Design and build sites for Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Corporation
Published: July 2008
Author: Office IT and Servers User Assistance ()
Abstract
This guide provides prescriptive guidance that can help you and your team build custom enterprise sites by using Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 — such as company-wide portal sites or Internet presence sites. Custom sites based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 combine coded elements, such as workflows, document converters, and Web Parts, along with content, such as master pages, layout pages, graphics files, and Web pages. Best practices for developing these sites include setting up multiple environments for developing, integrating, piloting, and deploying coded elements and content from one environment to another. Therefore, coordinating the development and deployment of an enterprise site based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a complex activity. This guide describes the ways you can set up the multiple environments used in the development process and the methods for deploying content and code from one environment to another.
The content in this book is a copy of selected content in the Office SharePoint Server technical library ( as of the publication date. For the most current content, see the technical library on the Web.
Copyright
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Contents
Design and build sites for Office SharePoint Server 2007
Copyright
About designing and building sites
Determine your approach
Basic customization approach
Intermediate customization approach
Advanced customization approach
Review of site elements
Elements of an Office SharePoint Server site
Authored site elements
Master pages
Layout pages
Cascading style sheets
Content deployment
Migration APIs
Solutions
Typical developed elements of sites
Solutions
Features
Review of environments
Development environment
Software configuration management environment
Integration environment
Authoring environment
Pilot environment
Production environment
Review of tools and processes
Using software development and configuration management tools
Using integration and testing tools
Using site design and customization tools
Using solutions packaging and deployment tools
Using content authoring and deployment tools
About development team roles
Architect
Developer
Designer
Author
Tester
Administrator
Customization scenarios
Corporate extranet site: An author-centric scenario
Enterprise Internet presence site: A developer-centric scenario
Overview of upgrading from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Office SharePoint Server 2007 and new methods for common customizations
About the upgrade process
Overview of common customizations
Customization: Specific designs for area pages
Customization: Custom authentication
Customization: Specific navigation scheme
Customization: Customized look and feature set for a template
Resources for upgrading from Content Management Server 2002
Set up the server environments
Set up the software configuration management environment
Set up the development environment
System requirements
Software requirements
Installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 and other software
Set up the integration environment (Office SharePoint Server)
Hardware and software requirements
Installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 and other software
Importing test data
Overview of testing
Set up the authoring environment
Hardware and software requirements
Installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 and other software
Set up the pilot environment
Hardware and software requirements
Installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 and other software
Overview of testing
Deploy customizations
About the two classes of customizable site elements
Deploying developed site elements
Deploying authored site elements
Deploying authored site element customizations
Deploying content by using the content deployment feature
Deploying content by using content deployment packages
Deploying content by using solution packages
Deploying developed site element customizations
Deploying developed site elements by using solution packages
Manually create a solution package
Create a solution package by using the SharePoint Solution Generator
Create a solution package by using WSPBuilder
Deploying developed site elements by using Features
Solution package components
Solution element
FeatureManifest element
Assembly element
ApplicationResourceFile element
CodeAccessSecurity element
DwpFile element
Resource element
SiteDefinitionManifest element
RootFile element
TemplateFile element
Feature roadmap pages
Sites and subsites roadmap
Before you begin
Determine information architecture
Create site collections and sites
Customize navigation
Page design roadmap
Before you begin
Customize master pages
Configure navigation
Customize layout pages
Incorporate Web Parts
Customize the styles used on page elements
Customize tools used by authors
Document management roadmap
Before you begin
Create content types
Create document libraries
Associate content types with document libraries
Add content to document libraries
Manage content permissions
InfoPath Forms Services roadmap
Before you begin
Configure InfoPath Forms Services
Design form templates
Deploy form templates
Additional resources
Workflows roadmap
Before you begin
Configure the workflows included with Office SharePoint Server 2007
Design custom workflows in Office SharePoint Designer 2007
Design custom workflow forms in Office InfoPath 2007
Develop custom workflows in Visual Studio2005
Use partner workflow tools
Business intelligence roadmap
Before you begin
Connect to business data by using data connection libraries
Connect to data in line-of-business applications
Display business data in lists and Web Parts
Create business data sites
Records management roadmap
Before you begin
Create the Records Center site
Connect active document sites to the Records Center site
Configure active document sites for records management
About designing and building sites
Topic Last Modified: 2008-08-08
This section provides overview materials for site architects, planners, and designers to help them understand the end-to-end Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site-development methodology and site-customization options.
