Common Definitions in SharePoint

What is Site?
Site is a collection of web pages used to store information in an
organized manner. It stores a list of documents, discussions, events,
tasks, and many other types of information, so it is like a container
storing all these things. Site provides controlled access to share
information among users, i.e. authorize users are allowed to access
the site & its elements. Every SharePoint site is a member of a site
collection. As the name suggests, a site collection is a collection of
sites. Every site collection has a single site under its root site, and
other sites can be built under the root site. A site collection is having
some attributes that are common to all the sites in that collection
(like search settings, a Recycle Bin for deleted items).
What is Sub-Site?
A sub-site is a single SharePoint site under site collection. A sub-site
can inherit permissions and navigation structure from its parent site
or have his separate configurations according to the requirement.
What is Personal Site?
Personal site is a site which is totally user specific and used to store
the information of that user. User can use this site to upload his
personal documents in the document library, so only that user can
see and manage those documents. User can also make use of this
site for his personal favorite items and comments that they have
tagged in the SharePoint. User can track the information using newsfeed that tell you what your colleagues are up to, also user can run
searches and stay update on those subjects. Also user can update
their personal details in the corporate directory using personal site.
What is List?
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SharePoint list is a collection of records for differently entities like

employee, department, student etc. We can also say that it is a
container for information like simple database or spreadsheet. In the
list, data is stored in rows and each row is known as a list item. A list
can have multiple columns or fields that define properties or
metadata. So list item is a row with data in those columns.
List can be used for links, tasks, discussions, announcements or
events.
Different list can have different security settings ( List permissions)
Permissions can also be defined onto single list item level (List item
permission level)
User can also add attachment while adding items in the list.
What is External list?
External list is totally different than SharePoint List. It is not a
SharePoint list at all because it doesn't store information inside the
SharePoint content database. An external list is a view on external
datathat is, data that is not stored in SharePoint but in external
databases and systems.
What is Document Library?
Document library is an instance of list where every list item is a file
having some metadata. Files can be word documents, PDF files, text
files etc. Document library is very similar to list but as its item
contain file, so while adding an item into document library you have
to upload file first and then add the metadata about that file.
What is Picture Library?
A picture library is a special type of a document library that is
dedicated to images and allows users to easily store, upload, share,
collaborate and track images or digital pictures. It includes special
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views that show the images as thumbnails and it can also store the
properties related to images called metadata to make the images
easily searchable.
What is Wiki Library?
Wiki page library is an instance of a document library it used to
store web pages and onto those web pages authorized user can add
different types of contents like text, images, videos and web parts. It
can be used as a central repository for large organizations to store
and share information.
What is Form Library?
Form library is used to host only Microsoft InfoPath forms. Forms
created in InfoPath can be published into SharePoint form libraries
and users then fill out these forms.
What is an Asset Library?
Asset library is used to store digital assets such as images, audio
files and videos. This library can be used as repository for media
files that will be used throughout the SharePoint environment e.g.
company logos, training videos, podcast etc.
What is Picture Library ?
A picture library is used to store, upload, share and track images or
digital pictures. It also contains the special views that show the
images as thumbnails. Users can also store the properties related to
images called metadata to make the images easily searchable.
What are Alerts ?
An alert is used for notification by email whenever there will be any
change in the list, libraries or even for specific list item or
documents. It is a built in mechanism that enables users to register
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different kinds of alerts. E.g. suppose user needs an alert on specific

document change, or needs an alert when new record is added in
Employee master list etc.
What is a Site Column?
A site column is a column for a list or a document library that can be
used in all document libraries or lists in the site in which it is
created, as well as in the sub sites for that site. Site columns are
very useful if organization wants to establish some consistent
settings across lists and libraries.
What is Tagging?
Tagging feature is available in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 server (not
in SharePoint Foundation) , it is a social web mechanism that
enables user to tag a list item or document or even a page in the
SharePoint site or outside to it (provided appropriate access ).User
can tag something to help remember it and find it more easily later
on . I Like tag is the out of the box (in built) tag comes with the
SharePoint which enables user to like the document or page and
then it intimates other users about this tagging. So we can say that
tagging is the ability to tag documents that enables user to search
document easily with keywords. Tag cloud webpart enable users to
display tagging keywords.
What is Versioning?
SharePoint is having an option to track the versions for items
contained in Document libraries and lists. This option stores old
version of files or items each time a change is made. If user uploads
a document, and then another user edits the document and saves it,
SharePoint saves the original document as a version of the file.
Afterwards, users can look at the version history of the file and
choose to open a specific version or restore it (that is, make that
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version the current one).

What is Check-in/Check-out in SharePoint?
Check-in and check-out are the common terms used in many
document management systems. In SharePoint also the concept is
same only. The purpose of Check-in/Check-out is to prevent conflicts
in an environment where multiple people might want to edit the
same piece of information (list items or files in document library).
Check out: Check-out make sure that only one person can edit a
document at a time. To edit a document, a user should first check
out a document. This prevents other users from editing the
document until that user check the document back in. During the
period that the document is checked out, other users can only view
a read-only version of the document.
Check In: Check in a file means that user is uploading the modified
file into the library and it is now available for edit by other users.
Once the document is checked in, the document becomes available
again to be checked out by someone else. In addition, all changes
made by the person who checked in the document are now visible to
others.

What is the difference between SpSite and SPWeb ?

SPSite is a site collection which can be represented as SPSite class
in the object model of SharePoint. The SpSite object is one of the
primary entry points to the server object model and will be used
frequently in SharePoint application development.
SpWeb is specific site under site collection which can be represented
as SpWeb class in the server object model of SharePoint.
What are the classes in Server Object Model?
There are many classes on Server object model, but in development
perspective below are some of the classes which are important,
SPFarm
SPWebApplication
SPSite
SPWeb
SPList
SPListItem
SPDocumentLibrary
What is Site template?
By using site templates for SharePoint sites, user can build complete
SharePoint applications that can be instantiated over and over
again. For example, if user needs a SharePoint site for managing
projects including custom lists, Web Parts, and so forth, user can
define a site template that user can reuse for every project by
instantiating a site from it. A site template provides the basic
component and layout of a new site created under SharePoint. A site
template contains specific design information about a site, including
the list that is part of the site, web part pages used in the site, the
sites themes and borders, changes to the quick launch bar, as well
as some site content (such as document libraries)
What is Site definition?
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Site definitions are the collection of XML or ASPX files and can
contain all the necessary components. They are packaged in
SharePoint solution files (.wsp) and are easy to transport since
everything you need is packaged into a single file. Site definition
contains information of web parts, lists, libraries, features, and
navigation bars to be included in the site.
Site definition contains three files:
webTemp.xml: Created for every language version and contains
the entries for the template selection box on the site creation page.
onet.xml: Contains one or more configurations for a site template,
including specification of all components used, such as features,
lists, and Web Parts
default.aspx: Empty page
What is ONET.xml?
The core of a site definition is the onet.xml file that specifies all the
components that the site contains, such as which Features to load,
where the web parts go. ONET.xml file is present in %SharePoint
Root% \TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\XML\Onet.xml location

Note: If site definition is created using the Visual Studio 2010 site
definition project template, a basic onet.xml file has been generated
automatically. Its possible to extend this onet.xml.
How to get the data from multiple lists?
Or
What is SPSiteDataQuery class ?
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SPSiteDataQuery class is used to retrieve data from multiple lists.

Use SPSiteDataQuery object to aggregate data from multiple lists,
which obviates the need to enumerate sites and lists.The
SPSiteDataQuery class is used to query data from multiple lists
across different sites in a site collection. SPSiteDataQuery is
commonly used in list aggregation scenarios, where list data from
team sites or other subsites is collated and presented in a single
interface. Unlike the SPQuery class, you cannot use join predicates
or projected fields with the SPSiteDataQuery class. The
SPSiteDataQuery will only aggregate data from SharePoint lists and
will ignore data from external lists.
Note: Its not a best practice to use SPSiteDataQuery instead of that
make a use of for or foreach loops to aggregate data.
What is WSP (Web solution package)?
When developer does any customization or enhancement in
SharePoint, then there are many items that need to be deployed like
assemblies, resource files, features, images, application pages, site
definitions etc. It will be a very tedious task to deploy these items
separately on development, staging and production. So SharePoint
introduced a solution package which is powerful deployment tool.
Web solution package is a cabinet file that contains assemblies,
resource files, features, images, application pages, site definitions
etc. into single file.
Note: A solution package is stored as a cabinet (CAB) file, with the
file extension .wsp. This file contains all the files to be deployed. If
you rename the file extension to .cab, you can open the solution and
explore its content .It can be deployed using the command-line tool
stsadm or PowerShell cmdlets.
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What is Sandbox solution?

Before SharePoint 2010, the farm administrator had to trust custom
code running on the server which developer had written. That meant
having to perform lengthy tests and code reviews before custom
code was allowed to run on the server, which cost a lot of time and
money. Also there is a risk that if somehow unintentionally the
wrong code went onto the server, then there will be chances of
performance down issue, server down, crash etc. which is a big risk.
So by considering all these issues, In SharePoint 2010 there is a
concept of sandboxing user code, which allows for isolation and
resource limitations regarding memory, CPU, database query count,
and time. This means that users can add and consume custom
solutions safely without impacting overall farm performance and
stability. Sandboxed solutions run with lower trust for hosted
environments, for testing foreign solutions, and for secured
production servers. A sandboxed solution cannot access the full
SharePoint object model; it is limited to a subset of the
Microsoft.SharePoint namespace. Sandboxed solutions run in a safe
and monitored process with restricted access to resources.
Need more elaboration on Sandbox solution like what are
the items deployed under sandbox solutions, restricted
areas?
Using a sandboxed solution you can deploy the following SharePoint
items:
Web Parts (code only; not visual Web Parts)
Event receivers
Content types
List templates
List instances
Custom actions
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 InfoPath forms
Deploying files to disk is not possible in Sandbox solution. This
means you cant deploy the
following SharePoint items:
Visual Web Parts (they contain web controls that have to be
deployed to disk)
Business data connectivity models
Application pages
User controls
Files included in mapped folders, such as IMAGES or LAYOUTS
The Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed code execution host
service (SPUserCodeV4) executes the user code (code in your
sandboxed solution) in the sandbox.
This service consists of the following three processes:
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed code execution host
service (SPUCHostService.exe)
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Execution
Worker Process (SPUCWorkerProcess.exe)
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Execution
Worker Process Proxy (SPUCWorkerProcessProxy.exe)
What does AllowUnsafeUpdates do?
For developer, when updates needs to be done in the content
database without requiring a security validation then
AllowUnsafeUpdates property needs to be set to true. After
operation is performed then this property again needs to set to false
again.
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What is CAML?
SharePoint has a custom XML language called CAML (Collaborative
Application Markup Language), which is used to define key objects
such as lists, columns, and content types.

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What is Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?

MS SharePoint Portal Server is an integrated suite from server side,
to help improve organizational effectiveness with the help of
providing
- comprehensive content management
- enterprise search
- accelerating shared business processes
- facilitating information sharing across boundaries
- Provides platform which includes server administration, application
extensibility and interoperability for IT professionals.
What are zones?
Different logical paths (URLs meaning) of gaining access to the
same SharePoint Web application.
Five Zones :
Internet Zone
Intranet
Default
Extranet
Custom
What are Web Application Policies?
Enables security policy for users at the Web application level, rather
than at the site collection or site level. Importantly, they override all
other security settings.
What is a site collection?
A site collection contains a top-level website and can contain one or
more sub-sites web sites that have the same owner and share
administration settings.
What are content databases?
A content database can hold all the content for one or more site
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collections.
What is a site?
A site in SharePoint contains Web pages and related assets such as
lists, all hosted within a site collection.
How is SharePoint Portal Server different from the Site
Server?
SharePoint Portal Server:
- Web site creation for information sharing and document
collaboration is treated as services by SharePoint Portal Server.
- SharePoint server services are key information worker
infrastructure that provides additional functionality to the MS Office
system applications. Site Server:
- Manages websites with multiple technologies
- Content management, product management, order processing ,
advertisement serving are some of the functionalities
How is security managed in SharePoint?
Share point uses digital dashboard technology that provides an
interface for the purpose of creating web parts and making them
appear them on dash boards. The security is applicable throughout
the organization.
What is Windows SharePoint Services?
Creation of websites for information sharing and document
collaboration will be enabled by Windows SharePoint Services. It
provides additional functionality for MS Office system and other
desktop applications. It also supports like a platform for the
development of applications.
What are the Hardware and Software requirements for
SharePoint 2010 ?
Hardware requirements :
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# Processor 64-bit, four-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core.

# RAM 4 GB for developer or evaluation use, 8 GB for single server
and multiple server farm installation for production use.
# Hard disk 80 GB for installation
For production use, you need additional free disk space for day-today operations. Add twice as much free space as you have
RAM for production environments.
Software requirements :
# The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard with SP2. If
you are running Windows Server 2008 without SP2, the
Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies 2010 Preparation
Tool installs Windows Server 2008 SP2 automatically.
What Has Changed with SSP in SharePoint 2010.?
In SharePoint 2010 Shared Service Providers (SSP's) are replaced by
Service Applications. Services are no longer combined into a SSP.
They are running independent as a service application. The service
application architecture is now also built into Microsoft SharePoint
Foundation 2010, in contrast to the Shared Services Provider (SSP)
architecture that was only part of Office SharePoint Server 2007.
A key benefit here is that all services are installed by default and
there is no SSP setup.
Additional improvements for the service application model include:
The services architecture is extensible, allowing third-party
companies to build and add services to the platform.
Services are managed directly in Central Administration (rather
than a separate administration site).
Services can be monitored and managed remotely.
Services can be managed and scripted by Windows PowerShell.
Shared services communications take place over HTTP(S). Shared
services do not directly access databases across farms.
Most new services are built on the Windows Communications
Framework. They have optimization built into their protocol,
using binary streams instead of XML for data transfer. Test results
show improvements in network throughput with this change.
Can we create a Single set of Services that will be shared
across the farm?
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Similar to the SSP model in Office SharePoint Server 2007, a single

set of services can be shared by all sites in a farm. By publishing a
service application (from the sharing group, under Service
application tab), you can share it across server farms. This capability
does not apply to all service applications, and some services can be
shared only within a single server farm.
What are Managed Accounts?
To reduce the load of managing various service accounts in Microsoft
SharePoint Server 2010, the concept of managed accounts has been
introduced. Much like managed accounts in Windows Server 2008,
they allow SharePoint Server to take control of all the service
accounts you use. After SharePoint Server has control of these
accounts, it can either manage their passwords automatically
changing them as necessary or it can notify you when an
accounts password is about to expire,
allowing you to make the change yourself.
What is LINQ. How is it used in Sharepoint ?
LINQ is a feature of the programming languages C# 3.0 and Visual
Basic .NET. LINQ allows you to query in an object-oriented way,
supports compile-time check, gives you intellisense support in Visual
Studio and defines a unified, SQL like syntax to query any data
source. But unlike other languages and query syntaxes which vary
from one type of data source to another, LINQ can be used to query,
in principle, any data source whatsoever. Hence, developers may
find that it is the only query syntax that they ever need to know. It is
commonly used to query objects collections, XML and SQL server
data sources.
LINQ to SharePoint is officially being supported with the 2010
release.It works similar to LINQ to SQL or LINQ to Entity.
The LINQ to SharePoint Provider is defined in the
Microsoft.SharePoint.Linq namespace. It translates LINQ queries into
Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) queries.The
gateway class for the LINQ to SharePoint provider is
Microsoft.SharePoint.Linq.DataContext which represents the data of
a SharePoint Foundation Web site.
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How to Move content Databases using PowerShell ?

To attach\detach an existing content database
use Mount-SPContentDatabase "<ContentDb>" DatabaseServer
"<DbServer>" WebApplication http://webapplicationname/
<ContentDb> is the content database to be attached.
<DbServer> is the name of the database server.
http://WebapplicationName is the name of the Web application to
which the content database is being attached.
To detach a content database:
Dismount-SPContentDatabase "<ContentdBName>"
How to Export a Site or List in SharePoint 2010?
SharePoint Server 2010 provides several new features that provide a
granular level of backup for various components of site content. This
includes content at the site, subsite, and list level.
Through Central Administration(Granular level Back-up) a SharePoint
Administrator can configure a backup of a subsite or list. An
Administrator can choose a site and a specific list to be
exported.The administrators can also choose to export security and
select the different versions that will be exported with the list.
Changes in Themes in SharePoint 2010. Can we re-deploy and use
the Old Cutsom themes in SharePoint 2010?
SharePoint Server 2010 has changed the way themes work, making
them easier to customize. You can now, change colors, fonts, links
etc from themes interface itself. Also, you can import PowerPoint
themes directly into SharePoint Server.
What is Enterprise Metadata Management?
Enterprise metadata management (EMM) is a set of features
introduced in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 that enable
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taxonomists, librarians, and administrators to create and manage

terms and sets of terms across the enterprise.
The managed metadata service: is a service application that enables
the use of managed metadata and
allows you to share content types across site collections and across
Web applications. The service publishes a term store and content
types, and the metadata is consumed via the managed metadata
connection. A managed metadata service and connection are
created when the metadata service application is created.
What are Web Applications in SharePoint?
An IIS Web site created and used by SharePoint 2010. Saying an IIS
virtual server is also an acceptable answer.
What is an application pool?
A group of one or more URLs that are served by a particular worker
process or set of worker processes.
Why are application pools important?
They provide a way for multiple sites to run on the same server but
still have their own worker processes and identity.
What are My Sites?
Specialized SharePoint sites personalized and targeted for each user.
What is the difference between Classic mode authentication
and Claims-based authentication?
As the name implies, classic authentication supports NT
authentication types like Kerberos, NTLM, Basic, Digest, and
anonymous. Claims based authentication uses claims identities
against a against a trusted identity provider.
When would you use claims, and when would you use
classic?
Classic is more commonly seen in upgraded 2007 environments
whereas claims are the recommended path for new deployments.
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What is Business Connectivity Services in SharePoint ?

SharePoint 2010 provides a new set of technologies known as
Business Connectivity Services for retrieving, editing,updating, and
deleting data from external systems(for e.g. data from ERP or CRM
database). BCS enhances the SharePoint platforms capabilities with
out-of-box features, services and tools that streamline development
of solutions with deep integration of external data and services.
How is BCS Different from BDC in SharePoint ?
Even though the BDC made it relatively easy to create read-only
solutions that display data in the Business Data List Web Part, it was
not so simple to create a solution that enabled users to make
changes and write that data back to the external store.BCS, on the
other hand, provides you with Read-Write capable connectivity from
Client and Server to Database, WCF/Web Services and .Net Sources.
A Developer can now use SharePoint Designer 2010 and VS 2010
rapid development tools to access
external data.
How would you create an Information Site in SharePoint
2010?
In SharePoint 2010 You can create a Read-Only Farm/site or sitecollection by setting the Content database as Read-only.In
SharePoint 2010 You can create a Read-Only Farm/site or sitecollection by setting the Content database as Read-only.In a readonly farm, only content databases are read-only. All other databases,
including the configuration database, Central Administration content
database, and search database, are read/write.
The site collection that is associated with a read-only content
database is automatically set to be read-only.
The user experience of a read-only site is characterized by the
following:
* Common tasks that do not require writing to the content database
are fully available.
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* Most of the common tasks that require writing to the content

database are not available, either because they have been
disabled in the user interface or because the user is no longer
allowed to apply changes.
* Some common tasks that require writing to the content database
appear to be available, but return errors.
What would you clean up before upgrading to SharePoint
2010?
Before you begin upgrading from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
2007 to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, you should make sure
that your environment is functioning in a healthy state and that you
clean up any content that you do not have to upgrade.Before you
begin upgrading from Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, you should make sure that your
environment is functioning in a healthy state and that you clean up
any content that you do not have to upgrade.
Clean Up - Before Upgrading to SharePoint 2010
Look for some things before you start upgrading stuff
* Delete unused or underused site collections and sites.
You do not want to upgrade content that you do not have to keep. If
it has been unused for a long time and will not be needed in the
future, back it up, and then delete it to free storage and
administrative resources, improve upgrade performance, and reduce
upgrade risk.
* Remove extraneous document versions
Large numbers of document versions can slow down an upgrade
significantly. If you do not have to keep multiple versions, you can
have users delete them manually or use the object model to find
and remove them.
* Remove unused templates, features, and Web Parts
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Firstly,verify that no sites are using any template, feature, or Web

Part. You can use the pre-upgrade checker (Stsadm -o
preupgradecheck) and the Stsadm -o EnumAllWebs operation to
identify these customizations in your environment. If you are not
using any customization, then you should delete it.
* Address large lists
By default, large list query throttling is appliedafter an upgrade to
SharePoint Server 2010. If a list is very large, and users use a view
or perform a query that exceeds the limit or throttling threshold, the
view or query will not be permitted.Check any large lists in your
environment and have the site owner or list owner address the issue
before upgrade. For example, they can create indexed columns by
using filtered views, organize items into folders, set an item limit on
the page for a large view, or use an external list.
Describe the potential components for both a single server,
and multiple servers, potentially several tiered farms :
A single-server SharePoint Server 2010 environment leverages a
built-in SQL Server 2008 Express database. The problems with this
environment is scalability, not being able to install the with built-in
database on a domain controller, the database cannot be larger
than 4 GB, and you cannot use User Profile Synchronization in a
single server with built-in database installation.
An example of a multiple tier farm would be a three-tier topology,
considered one of the more efficient physical and logical layouts to
supports scaling out or scaling up and provides better distribution of
services across the member servers of the farm. This is considered a
good architecture since one can add Web servers to the Web tier,
add app servers to the application tier, and add database servers to
the database tier.
What is SharePoint 2010?
SharePoint 2010 is the business collaboration platform for the
Enterprise & the Web that enables you to connect & empower
people through an integrated set of rich features. Whether deployed
on-premises or as hosted services, SharePoint 2010 helps you cut
costs with a unified infrastructure while allowing you to rapidly
respond to your business needs.
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What Has Changed with 12 hive in SharePoint?

Three New Folders have been added in 12 hive structure.
UserCode files used to support sandboxed solutions .
WebClients used for the client Object Model.
WebServices .svc files .
How would you re-deploy the old custom solutions in SharePoint
2010.What Changes are needed to the old Solution files.
SharePoint 2010 object model contains many changes and
enhancements, but our custom code will still compile and, will run as
expected. You should however, rewrite and recompile any code that
refers to files and resources in "12 hive".
Whats New with SharePoint WebParts?
A developer can create two types of webparts using Visual Studio
2010.
1. Visual Webparts - Allows you to Drag and Drop the controls from
the Toolbox to WebPart Design surface. You can of course write your
custom code in the code file. You can also package and deploy your
webparts directly to Sharepoint from VS by pressing Clt+F5. Visual
studio 2010 also provides you with three different views for
developing webparts. The views are split view, design view and
Source view(as we have in designer 2007).
Note : The Visual Webpart project Item basically loads a User Control
as a WebPart.
2. ASP.Net WebParts - Where a developer can build up User Interface
and logic in a class file. You do not have designer for drag and drop
of controls. This webpart inherits from standard ASP.Net webpart. For
Deployment we can again use ctrl+f5 to deploy this webpart.
What are the Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint.Ans. Visual
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Studio 2010 includes SharePoint-specific project types and project

item types, and includes powerful packaging, deployment, and
debugging features that help increase your efficiency as a
SharePoint 2010 developer.
Some of the Templates avaiable are :
1.Visual Web Part project template.
2. List defination template.
3. Content Type template.
4. Empty Project template.
5. Event Receiver template.
6. some workflow template.
7. the Site Definition template
and many more....
What are SharePoint Sandboxed soultions ?
Ans. SharePoint 2010 provides a new sandboxed environment that
enables you to run user solutions without affecting the rest of the
SharePoint farm. This environment means that users can upload
their own custom solutions without requiring intervention from
administrators, and without putting the rest of the farm at risk. This
means that the existing sites\pages or components will not be
effected by the newly added soultion.
Users can deploy the below four things as sandboxed soultions :
1. WebParts.
2. Event Receivers.
3. List Definations.
4. Workflows.
What are Requirenments for SharePoint 2010.?
SharePoint Server 2010 will support only 64 - bit. It will require 64 bit
Windows Server 2008 or 64 bit Windows Server 2008 R2. In addition
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to this, it will require 64 bit version of SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit

version of SQL Server 2005.
What are the Methods of Backup and Recovery in SharePoint
2010?
Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides a broad range of levels
for performing backups, including the entire farm, farm configuration
information, site collections, subsites, or lists.
SharePoint Server 2010 uses two different tools to configure backup
and recovery.
1. Central Administration : Central Administration provides a user
interface where SharePoint Administrators will be prompted
via menu structures to select the information that needs to be
backed up. (see the Image below)
2. Windows PowerShell : Windows PowerShell is a command line tool
that provides SharePoint administrators a way to perform backup
and recovery with additional options such as file compression or
working with SQL snapshots.
Listed below are a few of the benefits available when working with
Windows PowerShell:
Windows PowerShell scripts can be developed and scheduled (with
Windows Task Scheduler), whereas Central Administration is used for
single-use backups and restores.
Windows PowerShell has the advantage of running against SQL
snapshots instead of the production database. One of the
parameters of the Windows PowerShell command will cause a SQL
snapshot to be generated, and then Windows PowerShell will run the
action against the snapshot instead of the production database. This
will reduce the resource impact of the backup operation on the
production environment.
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 With Windows PowerShell, SharePoint administrators will have

more granular control of options for the backup or restore.

24

Q. What are WebParts?

Ans. Web Parts are self-contained packages of user interface that can be
dropped onto a SharePoint Web Part page to provide discrete set of
functionality to the users. They can simply be described as re-usable Code
units.

Q. What is Custom action?

Ans. Represents a link, toolbar button, menu item, or any control that can
be added to a toolbar or menu that appears in the UI. For e.g. "New
Folder" button in your document library is a custom action or "View All
Site Content" in your Site Settings is a custom action.

Q. What are Features?

Ans. Features represent a set of functionality (code) that can be activated
and de-activated at various levels in SharePoint. Using Features, you can
do everything from adding a link to the Site Settings page to creating a
complete fully functioning Project suite that can be added to any
SharePoint site. Developers can scope feature to the following level . Web
. Site
. WebApplication
. Farm

Q. What are Solutions?

Ans. Solutions are the container packages for Features. Solution basically,
is a cabinet (.cab) file with extension .wsp which contains various
components needed to be deployed(features, webparts, custom forms etc)
along with files that describe some important metadata about those
Components. Once a Solution is installed on a server in the farm, you can
deploy it to any webapplication from your Solution Management.

Q. What is a .ddf file and what does it have to do with SharePoint Solution
creation?
Ans. A .ddf file is a data directive file which describes the files need to be
deployed and their destination (in SharePoint). .ddf is used when building
the SharePoint solution. This file is a parameter to makecab.exe which
outputs the wsp file.
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Q. What is the difference between a site and a web in SharePoint?

Ans. A site in sharePoint is a site collection. It is an object of SPsite class
in sharepoint. A Web however, is simply a blank site within that site
collection. Web is a Part of SPweb class, thus represents a site within a
site collection.

Q. What is CAML?
Ans. CAML stands for Collaborative Application Markup Language and is
an XML-based language that is used in Microsoft Windows SharePoint
Services to define sites and lists for E.g. fields, views, or forms etc.
Developers mostly use CAML to write Queries to retrieve data from
Lists\libraries.

Q. What are Master pages in SharePoint?

Ans. These are the pages that provide a consistent layout and appearance
(look and feel) for SharePoint sites. A master Page consist of a Site logo,
Top navigation, left navigation(some cases) and a footer. In SharePoint
Master Pages are stored in _catalogs folder or Master Page Gallery from
UI.

Q. What are Layout Pages in SharePoint?

Ans. A Layout page defines the Layouts(structure including Webpart
zones) of a content page in SharePoint. Layout pages are not same as
Master Page. A Layout Page is contained inside the content area
surrounded by mater Page.

Q. What is a SharePoint Theme?

Ans. A Theme is a group of files (CSS, images) that allow you to define the
appearance (look and feel) of content pages in SharePoint. A Theme
defines the design of various components for e.g. Content Page
background-color,button color,webpart title color etc to give a different
look and feel to your site.

Q. What is a web part zone?

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Ans. Web part zones are what your web parts reside in. Each webpart zone
can contain number of webparts and can be positioned in a specific way to
create a webpart Layout Page.

Q. What is Business Data Catalog or BDC ?

Ans. It is a shared service that enables Office SharePoint Server 2007 to
display business data from various back-end servers into a SharePoint
page. Business Data Catalog or BDC provides built-in support for
displaying data with various webparts and list\list columns that can help in
easy creation of dashboards with data from your SQL, web services, SAP,
Siebel, or any other line-of-business (LOB) applications.

Q What is a Site definition?

Ans. A Site definition is a collection of Files such as ONET.XML which
defines the Site template for e.g. Team Sites used to create a Site in
SharePoit. All the out-of-box site Templates like Blog,Wiki,Team Site etc
can be found in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web
server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\

Q What is a Site Template?

Ans. Any Site along with the content can be saved as a template. If a site
is saved as a Template it is stored in Site templates folder as a .stp file.
This template is then re-used to create a new site which will have the presaved settings.

Q. What are content types?

Ans. A content type is a flexible and reusable template of type list item or
document that defines the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a
document in a document library. For example, you can create a content
type for a Requirement document with a columns such
LOE,Version,Approver,Date Created,Date Revised etc and this can be reused in various document libraries.

Q. what is Central administration?

Ans. This is a site used by admins to mange and configure settings for
SharePoint web applications or the whole farm.
Q. What are event receivers or event Handlers in SharePoint?
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Ans. Event Receivers or Event handlers are created to handle the basic
actions or events against an item,list\library, a web or a site. There are
two kinds of events in sharepoint.

Synchronous Events: Like Itemadding (not added yet), Uploading

(document not uploaded yet) etc.

Asynchronous Events: ItemAdded (after item is added), Uploaded(after a

document is uploaded)

Events receivers can be written to override an event for e.g. ItemAdded

event to change the name of an Item once it is added.

Q. What is stsadm?
Ans. It is a Command-line tool used for administration of Office SharePoint
2007 (or MOSS 2007) servers and sites. Basic operations like adding a
solution or installing activating and feature is usually done by stsadm.

Q. What permissions are required to perform stsadm operations?

Ans. You need to be a member of WSS_ADMIN_WPG group to perform
deployments for sharepoint server. Also, you need to be added into
administrators group on a computer on which SharePoint Server or WSS
3.0 is installed. In addition to this you definitely need access to the
required sharepoint databases so that you should not get errors while
deploying sharepoint solutions.

Q. Where is it located?
Ans. You will normally, find it under C:\Program Files\Common Files\
shared\web server extensions\12\bin.

Q What is a DWP?
Ans. Its a webpart file extension.

Q What is the GAC?

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Ans. Global Assembly Cache folder (or assembly) stores the strongly typed
signed assemblies for webparts or other sharepoint components(which
require full trust) for services to share them.

Q. What are Application Pages, Site Pages and Content Pages?

Ans.

Application Pages - An application page is deployed once per Web server

and cannot be customized on a site-by-site basis. They stay in 12 hive
folder structure, mostly under layouts folder.

Site Pages - These are pages that make up the site interface and are
specific to one site or site collection.They mostly get stored in the content
database of the site collection.

Content Pages - Site Page which contains webpart or other custom

components. This Page is stored in database. They mostly get stored in
the content database of the site collection.

Q.What are the Permission levels in SharePoint?

Ans. Permission levels in SharePoint are -

* Limited Access - They can view Application Pages, Browse User

Information, Use Remote Interfaces, Use Client Integration Features etc.

* Reader - Limited Access permissions plus: View Items, Open Items, View
Versions, Create Alerts, Use Self-Service Site Creation, View Pages.

* Contributor - Read permissions plus: Add Items, Edit Items, Delete Items,
Delete Versions, Browse Directories, Edit Personal User Information,
Manage Personal Views, Add/Remove Personal Web Parts, Update
Personal Web Parts.

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* Design - Contribute permissions plus: Manage Lists, Override Check Out,

Approve Items, Add and Customize Pages, Apply Themes and Borders,
Apply Style Sheets.

* Administrator - Has full control of the Web site.

* Full Control - All permissions.

Q. What are Site Columns?

Ans. Site columns are pre-defined data columns(along with default values)
which are re-used in various content types. A Content type is usually a
collection of site columns. For e.g. you can create a site column "Category"
with a choice datatype along with the pre-defined values "It","Hr". This
column then can be added to any content type in your list or library.

Q. What does each individual Site collection offers?

Ans. An Individual Site collection offers following :
For the Users:
Dedicated Recycle bins
Dedicated usage Reports
Distributed administration (site collection administrators)
Dedicated search scopes, keywords, and best-bets
Custom feature deployments
Dedicated language translation maintenance
Dedicated galleries for web parts, master pages, content types, site
columns, site templates, and list templates
Dedicated shared libraries, such as site collection images and site
collection styles
Dedicated real estate (Self Containment)

For the IT Administrators:

Site quota templates
Distributed administration
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Site locking
Database maintenance options
Backup / Restore abilities
Content Deployments
InfoPath forms services global template targeting

Q. When would you use a Different Site Collection for you new site?.
Ans. We would prefer to make our new site in a seprate site collection for
the following are the reasons:
1. Site quotas is one of the reasons. The issue is the recycle bin is based
on site collections and the quota for a site collection. If everyone shares a
site collection, then they share the recycle bins storage size.

