SharePoint Server (MOSS and WSS) Interview questions (FAQ)- Part 2

This is part 2 of a series on SharePoint Server Interview questions. For reference, here are the links to the previous Part 1 of SharePoint Server Interview questions.

SharePoint Server (MOSS and WSS) Interview questions (FAQ) – Part1

26. What is a Field Control?

Field controls are simple ASP.NET 2.0 server controls that provide the basic field functionality of SharePoint. They provide basic general functionality such as displaying or editing list data as it appears on SharePoint list pages.

27. What base class do custom Field Controls inherit from?

Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.BaseFieldControl namespace, but you can inherit from the default field controls.

28. What is a SharePoint site definition? What is ghosted (uncustomized) and unghosted (customized)?

SharePoint site definitions are the core set of functionality from which SharePoint site are built from, building from the SiteTemplates directory in the SharePoint 12 hive.

Site definitions allow several sites to inherit from a core set of files on the file system, although appear to have unique pages, thereby increasing performance and allowing changes that happen to a site propagate to all sites that inherit from a site definition.

Ghosted means that the Site Definition pages have not been customized and the pages in your Site Definitions run directly from the file system (cached of course).

Unghosted means that the site has been customized. When you customize a v2.0 site in FrontPage or a v3.0 site in SharePoint Designer, or you add custom fields to a Document Library, or create sites using that template; then the changes that you made are stored in the database as a diff and that is referred to as Unghosted.

29. What is a document library?

A document library is where you upload your core documents. They consist of a row and column view with links to the documents. When the document is updated so is the link on your site. You can also track metadata on your documents. Metadata would consist of document properties.

30. What is the difference between a document library and a form library?

Document libraries consist of your core documents. An example would be a word document,excel, powerpoint, visio, pdf, etc…

Form libraries consist of XML forms.

31. What is a template?

A template is a pre-defined set of functions or settings that can be used over time. There are many templates within SharePoint, Site Templates, Document Templates, Document Library and List Templates.

32.What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?

SharePoint Portal Server is a portal server that connects people, teams, and knowledge across business processes.

SharePoint Portal Server integrates information from various systems into one secure solution through single sign-on and enterprise application integration capabilities. It provides flexible deployment and management tools, and facilitates end-to-end collaboration through data aggregation, organization, and searching.

SharePoint Portal Server also enables users to quickly find relevant information through customization and personalization of portal content and layout as well as through audience targeting.

33. What is Microsoft Windows Services?

Microsoft Windows Services is the engine that allows administrators to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration.

Windows SharePoint Services provides additional functionality to the Microsoft Office System and other desktop applications, as well as serving as a plat form for application development. SharePoint sites provide communities for team

34. Workflow can be applied to what all elements of SharePoint?

Workflow associations are often created directly on lists and libraries, a workflow association can also be created on a content type that exists within the Content Type Gallery for the current site or content types defined within a list. In short, it can be applied ...

At the level of a list/library

At the level of a content type defined at site scope

35. What is Web Part?

SharePoint Web Parts are UI elements that support both customization and personalization. It works as a component of a SharePoint site that presents information pulled from multiple data sources. With Web Parts, you can create information dashboards on corporate portals and Web sites.

36. Choosing Between ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Parts

You can build Web Parts for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in two ways:
• Create custom ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts.
• Create SharePoint-based Web Parts.

You should create ASP.NET 2.0 Web Parts whenever you can. However, there are a few exceptions where using SharePoint-based Web Parts might offer advantages

Create a custom ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part

Create a SharePoint-based Web Part

· For most business needs. · To distribute your Web Part to sites that run ASP.NET 2.0 or SharePoint sites. · When you want to reuse one or more Web Parts created for ASP.NET 2.0 sites on SharePoint sites. · To use data or functionality provided by Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. For example, you are creating a Web Part that works with site or list data.

· When you want to migrate a set of Web Parts using the SharePoint-based Web Part infrastructure to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. · To create cross page connections. · To create connections between Web Parts that are outside of a Web Part zone. · To work with client-side connections (Web Part Page Services Component). · To use a data-caching infrastructure that allows caching to the content database.

37. What is Centralized configuration and Management Model? What are new and enhanced services in MOSS 2007?

Centralized configuration and Management model, which includes a centralized configuration database and two new services that automatically propagate and synchronize the centrally-stored configuration settings across all of the servers in your server farm. The new configuration and management model allows you to centrally manage your server farm without having to manage farm settings on a server-by-server basis.

For example, if you create a Web application on one of your Web servers, the Web application is automatically propagated to all of your Web servers. You no longer have to create and configure individual Web applications on each of your Web servers.

Two new and enhanced services: the Windows SharePoint Services Administration service and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service. The Windows SharePoint Services Timer service acts as the heartbeat for the server farm and is responsible for running timer jobs that propagate configuration settings across a server farm. The Windows SharePoint Services Administration service works hand in hand with the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service and is responsible for carrying out the actual configuration changes on each of the servers in your server farm.

