RRFreeman SharePoint Architect

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

FREE SharePoint Saturday Conference Coming to Sacramento

I will be presenting on Web Parts and SP Metal. Come out and learn SharePoint for FREE!
http://sharepointsaturday.org/sacramento/default.aspx

External Content Type Picker stale or missing entries

Scenario

You have deleted and/or added some External Content Types to Business Connectivity Services
You attempt to use the External Content Type Picker via a Chart Web Part or some other control
You correctly see the external content types in SharePoint Designer and in the Central Admin BCS Service Application screens

Issue

You see deleted External Content Types and/or do not see the newly added External Content Types

Resolution

Reset IIS on the SharePoint Server(s)

App pool recycle does not work

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Attending Microsoft Cloud Intelligence #CloudIntel Conference

Session Notes

Bob McDowell - Keynote

Platform as a service: Windows Azure - Joel Forman

CDN: Content Delivery Network

Caches commonly used files in geographically appropriate locations
Configure for specific static files: media, css, js, etc.
Each file has a CDN url

Windows Azure Traffic Manager

Geographically dispersed Domain resolution forwarding

Forwards domain requests to appropriate servers by location

Windows Azure Storage

File hosting

SharePoint 2010 Online - Atul Totre

Dedicated SharePoint Online available for over 5,000 users
Online Standard Infrastructure Limits

10 GB base + 500 MB per user account
100 GB max per site collection
300 site collection max
1 TB storage max per tenant up to 5TB
250MB file upload size
500 MB per MySite (separate from Site Collections)
Backups: every 12 hours for 14 days retention

Management with System Center - Rand Morimoto of CCO

Configuration Manager (SCCM)

Patching servers and OS's
Deploying images/VMs
Scheduled downtime patching and system grouping
Quest Management Xtensions - Allow patching non-MS devices, Apple, mobile, etc.

Operations Manager (SCOM)

Monitoring
Plugins: Cisco, SalesForce cloud, Office 365, VMware, etc.
Logical service grouping
Monitoring Agents: Run scripted scenarios remotely for client response time monitoring
Dashboards

VM Manager (SCVMM)

Migration to Hyper-V
Rapid PowerShell provisioning
Automated Live Migration based on guest session utilization
Self-service VM Guest Session creation - user's can automatically create VMs

Data Protection Manager (SCDPM)

File system, Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, Hyper-V Host/Guest, Windows 7
Incident Management, Self Service Portal and Password Reset

Opalis

Workflow type GUI instead of scripting

2012 planned features

Provision Hyper-V Host
Cloud based monitoring (Azure)
Server App-V Application Virtualization

Application bubble isolates application install from OS

PaaS Developer Tooling - Bruno Terkaly

Windows Azure

Compute

Web Roles
Worker Roles

Storage

Tables, Blobs, and Queues
Tables are unlimited scalability, but not relational

SQL Azure
App Fabric
Tools

SQL Server Management Studio
http://windows.azure.com web interface
Visual Studio cloud projects

Friday, May 27, 2011

SharePoint Folder to Document Set Content Type Conversion Bug

Scenario

You create a folder in a document library or have email enabled a library which adds folders
You change the content type of a folder to a document set content type (from the folder properties)

Issue

SharePoint 2010 has a bug where folders are not correctly converted to document sets. The following symptoms occur:

Folder icon remains instead of the correct document set icon.

The Document Set home page does not appear.

Other document set functionality is not available via the ribbon.

Resolution

I developed an event receiver to fix this problem: http://foldertodocsetfix.codeplex.com/

Monday, March 14, 2011

SharePoint 2010 Limited Web Part Selection

Scenario

You are working in a sub-site that does not inherit permissions.
You want to add a web part from any Category other than "Lists and Libraries"
You are not a site collection administrator, but do have full control on the current sub-site.
You do not have access to the site-collection root.

Issue

The other web part categories do not show up after clicking "Add Web Part"

Resolution

You need at least view-only access at the site-collection root level to see the additional web parts.
These web parts are located in the site-collection web part gallery, which you need access to.
Alternative: Consider making the sub-site a site collection via a managed path rather than a sub-site in order to completely isolate permissions from the root site.

SharePoint Server 2010 Development VM for VirtualBox or VMWare, Part 2

Continued from SharePoint Server 2010 Development VM for VirtualBox or VMWare, Part 1
This Part covers Application, Office Web Apps, and Mail Server installation

Install

Boot up the virtual machine
In VirtualBox or VMWare, share the folder on the host machine where the install files are

In VirtualBox, Shared Folders appear under Network\VBOXSVR

Run the SharePoint Designer Install

Close when prompted to go online

Open SharePoint Designer

Select Use Standard Settings
Close SharePoint Designer

Mount the Office Professional Plus iso

If you install the 64-bit version of Office, you will need to also install the Datasheet View fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2266203

I recommend installing 32-bit Office. The Datasheet View fix does not behave exactly the same as the 2010 version.

