SharePoint OnPrem - Installing and Implementing the SharePoint Learning Kit

This document applies to SharePoint installations on-premises, not SharePoint Online. 

We currently support SharePoint 2016, SharePoint 2019

Important: Please remember to enable SameSite cookies in UniversitySite.  It's found on the Login Settings page in Global Settings inside the "Other Settings" section as show below.

Installation

There are three folders included in the zip file containing the UniversitySite SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK). Each folder is named for the version SharePoint that the installers are for.

There are three subfolders in each SharePoint folder:

1. Configurator
2. Profiscience.UniversitySite.SharePoint
3. UniversitySiteListMaker

Configurator is an app you will use to connect your SharePoint system to the UniversitySite System. You will need to provide information about your UniversitySite setup to this app so that the UniversitySite web parts in SharePoint know how to communicate with UniversitySite. You can also use this app to provide global customizations for the UniversitySite web parts. This application must run on the SharePoint server.

You will need to fill in the URL and Access ID. You can get these values from InstructorSite. If you are logged in as a user with the administrator role, go to Global Settings/Extensions/SharePoint Extension. If Enable web parts is not checked, enable it.

Profiscience.UniversitySite.SharePoint — in this folder you will find the WSP file for the UniversitySite feature which includes all of the UniversitySite web parts. You can manually install the WSP via command line, PowerShell, or your favorite method for installing WSPs. We have also included a PowerShell script (Install.ps1) to install the WSP. If you are using the PowerShell script, you will need to be logged in as the SharePoint Administrator. After installing the WSP file, confirm that UniversitySite is listed in the Site Settings/Site Collection Features and that it is activated. There is a README file in this folder with more details on using the PowerShell script.

UniversiteSiteListMaker is a console application that is designed to be run as a scheduled task which will create lists in SharePoint containing links to Training Courses, Training Events, and Training Resources in UniversitySite. You can create a calendar in SharePoint which will display all the training events in UniversitySite and take advantage of all the calendar features that are built into SharePoint.

Browser settings -- Page viewer web parts may not work with SSO (single sign on) for hosted customers when the page viewer web parts load in the “Internet zone” whereas the SharePoint page itself is in “trusted sites”. The solution is to set their hosted UniversitySite in the trusted zone so that they aren’t prompted to login when they click on page viewer web parts. Both the SharePoint Site and UniversitySite must be in the same zone, the trusted site zone.

Web Protocol for SharePoint -- The web protocol (http vs. https) for SharePoint and UniversitySite should match. If you are a cloud customer, the web protocol for your SharePoint site URL, should use HTTPS.

Note: The SharePoint server must be able to connect to https://[your universitysite url]/webservices. You may need to check your firewall and whitelist this URL.

Upgrade Process

1. Deactivate UniversitySite web parts in Site collections
2. Uninstall SharePoint Learning Kit using the script called Uninstall.ps1 or your preferred method of uninstall WSPs.
3. Reinstall the new version of SharePoint Learning Kit
4. Reactivate new web parts

Customizable Web Parts

These UniversitySite SLK web parts are part of our infinitely customizable collection of  web parts. The web parts can be filtered by editing the web part in SharePoint. Web parts in this category include:

• Recent Activity
• To Do List
• Training Courses
• Training Events
• Training Resources
• LearningSite - Best Rated On-Demand Resources
• LearningSite - Current Events
• LearningSite - Featured Courses
• LearningSite - Featured Events
• LearningSite - Featured Plans
• LearningSite - Featured On-Demand
• LearningSite - Learning Activity Feed
• LearningSite - Learning Opportunities
• LearningSite - New Instructor-Led Courses
• LearningSite - New Plans
• LearningSite - New On-Demand Courses
• LearningSite - Trending On-Demand Resources
• LearningSite - Plans in Progress

These web parts are designed to plug and play nicely with other SharePoint web parts on the same page and with multiple instances of the same or other UniversitySite web parts on the same page. They map directly into functionality that exists in UniversitySite. All information displayed is specific to the current viewer. The information will be filtered by audience membership(s) the same as it is in UniversitySite.

The Recent Activity web part is a combination web part that can display items that are shown in the UniversitySite "Recent Learning Activity" page or the "Recent Learning Opportunities" page or both at the same time. You can specify exactly which activity type you wish to be displayed.

The To Do List web part provides a list of items that need attention by the current viewer. This could be  incomplete eLearning courses, incomplete Learning Plans, upcoming Training Events and more.

The Training Courses web part provides a catalog view of UniversitySite training courses. You can filter the courses shown via search parameters, course type, and/or tags. For example, you might have a SharePoint page designed for each different litigation area. You can tag courses in UniversitySite relevant to each litigation area and only display matching courses when adding this web part to those SharePoint pages.

The Training Events web part provides a list view of upcoming UniversitySite training events. You can filter the events by location, event type, and/or tags. For example, you might have a training page per office location. You can add a Training Events web part to each of those pages showing training only offered in those office locations or the web part can filter the events offered in the current's viewer's preferred location.

The look of the web part can be changed by applying a transform. You can view the xml and default transform by editing the web part and checking the box for debug mode. You apply the transform by supplying the url to the transform under the XSLT Url section.

Using Query String Parameters with Customizable Web Parts

The Customizable Web Parts are able to use a URL query string  to filter (on tags) the data displayed by the web part. This allow you to make one page but link to it using different URL query string.

Using this feature will override the web part settings. Here is how I have it is implemented:

1. Search Text: SharePointURL…?USST=searchText
1. Example: http://SharePoint/CustomizableWebParts/TrainingResources.aspx?USST=Office365
2. Tag Operator: SharePointURL…?USTO=AND or SharePointURL…?USTO=OR
1. Example: http://SharePoint/CustomizableWebParts/TrainingResources.aspx?USTN=excel,word&USTO=AND
2. Example: http://SharePoint/CustomizableWebParts/TrainingResources.aspx?USTN=excel,word&USTO=OR
3. Tag names: SharePointURL…?USTN=tagName1,tagName2,tagName3
1. Example: http://SharePoint/CustomizableWebParts/TrainingResources.aspx?USTN=excel,word, powerpoint

Page Viewer Web Parts

The UniversitySite SLK page viewer web parts are designed to provide a view of important UniversitySite Learning Center pages in SharePoint. Web parts in this category include:

• LearningSite Achievements
• LearningSite Courses
• LearningSite Events
• LearningSite Explorer
• LearningSite Home
• LearningSite Learning Plans
• LearningSite Resources
• LearningSite Settings
• LearningSite Subscriptions
• LearningSite To-dos
• LearningSite Videos
• Custom Page Viewer

These web parts are designed to take up the majority of the real estate on a page in SharePoint. While they will plug and play nicely with other SharePoint web parts on the same page and with multiple instances of other UniversitySite web parts on the same page, due to the sheer size of these pages they provide the best user experience if little else is on the SharePoint page in addition to the particular page viewer web part.

These web parts look identical to their equivalent page in UniversitySite and have no UniversitySite-specific web part settings so there is no additional documentation on each web.

The Custom Page Viewer is a special page viewer that allows you to pre-filter any page in UniversitySite and display it in SharePoint. For example, if you want to display a calendar with all of the firm CLE training events, you would first go to the Events page in LearningSite and filter it on a department or tag that is relevant to to the CLE events and view it in the Calendar display. You would then follow the instructions for editing the Custom Page viewer web part and then copy  and paste the relevant part of the URL into the Page Viewer settings.

Implementing Page Viewers

Recent  changes to the SameSite cookie in Chrome and Edge require the following changes to be made if UniversitySite and your SharePoint site are in different domains:

• SSL must be enabled in IIS for both UniversitySite and your SharePoint site
• UniversitySite's app config must contain a key named "UseSSL" with a value of "always"
• In Global Settings/Login Settings switch on Enable SameSite=none cookies (Important: you will not be able to do this step until the above steps are done)

Profile Web Parts

The UniversitySite SLK includes a web part designed to be placed on the user's SharePoint profile page. This web part will allow visitors to a user's profile page to view that user's recent activity. You can specify what activity types are included in the display of this web part. This web part is named "My Recent Activity".

Inserting a Web Part

On any SharePoint page, edit the page, click on the Insert tab and select Web parts.

The categories for the UniversitySite web parts all start with UniversitySite. Select the category and then the web part you want to insert and click add:

The options for filtering will depend on the web part. Tags and Search are always available. Search return all items whose title contains the search text.

Checklist after moving UniversitySite to the cloud

1. Make sure you are using the latest version of the SLK.
2. Update the URL in the configurator.
3. Set the hosted UniversitySite site and your SharePoint site in the trusted zone. Both the SharePoint Site and UniversitySite must be in the same zone, the trusted site zone.

ListMaker

UniversitySiteListMaker is a console application that is designed to be run as a scheduled job. This application can be used to create and update SharePoint lists containing UniversitySite content. These lists can then be operated on in SharePoint like any other SharePoint list. This is especially useful for a Calendar list that can be created and updated with this application for UniversitySite training events. It is important to note that once these lists are created in SharePoint, you can use SharePoint search to find items of interest.

When this application is run the first time, content types are created and the lists you have requested are created on the SharePoint site that you specify in the "UniversitySiteListMaker.exe.config" file.

Subsequent runs of this application will only add, delete, or update the items in the lists (it will also re-create any missing content types and the list if they have been accidentally deleted but the idea is to only update the items that have changed in UniversitySite since the last run).

You can run this application passing "/deleteAllUniversitySiteStuff" as a parameter on the command line. In this case, the application will delete the UniversitySite lists and content types it has created.

To run this app, you must have permission on the site you specify to create lists and content types.

The first time you run this app, it may take awhile. It may be a good idea to do this outside of regular working hours.

IMPORTANT:

If you are upgrading ListMaker.exe from a version of the UniversitySite SLK prior to 2013.1,

You will need to run the UniversitySiteListMaker with the /deleteAllUniversitySiteStuff parameter to delete all previous

SLK created lists. IF YOU DO NOT DO THIS, ERRORS WILL OCCUR THE NEXT TIME  ListMaker.exe IS RUN!

Once ListMaker is done running, the UniversitySite Content types should be listed in Site Settings/Site Content Types. The custom content types created by ListMaker are listed below:

The README.TXT file in the ListMaker folder contains more specific information for editing the Listmaker.config file to control which content types are created and the date range for the Event list types.