SharePoint Interview Question and Answers?

What do you mean by MOSS?

- MOSS stands for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server.

- It is the complete version of a portal-based platform for collaboratively creating, managing and sharing documents and Web services.

Explain the following: a) SPSite b) SPWeb

a) SPSite -

1) It is a site collection and an be represented as SPSite class in the object model.

2) SPSite object is a primary entry points to the server object model.

3) It is used frequently in SharePoint application development.

b) SPWeb -

1) It is a specific site under site collection in Sharepoint.

2) It is represented as SPWeb class in the server object model.

Explain the following:

a) Site template -

1) Site template provides the basic component and layout of a new site to be created in SharePoint.

2) It contains specific design information about a site which includes -

- The list that is part of the site,

- Web part pages used in the site,

- The site’s themes and borders,

- Changes to the quick launch bar,

- Some site content like document libraries

3) It allows to build the SharePoint applications to be instantiated time and again.

b) Site definition -

1) Site definition is a collection of XML or ASPX files which contains all the necessary components.

2) It contains three files - webTemp.xml, onet.xml, default.aspx.

3) It contains information of web parts, lists, libraries, features, and navigation bars to be included in the site which are packaged in SharePoint solution files (.wsp).

4) Everything packaged into a single file makes the transportation of everything easy .

c) ONET.xml -

1) Onet.xml file specifies all the components contained in a site. It is considered as the core of a site definition.

2) It is present at following location:

%SharePoint Root% \TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\XML\Onet.xml

What are the various classes in Server Object Model from development point of view?

Following are the classes in Server Object Model from development point of view:

- SPFarm

- SPWebApplication

- SPSite

- SPWeb

- SPList

- SPListItem

- SPDocumentLibrary

Which class is used to retrieve data from multiple lists?

- SPSiteDataQuery class is used to retrieve data from multiple lists.

- It queries the data from multiple lists across different sites in a collection.

- Usually it is used in list aggregation, where list data from team sites or other subsites is collated and presented in a single interface.

- It aggregates the data from SharePoint lists only while ignoring data from external lists.

What do you mean by WSP?

- WSP stands for Web Solution Package. It is a cabinet file that contains assemblies, resource files, features, images, application pages, site definitions etc. into single file.

- Whenever any customization or upgradation or updation is carried out in SharePoint, various items like assemblies, resource files, features, images, application pages, site definitions etc. are required to deployed.

- It becomes difficult to deploy these items separately in development, staging and production. This called for a powerful deployment tool in the form of WSP.

How is AllowUnsafeUpdates used?

- When a developer updates the content database without requiring a security validation AllowUnsafeUpdatesproperty is set to true.

- One the operation is carrried out, the property is again set to false .

What is CAML?

- CAML also called as Collaborative Application Markup Language is the custom XML language in SharePoint.

- It is used to define key objects such as lists, columns, and content types.

Which is better - SPS or STS?

Before we begin - let us see what do these two abbreviations stand for.

1. SPS means SharePoint Portal Services

2. STS means SharePoint Team Services

- Document management system in SPS is better than STS.

- The search engine in SPS is better, more efficient and possesses the capability to crawl multiple content sources in comparison to STS.

- If Document Management is not required, STS is easier to manage for team environment while SPS is better for an organization where Document Management is required.

Name the various input forms that can be created for a workflow?

- Association form

- Initiation form

- Modification form

- Task edit form.

Differentiate between CustomMasterUrl & MasterUrl?

- MasterUrl is used to change the layout of all end user pages while CustomMasterUrl is used for changing the layout of admin pages.

What are the various zones in SharePoint?

- Zones provide the separate logical paths of authentication for the same web application.

- 5 zones can be created for each web application :

1. Default

2. Intranet

3. Extranet

4. Internet

5. Custom

Explain Farm in SharePoint.

- Farm is a collection of SharePoint servers with same configuration database.

- All the required information to run the farm is carried in Configuration DB. There exists only one configuration database for each farm.

- Central administration is used for the administration of each farm.

Explain WebApplication.

- WebApplication is a IIS website. Content database is created for each WebApplication.

- WebApplication can be created from central admin.

- Once a web application is created, it can be extended to different zones.

Differentiate between WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007.

- WSS 3.0 is freely available with Windows Server while MOSS 2007 is a paid product.

- MOSS 2007 has some more features like Enterprise Search, Business Data Catalog(BDC), User Profile, Excel Services, Single-Sign on, additional Workflows, My site feature etc. in addition to those in WSS 3.0.

What tools can be used to back up a SharePoint 2010 environment?

- SharePoint farm backup and recovery

- SQL Server