Contents tagged with SharePoint Forums
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SharePoint Forums and Common code
Just a quick note that testing is going well by everyone and there are a few small things I’m fixing along the way. I’ll be doing the public release for next Monday (May 15) which gives me time to fixup any last minute problems and put things together in a nice installer for you guys and some much needed documentation. They’ll be a site setup just for the forums web part that will provide online documentation, a wiki, a place for you guys to submit bugs, etc. but this isn’t ready yet (but you’re going to love it when you see it).
Also with the release of the forum web part is the release of a library that I’ve been building for awhile. It’s a common library with a set of classes, routines, etc. that you can use in your own web parts or SharePoint projects. It gets installed to the GAC with the forums and will be used in other projects I have coming soon. I’m hoping that the common library grows and provides some useful things for your projects. API documentation will be provided with this along with source code when the forums source code is released.
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SharePoint Forums off to testing
Whew. Finally. The forums have been sent off to the testers. I’ll be doing a few final changes this week while they have it for the public release later this week. Source code will be available in the near future, but watch for a special announcement about that (yes, the source will still be available). Here are some shots of the finished product that you’ll be getting soon.
Multiple forums with categorization (setup to mimic some of the ASP.NET forums)
Admin screen for managing forums, categories, and permissions
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Thanks for the help!
Thanks to everyone who responded to my testers for the SharePoint Forums Web Part. I have 10 lucky stiffs… errr, people now and will be getting them a copy for final testing. Sorry about the delays but it’s been an uphill battle sometimes. Of course SharePoint security didn’t co-operate with me the way I planned so that had to be scrapped and redone at the last minute. Never can plan for these things.
As for schedule now, the testers will get a copy (sans documentation) in their hot little hands shortly. I’ll be doing some small fixes but mostly I’m away all weekend in Vancouver taking in the sun. On Monday I’ll sift through what the testers come up with and, if all goes well, put together a proper release for you the beginning of next week. Again, apologies for the delays but it’ll be worth the wait.
Of course once that’s out the door, I still have SharePoint Builder to finish and get out to everyone (the projects never seem to end) and still will be getting the SharePointForge site up and running full steam, along with the other dozen or so little projects tucked away on my hard drive. Nothing like being the busiest guy on the planet.
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Two more spots left for testing
There are two more spots left for testing the Forums Web Part. Get 'em while they're still here.
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Ready for the weekend
Hi guys. I’m packaging up the Forums for release shortly and you’ll have it this weekend. I had it planned for release today but some security and performance issues creeped up that I need to take care of. Watch for a release with installation instructions this weekend (not sure when exactly) and a source release to follow. Thanks.
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SharePoint Forums to be Open Source
I’ve decided that I’m going to release the source code to my SharePoint forums web part. I think it’s a pretty nice piece of work and figure it can only benefit by having the source code out there and other people contributing to it (or learning from it). The source contains various patterns and techniques that I use such as:
- Builder
- Repositories
- Proxy
- Factories
- Facade
- Layered Architecture
- Entities
- Value Objects
- Services
- Singleton
- Data Transfer Object
I won’t be releasing the source with the initial version of the web part (which I’m trying to get out for tommorow) as I need to clean things up and make it consumable by the public, but a couple of weeks or so after the initial release is when you’ll be able to download the source. The only thing I’ll ask is people to contribute back to the codebase if they make any enhancements so I don’t have 10 different forks out there all competing with each other.
Unlike my Microsoft April Fools joke about Windows SharePoint Services being open sourced (which fooled a few more people than I expected) this announcement is real.
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SharePoint Forums Web Part
A lot of people have been asking me about my SharePoint Forums Web Part that I posted about at the middle of January. It’s been a busy time since then and I’m working furiously right now to finish it and get it out to you guys as soon as possible.
It’s a self contained web part and generates all the lists it needs the first time it runs (if they’re not available). All editing operations are performed by the AppPool user so nobody has to have contributor access to the various lists. You define who has what access through the Web Part interface. Here are some more screenshots of the current build and feature set:
Quoting of previous messages in a thread:
Fonts and formatting:
Threaded discussions with all the features:
Expect a release by the end of the week as I’m just getting the final work done on it. I may have to release it with no documentation but I would rather do that to make it available this week rather than letting it go any longer. Hope you like it!
