Guest Author: Adam Macaulay

The Quick Launch is a site by site navigation panel which you can use to access any link that has been specified. By default you will see options such as Libraries, and Lists. Technically the Recycle Bin and (View) All Site Content are not a part of the Quick Launch and are instead their own links that live beneath the Quick Launch.

The Quick Launch hasn’t changed much since 2003 except in how you can manage it. In 2003, we could only manage it through Frontpage to add Headings and navigation was managed through FrontPage navigation. In 2007 you were allowed to manage the Quick Launch through Site Settings which enabled us greater flexibility without using SharePoint Designer. We also saw the introduction of new headings such as Sites and People and Groups. This continues into SharePoint 2010 with some of the terms and link locations being altered once again, for instance we no longer see Sites by default and the People and Groups heading has been removed. Another difference in 2010 is the Quick Launch will be visible on all pages inside of the site, even if inside of Site Settings. This was not the case on 2007.

2007 Quick Launch    2010 Quick Launch

Now that we know what the Quick Launch is, let’s focus on managing it. To manage the Quick Launch we will focus on 5 key areas.

1. Display/Hide
2. Create List and Site Settings
1. Create Site
2. Create List
3. List Settings
4. Look and Feel – Quick Launch Settings
1. Headings
2. Navigation Links
3. Order
5. SharePoint Designer
1. Display Quick Launch in a Site
2. Display List in Quick Launch
3. Modify the Quick Launch Design – the v4.Master
1. ScrollBars
2. Height

Display/Hide

The simple question is do you want or not want to display a Quick Launch. I will show you how via the browser you can control this. You can also use SharePoint Designer  to this and the instructions are below in the SharePoint Designer section. You will need Web Designer right to modify this.

To display or hide your Quick Launch, go to your Site settings. This can be found within the Site Actions dropdown.

Under Look and Feel, click “Tree View”.

To display the Quick Launch check “Enable Quick Launch” and to disable it uncheck “Enable Quick Launch”.

Once complete, click the OK button to save your changes. You should now see or not see the Quick Launch bar on page based upon your choice.

Create List and Site Settings

When we create a list or site we are given the option of controlling if the site or list should be made visible. Unlike in the list, if we choose not to display the site in the Quick Launch there is no way to have it automatically added to the Quick Launch and we will have to do so manually.  

If you have used SharePoint 2010 and tried to create a site or list you likely have done so through the Silverlight picker and have not seen the option I speak of. That is because the option is not presented unless you choose the “More Options” button when creating the list or site. If you are not using the Silverlight picker then this option will be displayed to you during site or list creation. Note, when creating a list, it will automatically be added to the Quick Launch however when creating a site it will NOT be added automatically to the Quick Launch.

Let look at the two options.

Create List

When creating a list and we have clicked on the More Options button, under the navigation group we are presented with the ability to display or not display the list in the Quick Launch. As you can see the default is Yes. Choose Yes to show the list in the Quick Launch and choose No to not. These options look identical in the ASPX version of the “New List” option.

Create Site

When creating a site and we have clicked on the More Options button, under the navigation group we are presented with the ability to display or not display the site in the Quick Launch. As you can see the default is No. Choose Yes to show the site in the Quick Launch or choose No to not. Remember if you choose No, you will have to manually add this later if you want it in the Quick Launch. These options look identical in the ASPX version of the “New SharePoint Site” option.

List Settings

After you create a list you can choose to hide or show the List Name in the Quick Launch. You can do this by modifying the List Settings in the browser or in SharePoint Designer. You will find instructions for using SharePoint Designer in the SharePoint Designer section below. We will focus on using the browser. For this you will need either Site Web Designer rights or Designer rights to the list.

Enter the list that you want to show or hide in the Quick Launch. Click on the “List” tab in the ribbon and click on “List Settings”.

Inside of List Settings, under General Settings click on “Title, description, and navigation”.

Under the Navigation group, to enable the Quick Launch, choose Yes otherwise choose No.

Click save to save your changes and you should or should not see the list in the Quick Launch depending on your setting. That’s the nice thing about the fact the Quick Launch is on every page now, you can see your changes immediately reflected.

Look and Feel – Quick Launch Settings

We can also modify the Quick Launch to include our own links to specific page or other sites. Remember if we didn’t select the Sub Site to be displayed in the Quick Launch bar when we created the site, we have to manually add it and that is what we will do here. We will also discuss how we can manage Headings.  To manage the Quick Launch you must have web designer rights to the site.

To manage your Quick Launch go to your Site settings. This can be found within the Site Actions dropdown.

Click on “Quick Launch” under the Look and Feel Group.

As you can see inside of the Quick Launch manager we can manage the Links, Headings, and Order of content in our Quick Launch. By default there are some which will already exist inside of the Quick Launch. I say this knowing that if you enabled a Blank Site the Quick Launch will actually be empty except with certain headings for each list group.

For our example we will create a link to a site that already exists. Let’s begin, by default unless there is a site being displayed within the Quick Launch there will be no Sites heading so we will need to create one.

Click on “New Heading”

Because we want to display a list of sites that my users will access, I will enter the following web address.

“/sites/Adam/_layouts/viewlsts.aspx?ShowSites=1”

You of course will want to use your own site URL. Notice how I am using the Parameter “ShowSites” and setting it equal to “1”. This will take the user to the ShowSites view of the All Site Content Page if the user clicks on the Sites Heading. By doing this users will be able to see all sites that exists directly underneath the current site without displaying it in the Quick Launch. There a number of other settings you can use here as well such as;

If the list has been hidden then it will not be displayed. This is different from being displayed in the Quick Launch as lists can be hidden from the browser and only managed via SharePoint Designer. If you are coder you can always modify this file to have more abilities, like displaying all webs there are underneath, but that is for an experienced developer only and should not be attempted by an end user. I have tried to override the ListTemplate to something like 104 for announcements but this is not recognized, so stick with the table above.

Next we need to give our heading a title. Let’s use “Sites” for our title.

Your final result should look like;

Click the OK button to save your settings. You should now have a new Sites heading. If we did not do this then the next step to actually add the site under the heading would not have been possible since we wouldn’t have a heading to put the site underneath. Look to the left of your page, do you see your new heading?

Now that we have the heading created let’s add a site beneath the heading. Click on “New Navigation Link” to create a new link and place underneath the heading.

Under the “Type the Web address”, type the URL to the site you wish to make available. The site can live anywhere you like as you can use any link provided it is valid URL. (It doesn’t have to be a valid page just a valid URL.) You can add JavaScript here if you like however there could be a negative reaction if you do so since the JavaScript will be added to the HREF attribute. In my case I am adding the URL to my sub site.

Enter the description of the URL. In my case I am using the Name of my site.

Finally choose the Heading you would like the new link to live underneath.

Once complete click OK and you should see your new link underneath the heading we created earlier.

What we want to do now is alter the location where the Heading Sites is located. We want Sites to be at the top. We will now click on “Change Order”

We are now presented with the Change Order Screen. We are given the option to alter the order by choosing the number of the order that we would like the heading to show up in. In our case we want it to be first, so we will select 1 from the drop down next to the Sites heading. Once we make the change the whole view will alter the order for all items.

Notice also you have the same option for all sub headings which you can do the exact same process for. So if you have multiple sites you could alter the order of the sites to match to your needs.

Click OK to save your change and look at the Quick Launch bar, did it change?

SharePoint Designer

Using SharePoint Designer we manage if a Site display a Quick Launch, if a List is Display IN a Quick Launch, and control the Quick Launch design. Before we begin you must have Web Designer rights and your Farm/Web Application/Site Collection must allow the use of SharePoint Designer. If are you are not allowed to use SPD then you will be presented with an error message indicating that. Talk to your Administrator about attaining the appropriate rights.

Display Quick Launch in a Site

When you open SharePoint Designer to a site for the first time, the first Site Management screen gives you multiple navigation options. One of them is “Display Quick Launch” under the settings panel. Check this option to display the Quick Launch and uncheck to not display it. Make sure you click save to save your changes.