2. Delegated Security and distributed administration is the next big thing.

For eg, you have a IT department that doesn't know who should be able to
see what content, besides how it should be organized. This is the job of
the content owners and users. SharePoint site collections offers IT the
ability to create a site collection for a project, team, department,
document, or whatever the needs are, then assign an owner and hand it
off to them.

3. In addition to these two if you need to separate the content between

databases because of space issue.

Q. What is a Field Control?

Ans. Field controls are server controls that provide the basic field
functionality of SharePoint. For example a Inputbox (single line text) to
enter the title of the item. You can create your own FieldControl by
inheriting classes from BaseFieldControl namespace.

Q. How do you develop webparts in SharePoint?

Ans. You can either develop a simple asp.net webpart with C# class library
project or can use various tools available in the market. VSeWSS is an
extension provided by Microsoft that consist of a webpart template for

31

easy webpart creation and deployment. Other tools are wspbuilder, stsdev
etc.

Q. Explain webpart life cycle.

Ans. protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
protected override void CreateChildControls()
protected override void LoadViewState(object savedState) //Only at
Postback
protected override void OnPreRender(EventArgs e)
protected override void Render(System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter writer)
protected override void OnUnload(EventArgs e)
public override void Dispose()

Q. While creating a Web part, which is the ideal location to Initialize my

new controls?
Ans. CreateChildControls is the method where we initialize all the child
controls.

Q. Do we always need to override Is Render() method.

Ans. We override render only in case if we need to define the rendering of
our controls in the webpart.

Q. What is the WebPartManager sealed class?

Ans. The WebPartManager sealed class is responsible for managing
everything occurring on a WebPart page, such as the WebParts (controls),
events, and misc. functionality that will occur in WebPartZones. Each Page
will have only one WebPartManager reference on the page.

Q. What are WebPart Properties?

Ans. WebPart Properties are properties defined from the right toolpane of
the webpart. These are settings or values set by the end user and are
used within your webpart. For e.g. WebPart title, Description etc. Some of
the attributes which you can define for your custom property are
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WebDescription, WebDisplayName, Category, Personalizable, and

WebBrowsable.

Q. How does Windows SharePoint Services help render the Webapplictaion

in ShrePoint?
Ans. When a new web applictaion is created via Central Admin, Windows
SharePoint Services creates a new Web application in IIS. Then the WSS,
loads the custom HTTP application and replaces all installed HTTP
handlers and modules with Windows SharePoint Servicesspecific ones.
These handlers and modules essentially tell IIS to route all file requests
through the ASP.NET 2.0 pipeline. This is because most files in a
SharePoint site are stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database.

Q. What files gets created on a file system, when a Site collection is

created ?
Ans. Windows SharePoint Services does not create any files or folders on
the file system when the site collection or sites are created; everything is
created in the content database. The Pages for the site collection are
created as instances in the content database. These instances refer to the
actual file on the file system.

Q.How Does SharePoint work?

Ans. The browser sends a DAV packet to IIS asking to perform a document
check in. PKMDASL.DLL, an ISAPI DLL, parses the packet and sees that it
has the proprietary INVOKE command. Because of the existence of this
command, the packet is passed off to msdmserv.exe, who in turn
processes the packet and uses EXOLEDB to access the WSS, perform the
operation and send the results back to the user in the form of XML.

Q. What is Authentication and Authorization.

Ans. An authentication system is how you identify yourself to the
computer. The goal behind an authentication system is to verify that the
user is actually who they say they are.
Once the system knows who the user is through authentication,
authorization is how the system decides what the user can do.

33

Q. What are Security methods(Authentication methods) available in

sharepoint
Ans. "Out of the box", SharePoint 2007 supports nine authentication
methods. But NTLM (Windows authentication) and Kerberos (Windows
"standard" authentication) are offered during installation.

Q. Workflow can be applied to what all elements of SharePoint ?

Ans. Workflow associations can be created directly on lists\libraries and
content types.

Q. What are the types of input forms that can be created for a workflow ?
Ans. You can create four different types of input forms including
1. An association form
2. An initiation form
3. A modification form
4. A task edit form

Q. What is the difference between method activity and event activity in

WorkFlow ?
Ans. A method activity is one that performs an action, such as creating or
updating a task. An event activity is one that runs in response to an action
occurring.

Q. What does SPWeb.EnsureUser() do?

Ans. This method Checks whether the specified login name is a valid user
of the SharePoint web.

Q. What does AllowUnsafeUpdates do ?

Ans. If you need to modify some data in you SharePoint site for e.g.
update a list item or list properties you may need to allow unsafe updates
on the Web site. you can set it to we.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false once
your done.

Q. What is the webservice used to retrieve or add list items in sharepoint?

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Ans. List.asmx is a Out-of-box webservice provided to add\update\delete

and retrieve list items. It can be accessed from
"http://SPSite/_vti_bin/lists.asmx" path.

