On November 17, Mark Miller and I will host our live online workshop dedicated to animations in SharePoint.

The main featured customizations will be scrolling news and the image rotator. To give you a feel for what you’ll be playing with, I have created a live demo:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Pages/Animations.aspx
[This is a mockup, I am still working on the final scripts for the workshop]

The engines behind these customizations are two highly acclaimed jQuery plugins: Scrollable and Cycle. There are also a couple others working behind the scene, like the Easing plugin (which creates the optional bouncing effect in the image rotator).

An important note: the focus of the workshop is the SharePoint UI, not jQuery. We’ll learn how to pull the content from SharePoint lists, and format it to feed the plugins. We’ll also see how to optimize the display of images to reduce bandwidth.

If you like what you see, feel free to use the comments section below, to give me feedback and ask for more details. We are very flexible, and we’ll adapt the workshop content to your needs!

The live online workshop is scheduled on November 17 at 1:00 PM (EST). I hope to see you there!

If you need dynamically generated visualizations for your SharePoint data, have you considered leveraging the power of the Calculated Column? This Tuesday at 1:00pm EST, Mark Miller and I will give you all the keys to master this simple yet powerful technique. At the end of the two hour entry level workshop, you’ll be able to add color coding, KPIs and other effects – like the one described in this post – to your SharePoint lists.

Green/Yellow/Red is a standard color palette for dashboards. You can just use 3 colors to visualize discrete states, for example the status of a project (on track – drifting - late). But if your purpose is to communicate progress, or a measure on a scale, you need a larger color palette. This is for example the case in my screenshot, where the color reflects the level of completion (in %), in a tasks list.

So, how can I do this in SharePoint? Of course, my plan is to use a calculated column that will determine the color, based on the value in the [% Completed] column.

Method 1: nested IFs

This is the most basic approach:
if [% Completed]>90, select green
else if [% Completed]>80, etc.
I am not going to detail it, as we can do much better.

Method 2: CHOOSE function

The CHOOSE function is more elegant than nested IFs, and is a natural choice when dealing with multiple options. You’ll find all the explanations to achieve a color gradient in this post.

Method 3: pure calculation

So, how can we go even further? Well, colors can be identified by their name, but also by their rgb code, as each color can be generated from a combination of red, green and blue. For example:
red: rgb(255,0,0)
green: rgb(0,255,0)
blue: rgb(0,0,255)
yellow: rgb(255,255,0)
white: rgb(255,255,255)

Using these values, we can “easily” create our red/yellow/green gradient:
rgb(255,0,0) –> rgb(255,255,0) –> rgb(0,255,0)

The following formula, entered in a calculated column, will give you the rgb value for each value of the [% Completed] column:
=”rgb(“&INT(MIN(510-[% Complete]*255*2,255))&”,”&INT(MIN([% Complete]*255*2,255))&”,0)”

To obtain the visual effect as in the screenshot, use the HTML Calculated Column method, with the following formula:

="<span style='display:inline-block;position:relative; width:60px; height:14px;border:1px solid;'><span style='display:inline-block;position:relative;background-color:rgb("&INT(MIN(510-[% Complete]*255*2,255))&","&INT(MIN([% Complete]*255*2,255))&",0); width:"&([% Complete]*100)&"%;height:14px;'><span style='position:absolute; top:0px;'> "&TEXT([% Complete],"0%")&"</span></span></span>"

Note that the method works in both SharePoint 2003 and 2007.

One of the great benefits of running online workshops is that it pushes me to refine my solutions.

The cornerstone of Tuesday’s visualization workshop is the HTML calculated column. So for the occasion I revisited my script and worked on several improvements. The main one is to make the filter menu work for HTML calculated columns (see screenshot).

Another enhancement I am working on is to allow the use of HTML calculated columns for grouping (see second screenshot).

The first to benefit from the improvements will of course be the workshop participants, as the filter menu will be included in the script they’ll receive. The complete version (v3) of the HTML Calculated Column with all the enhancements should be published by the end of the year.

Update [11/01/2009] Another screenshot of my work in progress: HTML calculated columns used for two level grouping.

Visualizing Information in SharePoint is the theme of my next online workshop, scheduled on November 3rd. In this entry level session, we’ll see how color coding and other effects can be applied to SharePoint lists, using only out of the box features.

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may already be familiar with this technique, and know how easy and powerful it is. So, how about spreading the word? If you have a colleague who has been hesitant to make the plunge and try out client side scripts, this workshop is a unique opportunity to get started!

You’ll find several examples featuring this technique in my blog. Also, follow Mark Miller’s series of screencasts showcasing real life examples – starting with this one.

And if you are using SharePoint 2003, this also works in your environment!

Mark Miller has just released the EUSP workshop calendar for November and December.

I’ll be presenting 4 workshops:
 
Visualizing Information in SharePoint: Tuesday, November 03, 1:00 PM (ET)
 
jQuery Animations in SharePoint: Tuesday, November 17, 1:00 PM (ET)
 
SharePoint Charts and Graphs: Part 02 (Sparklines): Wednesday, December 02, 1:00 PM (ET)
 
SharePoint Charts and Graphs: Gantt Charts: Thursday, December 10, 1:00 PM (ET)

These are hands on trainings. Each participant receives a sandbox and the Web Parts needed for the workshop.

This is a checkpoint. Before I publish more tips on how to customize the Easy Tabs, I’d like to hear from you if you have issues to report.

The most frequently reported issue so far: tabs are visible in edit mode, but not in view mode. I have published the explanation here.

I have also received comments about the tabs not working with Data View Web Parts that include filters, but I am unable to replicate the issue. Everything works fine in my case. If you have an example that doesn’t work, I suggest that you save your Web page (html format) and send it to me. Remember to precise your SharePoint version (wss or MOSS).

Also, note the following restrictions:
- the Easy Tabs work on a site’s home page and on Web Part pages you create (Site actions > Create > Web Part page).
- the Easy Tabs won’t work if you are using a custom Web Part or Master page that doesn’t follow the standard SharePoint structure.
- I am restricting my tests to these browsers: IE7, IE8, Firefox 3, Safari 4 and Chrome 3.

