everything and learn it. It will take 10 minutes addiscere, fortasse alio 10 minutes inveniet lector RSS Lorem fundatur (Ego similis Google Lector scriptor, www.google.com / lector).

Start by adding this blog to your RSS reader 🙂

Postero, addunt www.sharepointblogs.com to your reader. They aggregate many blogs into a single feed.

Super tempus, you’ll find blogs that are not aggregated that way. Just add them individually.

I subscribe to a few dozen blogs which I’ve accumulate over the last year. If you want, Possum exportare mea album quod email.

Tandem, you may want to start your own blog. I personally think that a series of blog entries describing a "newbie’s" profectus cognita WSS / MUSCUS esset an interesting seriei. Utinam ipse facit.

Forums

Ego foro coetus actuose participent duo: MSDN et SharePoint University.

Forums are excellent places to learn. People ask questions ranging from the very simple ("How do I create a site column") ad panicked ("My server is down!") hypothetica magis consilium rogationibus.

Lorem ipsum dolor saporem, venture out and start replying. Short of directly interacting with a customer, nam nihil melius esse quam manus dolor.

Codeplex

Ad www.codeplex.com.

Reprehendo eam et quaerere inceptis SharePoint.

Subscribant quotidie Summary Codeplex tua pascuntur in lectori pascite.

Addere novum inceptis ad tuum SharePoint pascuntur lector.

Tandem, post lectionem autem forums et deorsum versus tua WSS / MUSCUS daemonum, considera quod compositio tua project codeplex.

Aliquam

Ut scribo is blog ingressu, multus of populus have coepi usura SharePoint Aliquam.

It’s hard to characterize Twitter. You’ll just have to check it out yourself.

Conclusio

That wraps up my roadmap and makes me current. I just started using Twitter two weeks ago.

WSS/MOSS is a very cool platform and the community is growing all the time. Use community resources to improve your skills and enjoy the journey!

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UPDATE: An anonymous person in the comments posts this link: http://www.atidan.com/atidan-collaboration-kit.php

Forum users saepe interrogare sicut hoc:

"I would like to have a calendar at the site level that is populated by events from subsite calendars. Ideally, users in subsites erit creare calendarium eventus, and will have the option of marking them as ‘public.’ Events marked as public will dynamically appear in the shared site calendar. Thus the shared site calendar is a roll-up of all public events from all subsite calendars."

Est WSS 3.0 vel MUSCUS 2007, est non posse directe configurare a "volumen-usque" calendar. Calendars exist on their own, independens alterius calendarium.

Creare volumen-usque calendarium, sequitur ex his semitas:

1. Use a Content Query Web Part. This is the easiest solution for MOSS users (WSS non providere CQWP). CQWP, infeliciter, does not provide a calendar view of data out of the box. It does provide enormous rendering flexibility (hic enim uno) sed per default, shows its results in simple list format. In many cases, CQWP probabiliter bonum electio.
2. A more programming-oriented solution would be to use event receivers. Implement event receivers on the subsite calendars that keep their public events in sync with the master calendar. As a given subsite calendar is modified, reach out to the master calendar and update it as needed. This option is available in both WSS 3.0 et MUSCUS.

There are probably other clever solutions to this problem. If you have one or know of one, placere relinquat comment vel email me et update hoc post.

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Potest, debet et creare Multa in SharePoint tabulatum (document bibliothecis, consuetudinem tabulatum, etc). SharePoint always lists available views in alphabetical order. We cannot change this using out of the box functionality. If it can be done via customization (Non certus sum potest), suus usque ad technicae pro typicam finem user.

Si vis ad moderari ordinem in quod SharePoint enumerat available views, simpliciter prepend a numerus vel litteras ad visum nomen, ut in:

1 – Per materiales Type
2 – Omnes Tabellae
3 – Debitum Date

-aut-

A – Per materiales Type
B – Omnes Tabellae
C – Debitum Date

I have also created views whose purpose is strictly to feed a KPI. I have been following this naming convention:

Z_KPI_[description]

Quod facit mea "KPI" numero in extrema sententiae videri.

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Hodie, I was working with a client and describing how to modify the content query web part and display additional bits of information from a content type.

