I'm a PC

The world knows MVP's are PC's now...


http://www.microsoft.com/video/en/us/details/6d53ed7b-f784-4c00-b145-3c1123debc40

BTW, I'm in the first shot wearing a black SharePoint cap.

Free SharePoint Developer Training

Microsoft has just made it very easy for you to step up to the plate and access a generous amount of training resources for free. Start at the Ramp Up page on MSDN and find your way through the maze guided by Microsoft Learning. The courses provide a nice managed way to work through a list of topics applicable to SharePoint as well as Visual Studio developers and help you prepare for certification if that's what your goal is.

Check it out now at http://www.myrampup.com/

VSeWSS 1.3 CTP Now delivers 64 bit support

Good news for those of you developing on 64bit hardware, the Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services is now available in a 64 bit version. And that's not the only improvement, but don't take my word for it, head on over to the SharePoint Team blog and check out the feature list.

Note that this is still a CTP and there are still developers on deck to fix any issues so it's important to download this version, give it a good workout and report any issues you find (through Connect , go to the forums) so they can be fixed before the official release.

Accessing Document Libraries through UNC paths using ports

'Tip of the day' ;-)

You're probably all aware SharePoint Document Libraries can be accessed in Windows Explorer by using a UNC name like \\MyServer\MySite\Document .

I've always been in the dark about how that would work for document libraries in sites running on other ports. All of a sudden I was browsing through the Net work places and I saw a server appearing with an @ followed by a port number. So that's how you can add a portnumber to a UNC path and it will give you direct access to your document libraries:

\\MyServer@55555\personal\edr\Mydocuments would give me access to a MyDocument library on my MySite runnig on port 55555 for example.

Some blog love

Now that I've moved on to Stargate fulltime and run the SharePoint practice my desk is next to the CRM Practice Manager, Mark Fowler. Mark has just started a new blog on Windows Live about Microsoft CRM. Here's his first post on CRM Accelerators.

For those of you unaware, Stargate is building and interesting range of Consulting Services and Training utilising the 'Microsoft Stack' now ranging from Project Management, via BizTalk and SharePoint to CRM.

PDC 208: Microsoft unveils Office Web Applications

I wasn't sure I should blog about this, there's heaps of posts on-line already, yet I want to make sure you don't miss it, so strong advice, checkout the news at the PDC site or do a search for "Office Web Applications" to see what Office 14 will deliver in the browser.

Can't wait for the big event in Sydney next week, Steve Balmer should have plenty to talk about!

Office Devcon 2008 Sydney

Word, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, Outlook, VSTO, SharePoint are the main topics for the many sessions presented at the Offce Devcon 2008 on 15 and 16 November in Sydney. Just like last year I'll be presenting and my new employer, Stargate Global Consulting is one of the gold sponsors for this event. Having the sponsors on board means we were once again able to keep this event free of charge so head over to the site and register before we run out of space.

Just going through the speaker list you'll notice that the majority of them are experienced speakers and MVP's, Graham Seach has managed to get together a group of specialists that will put on a terrrific range of interesting sessions. Below are mine:

Title: Context driven action panes

Type: Deep-dive

This session will be an introduction on how to develop and deploy VSTO based action panes in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. It will also demonstrate a project based approach in Visual Studio that allows re-use of application resources throughout the various Office client applications through the use of Class Libraries and User Controls.
Target audience is developers that would like to see how to move from VBA to VSTO or Visual Studio developers who would like to know a bit more about VSTO. The session will demonstrate concepts as well as technical detail so non-developers that would like to see the potential of what VSTO can do are invited to join and won’t be bored by too much technical detail.

Title: Getting the most out of Word Building Blocks and Content Controls

Type: Deep-dive

Word 2007 has introduced a new way to embed controls in documents called Content Controls, this session will demonstrate how this can be used to build compelling, professional and efficient data driven business documents such as invoices, reports etc.
A special Content Control is the "Building Block Gallery" control which of course is driven by Building Blocks stored in templates and galleries. We will focus on this control and the building block gallery, how to make the most of that and how to manage building blocks beyond what OOTB Word has to offer.
The session will demonstrate a project built using these technologies so you can see all of this in action in a word solution being used on a daily basis to efficiently generate reports.