Chapter 2: SharePoint Overview, Planning, and Installation
This chapter is the foundation for the entire book. In this chapter you will learn the planning and installation considerations for SharePoint. Additionally, you will set up a development environment that can be used throughout the book. You should not skip this chapter because its information is assumed throughout the rest of the book. Plan on spending a few days with this material to properly set up your SharePoint environment.
Chapter 3: SharePoint Fundamentals
This chapter provides an overview of the fundamental capabilities of SharePoint You’ll use this information to get a fully-functional SharePoint farm and create your first sites. You’ll also learn about new capabilities in this version that specifically target weaknesses from previous versions of SharePoint.
Chapter 4: SharePoint Shared Services
This chapter completes the configuration of critical services within your SharePoint farm. You’ll configure and use search, profiles, audiences, Excel Services, and the Business Data Catalog. This chapter is mandatory for anyone working with the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS).
Chapter 5: SharePoint Content Development & Management
This chapter covers the new content management capabilities of SharePoint. You’ll learn how to add new pages to sites and manage the deployment process. This chapter also shows you how to create and apply themes, master pages, and style sheets. If you want to customize the look of SharePoint, this chapter will show you how.
Chapter 6: SharePoint Document, Form, and Records Management
This chapter covers all of the integration points between SharePoint and documents, forms, and records, You’ll learn the basics of metadata and how to interact with it. You’ll also learn how to deploy forms in libraries and through the new InfoPath Forms Services technology. Finally, you’ll set up a records library and apply retention policies to archived documents.
Chapter 7: SharePoint Custom Features and Workflows
Customization of SharePoint begins in earnest with this chapter. Here, you’ll learn how to create your own custom Features for adding items to menus, adding new administrative pages, making changes to the infrastructure, and receiving event notifications. This chapter also covers how to create workflow solutions with both the SharePoint Designer and Visual Studio.
Chapter 8: SharePoint Business Intelligence Solutions
This chapter focuses on creating dashboards within the new Report center. You’ll learn how to create scorecards with stop lights to represent key performance indicators (KPI) and how to integrate Excel spreadsheets to show data. This chapter also shows how to integrate SQL Analysis services and SQL Reporting services with SharePoint.
Chapter 9: SharePoint and Microsoft Office
This chapter covers all of the different ways to create solutions with Office 2007 products. You’ll learn how to create add-ins for Office and make them part of a SharePoint solution. You’ll also learn about the new open XML file formats and how they can be integrated with SharePoint.
Chapter 10: SharePoint Web Parts
This chapter provides complete coverage of creating and deploying web parts in SharePoint. You’ll learn about the web part lifecycle and how to code the new ASP.NET 2.0 web parts that are used by SharePoint. You’ll also learn how to create web parts that can be connected together to act as filters. Finally, you’ll learn to create solution files for deploying web parts to the SharePoint farm.
Chapter 11: Programming SharePoint Services
This chapter provides the fundamentals you’ll need to get started programming against the SharePoint object model and web services. You’ll learn the basics of accessing SharePoint programmatically and manipulating site information, user information, lists, and libraries. This chapter also covers the Microsoft Single Sign-On service.
Chapter 12: SharePoint Operations and Administration
This chapter provides all of the foundational information you will need to properly administer a SharePoint farm. You’ll learn how to backup and restore a farm, get reports, and monitor the infrastructure. You’ll also learn how to improve SharePoint performance with caching mechanisms.