Run the Setup

Enter your license key
Modify the InfoPath install files to install all files to the hard drive
Continue through the installer
Do not go online, close.

Add mx record to DNS Server

Open DNS Manager

Forward Lookup Zones \ sp.local

Right-click \ New Mail Exchanger (MX) ...

Leave Host domain blank
FQDN of mail server: sps2010.sp.local
priority: 10

Install hMailServer (lightweight alternative to Exchange)

Browse to the mapped folder containing the hMailServer executable and run it

Use external database engine
Create a new hMailServer database
Microsoft SQL Server

DB address: sps2010
DB name: hMailServer
Use Windows Auth

Service: SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER) (MSSQLSERVER)
Password: same as admin password from part1
Finish

Now hMailServer Administrator should be open

Connect to administrator on localhost
Add Domain

Domain: sp.local
Advanced

Catch-all address: administrator@sp.local

Save

Add User

Address: administrator
Password: same as admin password from part1
Administration level: Server
Active Directory Tab

Domain: sp.local
User Name: administrator

Save

Settings \ Advanced

Default Domain

sp.local

Administration password

same as admin password from part1

IP Ranges

Name: sp.local
Lower IP: 10.0.0.1
Upper IP: 10.255.255.255

Save

Exit

Configure administrator user's email address and remove password expiration

Open Active Directory Administrative Center

Users

Administrator

General\Email: administrator@sp.local
Account\Account Options: check "Password never expires"

Disable IE ESC

Server Manager / Configure IE ESC / Administrators = Off
This will prevent the about:internet trusted site prompt within Outlook

Fix loopback checking for the sps2010 hostname - fixes login via Firefox and login as another user

Specify host names (Preferred method if NTLM authentication is desired) To specify the host names that are mapped to the loopback address and can connect to Web sites on your computer, follow these steps:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
In Registry Editor, locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0
Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value.
Type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER.
Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type sps2010, and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor, and then restart the IISAdmin service.

Reset the Internet Explorer home page to http://sps2010

Open Outlook 2010

Configure Email account

Name: Admin
Email: administrator@sp.local

Configure SharePoint outgoing mail server

Open SharePoint Central Administration

System Settings

Configure Outgoing Email settings

Outbound SMTP server: sps2010
From address: no-reply@sp.local

Configure User Profile Sync

Add spservice user to the local administrator group

Open Active Directory Administrative Center

Users \ spservice \ Add to group

Administrators

This is necessary to start the User Profile Synchronization Service

Grant Replicate Directory Changes permissions on sp.local to sp\administrator

Open Active Directory Users and Computers
Right-click sp.local and select Delegate Control

Grant Full Control rights to Network Service on the C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\14.0 directory

This prevents Application Event Log warning event ids: 1015, 1001, and 1004
More Info

Open SharePoint Central Administration

Application Management

Manage Services on Server

Start the User Profile Service

Use the spservice username and password

Start the User Profile Synchronization Service

Use the spservice username and password

Reset IIS (cmd\iisreset)

Manage Service Applications

User Profile Service Application

Before continuing, make sure the Forefront Identity Manager Service has started

Task manager \ services \ services
If not, you will receive an error: "MOSS MA not found"

Synchronization \ Configure Synchronization Connections

Create New Connection

Connection Name: sp local users
Forest Name: sp.local
Account Name: sp\spservice
Password: same as before
Populate Containers

Navigate to SP

Check Users (first one)

Synchronization \ Start Profile Synchronization

Start Full Synchronization
Wait for this to complete

Refresh the page until it says Synchronizing, then wait for about 20 minutes until idle

Verify that the sp\administrator profile contains the updated email address. If not, manually populate.

Open SharePoint Workspace

Create a new account

Name: Admin
E-mail: administrator@sp.local
check "Allow me to recover my account later"
Finish

Install Visual Studio 2010

Mount the Visual Studio 2010 Premium CD iso
Run the installer
Install Full

Good thing we allocated enough disk space :-)

Ignore the "SQL Server Express Service Pack 1" install error

We installed the full version of SQL Server, not SQL Express

Finish and do not check for updates
Set to run as administrator

Browse to the Visual Studio 2010 shortcut in the start menu

Right-click the shortcut and select properties
Select Advanced...
Check "Run as Administrator"
OK, OK.

