Microsoft has provided a very neat tool which allows a SharePoint farm administrator to change hard coded URLs in InfoPath form templates, Universal Data Connection (UDC) files, and content types in SharePoint for specific scenarios.

You can download this tool using following URL:

Tool to change hard coded URLs in SharePoint

Choosing rights colors can be a very tedious task if you are not a professional web designer. Yet, being in web development, every other time or so we have to choose colors for our work and choosing right ones can make a huge difference in the overall impression of the work.

To make life a bit easier, following color theory based articles can be used as a reference:

Color Theory for Designers

Always remember to avoid creating and destroying objects unnecessarily in code, as this may require that extra queries be made against the database.

In the following example, separate objects for the “Tasks” list must be instantiated each time the indexer is used to set properties and the method for updating is called. This is not a recommended practice.

SPWeb myWeb = SPContext.Current.Web;

myWeb.Lists["Tasks"].Title = "List_Title";

myWeb.Lists["Tasks"].Description = "List_Description";

myWeb.Lists["Tasks"].Update();

The following example instantiates the “Tasks” list object only once and assigns it to the myList variable in order to set properties and call the method.

SPWeb myWeb = SPContext.Current.Web;

SPList myList = myWeb.Lists["Tasks"];

myList.Title="List_Title";

myList.Description="List_Description";

myList.Update();

Bonus Tip:

To return a single item from a collection, always use a Get* method when one is provided through a parent object, instead of iterating through the entire collection and using an indexer. For example, the SPWeb class provides GetFile, GetFolder, and GetListItem methods that you can use to return single items.

Here is the brief definition of various SharePoint terms which one should know as a SharePoint developer.

Alerts:

Alerts provide a framework for automating event-driven e-mail or Short Message Service (SMS) notifications that are raised in response to specific events or that run on a schedule. Alerts can be attached to items as granular as list or list item.

Content Types:

Content types are designed to help users organize their SharePoint content in a more meaningful way. A content type is a reusable collection of settings, features and metadata that you want to apply to a certain category of content. Content types enable you to manage the metadata and behaviors of a document or item type in a centralized, reusable way.

Content Pages:

Content pages are pages used to display information. Content pages are customized by using Web Parts, in-browser editing, Microsoft SharePoint Designer and themes. Custom master pages, ECMAScript (JavaScript, JScript), and CSS can be applied to content pages for more advanced customization scenarios.

Application Pages:

Application pages are used to perform a function within the context of SharePoint Foundation. Application pages are deployed across the server farm and are stored in the %ProgramFiles%Common FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions14 TEMPLATELAYOUTS directory on the front-end Web server. They are attached to the site master page in order to create a consistent user interface.

Master Pages:

Master pages define a common structure for pages in SharePoint Foundation. When a page is requested, the master page and content page are combined to produce a single page. That page contains both the site-wide elements of the UI from the master page combined with the page-specific content from the content page. By using a master page, all content and application pages share the same page structure and have a consistent look and feel. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 uses v4.master as its primary master page. All content and application pages use v4.master. When you install SharePoint Foundation, the master pages are stored in the %ProgramFiles%Common FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions14 TEMPLATEGLOBAL directory.

Site Collection:

A site collection consists of a single top-level Web site with zero or more child Web sites, which can themselves have child Web sites.

Web Site:

A Web site is a collection of one or more pages and typically includes a set of lists, document libraries, content types, field (column) types, a set of available Features, a set of user alerts, and often a set of workflow instances. Web sites also have an owner and a set of associated users and user groups. All of these types of entities can be programmatically added to (or removed from) a Web site. A Web site can also be the scope of a search.

SharePoint Server 2010 includes new model, strong and flexible authentication works with any corporate identity system, including Active Directory based, LDAP-application specific databases and new user models such as LiveID centric identity.

This model uses authentication and requires a new product, code-named Geneva. Claims based authentication implementation based on the concept of identity and standards WS-Federation, WS-Trust and Security protocols such Assertion Markup Language (SAML). An identity is a set of user information such as name, email, service, and so on. Geneva is actually three technologies: Active Directory Federation Services (formerly Geneva Server), Windows CardSpace (formerly known CardSpace Geneva) and Windows Identity Foundation (formerly known as the Geneva Convention is known). Because this new system? Identity readers very important aspects of the application, such as identification) is the user (authentication, what rights the user receives) (residence and that the request), interacts with the user (personalization. All applications run with the identity of today but usually their own way. Often, the integration of these applications can be a very difficult process.

Claims-based identity offers a common way for applications that require information on the identity of users within their organization to acquire, among other organizations, including the Internet. Identity information is contained in a security token, which often simply as a character. A token contains one or more claims for the user. Think of it as metadata to the user stays with them during the session.

Claims based authentication opens the door to great opportunities in SharePoint Server 2010th Greater flexibility to authenticate users over a number of repositories in the web application, even a more personalized experience based on claims or user information in the token.

Rising early and make use of the morning time has always been a challenging task for software engineers and I am no exception. Lately, I have been able to come up with few tips that has helped me a lot in rising early. I would like to share these tips with you guys which might be equally helpful.

1. Don’t make getting back in bed an option

If you start rationalizing going back to bed and getting out of it later, then game is over. Please do NOT make getting back in bed an option once you are out of that cozy thing to stop your alarm.

2. Sleep early

Try to sleep early and allow yourself enough sleep to get up fresh in morning. Once in a while, allow yourself to have a little longer sleep if you start missing it.

Indexing Service ~ this service always has been a major resource hog. I NEVER recommend having this service enabled. Remove the function by the "Add / Remove Programs" icon in the control panel (Windows Setup Programs). It uses about 500 K to 2 MB in an idle state, not to mention the amount of memory and CPU resources it takes to INDEX the drives. I have had people (and witnessed it on other people's computers) document to me that the Indexing Service sometimes starts up EVEN while the system is NOT idle… as in the midst of a game. You may feel, as I do, that this is unacceptable. If your computer suddenly seems "sluggish", Indexing Service is usually the cause of it.

Solution.

Type SERVICES.MSC in the Run dialog box, find the Indexing Service in your list, right click it, select Properties, and then in the Startup Type field, select Disabled. Restart the computer and it will stay disabled.

WANSync is a information protection solution that uses asynchronous real-time replication to provide cost-effective disaster recovery capabilities for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, Microsoft IIS webservers, file servers, and other applications on AIX, Solaris, Red Hat and both 32- and 64-bit Windows.