MCMS2k2 - Developer series introduction

Building web sites with Microsoft Content Management Server 2002 - Introduction
By: Israel Vega Jr.

Purpose
I have been built several inter/intra/extranet sites using Microsoft Content Management Server 2002, 2001 and the previous product nCompass Resolution.  When learning the tool, I realized quickly that there is little training content available that can be used in field.  I have read many articles and readme files of sample code but I continued to be frustrated with the disconnect between implementation and the business purpose.  Without the context, I was lost and usually just stored the sample on a drive for later (of course I never use them later but I have them).

I started to write this series to hopefully provide the developer with tools that can be used over and over again on several engagements.  I will share many tips and techniques that will help you stretch the solutions you build on CMS.  I encourage you to take a step back when you build the solutions and attack the problem more generically and by all means simple.  This will enable you to reuse the tools and code snippets you use regardless of context.

In the series, I will cover the following topics:

Building navigation controls – using .NET data binding to build navigation and breadcrumb controls
Integrating forms into CMS solutions – building a custom placeholder to select form controls
Building summary controls – building a simple summary control framework to make your summary pages more flexible
Building utility scripts – Approving all content, and creating a channel structure from an Excel spreadsheet

…and many more. 

It is assumed that the reader has a basic understanding of ASP.NET, data-binding, Visual Studio 2003, and MCMS 2002.   If you are interested in any pf these articles, pleased email me and I will distribute them to you.

About the author
Israel Vega, Jr. is an Internet Business Architect with the professional services arm of a major computer manufacturer.  He has expertise in Microsoft .NET servers, specifically, Commerce Server, Content Management Server, MSIB, and Sharepoint Portal Server.  He has delivered training, and consulting on several projects, some of which utilized one or more of the .NET servers.  He can be reached via email at ivega@inkblot.biz or on his blog http://thedarkie.blogspot.com/.