Install Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010

Mount the Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 CD iso
Run Setup.exe from the CD
Step through the install
Finish

Install Visual Studio 2010 Service Packs - SP1 at time of article

Run the VS10sp1 installer
Step through the install

This downloads realtime, so make sure you have a high-speed internet connection

Wait a very long time for this to download and install
When prompted, reboot the machine

Install Firefox

After the install, allow NTLM password save for sps2010

Enter “about:config” in the address bar of Firefox and hit [Enter]
Do a search on “ntlm“, at least three entries should appear
Double click the second entry and set the value of “network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris” to “.sp” (do not forget the dot)
Close Firefox
See http://lichao.net/eblog/how-to-log-onto-sharepoint-server-in-ie-and-firefox-automatically-without-being-asked-username-and-password-200902244.html for more info

Install CodeRush Express
Install PowerGUI

Add the SharePoint PowerPack from the PowerGui Administrative Console
Open PowerGUI Script Editor, add the SharePoint Library from File / Powershell Libraries
Apply the .Net 4 fix

Install Google Chrome
Install Safari
Install Snagit
Install Firebug
Install Fiddler
Install Paint.Net
The remaining instructions have not yet been vetted. Please check back later for more info.
Install Windows Live Essentials
Shut down and take a snapshot named "SP Dev Workstation"
Start the Virtual Machine
Install Office Web Apps
Shut down and take a snapshot named "SP Dev Workstation with Office Web Apps"
Apply any SharePoint service packs as needed

We do this last so you have the option of testing against different SharePoint builds and testing Service Pack deployments against existing Sites

Shut down the virtual machine and backup to another machine
Distribute to the developers in your team and enjoy!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

VoteMatrix, Politics made Personal!

VoteMatrix is seeking ASP.Net / SQL developers, political analysts, and investors.

If you or anyone you know would like to partner with us, please message me.

The site is written using Asp.net, LINQ to SQL, and the Dynamic Data Framework.

http://votematrix.com

Thank you,

Robert Freeman

President VoteMatrix

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

SharePoint Server 2010 Development VM for VirtualBox or VMWare, Part 1

SharePoint 2013 dev server deployment guide can be found here

Scenario

You want a SharePoint Server 2010 virtual machine for local development work.

This may be shared throughout the development team.
This can be hosted on a shared workstation or server via Remote Desktop or on your personal workstation or laptop.
Snapshots of the VM can be taken at any time.
Make sure you have the appropriate licenses for each instance of the VM.

MS has some good options for VM licensing and development licenses with an MSDN subscription

MOSS 2010 Standard or Enterprise
You want to use non-expiring app licenses
You want the VM to have its own domain and email capabilities

You want the following components (64bit where available)

Windows Server 2008 R2

AD Domain Controller
Remote Desktop Services

SQL Server 2008 R2

Analysis Services (SSAS)
Integration Services (SSIS)
SharePoint integrated SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS)

with SharePoint PowerPack

Prerequisites

Your workstation must be running a 64bit processor with Hardware Virtualization enabled
You must have enough memory (4GB rec), disk space (50GB rec), and processor power (2 cores rec) to run the VM and hold all snapshots

I highly recommend running this VM from a solid state drive (SSD) for optimum performance. Disk speed is the greatest limiter for performance and if your RAM is limited, then the SSD swap file will help compensate.

You must have access to and appropriate licensing for above products

ex: MSDN Subscription

You must have time (about 8 hours) to install everything.

Hints:

Look for "Wait" for good break points
Snapshots can be used to create other virtual machines or to test minimally installed environments

How To

Download the Software Listed Above
Install VirtualBox and the Extension Pack or VMWare
Create a new virtual machine named "sps2010" for Windows 2008 (64bit)

4096 GB RAM
100GB dynamically expanding boot hard disk

You will likely use 45GB of this without any content

Mount the Windows Server 2008 R2 ISO
Enable RDP support

Start the sps2010 virtual machine
The Windows Server 2008 R2 installer should begin

Select Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (Full Installation)
Select New Installation

Set a new administrator password

pass@word1

Install VirtualBox Guest Additions or VMWare Tools

Auto Reboot

Authenticate Windows
Rename the server to sps2010

Note: If you forget this step, you will have a randomly named server.
I have included instructions for aliasing and configuring a randomly named server.

