SharePoint Interview Questions 6

What is SharePoint from a Users Perspective?
From a Users perspective SharePoint is a way of making documents and folders on the Windows platform accessible over the web. The user visits the SharePoint Portal web page, and from there they can add documents, change documents & delete documents. Through this Portal, these documents are now available for discussion, collaboration, versioning and being managed through a workflow. Hence the name "Share-Point". Details about the document can be saved too, such as: who wrote it, when, for whom, its size, and version, category or target audience. These can then be used to find the document through SharePoint's Search facility. Even documents not "in" SharePoint can be included in the search engine's index so they become part of the portal. All in all, it's a great way to get stuff up on the web for users with average technical skills, and for administrators to manage the content.
What are the various Sharepoint 2003 and Exchange integration points?
Link to Outlook
This is a button on contacts or events lists that lets Outlook 2003 add a pst file named Sharepoint Folders and it links to the data on the site. It’s read-only, but you could make the home page for that PST be the Sharepoint site for easier viewing. The link to outlook feature seems more to be where some can public a calendar, but not want too much collaboration. For example, a holiday schedule, company meeting schedule, etc, can be made available for people to be able to view from Outlook without having to go to a web browser. Another nice thing about OL2K3 is that you can compare these calendars with others side by side. Searching Public Folders
With SPS you can index Exchange’s public folders with the search engine so that all that precious public folder content is searchable. You’ll want to look at content sources and indexing in Sharepoint administration. Displaying Public Folders in a web part
Since exchange web-enables public folders, you can create a web part that displays that content. IE, http://exchangeserver/Public/IT/Helpdesk will display the IT/Helpdesk public folder via OWA. So you add the Page Viewer web part to a page and point it at that URL. The key here is to add ?cmd=contents to the end of the url if you don’t want the navigator pane on the left. Smart web parts
Some of the web parts that come with SPS allow you to add a web part to a page that actually takes the users outlook info (calendar, inbox, contacts, tasks) and put them into the page. The SmartPart Web Part project template for Visual Studio allows developers to create quickly a project which contains the base infrastructure to:
- write a web user control (ASCX)
- wrap the user control in a SmartPart instance
- generate a SharePoint Solution file (WSP) for easy deployment
- generate a setup package for a wizard driven installation
Can SharePoint compare two document versions?
"In Word 2003, you can compare documents side by side. Open two documents. Then, from the Window menu of one of them, select the Compare Side By Side command. If you have only two documents open, the command will automatically choose to compare them. If you have three or more documents open, you'll have to select which document to compare with the current file. A floating toolbar with two buttons will open. If the button on the left is selected, Word will scroll both documents at the same time. Press the button on the right side of the toolbar to return to where the cursor was located when you started comparing."
What are the integration differences between SPS 2003 and the various Office versions?
SPS webpage can detect you have installed the Office 2003 and run local dll to implement some SPS function, e.g. multi-file upload only works when you have office 2003 installed. Integration with Office XP is gone.

You will get guys telling you that you can integrate with SPSv2 if you install a backwards compatible document library - but that’s really just putting a bit of SPS 2001 on the server. Believe me, check-in, check-out, which are themselves very basic, are not available from inside Office XP, or even from the context menu in Windows Explorer. The ONLY option you have is to use the web interface to check-in or check-out.
What is SharePoint?
Portal Collaboration Software.
What is the difference between SharePoint Portal Server and Windows SharePoint Services?
SharePoint Portal Server is the global portal offering features like global navigation and searching. Windows SharePoint Services is more content management based with document libraries and lists. You apply information to certain areas within your portal from Windows SharePoint Services or directly to portal areas.
What is a web part zone?
Web part zones are what your web parts reside in and help categorize your web parts when designing a page.
How is security managed in SharePoint?
Security can be handled at the machine, domain, or sharepoint level.
How are web parts developed?
Web parts are developed in Visual Studio .Net. VS.Net offers many web part and page templates and can also be downloaded from the Microsoft site.
What is a SharePoint farm?
Multiple machines running services for SharePoint. Otherwise known as Topology.
What is a site definition?
It’s a methods for providing prepackaged site and list content.
What is a template?
A template is a pre-defined set of functions or settings that can be used over time. There are many templates within SharePoint, Site Templates, Document Templates, Document Library and List Templates.
How do you install web parts?
Web Parts should be distributed as a .CAB (cabinet) file using the MSI Installer.
What is the difference between a site and a web?
The pages in a Web site generally cover one or more topics and are interconnected through hyperlinks. Most Web sites have a home page as their starting point. While a Web is simply a blank site with SharePoint functionality built in; meaning you have to create the site from the ground up.
What are the differences between web part page gallery, site gallery, virtual server gallery and online gallery?
Web Part Page Gallery is the default gallery that comes installed with SharePoint. Site Gallery is specific to one site. Virtual Server gallery is specific to that virtual server and online gallery are downloadable web parts from Microsoft.
What is the GAC?
Global Assembly Cache folder on the server hosting SharePoint. You place your assemblies there for web parts and services.
What is a DWP?
The file extension of a web part.
What is 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, including, for example, fields, views, or forms, but CAML is also used to define tables in the Windows SharePoint Services database during site provisioning.
What is a document library?
A document library is where you upload your core documents. They consist of a row and column view with links to the documents. When the document is updated so is the link on your site. You can also track metadata on your documents. Metadata would consist of document properties.
What is a meeting workspace?
A meeting workspace is a place to store information, attendees, and tasks related to a specific meeting.