Jennifer Ann Mason

One new piece of functionality in SharePoint 2010 is the ability to add “Inline Editing” to a list view. When selected, this option allows for user to add or edit existing list items from the view without having to open the new or edit pages. Since this is added as part of the view, it can be referenced in any web part.

Configuring this option is as easy as modifying the list view. The screen shot below is an example of the list view options that need to be configured.

 

Once this is configured for the view you will see some additional icons. The add item icon will be displayed in the lower left of the view and the edit icon will be displayed whenever you hover over one of the list items.

 

When you select to add a new item using the inline editing, a new line item is created and you can enter the list information. Notice, that users are still presented with the dropdown options and the people picker options. They are also given the option to either Save or Cancel their changes.

 

Similarly, when selected the edit icon for an existing item, users will be able to do an inline edit of the item. Since this is option is associated with a view, any web part on the site that is referencing this view will be able to use this functionality. Below is a screenshot of a page that is configured to include a web part that uses the inline editing options. The first screenshot is of the page with the web part, the second is of the same page when the inline editing features are being used.

 

 

I had a great time at my first SharePoint Saturday this past Saturday in Richmond, VA. It was great to meet so many new people and to get to chat about SharePoint  I did a presentation for the “real world example” track based on a goals tracking system that I had created for one of my clients. The Goals Tracking Site is based on only out of the box functionality and was put together for a very quick turnaround. It includes a few lists, lookup columns, calculated columns and a collection of views. The project was great to work on, so presenting on the final solution was just icing on the cake!

I told those that attended my session that I would post my slides to my blog, so here is the link: Real World Example: Building a Goals Tracking System I hope to attend more SPSaturday sessions in the future! Hopefully we can even pull one together for the Columbus area!

Recently we have been working to help build a new community within the SharePoint community that helps bring Education users together. The needs within the education space are often unique and one of the greatest requests we receive is to connect users with others who are facing the same or similar issues. Based on the number of requests we have received, we have decided to create a new virtual user group that will be dedicated to the Education community within SharePoint. One of the first steps in this process is gathering information from users to help us determine the best time and format for our group.

If you are in the education space, please complete this survey and let us know your thoughts. If you aren’t in the education space, but love SharePoint community, please help us by spreading the word about the new group!

One of the great new features in SharePoint is that we now have two different options for uploading and storing images to the site. We can either upload an image from our computer or from an address.

 

When you select the From Computer option, the following menu is displayed-

 

Notice the List Option- This is a dropdown list of all the lists that have been configured as “Asset Lists”. This means that instead of linking to the image on the computer, the image will be uploaded to the selected SharePoint list and then referenced from the list. This is a very awesome new feature! You can configure which lists can be used as Asset Lists through the Advanced Settings for the List.

 

One of the things I have been playing with in the new version of SharePoint is the Generate File Plan Report Feature. You can find this setting on the list settings page. When you select it you are prompted to enter a location for the report to be stored within the site collection. It basically gives you a summary of the list that includes the available content types, permissions (identifies if they are unique- at the folder and item level), number of items, routing rules and retention policies. This will be very helpful when you are trying to troubleshoot issues with different list and libraries.

 

Report is saved to specified Document Library:

 

 

Report viewed in Excel:

 

 

As shown in the images above, the information available includes the following:

Summary Tab:

Folder Details Tab (columns):

Folder    

Path    

Number of Items    

Unique Permissions    

Retention Schedule    

Rules Routing into this Folder    

Available Content Types

I have run into this at a few clients over the past few weeks, so I decided to add it to my blog so I can reference it in the future. In a nut shell, we are looking for a way to build a simple FAQ list that users can reference as needed. For my clients this has ranged from an HR FAQ list to a simple SharePoint FAQ list. We want users to be able to filter the FAQs by category or view the entire list at once.

This approach is definitely nothing super fancy, but in most cases it will get the job done  to get started, you will need to create two lists:

Once you have the two list populated you can add the web parts to an existing page or create a new page for the FAQs. The screenshot below is an example of a web part page. On the page you will need to add three web parts:

1. Content Editor Web Part: You can use this to add a link that reloads the page with no filter.
2. FAQs Web Part
3. Categories Web Part

Once you have the web parts loaded you can configure the web part connections so that when a categories option is selected, only those FAQs are displayed.

Here is the page in edit mode.

Overall, this is a pretty quick simple out of the box solution. You want to be careful also that this approach can scale to meet your needs. If you know that you will have 20 different categories, then this option is probably not going to work for your specific need. You may also decide that you don’t like the radio buttons or the fact that the category is displayed in both web parts. In that case you would need to modify the web parts using SharePoint Designer and Data View Web Parts.

We have a lot of great things coming up in the Columbus User’s Group, so I wanted to be sure to get the word out about them.

• First off, our site has finally been migrated to the new server. This site should keep you up to date on all things COSPUG!
  
• We have also just announced our spring event. This is going to a SharePoint Show and Tell Event. We are constantly getting request from the community to see examples of what others are doing with SharePoint so we decided to make a day of it! The event will be on May 22 at the Polaris MS Office. You can get all the information and register for the event here. Our event in October filled up quickly, so be sure to get registered early!
  
• And finally, during this Thursday’s meeting, Bob Kerr from Blue Granite will be doing a presentation on “Developing Executive Dashboards using SharePoint 2007’s BI Capabilities”. This should be a great presentation that will cover SharePoint BI, Excel Services and Performance Point. We have a great time at our meetings, so you don’t want to miss out!
  

The buzz has been around for a few weeks that SharePoint Designer would soon be a free download. Here is the official MS link with the download:

• http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42
  

And here is a link to a post on the SPD Blog that discusses the different options for locking down SPD use:

• http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2008/11/25/locking-down-sharepoint-designer.aspx
  

The availability of SPD as a free download has created a few debates about the value of SPD – “SharePoint Designer a definite Maybe” by Mark Rackley and SharePoint Designer – More than a Maybe by Joel Oleson are just two that I have seen. Check them out- they should get you thinking! 

Like just about anything else in SharePoint, SharePoint Designer is a great tool when it is used correctly  The key is to understand what that looks like in your environment. It’s true that Designer isn’t the solution for everything, but it is also true that if you write it off as having no value then you are missing out on some great toolsets!

This June, SharePoint911 will be offering several training classes in Mason, OH.

Business Users Guide to SharePoint Server 2007

SharePoint Planning and Governance

Let me know if you need any additional information. We also have some things in the works for a local admin class as well, so if you are looking for that one just let me know. This is a great chance to get the best training available without having to travel far!

Paul Galvin shared a link on twitter earlier this morning that I found pretty valuable. It was one of those things that I had never really thought too much about and if my background was in html I would probably already know about it.  It was one of those things that you see and then realize how you could use it. I figured that others might be in the same spot.

The link (http://www.ianr.unl.edu/internet/mailto.html) provides information on additional parameters you can set when you are using mailto:

Here are some of the examples I will be using on our COSPUG site:

Add the Subject Line

• mailto:COSPUG@live.com?subject=Need Information About the COSPUG
  

Add content to the body

• mailto:COSPUG@live.com?subject=Looking for Partner Information&body=I am interested in partnering with the COSPUG.
  

A screen shot of the second option is shown below. Maybe Twitter will end up providing value after all 