Shut down and take a Snapshot named "Windows Install"
Enable Remote Desktop for all versions
Add Roles

Active Directory Domain Service
You will get a Windows Update is not enabled warning.
Select "Close this wizard and launch the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard"
Ignore the "Operating System Compatibility" warning
Select "Create a new domain in a new forest"
FQDN: sp.local
Forest functional level: Windows Server 2008 R2
Ignore DHCP warning
Ignore DNS warning, click Yes
Use same password as admin user above
Reboot on completion

Add Roles

Server Roles

Application Server
Web Server (IIS)

Application Server / Role Services

Web Server (IIS) Support

Web Server (IIS) / Role Services

Leave Default Selections

Install

Windows Update: Turn on auto updates

Install Updates and Long Wait
Reboot when prompted

Open Active Directory Administrative Center

Create a user

Full Name: User
User SamAccount: sp\user
pass: same as admin above
Password Options: Password never expires

Stop and Disable the following Services

DFS Namespace
DFS Replication

Shut down, snapshot "DC and IIS", and start virtual machine
Mount the SQL Server Iso from the Virtual Box Devices menu
Open Active Directory Administrative Center

Create a user

Full Name: spservice
User SamAccount: sp\spservice
pass: same as admin above
Password Options: Password never expires

Start SQL Server Setup

Installation
New Install
Continue
Ignore DC and Firewall warnings
All Features with Defaults
Continue
Server Configuration / Service Accounts

Use the same account for all SQL Server services

specify the sp\spservice account and password created above

Continue
Analysis Services Configuration

Account Provisioning

Add Current User

Reporting Services Configuration

Install the SharePoint integrated mode default configuration

Continue then Wait

Shut down, snapshot "SQL Server", and start virtual machine
Open SQL Server Configuration Manager

SQL Server Network Configuration

Protocols for MSSQLSERVER

Enable Named Pipes

If your server is randomly named - not sps2010

DNS Manager

Forward Lookup Zones

sp.local

Add a new alias

Name: sps2010
FQDN: Browse to splocal\servername

servername will be a randomly generated value

Mount the SharePoint Server 2010 iso
Start the Prerequisites installer
Start the SharePoint Install

Enter your Enterprise license key
Wait
Run the Configuration Wizard
Create a new server farm
Configuration Database

Server: sps2010
Name: SharePoint_Config
Username: sp\spservice
Password: same as above

Farm Security Settings

Passphrase: same as admin password above

Central Admin Web App

Port: 8000
Auth: NTLM

Short Wait

IE will open to the central administration website.

Login as administrator
Move the central admin site from the Trusted Sites zone to the Local Intranet Zone

Also add "http://sps2010" to the Local Intranet Zone

Shut down, snapshot "Base SharePoint", and restart
Configure Alternate Access Mappings

Set the central admin default public url to http://sps2010:8000

Run the Farm Configuration Wizard from Central Administration

Use existing managed account
All items should be checked except for Lotus Notes

Create Root Site Collection

New Web Application

Name: sps2010
Port: 80
Path: change "80" to "sps2010"
URL: http://sps2010
Create a new app pool

Name: SharePoint - sps2010
Configurable: sp\spservice

Database server: sps2010
Database name: sps2010_Content
CEIP: No

Title: Sps2010
Template: Publishing \ Publishing Portal
Primary admin: sp\administrator

Set the browser home page to http://sps2010
Configure Search from Central Admin

Central Admin \ Manage service applications \ Search Service Application (first one)

Content Sources

Local SharePoint Sites

Schedule incremental every 5 minutes and start a full crawl

Open http://sps2010 in IE

Add sp\administrator to the Approvers and Members groups
Validate that the following work

Approval process
Both search scopes
My Site
Profile

Shut down, snapshot "SharePoint Configured", and restart
Continue to Part 2

Monday, February 7, 2011

SPTechCon 2011 San Francisco

Sessions

Monday

PerformancePoint Services - A Service in Three Acts

Peter Serzo

Building Business Applications Using BCS

Fabian Williams

Tuesday

Developing SharePoint 2010 Applications with Visual Studio 2010

Steve Hansen

Upgrading to SharePoint 2010 from SharePoint 2007, Part 1 and 2

Todd Klindt and Shane Young

SharePoint 2010 User Profile Store

Joshua Haebets

What's New with SharePoint 2010 Lists & Schemas

Steve Hansen

Wednesday

Going Offline with SharePoint Workspace

Joshua Haebets

Vendor Exhibits

Friday, February 4, 2011

Search Center "Navigate Up" Breadcrumb Displays Search Box

Scenario

You change the Search Center Site's master page to v4.master
You attempt to use the "Navigate Up" folder icon breadcrumb

Issue

The "Navigate Up" link does not display correctly. Instead, the search box and possibly the tabs appear within the popup.

