SharePoint 2007 New Feature Overview
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Jason Fortner February 12, 2007
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Sharepoint 2007 is in Beta 2 now and is projected to be released at the
beginning of the year but now is the time to start looking at the new
features that SharePoint 2007 and WSS V3.0 will contain.
Below are some of the highlights of the new features that SharePoint 2007 and WSS V3.0 will contain.
Site columns provide a central, reusable model for column definition.
When you create a site column, each list that uses this column has
the same definition, and you do not have to do the tedious work of
reproducing the column in each list. Additionally, site columns provide
you with the simplicity of a single maintenance point. For instance,
you can create a status site column, which may contain multiple choices
of an enterprise's specific statuses, and implement the column in
dozens of project master lists across the site collection. If you add a
new status, you can modify the site column instead of having to modify
each list that contains a status column.
Content types are a core concept used throughout the functionality
and services offered in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version
3) and are designed to help users organize their SharePoint content in
a more meaningful way. A content type is a reusable collection of
settings you want to apply to a certain category of content.
Content types enable you to manage the metadata and behaviors of a
document or item type in a centralized, reusable way. For example,
consider the following two types of documents: software specifications
and legal contracts. You might want to store documents of those two
types in the same SharePoint document library. However, the metadata
you would want to gather and store about each of these document types
would be quite different. In addition, you would likely want to assign
different workflows and retention policies to the two types of
documents. Content types enable you to store multiple types of content
in the same SharePoint library or list. In the preceding example, you
could define two content types, named Specification and Contract. Each
content type would include different columns for gathering and storing
item metadata and would have different workflows and policies. Yet
items of both content types could be stored in the same SharePoint
document library.
Recycle bins, or undelete functionality, is another important
improvement that has been added in Microsoft Windows SharePoint
Services (version 3). This functionality is available in both lists and
document libraries. Deleting an item from a list triggers a multilevel
series of events. First, the item is sent to a Web-level recycling bin.
From here, the item can be undeleted by any individual who has been
given appropriate rights. When the item is deleted from this bin, the
item is sent to a second recycling bin, controlled by the site
administrator.
Among the design features of this bin are timers that allow you to
automate the removal of old documents. For example, an administrator
may decide that the vast majority of requests for item restores happen
within the first 90 days. In this scenario, the administrator may set
the timer such that items older than 90 days are permanently deleted.
RSS has become a standard way of aggregating content from the Web.
For more information on RSS in Microsoft Windows Code Name "Longhorn,"
see the technical article RSS Support in Longhorn on Microsoft
Developer Network (MSDN). By integrating RSS feeds for each SharePoint
list, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) provides a push
mechanism for forwarding information to end users.
Folders, one of the popular features from document libraries in
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 2), is now also
available in lists. Folders allow further segregation of content within
a single list, adding another level of versatility. One of the
interesting features of folders is the ability to assign metadata to a
folder. This creates a rich content holder that contains child content,
while appearing as more than a container. Essentially, this allows the
folder to function as a separate, but fully functional, item type. An
example of this can be seen in Windows SharePoint Services discussion
boards. Each top-level discussion is, in fact, a folder with metadata,
containing one to n child objects. By modifying the appearance of the
folder, an end user can visualize the folder as another list item
rather than as a container. You can use this model in custom lists to
create a dynamic parent/child list. Many business applications require
rich container objects, for which a parent object has both important
data concerning itself, and one to n children with similar data.
Normally, you deal with this challenge by using lists in which a
parent, or master, list selection drives the display of a child, or
detail, list.
Because you can now assign metadata to folders in a SharePoint list, you can achieve similar functionality with a single list.
Consider an Orders list, for example. You could provision a folder
as an order, and then assign metadata to it, such as order number,
customer, and shipment method. By doing so, you can make the folder
mimic the master list functionality. You can then fill the folder with
order items list items, each with its own metadata, such as item
number, description, and price. Now you have the rich functionality of
a master/detail list within a single list.
List Indexing. Integral to the idea of using Microsoft Windows
SharePoint Services as a platform is the ability to use its storage
containers, specifically lists and document libraries, for application
storage. However, a number of limitations restricted the true use of
these containers in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 2).
One of the problems was the inability to handle large lists. As lists
began to grow, both in metadata and list items, the mechanisms built
into lists became clunky and inefficient.
A key goal within Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3)
was to fix these restrictions and create a rich storage model with
performance capable of supporting applications, both external and those
built upon the Windows SharePoint Services platform. One of the key
ways that Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3) solves this
issue is to include indexing on columns. By allowing a column to be
indexed, and stored as a simple name/value pair in a separate database,
access to specific items in large lists is significantly improved.
These kinds of performance improvements allow SharePoint lists to
become true data stores, capable of supporting external applications as
well as simple team sites.For example, with an Orders list, you could
provision a folder as an order and then assign metadata to it, such as
order number, customer, and shipment method. Consider that by indexing
the order number column, access to specific items in the list by an
external request becomes significantly cheaper.
Another scenario is an external application with hundreds of
thousands of records. Previously, your Web application could not use a
SharePoint list as a storage device. With the inclusion of indexing on
columns, performance increases allow this architecture. By using
Windows SharePoint Services storage, the standard features of the
platform, such as views, alerts, and RSS, can now be used as a data
store explorer for internal use in simple team sites.