38. What is UI Trimming?

Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides item-level access control and security settings that allow site administrators and IT administrators to control which people or groups have access to sites, document libraries, lists, folders, documents, and list items. In addition to controlling access to Web page content, item-level access also allows administrators to control which user interface (UI) elements are visible or actionable. also reduces Web page clutter and makes Web pages easier to navigate.

39. What is MOM (Microsoft Operations Manager)?

Improved instrumentation is provided through Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) management packs. MOM packages support centralized monitoring and management of configurations ranging from single server and small server farms to very large server farms.

40.What is Site Provisioning?

WSS was designed from the ground up to make the creation of Web sites faster and more cost effective. At its core, WSS is a site provisioning engine.

The architecture of WSS was specifically designed to operate in a Web farm environment. The act of provisioning a site in WSS can be accomplished by any member of the IT department in less than a minute by filling in the required information in a browser-based form and clicking the OK button.

The WSS site provisioning engine is based on an integrated storage model that involves multiple SQL Server databases to store content and configuration data.

41. What is SharePoint Lists?

Lists store information about items such as events, contacts, or announcements. SharePoint lists are easy to create, requiring absolutely no code, special development skills or tools. In the past, such lists took time to create and required using an application and hiring a developer or user with technical skills.

42.What is SharePoint Library?

Libraries are much like lists with one major difference: their intended content. Libraries store documents.

43. What is Workflow?

Ans: A workflow automates a business process by breaking it into a set of steps that users must take to complete a specific business activity, such as approving content or routing a document from one location to another.

44. Sites, Workspaces, and Site Collections?

sites and workspaces, and site collections all refer to SharePoint sites.

· Sites: These share information in the form of list items and documents within a team or organization.

· Workspaces: These are more specific to an important document, such as an annual report, on which a team collaborates, or to a significant event, such as a gala or annual business meeting.

· Site collections: These are a group of sites and or workspaces that form a hierarchy with a single top-level website with a collection of subsites.

45. What is the difference between method activity and event activity in WF?

A method activity is one that performs an action, such as creating or updating a task. An event activity is one that runs in response to an action occurring.

46. Features Directory ?

Local_Drive:\ProgramFiles\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES.

Feature.xml resides under FEATURES dir. NewFeature will have a separate dir under FEATURES dir
i.e.Local_Drive:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\MicrosoftShared\webserver extensions \12\ TEMPLATE\ FEATURES\NewFeature

47. What is Feature-Stapling?

Attachment of a Feature to all new instances of sites that use a given site definition, without modifying the site definition or creating code routines to activate the Feature on each site. Also known as a feature site template association.

Technical Details

Feature stapling is implemented through a Feature that is specifically designed to staple other Features to one or more site definitions. Feature stapling allows a Feature to be stapled to any new sites created from any site definition or from specific site definitions based on the template name identified in the appropriate WEBTEMP.xml file.

Following is an example of feature stapling that associates the Feature with only the STS site definition templates.

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

<FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="00BFE171-1B17-4F72-28CB-1171C0140130" TemplateName="STS#0" />

<FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="00BFE171-1B17-4F72-28CB-1171C0140130" TemplateName="STS#1" />

<FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="00BFE171-1B17-4F72-28CB-1171C0140130" TemplateName="STS#2" />

Elements>

Following is an example of feature stapling that associates the Feature with all site definitions.

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

<FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="00BFE171-1B17-4F72-28CB-1171C0140130" TemplateName="GLOBAL" />

Elements>

48. How to make a webpart invisible to specific user?

Specify 'Target' Property to specific audience. Audience is a very powerful feature of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server. You can create different audience in order to better manage the web parts security and visibility among portal users. Audience is more like a group created in portal server level, not at the windows server or Active Directory level. Every web part of Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server is having an option called 'Target'. By selecting the target we can make the web part visible to certain group of people.

50.SharePoint Object Model

Windows SharePoint Services offers a highly structured object model that makes it easy to access objects that represent the various aspects of a SharePoint Web site. For example accessing Feature Classes.

Feature Classes

• Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature (SPFeatureCollection) Returns an object that represents the state of a feature at its corresponding level. The presence of a feature in a collection at the farm (Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService), Web application (Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication), site collection (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite), or Web site (Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb) levels indicates that the feature is activated. Lack of a SPFeature object indicates that the object is not active in the given scope. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint

• Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureProperty (SPFeaturePropertyCollection) Represents a single feature property. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint

• Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureScope An enumeration of the possible scopes that can be specified for a feature, including Farm, WebApplication, Site, and Web. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint

• Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFeatureDefinition (SPFeatureDefinitionCollection) Contains the base definition of a feature, including the name, scope, ID, and version of the feature. Also, globally per feature, you can store properties about the feature. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration

• Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureDependency (SPFeatureDependencyCollection) Represents a feature that is depended upon by another feature. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint

• Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPElementDefinition (SPElementDefinitionCollection) Represents an element to be provisioned when the feature is activated or used. Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration