Tips & Tricks for using STSADM command

To save the output of STSADM Command into a text file use the following :
eg:stsadm -o addsolution -filename MySoln.wsp >>output.txt 2>&1
(Dont remove 2>&1--these are standard dos error handlers.)

If we are using -immediate or -time or -local (Asynchronous commands) with STSADM command, then next STSADM command would fail. Like:
stsadm -o retractsolution -name Mysolution.wsp -immediate
stsadm -o deletesolution -name Mysolution.wsp
The second command should execute after the first command has executed completely. But here it would fail.In order to avoid that we have two solutions
Solution One:

echo some text pause

Solution Two:

Execadmsvcjobs command.But this should be used very carefully because it would execute all the administrative jobs immediately

STSADM Command Line Tool

To use STSADM command line

• You must be a member of the local Administrators group on the server. When you invoke Stsadm.
• You supply an operation and a set of command-line parameters in the form: -operation OperationName -parameter value
• For more additional Information : STSADM Operations

For more tips and tricks with STSADM refer this link

STSCOMMAND	Description
Activatefeature	Activates a feature in the feature collection.
Addalternatedomain	Adds an internal URL and maps it to one of the five URL zones of a Web application or external resource.
Addcontentdb	Creates a new content database or adds a database that needs to be upgraded when the url and databasename parameters are specified.
Adddataconnectionfile	Adds a new DataConnectionFile to the DataConnectionFiles collection for InfoPath Forms Services.
Add-ecsfiletrustedlocation	Lets an administrator add a file to the trusted location list.
Add-ecssafedataprovider	Lets an administrator add a supported provider type to the safe provider list.
Add-ecstrusteddataconnectionlibrary	Adds a trusted data connection to a library.
Add-ecsuserdefinedfunction	Adds a user defined function.
Addexemptuseragent	Adds a user agent, which is typically in the form of a search bot, to receive the XML file that contains the data of the form for indexing instead of the HTML rendering of the form.
Addpath	Adds a managed path inclusion to a Web application.
Addpermissionpolicy	Adds a user to a policy role for the Web application based on the specified permission level name and corresponding zone.
Addsolution	Adds a solution file to the solution store.
Addtemplate	Adds a site template to the template gallery.
Adduser	Adds a user account to the specified site collection and assigns it to the specified site group.
Addwppack	Adds a Web Part package to the server Web Part gallery.
Addzoneurl	Configures the public URL and maps it to one of the five URL zones of a Web application or external resource.
Allowuserformwebserviceproxy	Determines whether a user form template (that is, a non-administrator deployed form template published to a content type or a document library) can use the proxy.
Allowwebserviceproxy	Turns on or off the Web service proxy for the specified Web application.
Authentication	Authentication provides the user identity input to the authorization process which determines what actions the current user is allowed to perform on a given object.
Backup	Describes how to back up a site collection, an individual database, a Web application, or an entire farm.
Backuphistory	Displays a history of backup and restore operations that have been run.
Binddrservice	Registers a data retrieval service adapter.
Blockedfilelist	Enables an administrator to add or delete a file type to the blocked file types list for a Web application.
Changepermissionpolicy	Updates the Web application policy level for a user to enable a change to specific permission levels the user is assigned.
Copyappbincontent	Copies Web application–specific files, such as page resource (*.resx) files from their respective locations in the 12\CONFIG folder to the correct location in each Web application on the computer.
Createadminvs	Displays the port number to the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Createcmsmigrationprofile	Creates a migration profile by providing a profile name, database server name, database name, and database user name.
Creategroup	Lets site collection administrators create new groups from any site collection.
Createsite	Creates a site collection at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with the specified user as site collection owner and site collection administrator.
Createsiteinnewdb	Creates a site at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and creates a new content database using the user name and password you specify.
Createssp	Creates a new Shared Services Provider (SSP) in the farm.
Createweb	Creates a subsite at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Databaserepair	Detects and removes orphaned items from content databases in Windows SharePoint Services.
Deactivatefeature	Deactivates a feature in the feature collection.
Deleteadminvs	Unprovisions the SharePoint Central Administration Web site from the local machine.
Deletealternatedomain	Deletes an internal URL from a URL zone.
Deletecmsmigrationprofile	Deletes the named migration profile.
Deleteconfigdb	Unprovisions the local machine from the farm and deletes the configuration database (but does not drop the configuration database).