1) What are the three user authentication methods that SharePoint 2013
supports?
Windows claims
Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML)-based claims
Forms-based authentication claims
2) Out of the available authentication methods, which one would is
considered the recommend according to Microsoft?
Claims-based authentication methods are recommended.
3) What protocol does server-to-server authentication extend?
SharePoint 2013 extends OAuth.
4) SharePoint Store and App Catalog Access SharePoint resources on
behalf of a user using?
OAuth 2.0.
5) What Business Data Connectivity (BDC) connections types are
supported in SharePoint 2013?
WCF
SQL Server
NET assemblies
Open Data Protocol
6) What are some examples of technology that OData leverages?
HTTP
Atom Publishing Protocol (AtomPub)
JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
7) What types of authentication does Business Connectivity Services
support?
Anonymous
Basic
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Windows
Custom authentication to OData services when it is used with the Secure Store
Service
8) What does a BDC model do?
Describes which tables to read, which items from those tables are of interest, and
which operations to perform on them.
9) How is the BDC model in SharePoint 2013 more streamlined than in
SharePoint 2010?
Visual Studio 2010 is able to connect to the OData endpoint through Business
Connectivity Services and read the OData source. Visual Studio 2010 will then
automatically generate the BDC model.
10) How is the BDC model used after being built?
Imported into the Business Data Catalog as a farm-scoped external content type, or
be included in an app for SharePoint.
11) What Is An Event Listener in SharePoint 2013?
The event listener includes an event subscriber. The subscriber receives
notifications from the event publisher (on the external system side) on changes to
the data and then initiates predefined actions when changes occur.
12) How is an event listener useful?
Enables SharePoint users and custom code to receive notifications of events that
occur in an external system.
13) With an event listener, what are the supported connections for an
external system?
OData
SQL
WCF
14) What are apps for SharePoint?
Apps for SharePoint allow addition of functionality to a SharePoint site by using the
self-contained app for SharePoint.
15) What is the primary benefit of using apps for SharePoint?
Each app for SharePoint is isolated from the rest of the system.
16) How are BDC models and apps for SharePoint related?
BDC models can be scoped to apps for SharePoint and connection information is
defined and stored separately from the app-scoped BDC model in BDC connections.
36

17) What is eDiscovery in the context of SharePoint 2013?

Introduces a new site for managing discovery cases and holds. The site allows one
to access discovery cases to conduct searches, place content on hold, and export
content.
18) What are some examples of some things you can related to an
eDiscovery case?
Sources
eDiscovery sets
Queries
Exports
19) What is an in-place hold?
Content that is put on hold is preserved, but users can still change it.
20) What the content can be included with SharePoint eDiscovery export?
Document
Lists
Pages
Exchange objects
21) In terms of enterprise-wide eDiscovery, what actions can be taken by
an authorized user?
Create a case, define a query, and then search SharePoint Server 2013, Exchange
Server 2013, and file shares
Export all of the content that was identified.
Preserve items in place in SharePoint Server 2013 or Exchange Server 2013.
Track statistics related to the case.
22) What are the different types of mobile views offered in SharePoint
2013?
Contemporary view
Classic view
Full screen UI
23) What is the Microsoft Push Notification Service?
Supports applications on mobile devices that should receive notifications from a
SharePoint site.

37

24) What field type would be used when working location specific
SharePoint applications?
Geolocation field type
25) What is Site-based retention?
You can create and manage retention policies in that will apply to SharePoint sites
and any Exchange Server 2013 team mailboxes that are associated with the sites.
26) What does a retention policy contain?
Generally what causes a project to be closed and when a project should expire.
27) What are some improvements in Excel Services in SharePoint 2013?
Field list and field well support
Calculated measures and members
Enhanced timeline controls
Application BI Servers
Business Intelligence Center update
28) What is the In-Memory BI Engine (IMBI)?
The In Memory multidimensional data analysis engine (IMBI), also known as the
Vertipaq engine, allows for almost instant analysis.
29) What does the Power View Add-in for Excel do?
Power View (Crescent) enables users to visualize and interact with modeled data
by using highly interactive visualizations, animations and smart querying.
30) Can PerformancePoint be displayed on iPads?
Yes.
31) What is the Analysis Services Effective User?
Eliminates the need for Kerberos delegation when per-user authentication is used
for Analysis Services data sources. By supporting Analysis Services Effective User
feature, authorization checks will be based on the user specified by the
EffectiveUserName property instead of using the currently authenticated user.
32) What are Community Sites in SharePoint 2013?
Community Sites offer a forum experience to categorize and cultivate discussions
with a broad group of people across organizations in a company.
33) What is the primary change with MySite document libraries in 2013?
Users can specify permissions for a specific document without having to understand
the inheritance model.
38

34) What are Image renditions?

Image renditions let you display different sized versions of an image on different
pages.
35) How are multilingual sites implemented?
Variations, integrated translation service, cross-site publishing
36) What is Cross-site publishing?
Cross-site publishing lets you store and maintain content in one or more authoring
site collections, and display this content in one or more publishing site collections.
37) What is Managed navigation?
Managed navigation lets you define and maintain the navigation on a site by using
term sets.
38) What are Category pages?
Category pages are page layouts that are used for displaying structured content
such as catalog data.
39) What is the Content Search Web Part?
Displays content that was crawled and added to the search index.
40) What are Refiners and faceted navigation?
Refiners are based on managed properties from the search index. With faceted
navigation you can configure different refiners for different terms in a term set.
41) What is the Analytics Processing Component?
Runs different analytics jobs to analyze content in the search index and user actions
that were performed on a site to identify items that users perceive as more relevant
than others.
42) What does the Workflow Manager do?
High Density and Multi-Tenancy, Elastic Scale, Activity / Workflow Artifact
Management, Tracking and Monitoring, Instance Management, Fully Declarative
Authoring, REST and Service Bus Messaging, Managed Service Reliability.
43) What is a ranking model in SharePoint 2013 search?
A ranking model determines recall (which items are displayed in the search results)
and rank (the order in which search results are displayed).
44) What actions can a query rule specify?
Add one or more result blocks
Change ranked results
Add Promoted Results (formerly called Best Bets) that appear above ranked results
39

45) What are Result sources?

Result source allow you to restrict queries to a subset of content by using a query
transform.
46) What is a Continuous crawl?
Eliminates the need to schedule incremental crawls and automatically starts crawls
as necessary to keep the search index fresh.
47) How can you remove items from the search index?
Using the crawl logs.
48) How can you specify which entities to look for in the content in
relation to SharePoint search?
Create and deploy your own dictionaries
49) What does document parsing functionality do?
Document parsers extract useful metadata and remove redundant information.
50) Is Visual Upgrade available in SharePoint 2013?
No.

40