Resolution

Follow this guide to apply the Navigate Up control to the Search Center Site's minimal.master.
Change the site's master page to use minimal.master

Thursday, February 3, 2011

The data types of the following form fields do not match the SharePoint list

Scenario

You have a custom InfoPath form applied to a SharePoint 2010 list.
You attempt to edit or view an item in the list.

Issue

Error Message: The data types of the following form fields do not match the SharePoint list:

Resolution

This issue is due to a missing or extra field in your InfoPath form.
You can go to List Settings / Form Settings to revert back to the default form.
Alternatively, you can edit the InfoPath form and fix the fields listed in the error.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

KwizCom Invisible Lookup Control

Scenario

Installed KWizCom SharePoint Cascading Lookup Plus
The web application you are configuring had an older version of AJAX extensions installed.

Issue

The dropdown will not show up
Or the entire page will continuously refresh

This happens when the web.config is partially configured for 3.5.0.0 AJAX

There will be an error in the Application Event Log

The server tag "asp:scriptmanager" is ambiguous

Resolution

Update the web application's web.config to use the 3.5.0.0 AJAX extensions

You can do this by ensuring .Net 3.5 is installed and then creating a new test web application
The new web application should have the .net 3.5 AJAX configuration in the web.config
Use a text comparison tool to replace the appropriate sections
Make sure to backup the old web.config before changing

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Customized Fab 40 Help Desk Template

Scenario

Develop an enterprise Help Desk application using MOSS 2007 with SP Designer 2007
Also include the following features

Custom alerts
State change based notifications

State machine workflows

Customer notifications
Change Request integration

Promotion from Ticket
Child Work Items

Work Item integration
Key Perfomance Indicators

Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Calculated Fields

Deadline notification
Approval workflows
Custom Fields
Custom Add Item Forms
Cascaded Dropdowns

Issue

The Fab 40 Help Desk template is a basic starting point and lacks the above features

Resolution

I recently architected a solution implementing these requirements. It's too much info to post here, but please contact me for details on how this can be accomplished.
Parent child relationships require a 3rd party Cascading Lookup control

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Emailed HTML Rich Text Column Relative URLs

Scenario

You have a list with a multi line text column with Enhanced Rich Text.
The item contains links from the current server.
You are emailing the contents of that column via SharePoint Designer 2007 Workflows

Issue

The hyperlinks in the email do not work.
The server name was automatically stripped from the URL, making a relative path.

Resolution

Workaround:

Add the following note to the field description notifying users of the problem and the workaround.

"Use http://TinyUrl.com for hyperlinks and images on this site. This will prevent emailed relative links."

This works because SharePoint only strips URLs it recognizes as local URLs

These are usually defined in the Alternate Access Mappings

You can use any URL redirector

Fixes:

Use Visual Studio Workflows and replace the Relative URLs with Absolute URLs
Intercept the outbound emails (on the SharePoint or Email servers) and replace
Use a custom Workflow Action that prepends the servername into the URLs
Use a different field type. Try different custom Rich Text editor columns.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Help Desk Template Sealed Columns

Scenario

You wish to install the MS Fab 40 Help Desk template.
You need to change the values in, description of, or delete the Status, Priority, or KBArticle choice or lookup columns/fields.

Issue

These columns are Sealed in the list definition. Therefore, you cannot delete or edit them.

Note: The Priority column seems to inherit initial values from the standard Priority site collection column

Resolution

If you haven't done much with the template, you can unseal the columns in the site definition. You must do the following on each FEW server. You must then recreate any ServiceRequest lists.

Navigate to C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\HelpDeskServiceRequestsList\servicerequest
Edit schema.xml
Replace all instances of Sealed="TRUE" with Sealed="FALSE"

If you have made changes, you can unseal all columns except Priority using SharePoint Manager 2007. Priority can be hidden from forms and views or may be removed programatically. Or alternatively, you can change the list definition as above, create a new ServiceRequest list and move the items from the old list to the new.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

SharePoint 2007, 2010, and 2013 Cascading Lookup Column Comparison

Scenario

You have multiple SharePoint lists that are related

Parent/Child or other relationship

You want to allow the user to define the relationship via a Lookup Column Dropdown (Combobox) or Multiselect Interface
Or you need filtered lookups or some other additional lookup functionality

Issue

The out of the box SharePoint Lookup Field columns are severely limited

They really only work for relatively small lists of uniquely named items that don't change often
SharePoint 2010 natively supports related lists, but do not have all the features below

We need one or more of these advanced features

Cascading Updates (and possibly deletes)

Maintain Referential Integrity
Updates made in one list are reflected in the lookups.

