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Peter Allen at BitsOfSharePoint has just published a solution to view a list from any site with auto-refresh.
He reused one of my recent scripts, adding just one line – a timer - that makes a big difference.
As a demo, I have applied this technique on this page, where the stock indexes are refreshed every minute.
Nice job Peter!
The number one application of the “HTML Calculated Column” method is color coding. This can be applied to SharePoint lists or calendars.
The tricky part is to get the formula right in the calculated column. I have already published step by step examples to help users get started. But as soon as users’ needs slightly differ from these examples it becomes difficult for occasional site designers to get it right.
In an attempt to make the method more accessible, I have built a Formula Generator. Fill out the form with your choice list and the associated colors, select one pattern (Background/Font color/Traffic light), and the Formula Generator will build the formula for you. Hopefully this will allow more users to benefit from the HTML Calculated Column.
I plan to build other formula generators in the future to accomodate other needs (progress bars, etc.). Spread the word!
Update [April 23rd, 2009] Based on readers’ feedback, I have added a formula generator for numeric values.
All day, we’ve been talking about SharePoint Designer becoming available for all. We’ve been talking about all these great opportunities to create Data View Web Parts and workflows, or blow up our sites.
But here is a question to which I haven’t found any clear answer: the backup/restore feature.
From the SharePoint Designer help:
Suppose that your team has just posted their latest quarterly reports to various document libraries on the team site, and you want to back up the site at this critical juncture. Or suppose that your team has been moved to a different group in your organization, so you need to move your team site to another server. You can use Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to create a backup copy of a site or subsite, and then re-create that site on the same server or on another server.
Sounds great. FrontPage also had this feature, and I used it quite a lot.
However, when I started using it with SharePoint Designer, I quickly reached a “limit”: the backup/restore feature only worked for sites smaller than 26 MB. The tricky part is that SPD won’t alert you during backup, you’ll only discover the issue when trying to restore the site.
An Internet search confirms that others have had similar issues, but I haven’t seen any mention of this from Microsoft.
Maybe now would be a good time for a clear status update on this issue?
The rumor has been around for a couple weeks. And today Microsoft confirms it with an update on the SharePoint Designer page: you can now get SharePoint Designer for free!
For end users, SharePoint Designer (SPD) opens the door to more advanced customizations, starting with the access to SharePoint’s swiss army knife: the Data View Web Part (or Data Form Web Part).
However, before you rush to use your free copy, be warned that SharePoint Designer is a powerful tool, that can help you not only customize but also ruin your site. You’ll certainly see several posts on the topic in the weeks to come, starting with Mark Rackley’s timely post.
Enjoy, and stay safe!
Update: read the announcement and more details on the SharePoint Designer team blog.
Do you have a need to print only parts of a Web page, for example only selected Web Parts in a SharePoint page?
Then you might be interested in a free add-on proposed by Hewlett-Packard, called HP Smart Web Printing. It works on Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Here is an excerpt from their site:
Print what you want, how you want
HP Smart Web Printing lets you select, store and organize text and graphics from multiple web pages and then edit and print exactly what you see onscreen.
[...] Save paper by combining portions of numerous web pages onto one page before printing.
[...] You can edit the text and graphics and even resize and delete them. Then print exactly what you see on screen. HP Smart Web Printing will also save your custom document as an Adobe PDF file.
Also, each clip memorizes the URL of the source page, which allows you to easily check back for updates.
Hope this helps!
I have updated the Technorati authority in my list of SharePoint blogs (~400).
You may recall that a couple weeks ago I reported issues with the Technorati authority. Since then, I have done a tedious job, pinging the blogs, to make sure the authority was acurate. A few issues remain, and if you notice anything wrong please let me know. I haven’t heard back from Technorati yet.
This is a follow-up on a post by Jan Tielens, so I recommend that you read his post first for more details (the screenshot is taken from his post btw). The idea is to break the top navigation bar in two when you have too many menu items.
My personal comment was that in this precise case jQuery didn’t bring much value. To make my point, here is an example of plain JavaScript that gives the same result:
<script type="text/javascript">
//Contact: Christophe@PathToSharePoint.com
// Grab the top navigation menu
var Menu = document.getElementById("zz1_TopNavigationMenu");
// Count half of the tabs
var counter = Math.round(Menu.getElementsByTagName("table").length/2);
// Add a row above the existing one
Menu.insertRow(0);
// Move half of the tabs to the first row (each tab is made of 3 cells)
for (i=0;i<counter*3;i++) {
Menu.rows[0].appendChild(Menu.rows[1].cells[0]);
}
</script>
As usual, you can use a Content Editor Web Part to add the script to your page.
Note that I am not trying to argue about Jan’s approach. His post clearly states the specific context of his demo, where he was responding to a jQuery question (if you’re interested in learning jQuery, note his use of the gt() and lt() selectors). I am just taking this opportunity to remind you that jQuery is not necessarily the miracle answer [Note to self: write a post about what jQuery is NOT good at].
If you already use jQuery in your page, then either solution is fine. If not, then just use my script and don’t bother about loading the jQuery library.
The Jan Tielens challenge
I have already talked about Jan in a previous post. End users who visit his blog can certainly feel like a kid in front of a bakery display: so many goodies that are out of reach!
So here is my proposal: if you find on Jan’s site a tool you’d like to have as an end user, send me the challenge! If a topic gets enough votes, I’ll work on a solution that can be implemented on the client side.
Oh, and don’t ask about highlighting rows in a list, it’s already done!
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