Deletecontentdb	Detaches a content database when the Web application, database name, and database server are specified.
Deletegroup	Deletes a group created in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Deletepath	Removes an included path from the list of paths managed by Windows SharePoint Services.
Deletepermissionpolicy	Deletes a permission policy for a user from the site collection by specifiying the URL name and user login.
Deletesite	Deletes the site collection with the specified URL from the Web application.
Deletesolution	Removes a Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (*.wsp) from the solution store.
Deletessp	Deletes a Shared Services Provider (SSP) in a Web application when the title parameter is specified.
Deletessptimerjob	Deletes all of the timer jobs in the Shared Services Provider (SSP).
Deletetemplate	Deletes a specified site template from the site template gallery.
Deleteuser	Deletes a user account from the specified site collection and specified site.
Deleteweb	Deletes a subsite using the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Deletewppack	Removes the Web Parts in a Web Part package from a virtual server.
Deletezoneurl	Deletes a public URL and the zone to which it is mapped.
Deploysolution	Deploys files related to a solution from the configuration database to individual front-end Web servers in the farm.
Deploywppack	Deploys a Web Part package.
Disablessc	Disables Self-Service Site Creation for the specified Web application.
Displaysolution	Displays specific solution or Web Part information in a solution store.
Editcmsmigrationprofile	Edits a migration profile by providing a profile name, database server name, database name, and database user name.
Editcontentdeploymentpath	Edits and manages a content deployment path.
Editssp	Allows the site collection administrator for the Shared Services Administration site to perform the following functions:
	Change the databases that a Shared Services Provider (SSP) uses.
	Change the SQL credentials associated with the SSP databases.
	Modify the service account credentials.
	Rename an SSP.
Enablecmsurlredirect	Activates the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) redirection feature for URLs in Microsoft Content Management Server 2002.
Enablessc	Enables Self-Service Site Creation for the specified Web application.
Enumalternatedomains	Lists the internal URLs and specifies the URL zones and public URLs to which they are mapped.
Enumcontentdbs	Enumerates all content databases in the Web application.
Enumdataconnectionfiledependants	Enumerates all form that are dependent on the specified data connection file.
Enumdataconnectionfiles	Enumerates all of the DataConnectionFiles in the collection in alphabetical order.
Enumdeployments	Enumerates all pending and active deployments in the farm.
Enumexemptuseragents	Returns the rendering content of the form as an XML instead HTML.
Enumformtemplates	Lists the administrator-deployed form templates on the farm.
Enumgroups	Lists all the groups in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Enumroles	Lists the site groups that are available for use in a particular site or subsite.
Enumservices	Lists all the services in the Web application within a farm.
Enumsites	Displays a list of sites that are hosted in a Web application. To find the sites that need to be upgraded, use the redirectedsites parameter.
Enumsolutions	Enumerates the list of Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (*.wsp) and Web Part packages located in the solution store of the farm.
Enumssp	Lists all the details of the Shared Services Providers (SSPs) in the farm or of a single SSP.
Enumssptimerjobs	Enumerates all of the timer jobs in the Shared Services Provider (SSP).
Enumsubwebs	Lists the subsites that have been created immediately below a particular site.
Enumtemplates	Lists the site templates that have been submitted to the global site template catalog.
Enumusers	Lists the users of a particular site collection or subsite.
Enumwppacks	Lists the Web Part packages currently in the server Web Part gallery.
Enumzoneurls	Lists all of the public URL and the zones to which they are mapped.
Email	Sets the e-mail configuration settings for your server.
Execadmsvcjobs	Permits a user to run any administrative service job in which the Windows SharePoint Services Administration (SPAdmin) service has been disabled.
Export	Exports site and subsite data from your Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation.
Extendvs	Extends a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web application and creates a new content database.
Extendvsinwebfarm	Extends a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web application for use in a server farm
Forcedeletelist	Allows a user to delete a list that might appear to be in a corrupted state.
Formtemplatequiescestatus	Displays the status of the quiesce process of a form template.
Getadminport	Returns the administration port for Windows SharePoint Services.
Getdataconnectionfileproperty	Displays the file property of each data connection file in the store of InfoPath Forms Services.
Getformtemplateproperty	Retrieves properties on individual InfoPath Form Services templates.
Getsitedirectoryscanschedule	Displays the current schedule of all site directory links scan jobs to be run.
Getsitelock	Retrieves the lock status of a site.