- Determine your approach outlines and contrasts the range of customization approaches available to site architects and designers.
- Review of site elements defines the types of elements that compose a site based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 and provides examples of both types of elements.
- Review of environments reviews the various environments used in a Office SharePoint Server 2007 customization project.
- Review of tools and processes describes the most commonly used software development, configuration management, and authoring tools used to customize sites based on Office SharePoint Server 2007 along with the processes to deploy customizations.
- About development team roles reviews the various roles recommended in staffing a coordinated Office SharePoint Server 2007 customization project.
- Customization scenarios presents two contrasting customization scenarios illustrating an author-centric and a developer-centric approach.
- Overview of upgrading from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Office SharePoint Server 2007 and new methods for common customizations supplements the Upgrading to Office SharePoint Server 2007 Guide. The guide covers the process of planning and performing an upgrade from Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Office SharePoint Server 2007.
- Resources for upgrading from Content Management Server 2002 contains links to resources that can help you plan and perform an upgrade from Microsoft Content Management Server2002 to Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Determine your approach
Topic Last Modified: 2008-08-08
In this article:
- Basic customization approach
- Intermediate customization approach
- Advanced customization approach
There are a range of approaches to developing a custom Web site based on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The approach you choose will depend on many factors, including:
- PurposeThe Web site's purpose is the key factor in determining your approach. Depending on your site's purpose, you may choose a more basic or more advance customization approach. For example, a site for collaborating with a small team on a single project is short-lived and only used by a few people who perform a specific set of tasks. Therefore, it probably does not require a heavily customized appearance. On the other hand, a site that will be used as an enterprise intranet portal, with thousands of users visiting the site daily, might impel you to put effort and resources into branding the site and making it attractive in other ways. Similarly, an enterprise-level site that needs particular functionality that is not available in Office SharePoint Server 2007 can require the development of custom software solutions to supply the needed functionality. For a review of the types of Web sites and portals that can be implemented by using Office SharePoint Server 2007, see Plan sites and features.
- ResourcesThe resources available for developing custom solutions include software products, such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2005, and hardware resources, such as developer workstations and Web servers for testing and integrating code. More basic customization approaches require few or no additional resources. For example, you can add Web Parts to pages, create custom list views, and change the image on a site's home page directly in the Web browser. By adding Office SharePoint Designer 2007, you can implement more complex customizations such as designing master pages and layout pages. Fully customized enterprise-level Web sites, such as a corporate Internet presence site can require multiple Web farms for developing, testing, and piloting the site, along with dedicated software tools for code development and configuration management. For a description of the resources that may be required for custom solution development, see Review of tools and processes.
- PersonnelAs your customization requirements become more complex, you require a larger team of experts with skills across various disciplines. For example, designing and implementing a fully customized enterprise portal or Internet presence site will require system architects, designers, developers, testers, infrastructure specialists, and other specialists, working together for months. For information about the skills required for a more complex site development project, see About development team roles.
The following sections outline the range of customization approaches available to site architects and designers and describe the advantages of each approach.
Basic customization approach
In the basic approach, you customize your site directly in the Web browser. For example, a medium-sized team's collaboration Web site that includes a calendar, shared documents, announcements, and shared contacts might benefit from customizations such as:
- Adding the team's logo to the site.
- Applying a new theme to enhance the site's appearance.
- Customizing the site's navigation elements to improve its usability.
- Adding Web Parts to the home page to add functionality.