7000+ SharePointers have migrated to Las Vegas for this week’s SharePoint gathering, while many more – me included – are staying at home and are anxious to grab the latest news on SharePoint 2010 from the Internet.

I have set up a page to share news from the conference:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Pages/SPC09.aspx

On the left side, I am displaying the channels that Mark Miller has set up, including in particular live blogging from more than a hundred (!) SharePoint professionals, divided into 7 groups, who are reporting in real time on the sessions they attend.
On the right side of the page are my findings, grabbed from my rss feeds and Internet search (I recommend Jeff Teper’s review of SharePoint 2010 features). I am trying to stay away from developer info, and focus on content accessible to end users.

If you have any interesting links to share, feel free to add them in the comments section below, and I’ll push them to my SPC09 page.

Hope you find this helpful!

Warning: the script below contains a time bomb. Be sure to read the whole article before using it.

A question from the STP forum: how can I change the layout of my Web Part zones, without SharePoint Designer or server side access? For example: on the home page (default.aspx), I only want one column. Or I want two columns with the same width (50%).

In the past, I have already answered specific cases. Today I am proposing a more generic approach.

In a SharePoint page, there is nothing special that identifies Web Part zones. When you look at the page html, zones are just regular table cells. My idea is to include in the Web Part zone a CEWP (Content Editor Web Part) that will act as a tracking device. It will identify its host zone and then apply customizations to it. btw this technique is similar to the one used for the Easy Tabs.

Here is a sample script including two examples:

<script id="RightWPzone" type="text/javascript">

/*************************************
  Customize the Right Web Part zone
  Christophe Humbert
  Christophe@PathToSharePoint.com
*************************************/

function GetParentTable(elem)
{
while(elem !=null && elem.tagName !="TABLE") elem=elem.parentNode;
return elem;
}

var thisWPzone = GetParentTable(GetParentTable(document.getElementById("RightWPzone")).parentNode);

if (thisWPzone.id != "MSOZone") { // Remove this line if the customizations also apply in edit mode

var thisWPzone = thisWPzone.parentNode;

// Example 1: set the Web Part zone width
thisWPzone.style.width = "50%";

// Example 2: hide the Web Part zone
try {thisWPzone.previousSibling.style.display = "none";} catch(err){}
thisWPzone.style.display = "none";

} // Remove this line if the customizations also apply in edit mode

</script>

Simply add a CEWP to your Web Part zone, add the above script, and change it as needed (the main tool for these customizations is the style object). 

When you reuse the script for several zones on your page, make sure that each script has its own id (the id appears twice in the script). In my sample script the id is “RightWPzone”.

A time bomb, you said?

Let’s say we decide to hide a Web Part zone, both in edit and view mode (so that nobody is tempted to drop a Web Part there):

<script id="RightWPzone" type="text/javascript">

/*************************************
  Hide the Right Web Part zone
  Christophe Humbert
  Christophe@PathToSharePoint.com
*************************************/

function GetParentTable(elem)
{
while(elem !=null && elem.tagName !="TABLE") elem=elem.parentNode;
return elem;
}

var thisWPzone = GetParentTable(GetParentTable(document.getElementById("RightWPzone")).parentNode);
var thisWPzone = thisWPzone.parentNode;
thisWPzone.previousSibling.style.display = "none";
thisWPzone.style.display = "none";
</script>

So far so good…but what if I need to make changes? Well, I’m stuck, as I can’t access the zone content anymore, even in edit mode! Fortunately – and this is one reason why I love working with CEWPs – there’s always the option to undo the customization. You can remove the Web Part from the page, with this well known trick:
…/default.aspx?contents=1
If you append the ?contents=1 querystring to the URL, you’ll be sent to the maintenance page, where you can manage your Web Parts.

Another way to deal with this issue is to apply a “best practice”: don’t put the code directly into a CEWP, place it in a separate text file instead, and link the CEWP to it (cf. this article for more details).

18 registrations so far, so we still have a few seats left for the October 16 online workshop dedicated to SharePoint calendars. If you were planning to attend, I recommend that you register as soon as possible.

As usual, the purpose of these workshops it to offer concrete solutions to address business users’ issues. Implementing these solutions does not require server access.

In the workshop, we’ll review in particular the following topics:
- how to include color coding and icons
- various ways to resize month views (including this example)
- how to share a calendar view across multiple sites

All the participants will receive the Web Parts for these customizations, and a sandbox to try them out.

Talk to you this Friday!

This Thursday, Mark Miller and I will be delivering our second “Easy Tabs interface” online workshop. One of the examples we’ll review is the use of tabs in dashboards.

In our online workshops, each participant receives his/her own sandbox. Access to the sandboxes is restricted, so to give you a taste of the demos I have created a mockup of the project dashboard:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Calendars/Pages/ProjectDashboard.htm

Note that the original page is built on a standard wss site, using only the SharePoint UI (no SharePoint Designer, no server access).

There are multiple approaches to dashboards, depending on the story to tell and the audience. I am not claiming that tabs are a best practice, I am just suggesting them as one more option in our toolkit.

Tabs allow you to create layers. In my example, the first layer is dedicated to visual indicators, allowing you to assess at a glance the health of the project. At the same time, thanks to the tabs, additional information is not far behind, and can be reached without the need to leave the dashboard or even refresh the page. Under each tab, you can find more details, for example data or analyses supporting the charts. Or on the contrary you can filter information, allowing to focus on specific items (e.g. My Tasks, My Issues).

Interested in the Easy Tabs? Then register for our online workshop this Thursday. See you there!

Credit goes to Craig Lowrie for the color coded Gantt, and Claudio Cabaleyro for the pie chart. An HTML calculated column was used to create the bar chart.

This is the most frequent issue reported with the Easy Tabs Web Part: the user can see the tabs when the page is in edit mode, but as soon as they switch to view mode the tabs don’t show up anymore.

‘The explanation: the Easy Tabs script builds the tabs from the Web Part titles. In edit mode, all the Web Parts and titles are displayed (even those set to hidden), so the script finds the information it needs to build the tabs. In view mode, some Web Part titles may be hidden, depending on your settings. If it is the case, the script can’t find the information to build the tabs and stops.

