About Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Features Used in Office Live Small Business
Microsoft Office Live Small Business enables organizations and business units of all sizes to increase the efficiency of their business processes and to improve team productivity. Office Live Small Business applications are built on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, which offers many advanced features to assist in application development. Office Live Small Business incorporates many, but not all of these features. This topic discusses which of these features you can use when creating an application.
For information about which Windows SharePoint Services APIs are used for Office Live Small Business and which are blocked, see Working with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Services. For more information about Windows SharePoint Services, see the Windows SharePoint Services SDK.
Templates
The Office Live Small Business templates are predefined applications designed for a variety of purposes. For example, document library templates are already set up to upload and display the type of content you choose. List templates include columns that have preset data types. For information about the templates that are available for customizing in Office Live Small Business, see How to: Choose a Template.
Site content
Windows SharePoint Services provides a variety of content items, including lists, libraries, calendars, and lookup fields that can be used to build applications. By using items in Windows SharePoint Services, you can expand the set of items available with Office Live Small Business. Some of the more commonly-used items are shown in the following table.
For information about creating new lists, libraries, and other features, see How to: Add a List or Library to an Application. For information about configuring workflows, see How to: Configure a Workflow with Office Live Small Business.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Gantt chart | You can create a Gantt chart for any list that contains date fields. |
| People and Groups list | The new People and Groups list offers a place to find, communicate with, and manage people and their permissions. |
| Calendars | Calendars have been enhanced with richer calendar views, all-day events, and expanded support for recurring events. |
| Document libraries | Improvements to Windows SharePoint Services document libraries include:
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| Folders in lists | Folders are now available in lists as well as in document libraries. Folders allow further segregation of content within a single list, adding another level of versatility. |
| List item enhancements | Enhancements in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 related to list items include versioning and required checkout. |
| Workflow-enabled business applications | Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hosts Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) to enable customized creation of workflow solutions and the use of structured workflows on document library and list items.
A new set of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 application templates provides solutions for building workflows that address specific business processes. They highlight aspects of task coordination and offer some preconfigured workflows. You can download these templates from the Microsoft TechNet Web site. |
E-mail alerts
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Enhanced e-mail alerts | E-mail alerts are now more informative and have filters to highlight the more relevant alerts. |
| Richer alert information | Alerts now include more information about the item that has changed. |
| Alert customization | Additional platform features are provided for custom formatting, events, and alerts. |
Integration with Office applications
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides close integration with Microsoft Office 2007 system applications, as described in the following table.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Integration with Access 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, and Word 2007 | Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 easily integrates with Microsoft Office 2007 applications through a set of Web services and documented application interfaces. For example, users of Microsoft Office Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, InfoPath, Project, and OneNote 2007 can directly interact with information stored in SharePoint sites without having to manually download the content. Users can create workspaces, post and edit documents, and assign tasks, all while working on documents stored in Windows SharePoint Services sites. |
| Support for Outlook 2007 | With Outlook 2007, users can view calendars and contact lists stored on Windows SharePoint Services sites, and create and manage sites for editing documents and organizing meetings. |
| Integration with SharePoint Designer 2007 | Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 provides tools for customizing Web sites and for creating reporting tools and application templates, without any coding. |
Data enhancements
The following enhancements to data have been added to Windows SharePoint Services and are also available in Office Live Small Business.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Metadata | Users can extend document libraries and lists by using custom column properties. The number of column properties that a list or document library can have has been significantly increased due to performance and scalability improvements in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 lists. |
| Folder metadata | Users and developers can now assign metadata to a folder. This creates a content holder that contains child content, while appearing as more than a container. Essentially, this allows the folder to function as a separate, but fully functional, item type. |
| Recycle bin | This feature enables a user to easily restore an item that was deleted accidentally. Administration tools are also available to manage the life cycle of deleted items in the recycle bin. |
Versioning enhancements
Windows SharePoint Services also supports versioning, which is also available in Microsoft Office Live.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Item versioning | Versioning is supported for all Windows SharePoint Services items. |
| Version history | Changes to the item are shown in the version history. In addition, support is provided for "append-only" comment fields. |
| Major and minor version tracking | Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 supports tracking of both major and minor version numbers. |
Site management enhancements
A key management feature in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is a new policy framework used to help secure the delegation of roles and permissions, reducing IT management requirements, and empowering site owners and users with more self-service features. This feature is also available in Office Live Small Business, at the subsite level.
