The Best 70-542 MOSS 2007 Exam Guide

Why is it the best? I could not find a good study guide for this exam, so I made one. I compiled this content before I took the exam, and I passed with flying colors.

Below you will find point-by-point coverage of nearly every topic outlined in the "Skills Measured" section of the official exam page for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Application Development. This is not a cheat sheet, and I encourage you to use these links as starting points as you study each topic.

Please let me know if you see any mistakes or would like to make any additions!


Managing Enterprise Content

Enforce document storage business rules by using Document Policy
Also referred to as “Information Management Policies.” Policies can be defined for content types, lists/libraries, and at the site collection level. SPSite and SPList have an SPAudit property.
Records Management Team Blog
Namespace: Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.PolicyFeatures
Classes: Barcode, Expiration, PolicyAudit, PolicyLabel, SPAuditMaskType, SPAudit
Properties: SPList.Audit, SPWeb.Audit, SPSite.Audit


--Create a custom document policy.
Creating a Custom Information Policy by Ton Stegeman


--Deploy a document policy by using a policy feature.
Linking SPContentType with InformationPolicy by Morten Marquard
Policy Feature Overview on MSDN


--Specify logic for a document policy by using a policy resource. Policy Resource Overview on MSDN
Creating a Custom Expiration Formula on MSDN
Class: GlobalCustomSettingsControl


--Manage document retention rules by using the expiration feature policy.
Understanding Record Management - Expiration Policy by Malay Vasavada
Creating a Custom Expiration Formula on MSDN
Methods: Expiration.SetExpirationDateForItem, IExpirationFormula.ComputeExpireDate


--Launch a workflow when a document expires.
Creating Workflows to Transfer Records Upon Expiration on MSDN


Audit Windows SharePoint Services content by using a custom policy
Item-Level Auditing with SharePoint Server 2007 on MSDN
Code Sample: SharePoint 2007 Item-Level Auditing
Classes: SPAuditQuery, SPAuditEntry, SPAuditEntryCollection
Method: SPAudit.DeleteEntries, SPAudit.GetEntries, SPAuditQuery.RestrictTo...


Manage records by using Office SharePoint Server 2007 record management features

Introduction to the Records Center Site on microsoft.com
Set up a Records Center by Niel Wyngaard
Namespace: Microsoft.Office.RecordsManagement.RecordsRepository


--Create a custom file plan.
Creating Custom Routers in SharePoint 2007 on MSDN
Method: RecordSeriesCollection.Add
Interface: IRouter


--Create a custom audit report.
Create a Custom Audit Report on TechNet
Custom Auditing in SharePoint by Ted Pattison
Item-Level Auditing with SharePoint 2007 by Ted Pattison


--Create a custom file submission.
Record Center File Processing on MSDN
Custom Records Center Router on MSDN


--Create a custom legal hold.
Create a Hold to Suspend Records on Microsoft.com
Class: Hold
Method: Hold.SetHold, Hold.ReleaseHold, Hold.IsItemOnHold
Notes: Holds are SPListItems, so you can create a new hold by calling SPList.Items.Add


Create content by using the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web content management features
Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing
Classes: PublishingWeb, PublishingPage, PublishingPageCollection
Methods: PublishingWeb constructor, PublishingPageCollection.Add


--Extend the Page Authoring toolbar.

Customize Page Editing Toolbar on MSDN

Class: ConsoleAction

--Create pages dynamically.

Class: PublishingWeb

Method: PublishingPageCollection.Add

--Modify page layout by using content placeholders.
Modify the Default SharePoint Content Placeholders on Microsoft.com

Notes: I could not find anything that indicated these are different than typical ASP.NET content placeholders

--Create a custom field control.

Create a Custom Field Control on MSDN

Notes: Override CreateChildControls and check the DisplayMode property to determine if in edit mode. Override PreRender for view mode. Since BaseFieldControl inherits WebControl, you must create a safe control entry in the web.config

Class: BaseFieldControl

--Localize a site by using resource lists.

Localizing a Solution on MSDN

Deploy content between servers
Content Deployment by Tyler Butler

Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Administration

Classes: ContentDeployment

Methods: ContentDeploymentPath.GetAllPaths, ContentDeploymentJob.GetAllJobs

SharePoint Content Deployment and Migration API by Stefan Gobner


Provide variations of Web content

--Redirect a user to a variation based on profile settings.

Variations - Taking Locale from User Profile by Sanjeev Nair

--Launch a workflow when an event occurs in a primary variation.


Provision multiple sites in a hierarchy
Define a Portal Site Template on MSDN

Provisioning Portal Sites on MSDN

Notes: In a normal site template, the web template (webtemp*.xml) points to the site template, which defines a site definition, and that is where it stops. In a portal site template, the web template points to the portal site template, which is just a hierarchy pointing back to other web templates (webtemp*.xml). Each of these point to their own site template, or they could possibly point to other portal site templates. This is how you could build a hierarchy of sub sites instead of being limited to a single site.

Creating Business Intelligence Solutions by Using Office SharePoint Server 2007

Display data from a Microsoft Excel workbook by using Excel Services.

Introducing Excel Services on MSDN

Create a trusted workbook location by using the Stsadm.exe command-line tool.

Trust Workbook Locations Using Script on MSDN

Notes: stsadm.exe –o add-ecsfiletrustedlocation –ssp -location -locationtype


Implement business logic by using an Excel Services user-defined function
Excel Services User Defined Functions on MSDN

Developing a Managed-Code UDF on MSDN

--Process enterprise data from a Windows SharePoint Services list

Notes: Since a UDF is just code, you can access SharePoint lists, databases, web services, etc--just as you can in any other code block. I could not find any other information on this item.

--Troubleshoot a user-defined function.

Notes: Since a UDF is just code, you can debug it as you would any other managed code. I could not find any specific information on this item.

Filter data in a workbook by using Excel Services

Connect Filter Web Parts to Excel Web Access on Microsoft.com

Provide parameters to a Report Viewer Web Part from a custom Web Part

Configuring Reporting Services Reports in SharePoint by Ed Richard (see notes on Figures 10 and 11)Using Report Viewer Web Part on a SharePoint Site on MSDN

Expose a data source by adding a data connection to a Report Center Web Site

Working with a Report Center site on Microsoft.com

Create a key performance indicator (KPI) Web Part by using data from a report data source

Create and Publish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on Microsoft.com

Integrating Business Data with Office SharePoint Server 2007 by Using the Business Data Catalog (BDC)

Notes. I did not fill in most of the items in this list because honestly, the 8-part series “Everything you need to know about BDC” (currently 7 parts have been published) really does have it all. I combined that with an hour or so of playing with BDC MetaMan. OLEDB data sources and Web services can be used as data sources. Business Data Web Parts and Custom applications use live BDC data. Lists, Search, and User Profile Importer use cached BDC data.

Namespace: Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Administration

Class: ApplicationRegistry

Application Definition Framwork Class and XML Hierarchy

Everything You Need to Know about BDC by Randy Williams and Wen He (7 parts):

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Create a BDC Application Definition
--Create a line of business (LOB) system
Describe an external application in the BDC Application Definition
--Create an LOB system instance.
--Create an entity.
Display data from an external data source
--Create a Finder method.
Enable indexing of data stored in an external data source.
--Create an IDEnumerator.
--Enable searching on a BDC Application Definition.
--Enable a single item query by creating identifiers for entities.
--Enable a single item query by creating a SpecificFinder method.
--Add input and output parameters to a SpecificFinder method.
--Create a filter descriptor.
Create a custom action on an entity.
Create an association between two entities.
Create a Web Part to browse data.
--Return an LOB system instance.
--Return an entity.
--Execute a finder on an entity.
--Execute a method on an entity.
--Execute a SpecificFinder on an entity.
--Execute a wildcard filter on an entity.


