Holland - Microsoft SharePoint 2010 web applications: the complete reference

The Complete Reference

Charlie Holland

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For Nicola, Cameron, and Fraser

Charlie Holland (Scotland, UK) is a freelance software developer with 15 years experience developing software for some of the worlds best-known companies, including IBM, Microsoft, Sony, and Hewlett Packard. As a SharePoint aficionado since the early days of SharePoint Team Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2001, since the beta release of SharePoint 2007, Charlie has been exclusively engaged in designing and delivering applications based on the features offered by the SharePoint platform for a number of UK clients. Charlie holds MCTS, MCPD, MCT, MCITP, CTT+, and MCSE Microsoft certifications. You can find Charlie online at http://www.chaholl.com or http://twitter.com/chaholl and feedback or questions are always welcome.

Craig Porter (Scotland, UK) is an MCTS-certified freelance SharePoint all-rounder. Craig has been involved in SharePoint development, administration, architecture, and consultancy for the past 10 years, having delivered a number of SharePoint projects both large and small and of varying requirements and complexity. Craig first got involved in SharePoint in late 2000 when asked to contribute to a prerelease beta version of SharePoint Portal Server 2001, then known as Tahoe. Since then, Craig has dedicated his working life to getting the most out of the SharePoint platform and understanding its many intricacies. You can find Craigs web site at http://collaborativetechnologysolutions.co.uk.

Mike Catignani (Scotland, UK) is technical director and founder of Solutions Developed, a company specializing in SharePoint implementations. The company completed its first SharePoint deployment in 2003 for The Deer Commission of Scotland and has been actively involved in delivering SharePoint solutions ever since. Mike is very proud of the solutions hes delivered for many major blue chip companies such as Daimler, HSBC, Bacardi, Ministry of Defence (UK), and the UKs Emergency Fire and Rescue Service, in addition to many other organizations perhaps not so well known but equally important. Mike holds many IS qualifications, including the Microsoft accreditations MCSD and MCT. To learn more about Mike, visit his web site at www.solutionsdeveloped.co.uk.

Before embarking on this book, I did some research to get an idea of what was involved in such a project. Almost without exception, people told me that the amount of effort required to write a book is always much more than originally anticipated.

As a working systems architect and software developer, I often spend much of my time writing technical documents, and, like many of those who have gone before me, I arrived at the conclusion that writing a book is pretty much like that. The only difference is the length of the document. Logical, dont you think? If only it was that simple!

SharePoint is a huge product, and part of my motivation in writing this book was to enjoy an opportunity to develop a broader knowledge of the platform. Like many developers, Ive been involved in a number of SharePoint projects over the years, but despite that, Ive never delved into some aspects of the platform in a meaningful way.

Faced with the task of writing a book on these subjects, I turned to a number of technical experts for help, including my technical reviewers on this project, Mike Catignani and Craig Porter. Without the invaluable input of these guys and others such as Martin Hinshelwood, Andrew Woodward, Spencer Harbar, Andre Vermeulen, Peter Holpar, and Nick Swan, I would have found it practically impossible to provide coherent explanations of some of the functionality of the platform. Over and above the assistance provided by this group of technical experts, I also found Twitter to be an indispensable tool for getting answers to the most arcane questions even several months before the release of the product. If that isnt a case study in the power of social computing, then I dont know what is.