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: The Windows implementation of a general-purpose directory service, which uses LDAP as its primary access protocol. Active Directory stores information about a variety of objects in the network such as user accounts, computer accounts, groups, and all related credential information used by Kerberos [MS-KILE]. Active Directory is either deployed as Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Active Directory Lightweight Directory Services (AD LDS), which are both described in [MS-ADOD]: Active Directory Protocols Overview.

alert: An Internet message that is sent to subscribers automatically to notify them when user-defined criteria are met. Alerts are generated automatically when items such as documents, webpages, list items, sites, or other resources on a server are changed.

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.

audit entry: Information that is recorded about an operation on an object that is stored on a server.

Augmented Backus-Naur Form (ABNF): A modified version of Backus-Naur Form (BNF), commonly used by Internet specifications. ABNF notation balances compactness and simplicity with reasonable representational power. ABNF differs from standard BNF in its definitions and uses of naming rules, repetition, alternatives, order-independence, and value ranges. For more information, see [RFC5234].

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.

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.

build dependency set: A serialized .NET Framework object that represents a set of file dependencies.

change log: A log of changes, such as add and delete, that are made to objects that are stored on a back-end database server. Applications can use this information to identify changes that occurred on those objects.

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 in: The process of placing a file or project into a source repository. This releases the lock for editing and enables other users to view the updated file or check out the file. See also check out.

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.

code page: An ordered set of characters of a specific script in which a numerical index (code-point value) is associated with each character. Code pages are a means of providing support for character sets and keyboard layouts used in different countries or regions. Devices such as the display and keyboard can be configured to use a specific code page and to switch from one code page (such as the United States) to another (such as Portugal) at the user's request.

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].

contact: An object of the contact class that represents a company or person whom a user can contact. 

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.

content type identifier: A unique identifier that is assigned to a content type.

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.

custom action: An extension to the user interface, such as a button on a toolbar or a link on a site settings page.

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.

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.

distribution list: A collection of users, computers, contacts, or other groups that is used only for email distribution, and addressed as a single recipient.

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

document flag: A 4-byte unsigned integer bit mask that provides metadata about the document.

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".

editor: The user who last modified an item or document in a SharePoint list.

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

email enabled list: A SharePoint list that is configured to accept incoming email messages.

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 host: A site collection, site, list, list item, workflow, feature, or content type that hosts an event receiver.

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, 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.

external security provider: An external object that manages permissions on a site.

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

feature identifier: A GUID that identifies a feature.

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).

field identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a field.

file: A single, discrete unit of content.

file extension: The sequence of characters in a file's name between the end of the file's name and the last "." character. Vendors of applications choose such sequences for the applications to uniquely identify files that were created by those applications. This allows file management software to determine which application are to be used to open a file.

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.

full URL: A string of characters in a standardized format that identifies a document or resource on the World Wide Web.

fully qualified class name: A class name that includes namespace information. Use of a fully qualified class name ensures that the class name is treated as unique.

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.

historical version: Any version of a document or list item that is not one of the current versions. Depending on configuration settings, historical versions can be retained in a back-end database server, and might not be visible to specific users.

home page: On the World Wide Web, a document that serves as a starting point for a set of webpages and other files in a website.

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

host name: The name of a physical server, as described in [RFC952].

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.

Information Rights Management (IRM): A technology that provides persistent protection to digital data by using encryption, certificates, and authentication. Authorized recipients or users acquire a license to gain access to the protected files according to the rights or business rules that are set by the content owner.

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.

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

list identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a list in a site collection.

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 item identifier: See item identifier.

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 template identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a list template for a SharePoint list.

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".

major version: An iteration of a software component, document, or list item that is ready for a larger group to see, or has changed significantly from the previous major version. For an item on a SharePoint site, the minor version is always "0" (zero) for a major version.

master page: An ASP.NET file that has a predefined layout that can include static text, HTML elements, and server controls.

meeting instance: A collection of data for a meeting that occurs only once or a single occurrence of a meeting that occurs multiple times. The data can be stored in a client application or on a website.

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.

minor version: An iteration of a software component, document, or list item that is in progress or has changed only slightly from the previous version. For an item on a SharePoint site, the minor version number is never "0" (zero) and is incremented for each new version of an item, unless a major version is explicitly published. When minor versioning is disabled on a SharePoint site, only major version numbers are incremented, and the minor version is always "0" (zero).

mobile device: A small computing device that is easily portable and can be used in various environments.

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.

NULL GUID: A GUID of all zeros.

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.

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

path segment: A portion of a URI, as described in [RFC3986]. See also path component.

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: An authenticated entity that initiates a message or channel in a distributed system.

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.

publishing level: An integer that is assigned to a document to indicate the publishing status of that version of the document.

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

Recycle Bin: The location where deleted files are stored until they are either restored, if they were deleted erroneously, or destroyed permanently.

request identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a specific action or procedure that is sent to a protocol server or a protocol client.

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.

role identifier: An integer that uniquely identifies a role definition within a SharePoint site.

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

sandboxed solution: A custom solution that can be deployed to a site by a site collection administrator, without approval from the server farm administrator.

scope identifier: A GUID that uniquely identifies a scope within a site collection.

securable object: An object that can have unique security permissions associated with it.

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

security identifier (SID): An identifier for security principals that is used to identify an account or a group. Conceptually, the SID is composed of an account authority portion (typically a domain) and a smaller integer representing an identity relative to the account authority, termed the relative identifier (RID). The SID format is specified in [MS-DTYP] section 2.4.2; a string representation of SIDs is specified in [MS-DTYP] section 2.4.2 and [MS-AZOD] section 1.1.1.2.

security policy: In the form of a collection of security policy settings, the policy itself is an expression of administrative intent regarding how computers and resources on their network should be secured.

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.

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 identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a site in a site collection.

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.

site-relative URL: A URL that is relative to the site that contains a resource and does not begin with a leading slash (/).

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.

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.

thicket supporting file: A file that contains a graphic element, a picture, or other media that is referenced by the thicket main file and is stored in the thicket folder.

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 account directory path: A string representation of the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) distinguished name for an Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) container. It defines a set of users, as described in [RFC4514].

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 information list: A list that contains items, each of which represents a security principal in a site collection. Each site collection has only one such list and it resides in the top-level site of the site collection.

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).

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

web application: A container in a configuration database that stores administrative settings and entry-point URLs for site collections.

web bot: See bot.

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

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.

workflow: A structured modular component that enables the automated movement of documents or items through a specific sequence of actions or tasks that are related to built-in or user-defined business processes.

workflow identifier: A GUID that is used to identify a workflow.

workflow instance: An instance of a workflow association that performs on a list item the process that is defined in a workflow template.

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 namespace: A collection of names that is used to identify elements, types, and attributes in XML documents identified in a URI reference [RFC3986]. A combination of XML namespace and local name allows XML documents to use elements, types, and attributes that have the same names but come from different sources. For more information, see [XMLNS-2ED].

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.