Display List in Quick Launch

Once you open a list within SharePoint Designer the List Management screen gives you the option to hide or show the list within the Quick Launch. Check the “Display this list on the Quick Launch” to display the list within the Quick Launch and uncheck it to not. Make sure you click save to save your changes.

Modify the Quick Launch Design – the v4.Master

We have seen that we manage our Headings and Links in the Quick Launch from within the browser, but how do we modify the design. We can do so from SharePoint Designer. Locate the Master Page “v4.master” within the Master Pages navigation group. Before we modify this note that a new version of the master page will be created each time you save the file so you do not have to save a copy of the file as you will be able to return to a previous version if necessary.

Right mouse click on the v4.master page and choose “Edit File in Advanced Mode”.

You can also edit the file by clicking on it and then clicking “Edit File” in the management screen.

We will now manage some of the properties of the navigation. If you are viewing HTML code right now, you’ll need to get into the Design View. On the bottom of your SharePoint Designer select “Design”.

You are now ready to manage the Navigation. Left mouse click over the Quick Launch bar.

By default, when we click on the Quick Launch we are actually managing the ASPMenu object which is not the object we should manage. We need to manage the SharePoint.SPNavigationManager.  There are three ways to get to this.

1. You can right mouse click on the Object Name above the Quick Launch and choose properties. This will open the Tag Properties for that object. In this case I right mouse clicked on “SharePoint:SPNavigationM…#QuickLaunchNa” and chose properties.


2. You can double click on the Object Name within the Tag Viewer at the bottom of your Designer screen. This will open the Tag Properties for that object.


3. Click on the “View” tab in the ribbon and drop down the “Task Panes” option. Choose Tag Properties. Your Tag Properties Pane should now be open.
1. Now click on “Skewer Click” in the ribbon.


2. Move your mouse over the Quick Launch and left mouse click. Select the SharePoint:SPNavigationManager object. This will select the correct object and display its properties in the Tag Properties task pane.

Now that you have properties visible for your Navigation object let’s enable the Quick Launch so that we lock the height and enable the vertical scrollbar. The height we will use will purposefully be short so that we see the scroll bar activate. You can of course set this to any option you wish but this will stop the long scrolling page should you have a lot of sites, lists, and libraries displayed in your Quick Launch.

In the Tag Properties, locate the “ScrollBars” property under the group “Layout”. If you would you prefer to sort the properties alphabetically please by clicking on the Sort Icon at the top of the pane. 

In the ScrollBars property choose “Vertical”. This will turn the scroll bars on for you. After you make the change, in your design view you will see the following error message. Ignore it, you are still doing a great job.

Let’s edit the Height property which is under the same property group. Set the height to “100px”.

Now that you have completed the change, save your page. You will be presented with the message “Saving your change will customize the page…”. This is just indicating that you modifying the page and it will become unghosted which means that it will no longer use the file on the server as the base page for its design but instead will store the page directly into the Database. Click OK to continue. You can always return the page back to the Site Definition by right mouse clicking on the file and choosing “Reset to Site Definition”.

You may also see an error message “The requested operation cannot be performed on a file with a user-mapped section open.” Click the OK button and then wait. Once it comes up with the file dialogue box, hit your escape button. When back on the page, hit your escape button again and try to save. By hitting escape you remove focus from the control causing the problem. Hitting escape before saving will usually keep this error from happening because you will no longer be editing the properties of user object.

You may also see the error message “There are pending updates to one or more ASP.NET controls in the page…”. Choose no, return to your properties, delete the height entry and re-add it. Now try to save your page again. If the same message occurs, click yes. Open the page back up and go back to the properties. Add the properties that were not added before and save your page.

The final results should look like this;

As you can see the Quick Launch is locked to 100px height and is showing a Vertical Scroll bar. Now your page won’t go crazy when you have 50 lists inside of your site and you are displaying them within the Quick Launch.

