Sharepoint developer interview questions

Explain the WebPart life cycle.

WebPart life cycle also same as asp.net life cycle. Here you can find some additional events like CreateChildControls, RenderContents etc.

·         OnInit

·         OnLoad

·         CreateChildControls

·         OnPreRender

·         Render (RenderContents, etc)

What are Site Columns?

Site columns are pre-defined data columns (along with default values) which are re-used in various content types. A Content type is usually a collection of site columns.

When should you dispose SPWeb and SPSite objects? And even more important, when not?

You should always dispose them if you created them yourself, but not otherwise. You should never dispose SPContext.Current.Web/Site and you should normally not dispose SPWeb if IsRootWeb is true.

How does Client object model works?

When we use SharePoint client API’s to perform a specific task, the SharePoint Foundation 2010 managed client object model bundles up these uses of the API into XML and sends it to the server that runs SharePoint Foundation. The server receives this request, and makes appropriate calls into the object model on the server, collects the responses, forms them into JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), and sends that JSON back to the SharePoint Foundation 2010 managed client object model. The client object model parses the JSON and presents the results to the application as .NET Framework objects (or ECMAScript objects for ECMAScript).

What is difference between Load() and LoadQuery() methods ?

Load method populates the client object directly with what it gets data from the server i.e. a collection object like ListItemCollection etc. but LoadQuery returns the data as a completely new collection in  IEnumerable format. Other major difference is that the Collections that you load using the Load() method are eligible for garbage collection only when the client context variable itself goes out of scope where as, in  these collections go out of scope at the end of  IEnumerable<List> list.

What is Business Data Catalog or BDC?

It is a shared service that enables Office SharePoint Server 2007 to display business data from various back-end servers into a SharePoint page. Business Data Catalog or BDC provides built-in support for displaying data with various web parts and list\list columns that can help in easy creation of dashboards with data from your SQL, web services, SAP, Siebel, or any other line-of-business (LOB) applications.

Where are Master Pages and Layout Pages located in a SharePoint site?

They are location in master Page(Master Page Gallery) under _catalogs folder of root site.

What is the Difference between Master Pages and Layout Pages in SharePoint.

Master pages and page layouts dictate the overall look and feel of your SharePoint site.

Differences are

·         Master pages contain controls that are shared across multiple page layouts,

such as navigation,search, or language-preference for multilingual sites.

Page layouts contain field controls and Web Parts.

·         Page layouts can be used by all page instances that are based on that

page layout.Master pages can be used by all page instances in a site.

What is a Site definition?

A Site definition is a collection of Files such as ONET.XML which defines the Site template for e.g. Team Sites used to create a Site in SharePoit. All the out-of-box site Templates like Blog,Wiki,Team Site etc can be found in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\

What is a Site Template?

Any Site along with the content can be saved as a template. If a site is saved as a Template it is stored in Site templates folder as a .stp file. This template is then re-used to create a new site which will have the pre-saved settings.

What are content types?

A content type is a flexible and reusable template of type list item or document that defines the columns and behavior for an item in a list or a document in a document library. For example, you can create a content type for a Requirement document with a columns such LOE,Version,Approver,Date Created,Date Revised etc and this can be re-used in various document libraries.

What are the Authentication methods for your client object model application?

Basically there are three (3) authentication options you can use when you’re working with the Client Object Model in SharePoint 2010:

·         Anonymous

·         Default

·         Forms Authentication

Please let me know in case of any queries/questions. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues, Thank you