Getting files into SharePoint

[aburian]

Sorry if this is a boneheaded question...but for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to actually get files into SharePoint. I've been through the help, and I'm not seeing it. I am able to connect to our SharePoint server.

Thank you!

[RamonS]

You'd need to connect to the TFS server that runs behind the scenes of SharePoint, assuming it is set up that way. Other than that, SharePoint is of no use for Flare in regards to that purpose.

[aburian]

Wow...really? The help indicates you can use it standalone:

Flare supports integration with Microsoft SharePoint. If your company uses Microsoft SharePoint (software that allows organizations to collaborate, share files, and publish information to the Web), you can connect to a SharePoint server. Doing this makes it easy to access and edit the SharePoint files from any of your Flare projects. You can even copy SharePoint files to your project with mappings that let you keep them synchronized with the source files. In addition, you can publish Flare output to a SharePoint server. Finally, you can use the SharePoint server to store any kind of template files supported in Flare so that they can be used by any Flare users in your company.

Further that...why would you go through SharePoint at all if you have TFS? Weird....

[RamonS]

Not sure, I wouldn't touch either with a 10 ft pole. There are better solutions, which I guess don't come with all that marketing hype.

[LTinker68]

The help indicates you can use it standalone:

From what I understand, that is what you do, although I believe you have to be running SharePoint Server. I don't think it works with Foundation (WSS), although I could be wrong.

[aburian]

Hi, Lisa-

I wish we were running TFS...but we're using Mercurial. So, I have no source control system.

I thought I could use SharePoint by itself.

[RamonS]

SharePoint is nothing more than a web framework that doesn't offer much. The document version control is provided through TFS (not sure if VSS works as well) using SP as a front-end. SharePoint is a rather dumb piece of equipment that only comes to life when developers spend quite a bit of effort to code web parts for it. And those can run on IIS natively without requiring the overhead of SharePoint. I really don't get what people see in SharePoint.

[LTinker68]

The poster isn't asking if SharePoint should be used, but if it can be used, and yes it can, if you have Flare v7 and SharePoint Server (I think it works with 2007 and 2010, but double-check the Flare documentation). Although I'm not sure if it's two-way or one-way interaction. I haven't read about it much because I don't have a good environment here to play with it (we use WSS and I don't think that's supported; there's SharePoint Server available through corporate but I'm not going to try tying into that).

aburian, if you're having problems connecting to SharePoint through Flare, contact MadCap Support. Or perhaps someone else here on the forum who has it set up can jump in and provide you with some guidance.

[aburian]

The poster isn't asking if SharePoint should be used, but if it can be used, and yes it can, if you have Flare v7 and SharePoint Server (I think it works with 2007 and 2010, but double-check the Flare documentation).

aburian, if you're having problems connecting to SharePoint through Flare, contact MadCap Support. Or perhaps someone else here on the forum who has it set up can jump in and provide you with some guidance.

Ah...that's interesting.

I'm just trying to figure out how to get my Flare files into SharePoint. The help seems to assume all the files are already in SharePoint....but what if they're currently on my desktop, and have never been in SharePoint?

[LTinker68]

...but what if they're currently on my desktop, and have never been in SharePoint?

Then I imagine you would import them into SharePoint then create a project in Flare that ties into that library in SP. But again, I'd contact MadCap Support -- I'm making some assumptions about how they tie into each other, or how Flare ties into SP if it's only one-way comms.

[RamonS]

The poster isn't asking if SharePoint should be used, but if it can be used, and yes it can, if you have Flare v7 and SharePoint Server (I think it works with 2007 and 2010, but double-check the Flare documentation). Although I'm not sure if it's two-way or one-way interaction. I haven't read about it much because I don't have a good environment here to play with it (we use WSS and I don't think that's supported; there's SharePoint Server available through corporate but I'm not going to try tying into that).

Point taken, but the Flare docs even state that SP is a "scaled down" source control and it stresses the point that SP can be used to share files. The only thing it adds is a check in / check out process, but from what I know there is no versioning. It only prevents users stepping on each other and adds a user name reference, that is one tiny step up from putting the files on a network share. Assuming that the intention is to have a source control system in place then SharePoint isn't the way to go. If the goal is to share files, use a file share or an FTP server. If the goal is to use source control, use a source control system. if the goal is to host files on a bloated web platform, use SharePoint.

It appears as that the peers reached an impasse and I second the recommendation to contact support.

[aburian]

Although I'm not a fan of Sharepoint, checking in and checking out files does indeed version them.

I'm actually more concerned about performance, which is why I would like to test this.

[LTinker68]

Whether or not check in/out is required on a library in SP and whether it retains versioning is something that's set on the SP library. If those features aren't enabled on the library then it's just another file store and you get nothing from putting the project there as opposed to a standard file store. If the library is set up with those features, then you have some controls over the files and who can author them when. And that's not a whole lot different from what other source control programs do.

I can't speak to performance as I don't have an SP/Flare implementation, but some of that performance considerations might be outside Flare's control. A lot of it would ride on your SP platform and whether it's in the same LAN as you or if you're connecting to a corporate SP platform on your corporate WAN. I'm working on a site on SP now (intranet site, not a help site) and I'm at the mercy of our connection to the corporate WAN and how the SP farm was set up.

[aburian]

Flare support got back to me:

Thank you for contacting MadCap Technical Support. To get a file or directory you want to share into SharePoint for the first time, right-click on the file or folder and choose "Send to Folder". A file browser will open, and you will be able to see your SharePoint servers in the sidebar. Browse to the location in SharePoint you want to store the files and click "OK".

I tried this, and it technically works...but is clunky. I'll stick to keeping everything on a network share until they add Mercurial support.

[RamonS]

You can also see if there is an extension for Mercurial that provides support for the MSSCCI API. Then you can use Flare as a client. Aside from that, you can still use Mercurial using an external client. Not as convenient as having it integrated in Flare, but better than nothing.
Nevertheless, add a suggestion here: https://www.madcapsoftware.com/bugs/submit.aspx

[aburian]

Thanks. We have multiple authors working on the same project, so I would like to be able to take advantage of checkin/checkout/merge....checking the files into a source control system outside of Flare won't quite do the trick for us - but thanks for the suggestion!

[rmdavidson]

Did you ever get your files into SharePoint? I could only figure out how to upload 1 file at a time from SharePoint and said forget it (because there's 1,900+ files) and finally got connected to TFS here. Plus, some files wouldn't ever upload. Several people have told me SVN is open-source (free). Link: http://subversion.apache.org/

Which Source Control Programs are Integrated with the Application?

Built-in support is available for Microsoft Visual SourceSafe, Microsoft Team Foundation Server, and Apache Subversion. In addition, an API allows you to configure your project for integration with other source control tools (see Using an API to Integrate Source Control). You also have the option of manually adding your Flare project files to any source control tool, rather than using Flare's built-in integration.

Robin

[aburian]

No. We're just using a local network share that gets backed upped regularly. Work fine with multiple authors.

[SDilg]

Sorry I accidentally posted the message below to the wrong thread. I apologize. I will now move it where it belongs, under 'Using SharePoint search to crawl WebHelp'.

Good morning,

i found this thread while searching the forums. I'm trying to accomplish the same thing with SharePoint 2007. Can you please let me know of the solution that worked for SharePoint 2010 so I might try it on SharePoint 2007?

Thank you very much,

S. Dilg