Day 2 of SPC

What I learned the second day of the SharePoint Conference:


SP2010 - does not have PDF icon (again), probably won't search PDFs out of the box (again) when will MS really start to play nice? I have an interoperability session later today - we will see. Spoke with someone during lunch and he says Foxit PDF search is the best he has seen for SharePoint.

Dashboarding Session

PerformancePoint makes it easy
Can slice and dice the data.
Conditional data can be opened to see where the numbers come from
Dashboarding is easy as 1, 2, 3 with SP2010 and Performance Point

SP2010 based document assembly and manipulation using Word automation and services and open xml

Open xml software developer kit coming, based on .net, will work on server
Works on office 2007 and 2010
Uniform platform for solutions
SDK does not: replace office apps, perform layout or recalculate, perform conversions to pdf or xps
Version 1 of sdk (june 2008), v2 in development now
Shooting for release near office 2010, support all new features on 2010
Demos:
Use document sets in SP2010 - binder of docs that are related, can use different types of docs
SDK can manipulate documents, but still tasks that need to be done in Office services (see above for things that SDK does not do)
NEW: Word automation services in SP2010
Allows word automation services to open, save, convert to docx, pdf, others,
Works on any file word can open - mainly for conversion tasks
Server-side rendering
Super fast, about 175,000 docs a day
SDK and Word Automation are meant to be used together, SDK for manipulation and Word automation for conversion/archiving
Excel services can query a word doc and make calculations
New File i/o for SharePoint: multiple word users collaborate at the same time on a document (need SP10 and Word 10), dotted lines to show where people have edited, new changes come in when save is hit, the changes show in green for other users
Building block - content control - "work item" to enter needs for docs, use workflow and can pull and push info through sharepoint
Tasks that result can be managed - and items added right through SP workflow and attachments
Allows you to stay in office while working, do not have to rely on busy-work tasks, automate tasks

Workflow in SP2010
Ability to modify a workflow and save it out as a new workflow
Buld on-demand columns as you build workflows
Manager and user-profiles/lookups are now built-in
Columns added to workflows as you bind workflows to a list
Ability to add user data (and tell the system how to use it) in emails
Impersonation Step is NEW - to get around the person that created the workflow shows as creator on SP lists - and this does not work in all environments
NEW ability to interact with "document sets" new SP10 feature
Ability to export workflows to visio for review - COOL
Ability to edit in visio and re-export back into SPD
NEW Task Process Designer - build robust behaviors in human workflows
Can add a "task process" (a mini workflow) inside of other workflows
Custom activities for SPD, deploy to sandbox

Multi-user authoring in Office 2010 and Office Web Apps
One note multi-authoring
Bold= new unread content
See content that has been added since last look
Markings to know who added and how much
System syncs back and forth
Sync rates get faster with more users on a notebook
Can move table rows/columns as others are typing, the system will figure it all out
Find changes by author/age of edit

Word multi-user authoring
Bubble notification alerts you that multiple people are editing, also new box that lists all people editing - with contact information (via SP or AD)
OneNote is more free for all, Word pops up dotted lines and names balloons - others are locked out of editing paragraphs that someone else has edited
Updates available once someone saves, changes get highlighted
"Backstage" shows versions
Word Office web app: slow load the first time (rendering slowness)

PowerPoint
Alerted to changes that conflict
Broadcast a slide show through SP/2010 gives you URL to viewers, via email

Same kinds of things in Excel
Only works through the webapp - not in the client

General Info
Syncing is faster because they are just updating what changes - not replacing the entire item!
If system cannot reconcile the change, a popup will appear and user can make decision

Interoperability with SharePoint
UI Interoperability
Better user experience across browser - cross browser rich-text editor, firefox open/save integration with Office apps
Saw basic SP functions on: opera, chrome, firefox, safari (pc), ie
Better code output, html, css, wcag 2.0, xhtml
Identity Interoperability
WS-Federation 1.1, WS-Trust 1.4, SAML Token 1.1 will all be supported
Search Interoperability
OpenSearch Standard (from Creative Commons) for syndication and aggregation of results
Content Indexing via BCS - business connectivity services
Data Access
CMIS and REST
External Data Access
Line of business data in sharepoint UI
Build end-to-end client and server apps right within SP
Any SQL app data can be exposed through SP UI
BCS client runtime in Office2010 apps, allows for read-write compatibility both ways
Storage Interoperability
End users don’t care where data is stored as long as the data can come back, data can be stored outside of the SP SQL database - but why - who wants their data mixed around like that? MS heard that SQL is too expensive - but doing this will increase operation costs

Will need IE8 for interoperability > IE6 will not work as well

At the end of the day there was the Beach Party that was pretty cool. I posted a couple pictures from that. You won't see any of Huey Lewis and the News bacause I was so far away and my stupid camera wouldn't zoom, so nothing turned out. It was a good time. After that, I hit up the M&M store and then off to bed.

Now for this mornings sessions...