"First, you configure the CQWP to connect to its data sources, then you export it to your workstation, modify <CommonViewFields>, upload, remove the original and now it’s ‘primed’ to display those other columns. Postero, open up SharePoint designer, navigate to the site collection root and locate ItemStyle.xsl. Copy one of the templates as a useful starting point. Go back and modify the CQWP to make use of this new template. Tandem, modify the template to render your new fields! (Don’t forget to check it back in so that other users can see the results)."

It’s all quite clear to me (and most of us SharePoint developer types) what’s going on and how it’s quite nice, vere, that the data retrieval aspects of the CQWP are so well-separate from the data presentation aspects. Sed, it’s not so easy to explain, is it?

<Finis />

To filter for a query for the Yes/No check box entitled "PG Milestone", configurare haec CQWP:

Hoc est aliud unum ex his patet, quondam vos scire, sed difficile invenies-ad-modum-responsum ad quaestiones:: Ita quam ad spurcamen in / box nullo morante usura query telam contentus parte.

Prima quaero praecessi I find using the search term "filter yes/no content query web part" planae de iniuriam est, Lorem ita ego eum hoc loco potest, si recte et ex dine Search Results.

Suus facile: True values = "1" and false values do not equal "1" (pulchellus RED, ultro).

In superiore exemplo, I created site column of type "Yes/No (checkbox)" named "PG Milestone". I added it to a doc library, Lorem paucis documentis, posuit et valorem copulabis expertus.

<Finis />

UPDATE 12/04/07: Videte this Microsoft KB (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923589) enim related notitia.

Actu, vertit ex est, sed tricksy MOSS had to make it difficult.

My customer does some development work on his MOSS site over the weekend. It’s a bit of a jumble as to what he actually did, sed in finem ex est hoc:

• He tries to add a site column called "Quantity" and MOSS replies: "The column name that you entered is already in use or reserved. Choose another name."
• He attempts to add it to another environment and that works. Therefore, "Quantity" is not a reserved name.
• He tries to find an existing site column named "Quantity" in that site collection. He cannot find it.

I did some research, and even some coding, waxed philosophical and finally found that a column named Quantity did, in facto, exist. It was in the "_Hidden" group. Hence, we could not find it via the SharePoint user interface.

How did it get there? I do not know, but I have a theory (or as my wife would call it, "blah blah blah"). Alicubi in linea, a fabulous forty template was added and probably activated at a site in the site collection. It was then deactivated (or the site removed). The site column, autem, remained but in the "_Hidden" group. If someone knows better, please let me know via email or post in the comments.

SharePoint was telling the truth. It’s hardly worth pointing out that that message is not as helpful as it could be. It would be nice to see that message fork into two different messages in the future: 1) Say that the column name is reserved or it is not. 2) If it’s not reserved, show the site, or at least the group, where the column name is already used.

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Hoc septimana, illa tandem quaestio delata explicabo consequat remota: Summa amet, conata patefacio excellere, quae videtur ad committitur operantes, sed tunc Praecedo esset pop usque errorem: "Cannot get the list schema column property from the SharePoint list". She was running office 2003, windows XP and connecting to MOSS.

Rimarer Internets et viderunt nihil autem speculatio 100% definitive. Hence, post haec.

Forsit: Exporting praestare visum, quod continet date (date = notitia typus agminis).

Quid fecit propter nos: Convert the date to a "single line of text". Igitur, convertere ad eam diem.

That solved it. It was nice to see that the conversion worked, ultro. It was quite nervous that converting things this way would fail, but it did not.

Mendum hoc ingens umbra super MCMXXXIV data huius modi in mente, sic erant 'iens futurus a Microsoft quaerentem a decretoriae responsionis, et fiducialiter agam, et update stipes est hic in proximo breve tempus cum eorum notitia officiali respondere et hotfix.

Alia references:

http://www.kevincornwell.com/blog/index.php/cannot-get-the-list-schema-column-property-from-the-sharepoint-list/

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2383611&SiteID=1

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Postremis biduum, I have participated in two meetings during which we presented the results of a SharePoint project. The CIO and his team joined the first meeting. That’s standard and not especially notable. The IT department is obviously involved in an enterprise rollout of any technology project. The second meeting expanded to include a V.P. a ipsum, compluribus moderatoribus repraesentans HR, Logistics, Manufacturing, Purus capitalia,, Qualitas, MERCANS, Progressionem corporatum et aliis dicasteriis (et qui se etiam nunc tempus involvit). That’s a mighty wide audience.

