What's The (Share)Point?

Tag: data

  • I love my Drobo!

    What is a Drobo? Click Here to Find Out I have been a Drobo owner now for a couple of years.  It gives me the peace of mind knowing that my data is backed up in a safe, data-robot!  If a drive fails, no problem!  I can also put larger sizes in it anytime I want.  It is so easy.  Well, Drobo is having a sale and if you want one, you can click on the link below to take advantage of some great prices!  Here’s the skinny on the PROMO and remember t0 click the link below to go to Drobo!

    +++++++++++

    A. From now through the end of Memorial Day (5 days only, through midnight 5/30/11), we’re dramatically lowering prices on our most popular Drobo models.

    Lowest price ever on these Drobos (after promo code):

    • Drobo (4-bay USB / Firewire): $298
    • Drobo FS (5-bay Gigabit Ethernet File Sharing): $598
    • Drobo S (5-bay eSATA / USB / Firewire): $698
    • Drobo Pro (8-bay iSCSI / USB / Firewire): $1398

    B. We’re also giving you a chance to win double Drobos.

    Just visit our online store and enter the promo code DOUBLEDROBO when you buy. You’ll receive the prices above, and you’ll also be entered for about a one-in-four chance to win a second Drobo for every one you ordered.

    What is a Drobo? Click Here to Find Out

  • Exporting List Data

    If you have list data that you want to use in another application, what are some ways to get to that data? That was the question posed by a recent requirement from a client. Fortunately, SharePoint presents us with some creative ways to get to the list data.

    1. Export to Excel. This is a good, and quick, way to export data out of SharePoint so that you can use it in other programs. Once you have it in Excel, you can further export it into different formats. The most common is as a comma-delimited text file. I am not an Excel expert but it is quite easy to Export To Spreadsheet from the Actions menu and then save the Excel file in, say, a CSV format. From there, many applications can import that text file. But what happens if one of the SharePoint fields are large text fields that could contain commas and line feeds?
    2. Export to Access. For quite a few data export requirements, I tend to use this way. Access has better import/export functionality. I can save the exported list data in many formats. How do you do this? From the Actions menu, select Open With Access. [Note: this isn’t available in Document Libraries]. From there you can decide whether you want to maintain a local copy or just link to the list. Once you have it open in Access, you can export it in a number of different formats.
    3. If your third part application can call Web Services, SharePoint exposes a lot of functionality via Web Service.  Web Services are beyond the scope of this article but you can find plenty of information on MSDN, like Windows SharePoint Services Web Services.

    What are some of the ways you deal with the requirement of external applications using list data?  I would love to hear your comments!