DotNetKicks.com - Stories tagged with MOSS

RIA in Sharepoint: Silverlight with 3D Extended DeepZoom - so cool

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 05:04:50 GMT

NOTE: There is an interesting contest to find an image in this. Check the post. Long story short, this is an effort to bring RIA to the SharePoint world. But not just RIA style usability, I believe we pushed the envelope even further by incorporating not only DeepZoom (SeaDragon) for 'zoom in to the pixel' resolution, but the 3D extensions not present by default (you have the essentials but only the amazingly talented people behind the Hard Rock Memorabilia site (vertigo) have shown this style of combined zoom/3d that we have seen in any largely deployed sample)

Disable view duplicates search functionality

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 16:54:21 GMT

Business requirement: Disable view duplicates search functionality When performing a search query in SharePoint, the search results group duplicate search results by default. For me it is unclear which criteria make SharePoint think some search results are duplicates for each other, and hence make SharePoint group them together as one search result. This can be pretty confusing, as end-users not always are finding back everything because some stuff is hidden away in such a grouped search result. For example, ungrouping the above search result reveals following hidden search results: For me, these files shouldn't be grouped together as duplicates in the search results: these files are financial reports for different quarters. The filename as the title of these files are different, nevertheless SharePoint groups these files as duplicates in the search results. End-users not so familiar with SharePoint may overlook the View duplicates link in the search results: as such they may start complaining that they don't find some files they've uploaded before (f.e. here: they may complain they don't find the financial report for Q3-04). Solution: Disable view duplicates search functionality

Lookup user info in a Workflow

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:48:06 GMT

Business Requirement: Use the Name user property in an Email sent out by a Workflow Suppose following scenario: you have created a site based on the Help Desk template, one of the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. With Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007, you have added a Workflow to the Service Requests list which sends out an email each time a service request is changed to the Service Representative. Problem is that the user information in the email will be the Account, though you would prefer to have the Name in the email.

PowerShell Scripting for SharePoint Version

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:51:46 GMT

Get the basic details of PowerShell and see how it works with SharePoint to get its version details...

Restoring configuration database

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 21:34:33 GMT

Problem Description: UpdatedConcurrencyException: The object MySiteCleanupJob Name=mysitecleanup Parent=SPWebService was updated by another user After restoring the configuration database of our SharePoint, we ran into problems: we were unable to change some settings on web application level in the SharePoint Central Administration. Investigating the SharePoint log files in the 12 hive revealed following error: UpdatedConcurrencyException: The object MySiteCleanupJob Name=mysitecleanup Parent=SPWebService was updated by another user. Determine if these changes will conflict, resolve any differences, and reapply the second change. This error may also indicate a programming error caused by obtaining two copies of the same object in a single thread. Previous update information: User: ********** Process:OWSTIMER Machine:********* Time:October 29, 2008 04:31:38.0000 Current update information: User: ********** Process:OWSTIMER Machine:********** Time:November 02, 2008 05:30:20.0593.

Why Sharepoint development sucks!

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 18:00:23 GMT

In this blog post on the zorilla.dk blog, Dan is sharing his frustrations with the Sharepoint platform. His main critique points is an inconsistent and developer unfriendly API, combined with an over complex platform in general. Please have a read, and see if you agree.

Data Refresh Failed

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:59:39 GMT

Problem Description: Data Refresh Failed You have configured Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to enable workbooks load in Excel Services. You have stored your data connection in a trusted data connection library and your Excel 2007 workbook in a trusted file location. You open the Excel 2007 workbook and you apply a filter or you choose to Refresh All Connections. Following error message is appearing: Unable to retrieve external data for the following connections: Connection_Name The data sources may be unreachable, may not be responding, or may have denied you access. Verify that data refresh is enabled for the trusted file location and that the workbook data authentication is correctly set. Refreshing all connections or filtering with an administrator account works without problem.

Customize SharePoint list form rendering in new, edit and display mode

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:48:44 GMT

Business requirement: Hide list fields upon creation / modification of a SharePoint list item with the SharePoint GUI In a previous blogpost Hide list fields upon creation of a SharePoint list item, I talked about how to hide a SharePoint list field upon creation of a list item and to show it upon modification of that same list item. Unfortunately, this is something which cannot be achieved by using merely the out-of-the-box administration tools of SharePoint, but the SharePoint Tips Utility Pack could help you out. This great tool has some disadvantages: You can only run it on the SharePoint server itself. If you are a SharePoint implementator, you can set the properties of each field with this tool. Unfortunately, if power users of the SharePoint environment afterwards want to change anything to a field, they are not able to do this anymore (whereas they are able to change views,add content types or add columns on a SharePoint list you have set up for them by going to the appropriate settings forms).

View members of a SharePoint group

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:39:39 GMT

When clicking on a SharePoint group you don't belong to, you get the message You do not have permission to view the membership of the group. As such, you cannot see the members of that SharePoint group.

How to trigger a workflow based on a non-empty Comments field?

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:56:36 GMT

At an installation where I created a helpdesk functionality based on the Help Desk template, one of the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, I was asked to create a workflow which sends out an email automatically when a comments is added to a service request. The email may not be sent out if the comments added was empty.

7 crucial points to check upon document conversion failure

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:51:09 GMT

Problems which may arise with document conversion Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 includes document-to-Web page conversion utilities that can convert Microsoft Office Word 2007 documents (with and without macros) into standard Web pages that can be published to an internal or external Web site. Some problems or difficulties may arise though while setting or trying to use this document conversion functionality: While converting a Microsoft Office Word 2007 document, you receive following error: Converting the document to a page failed. The converter framework returned the following error: CE_OTHER. The Convert Document option is not available in the contextual menu for a document stored in a SharePoint Document Library.

