40 Sharepoint Interview Questions and Answers

Dear Readers, Welcome to Sharepoint interview questions with answers and explanation. These 40 solved Sharepoint questions will help you prepare for technical interviews and online selection tests conducted during campus placement for freshers and job interviews for professionals.

After reading these tricky Sharepoint questions, you can easily attempt the objective type and multiple choice type questions on Sharepoint.

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 can 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 sub-sites 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 a 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 be 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, AllowUnsafeUpdates property is set to true.
- Once the operation is carried 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

Explain 1) BDC 2) BCS

1) BDC - Also called Business Data Catalogue is used to connect to an external database and read it in SharePoint.

2) BCS - Also called Business connectivity Services is new in SharePoint2010. BCS aids in reading and writing into the external Database.

Explain Content types in Sharepoint.

- A content type is a WSS type definition which is flexible and reusable.
- It is used to define the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a document in a document library.

Differentiate between Library vs List.

- Library is used to store the document whereas Lists are the container of similar items in the form of rows and columns.
- Core documents like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint can be created using a Library while you can not create a document in a List. List can be used to attach a document.

What do you mean by Field Control?

- Field controls are ASP.NET 2.0 server controls. They provide basic field functionality in SharePoint.
- They also provide basic general functionality such as displaying or editing list data as it appears on SharePoint list pages.

What are the various types of input forms that can be created for a workflow?

Four tyes of input forms can be created for a workflow:

1. Association form
2. Initiation form
3. Modification form
4. Task edit form

Explain an ancestral type. How is it related to content types?

- An ancestral type is the base type that the content typed is derived from.
- It defines the metadata fields included with the custom content type.

Explain Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server?

- SharePoint Portal Server is a portal server that connects people, teams, and knowledge across business processes.
- It integrates information from various systems into one secure solution through single sign-on and enterprise application integration capabilities.
- It provides flexible deployment and management tools, and facilitates end-to-end collaboration through data aggregation, organization, and searching.
- It enables users to quickly find relevant information through customization and personalization of portal content and layout as well as through audience targeting.

Explain 1) Custom action

- It Represents a link, toolbar button, menu item, or any control that can be added to a toolbar or menu appearing in the UI.
- Custom actions are defined through a custom action element within a feature definition file. Custom actions can be bound to a list type, content type, file type, or programmatic identifier (ProgID).

Event receiver

- Event receivers can be defined by using a receiver element within a feature definition file.
- They evaluate an event and define the behavior of an application.

Explain Module in Sharepoint

- A module is a file or collection of file instances which define the location where the files are installed during site creation.
- They are used to implement a Web Part Page in the site.
- Modules can be defined by using a module element within a feature definition file.

What are the different types of base classes used in web-part?

Sharepoint allows the business to collaborate using the same platform for the enterprise as well as web. It also allows many individuals to easily create and manage the websites. There are two types of bases classes that are used by share-point and they are:

1. Share-Point Web-Part Base class : Allows the derived web-part base class to inherit the properties from the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart
2. ASP.NET 2.0 Web-Part base class : Allows the derived base class to inherit the properties from the default class of System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart. This is the most widely used class.

What is the difference between the Sharepoint Web-Part and ASP.NET 2.0 Web-Part base class?

The difference between the two types lies in the architecture produced by them:

Sharepoint webpart base class : Is designed to build over the Microsoft ASP.NET web part infrastructure. Whereas, ASP.NET 2.0 WebParts base class : Provide the integrated set of controls to create a website. This enable the user to modify the content and behavior of the webpage using the user interface and directly from the browser.

Sharepoint webpart base class : It provides the backward compatibility and can be used with ASP.NET application also and other applications that include the functionality to execute the code. Whereas, ASP.NET 2.0 WebParts base class : Doesn't include backward compatibility and allow easy to use user interface.

Sharepoint webpart base class : There are some features to be provided with it such as:

1. Cross page connections : This is used to include the pages that are connected with each other but not as a part of the website.
2. Connections between Web Parts : These are the connections that are outside the Web Part.
3. Client-side connections : Includes the webpart service components that include all the services that are required to be shown.
4. Data caching infrastructure : Consists of the data structure that is used to keep all the data in the cache for future use.
Whereas, ASP.NET webparts base class : Consists of controls that can be saved and some session that can be personalized using the web part capabilities.