So, if your tabs display in edit mode but not in view mode, the first thing to check is that your Web Parts have a chrome type set to “Title” or “Title and border”.

I’ll update the Easy Tabs page, to either explain this issue or tweak the Web Part behavior.

If you participated in the online workshop you don’t see this issue, as the version given to the participants has a different behavior.

If you are interested in the Easy Tabs, note that Mark Miller has set up an additional online workshop on October 8. In this session, we review use cases and customization options for the Easy Tabs and its sister Web Parts, the accordion and the Quick Menu.

This Wednesday, Mark Miller and I will be presenting our online SharePoint workshop on the Easy Tabs interface.

If you haven’t heard about my Easy Tabs and Accordion yet, I recommend that you follow these steps:
1/ Check out the live demo. It’s all about dynamic interfaces, so click, click, and…click!
2/ View the workshop teaser
3/ If you find these navigation tools useful, register for the workshop. If you are wondering how they can help you, well… register for the workshop

Talk to you on Wednesday!

As I was working on the labs for my live online workshop, I did some experiments with the last release (v 2.01) of the jQuery corner plugin.

This plugin takes the edge off corners and replaces it with various shapes (rounded, beveled, notched, etc.). I have applied two examples – rounded corners and dog ears – to Web Part headers on this page:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Calendars/Pages/Workshops.aspx

The shapes are not always as neat as with other methods (that use images or the canvas element), but its ease of use and versatility make this plugin a excellent solution. Note that I said “not always”… the plugin is smart enough to apply the latest css standards if your browser recognizes them. To see this, try out the rounded corners of my above example in different browsers.

For the participants in the September 23rd “tabbed interfaces” online workshop, note that we’ll see how this technique can be applied to the Easy Tabs and the default SharePoint navigation.

If you want to try out this effect on Web Part headers, as in my example, here is the code I used (Only one line of jQuery!):

<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.corner.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(".ms-WPHeader").parent().parent().parent().css("background-color","palegreen").corner("dog top");
</script>

(Remember to modify the script to point to your own copy of jQuery and jQuery corner)

Update [9/14/2009]: I have made a slight change to the code, it now works cross-browser: validated in IE7/IE8, Firefox 3.5, Safari 4.0 and Google Chrome (the initial code was IE only).

Update [10/21/2009]: version 1.1 is available for download (see links below). Remember to set the jQuery path and the pictures path in the script before using it.

Craig Lowrie is a Network administrator at the Ear Science Institute (Australia). A couple days ago, he shared with me a very useful script, allowing to add color coding to SharePoint Gantt views.

Let’s start with the live demo (combined here with the Gantt slider):
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Gantt/

A SharePoint Gantt view is made of two sections: the Gantt view itself (not customizable), and underneath a “summary list” that displays the task properties. We have customized this view to display the priority levels.

Craig’s script works as follows:
- first, it scans the summary list to identify for each task the priority level.
- it then goes back to the Gantt view, and for each task it replaces the blue bar with the appropriate color (red/yellow/green). This is done by replacing the dozens of small blue images that make the Gantt view with custom images (yes, SharePoint uses one image per day!).

The files for this customization are available on my site’s download page (to download a file, right click on it and select “save target as”).

First, you’ll need to unzip BarImages.zip, and place the images created by Craig in a library.

Then you’ll need to place the script on the page that contains your Gantt view. You have two choices on the download page:
- either the script (ColorCodedGantt.txt) that you’ll paste in the source editor of a Content Editor Web Part
- or directly the Web Part itself (ColorCodedGantt.dwp) that you can import to your SharePoint page.

The last step consists in minor adjustments to the script:
- change the path to point to the library where you stored the images (PicturesPath in the script)
- The sample code calls the jQuery library available online from Google. You may want to link to your local jQuery library instead. Or remove the call if you already use jQuery on your page.

You can easily adapt the script to work with a choice list other than Priority. Simply replace (High|Normal|low) in the script with your own values.

Thanks for sharing Craig!

I had planned to introduce my demo page featuring the EUSP Fall workshop calendar, but Mark Miller beat me to it. You can read his comments, and/or explore the page by yourself to try and discover all the featured customizations.

I’ll share more details in future posts. For now, here is the flat list of customizations, all added through the SharePoint UI (no SharePoint Designer, no server side change):
- Calendar displaying three months, not just the current month.
- Sundays have been removed (but we are open on SharePoint Saturdays!).
- The calendar height has been adjusted to fit in the page.
- Easy Tabs, that automatically generate the tabbed interface for the calendar months.
- Content types: workshops have a colored background, while a flag is displayed next to US holidays. Conferences have the standard SharePoint look.
- color coding based on the trainer’s name, for both the calendar views and the list views.
- Beauty Tips (jQuery plugin): there are many jQuery tooltip plugins around. I have selected this one for its ability to pull data from another page (in this case the display form) , and auto-position the popup in the largest available area – very useful in cases like mine where the popup has a significant size. Also, I love all the customization options. A great plugin!
- HoverIntent (jQuery plugin): another very useful plugin that analyzes your mouse movements. It waits until the user’s mouse slows down enough before triggering the tooltip.
- “learn more” button in the events list.

These customizations will of course be presented in detail in the upcoming workshops:
- Easy Tabs Interface, on September 23rd.
- Calendar solutions, on October 16th.
- Color coding and animations workshops, in November/December.

I started this blog one year ago, and one of the first techniques I shared was the “HTML Calculated Column”.

I’ve talked about many other topics since then, but to date the “HTML Calculated Column” remains by far the most popular. The original post has been viewed more than 45,000 times, while its little sister explaining how to use the technique for color coding has been viewed 27,000 times.

Online workshops coming soon

In the past year, I have refined this technique and published more tutorials. I have also created a formula generator to handle simple cases. The latest version of the script is on this same page (under the Download tab).

The “HTML Calculated Column” technique has also been relayed by many SharePoint bloggers. On EndUserSharePoint.com for example, you’ll find Paul Grenier’s jQuery version of the script, and a detailed example by Jim Bob Howard: the payroll schedule.

