Tired of the default color theme you are using in Visual Studio? the ordinary white background, black text, blue keywords, and the green comments..
For me, I wished I could find a nice neat theme that would change everything up, and make the Visual Studio look so much different (kind of fooling myself 
Anyway, have a look at these images bellow.. and think again
Visit this page for a good downloadable collection..Press here
Creating a custom MasterPage is a very common requirement especially for those who want to migrate from ASP.NET 2.0 to SharePoint, without altering the look and feel they already had previously.
I have searched a lot about how to accomplish this, and found many articles and blog posts but they are all incomplete, they are missing the complete guide. I will try to be as direct as possible, and include screen shots that I hope they would help.
Anyway, lets start and get our hands dirty...
<!-- _lcid="1033" _version="12.0.4518" _dal="1" -->
<!-- _LocalBinding -->
<Feature Id="77596cae-c12d-4451-9d65-53b66b2fd5aa"
Title="CS Masterpage"
Description="My own Custom MasterPage"
Version="12.0.0.0"
Scope="Site"
Hidden="False"
DefaultResourceFile="core"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<ElementManifests>
<ElementManifest Location="ProvisionedFiles.xml"/>
</ElementManifests>
</Feature>
You have to change only the following fields, but I advice you to leave everything as it is for this Demo, just as a good kick off :)
ID: A GUID to identify the feature. you can go to http://www.newguid.com/ to generate a new GUID (you will find it in the upper banner) and paste it right there.
Title: the Feature name (Custom MasterPage name).
Description: Feature's description.
The Element Manifest is considered as the backbone of the feature; you have to specify its location, which is by default named as ProvisionedFiles.xml located at the same level with the feature.xml. Save the file and close it.
<!-- _lcid="1033" _version="12.0.4407" _dal="1" -->
<!-- _LocalBinding -->
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"> <Module Name="OSGMasterPages" Url="_catalogs/masterpage" Path="MasterPages" RootWebOnly="TRUE">
<!--the MasterPage file that you have to put in the CustomMasterPage/MasterPages folder -->
<File Url="MasterPage.master" Type="GhostableInLibrary">
<Property Name="ContentType" Value="My Sample Master Page" />
<!-- a preview image for the MasterPage file. Put the image in the CustomMasterPage/en-us folder -->
<Property Name="PublishingPreviewImage" Value="~SiteCollection/_catalogs/masterpage/$Resources:core,Culture;/Preview Images/BlackVertical.png, ~SiteCollection/_catalogs/masterpage/$Resources:core,Culture;/Preview Images/BlackVertical.png" />
<!-- MasterPage Description -->
<Property Name="MasterPageDescription" Value="This is my sample master page for use with collaboration or publishing sites." />
</File>
</Module> <!-- a preview image for the MasterPage file. Put the image in the CustomMasterPage/en-us folder -->
<Module Name="PublishingLayoutsPreviewImages" Url="_catalogs/masterpage" IncludeFolders="??-??" Path="" RootWebOnly="TRUE">
<File Url="BlackVertical.png" Name="Preview Images/BlackVertical.png" Type="GhostableInLibrary">
</File>
</Module>
<!-- The place where we can add the registry info of the images used in the MasterPage-->
<Module Name="Images" Url="Style Library/Images" Path="Images" RootWebOnly="TRUE">
<!-- All images that you added previously in the CustomMasterPage\images folder, each will have its own entry as shown below, with the same syntax except the Url, and name. Please take care that they are case sensitive-->
<File Url="1_Duane.jpg" Name="1_Duane.jpg" Type="GhostableInLibrary"/>
</Module> <!-- Styles, the name of the css file located in the CustomMasterPage\styles folder-->
<Module Name="OSGStyles" Url="Style Library" Path="Styles" RootWebOnly="TRUE">
<File Url="CS MasterPage.css" Type="GhostableInLibrary" />
</Module> </Elements>
Now we are done with the 2 most important pages.