Accessing Office SharePoint Server 2007 Application Platform Services

Process InfoPath data from within a workflow

Display an InfoPath Form from within an ASP.NET page by using the Form Services control

XmlFormView control on MSDN

Automate Office Forms Server administration tasks

Namespace: Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.Administration

Class: FormsService, FormTemplate

Method: FormTemplate.Activate

Code: FormsService fs = LocalFarm.Services.GetValue(FormsService.Name);

--Activate a previously uploaded form template

Programmatically Activating an InfoPath Form Template by Christopher White

Manage credentials by using the single sign-on (SSO) credential store

Configure SSO on MSDN

--Create a custom SSO provider for use by the BDC

Implementing a Pluggable SSO Provider on MSDNInterface: ISsoProvider
Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal

--Apply credentials to a Web service call by using SSO

Notes: I could not find anything that specifically applied to this. I assume the question(s) on this topic will refer to GetCredentials, which I have seen a lot of references to

Getting SSO credentials through Code on StackOverflow (nothing actually wrong with the code sample)

Convert documents by using the document converter

Document Converter Services Overview on MSDN

--Convert a document from a document library by using an existing document converter

Document Conversion by Alex Pearce

--Increase the priority of a document in the conversion process

Document Converters on MSDN

Method: SPFile.Convert
Notes: This cannot be done through the user interface. The SPFile.Convert method has a priority parameter

--Transform a custom document format into another format

Document Converter Framework Sample on MSDN

--Publish a page by using the document converter

Page Publishing Using Document Converters on MSDN

Methods: PublishingPage.UpdateContentFromSourceDocument, PublishingPageCollection.Add

Display a user profile retrieved from an Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web service

Searching Data by Using the Search Service

Programmatically enhance the search service

--Access the search context for the Shared Services Provider (SSP)
Method: SearchContext.GetContext

--Associate a search term by creating a Best Bet

Create Keywords and Best Bets by Stefan Gobner

Add a custom search page for searching the BDC

--Extend the user interface by adding a tab to the search page

Add Search Tab by Nicholas Bisciotti

Provide custom search capabilities by creating an enterprise search Web Part

Creating a Custom Enterprise Search Web Part on MSDN

Custom Enterprise Search Web Part Code on MSDN (Begin with the method keywordQueryExecute)

Customize the display of search results by modifying the Search Core Results XSLT

View and Edit the Search Results XSLT Transformation on MSDN

Search Core Results Web Part XSLT on MSDN

Display results from a Windows SharePoint Services search Web service

Enterprise Search Query Web Service Overview on MSDN

Display the results of a keyword query

Submit a Keyword Query to Enterprise Search from a Client Application on MSDN

Create an audience

Classes: Microsoft.Office.Server.Audience.AudienceManager, Micro
Property: AudienceManager.Audiences
Method: AudienceCollection.Create

Manage Audiences with C# by Nick Stevens


Specify conditions for audience membership by using rules
Manage Audiences with C# by Nick Stevens
Add Complex Rules to an Audience on MSDN

Target a list item to an audience

Method: AudienceManager.IsCurrentUserInAudienceOf

Target a Web Part to an audience by using filters

Using SharePoint 2007 Audiences in Combination with MOSS Publishing Placeholders by Ton Stegeman

Method: Audience.IsMember

Display all audiences to which a user belongs

Method: AudienceManager.GetUserAudienceIDs(“domain\\username”)

Display all users in a given audience

Audience.GetMembership (returns ArrayList)

Customizing Functionality by Using Profiles

Class: Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfile.UserProfileConfigManager

Import users into the user profile store from an LDAP store

Importing User Profile Information by Sahil Malik

Create a profile in the user profile store

Create User Profiles in the User Profile Store on MSDN

Method: Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager.CreateUserProfile

Manipulate profile properties

--Add a profile property to the user profile store

Creating Custom Profile Properties through Code

--Store a user's attributes in the user profile store by creating a multivalue property

User Profile Properties Overview on MSDN

Code Sample:
Property.IsMultivalued = true;
Property.Separator = MultiValueSeparator.Semicolon //or Comma, or Newline
UserProfile[PropertyName].Add(“value1”)
UserProfile[PropertyName].Add(“value2”)

--Retrieve a specific property from a user profile

--Map a BDC data item to a user profile property

Class: PropertyMapCollection (see the code sample)

--Set the privacy policy for a user profile property

Set Privacy Policies for User Profile Properties on MSDN

Display all colleagues for a given user

Class: ColleagueManager

Property: UserProfile.Colleagues

Add a distribution list to a new membership

Display results from the user profile change log

Get Recent User Profile Changes Using the Change Log on MSDN