What is the function of Global Assembly Cache in Sharepoint?

Global assembly cache includes the assembly code or the machine code that is used to run the program so that it doesn't have to bring the program in the memory. If the same program runs again then the binaries are fetched from the cache itself that makes it faster and easier to manage. It provides custom binaries that are deployed to be used in between the receiver and the sender. It is used with the .NET assemblies cache for the command line platform. It consists of the totally controlled repositories with the addresses given of the shared library.

Explain the CreateChildControls() method with an example

CreateChildControls() method notifies the server about the control that to implement the child controls for posting back and for rendering. The statement is given as:
Protected: virtual void CreateChildControls();

The example shows the implementation of the CreateChildControls() method that is:
‘Override CreateChildControls to create the control tree.
<System.Security.Permissions._
PermissionSetAttribute(System.Security._
Permissions.SecurityAction.Demand, Name:="FullTrust")> _
Protected Overrides Sub CreateChildControls()

' Add a LiteralControl to the current ControlCollection.
Me.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("<h3>Value: "))


' Create a text box control, set the default Text property,
' and add it to the ControlCollection.
Dim box As New TextBox()
box.Text = "0"
Me.Controls.Add(box)

Me.Controls.Add(New LiteralControl("</h3>"))
End Sub 'CreateChildControls

This is the method that is used to instantiate the control and fetches the properties to set it according to the website. The add () method of the control class adds the control in the collection. The method CreateChildControls () implies that the WebPart consists of a collection of child controls.

What is the purpose of WebPartManager sealed class?

WebPartManager sealed class consists of the responsibility for the management that is occuring on the webpage. This consists of controls, events and other activities that need to be saved and worked upon. It is responsible to provide a central calss through which the data can be controlled using the control set. It consists of all the methods that are required by the control developers for the extension of WebPartManager that controlled inside the WebPartManagerInternals class. It includes simplifies API and libraries that inherit the customized properties of the control. It includes the controls with custom display modes, zones, verbs, WebPart controls, and extensions that are used for web user interface.

What is the purpose of SPWebApplication object represented in sharepoint?

SPWebApplication object comes under the SPWebApplication class that is the parent class used to run the web services of the web. There are instances of the applications that are made as an application and configured to provide the identity to various objects. This class provides the namespace that provides the webapplication properties through which user can access the web applications. The application is used as a sharepoint web application that provides an IIS virtual server to be implemented and the instance is created to provide the operation for creating new web application through the code. It is also used to provide the user with the web level setting to display their pages and modify it directly from the browsers.

Write a program that connects the reference to the sharepoint list.

The program that is used to connect the references given for the object and allow the insertion of the new list is as follows:
using(SPSite my =new SPSite("serverurl"))
{
    using(SPWeb myWeb = my.OpenWeb())
    {
        SPList interviewList = myWeb.Lists["insert"];
        SPListItem newItem = interviewList.Items.Add();
        newItem["carrerride"] = "carrerride";
        newItem.Update();
    }
}

In this the references are used to connect the items from the list like the use of new operator that is used to create an object or an instance to include the items that are required to be inserted in the list of the items with proper linking.

What is the function and use of CAML?

CAML is known as Collaborative Application Mark-up Language and it is an XML based mark-up language. It is used with the family of Microsoft technologies with the Sharepoint. CAML consists of some very specific groups of tags that defines and displays the data used in the database. It is used to store the list definitions using the file name ONET. XML and other files that are related to it. The CAML is used to define the elements that exist on a particular instance of the web site. It also displays the sub-elements that are used in ASPX files. These files define the arrangement and displaying of the element in proper format. CAML is used as the language for the query purpose to represent the views of the programming language using certain inbuilt APIs.

What are the different types of elements used in CAML?

CAML allows the developers to construct and display the data using the rendering process and other processes. CAML consists of different types of elements to represent the lists and the sites by using some predefined style.