However it was still not enough to answer all the users’ requests. So I worked with Mark Miller to set up two online workshops that will include this topic.
The first one in October actually focuses on calendars, color coding being one of the featured solutions.
The second one, in November, will be dedicated to the HTML Calculated Column. During the workshop, I’ll answer your questions and we’ll work on your specific use cases.

To be informed of upcoming workshops offered by EndUserSharePoint.com, you can check out this page or subscribe to the RSS feed.

When loading Web pages, pictures are most often a performance laggard. SharePoint picture libraries have a nice feature that can help you here: every time you upload a picture, SharePoint actually stores 3 files: the original picture, a version optimized for the Web, and a thumbnail.

A classic trap

You’ll often see that in order to create a thumbnail, people just take the original picture and force its dimensions. For example:

<img src=”MyPicture.jpg” width=”60px” height=”40px” />

Sure, the result looks like a thumbnail. But still, the browser has actually downloaded the full size picture.

Where SharePoint helps

Let’s take an example. Here is the URL of a picture that has a full size of 405 kb:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/PhotoVideo/LiJiang/IMG_0496.JPG

I have uploaded it to a picture library called PhotoVideo. Automatically SharePoint has generated two more pictures:
- a Web friendly picture of 52 kb, 8 times smaller than the original picture:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/PhotoVideo/LiJiang/_w/IMG_0496_JPG.jpg
- a thumbnail: 5 kb, 80 times smaller than the original picture:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/PhotoVideo/LiJiang/_t/IMG_0496_JPG.jpg

So how does it work? Well, if you upload a picture called CutePic.jpg to a picture library called PictureLibrary, then:
- you can find the thumbnail ïn the “_t” folder: PictureLibrary/_t/CutePic_jpg.jpg
- the Web copy will be in the “_w” folder: PictureLibrary/_w/CutePic_jpg.jpg

As for OtherCutePic.png:
- thumbnail: PictureLibrary/_t/OtherCutePic_png.jpg
- Web copy: PictureLibrary/_w/OtherCutePic_png.jpg

How to automate the retrieval of Web formats and thumbnails?

Let’s assume you have a picture library, and for any given picture you want a script to generate the URL of the derived image – Web optimized or thumbnail. It turns out that SharePoint already has a function for this:

function CreateDerivedImageUrl(originalImageUrl, subdirStr)
{
	var url=originalImageUrl.replace(/\.([^\.]+)$/, "_$1");
	url=url+".jpg";
	url=url.replace(/\/([^\/]+)$/, subdirStr+"$1");
	return url;
}

originalImageUrl is the URL of the full size picture; subdirStr will take the values “/_t/” for thumbnail or “/_w/” for Web preview.

I am using a similar script for my Image Rotator.

How about XSLT, for example if you want to include thumbnails in a Data View Web Part? The expression below is taken from a comment by Drasko (in this post, on novoculus.com) :
{@FileDirRef}/_t/{concat(substring-before(@FileLeafRef,concat(’.’,@FileType)),’_’,@FileType,’.’,@FileType)}
 For Web previews, simply replace _t with _w.

So, do your site visitors a favor: save them time by taking advantage of SharePoint’s Web friendly formats!

After this blog, started in August 2008, and the pathtosharepoint.com demo site, launched at the beginning of this year, I am now moving to the next step on my online path. Starting this Fall, I’ll be partnering with Mark Miller, from EndUserSharePoint.com, to offer online workshops.

The topics will be taken from the techniques I have introduced in this blog in the past year. In each workshop, I’ll explain a technique, walk you through the code, and show you how you can further enhance it. The solutions will be packaged as Web Parts available for download.

The workshops will target in particular power users, site administrators and consultants who need to go beyond the standard SharePoint capabilities, but without server side development or third party applications. No specific knowledge is required from the participants, other than SharePoint and HTML basics.

Coming soon

Mark and I have identified the following topics that we’ll start offering in September:
- Easy Tabs: include a tabbed interface in your SharePoint page, and learn how to customize its look.
- Image Rotator: display on your page random images pulled from a picture library.

We’ll provide more details on the content of the workshops in the weeks to come.

What else?

 If you have other needs, I’ll set up additional workshops based on your requests. Here are for example a few topics I have in mind:
- Calendars: customize the default SharePoint calendar views (size, color coding, tooltips, weekdays only, etc.)
- jQuery: create animations and charts (scrolling news, sparklines, etc.)
- hands-on training on the HTML calculated column: build your own formulas to create color coded lists or calendars.
- etc.

If you find the idea interesting, please take the time to leave a comment below or contact me by e-mail. Your feedback is essential, this is what will allow us to build trainings that suit your needs.

As a consultant in Information Systems, I have been providing training/coaching to information workers in the past 10 years. I am also on occasion a lecturer in universities – mostly in MBA programs – where I have been teaching Management Information Systems since 2001.

Tiny calendars look nice on a home page, but they have one drawback: their small size doesn’t allow to  display events.

In a previous post, I proposed two ways to deal with this issue, one being to include a zooming effect on the text.

Then last week I discovered anythingZoomer, a jQuery plugin that allows to add a zooming effect to any Web content (well, just as it says). It seemed like the perfect solution for my tiny calendar, so I decided to give it a try. You can see the result on this page:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Calendars/Pages/CalendarZoom.aspx

This first attempt looks promising. I like the fact that the zoom keeps the clickable parts of the calendar. You can for example move to the next or previous month, or select a specific event.
There are still some issues though. In particular the zoomed view is not correctly aligned with the small view. To be continued…

This is a technical post that assumes you are familiar with the HTML calculated column and the Data View Web Part.

I recently published a new version of my “HTML calculated column” script. It works fine in list views and calendar views, but not with the Data View Web Part. Let’s take a closer look.

As an example, I’ll use a calculated column called “Indicator” with the following formula:

="<IMG src='/_layouts/images/kpiryg-"&(3-RIGHT(LEFT(Priority,2),1))&".gif' />"

If for example the priority is low, the following result will be displayed in list view:
<IMG src=’/_layouts/images/kpiryg-0.gif’ />

Applying the “HTML calculated column” method on top of this will render the kpiryg-0.gif image.