Guest Author: Adam Macaulay

Adam Macaulay is responsible for research and development of the technology platform driving the success of CorasWorks products. He has over 15 years of experience developing Internet Applications that have taken internal, cost prohibitive solutions and turned them into profitable internet applications that continue to exist today.

You may or may have not heard about a new type of Solution in SharePoint 2010 called the “Sandbox Solution.” Simply put, a Sandbox Solution (SBS), is a compiled application which will run in a controlled environment, known as the Sandbox. Because it runs in a controlled environment, elements such as resource throttling, access permissions, etc… can be managed by the Administrator protecting the Server Farm from the negative effects of coding mistakes.

We are not here to learn about how to create one, that is for a different group of users. We are here to learn how we install one and use it within our Site Collections. Have you located a Sandboxed Solution you would like to implement? Sandbox Solutions look like any other Site Template inside of SharePoint so you really can’t tell them apart. It is up to the developer to name their solutions accordingly so you know which it is, Site Template or Sandbox Solution. (Yes there are other types of WSP’s but for our needs we’ll focus on these two as they are two you can implement in a Site Collection Solutions Gallery.)

You are now ready to install it to your Site Collection. You must be a Site Collection Administrator to do this. If you are not then you will need to get access to become one.

Inside of your Site, navigate to Site Settings by choosing “Site Actions” and “Site Settings”. If you are at the top level of the site collection then you will see the options below. If however you are not, then please click on “Go To Top Level Site Settings” in order to access the Solution Gallery.

Go into the Solutions Gallery by clicking on “Solutions”. You are now within the Gallery where all Site Templates and User Solutions (Sandbox Solutions) are stored. If you already have solutions in there, then you will see what I mean by not being able to tell the difference between a Site and Sandbox solution. It is possible that you may have a Sandbox Solution already running in which case you see that one of the Solutions is currently using resources, but if you don’t or the solution isn’t taking up any resources, then you won’t see a difference.

In the Solutions Gallery, click on the “Solutions” tab within the ribbon. Yes I know it seems redundant to click it again but you must do that in order to upload a solution to the gallery as you can see from the before after it is required.

Before

After

Click “Upload Solution” to upload your solution. Browse to the WSP that you wish to install and click “OK”. Your solution has now been uploaded. But wait there is one final step.

Click “Activate” to activate the solution. Now that the solution is active you should be able to use it. This may be a web part in which case you will go a page and add the web part to that page. However it may be a Site Application in which case you will create a new site, there are many different types of Sandbox Solutions.

What is important to understand is what will occur if the Sandbox Solution has a problem. Because the solution is being throttled, if the solution exceeds is resource utilization, which you can see within the Solution Gallery, then the technology will be disabled by the Sandbox service. If this should happen you will require an administrator to unlock the solution. If this should occur it is recommended that you work with the developer to better understand your requirements so that a more refined and less resource intensive application can be developed.

One note, you will not see any resource usage until the technology is used for the first time as the Service needs to analyze the application in order to create a profile.

Hopefully this will help to you understand how you can use a Sandbox solution within your environment.

Guest Author: Adam Macaulay

Adam Macaulay is responsible for research and development of the technology platform driving the success of CorasWorks products. He has over 15 years of experience developing Internet Applications that have taken internal, cost prohibitive solutions and turned them into profitable internet applications that continue to exist today.

Guest Author: Adam Macaulay

SharePoint 2010 meet World, World meet SharePoint 2010. With the release of 2010 and the new UI users will get lost and could use some instruction on how to use and manage navigation within their sites. This article will attempt to help you understand what navigation exists and how to leverage it.

List Navigation

We will begin with List navigation as this is where you will do most of your work. When you enter a list you will notice that the new SharePoint 2010 Ribbon is active and you will have new options at your disposal. I will not go through all these options but will instead show you how to quickly navigate to a view, list, and site.

To begin, we have the quick launch which you can use to get to any other list, site, page, or external URL. Lists will only be available if the list being displayed in the quick launch has been setup to be visible. We’ll learn how to enable/disable that in a later article.