Keyboard filtering from the dropdown and multiselect interfaces

Autocomplete, find as you type

Cascading drop-down filters

One or more dropdowns to filter the final dropdown
Ex: State, County, City

Lookup filters (likely based on a List View)

Ex: Only show my Cities, or only show Active Items in the lookup

Datasheet view editing (Excel, Access), InfoPath, and Office DIP support

In most cases this is unavailable. The workaround is to create a view without the lookup fields for use with Office integration and ensure the lookup fields are not required or have a default value.

AJAX

We don't want to postback when applying realtime filtering
We may not want to preload all the values for very large lists

May be used in a Calculated Column

Ideally the text field and ID field would both be accessible

Supports multiple display fields from the lookup list

ex: First and Last Name concatenation in the dropdown
Workaround would be to use a calculated field within the lookup list

Link to add an item to the lookup list from the lookup column interface
Cross site support

By default the list must be in the same subsite as the lookup column

Cross site-collection support and content type hub support

Workaround would be to synchronize lookup lists accross site collections using a workflow, content deployment job, or a custom timer job.

Two-way relationships

Items within a lookup list will keep track of where they have been referenced.
Ex: Orders are linked to a customer via the order form. On the customer form, you can see the linked orders.
SharePointBoost's LookupBoost or Sparqube's Lookup Tracker can be installed to provide this information via a separate relationships page.

Matches the SharePoint look and feel

Ex: Inherits themes/styles for drop down

Can be created as a site column

Sometimes only implemented as a list column.

Conversion tool

Converts lookup columns to custom lookup
Converts custom lookup back to a regular lookup

Allow filtering from a multiselect

Ex: Filter lookup of Cities when multiple States are selected

Set the lookup column's default value
Referential Integrity (2010 new feature)

Cascade or disable updates/deletes when the item is used in lookups elsewhere
Not available on a multi-select

Projected Columns (2010 new feature)

Lists with the lookup column will expose other columns from the lookup list.
Ex: Order list with a Customer lookup column could also include Customer Phone and Customer Email in the Order list view based on the selected Customer

Resolution

The following third-party products are available to meet your needs. This analysis was done based on the marketing material available on their websites and any personal experience I have with them. ? - denotes unknown feature

SharePoint 2010 Lookup Column (Out of the box - not third party)

Features: 1 (includes recycle bin), 2, 5?, 10, 13, 14, (17 via code), 18, 19

Sparqube SharePoint Lookup Column (SharePoint 2010+)

Features (provided by vendor): 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19
Note: There are 2 column types to choose from. Each has advantages and disadvantages. All features above may not be available depending upon which control you use.
(12) Sparqube Lookup Tracker provides this as a separate (included) feature

KWizCom SharePoint Cascading Lookup Plus

Features: 1?, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12*, 14, 15.1, 17?, 18?, 19?
Review Notes

Runtime issues will occur if you are still referencing AJAX 1.x
Single-select, single-value items appear in a grid format with a header
Display form grid uses a hyperlink icon rather than text
Dropdown skins do not match SharePoint but are customizable

*(12) Same list 2-way relationships are not supported

For this scenario, use SharePointBoost's LookupBoost or Sparqube's Lookup Tracker

SharePointBoost Cascaded Lookup

Features: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (except multiselect), 8*, 9, 10, 12*, 13, 14, 15, 17*, 18, 19
*(12) Lookup Boost: Provides feature 12 via a separate relationship page
Review Notes

Installed properly
Worked as advertised
Issue with saving a sub-site as a template after implementing a root level site column and content type. Workaround provided by SharePointBoost

*(8) - Doesn't support hyphenated values in the drop-down for SP 2010.
*(17) - Only supports defaulting to first item in a view and does not support the standard Default property, so this is difficult to set from code. Does not support defaults on a multi-select.

Azu Lookup Plus 2013

I haven't evaluated this yet. Please refer to the website.

Infowise

Features: 3, 4, 9+, 10, 12 (with bi-directional bundle), 13, 14, 15, 17?, 18?, 19?
(9+) Enhanced support for inline simple text additions and for task creation

Bamboo Lookup Selector

Features: 2, 3, 6, 10, 11, 17?, 18?, 19?

SharePointBoost Cross-Site Lookup

Features: 2, 10, 15, 17?, 18?, 19?
Lookup Boost: Provides feature 12 via a separate relationship page

SharePoint Tool Basket

Features: 2, 6, 17?, 18?, 19?
Open Source

SharePoint Cascaded Lookup Dropdowns

Features: 3, 6 (client-side only), 17?, 18?, 19?
Not a column. Must be applied to each form.
Open Source

CodePlex Filtered Lookup

Features: 4, 10, 17?, 18?, 19?
Open Source

Monday, November 8, 2010

From SmartPart To Visual Web Part Demo and Slides

Here is the solution and slides for my presentation on SharePoint SmartPart and SharePoint 2010 Visual Web Part development.