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SharePoint Forums Part Deux and no more MSN invites!
Just a quickie as I head off to slumberland tonight. First off, thanks for the fabulous feedback on the SharePoint Forums Web Part. Yes, it's going to be free. Yes, I'm insane. Yes, I prefer boxers (well, actually those boxers that are kind of briefs are cool too). Anyways, a few things came out of it that I'll do (not sure when but I'll squeeze it in):
- Localization for non-English users. Thanks to Michael Greth as I always forget there are other people in the SharePoint universe. I should make it a practice to just always include this in projects, but it always slips my mind. Anyways, the forums will have localization for as many languages you can throw a stick at (and you guys will have to provide the stick unless you want the Swedish Chef language add-on)
- Automatic importer for existing discussion forums. This was mentioned by a couple of people (Heather I think kicked it off) so I'll provide a facility in the Admin screen to suck in an existing list and create all the posts in the new list for it. It'll be up to you to delete the old list and come up with the categories (as there are no categories with the existing forum).
Might be a couple of other nibblets that I can't remember off the top of my head but if you have any additional ideas, requests, etc. just fire them off my way and I'll put them on the list (and there's something coming up REAL soon that will enable you to do this yourself, hint, hint, nudge, nudge, wink, wink).
Finally, there are no more MSN/Messenger 8 invites left. The internet fairies (that would be you guys) gobbled up all 12 of them I had. Thanks for everyone who nagged me!
P.S. if anyone has a fairly lengthy discussion forum that they don't mind sending me (as a template with content) please do as I could use it for testing the import facility. Thanks!
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Tired of SharePoint Discussions?
SharePoint rocks. Okay, I said it. I got it out of my system. It's got a lot going for it but can also be the biggest PITA known to mankind.
How many of us are sick and tired of the old "Discussion" boards that come with the OOTB SharePoint? I mean, threaded and flat views are so 1990s and you really can't carry on a good conversation without seeing what else was said and maybe oh, I don't know, quoting a post when you reply. I mean seriously. Internet Forums have been around for years and there are tons of great products out there like phpBB and ASP.NET Forums.
So let's get with the program shall we?
Another of my "pet" projects that I talked to some people at the last MVP Summit was a new Forum replace for SharePoint. Something that would be worthy of what we, in internet land, refer to as forums and not the red-headed step-child that some SharePoint engineer dreamed up. Something that would be useful. Something like this:
Some of the features are typical of Forum type applications you see out there including:
- Threaded messages
- Reply with Quoting Features
- Unlimited forums can be organized into as many categories as you like
- Private forums for specific groups
- Password protected forums
- Web based administration (add/edit/delete everything inside the Web Part)
- Member list (with stats on # of posts, etc.)
- Locked topics
- Sticky topics (can be used for announcements)
- Active topics list
- Print and email topics
- Supports smileys/emoticons
- RSS feeds (and/or Alerts) for forums and topics
Additional features as this is a SharePoint Web Part:
- Leverages SharePoint fully by using Lists to store information (instant installer, just drop it on a page)
- Uses the built-in SharePoint roles of Reader, Contributor, and Administrator (but you can define your own)
- Uses all built-in SharePoint graphics
- Conforms to whatever theme/CSS changes you've made to your WSS Site/Portal to fit in
- No membership or login required, just visiting the page that the Forum lives on will add the user to the system
- Security trimming so users without access to a forum/category won't see it
This is a single web part that you can drop onto any WSS site or Portal Area (yes, it works with both, and there was much rejoicing) either on a default page or your own Web Part Page. The posts are all contained in a few lists and they're built (and hidden) dynamically when you add the Web Part. As this Web Part lets you define as many forums and categories as you want, you really don't need multiple instances of it in your site (but I could be convinced to update it if you make a strong enough case for it).
The mechanics are all done, now it's just fixing up the posts (tracking when someone adds a new post) and the stats and wrap it up for you guys to get your little grubby hands on. Okay, sorry for getting your salivating and all that with no download yet. I just couldn't keep quiet but I'll be working throughout this week to complete this (along with my other projects like SharePoint Builder) to get it out to you.
