SharePoint 2010 : Mastering the Library Tab from the Ribbon (part 2)

Synching Content to SharePoint Workspace

If SharePoint Workspace is installed on the computer and the administrator has decided to allow syncing to SharePoint Workspace (by checking Yes for Allow Items from This Document Library to Be Downloaded to Offline Clients from the Advanced Settings page for the document library), this icon will be clickable; otherwise, it will be grayed out.

Connect to Office Options

If the administrator or user clicks the Connect to Office button on the Library tab of the Ribbon, the following options are provided:

• Add to SharePoint Sites— This adds a shortcut to the list or library in Microsoft Office. If selected, the user will be prompted with a message that states “...your machine must register the user profile service application used by this site....” If Yes is selected, a Library Added message will display, briefly indicating that the process succeeded. Now when the user clicks Save from the Office 2010 application, such as Word 2010, these sites will appear in the Favorites grouping under SharePoint Sites, as shown in Figure 5.

  Figure 5. SharePoint sites links available in the Save As window from Word 2010.

  

• Remove from SharePoint Sites— Removes the link from SharePoint Sites. A Library Removed message will appear briefly to show that the process completed successfully.

• Manage SharePoint Sites— Opens the MyQuickLinks.aspx and allows the user to Add Link, Edit Links, Delete, or Create Tag from Link.

Modify Form Web Parts Tools

The Modify Form Web Parts button on the List tab of the Ribbon allows the administrator to open the forms present for the list or library for editing. The editing allowed includes inserting text, image, video and audio, web parts, or the existing list view web part. The properties of the body of the form can be edited, too, such as height, width, chrome state, layout, advanced, and miscellaneous properties. This allows the administrator a great deal of control over how the various forms, such as New, Edit, and Display forms, appear, and over forms associated with content types in use in that list or library. For a simple example, an administrator could add a Video and Audio web part to the New form for a list, which provides instructions on how to fill out the form.

Edit Library Tool

When clicked, this button will open SharePoint Designer 2010, and as shown in Figure 6, provides an extensive dashboard of information about the library. This information can be invaluable for a library administrator, as discussed briefly in this section.

Figure 6. SharePoint Designer 2010 view of a library.

From a list administrator’s perspective, the dashboard of information provided by SharePoint Designer 2010 provides insight into a variety of areas:

• List Information— Name and description of the library or list, web address, list ID, last modified, and number of items.

• Customization— Provides links to the Edit list columns page and Permissions page for this list. Figure 7 shows the Columns that exist for the document library New Document Library and show the Column Editor window for the column titled Calculated Column.

  Figure 7. Column Editor window in SharePoint Designer 2010.

  

• Settings— Allows the administrator to quickly change settings such as whether to display the list on the Quick Launch, Hide from Browser, Display New Folder Command on the New Menu, Require Content Approval for Submitted Items, Create Versions, Allow Management of Content Types, and provides the Document Template URL.

• Content Types— Allows the administrator to add new content types, or view and manage settings for existing content types.

• Views— Create new views or edit existing views.

• Forms— Create new forms or edit existing forms.

• Workflows— Create new workflows or edit existing workflows. As shown in Figure 8, which shows the result of clicking the Collect Feedback workflow in Figure 20.7, workflow information is provided, customization is allowed, settings and start options can be modified, and forms used are shown.

  Figure 8. Workflow Information dashboard in SharePoint Designer 2010.

  

Just from this quick overview of tools, it appears that SharePoint Designer 2010 offers an alternative to the administrator to the tools provided in the SharePoint 2010 user interface. It is arguably a faster way for an experienced site administrator to quickly navigate between sites and between lists and make changes.

For example, as visible in the List Settings Ribbon in Figure 6, a number of actions can be completed that include:

• List View— Allows the administrator to create a list view.

• List Form— Allows the administrator to create a list form.

• List Workflow— Allows the administrator to create a list workflow.

• Custom Action— Allows the administrator to create a custom action of the types List Item Menu, Display Form Ribbon, Edit Form Ribbon, New Form Ribbon, and View Ribbon.
  

• Edit Columns— Add, edit, or delete column settings.

• Delete— Delete specific components.

• Rename— Rename specific components.

• Edit Document Template— Edit the document template associated with the library.

• Design Forms in InfoPath— Open InfoPath to create new forms.

• Preview in Browser— Preview the list or library at different resolutions.

• Administration Web Page— Opens the Settings page for the list or library.

• Save as Template— Save the list or library as a template, with the option to include content.

• Workflow Associations— Opens the Workflow Settings page for the list or library and allows the administrator to decide which items are configured to run the workflow, add or remove workflows, or view workflow reports.

The administrator should work with the tools provided in SharePoint Designer 2010, as well as the user interface provided by SharePoint 2010, and decide which is their preferred method of managing SharePoint lists and libraries.

An Example of Creating a Custom Action

From SharePoint Designer 2010, with a library opened (for example, by clicking the Edit Library link from the Library tab of the Ribbon), follow these steps to add an entry to the drop-down menu in a document library. This is a powerful way for an administrator to provide added functionality within a list or library, but should be considered an advanced and potentially dangerous process:

1.	Click the Custom Action drop-down menu and select List Item Menu.
2.	Per Figure 9, enter a name and description and then specify either Navigate to Form, Initiate Workflow, or Navigate to URL. For this example, a link will be added that simply navigates to a different website. Enter the Name as Go To Microsoft's Web Site, set the action as Navigate to URL, and enter http://www.microsoft.com. Figure 9. Create Custom Action window in Designer 2010.
3.	Scroll down, and in the Rights Mask section, enter EditListItems. This will result in this menu item only displaying to users with EditListItems permissions. Tip For additional information about the options for rights masks, access the following link: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spbasepermissions.aspx. Some examples include ViewListItems, Open, and DeleteListItems. Understanding which default groups have which permissions allows the site administrator to create menu entries that only appear for the appropriate users.
4.	Click OK. This will save the new menu item to the document library. No save is needed from Designer 2010.
5.	Navigate to the document library that was opened in SharePoint Designer 2010; in this example, it was named New Document Library. Access the drop-down menu for an item, and validate that the new entry appears, as shown in Figure 10. Figure 10. Viewing the new action for a library item.
6.	Next access the Sign in as Different User from the drop-down menu next to the username in the upper-right corner, and log in as a user who does not have EditListItems permissions (in this example, User3 is a member of the Visitor’s group, and does not have EditListItems permissions) and verify that this new menu item does not appear.

New Quick Step Button

The New Quick Step button opens SharePoint Designer 2010 and a window titled Add a Button, which provides the options to Start a New Workflow or Start an Existing Workflow and to define the Button Label and link to a Button Image.