If however you use a DVWP, here is what you’ll see:
&lt;IMG src=&#39;/_layouts/images/kpiryg-0.gif&#39; /&gt;

Special characters are escaped: &lt; for “<”, &gt; for “>”, &#39; for single quotes.

Let’s take a closer look at the source code behind the DVWP. The code that renders the Indicator field depends on how you created the DVWP:
1/ Directly from the data source library, using the “Insert Selected Fields” option:

<td class="ms-vb">
	<xsl:value-of select="@Indicator"/></td>

2/ By converting a list view:

			<!--Indicator-->
			<!--Indicator-->
			<TD Class="{$IDAXOQVC}"><xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="ddwrt:AutoNewLine(string(@Indicator))" /></TD>

Change the code as follows:

<td class="ms-vb">
<xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="@Indicator" />
</td>

With the modified code, the field will display the same way as in a list view:
<IMG src=’/_layouts/images/kpiryg-0.gif’ />

You can now apply the usual script, and have your string rendered as HTML.

(click here for full size picture)

I wanted to share the above screenshot sent by Keath Montgomery, VP, Sr. Change Manager at Bank of America, along with his comment:

“Many of us who find the Gantt view to portray the best picture of project tasks also are not really fond of the list of tasks that appears below the Gantt.
Since you cannot remove it from the view in SharePoint, why not add a web part to make it more useful and informative at a glance by adding the Text to HTML Web Part to assign a color status to the task.
The above screenshot utilizes the “Slider “ Web Part to facilitate a flexible view of the Gantt and the Text to HTML Web Part to add a visual status to the task.”

I have added a new option to the Image Rotator: you now have the possibility to make the pictures clickable. Clicking on a picture will open a new window, to display either the full size picture or a link that you have referenced in a text column.
By default the text column is called [Link]. You can of course choose your own column name, but do not use spaces or special characters in the name. Remember to include that column in the default view of your picture library.

I received e-mails asking for more details about my XML+Flash chart demo, so here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.

Where do you put the swf file? And how do I point to it?
The swf is a small file and can easily be stored in a document library, in your SharePoint farm. You can then point to it using its URL, as you would with any other file. For example, here is the location of my doughnut flash chart:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Utilities/Doughnut3D.swf

How did you create the XML file and the code to display the chart?
I didn’t create them, I just reused an existing example proposed on the FusionCharts site. The idea behind this technique is that in SharePoint you can reuse XML driven charts that were initially created for standard Web pages.

If you use FusionCharts v3, you’ll find examples in the gallery (I took my example from the pie/doughnut category). For the free FusionCharts v2 version, the examples are here.
To make an example work on your SharePoint site you need three components:
- the XML file  containing the data (click on “View XML” in the example you have chosen)
- the charting component (swf file) that you get from the FusionCharts package
-  the HTML and script that you’ll include in your SharePoint page. To get it, display an example and view the source code.

My demo uses FusionCharts, but you can apply this method to any XML driven component.

Is there a specific webpart for the HTML and script, or do you use a Content Editor Web Part?
As usual, I rely on the CEWP to include the HTML and script in the page.

If your data is stored in SharePoint list, how can you get it in XML format?
There are several ways to do this (and none of them is perfect):
- URL protocol
- Web Services
- RSS feed

Note: the use of FusionCharts v3 is subject to the licensing terms. For the free FusionCharts v2, see the terms of use.

I have updated the TextToHTML script to add support for preview panes. You can get the new version (v 2.1) on the download page.

SharePoint uses a function called “showpreview1″ to render preview panes. My script appends the “text to HTML” transformation to this default function.

Note that since version 2.0, you don’t need DIV tags anymore in your HTML formulas. The script will identify any HTML string, with upper case tags (DIV, SPAN, IMG, A, etc.) or lower case (div, span, img, a, etc.). For this, the script relies on regular expressions, like this one used for list views:
RegExp("^\\s*<([a-zA-Z]*)(.|\\s)*/\\1?>\\s*$")

If you haven’t heard about the HTML Calculated Column yet, check out these links:
- the method, explained (includes version 1.0 of the script)
- an example: apply color coding to lists
- a formula generator for color coding
- a troubleshooting page

…Or read the whole series (~30 posts).

I have added two jQuery animation demos to my SharePoint site:
- Scrolling news on the home page, based on the jQuery Tools plugin (its Scrollable feature to be precise)
- Dock menu with fisheye effect, based on the Interface plugin

At this point, these are “proofs of concept”, not ready yet for a production environment.

I have also transferred the Star rating demo from my old site. It is based on the star rating widget. For the occasion I have upgraded it with the June 2009 release.

For the record, the following jQuery demos are already present on the site:
- Sparklines (minicharts)
- Slider for the Gantt view (animation)

JavaScript – the language jQuery is based on - is becoming a more and more powerful tool for animations and other visual effects, and is slowly gaining ground in areas where Flash was previously considered the only option. This trend is driven by the development of new libraries/frameworks/plugins, the rapid progress of JavaScript engines in modern browsers, and new standards like the HTML canvas element and CSS3.
If you are interested in this topic, in addition to jQuery take a look at these 10 Impressive JavaScript Animation Frameworks and 10 excellent JavaScript solutions to graphing/charting data.

In Part I, we created project dashboards at the team level. In Part II, we are going to use the Content Query Web Part (CQWP) and follow these steps to build our executive dashboard:
1/ Collect the project status for all teams in the division
2/ Filter the list to only keep critical projects
3/ Customize the look to render our KPIs

Before you start: key references

Warning! You’ll need a good knowledge of the customization options of the CQWP to apply the method presented in this post.

My purpose here is not to provide a tutorial on the CQWP, for this I’ll just relay the impressive work done by other bloggers. See my earlier post, and in particular the “must read” section. For this specific case study, I recommend Heather Solomon’s tutorial.

Project status roll-up

Let’s add a CQWP to a page at the top level (“Division” site), and customize it to gather all the team project dashboards:
- Source: show items from all sites.
- List Type: Tasks.
- Filter: only retain projects that have division level visibility.

Here is the result:

The good news is that we have successfully rolled up the projects with executive visibility to the top level (see screenshot from part I and its visibility column as reference). However we are still missing the KPIs.