<%-- Identifies this page as a .master page written in Microsoft Visual C# and registers tag prefixes, namespaces, assemblies, and controls. --%>
<%@ Master language="C#" %>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SPSWC" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingWebControls" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingNavigation" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="Welcome" src="~/_controltemplates/Welcome.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="DesignModeConsole" src="~/_controltemplates/DesignModeConsole.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingVariations" TagName="VariationsLabelMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/VariationsLabelMenu.ascx" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingConsole" TagName="Console" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingConsole.ascx" %>
<%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingSiteAction" TagName="SiteActionMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingActionMenu.ascx" %>
<%-- Uses the Microsoft Office namespace and schema. --%>
<html>
<WebPartPages:SPWebPartManager runat="server"/>
<SharePoint:RobotsMetaTag runat="server"/> <%-- The head section includes a content placeholder for the page title and links to CSS and ECMAScript (JScript, JavaScript) files that run on the server. --%>
<head runat="server">
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder runat="server" id="head">
<title>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageTitle" runat="server" />
</title>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
<Sharepoint:CssLink runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server" />
</head>
<%-- When loading the body of the .master page, SharePoint Server 2007 also loads the SpBodyOnLoadWrapper class. This class handles .js calls for the master page. --%>
<body onload="javascript:_spBodyOnLoadWrapper();">
<%-- The SPWebPartManager manages all of the Web part controls, functionality, and events that occur on a Web page. --%>
<form runat="server" onsubmit="return _spFormOnSubmitWrapper();">
<wssuc:Welcome id="explitLogout" runat="server"/>
<PublishingSiteAction:SiteActionMenu runat="server"/>
<PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer id="authoringcontrols" runat="server">
<PublishingConsole:Console runat="server" />
</PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer>
<%-- The PlaceHolderMain content placeholder defines where to place the page content for all the content from the page layout. The page layout can overwrite any content placeholder from the master page. Example: The PlaceHolderLeftNavBar can overwrite the left navigation bar. --%>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server" />
<asp:Panel visible="false" runat="server">
<%-- These ContentPlaceHolders ensure all default SharePoint Server pages render with this master page. If the system master page is set to any default master page, the only content placeholders required are those that are overridden by your page layouts. --%>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderPageImage" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderBodyLeftBorder" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderNavSpacer" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderTitleLeftBorder" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderTitleAreaSeparator" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderMiniConsole" runat="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator" runat ="server" />
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftActions" runat ="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageDescription" runat ="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyAreaClass" runat ="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass" runat ="server"/>
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyRightMargin" runat="server" />
</asp:Panel>
</form>
</body>
</html>
So to start, you can get whatever HTML you have in the old MasterPage and paste it in here, just below the </asp:Panel>. Then arrange the ContentPlaceHolders wherever you want into your HTML code.
Another point you must take care of; the images and background's source urls. of course, we added the images previously into the CustomMasterPages\images folder, so we will replace the old source urls you had in the html code into something like:
background="/Style%20Library/images/bg1.jpg">
and for sure, that would be the same case in the CSS file.
And Hopefully, that's it! Hope it works smoothly without any problems :)
SQL 2005 Reports deployment is done either by choosing the deploy option in the BI Development studio, then specifying the target Server URL and the target Report Folder, which is the standard way, or deploying the reports manually by opening the Report Server URL, and creating the DataSource, the parent Folder where you will add the datasource and report in, and the attaching the Reports manually, which is still not that realistic as you don't have to do all that each time you want to deploy a report. Yet the first option is not always possible, as you may wish to deploy a report while you don't have the BI development Studio installed in your machine. In this article, I expect that you know both techniques before reading, as I won't be explaining in details everything. I made a simple GUI tool that helps in deploying the SQL Reports by consuming the web service named reportservice.asmx that the SQL Reporting Server produces and hosted by the IIS of the Report server. Usually the Report Server has the URL as: Anyway... Let's start having a look at the application and the code. First I will be investigating the application, and what does everything means, then we will have a quick review on the main parts of the code. Once you run the application, a window will appear asking you to enter the Report Manager URL, as to connect to its web service. I.e. it's the same URL you type in the target server URL property when using the BI Development Studio for deployment. The URL you entered is saved then so that you don't have to type it in each and every time you run the application. I use this URL, so as to modify the WebService I am consuming, to connect to the URL you will choose. To know what I mean, just have a look at this article by Christopher G. Lasater, that describes what I did actually (Dynamic Web Service). After the previous step is done, the Web Service now is made ready to do the rest. Next, to get started, you have to define the following: Finally, after running the Tool successfully, then tried to open the SQL Server Reporting Services Web application, you will find a new Folder as you named in the tool, and has the DataSources and Reports you made as below. If you had a look at the ReportingService2005 Methods, you will find the two main functions that you will be using mainly. They are the CreateDataSource function, and the CreateReport function. A brief description of how to use the article or code. The class names, the methods and properties, any tricks or tips. This is the part which Creates the DataSource And here is the part which Publishes the report
http://<server name>/ReportServer
and sometimes as http://<server name>/ReportServer$SQLExpress, or http://<server name>/ReportServer$SQL2005. This is according to what you named the SQL server Instance installed. Anyway, let's get back to the main point. The webservice within the ReportsServer web application hosted in the IIS of the server machine actually does everything you need to deploy the Reports you want; I guess it is better to have a look at the ReportingService2005 Methods. How to use the Tool ?
