development
Generating list instances XML using Imtech ListInstance Generator
This week I learned the hard way that the FeatureId attribute of the ListInstance element must contain the ID (GUID) of the Feature which has provisioned the particular List Definition. Although I’ve provisioned lists using Features dozens of times, this one sneaked up on me and took me more than an hour to figure out. To prevent it from happening ever again I’ve decided to create a tool which would make working with ListInstance element even easier.
Setting the right value of the FeatureId attribute for ListInstance
Setting the correct value for the FeatureId attribute of the ListInstance element is just one of things you can easily overlook on a sunny Friday afternoon when your mind is already enjoying the weekend. It’s like forgetting to read the small letters underneath a contract you’re about to sign: it seems like it all is going to be okay but at the end of the day you’ll be in troubles.
Improving performance of SharePoint solutions by using Cache and CacheDependency
Recently I noticed that the customers ask for more control about the custom SharePoint solutions we deliver. They not only want to be able to customize general SharePoint settings which determine the working of the solution but they want to be able to configure various custom controls as well. Storing custom settings in a list provides the power users a nice interface, yet retrieving these values for each single request is very likely to decrease the overall performance. Is it then a battle between customizable and well performing or is there more to it?
Best Practices to create designer friendly server controls
Robert Chen of the Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team has yesterday shared with the SharePoint community some really valuable tips on how to make the custom controls work inside of SharePoint designer.
Why using the Minimal SharePoint Master Page is a bad idea?
Branding Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web Content Management solutions reaches beyond development and is done in most scenarios by webdesigners. Once done the templates are being sliced into pieces and incorporated in SharePoint. To simplify the work, SharePoint community has created a Minimal Master Page: a template which contains all the elements required by SharePoint. Just recently I have noticed that using that template for branding is rather harmful and can lead to even more problems instead of sparing you the time.