1. Data definition elements : It is used to define the lists and the sites by using the XML tags with the same style. The code will look like this:
<Fields>
<Field Type="Counter" Name="ID"/>
// insert other statements here
</Fields>

2. Data rendering elements : CAML also allows the generation of HTML based sets that use the tags like the loops that are used to loop around a given condition. The example is given below that shows the drop down menu with choices:
<ForEach Select="CHOICES/CHOICE">
<HTML>fld.AddChoice(</HTML>
<ScriptQuote>
<Property Select="."/>
</ScriptQuote>
<HTML>, </HTML>
<HTML>);</HTML>
</ForEach>

Why are event receivers used in Sharepoint?

Event receivers are the classes that inherit the properties of the SpItemEventReciever and SPListEventReciever base class. Both of these classes use the abstract base class that is SPEventRecieverBase. This base class provide the option to respond to the event of the occurring of the sharepoint. It keeps the function of adding and deleting of an item. The event receivers respond to the requests that come when an event is performed by the user. For example, if there a cancel of an action is performed then the request is received by the event receiver and the actions will be taken according the request received. The event receivers are used to store the input of the action that is been taken by the user by performing an action on the button or any other action on the site.

What is the function of a content type in sharepoint?

Content type consists of the information or act as a blueprint that has the reusability properties. This feature is included in the sharepoint to define the Meta information like metadata and its associated information and properties. It acts like an extension to the sharepoint program and consists of the list of the types that are present. It is also used to make the list portable for use throughout the instance of the type by using the instantiation process. It is used to set the content type as location independent. Multiple content types can exist together in one document library and the setting of the document library becomes enabled. It will have access to the listform pages, workflows, templates and custom written functionality. Content type is important to all the deciding of the diffirent types of contents that are used in sharepoint.

What are the different components that are used for single as well as multiple servers?

Sharepoint consists of many different components of the server that can perform many tasks at a time. The list that is given below consists of the components that are used by the sharepoint and it is as follow:

1. Sharepoint foundation : This is the program that provides the communication, collaboration and management of the content between the server systems.
2. Sharepoint server : This consists of the software that provides the material for both the internet as well as local sites.
3. SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) Integration : It is a feature that allows the installation and the containment of the reports to be managed in the sharepoint itself.
4. Business Connectivity Services (BCS) : It is a feature that allows the system to display the data that is contained inside the sharepoint server. The data can be directly manipulated and wroked upon from the sharepoint.
5. Sites : It is a SharePoint site that is managed by checking the compatiblity with the content-management features.
6. The single server consists of the database servers and the servers that consist of all the data related information. The single server environment is not scalable and there are many applications that can't be installed because of the reduced size. Multiple servers are used to keep user Profile Synchronization in a single server with all the built-in functionalities like database. Other server will consist of the services that are distributed to many layers and provide easy scaling up of the architecture.

What is the difference between WSS and MOSS?

WSS is known as Windows Sharepoint service and it is the core technology used in sharepoint and it is the heart engine of the sharepoint program. It provides management techniques and reporting services to be used with some tools that can be used for communication. It is a free to use service that is implemented on the windows server and used by the sharepoint. Whereas, MOSS (Microsoft office Sharepoint server) just extends the capability of WSS and provides features like audio and video. It includes search engines and enterprise facilities that are used to personalize like management of content and search, etc. It is not free software and can't be used directly.

What are the steps required for the sharepoint to act like an Organizational Platform?

The steps that are required to make the sharepoint act like an organizational platform is as follows:

1. The individual groups that are already present in the sharepoint consist of the collaborative web site that can contain of the data and the communication tools to communicate between different objects of the sharepoint.
2. The access to the team and the appropriate group of members will be restricted or limited due to the automative tools that are present.
3. The storing of the relevant information can be centralized and maintained according to the organization.
4. The communication can be maintained and streamlined so that it will be easier to use and communicate with the parties.
5. The involvement of the IT is minimum and familiar tools and technologies are used like web, and windows operating systems.

What is the function of delegate control?