Import	Imports site and subsite data from your Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation.
Installfeature	Installs a feature.
Listlogginglevels	Lists the current event log and trace log logging levels for each diagnostic logging category that is registered in a farm.
Listregisteredsecuritytrimmers	Lists all registered security trimmers in the farm.
Localupgradestatus	Displays the farm and local server components that need to be upgraded.
Managepermissionpolicylevel	Enables an administrator to manage the policy levels for a Web application.
Mergecontentdbs	Permits a site collection to be moved from one content database to another when the souredatabasename and destinationdatabasename parameters are specified.
Migrateuser	Migrates a user account in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to a new user name and binary ID.
Osearch	Manages the Office SharePoint Server Search service.
Osearchdiacriticsensitive	Enables or disables the diacritic sensitivity setting.
Peoplepicker-getsiteuseraccountdirectorypath	Retrieves the user account directory path setting for the site collection.
Peoplepicker-setsiteuseraccountdirectorypath	Sets the site user account directory path to a specific Organizational Unit (OU) in the same domain when the url and path parameters are specified.
Preparetomove	Prepares sites and content databases before moving to a new Web application by setting up the profile and membership synchronization service.
Profilechangelog	Maintains a change log that records the changes made to the user profiles.
Profiledeletehandler	Gives an administrator a chance to run a workflow when a user is about to be deleted.
Provisionservice	Starts or stops the SPService on the local computer or a custom service.
Quiescefarm	Temporartily suspends the farm’s ability to accept new sessions that are essential to rendering infopath forms on a server.
Quiescefarmstatus	Displays the quiesce status of the server farm.
Quiesceformtemplate	Temporarily takes a form template offline.
Reconvertallformtemplates	Upgrades the form template cached data to run on the upgraded server.
Refreshdms	Refreshes the Directory Management Service if a database is restored or moved to a location where the incoming e-mail settings are not correct.
Refreshsitedms	Performs the same function as the Refreshdms operation but on a site collection level.
Registersecuritytrimmer	Enterprise Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 performs security trimming of search results at query time.
Registerwsswriter	Enables the Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (known as WSS Writer service) on any front-end Web server.
Removedataconnectionfile	Removes all DataConnectionFiles from the DataConnectionFiles collection.
Removedrservice	Removes a data retrieval service from the list of data retrieval services.
Remove-ecsfiletrustedlocation	Lets an administrator remove a file from the trusted location list.
Remove-ecssafedataprovider	Lets an administrator remove a supported provider type to the safe provider list.
Remove-ecstrusteddataconnectionlibrary	Removes a trusted data connection from a library.
Remove-ecsuserdefinedfunction	Removes a user-defined function from Excel Calculation Services.
Removeexemptuseragent	Removes a user agent, which is typically in the form of a search bot, from the ExemptUserAgent collection.
Removesolutiondeploymentlock	Removes the solution deployment lock for the specified server or all servers from the back-end database.
Renameserver	Changes the name of the specified server in the configuration database.
Renamesite	Changes a URL of a host-named site collection to a new URL.
Renameweb	Changes the URL of a subsite.
Restore	Explains how a restoration of a site collection, an individual database, a Web application, or an entire farm is performed.
Restoressp	Creates a Shared Service Provider using a restored database.
Retractsolution	Retracts the specified solution’s deployment, and removes files from the front-end Web server.
Retractwppack	Retracts the deployment of a specified Web Part package.
Runcmsmigrationprofile	Runs a named migration profile. The profile name is the only required parameter.
Runcontentdeploymentjob	Runs a named deployment job.
Scanforfeatures	Scans for new features in the file system, and if new features are present, installs them.
Setadminport	Changes the default zone Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and/or application pool located on the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Setbulkworkflowtaskprocessingschedule	Sets the schedule for when tasks are processed by using the Process all tasks option.
Setconfigdb	Creates a new configuration database in a farm or joins the local computer to an existing farm's configuration database.
Setcontentdeploymentjobschedule	Enables the user to create an advanced schedule to run a deployment job.
Setdataconnectionfileproperty	Sets a file property to a data connection file in the store of InfoPath Forms Services.
Setdefaultssp	Sets a Shared Services Provider (SSP) as the default SSP in a farm.
Set-ecsexternaldata	Lets an administrator set an external data connection to Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsloadbalancing	Lets an administrator define load balancing for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsmemoryutilization	Lets an administrator determine memory allocation for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecssecurity	Lets an administrator set security settings for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecssessionmanagement	Lets an administrator set session management settings for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsworkbookcache	Lets an administrator set workbook cache settings on disk and in memory for Excel Calculation Services.