The Up Navigation or Navigate Up will allow you to traverse into any site, list, or page above your current location provided that you have access to view that content. If you are editing an item, you will be presented with a link to the Parent List and Parent Sites. This is useful if the browse tab is not an available to you in the ribbon.

Finally we have the breadcrumb which will allow you to navigate to the current site, current list, and a specific view. In my example above “Adam” represents the site where the list “Announcements” lives. “Announcements” is the list I am currently viewing. “All items” is my current view. The breadcrumb is only visible when the “Browse” tab is highlighted. So if you don’t see it, just click “Browse” tab in the ribbon.

Remember how I mentioned that the breadcrumb could be used to navigate to a specific view? To do so, move your mouse over the View Name in the breadcrumb and left mouse click. You should see any views that you have access to. If you are a List Administrator you will also see the ability to modify and create a new view as well.

Site Navigation

We have three options available at the Site/Page navigation level. First we have the quick launch which is identical to what we saw in the List Navigation. We also have breadcrumbs and the up navigation.

The Breadcrumb at the site page level will allow us to return back to the home page of the site we are in. In this case if we clicked “Standard” we would be returned to the homepage for the site “Standard”.

Up Navigation will show you all sites above your current site up to the top level of the Site Collection. This means that you can traverse the hierarchy above easily without having to do any URL modifications in your browser as in previous versions. It will not traverse outside of the the site collection and show you the parent Web Application. Because you can control what users see with security it might be good to help you understand when and when you will not see sites in the Up Navigation.

In the example below, If you are viewing the site from site C, the Up Navigation will show you links to Site A, Site B, and Site C. If you are viewing it from site A, you will not see anything as there are no sites above site A.

A (You Have Access)
                B (You Do Not Have Access)
                                C (You Have Access)

In the example below, the Up Navigation will not show you anything if viewing from site C as you have no available sites that you can access and thusly display.

A (You Do Not Have Access)
                B (You Do Not Have Access)
                                C (You Have Access)

Another note about the Up Navigation is that if you are editing a page then you will be presented with the navigation to return you to the Page and Sites above your current location. In my example below I am displayed a navigation that allows me to click on the page “EndUser”, in a non-editable format, and my parent sites, “Standard” and “Adam”.

Quick Launch

The Quick Launch allows you to enter any site, list, page, or external URL that has been designated. Each link is made available through a Heading which can be controlled by the Site administrator. The quick launch bar is available within every page you view within the site. This includes Site and List Settings. Two uncontrollable links that are displayed within the quick launch are Recycle Bin and All Site Content. You’ll notice that the Headings are linked as well. By default List Type headings will take you to the All Site Content page with a filter applied that will only display content matching that specific base type. (Library, List, Discussion, Site and Workspaces, Picture Library, and Surveys)

Tree

The Tree Navigation will display all Lists and Sites that are visible beneath your current site. Unlike the Quick Launch, you cannot manage the content that displayed other than through security.

Top Link Bar

The Top Link Bar, much like the quick launch will allow you to go to any URL that has been specified. This can be sites, lists, pages, or external URLs. As an administrator you have great leniency on where the link will go. Do not try to use JavaScript here as the JavaScript will be removed from the link before saving. I will show you how to override that in Part 4 of this series.

All Site Content

All Site Content will display all Lists and Sites available to me. What is nice is the option to also see only those lists that pertain to a specific group. You can see this if you use the “View” option in the page. By choosing a different view, only lists or sites that match to the specific view base type will be displayed.

Hopefully you and your users will find this informative. In the future series we will learn how to control the navigation in 2010 and even override it to match to new abilities you may want to leverage.

Future Parts to this Series

• Navigating SharePoint 2010 Part 2: The Quick Launch & Tree
• Navigating SharePoint 2010 Part 3: The Top Link Bar
• Navigating SharePoint 2010 Part 4: Advanced Customization

Guest Author: Adam Macaulay

Adam Macaulay is responsible for research and development of the technology platform driving the success of CorasWorks products. He has over 15 years of experience developing Internet Applications that have taken internal, cost prohibitive solutions and turned them into profitable internet applications that continue to exist today.