Getting rid of logon prompts when opening Office documents

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 19:18:51 GMT

Problem description: You are prompted to enter your credentials each time you open a Microsoft Office document stored in a SharePoint document library Each time you open a Microsoft Office document, you are prompted to enter your credentials again, even if you check the box remember my password. For non Microsoft Office documents, such as PDF files, you are not prompted to enter your credentials. The credentials prompt is not taken into account apparently: if you choose Cancel in the prompted window without entering your credentials, the Microsoft Office document is still opened.

Setting the trust level for newly installed Web Parts

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 09:29:40 GMT

After installing a new SharePoint Web Part, it is not working and you get an error like Request for the permission of type 'Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.SharePointPermission, Microsoft.SharePoint.Security, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c' failed.

Bulk update of a field for existing SharePoint list items

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:24:52 GMT

Suppose you have created a SharePoint list or document library with some metadata columns. End-users start adding list items to this SharePoint list. After a while, they want to change the value for a particular column of already created list items. They could do this manually through the Edit in Datasheet mode, but suppose they have already created hundreds of list items in the SharePoint list... It would save a lot of time if an option would exist to bulk update a SharePoint field from one value to another in all list items for a particular SharePoint list. An ideal scenario is off course a SharePoint column created with as type of information Lookup. Changing the value of the item where the Lookup column is getting its information from would update in mass all already existing SharePoint list items. But if this isn't the case, there is no real out-of-the-box SharePoint functionality to bulk update a field (except the Edit in Datasheet mode).

MOSS 2007 - Data Caching Vs List Iteration

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:02:48 GMT

MOSS developers most of the time need to retrieve data from SharePoint Lists. In one of the MOSS project I worked there were several provisioned .ASPX Pages which lacked in performance. The pages took more than usual time to render, on average a page displaying 1000+ List records (we are not discussing Pagination here) was taking approximately 2 minutes! Coming from ASP.NET/SQL background this was just unacceptable.

Add a SharePoint Web Part to multiple sites at once

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:22:53 GMT

Business requirement: Add a SharePoint Web Part to multiple sites at once You might have created a set of similar SharePoint sites, all based upon the same site template, just like me. After some time, business requirements change, and the end-users want to have a new Web Part on all the home pages of each of these SharePoint sites. If there are a multiple SharePoint sites, you might want to avoid, just like me, to edit each of the home pages of those SharePoint sites one-by-one.

Hide list fields upon creation of a SharePoint list item

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 16:34:16 GMT

Suppose you want to hide a SharePoint list field upon creation of a list item and to show it upon modification of that same list item. Suppose you want to hide another SharePoint list field upon modification of a list item and to show it upon creation of a list item in that same SharePoint list. This is something which cannot be achieved by using merely the out-of-the-box administration tools of SharePoint.

Hide the View All Site Content Link

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:54:25 GMT

Problem description: How to hide the View All Site Content Link In some cases, you want to hide the View All Site Content link in the Quick Launch: this to less confuse SharePoint end-users. The less links an end-user has to click on, the less the end-user will be confused. However, hiding this View All Site Content link is not possible with out-of-the-box functionality for SharePoint.

Visio stencil for drawing SharePoint site hierarchy

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:48:38 GMT

I created a Microsoft Visio stencil to ease the drawing of a SharePoint site hierarchy. It can be used to visualise the SharePoint site hierarchy before implementing it actually, allowing end-users to better understand how their final SharePoint sites will be linked and what kind of elements will be used in each SharePoint site.

Getting started with custom SharePoint Event Receivers

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:16:03 GMT

In this post I describe how to create a custom SharePoint Event Receiver using the Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint Services.

You cannot publish slides to a Slide Library

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:22:02 GMT

Problem description: You cannot publish slides to a Slide Library While trying to publish slides to a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Slide Library, you receive the error: This feature requires Microsoft Office PowerPoint Professional. For a description how to publish slides to a Slide Library, see Publish slides to a Slide Library. Solution: Install the appropriate Office version.

SilverPart Beta 2.0 released on Codeplex - supports Silverlight 2 B2

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 18:13:47 GMT

Just released a new version of the SilverPart webpart on CodePlex. This new release supports Silverlight 2 Beta 2.

Alerts not working for some users on some document libraries

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:41:41 GMT

Problem description: Alerts not working for some users on some document libraries Some users were complaining that their alerts were not arriving for a specific document library. They did receive the intial alert to inform them about having activated the alert on the document library, but no alerts were arriving anymore upon changes in the document library. For other document libraries, all alerts were working as they should.

Extension to the Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects application

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:36:51 GMT

You have set up the Budgeting and Tracking Multiple Projects application template, one of the 40 fantastic Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. You have created some Projects in the Projects List and some Project Tasks in the Project Tasks list. You want to view these project tasks as a Microsoft Office Visio 2007 Flow Diagram. Moreover, you want to keep your Visio drawing in synch with the SharePoint list data.

Change language for preformatted document libraries

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 12:29:00 GMT

You can add preformatted document libraries to your SharePoint sites easily. They give you an excellent example of how you can set up Microsoft Office Word 2007 templates with a document information panel containing metadata values based on the columns in your corresponding document library. It is also an excellent example about how you can add these metadata values in your Word 2007 document through means of inserting Quick Parts. By editing the properties of your document in SharePoint, the update will be reflected immediately in your Word 2007 document and vice versa.