Setformtemplateproperty	Sets the properties of an individual form template.
Setholdschedule	Sets the schedule to process all records that are on hold (records whose retention schedules are suspended).
Setlogginglevel	Sets the Windows event log and trace log logging level for one or more diagnostic logging categories registered in the farm.
Setpolicyschedule	Sets the schedule for processing changes to a policy on the items that are impacted by that policy.
Setrecordsrepositoryschedule	Sets the schedule to process all records that have been submitted to Records Center sites in the farm.
Setsearchandprocessschedule	Sets the schedule for when the search and process timer job runs.
Setsitedirectoryscanschedule	Sets a schedule for a job to run the site directory links scan.
Setsitelock	Sets a value that specifies whether the site collection is locked and unavailable for read or write access.
Setsspport	Updates the port or ports for the shared Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web site, "Office Server Web Services", which used by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web services.
Setworkflowconfig	Enables or disables the workflow settings.
Siteowner	Sets the primary or secondary administrator of a site collection.
Sync	Configures the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 synchronization job. Normally, this operation is used in conjunction with the preparetomove operation
Syncsolution	Performs a synchronization of the Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (WSP) solutions stored in the configuration database with the files stored on disk.
Tzmove	Allows an administrator to update data that is affected by a change in the start and/or end of Daylight Saving time (DST).
Unextendvs	Removes Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 from a particular Web application.
Uninstallfeature	Removes the specified feature definition from the collection of feature definitions in the farm.
Unquiescefarm	Resumes the farm’s ability to accept new sessions that are essential to rendering InfoPath forms on a server.
Unquiesceformtemplate	Restores a specific form template for use on the server.
Unregistersecuritytrimmer	Unregisters a custom security trimmer when the ssp and id parameters are specified.
Unregisterwsswriter	Disables the Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (known as WSS Writer service) on any front-end Web server.
Updateaccountpassword	Updates the Web application pool passwords.
Updatefarmcredential	Updates the Web application pool for the SharePoint Central Administration Web site and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service (SPTimer).
Upgrade	Upgrades the specified site collection during a gradual upgrade.
Upgradesolution	Upgrades an existing solution. The solution to be upgraded could be either deployed or not deployed; however, the immediate or time parameters apply only if the solution has been deployed.
Upgradetargetwebapplication	Prepares the environment for the gradual upgrade of a specific version 2.0 Web application by moving the existing version 2.0 Web application to a new URL and making a new version 3.0 Web application that is based on the existing version 2.0 Web application and associated settings.
Userrole	Adds or deletes permission levels to site groups.
Verifyformtemplate	Verifies that the form template can be browser-enabled.
Properties
Property name	Description
Alerts-enabled	Turns alerts on or off.
Alerts-limited	Specifies the number of alerts to which a user can create.
Alerts-maximum	Specifies the maximum number of alerts a user can create.
Avallowdownload	Specifies whether users can download infected documents to their local computers.
Avcleaningenabled	Specifies whether antivirus cleaning is enabled or disabled.
Avdownloadscanenabled	Specifies whether documents are scanned when they are downloaded.
Avnumberofthreads	Specifies the number of threads to use for antivirus processes.
Avtimeout	Specifies how long to wait before an antivirus process times out.
Avuploadscanenabled	Specifies whether documents are scanned when they are uploaded.
Change-log-expiration-enabled	Specifies whether change logs are deleted after the time span defined in the Change-log-retention-period: Stsadm property (Office SharePoint Server) property.
Change-log-retention-period	Specifies the amount of time to preserve change logs
Command-line-upgrade-running	Specifies whether the upgrade process has already been started.
Data-retrieval-services-enabled	Turns data retrieval services on or off.
Data-retrieval-services-inherit	Specifies whether the Web application inherits data retrieval service settings that are located on the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Data-retrieval-services-oledb-providers	Obsolete.
Data-retrieval-services-response-size	Specifies the response size of the data source that is returned to the data retrieval service.
Data-retrieval-services-timeout	Specifies the request time out setting.
Data-retrieval-services-update	Turns the support for update queries on or off.