Cross-List Queries - Another improvement made with the idea of
using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services storage more effectively is
cross-list queries. Cross-list queries allow you to use the SPQuery
object to query all the lists within a Web or site collection.
Previously, you had to iterate through the parent objects to obtain a
collection of SPList objects, query the list to return the items, and
then build your own collection of list items from the multiple lists.
This exercise was not only tedious and redundant but expensive.
Cross-list queries allow you to take advantage of the efficiencies
built into the SPQuery functionality in a number of additional
scenarios. Cross-list queries provide a rich querying capability,
similar to SQL queries, within SharePoint. Among the many possible
scenarios this functionality allows is the numerous aggregation
scenarios commonly requested by end users.
List Items. Several improvements in Microsoft Windows SharePoint
Services (version 3) are implemented on the item level rather than on
the entire list. The following is a list of several important new
features.
Per-Item Security Item-level security is certain to be a popular
new feature in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3). List
and document libraries now feature the ability to set roles on each
item, rather than simply at the lists level. In a developer scenario,
if you combine per-item security with other features, such as list
events or extensible field types, you could use per-item security to
change who has access to an item, based upon an entry in another field.
For example, a change to the status of an item could trigger a change
in who has the ability to edit the item.
Versioning In Windows SharePoint Services (version 2), only
document libraries allowed versioning, and then only a major version
would be created. This basic functionality did not match the workflow
normally associated with documents; namely, the creation and edit
process when a document is in draft version, and then the publishing of
a document to public status. Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services
(version 3) offers a new, richer versioning model. This model includes
both major and minor versions, and versioning within lists as well as
document libraries. In addition, major and minor versions can have
different security, allowing separate draft and public version
workflows. In a developer scenario, versions are associated with a rich
event model that allows numerous scenarios, including custom workflows,
item validation, and information propagation.
Required Checkout In Windows SharePoint Services V2, users could
modify documents without checking those documents out from a document
library. This allowed multiple users to edit the same document, and
left a complicated, poorly understood merge/overwrite scenario. In
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3), document edits are
allowed only when the document has been checked out. This forced
checkout defines a clear owner model and simplifies merging of changes.
Workflows In Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3), a
workflow allows you to attach a business process to items in SharePoint
Products and Technologies. This process can control almost any aspect
of an item in SharePoint Products and Technologies, including the
lifecycle of that item. For example, you could create a simple workflow
that routes a document to a series of users for approval.
Workflows can be as simple or complex as your business processes
require. You can create workflows that the user initiates, or workflows
that SharePoint Products and Technologies automatically initiate based
on some event, such as when an item is created or changed. In addition,
your workflows can interact directly with the user through workflow
forms. Workflow forms enable you to gather information from the user at
each stage of the workflow. You can create your workflow to interact
with the user through the standard SharePoint Products and Technologies
browser-based interface, through workflow forms in Microsoft Office
client applications such as Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel, or even
through your own custom applications. Workflows are available to end
users at the list or document library level.
Workflows can also be added to content types. Multiple workflows
may be available for an item. In addition, multiple workflows can run
simultaneously on the same item, but only one instance of a specific
workflow type can run on a specific item at any given time. For
example, you might have two workflows, "SpecReview" and "LegalReview,"
available for a specific content type, "Specification." Although both
workflows can run simultaneously on a specific item of the
"Specification" content type, you can't have two instances of the
"LegalReview" workflow running on the same item at the same time.
Events are key to transforming Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services into a true developer platform.
Events enable first and third parties to hook into Windows
SharePoint Services behaviors and override default behaviors. Events
fall into two major categories:
List events Core events, including changes, additions, and removals
of list items and list columns (schema changes) Simple site events
Deletion of sites and site collections
Events are either synchronous "before" events, denoted by the
"XYZing" name format, or asynchronous “after” events, denoted by the
"ABCed" name format. Event receivers can be registered, through the
"Features" feature, with an Item, a List, a Web, or a Content Type. For
example, an event receiver that ensures a document always has a
copyright in the footer can be associated with a central Content Type
and pushed down to all document libraries associated with that type. As
they do in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 2),
developers can override and extend the event handler method. A new
sequence number parameter allows for control of the firing order of
multiple events.
Features - Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 3)
contains a new structure called a "feature." A "feature" is an
end-user-oriented container of one or more elements. An element is an
atomic Windows SharePoint Services concept. The "feature" is defined in
an XML format, similar to other existing SharePoint structures. Each
“feature” definition is a set of XML files. Many items that were
previously contained within a site definition in Windows SharePoint
Services (version 2) are now able to fit as an element. In Windows
SharePoint Services (version 3), a SharePoint site definition is
transformed into a list of "features" plus a layout page and a master
page. The goal is that any templated SharePoint site can be transformed
into another templated SharePoint site simply by having the
administrator toggle features on the site and possibly switch the
layout page or master page. Upgrading a Windows SharePoint Services V2
site definition to a Windows SharePoint Services V3 site is a process
of breaking the XML files (such as ONET.XML) into small chunks,
componentizing them into arbitrary components, and then packaging them
as a Windows SharePoint Services V3 "feature" and creating a workspace
template that uses those "features."
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