Yet ANOTHER question about using Sharepoint to link to network shares

[elsen...@sbcglobal.net]

So, I've been reading HUNDREDS of posts asking the same question: Can I
use Sharepoint to link/point to/assimilate :P network shares and the
answers area all the same. Use links, import the documents and get rid
of network shares altogether, etc. You'd think that with SO many people
asking the same question and looking for a solution that does not
involve completely weaning their companies off of network shares MS
would have added this functionality but alas, no.

My question is, as the title says, another one about using Sharepoint
to link to network shares. However, I haven't seen anyone have the same
reason as I. Our company has asked me to build a team site for a
particular project team. Simple enough. Create site, create document
libraries, add content. Go home for the day. The problem is that, while
I can upload many of the documents in our existing shares, there are
some that MUST remain for reporting purposes. There are several scripts
which run nightly which point to specific directories looking for the
latest version of a file. I would like to use Sharepoint to maintain
version control and to allow mutlipe users to edit said files using the
check-in/check-out feature. Challenges:

1.- I can't ask dev to rewrite all their scripts. This site is part of
a 'proof of concept' project and only one of many. The scripts are
standardized around the current intranet structure and asking for one
to be rewritten just for this project is out of the question.
2.- I can't use links to the network shares. I must maintain version
control of these files so using a viewing web part is useless. I don't
just need to see the files, I need the ability to check-out a file,
edit it, check it back in, and maintain the version history.

So any solutions that don't involve losing the document management
capabilities which made us all start using Sharepoint in the first
place?

[Ivan Sanders]

Ceck this out it may help....

Windows Folder WebPart
http://www.gotdotnet.com/codegallery/codegallery.aspx?id=ff4f5718-a0ca-4562-a204-ab3b19679832

The Windows Folder web part allows users to store files within a standard
Windows (NTFS) folder in a shared network location, and to display a list of
those files in a SharePoint page via a consistent 'document library'-style
interface. The users need not be aware that the files are stored outside of
the default SharePoint storage system (SQL Server). This allows users to use
files which require simultaneous multiple user access, such as Microsoft
Office Access databases and Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets, without
leaving the context of their SharePoint site.

Cheers,

ias

<elsen...@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:1134516299.9...@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...

[elsen...@sbcglobal.net]

It doesn't. As I posted originally, I can't use a web part that only
allows viewing, I need to maintain version control. Basically, I found
out from MS that there is no way to do this. So...I have to
indoctrinate the company into using SharePoint exclusively and
rewriting the scripts.

[Mrs Beata]

Can't you just make a WebPart to read from the source where they are
now? The documents that are uploaded to the Sharepoint Services lands
in a filestructure. Just make the users unable to browse the folder
from any other way than the Sharepoint.

[elsen...@sbcglobal.net]

Hi, thanks for the reply but again, that solution doesn't allow for
version control. SharePoint's revisioning features are possible because
each version of a document is stored in the DB. As a user makes
changes, the DB is updated. If a user makes changes to a document
within a typical NTFS directory, there is no way to track the revision
unless it's manual...defeating the purpose of SharePoint. They may as
well just access the documents directly.