Finding the SharePoint Site Collection URL on the Client

Little tip - if your client-side code needs to know the URL of the site collection hosting a SharePoint page, have a look at the properties of the _spPageContextInfo object in the HTML source of the page.

This JavaScript object is written into each page, and contains useful information about that page. For my requirement, the _spPageContextInfo.siteServerRelativeUrl property contains the value I needed.

Simple Glossary App (Beta) for SharePoint Released

Have just published details of a new simple glossary/theasaurus application for SharePoint - OneStride Define. The idea behind this, and other layers planned for the framework, is to offer a way to layer interactivity and information on top of existing SharePoint pages.

No need to modify pages that already refer to a word that needs to be clearly defined - just add that word to a dedicated list in SharePoint, and any occurrence of that word in published pages or text fields in lists will be linked to the definition. Nice n' simple.


An additional benefit is that the framework and this first "layer" are supplied as sandboxed solutions, meaning that they can be deployed through the browser, run isolated from the rest of SharePoint and are suitable for use in hosted SharePoint (Office 365 here we come!).

This beta will be available until the end of May 2011. Have a look and let me know what you think!