What a good news ... Google Chrome launching Operating System?

It is really good news to every one. Google is going to release new operating system "Google Chrome Os".

Google Chrome OS is an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks.Later this year we will open-source its code, and netbooks running Google Chrome OS will be available for consumers in the second half of 2010. Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS.

Google Chrome OS

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

SharePoint Server (MOSS and WSS) Interview questions (FAQ)- Part 1

Here I am providing some sharepoint interview questions on MOSS and WSS. This is the part-1 interview questions. Those who are preparing for sharepoint learning and jobs. This is good stuff to prepare.

1. What is Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services? How is it related to Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007?

Windows SharePoint Services is the solution that enables you to create Web sites for information sharing and document collaboration. Windows SharePoint Services -- a key piece of the information worker infrastructure delivered in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 -- provides additional functionality to the Microsoft Office system and other desktop applications, and it serves as a platform for application development.

Office SharePoint Server 2007 builds on top of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to provide additional capabilities including collaboration, portal, search, enterprise content management, business process and forms, and business intelligence.

2. 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 collaboration, enabling users to work together on documents, tasks, and projects. The environment for easy and flexible deployment, administration, and application development

3. What are the various kinds of roles the users can have?

A user can be assigned one of the following roles

Reader - Has read-only access to the Web site.

Contributor - Can add content to existing document libraries and lists.

Web Designer - Can create lists and document libraries and customize pages in the Web site.

Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.

4. What are the advanced features of MOSS 2007?

User Interface (UI) and navigation enhancements

Document management enhancements

The new Workflow engine

Office 2007 Integration

New Web Parts

New Site-type templates

Enhancements to List technology

Web Content Management

Business Data Catalog

Search enhancements

Report Center

Records Management

Business Intelligence and Excel Server

Forms Server and InfoPath

The “Features” feature

Alternate authentication providers and Forms-based authentication

5. What are safe controls, and what type of information, is placed in that element in a SharePoint web.config file?

When you deploy a WebPart to SharePoint, you must first make it as a safe control to use within SharePoint in the web.config file. Entries made in the safe controls element of SharePoint are encountered by the SharePointHandler object and will be loaded in the SharePoint environment properly, those not will not be loaded and will throw an error.

In the generic safe control entry (this is general, there could be more), there is generally the Assembly name, the namespace, the public key token numeric, the typename, and the safe declaration (whether it is safe or not). There are other optional elements.

6. What is a SPSite and SPWeb object, and what is the difference between each of the objects?

The SPSite object represents a collection of sites (site collection [a top level sites and all its subsites]). The SPWeb object represents an instance SharePoint Web, and SPWeb object contains things like the actual content. A SPSite object contains the various subsites and the information regarding them.

7. How would you go about getting a reference to a site?

Select For Unformatted Code

C#:

1. oSPSite = new SPSite("http:/server");
2. 
   
3. oSPWeb = oSPSite.OpenWeb();

8. What does a SPWebApplication object represent?

The SPWebApplication objects represents a SharePoint Web Application, which essentially is an IIS virtual server. Using the class you can instigate high level operations, such as getting all the features of an entire Web Application instance, or doing high level creation operations like creating new Web Applications through code.

9. How do you connect (reference) to a SharePoint list, and how do you insert a new List Item?

Select For Unformatted Code

C#:

1. using(SPSite mySite = new SPSite("yourserver"))
2. {
3. using(SPWeb myWeb = mySite.OpenWeb())
4. {
5. SPList interviewList = myWeb.Lists["listtoinsert"];
6. SPListItem newItem = interviewList.Items.Add();
7. newItem["interview"] = "interview";
8. newItem.Update();
9. }
10. }
    

10. How would you loop using SPList through all SharePont List items, assuming you know the name (in a string value) of the list you want to iterate through, and already have all the site code written?

Select For Unformatted Code

C#:

1. SPList interviewList = myWeb.Lists["listtoiterate"];
2. foreach (SPListItem interview in interviewList)
3. {
4. // Do Something
5. }

11. How do you return SharePoint List items using SharePoint web services?

In order to retrieve list items from a SharePoint list through Web Services, you should use the lists.asmx web service by establishing a web reference in Visual Studio. The lists.asmx exposes the GetListItems method, which will allow the return of the full content of the list in an XML node. It will take parameters like the GUID of the name of the list you are querying against, the GUID of the view you are going to query, etc.

Select For Unformatted Code

The following code below enables you to read the response from MOSS List Web Service...

MOSSListWS.Lists list_svc = new MOSSListWS.Lists();

list_svc.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential(username,"password");

// The URL property for WebService retrieve

list_svc.Url = "http://ilocalhost/_vti_bin/lists.asmx";

XmlNode itemCollection = list_svc.GetListItems("listName", string.Empty, null, null, "0", null, "");

XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

xmlDoc.LoadXml(itemCollection.OuterXml);

DataSet ds = new DataSet();

StringReader stringReader = new StringReader(xmlDoc.OuterXml);

ds.ReadXml(stringReader);

stringReader.Dispose();

dataGridView1.DataSource = ds.Tables[1];

For Querying to List

Web_Reference_Folder_Name.Lists listService = new Web_Reference_Folder_Name.Lists();

listService.Credentials= System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

XmlDocument xmlDoc = new System.Xml.XmlDocument();