Delegate control in sharepoint allows the object oriented features to be controlled and replaced by the custom control without doing any modification to the rest of the page. It provides an easy way to access and override the existing functions. It provides certain controls that like add or remove by using the control. The delegate control is very important feature that is included in WSS and MOSS. The delegate control is instantiated by the use of the following lines:
<SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server" ControlId="InputBox" />

The delegate control object uses the features to locate the control that is specified in the ControlID. There are features that are used to create and deploy the InputBox control on the server using the web services.

Why is it required to use sandbox solution in sharepoint?

The sandbox solution allows easy deployable and reusable packages to be used that consist of features, site definitions and many more functionalities. The sandbox solution can be enabled and disabled manually by going and changing from the settings. The solution can be deployed on the server. The sandbox allows the restriction to be put where the execution of the environment allows certain resources to be enabled and kept into the sandbox without affecting the rest of the server. Sandbox solutions can't affect the whole server as they are not used to deploy at the administrative level. It can be deployed on a site with the administrator permissions using the site collection. Only the administrator is allowed to configure the sandboxed solutions that are related to settings like load balancing, tiers, quotas and resource points, etc.

What are the uses that are taken by using the sandboxed solutions?

There are many uses and benefits by using the sandboxed solutions:

1. When there is a need to run the code that are in the production and on the server site then to review and test the code at a particular times becomes difficult as it requires lot of setups of the server and other facilities so to get over this in there are the organization that create the sandboxed solution and uses it to provide different files on which the review and the testing can be performed.
2. This can be added to any production environment without the risk of affecting the processes that are outside the sandbox.
3. Site collection administrators allow deploying the sandboxed solutions using the administrative tasks. The sandbox solutions also provide scalability and flexibility as it can be run in the separate process and it is not restricted by the quotas.
4. The sandbox solution can be modified and recompiled directly on the web server.

What are the different kinds of solutions present in deploying the web servers?

Solutions are contained in the files with the extension of .wsp that contains the features, site definitions, webparts and assemblies that are used to define the whole architecture to provide the solution for deployment of the web servers.

There are two solutions that can be deployed for this purpose:

1. Farm : It is deployed on front end web servers using the user interface libraries by the farm administrators. The administrator in this case will have the full control over the server object model and it won't be having any limitation for the modification done in the files that consists the solutions configurations.
2. Sandbox :It is deployed using the collective response format the site administrator that is having the full control with the full permission and the configuration file resides at the root of the site collection. It has the limited access to the resources provided by the server object model and provides isolation and monitoring techniques to the limited users.

What are the requests that can't be fulfilled by the sandboxed solutions?

Sharepoint server solution consists of a configuration file of the name manifest.xml and other configuration files to run the binaries and assemblies for proper functioning of the program. If the solution is running in the sandbox then the configuration files permissions are limited for the users. The following things that can't be performed by the sandbox are:

1. The solution can't connect to the resources that have to be provided to the users and are not located in the local farm.
2. It can't access the database and the data elements inside it.
3. It can't change the threading model and allows the new model to be implemented. No modification can be performed in this area.
4. It can't call unmanaged code that is just being written by the developer and implemented.
5. It doesn't have the permission to write in the disk as well. It will save a local copy but only the administrator can write the files to the disk.

What is the difference between the farm and sandbox?

There are lots of differences that occur on the basis of the process that has to be performed so the process on which the differences given are:

Deployment process:

1. In the farm the deployment can be done and the simple step is to add the solution and deploy it. Whereas, sandbox requires the uploading of the solution that goes to the site collection and from there it then be activated.
Permissions:
2. In the farm the deployment can be done only by the farm administrator. Whereas, sandbox has different levels in which if the solution consists of assembly files then only the site administrator can deploy it and if this is not the case then the user with full control permission that is on the root level can deploy it.

Data access:

1. In the farm the data access is restricted to all the users. Whereas, sandbox allow the data accessing to be done by the user through which the data is deployed.

Monitoring:

1. In the farm the processes are not monitored. Whereas, sandbox monitor the processes and are limited by the quotas that is being set by the farm administrator.
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