To Backup or Not to Backup ... The Question is How

1. Run > cmd (depending on your configuration you might have to run the cmd prompt as a local admin)
2. cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN"
3. stsadm -o backup -url http://mysite.com -filename C:\temp\mysitefile -overwrite
4. You are DONE!

...And Your Data Will Be Held in a Secure Location on a Remote Island - Oops..  I Mean Server

To restore a site backup on another server:

1. Login to Central Admin
2. Create a new web application under the "Application Management" tab
   • Once the site has been successfully created, there is no need to create a site collection because we are going to load it from the backup file
3. Run > cmd > cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN"
4. stsadm -o restore -url http://mynewsite.com -filename E:\temp\mysitefile -overwrite
5. Once the restore has complete head back into the Central Admin > Application Management tab and choose "Policy for Web Application" and add a user account to login to the new restored website.

Every Step You Take...

Here's one of those things I do just infrequently enough to forget a step.  Now I just need to remember that I've put all the steps here.

1. Provision a database.  It does not need to be new, but it cannot already have the ASP.net membership provider tables in it.  If it does, skip ahead to step 3.
2. Use the aspnet_regsql.exe tool to create the necessary tables and stored procedures in the database.  The tool can be found at <system drive letter>:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727.  The tool has a GUI wizard that will lead you through the steps.
3. Create a web site.  A local web site works fine.
4. Add the connection string to your database to the web.config file.  Connection strings are placed just inside the configuration root:

   <configuration>
   <connectionStrings>
   <add name="SqlMembershipConnection"
   connectionString="Data Source=IPADDRESS;Initial Catalog=DBNAMEHERE;User
   ID=DBUSERNAMEHERE;Password=PASSWORDHERE" />
   </connectionStrings>
   <configuration>

5. Add the SqlMembershipProvider to the web.config file under the system.web node:

   <membership>
   <providers>
   <clear/>
   <add name="AspNetSqlMembershipProvider"
   type="System.Web.Security.SqlMembershipProvider, System.Web, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
   connectionStringName="SqlMembershipConnection"
   enablePasswordRetrieval="false"
   enablePasswordReset="true"
   requiresQuestionAndAnswer="false"
   requiresUniqueEmail="true"
   passwordFormat="Hashed"
   maxInvalidPasswordAttempts="5"
   minRequiredPasswordLength="7"
   minRequiredNonalphanumericCharacters="1"
   passwordAttemptWindow="10"
   passwordStrengthRegularExpression=""
   applicationName="NAMEOFAPPHERE"/>
   </providers>
   </membership>

   NOTE: The connectionStringName parameter of the membership provider must match the name you chose for the connection string above.  The applicationName parameter allows you to use the same database for different web applications.  Choose a suitable name and set the other parameters as needed.

6. Add a CreateUserWizard control to the default.aspx page of your web site.
7. Right click on the default.aspx page and choose "View In Browser" from the context menu.
8. You know the rest...

Deciding to Get Started

So you have decided to entertain the concept of developing a published CMS (Content Management Systems) website built on the SharePoint technology, and perhaps you are unsure of any pros and cons with the technology or need a good solid place to begin research. If you are just starting with the SharePoint development you do have a long road to travel and the road can very rough at based on a direction that has been chosen. I have been primarily developing in SharePoint for 2 years now and have fought hard for the toolbox library of custom web parts that I have today, but with every step forward more opportunity and understanding of the true power of SharePoint framework, especially using the framework for customized or template CMS websites.

Hearing Mike Fitzmaurice

I was at the 2009 SharePoint Summit in Montreal and had the amazing opportunity to listing to Mike Fitzmaurice – Nintex, present a talk on "The Evolving Market around SharePoint Products and Technologies". Within first slide, he had made a statement that completely summed up the SharePoint framework for me and really started to make me think about using the product differently and to that effect, appropriately. The statement was very simple and stated that "SharePoint is an Ecosystem". This statement turned me around because instead of thinking "what is SharePoint going to do for me?" I started thinking "How can I start developing my own ecosystem on top of the SharePoint engine?" And that leaves me where I am today. I have now been building various websites within SharePoint and have a collection of valuable customized web parts that I can deploy and reuse and SharePoint site. Throughout the course of this development blog I will be releasing concepts that represent different tools in our web part library to help make any readers understand the approach and begin using these tools within their development.

Planning and Understanding

Beginning a SharePoint site of any size takes a large amount of understand of the SharePoint hierarchy of sites, sub-sites, content types, folders and list items. Understanding the appropriate approach with this hierarchy and assigning the appropriate relations and metadata, your development cycle will completely benefit from. Take the time to plan and understand the requirements in relation to the SharePoint core functionality.

Other Links for Blogs

There are a lot of really good articles and blog postings out and from time to time I intend to share links to related topics that helped improve our understanding when developing parts for SharePoint. Being as this is the initial blog post, I will quickly share our recent links to help any up and coming SharePoint developers get started. ENJOY!!

• http://www.telerik.com/help/aspnet-ajax/moss-overview.html
• http://stevepietrek.com/2007/07/28/turn-off-sharepoint-custom-error-messages/
• http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/blogs/mike/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3
• http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2008/06/spdatasource-every-sharepoint-developer.html
• http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/archive/2007/04/24/spdatasource-and-rollups-with-the-data-view.aspx
• http://sharepointdata.blogspot.com/2009/04/bind-list-items-using-spdatasource.html
• http://www.supershareware.com/software/sharepoint-themes.html
• http://www.u2u.info/Blogs/Patrick/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1765
• http://sharepointmagazine.net/technical/development/writing-caml-queries-for-retrieving-list-items-from-a-sharepoint-list
• http://www.codeproject.com/KB/aspnet/SPCustomSearchResults.aspx
• http://theengineroom.provoke.co.nz/archive/2007/05/11/creating-a-custom-search-results-page-for-a-searchresults-aspx-windows-sharepoint-services-wss-site.aspx
• http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2007/04/26/code-blocks-are-not-allowed-in-this-file-using-server-side-code-with-sharepoint.aspx
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543347.aspx

Kyle Pearn,
akira systems