In the previous version of SharePoint Designer, the main object that you could customize and manage was a file . In SharePoint Designer 2010, you can manage other SharePoint objects, such as site columns, content types, external content types, and workflows . Content types and site columns are the building block of all the default lists and libraries . Site columns introduce the concept of global column definitions . SharePoint Foundation, and therefore SharePoint Server, come with a set of default site columns that SharePoint installs when you create a site collection . These site columns are then grouped into con-tent types that share common properties and can be used to standardize the metadata properties and use of business information across a number of lists and libraries .
Content types can include not only a group of site columns but also information policies, workflows, and the configuration of the document information panel (DIP) settings . The default content types defined at the root level of a site collection are used to create all the default lists and libraries . For example, the Document content type is used to cre-ate the Shared Documents library you find in a team site . The Document content type is based on the Item content type, which defines the Title column . In turn, the Item content type is based on the System content type, which is at the top of the content type hierar-chy . Content types and site columns can be defined at the site-collection level and at the site level .
Note The SharePoint Server Managed Metadata Service (MMS) allows you to share a term store, and optionally content types, across site collections and Web applications.
More information on MMS can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/
ee424402(office.14).aspx.
External content types define data that is stored in external systems . Using SharePoint Designer to work with external content types and workflows is detailed in Chapter 7,
“Using Business Connectivity Services”, Chapter 8, “Understanding Workflows,” and Chapter 9, “Using Reusable Workflows and Workflows Forms,” later in this book . In this exercise, you use SharePoint Designer to navigate to site components . SET UP Using SharePoint Designer, open the root site of a site collection.
1.
In the Navigation pane, click Content Types .A new workspace page opens with a tab labeled Content Types and displays the gallery page for content types .
2.
In the workspace, click the down arrow in the Group column heading, and then click Document Content Types .The gallery page displays only those content types that are Document content types . The source column defines where the content types are defined . If your team site is not the root of a site collection, the source column is likely to be the Web address of the site collection .
3.
In the Name column, under Document Content Types, click Document . Troubleshooting If you have not opened the root site of a site collection and the site you have opened has not created any content types of its own, a Microsoft SharePoint Designer dialog box opens with the name of the site where the Document content type is defined. Click OK in the dialog box, open the site in SharePoint Designer using the steps described in the first exercise of this chapter, and then repeat the steps in this exercise.The workspace now contains the settings page for the Document content type . The Content Type Settings tab on the ribbon contains commands to edit and manage the Document content type, and the mini-gallery lists all content types .
4.
On the ribbon, click Edit Columns in the Edit group .The workspace contains a gallery page displaying the columns Name and Title, which form part of the Document content type . The ribbon displays a Columns tab with commands to create, edit, and manage columns for this content type .
5.
In the mini-gallery, scroll down, and then under List Content Types, click Announcement .Tip To display the mini-gallery the full length of the Navigation pane, use the up arrow to collapse the Site Objects group.
The workspace now contains the settings page for the Announcement content type . This is the content type used to create all Announcements lists . Notice on the ribbon that the Edit Document Template command is not available because lists have no document template associations .
6.
In the Navigation pane, click the arrow to the right of Navigation . The Navigation pane collapses, and the workspace expands .7.
On the breadcrumb, click the arrow to the right of Content Types, and then click Basic Page .Co apse he Naviga ion pane
The workspace now contains the settings page for the Basic Page content type . Notice on the ribbon that the Edit Document Template command is active . The Basic Page content type is used to create a document library, and therefore it can have a document template association .
8.
On the breadcrumb, click the arrow to the right of your site’s name, and then click Site Columns .The workspace now contains the gallery page for site columns .
Troubleshooting If the Site Columns gallery page contains no site columns, the filter you placed earlier on the Group column (in step 2) is still active. Click the arrow in the Group column, and click All.