WSS Contributor Permissions

Ok so you have set up your Site collection and you have a site that you want folks to be able to add items to say a calendar and an announcement web part but you don't want them to be able to modify the web part on the page itself. It's a simple set-up just not one explicitly defined in the general/basic books/sites out there. Here's the steps;

1. Create the site and select "use unique permission" rather than inherhit from parent.

2. Create the calendar list and the announcement list and place a view on your site default page.

NOTE: By doing steps 1 and 2 in order you have accomplished the following: the site has specific Owner, Member and Reader groups and the two lists are inheriting permissions from the site.

3. Edit the permissions of the lists(by doing this you break inheritance from the site) but you don't have to change any permissions, you just want to break inheritance so any changes you make on the site level do not propigate down to the lists.

4. Now at the site level modify the Member group to read only.

By doing these 4 steps you keep the ability for the Member to be able to add, edit or delete items in the list but they no longer can Modify the web part itself on the page.

Good luck and Happy SharePointing

SPS Naming Conventions

Site Names

In WSS Site Names may not contain the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > | # { } % & " ~ +

You cannot start a site name, subsite name, or a site group name with an underscore (_) character or with the period character (I recommend avoiding the (_) underscore in site names)

You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a site name

You cannot use the period character at the end of a site name


File Names

Invalid characters: " # % & * : < > ? \ / { | } ~ 

Cannot be longer than 128 characters

You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a file name

You cannot use the period character at the end of a file name

You cannot start a file name with the period character


Folder Names

You cannot use the following characters anywhere in a folder name or a server name: ~ # % & * { } \ : < > ? / | "

Cannot be longer than 128 characters

You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a folder name

You cannot use the period character at the end of a folder name

You cannot start a folder name with the period character

Good WSS FAQ

For an excellent WSS resource pay a quick visit to http://wss.collutions.com/.

This one covers it all...
Introduction I
General II
Installation III
Administration IV
Basic Customization V
Interaction with Office VI
Tutorials VII
Documents and Web Sites
Articles
WSS v3 FAQ
STS (v1.0) FAQ

Theme Customization

For a fantastic to the point tutorial on creating custom themes check out this MSDN link;

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979310.aspx

Also, for the no bones UI FAQ, Heather Solomon is the place to go.

http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/category/8.aspx

Excellent Developer Resource

If you don't mind the large poster sized charts, these free offerings from MindSharp are fantastic dev references.

https://www.mindsharp.com/Default.aspx?page=Login&destPage=RoadmapRequest

Comparison of features that are included in Windows SharePoint Services and in SharePoint Portal Server 2003

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3bEN-US%3b830320

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/evaluationoverview.asp

Beginning SharePoint development

So you're wanting to create a custom web part? Well from one beginner to another let me walk you through the basics.

Environment:
You need to set up the proper development environment. While you can develop from a separate computer from the server that holds your SharePoint Portal, I will be showing you how to develop from the server itself. More experienced devs can chime in with best practice advice.
--Load Visual Studio 2005 (any version) on the SharePoint Portal server.
--Load Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions on the SharePoint Portal Server (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=19F21E5E-B715-4F0C-B959-8C6DCBDC1057&displaylang=en)

Now you're ready to go.

Procedure:
Here are just a few tutorial links for initial development... best way to learn is jump in and get wet.
(http://www.datasprings.com/Resources/ArticlesInformation/Sharepoint2007CustomWebParts/tabid/775/Default.aspx)
(http://www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200510/ij_10_10_05a.html)
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/09/WebParts/default.aspx)
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=48B2C899-DB2C-4A93-AA95-AF4A37FA8AE8&displaylang=en)
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms564508.aspx)
(http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040218.htm)

Here are some language references (remember SharePoint is written in C#)
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/default.aspx)
(http://www.csharpfriends.com/)
(http://www.dotnetfun.com/)
(http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/)
(http://www.csharp-station.com/Default.aspx)
(http://www.codeproject.com/index.asp?cat=3)


Good Luck!