We are now reaching a point where the tool pane customization options are not enough, and we need to do some heavy lifting to get our final dashboard (although the next steps don’t require any special tool, and can be done in a text editor like Notepad).

Reference the KPI columns

For this, you need to export the CQWP to your desktop, edit it, and change the following line:

<property name="CommonViewFields" type="string"/>

to:

<property name="CommonViewFields" type="string">Progress;Indicator</property>

Display the KPIs

We need a new template in the ItemStyle.xsl file in the Style Library – I’ll call it “Dashboard” – that includes a call to the Progress and Indicator fields. For example, for Progress:

<xsl:value-of select="@Progress"/>

Once the template has been added to ItemStyle.xsl, I can go back to my CQWP tool pane and select it (item style: Dashboard).

Let’s see the result:

OK, our KPIs are now on the page…except that they have two issues:
- each calculated field starts with a “string;#” tag
- the CQWP displays the HTML as a string, not as real HTML.

Fortunately, there’s an easy way to fix this. the “string;#” tag can be removed with the “substring-after” function, and the string can be rendered as HTML by disabling output escaping. So for my Progress field I’ll actually use:

<xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="substring-after(@Progress,'#') "/>

The final result:

Let’s sit back for a moment and appreciate the beauty of Eric’s tip: with a minor tweak in the XSL template (disable-output-escaping=”yes”), the HTML calculated column and the Content Query Web Part become a perfect match!

The same approach allows us to create dashboards at the Business Unit level. We just need to modify two settings:
- Source: Show items from the following site and all sub-sites
- Filter: Visibility is equal to Business Unit

As a reference, here is the XSL template I added to ItemStyle.xsl for this case study:

    <xsl:template name="Dashboard" match="Row[@Style='Dashboard']" mode="itemstyle">
        <xsl:variable name="SafeLinkUrl">
            <xsl:call-template name="OuterTemplate.GetSafeLink">
                <xsl:with-param name="UrlColumnName" select="'LinkUrl'"/>
            </xsl:call-template>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:variable name="DisplayTitle">
            <xsl:call-template name="OuterTemplate.GetTitle">
                <xsl:with-param name="Title" select="@Title"/>
                <xsl:with-param name="UrlColumnName" select="'LinkUrl'"/>
            </xsl:call-template>
        </xsl:variable>
        <xsl:variable name="LinkTarget">
            <xsl:if test="@OpenInNewWindow = 'True'" >_blank</xsl:if>
        </xsl:variable>
        <div>
            <xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="substring-after(@Indicator,'#') "/>
            <xsl:call-template name="OuterTemplate.CallPresenceStatusIconTemplate"/>
            <a href="{$SafeLinkUrl}" target="{$LinkTarget}" title="{@LinkToolTip}">
                <xsl:value-of select="$DisplayTitle"/>
            </a>
            <xsl:value-of disable-output-escaping="yes" select="substring-after(@Progress,'#') "/>
        </div><br/>
    </xsl:template>

Eric Proshuto is a Sr. Application Engineer for Siemens PLM Software, where he manages the intranet/extranet MOSS farm. He has been supporting SharePoint since early 2000 using SharePoint Team Services.
A couple weeks ago, Eric posted a very useful tip on my blog. I have built a case study to show how to put it to work. I sincerely hope that Eric can share a more complete, real life case study after he implements this in his company.

Note that this case study relies on the Content Query Web Part, only available in MOSS.

The scenario

Let’s consider the case of a division in a large organization, with dozens of business units that report project status on a daily basis. The Management needs visibility across business units on certain critical projects.

The figure below shows the organization structure. The SharePoint sites structure replicates it, with “Division” as the top-level site in the site collection.

To make everyone go to a central list to report projects health would make that list unwieldy at best. Instead, we’ll keep the reporting at the team level, and use SharePoint’s aggregation capabilities to build the Executive dashboard.

Update [6/27/2009] For more details on this information architecture choice, see this timely article from Bob Mixon:
SharePoint IA: Store Information Close to the Point of Ownership

Team dashboard

We are going to build a list template that each program or project team will use to report their project’s health. We’ll do this in 3 steps:
1/ Create site columns, at the site collection level
2/ Create the SharePoint list that hosts the dashboard
3/ Save the list as a template for reuse across the organization

Note: in a real life scenario, I would definitely consider using content types for added flexibility.

Site columns

For my example, I have chosen to track two indicators for each project: progress and health. In addition, we’ll have a column that precises the level of visibility of the project.

To reach the Site Column Gallery, follow this path:
Site Actions | Site Settings | Galleries | Site Columns

The % Complete column is already present in the list. Let’s add two choice columns:
- Health, with three options: (1) Red, (2) Yellow, (3) Green.
- Visibility, with three options: Team, Business Unit, Division.

And two calculated columns for the indicators:
- Progress, based on the % Complete:
="<div style='position:relative; width:50px; border: 1px solid;'><div style='background-color:"&CHOOSE(INT([% Complete]*10)+1,"red","red","OrangeRed","OrangeRed","DarkOrange","Orange","Gold","yellow","GreenYellow","LawnGreen","Lime")&"; width:"&([% Complete]*100)&"%;'> </div><div style='position:absolute; top:0px;'> "&TEXT([% Complete],"0%")&"</div></div>"

- Indicator, based on the Health:
="<img style='float:left;' src='/_layouts/images/KPIDefault-"&(3-RIGHT(LEFT(Health,2),1))&".gif' />"

SharePoint list

We’ll use a Tasks List type:

Site Actions | Create | Tracking | Tasks

The % Complete column is already there. Let’s add the 4 other site columns we created:
Settings | List Settings | Columns | Add from existing site columns.

The final touch is to add the script for the HTML calculated column (the instructions were initially posted here, but make sure you grab the updated version of the script). Your tasks list should now look like the above screenshot.

The list is ready, we can now save it as a template that all teams will use for their project:
Settings | List Settings | Save list as template

Note: the “Text to HTML” script will also be saved in the template.

In Part II, we’ll see how to roll up projects with executive visibility to the top level, and how the HTML calculated column plays well with the Content Query Web Part.

