Web Parts and Windows SharePoint Services

Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint™ Services provides a Project Workspace for Microsoft® Office Project Server 2003 when you set up Project Server with Windows SharePoint Services. The Project Workspace includes a discussion board, shared document and picture libraries, and default lists with announcements, contacts, events, issues, risks, and links. Windows SharePoint Services also provides easy setup of surveys, related sites, document workspaces, and meeting workspaces within the Project Workspace. In addition to the defaults, you can create customized libraries, lists, and discussion boards.

A good way to create shared Web Part Pages is to make a document library with Web Part Pages as the default type. The following discussion shows how to make a shared page that uses one of the Project Server Web Parts. You can use the same procedure to make custom pages with each of the six Project Server Web Parts and share them in the Project Workspace of Windows SharePoint Services.

Note  If a Web Part Page contains a Project Server Web Part, users must have the necessary Project Server permissions to view the Web Part.

To create a Windows SharePoint Services document library for Web Part Pages:

1. In either Project Web Access or in Windows SharePoint Services, navigate to the View and Upload Documents page for public documents.

   • To access public documents from Project Web Access, click Documents in the menu pane, and then click View and upload public documents in the Actions pane.

     http://ProjectServerName/VirtualDirectoryName/DocLibMain.asp?ProjID=-99
     

     Note  You can create a document library that is associated with each project, and an organization-wide public document library that is associated with all projects. The URL option ProjID=-99 refers to the global public document library.

   • To access public documents from Windows SharePoint Services, open your browser and enter the URL of your Project Workspace Home page. For example:

     http://WSSServerName:5555/sites/MS_ProjectServer_PublicDocuments/default.aspx
     

2. Create a new shared document library.
   • In Project Web Access, click Create Document Library in the Project Document Libraries section.
   • In Windows SharePoint Services, click Create on the Windows SharePoint Services menu bar. On the Project Workspace Create Page page, click Document Library to create a new document library.
3. Type a name of the library, and a description if you want; for example, type the name Project Shared Web Part Pages. Accept the default values for Navigation and Document Versions. In the Document template drop-down list, click Web Part Page, and then click Create.

To create a page with a Project Server Web Part:

The following example uses the Project Timesheet Web Part. You can use any of the Project Server Web Parts, as described in Using the Default Project Server Web Parts.

1. In the Project Shared Web Part Pages library you created, click New Document. On the New Web Part Page page, type a name for the page. For example, Custom Project Timesheet.

2. In the Choose a Layout Template list, click Full Page, Vertical. Click Create.

3. In the Add Web Parts pane of the Custom Project Timesheet page, click the Project Workspace Gallery, and then click Next to see items 11 to 20 in the Web Part List.

4. Drag the Project Timesheet Web Part to the Full Page section in your page template. Then click the down arrow in the top right of the Project Timesheet Web Part, and click Modify Shared Web Part.

   Note  After you drop the Web Part on the page, sometimes it is necessary to refresh the page for Windows SharePoint Services. If you don't see the Web Part, click Refresh on the browser's toolbar.

5. Expand the Appearance section in the Project Timesheet properties pane on the right, click Yes in the Height section, and then set the fixed height to 6 inches (or whatever height you want). Click OK.

6. If you want to minimize the Title Bar Web Part, click Modify Shared Page, click Modify Shared Web Parts, and then click Web Part Page Title Bar. Clear the Title and Image Link text boxes, and click OK.

There are several ways to provide your team members easy access to the custom Web Part Pages. For example, you can add the URLs to the Links section in the Project Workspace in Windows SharePoint Services. Anyone in the organization who has access to the Windows SharePoint Services site can then use the Web Part Pages.

Your team members can also access the Web Part Pages through the Public Documents links in Project Web Access. For example, you can click Documents on the menu bar, click View and upload documents in all projects in the Actions pane, scroll the grid to the Public section, and then click Public Documents. The following figure shows the example shared library Project Shared Web Part Pages in Project Web Access.

When you click Custom Project Timesheet, you see the Web Part Page created in the example. In the following figure, the user has modified his personal view of the Web Part, and changed the title to Steve's Project Timesheet. The default shared view title is still Project Timesheet.

Note  You can add URL options to control user interface elements in Project Web Access, but they do not affect elements within the Web Part. For example, the following view includes SimpleUI=1 to remove the Project Web Access menu bar. The option SimpleUI=127 has no additional effect, because the other elements are specified within the Web Part.