Code Overview
public void CreateReportDataSource(string name, string extension, string connectionString)
{
listView1.Items.Add("Creating Data Source [" + txt_DataSource.Text + "]");
ReportService.DataSourceDefinition definition = new ReportServerInstaller.ReportService.DataSourceDefinition();
definition.CredentialRetrieval = ReportService.CredentialRetrievalEnum.Integrated;
definition.ConnectString = connectionString;
definition.Enabled = true;
definition.Extension = extension;
try
{
rs.CreateDataSource(name, FolderName, chk_DataSourceOverwrite.Checked, definition, null);
listView1.Items.Add("Data source: [" + name + "] created successfully.");
TS_Progress.PerformStep();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
listView1.Items.Add("ERROR creating data source: " + name);
throw ex;
}
}
private void PublishReport(string reportName)
{
listView1.Items.Add("Publishing Report [" + reportName + "]");
FileStream stream = File.OpenRead(ReportSource);
definition = new byte[stream.Length];
stream.Read(definition, 0, int.Parse(stream.Length.ToString()));
stream.Close();
try
{
rs.CreateReport(txt_ReportName.Text, FolderName, chk_ReportOverwrite.Checked, definition, null);
listView1.Items.Add("Report: [" + reportName + "] created successfully.");
TS_Progress.PerformStep();
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
listView1.Items.Add("ERROR creating Report: " + reportName);
throw ex;
}
}
I have attached an installer for easy use of the tool. You don't have to configure anything before use. Just insure that you have the correct SQL Manager URL typed in the first form, as this does everything. Happy Deployment! ;)
Hi again :)
Those are a simple steps to create your Custom Content Type, then create Pages based on that Content Type.
Site Actions > Site Settings > Modify All Site Settings
� Under 'Galleries' > 'Site content types'.
� In 'Site Content Type Gallery' page; Click 'Create'.
� Enter 'NewsContentType' in the 'Name' field.
� Select 'Page Layout Content Type' for the 'Parent Content Type'.
� In the 'Put this site content type into' section; select 'New group' -that's for better organization- and enter a name 'MY Content Types' for that group.
� In 'Site Content Type: NewsContentType' page; under 'Columns' section; click 'Add from new site column'.
� For each of the following fields enter 'Column name', select the 'The type of information in this column', and specify the group of that column.
� The fields are: Title 'Single line of text', Date 'Date and Time', Source 'Single line of text', Brief 'Multiple lines of text', Description 'Multiple lines of text', and Image 'Image with formatting and constraints for publishing'.
Open your site by SharePoint Designer
� File > New > 'SharePoint Content' tab > 'SharePoint Publishing' Section'
� Select 'Page Layout' from the list
� Under 'Options'; Select your Content Group, select your Content Type, Specify URL name, and Title.
� Now in your page layout, you can add fields from your existing Content Type:
o Toolbox > SharePoint Contents > 'Your Content Type'.
� You will find your Page Layout saved under:
o Catalogues > Master Page > 'Your Page Layout'
� Before using your Page Layout; you've to:
o 'Save' and 'Check In' the page
o Approve the Page Layout from 'Master Page Gallery'
Site Actions > Site Settings > Modify Pages Library Settings
� Under 'Content Types' > 'Add from existing site content types'
� In 'Add Content Types: Pages' page; Select 'MY Content Types' group; then select 'NewsContentType' content type from the list.
Site Actions > Create Page
� Enter 'Page Title and Description' information.
� Select 'Page Layout' that you just created
Hi all,
This is a simple topic, but it's very important to know how to get the SiteTemplate Name.
<template id="21" name="SPSPERS" ...>
<configuration id="0" title="SharePoint Portal Server Personal Space" .../>
</template>
Template Name: SPSPERS#0
Hope it helps :)
If you are like me, you hate hand editing HTML and XML! But unfortunately, as a .NET Developer you often find yourself doing it, and if for no other reason, you have to do it for parts of the Web.Config and Application.Config files. Last night, I was googling for something, and just found this tool from ASPhere by luck. It's really easy, nice, and looks great :)
Here you are the URL : http://www.asphere.cz/asphere.zip
At last, you can now debug the .NET Framework code, and can have a detailed look at the code, and not just the signatures :)
Previously, Scott Gu announced in his Blog that we will be able to see the Framework code, but no idea how; as it wasn't available to everyone.
Luckily, Shawn Burke finally gave us the exact route to the magic! in this post.
I advice you to read Scott Gu's post about this new feature
Happy Programming, and enjoy Microsoft's magic ;)