Just a quick heads-up on what you can expect on my blog and demo site in the weeks to come:

Image rotator: there’s been a lot of interest around my Image Rotator, and I have received several enhancement requests. I am going to push a couple of them into the script generator, and for the rest I’ll publish some advice on how to tweak the code. I am also thinking about creating an XSLT version for the XML Web Part.

Easy Tabs: also a big success. Well, I love them too, and I put them all over the place in my demo site! I’ll publish some explanations on how to customize their look.

Calendars: I need to work on my demo page, to showcase all the customizations described in my blog, and add some more. I am also thinking about building a script generator.

jQuery: several upcoming demos – mostly proofs of concept for now, the tutorials may come later.

HTML calculated column: this method opens up endless possibilities, and I’ll publish a few more examples. Also, people tend to restrict its scope to color coding, so I’ll try to show other applications.

iframes: displaying a list or calendar in another site/site collection/SharePoint server, resizing the Page Viewer Web Part or the Excel Web Access Web Part, all these are popular but difficult topics. I have answers, but some more testing is needed.

Guest posts: if one of my articles helped create a breakthrough in the way you use SharePoint, I’d love to hear your story, and I’ll be happy to work with you on a guest post for my blog. Thanks for sharing!

XML driven components are a favorite among designers of dynamic Web sites. They allow to dissociate content from rendering, and greatly facilitate the site maintenance. The most popular are Flash charts, although other technologies are available, like Silverlight.

You can use such components in SharePoint: upload the flash component (e.g. PieFlash.swf) and the data (e.g. PieData.xml) to a document library, then insert the html/JavaScript code in the source editor of a Content Editor Web Part.

In addition, and it is actually the point of this post, SharePoint offers a convenient way to update xml files: the Data Form Web Part. Note that setting up a Data Form Web Part requires SharePoint Designer.

To see it in action, go to my live demo. Note that I am not making credentials publicly available, please contact me by e-mail if you want to play with the form.

Maybe you didn’t know that XML files could be edited directly from within SharePoint pages? If so, the demo page also includes a tutorial on how to set up the Data Form Web Part using SharePoint Designer.

XML files vs. SharePoint lists

Instead of an XML file, another standard approach is to store the data in a SharePoint list. You can then pull the list content in XML format to render the chart.

The advantage of XML files is that they are easier to set up. It just takes a couple minutes to upload the file to SharePoint and link it to a Data Form Web Part. With a SharePoint list, you would have to write the code that grabs the list XML and transforms it into a format that the component can read.

On the other hand, the list approach will be better if you want to benefit from specific SharePoint features (e.g. alerts, version history and permissions at the item level).

My live demo is sponsored by FusionCharts (version 3). Note that the previous version, FusionCharts v2, is available for free (22 chart types).

This Summer I’ ll be travelling to Luxembourg, France (North-Eastern part) and Morocco. I am always looking forward to opportunities to meet with other SharePoint professionals or user groups, so feel free to contact me at Christophe@PathToSharePoint.com.

Cet été je serai de passage au Luxembourg, en France (Nord-Est) et au Maroc. Je serais ravi de profiter de l’ occasion pour rencontrer des professionnels ou groupes utilisateurs SharePoint. N’ hésitez pas à me laisser un message: Christophe@PathToSharePoint.com.

SharePoint offers some powerful Web Parts that allow you to share content across sites.

The Content Editor Web Part is a universal plug adapter. Put it on a SharePoint page, and suddenly your page gets connected to the rest of the world: you can add html/CSS/JavaScript/ jQuery, embed videos or widgets, display content from other SharePoint sites, etc. To see it in action, explore my blog, Iain’s site or endusersharepoint.com.

The Data View Web Part, SharePoint’ s Swiss Army knife, lets you customize SharePoint lists, aggregate them or display them in another site. It can also connect to other data, like RSS feeds or external applications. One constraint: you need SharePoint Designer to customize it. Microsoft has made it more accessible recently, as since last April SPD is free.

MOSS offers a third powerful tool: the Content Query Web Part.

From Microsoft:
Content Query is a Web Part that displays a dynamic set of items based on a query that you build by using a Web browser. You use the query to specify which items are displayed, and you can set presentation options to determine how those items are displayed on the finished page.

I must say that I was disapointed by Microsoft’ s documentation on the CQWP. For example they don’t state up front that the scope of a CQWP is restricted to a site collection. Fortunately the Web provides many helpful references.

If you’re new to the CQWP, you can start with this screencast:
http://www.click2learn.ch/Documents/ContentQuerWebpart.html 
(Steps 1 to 132 set the scene, and the CQWP makes an entrance at step 133)

Out of the box, you’ll find that the CQWP has limited customization options. It will only return a handful of fields and display them as a simple list. However, you can go beyond this, and the great news for end users is that all this customization can be done on the client side. Be prepared for a tough ride though, customizing the CQWP is not for the faint of heart. To get what you want, you’ll need a minimum knowledge of XSL, or copy/paste skills.

I am not going to repeat what has already be written by others, so I have collected below a list of the best references I have found. I’ll just highlight a few points:
- the CQWP only comes with MOSS, it is not available in wss.
- activate the publishing feature to make the CQWP available in your site collection (Site Actions | Site Settings | Site Collection features)
- you can only query content that resides within the same site collection.
- after activating the publishing feature, end users have access to the stylesheets. They are stored in a dedicated library called the “Style Library”.
- as an end user, you can customize the CQWP by using the tool pane, or you can export it to your computer and edit it (using Notepad, etc.).

 Note that I haven’t included in my list posts that specifically target developers.