Book recommendation

For those who are just digging in to SharePoint development as I am, I have a book recommendation for you.

Microsoft SharePoint
Building Office 2007 Solutions in C# 2005
By Scot Hillier, MVP
ISBN-10: 1-59059-809-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-59059-809-2
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-SharePoint-Building-Solutions-Sharepoint/dp/1590598091/ref=pd_bbs_sr_8/102-2856765-7262565?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175609884&sr=8-8

Let me just say that for the beginning(SharePoint) developer this book is very specific in it's instructions, for example;

• There is a handy little section in chapter 2 entitled, "Creating a Development Environment" it covers exactly how to set up VirtServ, database creation, creating the test client etc.

That is just one of the many goodies in this book. Give it a read you won't regret it.

Powerful Command Line Administration for SharePoint

https://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/01/CommandPrompt/default.aspx

Method 'Post' of object 'IOWSPostData' failed

Importing lists from Excel 2007 returns a Method 'Post' of object 'IOWSPostData' failed dialog. Again, not really a problem with WSS 3.0 but rather the result of a failed Application.SharePointVersion() call in the Excel Add-In which results in Excel attempting to use the IOWSPostData.Post() method to publish the Excel range which is used with SharePoint Team Services 1.0. By forcing the version lookup result variable to 2 or greater, Excel will use SOAP to communicate with WSS 3.0 and the publish request will be successful. To make this change, open the Excel Add-In EXPTOOWS.XLA locate in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\1033 by default. Press Alt+F11 to display the Visual Basic code editor and search (Ctrl+F) for the line lVer = Application.SharePointVersion(URL). Comment out that line with a single quote and add the line lVer=2 so your Intialize() method should now look like this:

Sub Initialize(List, Title, URL, QuickLaunch)

strQuickLaunch = QuickLaunch

aTarget(iPublishURL) = URL

aTarget(iPublishListName) = List

aTarget(iPublishListDesc) = Title

'lVer = Application.SharePointVersion(URL)

lVer = 2

End Sub

"The above solution provided by Bradley Elder" Thanks man you rock!!

New Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsserver/sharepoint/wssapps/templates/default.mspx

Lots of template goodies for all to enjoy!

As my wife is a teacher, I especially liked the Classroom Management template. One thing to keep in mind when you get ready to install these is that you must first install the Application Template Core. It can be found here...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C1039E13-94DA-4D7D-8CAE-3B96FA5A4045&displaylang=en

Very small sampling

For those who wish to get a bit more info on the Talpiot Tomb controversy here are some helpful links to just a few resources...

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/tomb/tomb.html - The Discovery Channel site
http://www.jesusdynasty.com/blog/ - Dr. James Tabor's blog
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/ - Dr. Ben Witherington's blog
http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/category/talpiot-tomb/ Society of Biblical Literature Tomb archive
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talpiot_Tomb - Wiki site
http://www.ntgateway.com/weblog/2007/03/talpiot-tomb-assorted-thoughts.html - Mark Gooacre's site
http://www.joezias.com/ - Joe Zias's site

There is of course much more and certainly more to come but this will give you a jump start into the issue. I am not endorsing any particular viewpoint but I am paying close attention to see how this one plays out.

The Talpiot Tomb

In order to comply with Dr. Ben Witherington's wishes I have revamped this blog to reflect the needed information to justify his time in the form of a response. So I once again pose my initial question, "Of course the general public may not be aware of what may be an old argument among scholars. However, what I don't understand is the frantic tantrum being thrown by the academy over this issue. Professionalism and basic manners? No one is attacking anyone's faith. I simply don't 'get' why everyone is so up in arms. Can you give me an insight into this mindset Dr. Witherington?"

Since my original posting of that question I think it is safe to say that many academics have taken their reactions to a level that could be clearly labeled unprofessional.

My puzzlement is not the behavior itself but why THIS issue, what is it about the Talpiot Tomb?