SharePoint
Passing Custom Values from SharePoint Web Part to a Silverlight Applications
July 10, 2011 | 
Author 
During development of a Web Part, sometimes we have to use Custom Values to set properties to be used within the Web Part during execution. To pass the value of a custom property to a Silverlight Application – so that the value can be used in the logic implemented within Silverlight app is one of the scenarios involved while handling Custom Properties.
To achieve the passing of Custom Value from Web Part to Silverlight Application we have to follow the steps below
- Assign the value to be passed to CustomInitParameters property of Microsoft. SharePoint.WebPartPages.SilverlightWebPart. While assigning the we should concatenate a KEY (with which the value can be retrieved) as prefix to the value (for example <keystring>=<value> ).
- The above mentioned assignment can be done in the overridden method CreateChildControls() of Web Part class.
Posted in SharePoint | 
Tags: Microsoft Silverlight, SharePoint Web Part, Silver light WebPart, Silverlight Applications | 
No Comments »
Creating Custom Properties in SharePoint Web Part
A web part by default has some properties like Title, Height, Width etc… The values for these properties can be either set through code or by using Edit Web Part option. The properties are normally displayed in a Property Pane on the right hand side, when Edit Web Part is clicked. Also these properties are grouped into sections like Appearance, Layout and Advanced.
There will be situations where we have to create a Custom Property whose value can be given by end user. The values of such Custom Properties could be used in some process during the execution of the Web Part.
This can be achieved by adding a new property (member variable) in the Web Part class. This new member variable will be declared as public and Get and Set options will be used to handle the value of this property.
Office 365 – Cloud and Apps Targeted Towards SMEs
Most software organizations are gearing up to address the ever growing small and medium enterprises (SME) market. Cloud based services have gained importance in addressing this segment. Microsoft has recently announced the launch of Office 365, which features close to 100 applications and 400 professional services, from developers to channel partners.
This cloud based offering includes:
- Office Web Apps (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote)
- Email & Calendar (MS Exchange)
- Website & Collaboration (SharePoint and Teamsite)
- Instant Messenger (Lync)
It essentially integrates MS Office, Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Lync Online as cloud services. Office 365 will have to address the competition from Google Apps. However, Office 365 takes the power of cloud services and the features of all these apps and delivers it to SMEs at a fraction of the cost, without compromising on features.
Posted in Cloud Applications, Enterprise software, SharePoint | Tags: Exchange Online, Lync online, MS Office Online, Office 365 cloud, Office365, SharePoint Online | No Comments »
MOSS 2010 as a Project Management tool for Enterprise System Upgrade
Upgrading an enterprise system is a huge risk that involves a variety of stakeholders. Downtime must be minimized, and should work with least amount of functional disruption possible. The mission-critical nature of enterprise systems and its interactions with other high caliber systems necessitates the use of an effective project management system to manage timelines and resources, and mitigate risks as much as possible.
Successful upgrades need effective collaboration and communication among all the stakeholders. The project management system should provide all stakeholders access to documentation, schedules, and plans. Everyone must understand the overall status of the project as well as the status on specific project components, and these status updates should be accessible from anywhere.
The Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2010 is an ideal option as it fosters collaboration among stakeholders from anywhere. Other features of MOSS 2010 are:
Encourage collaboration and community with MOSS 2010
Imagine a company of 200 people where the majority work as consultants travelling to customer locations. This company is a Microsoft shop where consultants collaborate with one another to create SOWs and respond to RFPs. The current way of collaboration is through emails for group review, which results in delayed responses and multiple versions, which impedes progress.
To improve communication, the company sought a solution to collaborate with and respond to customers faster and at lower deployment costs. Recommended steps to follow include:
- Upgrade their system to Office 2010 and deploy MOSS 2010, along with upgrading the OCS Server R2 to Lync Server 2010. This will provide a more comprehensive communication solution with full service Unified Communications (UC) capabilities.
- Carry out deployment by providing an internal file share of Office 2010 for consultants to install at their own convenience. This will reduce both downtime and deployment time considerably.
Posted in SharePoint | Tags: MOSS 2010, Ms Lync 2010, OCS R2, Outlook Social Connector, Sharepoint Collaboration, Sharepoint Community | No Comments »
Adoption is the key to SharePoint success
There is a widespread belief that SharePoint is the ideal information management solution. SharePoint is a web application platform that can perform a variety of functions provided you have the time and the skills to custom develop apps that are needed as a part of your business process.
Research conducted by the Info-Tech group delivered results that align closely with expectations:
Challenges to a successful SharePoint adoption
Source: Info-Tech Research Group
The IT learning curve is at the top followed closely by site design, customization, and content organization. Most challenges are related to staff and their skills, and not so much to the platform itself.
SharePoint for the enterprise – the good part of it!
Enterprise ecosystem typically have best-of-breed IT solutions to enhance their productivity and efficiency. The common ones are enterprise portal, enterprise search, content management, and business intelligence. All of these will have to be integrated together to realize the stated business benefits, which is a humungous task and this integration can take a number of months.
The amount of time the internal IT team would spend in understanding the solution, deploying them and rolling it to the entire enterprise is also large. Add to this, the training and mentoring that needs to be carried out towards getting the end users to adopt the implemented solutions. All of these add up to the costs and most times, they are prohibitively expensive.