XmlNode ndQuery = xmlDoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"Query","");

XmlNode ndViewFields = xmlDoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"ViewFields","");

XmlNode ndQueryOptions = xmlDoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"QueryOptions","");

ndQueryOptions.InnerXml = "FALSE" + "TRUE";

ndViewFields.InnerXml = "Field1' />Field2'/>";

ndQuery.InnerXml = "Field1'/>" + "5000Field2'/>" + "2003-07-03T00:00:00 ";

try

{

XmlNode ndListItems = listService.GetListItems("List_Name", null, ndQuery,ndViewFields, null, ndQueryOptions);

MessageBox.Show(ndListItems.OuterXml);

}

catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException ex)

{

MessageBox.Show("Message:\n" + ex.Message + "\nDetail:\n" + ex.Detail.InnerText +

"\nStackTrace:\n" + ex.StackTrace);

}

12. What is CAML, and why would you use it?

CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language. CAML is an XML based language which provides data constructs that build up the SharePoint fields, view, and is used for table definition during site provisioning. CAML is responsible for rending data and the resulting HTML that is output to the user in SharePoint. CAML can be used for a variety of circumstances, overall is used to query, build and customize SharePoint based sites. A general use would be building a CAML query in a SharePoint WebPart in order to retrieve values from a SharePoint list.

13. What are WebPart properties, and what are some of the attributes you see when declaring WebPart properties in code?

WebPart properties are just like ASP.NET control properties, they are used to interact with and specify attributes that should be applied to a WebPart by a user. Some of the attributes you see with ASP.NET 2.0 properties are

WebDescription, WebDisplayName, Category, Personalizable, and WebBrowsable.

Although most of these properties come from the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts class, ones like Category come out of System.ComponentModel namespace.

14. What is a SharePoint Solution File? How does it differ from WebPart .cab files in legacy development? What does it contain?

A SharePoint solution file is essentially a .cabinet file with all a developers custom componets suffixed with a .wsp extension that aids in deployment. The big difference with SharePoint solution files is that a solution:

allows deployment to all WFE’s in a farm is highly manageable from the interface allowing deployment, retraction, and versioning Can package all types of assets like site definitions, feature definitions (and associated components), Webparts, etc.

Can provide Code Access Security provisioning to avoid GAC deployments

15. What is a .ddf file and what does it have to do with SharePoint Solution creation?

A .ddf file is a data directive file and is used when building the SharePoint solution bundle specifying the source files and their destination locations. The important thing for someone to understand is that the .ddf file will be passed as a parameter to the MAKECAB utility to orchestrate construction of the SharePoint solution field.

16. What file does a SharePoint solution package use to orchestrate (describe) its packaged contents?

The solution Manifest.XML file.

17. What deployment mechanism can you use to instigate Code Access Security attributes for your WebParts?

SharePoint solution files can add in order to handle code access security deployment issues. This is done in the element in the SharePoint solution manifest.XML, which makes it easier to get assemblies the appropriate permissions in order to operate in the bin directory of the web application.

18. What is a SharePoint Feature? What files are used to define a feature?

A SharePoint Feature is a functional component that can be activated and deactivate at various scopes throughout a SharePoint instances, such as at the farm, site collection, web, etc. Features have their own receiver architecture, which allow you to trap events such as when a feature is installing, uninstalling, activated, or deactivated. They are helpful because they allow ease of upgrades and versioning.

The two files that are used to define a feature are the feature.xml and manifest.xml file. The feature XML file defines the actual feature and will make SharePoint aware of the installed feature. The manifest file contains details about the feature such as functionality.

19. What types of SharePoint assets can be deployed with a SharePoint feature?

Features can do a lot. For example, you could deploy

Simple site customizations, Custom site navigation, WebParts, pages, list types, list instances, event handlers, workflows, custom actions

20. What are event receivers?

Event receivers are classes that inherit from the SpItemEventReciever or SPListEventReciever base class (both of which derive out of the abstract base class SPEventRecieverBase), and provide the option of responding to events as they occur within SharePoint, such as adding an item or deleting an item.

21. When would you use an event receiver?

Since event receivers respond to events, you could use a receiver for something as simple as canceling an action, such as deleting a document library by using the Cancel property. This would essentially prevent users from deleting any documents if you wanted to maintain retention of stored data.

22. What base class do event receivers inherit from?

Event receivers either inherit from the SPListEventReciever base class or the SPItemEventReciever base class, both which derive from the abstract base class SPEventReceiverBase.

23. What is a content type?

A content type is an information blueprint basically that can be re-used throughout a SharePoint environment for defining things like metadata and associated behaviors. It is basically an extension of a SharePoint list, however makes it portable for use throughout an instance regardless of where the instantiation occurs, ergo has location independence.

Multiple content types can exist in one document library assuming that the appropriate document library settings are enabled. The content type will contain things like the metadata, listform pages, workflows, templates (if a document content type), and associated custom written functionality.

24. Can a list definition be derived from a custom content type?

Yes, a list definition can derive from a content type which can be seen in the schema.XML of the list definition in the element.

25. What is a Content Type then?

A content type is an object that is stored within MOSS that defines several elements of a piece of content, including:

• Document Template that the content will be based on
• Columns that the content will have associated with it (metadata)
• Workflows that the content will use
• Information Management policies that apply to the content
• Conversion types for the content