Windows SharePoint Services and Office Live Small Business also support Master Pages.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Support for ASP.NET 2.0 and master pages | Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 uses the reliability, scalability, and functionality of Microsoft ASP.NET 2.0. This includes support for the ASP.NET 2.0 Web Part Model with added backward compatibility support for Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 SP2 Web Parts.
Each Web page in a SharePoint site references an ASP.NET 2.0 master page. Master pages provide centralized control of the layout and style of all the pages in a SharePoint site. Each site has a master page gallery that the site owner can use to customize the look of all of the pages on the site. .gif "Aa973401.vs_note(en-us,office.12).gif") Note
Office Live Small Business requires that its pages refer to the Office Live Small Business master page.
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| Note |
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| Office Live Small Business requires that its pages refer to the Office Live Small Business master page. |
Extensibility
The following area highlights the platform extensibility features in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 that developers can use to create, customize, and extend business solutions created with Windows SharePoint Services.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Extensible site and list templates | In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you can edit site and list templates in Office SharePoint Designer 2007. |
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 features not supported in Office Live Small Business
The following Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 features are not supported in Office Live Small Business.
| Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds | In Office Live Small Business, you can display existing RSS feeds, but you cannot create them. |
| List item per-item and per-folder security | Office Live Small Business offers the ability to set roles at the subsite level. Setting roles per item or per folder is not supported. |
| Append-only fields | Append-only fields allow a user to append text to a field without being able to modify the existing content of the field. This is useful for logging and tracking applications. This feature is not available in Office Live Small Business. |
| E-mail integration | Office Live Small Business does not support Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 e-mail integration, where document libraries, discussion boards, calendars, and announcements can be enabled to receive new postings via e-mail. |
| Changes to master pages on the server | Office Live Small Business does not support changes to master pages on the server. Server-side code is not understood. |
| Anonymous access | Office Live Small Business does not support anonymous access to sites. |
| Add a subsite | It is not possible to add an application or workspace to another application or workspace. |
Content placeholders not supported in Office Live Small Business
The following content placeholders are not visible in Office Live Small Business master pages. They are not displayed when an application that was developed in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is ported to Office Live Small Business.
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderUtilityContent" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="SPNavigation" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTopNavBar" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderHorizontalNav" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarDataSource" runat="server" visible="false"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderGlobalNavigation" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator" runat="server" />
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarTop" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderNavSpacer" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBarBorder" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSiteName" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageImage" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleLeftBorder" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleRightMargin" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleAreaSeparator" runat="server"/>
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyLeftBorder" runat="server">
- <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyRightMargin" runat="server">
Application and workspace features supported in Windows SharePoint Services but not in Office Live Small Business
| Feature | Applications | Workspaces | Business Contact Manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change the name of the default applications | Blocked | Available | Blocked |
| Change the name of the lists related to default business applications | Blocked | Available | Blocked |
| Delete the default applications (it is possible however, to hide a default application) | Blocked | Available | Blocked |
| Delete the lists related to the default applications | Blocked | Available | Blocked |
| Add lists or libraries to default applications | Available | Available | Blocked |
| Add columns to default application lists | Available | Available | Blocked |
| Change column labels | Available | Available | Available |
| Create new applications based on our default application templates | Available | Available | Blocked |
| Change the names of our default groups on the left navigation bar | Blocked | Available | Blocked |
| Save the top level site or subsite as a SharePoint template file (.stp) that can be uploaded again to Windows SharePoint Services or other Office Live Small Business sites | Available | Available | Available |