Must read

Configuring and Customizing the Content Query Web Part Microsoft Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Team Blog
Customizing the Content Query Web Part and Custom Item Styles Heather Solomon
Display Content Query Web Part Results in a Grid / Table Paul Galvin

Tips and tricks

Content Query Web Part xsl for showing the xml Ishai Sagi

Showing the description of a page in the Content Query Web Part as rich HTML Ishai Sagi

Teach the Content Query Web Part how to display a link list Ishai Sagi

Quick Tip: Content Query Web Part, Lookup Column Value and XSL Paul Galvin

How to customize the Content Query Web Part XSL to aggregate blog posts Henry Ong

Content Query Web Part (CQWP) with Anonymous Access Mike Geyer

 Other references

How to: Customize XSL for the Content Query Web Part MSDN

Customizing the Content Query Web Part XSL Steven Van de Craen

Display data from multiple lists with the Content Query Web Part Microsoft (from within SharePoint Designer)

Add dynamic content to a page Microsoft’s help page on content query

Waldek Mastykarz

Baris Wanschers

Andy Burns

Filter Content Query Web Part by file type Itay Shakury

List of field types

Kartic’s blog

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spfieldtype.aspx MSDN

Content Query Web Part – Field Types Brian Caauwe

Limitations

Content Query limitations

Content Query Web Part (CQWP) SharePoint 2007 Performance Ranjan Banerji

Others

The Enhanced Content Query Web Part Codeplex project by Ishai Sagi

I have released a new version (v 2.0) of the “HTML calculated column”. The new script covers lists (SharePoint 2003 and 2007) and calendars. Its purpose is to replace the scripts currently published here and here.

I am proposing this update as people were confused by my recent changes, with the use of DIV tags for lists and SPAN tags for calendars. The new code accepts various html tags. You can now use “DIV” or “SPAN” tags, but also “A” tags, “IMG” tags, etc.

The files are available for download on this page (right click on the file name and save as):
http://pathtosharepoint.com/Downloads/

Use the .dwp Web Part on a SharePoint page, or store the .txt file in a document library and connect to it from a Content Editor Web Part (detailed tutorials coming soon).

Note: I am not displaying code in this blog anymore, as I’ve had too many editing issues in the past.

 I have also cleaned up the code to deal with grouped lists. Instead of overwriting the default SharePoint JavaScript, I append my own code to it.

This is still work in progress, I have chosen to make it available now to get your feedback. Next week I’ll publish more detailed explanations and I’ll update the old posts.

Can’t wait to get your own image rotator? Go there!

 Last year, when I published a post about displaying a random picture on a SharePoint page, I left some unfinished business. At the end of the post, I was suggesting some improvements, but I didn’t provide the related code.

So I have decided to build an image rotator generator: simply go to this page, choose your settings, and get your own script. You can then add it to a SharePoint page using a Content Editor Web Part, as usual.

One key feature of this image rotator is that it allows you to use pictures optimized for the Web, instead of the original pictures. I’ll provide more details on this in a dedicated post.

Another plus is the option to choose the refresh frequency, using the JavaScript setInterval function. This is something I had already mentioned in a SharePoint forum 3 months ago.

 I am already thinking about future enhancements, for example:
- make it work for anonymous users, not just in authenticated environments
- add transition effects
- add a description to each picture

There is still a lot of room for improvement, so your feedback is welcome!

It seems that Twitter is the topic of the week among SharePoint bloggers. You’ll find all trends, from the enthusiasts like Joel Oleson and Mark Miller, to the sceptics like Eric Shupps who thinks that Twitter has already jumped the shark.

Where do I stand? Well, somewhere in the middle. I am now on Twitter as Path2SharePoint (note the subtle name adjustment to fit in 15 characters). Here’s what decided me: sometimes I wanted to relay interesting blog posts, but didn’t want to write a blog entry just for that. Twitter seemed to be the right answer. I also witnessed some interesting use of Twitter, like Mark Miller’ s coverage of live events.

However I can see the downside too. What if the Fail Whale suddenly jumps in one of Mark’s live events? And generally speaking I would agree that there is too much noise. This is the reason why I haven’t started following anybody yet. For now, I prefer to rely on search and hashbars to try and find tweets of interest.

New to Twitter? Wondering what the Fail Whale is? Then watch this video: “Twouble with Twitters”. Enjoy!

I have just released the “Easy Tabs Web Part” for SharePoint 2007. Check out the demo, the video and the Web Part for download on my SharePoint site:

http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/pages/easyTabs.aspx

The Web Part can be used on a SharePoint 2007 site by anybody who has design or full control permissions (it is actually based on a Content Editor Web Part). The installation does not require server access.

Update [5/24/2009] In addition to the swf format on my SharePoint site, the screencast is now available on YouTube. Duration:1min25.

Update [5/26/2009] Thanks all for the great feedback (comments and e-mails)!

I have added a twin Web Part to the download section, for those who want another set of tabs for another Web Part zone on the same page.

I am also going to add two sections on the site, one for FAQ and another to track known issues.

Update [5/29/2009] Version 2 now includes cookies. Reloaded pages will remember the active tab. This is useful for example when you switch between different views of a calendar (Mark’s comment), or if you use sorting/filtering options on list columns.

I am flying to sunny San Diego today. One busy week, with plans to talk about SharePoint dashboards, catch up with old friends and watch the news about the swine flu.

I noticed on Andrew Connell’s blog the announcement of the Los Angeles SharePint event on May 10th, and I hope I can make it. Just wondering who is going to drive me back to San Diego…

In the past months, I have tried to make contact with a couple SharePoint organizations in Southern California (user groups for example). No luck so far… Well, I’ll keep trying!

I found great interest in the charting solution recently proposed by Claudio Cabaleyro (and relayed on endusersharepoint.com).

Claudio had the smart idea to leverage the SharePoint grouping feature, to collect the data needed for the chart. One advantage of this solution is that the script is generic and can be applied as is to any list.

Note that the initial solution allowed only one list per page. See updates here and here to deal with multiple lists.

One limitation is that the solution relies on Google charts, which means that your data is going to travel over the Internet. This is fine for public information, but not suitable for secure data.

So I adapted Claudio’s script to make it work locally, using a charting tool. Here is a first demo:
http://www.pathtosharepoint.com/Pages/BlogsMap.aspx

I have already mentioned in previous posts several third party Flash/Silverlight/JavaScript charting tools. My favorite is FusionCharts, as it offers the largest range of charts. For this demo, I am using FusionMaps v3. The map is based on a flash file stored in SharePoint. It pulls data from the SharePoint list on the right (Claudio’s method), then adds color coding based on the value.

I have partnered with FusionCharts, and in the months to come you’ll see more demos and tutorials that showcase their products. The charts come in two flavors, the complete v3 version and the free v2 version.

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?