SharePoint 2003 (WSS+SPS)... and keeping yourself 'documented'
Things are moving fast in the SharePoint world... especially with respect to documentation. Before you know it the documentation of SharePoint is updated. It is a huge product, and on release it was quite clear the documentation wasn't finished.
The documentatation that came with the product is out of date, the SDK's that you downloaded are probably out of date as well.
To get the latest version of the regular documentation (for administrators and the user help) keep an eye on:
For the developers out there, keep an eye on the online documentation in MSDN that is the most recent:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/nhp/default.asp?contentid=28001891
This is the entry point to all the developer information. It is also possible to download the SDK's from the first given link, but it will always be behind the online documentation. Problem is that search on MSDN just does not work, so for finding info fast I still prefer the downloadable help files. If this information does not “satisfy” me I check out the online documentation.
Note that in the online documentation you have to go to 'SharePoint Products and Technologies'->'SharePoint Products & Technologies (2003)' -> 'SDK Documentation'. Here you find two folders 'Platform' and 'Applications'. WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) is the platform, SPS (SharePoint Portal Server) is an application build on top of WSS.
If you missing info on the search XML query syntax, download the Office 2003 Research Service Software Development Kit (SDK) at the following link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=d3fc8129-63f7-43b5-8d99-de4058ade0ec&displaylang=en. This SDK provides documentation and samples on (quote):
The Microsoft® Office 2003 Research Service Software Development Kit (SDK) provides you with a set of Web methods for developing information services that are searchable with the Microsoft Office 2003 Research feature. The Research feature is available in Microsoft Office Word 2003, Microsoft Office Excel 2003, Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003, Microsoft Office OneNote™ 2003, Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2003, Microsoft Office Publisher 2003, Microsoft Office Visio® 2003, and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
But it also provides the schema of the XML query language used in the SharePoint Search webservice (and through the object model) and documentation about the XML query language.
The topic itself (writing web services that can be used in the Research feature) is also very interesting! Did you ever check it out in Internet Explorer 6? Select menu 'View' - 'Explorer bar' - 'Research'. How sweet would it be if you could search for sites, people and content in SharePoint....