SharePoint Designer 2007

Description:

Module 1: Introduction to SharePoint Designer
In this module, you will be introduced to SharePoint Designer and understand ways in which you can use it to enhance your SharePoint sites. You will learn:

    * Overview of SharePoint Designer
    * How SharePoint Designer can enhance your SharePoint sites
          o Functionality
          o Look and feel
    * Windows Workflow Foundation
    * Typical scenarios when you would use SharePoint Designer
    * Comparison to other SharePoint customization tools:
          o SharePoint user interface modifications
          o Visual Studio.NET 2005

Module 2: Understanding the SharePoint Designer Environment
In this module, you will learn about the components that make up the SharePoint Designer environment and what they mean in terms of customizing your SharePoint sites. To realize the features available, you’ll open an existing SharePoint site in SharePoint Designer:

    * Connecting to an existing SharePoint Site
    * Navigating within SharePoint Designer
          o Working with the menus and task panes
    * Working with views
          o Coding options
    * Exploring the SharePoint site folders in the Folder task pane

Module 3: Administrating SharePoint Sites with SharePoint Designer
In this module, you will learn about how you can leverage administrative features in SharePoint Designer to remotely administrate your SharePoint sites, including establishing the security settings which will determine the degree by which users will be able to customize SharePoint sites.

    * Configuring Contributor Settings
    * Checking your site’s status with Reports, including usage analysis
    * Migrating SharePoint sites
          o Backing up a site
          o Restoring a site
          o Comparison of when you would choose to use the Publishing feature versus backup and restore options
    * Connecting to sites located in a perimeter network

Module 4: Creating SharePoint Sites with SharePoint Designer
In this module, you’ll create a new SharePoint site from within SharePoint Designer and then publish the site to an existing site collection. You’ll understand how you can leverage the existing templates for the new site and then configure the new site using the SharePoint Designer tools, including adding web parts and SharePoint content.

    * Create a new site and publish the site to the existing site collection
    * Add a new SharePoint content to the site
    * Add new web parts to the site
    * Working with Forms pages
    * Creating and adding new pages
    * Indexing the new site in SharePoint and adding the new site to the SharePoint site directory

Module 5: Creating and Configuring Data Sources
Using data sources, you can connect to SharePoint libraries and lists throughout your site collection, databases, XML files, server-side scripts, web services and Business Data Catalogs. You can import data into your SharePoint site from each of these connections using the Data Source properties in SharePoint Designer. This module will show you how you can work with data sources.

    * Adding an XML web service data source
    * Integrating with the Adventure Works Business Data Catalogue to create a new view
    * Connecting to another SharePoint library within your site collection

Module 6: Working with Data Views and Conditional Formatting
You can use data views to present data imported using data sources. In this module, you’ll take the imported data presentation explained in the last module a step further by using conditional formatting and expressions to determine the presentation of the resulting data.

    * Creating a data view
    * Configuring the data source
    * Importing fields
    * Working with conditional formatting
    * Editing XPath expressions
    * Applying filtering and style

Module 7: Applying Controls to SharePoint Sites in SharePoint Designer
Since SharePoint Designer integrates with ASP.NET 2.0, you can include ASP.NET 2.0 controls directly into your SharePoint sites. In this module, you’ll learn how you can drop controls onto your SharePoint pages and then bind and populate those controls using data connections. If you’ve previously worked with Visual Studio.NET 2005, then you may be familiar with controls, such as the gridview control.

    * Review types of controls available
    * Add an ASP.NET gridview control
    * Configure data source for an Access database
    * Populate and format data

Module 8: Working with Master Pages
In this module, you’ll learn about master pages. If you’ve worked with ASP.NET 2.0, then you may be familiar with master pages. Master pages are part of ASP.NET 2.0 and SharePoint uses master pages to control the second of two modules focused on Central Administration, you’ll learn how to do the following:

    * Default master pages
    * Creating new master pages
          o Page layouts
          o Placeholder controls
          o Global customization
          o Single site customization
          o Navigating around the master page
    * Adding and configuring menu controls on master pages
          o Changing the display levels
    * Significance of master pages and the _layouts directory

Module 9: Working with Content Pages
In this module, you’ll learn about tags and placeholders and how these components affect the presentation of content pages. You will also gain an understanding of how SharePoint Designer works with template pages and the options made available to you to roll back any changes made.

    * Associating content pages with master pages
    * Working with tag properties and placeholders
    * Customized versus uncustomized pages
    * Undoing customizations and reverting to page template

Module 10: Working with Custom Style Sheets
In SharePoint, you can apply a custom style sheet to either a single site or an entire site collection. In this module, you’ll create a custom cascading style sheet (CSS) and associate that custom CSS with your master page to affect the look and feel to your site, including fonts, colors and images. You’ll also modify a custom theme directly in SharePoint Designer and then save that theme and apply it to your custom site.

    * Reviewing the existing CSS properties
    * Modifying the existing CSS
    * Applying the custom CSS to other sites
    * Reverting to the default CSS

Module 11: Branding your Corporate Site
In this instructor-assisted module, you’ll use the techniques learned in the earlier modules to customize a SharePoint site to match the look and feel of your existing intranet or internet. You will create a new master page and apply styling to transform the out of the box design to match your corporate brand.

    * Self-paced, design exercise
    * Students work with the samples they brought along to the course, listed in the pre-requisites for the course.

Module 12: Saving Sites as Templates
This module will show you how you can save a customized site as a template, which you can then use when creating new sites in SharePoint.

    * Look at the differences between templates and site definitions in SharePoint.
    * Export your customized site as a SharePoint Site Template
    * Create a new site in SharePoint based on your custom template

Module 13: Creating Workflows in SharePoint Designer
In this module, you’ll learn about creating workflows in SharePoint Designer and ways in which you can use workflows to enhance your existing business processes. You’ll

    * What is a workflow and how can it benefit your existing business processes
    * Review the SharePoint default workflows
    * Understand the difference between creating workflows for SharePoint in:
          o SharePoint user interface
          o SharePoint Designer
          o Visual Studio.NET 2005
    * The relationship between SharePoint Designer workflows and Windows Workflow Foundation
    * Walkthrough a basic workflow creation in SharePoint Designer using the Workflow Designer wizard.
          o Working with events, actions, conditions and steps.
    * Location of workflow files

Module 14: Creating a Multi Step Workflow
In this module, you’ll take create a workflow for a custom list within a SharePoint site and build a multi step workflow, which includes certain conditions being met before e-mailing customers and updating, and copying list items. You’ll also include a custom form in the workflow solution to retrieve data from users.

    * Create a custom list on your SharePoint site.
    * Use the SharePoint Designer Workflow Designer wizard to create your custom workflow.
    * Save and execute your workflow
    * Run the workflow and review workflow status in your SharePoint site
    * Review workflow logs on the SharePoint server.