Slides and Project

PowerPoint Presentation and Visual Studio 2010 Solution

The outline of my session is in the Presentation Notes.

NOTE:
I updated the slides to add a section on uploading images to an image library, as in my prior post. I also updated the custom property section of the slides to reflect the need to implement the custom property in the Web Part class rather than the User Control class.

I also updated the slides to include a quick intro to SharePoint for presenting to a .Net usergroup.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Adding Pictures to a Picture Library via a VS2010 Module

Scenario

You would like to add some Images to an existing Image Library in your SharePoint site using a Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Project.
You do this by following these steps.

Add a module to the project
Rename the module to the Image Library name
Set the module tag's url and path properties to the Image Library name

Leaving spaces in place
Ex: <Module Name="Recipe Pics" Path="Recipe Pics" Url="Recipe Pics">

Add the images to the module using Visual Studio Solution Explorer's "add existing item" option
Add the Type="GhostableInLibrary" tag to the Elements.xml tag for each image

Ex: <File Path="FriedOkra.jpg" Url="FriedOkra.jpg" Type="GhostableInLibrary"/>

Run the project to deploy the solution

This should run without errors

Issue

The images are in the Image Library, but the thumbnails on the list view and the item views are missing. The Item view displays icjpg.gif instead.
This issue is also documented on Eugene Rosenfeld's blog.

Resolution

Check-out and check-in each image you just added

This creates the appropriate thumbnails, but this is a manual process and will be wiped out next time you redeploy the module
One option is to add a feature that will check out and in each image. An alternative is to add the thumbnails directly to the module, although this has 1 issue as outlined below.

To add the thumbnails to the module, follow these steps

On the Image List's default view page you should see the "t" thumbnails for your images

Save each "t" thumbnail to disk in an "_t" subfolder
Replace any Html Encoding with the original characters

Change %20 to a space

Click on each image's view page and you should see the "w" thumbnail

Save each "w" thumbnail to disk in an "_w" subfolder
Replace any Html Encoding with the original characters

Change %20 to a space

Issue: The "_w" images do not work correctly in 2010 with this method. They are uploaded, but the default item view will not display them.

Add _w and _t folders to your module in Visual Studio
Add existing items to each module folder from the above subfolders
Add the Type="GhostableInLibrary" tag to the Elements.xml tag for each thumbnail image

Monday, July 12, 2010

Download for Search Server Express 2008

Scenario

You would like to upgrade WSS 3.0 to Search Server Express 2008 or would like a fresh intall of Search Server 2008 Express.

Issue

Microsoft now redirects most of the download pages to Search Server 2010.

Resolution

Download the files here: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/en/us/search-server-express.aspx#first-tab

Thursday, June 17, 2010

CQWP Expiration Date issue

Scenario

You would like to filter your Content Query Web Part by Expiration Date. You would like items to show up when any of the following are true (OR filter)

They are not expired (Expiration is greater than or equal to [Today])
Have no expiration date (expiration is null)

Issue

There is no Null option in the CQWP Web Part Edit Toolpane, therefore you can only enter the first criteria above. Therefore, when the Expiration field is left blank (null date), the value is excluded from results.

Resolution

One workaround is to use a Data View web part via SharePoint Designer instead of the CQWP. This will allow you to display a similar format, while adding a null date to the filter.

Use the a href="/{@FileDirRef}/DispForm.aspx?ID={@ID}" syntax to include a hyperlink in the title
The ... (more) feature will not be included

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Laptop Memory Upgrade - 12GB RAM on my Laptop!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Sacramento SharePoint Exchange 2010! June 2-3

I will be presenting on Visual Web Part development at the Sacramento SharePoint Exchange June 2nd and will attend June 3rd. See you there!

http://www.thespexchange.com/Pages/default.aspx

Monday, March 22, 2010

Dropbox, LiveMesh, and ZumoDrive! Free cloud storage for the masses.

How did we ever do without cloud storage???

I've been a long time user of GetDropbox and have recently begun using ZumoDrive and Windows LiveMesh/SkyDrive and am very impressed with how useful and easy to use they are. Before GetDropbox, I was an AOL XDrive user (pre-closure) and prior to that I minimally used Yahoo Briefcase! Dropbox, LiveMesh, and ZumoDrive are must-haves and are much easier to use than any other free service so far. MS and Google also offer some document specific services via Office Live SkyDrive and Google Docs storage offerings. These are more limited regarding synchronization, supported file types, and ease of use. However, they do offer more free storage and free versions of document editing/viewing applications.

