Building Content Type Solutin in Sharepoint 2007
Whether using Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 or its more robust sister
product, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, you can leverage an
abundance of features to build enterprise application solutions. One feature
in particular that has stirred us is the content type. This feature allows you to
define a collection of metadata and processes for a certain type of content within
your organization. For example, a sales proposal would consist of a document,
perhaps some attributes that identify the sales representative and customer, and a
workflow that routes the document for approval from key stakeholders. Taken
together, the sales proposal document, attributes, and workflow process comprise
a SharePoint content type.
In addition to having metadata and processes, a content type can be built once
and then leveraged throughout your organization. You can create a content type in
a site collection, site, or list, and then reuse that site content anywhere within that
SharePoint hierarchical level. For example, an expense report content type defined
at the site level can be referenced from multiple document libraries within that site.
Moreover, when you reference that expense report content type, you can customize
it at the document library level without affecting the parent content type on which
it was based.