Data-source-controls-enabled	Turns the data source controls on the server on or off.
Database-command-timeout	Retrieves or sets the wait time before terminating the attempt to execute a command and generating an error.
Database-connection-timeout	Retrieves an open connection or sets a connection to a Microsoft SQL Server database.
Days-to-show-new-icon	Specifies the number of days to display the "New" icon for items added to a Web site.
Dead-site-auto-delete	Turns on or off the setting to delete the site collection
Dead-site-notify-after	Specifies the number of days to wait before sending notifications
Dead-site-num-notifications	Specifies the number of notifications to send
Defaultquotatemplate	Specifies the default quota template to be used when creating new site collection on a specified Web application.
Defaulttimezone	Specifies the time zone for sites that are created in a Web application.
Delete-web-send-email	Deletes the site collection if use is not confirmed
Irmaddinsenabled	Specifies a rights management platform other than Windows Rights Management Server.
Irmrmscertserver	Specifies the location of the Windows Rights Management Services server.
Irmrmsenabled	Controls whether the server should use the Windows RMS infrastructure instead of another rights management platform.
Irmrmsusead	Specifies that Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 should use the location of the RMS server that is stored in Active Directory, rather than an administrator manually specifying the location of the Windows RMS.
Job-ceip-datacollection	Specifies the time schedule for when Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) data is collected.
Job-change-log-expiration	Specifies the time schedule when the change log timer job occurs.
Job-config-refresh	Specifies the schedule for the configuration refresh job.
Job-database-statistics	Specifies the time schedule when database statistics are collected.
Job-dead-site-delete	Specifies the frequency interval and time range to delete unused Web sites automatically, for example, "Weekly at Sat 0:00:00".
Job-immediate-alerts	Specifies the frequency to check for alerts that are to be sent immediately.
Job-recycle-bin-cleanup	Specifies the time schedule for a cleanup of the Recycle Bin to occur.
Job-usage-analysis	Lets an administrator set the time interval for usage processing.
Job-watson-trigger	Displays the time schedule of the Windows SharePoint Services Watson Upload job.
Job-workflow	Sends the workflow events that have been queued and delivers them to workflows.
Job-workflow-autoclean	Specifies the time schedule for when a scan occurs to delete workflow instance data.
Job-workflow-failover	Specifies a schedule for restarting workflow operations that fail because of external reasons.
Large-file-chunk-size	Specifies the amount of data that can be read from the server running Microsoft SQL Server at one time.
Max-file-post-size	Specifies the maximum allowable size for a single upload of content to any site.
Peoplepicker-activedirectorysearchtimeout	Configures the timeout when a query is issued to Active Directory.
Peoplepicker-distributionlistsearchdomains	Restricts the search of a distribution list to a specific subset of domains.
Peoplepicker-nowindowsaccountsfornonwindowsauthenticationmode	Specifies not to search Active Directory when the current port is using forms-based authentication.
Peoplepicker-onlysearchwithinsitecollection	Displays only users that are members of the site collection.
Peoplepicker-searchadcustomfilter	Enables a farm administrator to specify a unique search query.
Peoplepicker-searchadcustomquery	Permits the administrator to set the custom query that is sent to Active Directory.
Peoplepicker-searchadforests	Permits a user to search from a second one-way trusted forest or domain.
Peoplepicker- serviceaccountdirectorypaths	Enables a farm administrator to manage the site collection that has a specific organizational unit (OU) setting defined.
Presenceenabled	Allows users of a SharePoint site to see if other users are online and send instant messages to them.
Recycle-bin-cleanup-enabled	Specifies whether a cleanup to the recycle bin occurs.
Recycle-bin-enabled	Turns the Recycle Bin on or off.
Recycle-bin-retention-period	Specifies the retention period, in days, of deleted items in the Recycle Bin.
Second-stage-recycle-bin-quota	Specifies how much hard disk space is available to a second stage Recycle Bin as a percentage of the quota allotted to the Web application.
Token-timeout	Specifies the amount of time before a user token times out.
Usageprocessingenabled	Configures whether the usage analysis process is turned on or off.
Workflow-cpu-throttle	Obsolete.
Workflow-eventdelivery-batchsize	Specifies the maximum number of work items that will be paged in to a processing timer job.
Workflow-eventdelivery-throttle	The number of workflows that can be processed (that is, using the processor, not idle) at the same time across all Web front-end computers.
Workflow-eventdelivery-timeout	The time value a workflow job must run without the job timing out.
Workflow-timerjob-cpu-throttle	Obsolete.
Workitem-eventdelivery-batchsize	The paging size for events delivered to a single workflow instance.
Workitem-eventdelivery-throttle	Specifies the maximum number of work items that can be obtained on a given query for runnable work items

How to Identify the SPFile.Properties hash table collection

using Microsoft.Sharepoint;
using System.Collections;


SPSite _site = new SPSite("http://servername");
SPFile _file = _site.OpenWeb().Folders("/Pages").File[1];
Hashtable ht = _file.Properties;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.AppendLine("**The Properties of " + _file.Name.ToString()+" are as follows**");
foreach(DictionaryEntry de in ht)
{
sb.Appendline("The key is " + de.Key.ToString() + " ; Value is " + de.Value.ToString() );

}

MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString());

To Identify whether page is ghosted or not use SPFile.CustomizedPageStatus.

YUKON Reporting Services and MOSS 2007

I have just begun to learn SSRS + MOSS in a Integrated tone.
Came through the following links and felt as these would be good starters

Download :Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies

My favourite notes on SSRS + MOSS

Configure the Report Server Integration Feature in SharePoint Central Administration

How to: Activate the Report Server Feature in SharePoint Central Administration

Report Server How-to Topics (SharePoint Integrated Mode)

Configuring Reporting Services for SharePoint 3.0 Integration

Requirements for Running Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode

Using the Report Viewer Web Part on a SharePoint Site

Customizing the Report Viewer Web Part

Deploying Reports, Models, and Shared Data Sources to a SharePoint Site

How to avoid your MOSS WebSite Breaking - Part-2

This time we will see how the contributors group work.
-- (will continue this shortly,now am moved to SSRS integration with MOSS)


These are some of the videos from Microsoft on usage of SharePointDesigner(SPD)

• Intro to SharePoint Designer


• Customize SharePoint Sites


• Create and Modify Layout Pages


• How to create Layouts


• Create and Modify rules based workflow applications


• Build Composite no-code SharePoint Application


• Visual Studio Integration
  

Opening the Sharepoint designer via Command line with the required page.
1. Go to windows--Run
2. Type in "spdesign.exe /n http://servername/sitename/page.aspx".

• This opens the sharepoint designer with a copy of page of our choice.

..
Happy SPD'ing

How to avoid your MOSS WebSite Breaking

Very often we work with with various groups such as Web designers or content authors who are working on different aspects of a Web site. With so many groups working simultaneously, you are probably worried that somebody might inadvertently break a site — for example, by changing the design of the home page, modifying the style sheet, saving files in a wrong location, or breaking the site navigation or search functionality. If you are concerned, then I have a good news, We can avoid these scenarios by using Contributor Settings to turn on and configure Contributor mode in Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

Let us see what are these Contributor groups and how they are related to MOSS/SPD.
1. Contributor mode is enabled by default, and there is no required setup for the site manager or administrator. Only an administrator can turn Contributor mode on or off.

2.With Contributor Settings, a site manager can define Contributor groups in an organization, and then define exactly what tasks they can or cannot do in Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

3.This means that you can use the Contributor Settings to set different editing restrictions for different groups.

• For example, you can allow Web designers to create new styles but restrict content authors from doing the same.


• Or you can allow content authors to create new pages from a master page but restrict the same for a different group.


• Site managers can configure Contributor groups so that users have access to only those commands and features in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 that they need to complete their tasks.

The features that you can access in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 depend on your role in the organization. See the following table for more details.
The features that you can access in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 depend on
your role in the organization.
If you are a Site Manager
If your SharePoint permission level gives you full control, you can:

• Create Contributor groups and assign them editing restrictions.
  Insert content regions on a master page and specify the type of content that is allowed in that region.


• Restrict areas outside of content regions on a master page from being edited.
  Control how and what types of pages are created and where content is saved.


• Prevent users from modifying the default home page, master page, or any other page included in the site definition.


• Allow full, unrestricted use of Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to only the groups you choose.

If you are User such as a Web Designer or a Content Author (or any restricted user)
Depending on the editing restrictions for your Contributor group, you can:

• Create new pages


• Apply styles and formatting to existing pages.


• Insert images and media files


• Work with SharePoint content such as Web Parts and Data Views

Contributor Settings is not a security feature
Important
1)Contributor Settings is not a security feature. Contributor mode is a limited access mode for users who open and edit SharePoint sites in Office SharePoint Designer 2007.
2)Contributor mode is designed to be used in an environment where site managers are confident of their users’ intentions.
3)Contributor mode helps to guide users in a particular direction to carry out their tasks, and this guidance prevents accidental changes to the Web site.

Understanding the Anatomy of MOSS

I found a cute article which provides the dissected view of MOSS.
Go through this link : MOSS Anatomy

Using DataFormWebPart to render the List

1. Open the page in Sharepoint Designer
2. Insert the DataformWebpart
3. Select the required list
4. Switch to code pane of SPD.

Replace the entire XSL
<xsl>
<?xml:namespace prefix = xsl />
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" x="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" prefixes="xsl msxsl ddwrt" ddwrt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebParts/v2/DataView/runtime" asp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ASPNET/20" __designer="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebParts/v2/DataView/designer" xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" sharepoint="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" ddwrt2="urn:frontpage:internal">

<xsl:output indent="no" method="html"></xsl:output>
<xsl:decimal-format nan=""></xsl:decimal-format>
<xsl:param name="dvt_apos">'</xsl:param>
<xsl:variable name="dvt_1_automode">0</xsl:variable>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:call-template name="dvt_1"></xsl:call-template>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1">
<xsl:variable name="dvt_StyleName">Table</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="Rows" select="/dsQueryResponse/Rows/Row"></xsl:variable>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%" border="0">
<tbody><tr valign="top">
<xsl:if test="$dvt_1_automode = '1'" cf_ignore="1">
<th class="ms-vh" width="1%"></th>
</xsl:if>
<th class="ms-vh">Title</th>
</tr>
<xsl:call-template name="dvt_1.body">
<xsl:with-param name="Rows" select="$Rows"></xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>
</tbody></table>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1.body">
<xsl:param name="Rows"></xsl:param>
<xsl:for-each select="$Rows">
<span class="ms-acclink">
<xsl:text escaping="yes">&nbsp;</xsl:text>
<xsl:text></xsl:text>
<xsl:text escaping="yes">&nbsp;</xsl:text>
</span>

<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of select="@NavigateURL"></xsl:value-of></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:attribute name="title"><xsl:value-of select="@Location"></xsl:value-of>-- <xsl:value-of select="@WorkCity"></xsl:value-of></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="@Title"></xsl:value-of>
</a>

</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet></xsl>
<parameterbindings>
<parameterbinding name="ListName" defaultvalue="TopNavigation" location="None">
<parameterbinding name="WebURL" defaultvalue="/" location="None">
<parameterbinding name="dvt_apos" location="Postback;Connection">
<parameterbinding name="UserID" defaultvalue="CurrentUserName" location="CAMLVariable">
<parameterbinding name="Today" defaultvalue="CurrentDate" location="CAMLVariable">
</parameterbindings>

Getting user full name from Login information in MOSS

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles;
using Microsoft.Office.Server;





SPSite _site = new SPSite("http://server/");
ServerContext scontext = ServerContext.GetContext(_site);
SPUser memb = _site.OpenWeb().CurrentUser;
UserProfileManager upm = new UserProfileManager(scontext);
UserProfile up = upm.GetUserProfile(memb.LoginName);
MessageBox.Show(up["FirstName"].ToString() + up["LastName"].ToString());




Hope this will help.

we can get from Active directory also.

In this we are accessing only sharepoint user profile store