LiveMesh is Microsoft's folder synchronization application that supports syncing to the SkyDrive cloud storage system as well as PC to PC. It is packaged as part of Windows Live essentials which also includes the extremely useful Windows Live Photo Gallery (facial recognition tagging). All for Free!
How They Work

Each service provides a limited amount of free online storage. Some offer extra space for referrals (GetDropBox) or for running through the tutorial. Extra storage is also available for a reasonable monthly fee.
The storage is automatically synced directly to a drive or folder on your computer or select smartPhones via a downloadable application which integrates into the OS.

Working on files offline will sync once connected
No manual intervention required
SkyDrive's sync app is called LiveMesh

On public terminals or without the application, you can still access the files via their web sites.
A few versions of each document are stored by each service to keep track of changes and roll-back accidental saves.

Currently, ZumoDrive keeps unlimited versions.
LiveMesh does not version.

You can share the files with friends or the public as desired (Think FTP). This is very handy for CraigsList posts, linking to a file instead of attaching it to an email, etc.

The Differences

ZumoDrive currently offers larger paid plans but GetDropbox is slightly less expensive for its upgraded plan. SkyDrive (LiveMesh) offers the most free space

Prices and plans will probably even out in the future.

GetDropbox adds a folder to your MyDocuments folder, whereas ZumoDrive adds a fixed drive letter

ZumoDrive shows how much space is remaining as the disc size.

ZumoDrive offers unlimited Versioning, whereas GetDropBox is limited, LiveMesh does not version (SkyDrive can version select doc types, but no integration with LiveMesh)
LiveMesh has some exclusive bonuses

Internet Explorer favorites/bookmark synchronization
Unlimited file/folder synchronization between connected computers/devices

This is great for those big videos that are too large for the cloud storage solution

Some other must-have cloud solutions

Favorites / Bookmarks

Live Mesh Favorites synchronization
Google Bookmarks

With Toolbar and List integration

Image/Photo storage

Shutterfly

My Preferred since full quality images are retrievable via a Backup DVD purchase and full quality images are saved

Too many to list. :)

Events and Invitations

Facebook
Evite
Pingg
Meetup
Sportsvite

Social Networking

Facebook
LinkedIn
Google+

Online Documents/Collaboration

Office Live SkyDrive (Office Web Apps)
Google Docs
Google Lists
Office 365 / BPOS / Microsoft Office Online (Pay Service)

SharePoint, Exchange, Communicator/Lync, and Live Meeting
When you need collaboration for a small to medium sized office/group
Includes Office Web Apps
Priced per user with a minimum of 5

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Asp.Net Alternative To SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges

Scenario

You would like to run code as the Application Pool user rather than impersonated/delegated logged-in user within a SharePoint Application
You would like to run the same code outside of SharePoint in a standard Asp.Net environment or will be developing on a workstation where SharePoint is not installed

Resolution

You can use the System.Web.dll's Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Impersonate() method to wrap the elevated code

Using (System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Impersonate())
     'Elevated Code Here
End Using

Friday, January 15, 2010

IE Bug: Embedded CSS Styles within AJAX UpdatePanel

Scenario

You have a Web UserControl with embedded <style> tags within an UpdatePanel.

Issue

Internet Explorer: After an Asynchronous postback some of the Styles are no longer applied.

In my case the height property on a div. This was confusing since the code was expanding/collapsing the div, but the bug was ignoring the style.

If you check the source via IE Developer Toolbar you will see that the style is supposed to be applied.

Resolution

I was able to resolve this by moving the <style> section to the bottom of the UpdatePanel.

I don't know why this works.

The best solution is to move the <style> section to the Master Page or Aspx Page <header> section.

This is the only approved location for embedded Styles.
You can alternatively include a css file.

Another alternative is to RegisterClientScriptBlock the style or an external css reference from the UserControl

See this blog.

Sample Code:

<asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server">
    <ContentTemplate>
        <style type="text/css">
            div
            {
                display:block;
                overflow:auto;
            }
            .collapsed 
            {
             height:50px;         
            }
            .expanded
            {
             height:inherit;
            }
        </style>
        <asp:Panel CssClass="collapsed" runat="server" ID="pnlMain">
            1<br />2<br />3<br />4<br />5<br />6<br />
        </asp:Panel>
        <asp:Button ID="btnExpCol" runat="server" Text="Expand" />

    </ContentTemplate>
</asp:UpdatePanel>

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Monday, March 14, 2011

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Monday, December 6, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Monday, November 8, 2010

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Monday, July 12, 2010

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Monday, March 22, 2010

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Friday, January 15, 2010

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