You can perform each of the preceding customization tasks in the Web browser by using the Office SharePoint Server 2007 user interface. Therefore, you do not need to use this guide. For information that can help you plan and implement a basic customization approach, use the Office SharePoint Server 2007 online Help along with the SharePoint Products and Technologies articles on Office Online (
Intermediate customization approach
In the intermediate approach, you customize some elements of your site in the Web browser as in the basic approach. In addition, you use Office SharePoint Designer 2007, a product for creating and customizing Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web sites, to do more advanced customizations. For example, the intranet portal site in a medium-sized enterprise that includes a home page for sharing organization-wide news and information, and subsites for presenting human resources information, various workplace services, and business-related data, can benefit from customizations such as:
- Customizing the portal's master page to create a unique, branded site framework.
- Creating custom layouts to display the various types of pages in the portal.
- Creating cascading style sheets that implement the enterprise's color scheme and fonts.
- Creating data views for presenting information stored in back-end systems, such as personalized displays of payroll and benefits data.
You can perform each of the preceding customization tasks by using Office SharePoint Designer 2007. Other customizations, such as configuring navigation and adding Web Parts to pages, can still be done in a Web browser by using the Office SharePoint Server 2007 user interface.
Some of the contents in this guide can help you implement intermediate customizations. Particularly, review the Feature roadmap pages, which provide links to content and resources related to Office SharePoint Server 2007 features such as workflows, page design, document management, or business intelligence. For more information about implementing a Web site with Office SharePoint Designer 2007 and browser-based customizations, see the Office SharePoint Designer 2007 product documentation and the SharePoint Products and Technologies articles on Office Online (
Advanced customization approach
This guide is primarily targeted at site architects, developers, and designers who are customizing sites by implementing developed site elements such as custom workflows, Web Parts, document converters, and iFilters combined with customized authored site elements, such as master pages, cascading style sheets, and layout pages. An advanced customization approach is most likely to be used in enterprises for the development of widely used or mission-critical sites, such as corporate Internet presence sites, enterprise-wide portal sites, or sites with unique business functionality— for example, a financial services company's dashboard site.
The advanced customization approach requires combining authored and developed custom site elements and features for sites. Therefore, the approach requires a rigorous methodology, which is described in this guide. Developing these sites includes setting up multiple environments for developing, integrating, piloting, and deploying coded elements and content from one environment to another and coordinating the efforts of a large team charged with planning, designing, implementing, and testing the site.
Two customization approaches are described in this guide:
- An author-centric approach, in which authored site elements (including artifacts such as master pages and layout pages) are maintained and deployed by using different methods than those used to maintain and deploy developed site elements. This promotes the more rapid dissemination of authored content.
- A developer-centric approach, in which developed site elements, such as Web parts and workflows, and site artifacts such as master pages, layouts, and cascading style sheets, are maintained and deployed using similar methods. This provides a more rigorous method of maintaining the site artifacts that is typically associated with software development.
Author-centric approach
In an author-centric approach, the methods for creating, maintaining, and deploying authored and developed site elements are different.
- Authored site elementsYou create a site's authored site artifacts— its master pages, layouts, Web and cascading style sheets— and its content pages, graphics, and other files, by using client applications such as Office SharePoint Designer 2007, Office Word 2007, or Office SharePoint Server 2007 running in the Web browser. Management of content, such as versioning, check-in/check-out, and content approval, are based on the document management features that are provided by default in Office SharePoint Server 2007. You deploy all authored site elements, including both artifacts and content pages, by using the Web publishing features included in Office SharePoint Server 2007, such as Content Deployment and Site Variations.
- Developed site elementsYou typically create a site's custom developed site elements by using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 along with the Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.0. Source control and configuration management is handled by a program such as Visual Studio 2005 Team System. You package custom developed elements into features and deploy them by using the Office SharePoint Server 2007 solutions packaging and deployment capability.
An author-centric approach is advantageous because it: