1.1 Glossary

This document uses the following terms:

access control list (ACL): A list of access control entries (ACEs) that collectively describe the security rules for authorizing access to some resource; for example, an object or set of objects.

Active Directory account creation mode: A type of account creation mode that retrieves and uses user accounts in a specific Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) organizational unit.

alert: A message that is passed to a protocol client to notify it when specific criteria are met.

anonymous user: A user who presents no credentials when identifying himself or herself. The process for determining an anonymous user can differ based on the authentication protocol, and the documentation for the relevant authentication protocol should be consulted.

assembly name: The name of a collection of one or more files that is versioned and deployed as a unit. See also assembly.

attachment: An external file that is included with an Internet message or associated with an item in a SharePoint list.

author: The user who created a list item.

back-end database server: A server that hosts data, configuration settings, and stored procedures that are associated with one or more applications.

backward link: A hyperlink between a referenced document and a referencing party. For example, if Document A contains a hyperlink to Document B, then Document B has a backward link to Document A.

base type: An XML-based schema that defines the data and rendering fields that can be used in a list (1). Every list is derived from a specific base type.

Boolean: An operation or expression that can be evaluated only as either true or false.

bot: A structured HTML comment that is processed by a front-end web server when the containing document is opened by or saved to the server. Also referred to as web bot.

character set: A mapping between the characters of a written language and the values that are used to represent those characters to a computer.

check out: The process of retrieving a writable copy of a file or project from a source repository. This locks the file for editing to prevent other users from overwriting or editing it inadvertently.

checked out: A publishing level that indicates that a document has been created and locked for exclusive editing by a user in a version control system.

class identifier (CLSID): A GUID that identifies a software component; for instance, a DCOM object class or a COM class.

Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML): An XML-based language that is used to describe various elements, such as queries and views, in sites that are based on SharePoint Products and Technologies.

collation order: A rule for establishing a sequence for textual information.

Component Object Model (COM): An object-oriented programming model that defines how objects interact within a single process or between processes. In COM, clients have access to an object through interfaces implemented on the object. For more information, see [MS-DCOM].

configuration database: A database that is stored on a back-end database server and contains both persisted objects and site collection metadata for lookup purposes.

content database: A database that is stored on a back-end database server and contains stored procedures, site collections, and the contents of those site collections.

content type: A named and uniquely identifiable collection of settings and fields that store metadata for individual items in a SharePoint list. One or more content types can be associated with a list, which restricts the contents to items of those types.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC): A high-precision atomic time standard that approximately tracks Universal Time (UT). It is the basis for legal, civil time all over the Earth. Time zones around the world are expressed as positive and negative offsets from UTC. In this role, it is also referred to as Zulu time (Z) and Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). In these specifications, all references to UTC refer to the time at UTC-0 (or GMT).

current user: The user who is authenticated during processing operations on a front-end web server or a back-end database server.

current version: The latest version of a document that is available to a user, based on the permissions of the user and the publishing level of the document.

default view: The layout and organization of a document or list that appears automatically when users open that document or display that list.

directory name: A segment of a store-relative URL that refers to a directory. A directory name is everything that appears before the last slash in a store-relative form URL.

directory service (DS): A service that stores and organizes information about a computer network's users and network shares, and that allows network administrators to manage users' access to the shares. See also Active Directory.

dirty: The condition of an entity, such as a component or a file, that indicates that the entity or properties of the entity were changed after the entity was last saved.

discussion board: A list in which users can read, post, and reply to messages from other users who are members of the same discussion board.

display name: A text string that is used to identify a principal or other object in the user interface. Also referred to as title.

displayed version: Document version information that is formatted for display in the user interface. The displayed version uses the format MajorVersion.MinorVersion, where MajorVersion is the published version number and MinorVersion is the draft version number, separated by a decimal point. See also major version and minor version.

document: An object in a content database such as a file, folder, list (1), or site. Each object is identified by a URI.

document identifier: A GUID that identifies a document.

document library: A type of list that is a container for documents and folders.

document stream: A byte stream that is associated with a document, such as the content of a file. Some documents do not have document streams.

document template: A file that serves as the basis for new documents.

document version: A copy of a list item that has a version number. A document version can be either a historical version or a current version.

domain group: A container for security and distribution groups. A domain group can also contain other domain groups.

draft: A version of a document or list item that does not have a publishing level of "Published" or "Checked Out".

dynamic web template: An HTML-based master copy of a page that contains settings, formatting, and elements such as text, graphics, page layout, styles, and regions of a page that can be modified. Dynamic web templates have a .dwt file name extension.

email address: A string that identifies a user and enables the user to receive Internet messages.

empty string: A string object or variable that is initialized with the value "".

event: (1) Any significant occurrence in a system or an application that requires users to be notified or an entry to be added to a log.

(2) An action or occurrence to which an application might respond. Examples include state changes, data transfers, key presses, and mouse movements.

event receiver: A structured modular component that enables built-in or user-defined managed code classes to act upon objects, such as list items, lists (1), or content types, when specific triggering actions occur.

event sink: A structured, modular component that enables built-in or user-defined classes to act on documents in document libraries when specific triggering actions occur. Event sinks are a deprecated, implementation-specific capability of Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. In Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010, they are replaced by the capabilities of event receivers.

feature: A package of SharePoint elements that can be activated or deactivated for a specific feature scope.

field: A container for metadata within a SharePoint list and associated list items.

field definition: The definition of a field in the Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML).

folder: A file system construct. File systems organize a volume's data by providing a hierarchy of objects, which are referred to as folders or directories, that contain files and can also contain other folders.

form: A document with a set of controls into which users can enter information. Controls on a form can be bound to elements in the data source of the form, such as fields and groups. See also bind.

forward link: A hyperlink between a referenced document and a referencing party. For example, if Document A contains a hyperlink to Document B, Document A has a forward link to Document B.

front-end web server: A server that hosts webpages, performs processing tasks, and accepts requests from protocol clients and sends them to the appropriate back-end server for further processing.

ghosted: A property that is not deleted by the server if the element is not included in a Sync <Change> request message.

globally unique identifier (GUID): A term used interchangeably with universally unique identifier (UUID) in Microsoft protocol technical documents (TDs). Interchanging the usage of these terms does not imply or require a specific algorithm or mechanism to generate the value. Specifically, the use of this term does not imply or require that the algorithms described in [RFC4122] or [C706] must be used for generating the GUID. See also universally unique identifier (UUID).

group: A named collection of users who share similar access permissions or roles.

hash: A fixed-size result that is obtained by applying a one-way mathematical function, which is sometimes referred to as a hash algorithm, to an arbitrary amount of data. If the input data changes, the hash also changes. The hash can be used in many operations, including authentication and digital signing.

host header: An Internet host and port number that identifies a network resource.

HTTP GET: An HTTP method for retrieving a resource, as described in [RFC2616].

HTTP HEAD: An HTTP method for retrieving header information for a resource, as described in [RFC2616].

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): An application of the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML) that uses tags to mark elements in a document, as described in [HTML].

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP): An application-level protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems (text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files) on the World Wide Web.

Input Method Editor (IME): An application that is used to enter characters in written Asian languages by using a standard 101-key keyboard. An IME consists of both an engine that converts keystrokes into phonetic and ideographic characters and a dictionary of commonly used ideographic words.

Integrated Windows authentication: A configuration setting that enables negotiation of authentication protocols in Internet Information Services (IIS). Integrated Windows authentication is more secure than Basic authentication, because the user name and password are hashed instead of plaintext.

internal version number: A number that increases monotonically and is used to identify conflicts when saving an item.

item: A unit of content that can be indexed and searched by a search application.

item identifier: An integer that uniquely identifies an item in a SharePoint list.

language code identifier (LCID): A 32-bit number that identifies the user interface human language dialect or variation that is supported by an application or a client computer.

leaf name: The segment of a URL that follows the last slash. If the resource is a directory, the leaf name can be an empty string.

level: A relative position in a hierarchy of data. A level is frequently used when describing how to navigate a hierarchy in an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) database or a PivotTable report.

link: An attribute value that refers to a directory object and whose Attribute-Schema object specifies an even value for the linkId attribute. Also referred to as forward link.

list: (1) A container within a SharePoint site that stores list items. A list has a customizable schema that is composed of one or more fields.

(2) An organization of a region of cells into a tabular structure in a workbook.

list item: An individual entry within a SharePoint list. Each list item has a schema that maps to fields in the list that contains the item, depending on the content type of the item.

list server template: A value that identifies the template that is used for a SharePoint list.

list template: An XML-based definition of list settings, including fields and views, and optionally list items. List templates are stored in .stp files in the content database.

list view: A named collection of settings for querying and displaying items in a SharePoint list. There are two types of views: Personal, which can be used only by the user who created the view; and Public, which can be used by all users who have permission to access to the site.

locale: A collection of rules and data that are specific to a language and a geographical area. A locale can include information about sorting rules, date and time formatting, numeric and monetary conventions, and character classification.

locked: The condition of a cell, worksheet, or other object that restricts edits or modifications to it by users.

login name: A string that is used to identify a user or entity to an operating system, directory service, or distributed system. For example, in Windows-integrated authentication, a login name uses the form "DOMAIN\username".

Meeting Workspace site: A SharePoint site that is based on a Meeting Workspace site template and has a template ID value of "2". A Meeting Workspace site is used for planning, posting, and working together on meeting materials.

member: A user in the Members group of a site.

metadict: A dictionary that has strongly typed values.

moderation status: A content approval status that indicates whether a list item was approved by a moderator.

navigation node: An element in the navigational structure of a site. The element is a link or a series of links to a specific page in the site.

navigation node element identifier: An integer that identifies a navigation node. This value is unique for every navigation node in the navigational structure of a SharePoint site.

navigation structure: A hierarchical organization of links between related content on a site.

owner: A security principal who has the requisite permission to manage a security group.

page: A file that consists of HTML and can include references to graphics, scripts, or dynamic content such as Web Parts.

page type: An integer that specifies the type of a page.

parent site: The site that is above the current site in the hierarchy of the site collection.

permission: A rule that is associated with an object and that regulates which users can gain access to the object and in what manner. See also rights.

permission level: A set of permissions that can be granted to principals or SharePoint groups on an entity such as a site, list, folder, item, or document.

personal view: A view of a list that is created by a user for personal use. The view is unavailable to other users.

principal: (1) An authenticated entity that initiates a message or channel in a distributed system.

(2) An identifier of such an entity.

property bag: A container that stores data but is not defined in the schema for a SharePoint list. Instead of interpreting data in a property bag, the server only passes the data in response to requests. See also metadict.

published: A condition of portions of a workbook that are marked as being available to the user when that workbook is processed by a protocol server.

published version: The version of a list item that is approved and can be seen by all users. The user interface (UI) version number for a published version is incremented to the next positive major version number and the minor version is "0" (zero). See also major version and minor version.

read-only mode: An attribute that indicates that an object cannot be changed or deleted. The object can only be accessed or displayed.

result set: A list of records that results from running a stored procedure or query, or applying a filter. The structure and content of the data in a result set varies according to the implementation.

return code: A code that is used to report the outcome of a procedure or to influence subsequent events when a routine or process terminates (returns) and passes control of the system to another routine. For example, a return code can indicate whether an operation was successful.

role: A symbolic name that defines a class of users for a set of components. A role defines which users can call interfaces on a component.

role assignment: An association between a principal or a site group and a role definition.

role definition: A named set of permissions for a SharePoint site. See also permission level.

root folder: The folder at the top of a hierarchy of folders in a list.

security group: A named group of principals on a SharePoint site.

security principal: An identity that can be used to regulate access to resources. A security principal can be a user, a computer, or a group that represents a set of users.

security provider: A Component Object Model (COM) object that provides methods that return custom information about the security of a site.

security role: A defined set of access privileges. The security role that is assigned to a user determines the tasks that a user can perform and which parts of the user interface a user can view.

security scope: A tree structure of objects in which every object has the same security settings as the root.

Security Support Provider Interface (SSPI): An API that allows connected applications to call one of several security providers to establish authenticated connections and to exchange data securely over those connections. It is equivalent to Generic Security Services (GSS)-API, and the two are on-the-wire compatible.

server-relative URL: A relative URL that does not specify a scheme or host, and assumes a base URI of the root of the host, as described in [RFC3986].

setup path: The location where supporting files for a product or technology are installed.

short-term lock: A type of check-out process in Windows SharePoint Services. Short-term checkouts are implicit and are done when a file is opened for editing. A lock is applied to the file while it is being edited in the client application so that other users cannot modify it. After the client application is closed, the lock is released.

site: A group of related pages and data within a SharePoint site collection. The structure and content of a site is based on a site definition. Also referred to as SharePoint site and web site.

site collection: A set of websites that are in the same content database, have the same owner, and share administration settings. A site collection can be identified by a GUID or the URL of the top-level site for the site collection. Each site collection contains a top-level site, can contain one or more subsites, and can have a shared navigational structure.

site collection administrator: A user who has administrative permissions for a site collection.

site collection identifier: A GUID that identifies a site collection. In stored procedures, the identifier is typically "@SiteId" or "@WebSiteId". In databases, the identifier is typically "SiteId/tp_SiteId".

site definition: A family of site definition configurations. Each site definition specifies a name and contains a list of associated site definition configurations.

site template: An XML-based definition of site settings, including formatting, lists, views, and elements such as text, graphics, page layout, and styles. Site templates are stored in .stp files in the content database.

SQL authentication: One of two mechanisms for validating attempts to connect to instances of SQL Server. In SQL authentication, users specify a SQL Server login name and password when they connect. The SQL Server instance ensures that the login name and password combination are valid before permitting the connection to succeed.

stored procedure: A precompiled collection of SQL statements and, optionally, control-of-flow statements that are stored under a name and processed as a unit. They are stored in a SQL database and can be run with one call from an application. Stored procedures return an integer return code and can additionally return one or more result sets. Also referred to as sproc.

store-relative form: See store-relative URL.

store-relative URL: A URL that consists only of a path segment and does not include the leading and trailing slash.

stream: An element of a compound file, as described in [MS-CFB]. A stream contains a sequence of bytes that can be read from or written to by an application, and they can exist only in storages.

Structured Query Language (SQL): A database query and programming language that is widely used for accessing, querying, updating, and managing data in relational database systems.

subsite: A complete website that is stored in a named subdirectory of another website. The parent website can be the top-level site of a site collection or another subsite. Also referred to as subweb.

SystemID: A binary identifier that is used to uniquely identify a security principal. For Windows integrated authentication, it is a security identifier (SID). For an ASP.NET Forms Authentication provider, it is the binary representation that is derived from a combination of the provider name and the user login name.

thicket: A means of storing a complex HTML document with its related files. It consists of a thicket main file and a hidden thicket folder that contains a thicket manifest and a set of thicket supporting files that, together, store the referenced content of the document.

thicket folder: A hidden folder that contains a thicket manifest and a set of thicket supporting files that, together, store the referenced content of a complex HTML document.

thicket main file: The core file of a complex HTML document. It references contained elements such as graphics, pictures, or other media that are stored as thicket supporting files in a thicket folder. The thicket main file is the target that is used by a protocol client to access the content of the document.

Transact-Structured Query Language (T-SQL): A language that contains the commands that are used to manage instances of Microsoft SQL Server, create and manage all objects in an instance of SQL Server, and to insert, retrieve, modify, and delete all data in SQL Server tables. Transact-SQL is an extension of the language that is defined in the SQL standards that are published by the International Standards Organization (ISO) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

type information: A collection of information that describes the characteristics and capabilities of an object, including the properties, events, and methods for the object.

Uniform Resource Locator (URL): A string of characters in a standardized format that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web. The format is as specified in [RFC1738].

unique identifier (UID): A pair consisting of a GUID and a version sequence number to identify each resource uniquely. The UID is used to track the object for its entire lifetime through any number of times that the object is modified or renamed.

user identifier: An integer that uniquely identifies a security principal as distinct from all other security principals and site groups within the same site collection.

user interface (UI) version: A single 4-byte integer that stores the version number that appears as a document version number in the user interface. The lower 9 bits correspond to the minor version number of the displayed version. The remaining 23 bits correspond to the major version number of the displayed version. See also displayed version.

user name: A unique name that identifies a specific user account. The user name of an account is unique among the other group names and user names within its own domain or workgroup.

UTF-8: A byte-oriented standard for encoding Unicode characters, defined in the Unicode standard. Unless specified otherwise, this term refers to the UTF-8 encoding form specified in [UNICODE5.0.0/2007] section 3.9.

version: See displayed version, historical version, major version, and minor version.

view: See form view (Microsoft InfoPath), list view (SharePoint Products and Technologies), or View (Microsoft Business Connectivity Services).

view identifier: A GUID that is used to uniquely identify a view.

virus scanner: Software that is used to search for and remove computer viruses, worms, and Trojan horses.

web bot: See bot.

web discussion: A component and add-in that enables users to enter comments about documents and pages without modifying the actual content of those documents or pages.

Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning Protocol (WebDAV): The Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning Protocol, as described in [RFC2518] or [RFC4918].

Web Part: A reusable component that contains or generates web-based content such as XML, HTML, and scripting code. It has a standard property schema and displays that content in a cohesive unit on a webpage. See also Web Parts Page.

Web Part Page: An ASP.NET webpage that includes Web Part controls that enable users to customize the page, such as specifying which information to display. Referred to as Web Parts Page in SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Web Part zone: A structured HTML section of a Web Parts Page that contains zero or more Web Parts and can be configured to control the organization and format of those Web Parts.

Web Part zone identifier: A string that identifies a Web Part zone on a Web Parts Page.

Welcome page: A page, such as default.aspx, that can be specified as the default redirect target when users browse to a URL without specifying a leaf name.

Windows code page: A table that relates the character codes (code point values) that are used by an application to keys on a keyboard or to characters on a display. This provides support for character sets and keyboard layouts for different countries or regions. Also referred to as character set or charset.

Windows collation name: A string identifier that follows the format of the Transact-Structured Query Language (T-SQL) COLLATE clause.

XML: The Extensible Markup Language, as described in [XML1.0].

XML document: A document object that is well formed, as described in [XML10/5], and might be valid. An XML document has a logical structure that is composed of declarations, elements, comments, character references, and processing instructions. It also has a physical structure that is composed of entities, starting with the root, or document, entity.

XML Path Language (XPath): A language used to create expressions that can address parts of an XML document, manipulate strings, numbers, and Booleans, and can match a set of nodes in the document, as specified in [XPATH]. XPath models an XML document as a tree of nodes of different types, including element, attribute, and text. XPath expressions can identify the nodes in an XML document based on their type, name, and values, as well as the relationship of a node to other nodes in the document.

MAY, SHOULD, MUST, SHOULD NOT, MUST NOT: These terms (in all caps) are used as defined in [RFC2119]. All statements of optional behavior use either MAY, SHOULD, or SHOULD NOT.