In priori vita mea, I primarily worked on ERP and CRM projects. They both have a fairly wide solution domain but not as wide as SharePoint. To be fully realized, SharePoint projects legitimately and necessarily reach into every nook and cranny of an organization. How many other enterprise solutions have that kind of reach? Not many.

SharePoint clearly represents an enormous opportunity for those of us fortunate enough to be in this space. It provides a great technical opportunity (volvitur in caput, quod est quodammodo hic under "Technologies You Must Master"). But even better, SharePoint exposes us to an extensive and wide range of business processes through these engagements. How many CRM specialists work with the manufacturing side of the company? How many ERP consultants work with human resources on talent acquisition? SharePoint exceeds them both.

Quasi aliquid, suus 'non perfectus, tamen suus 'a bonus locus ut damnati sint.

Sc SharePoint forums, someone occasionally asks about "changing the label of Title" or about "removing title from lists".

Imo linea: Non illud faciunt!

Miserabile, user interface ut sino uno modo mutatio agmen label ut ostensum:

Title is a column associated with the "Item" content type. Multis, multis, multi CT usum huius columpne et si mutaverit hic, it ripples out everywhere. There’s a good chance that you didn’t intend for that to happen. You were probably thinking to yourself, "I have a custom lookup list and ‘Title’ non aliter quam sicut columna nomen, so I’m going to change it to ‘Status Code’ and add a description column." But if you follow through on that thought and rename ‘Title’ to ‘Status Code’, omne album title scriptor (bibliothecas possidet document) changes to "Status Code" et vos forsit quod nequaquam fieri.

Verus forsit est ut hoc unum modo mutationis. The UI "knows" that "title" is a reserved word. Ita, if you try and change "Status Code" back to "Title", erit, ne te nunc habes, ipse picta in angulo using paint that never dries 🙂

Ita quod si iam fit illud mutata? I haven’t seen the answer we all want, which is a simple and easy method to change the label back to ‘Title’. Right now, the best advice is to change it to something like "Doc/Item Title". That’s a generic enough label that may not be too jarring for your users.

Paucis sententiis qui me non meis, ut adipiscing diam omnia:

• Microsoft contactus.
• Facere aliquid cum rei exemplum, maybe in conjunctione cum pluma.
• Instar ex database schemate et tincidunt eget SQL. (Contactus quidem id facere debeas coram Microsoft; erit verisimile contractum irritum vestro subsidio).

Si quis noverit quod solvere, placere stipes a comment.

Update tardus meridianus, 11/15: Donec suscipit describit, invenimus quaedam ratio quae non habent ordinem agminis titulo: http://www.venkat.org/index.php/2007/09/03/how-to-remove-title-column-from-a-custom-list/

About a week ago, I started up a codeplex project that provides a simple and reasonably generic method for adding custom action functions to SharePoit Designer workflow. It’s described here: http://www.codeplex.com/spdwfextensions. Beyond simply providing a framework, it also aims to provide a set of useful functions that will make SPD more useful/flexible/powerful.

Here are the current planned features for version 1.0: https://www.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ProjectName=spdwfextensions&ReleaseId=8280

If anyone has any interest in this project, please leave a comment or start/add to a discussion here: http://www.codeplex.com/spdwfextensions/Thread/List.aspx

Here are the current set of functions that have been coded (though not fully tested as of 11/08/07):

Munus	Descriptio (si non idem. Net munus)
NUM-entries()	Redit in numero "entries" in a string as per a specified delimiter. Verbigratia: Num-entries in a string "a,b,c" with delimiter "," = 3.
Entry()	Returns the nth token in a string as per a specified delimiter.
Longitudo	String.Length
Restituo()	String.Replace()
Continet()	String.Contains() Returns the word "true" or the word "false".
Substring(Committitur)	String.Substring(Committitur)
Substring(Committitur,finem)	String.Substring(Committitur,finem)
ToUpper()	String.ToUpper()
ToLower()	String.ToLower()
StartsWith()	String.StartsWith() Returns the word "true" or the word "false".
EndsWith()	String.EndsWith() Returns the word "true" or the word "false".