SharePoint Designer Support Team Blog

SharePoint Designer is now FREE + customers on Software Assurance get rights to Expression Web

michmon — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 22:51:00 GMT

SharePoint Designer is being made available as a free download, and SharePoint Designer customers on active Software Assurance will now get rights to Expression Web: Q&A on SharePoint Designer 2007 Licensing Changes Letter to SharePoint Designer Customers...(read more)

Hotfix Alert: After you install update 957691, you cannot set a user type column from the workflow when you create or update a list item

michmon — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:46:00 GMT

Symptoms:

Workflows will fail to update a Person or Group column after applying the October CU for WSS 3.0. The December Uber update causes this issue, as well.

Workflow status error: "Error Occurred" and "Error updating a list item"

===== ULS LOG (partial) =====

w3wp.exe (0x0C1C) 0x0900 Windows SharePoint Services General 75yj Medium Error in resolving user 'domain\user' : System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPActiveDirectoryPrincipalBySIDResolver.ResolvePrincipal(String input, Boolean inputIsEmailOnly, SPPrincipalType scopes, SPPrincipalSource sources, SPUserCollection usersContainer) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.ResolveWindowsPrincipal(SPWebApplication webApp, String input, SPPrincipalType scopes, Boolean inputIsEmailOnly).

w3wp.exe (0x0E00) 0x0B00 Windows SharePoint Services Workflow Infrastructure 72er Medium Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Invalid data has been used to update the list item. The field you are trying to update may be read only. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80020005): Invalid data has been used to update the list item. The field you are trying to update may be read only. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.AddOrUpdateItem(String bstrUrl, String bstrListName, Boolean bAdd, Boolean bSystemUpdate, Boolean bPreserveItemVersion, Boolean bUpdateNoVersion, Int32& plID, String& pbstrGuid, Guid pbstrNewDocId, Boolean bHasNewDocId, String bstrVersion, Object& pvarAttachmentNames, Object& pvarAttachmentContents, Object& pvarProperties, Boolean bCheckOut, Boolean bCheckin, Boolean bMigration, Boolean bPublish) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Librar..

===== ULS LOG (partial) =====

Cause:

Regression introduced by the October CU for WSS 3.0.

Resolution:

1. Install Windows SharePoint Services February Cumulative Update: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961750.

Workaround:

If you are unable to install the SharePoint February CU, then here is a workaround:

Create a string variable in the workflow, and call it UserID.
Add the workflow action "Set Workflow Variable". Set the UserID variable to whatever user type column you are interested in (example: "Created By").
Add the workflow action "Build Dynamic String". In the dynamic string dialog, type "-1;#" (without quotes). Then, click "Add Lookup" to the workflow variable UserID. Click OK.
Still on the build a dynamic string action, set the variable to store in as UserID.
Change the workflow action to use the variable UserID when updating or setting the Person or Group type field.

NOTE: the same workaround works for FBA (forms based authentication) providers, as well.

Understanding How You Use This Blog

michmon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:31:00 GMT

Ed has asked if a few of us could help out with his survey by posting a link to it here. I'm happy to help out:

Greetings Blog Readers,

My name is Ed Jolly, and I am a director in the Commercial Technical Support (CTS) organization at Microsoft. I am here to request a few minutes of your time.

We would like to learn more about blog readership through a brief survey. This is an opportunity for us to better understand what is valuable to you and what you would like to see in the future.

Below is a link that will take you to another website to complete the survey. Based on what we learn, we may request more feedback in future surveys like this. When you open the survey, you will see a list of blogs that CTS engineers contribute to across many different products. We have not posted a listing of these blogs in the past, and I hope it helps you find other blogs that are helpful to you.

The blog survey is completely anonymous.

· Location: ~~http://www.tsisurveys.com/mssurveys/blog/index.asp~~ (no longer available)

· Availability: Until August 22. You may receive a request to complete this survey through multiple RSS feeds. You need only to complete it one time.

· Length: The survey can be a maximum of 11 questions.

· Time: Less than 5 minutes (but providing more information in the open text fields may take a minute or two extra, improving our ability to understand your needs in these blogs).

Thank you in advance for your time, participation and assistance.

Ed Jolly (edjolly@microsoft.com)

Data View / Data Form: Parameters You Don’t Know About

michmon — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 19:21:00 GMT

From my old blogging site ~~DataFormWebPart.com~~, this ~~post~~ continues to garner good amounts of traffic. Like in a previous blog entry, I am lifting my old post to put on here in hopes of it getting more visibility and use.

There is a collection of variables called ServerVariables that can access all of the IIS server variables. There are a lot of useful ones, and you can use these variables in your data view / form web parts as parameters.

Here are the basic steps access the variables:

1. On the Common Data View Tasks pane on your data view web part, click Parameters…

2. Click New Parameter, name the parameter MyServerVar (or, whatever you like), and set the Parameter Source to be Server Variable.

3. In Server Variable Name, enter in any of the available server variables (listed below). For sake of example, I am going to use LOGON_USER.

4. That’s it! Now MyServerVar can be used as a parameter in the data view / form web part. Use it to filter, sort, etc.

Here is a list of Server Variables you can use:

Variable	Description
ALL_HTTP	Returns all HTTP headers sent by the client. Always prefixed with HTTP_ and capitalized
ALL_RAW	Returns all headers in raw form
APPL_MD_PATH	Returns the meta base path for the application for the ISAPI DLL
APPL_PHYSICAL_PATH	Returns the physical path corresponding to the meta base path
AUTH_PASSWORD	Returns the value entered in the client’s authentication dialog
AUTH_TYPE	The authentication method that the server uses to validate users
AUTH_USER	Returns the raw authenticated user name
CERT_COOKIE	Returns the unique ID for client certificate as a string
CERT_FLAGS	bit0 is set to 1 if the client certificate is present and bit1 is set to 1 if the cCertification authority of the client certificate is not valid
CERT_ISSUER	Returns the issuer field of the client certificate
CERT_KEYSIZE	Returns the number of bits in Secure Sockets Layer connection key size
CERT_SECRETKEYSIZE	Returns the number of bits in server certificate private key
CERT_SERIALNUMBER	Returns the serial number field of the client certificate
CERT_SERVER_ISSUER	Returns the issuer field of the server certificate
CERT_SERVER_SUBJECT	Returns the subject field of the server certificate
CERT_SUBJECT	Returns the subject field of the client certificate
CONTENT_LENGTH	Returns the length of the content as sent by the client
CONTENT_TYPE	Returns the data type of the content
GATEWAY_INTERFACE	Returns the revision of the CGI specification used by the server
HTTP_<HeaderName>	Returns the value stored in the header HeaderName
HTTP_ACCEPT	Returns the value of the Accept header
HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE	Returns a string describing the language to use for displaying content
HTTP_COOKIE	Returns the cookie string included with the request
HTTP_REFERER	Returns a string containing the URL of the page that referred the request to the current page using an <a> tag. If the page is redirected, HTTP_REFERER is empty
HTTP_USER_AGENT	Returns a string describing the browser that sent the request
HTTPS	Returns ON if the request came in through secure channel or OFF if the request came in through a non-secure channel
HTTPS_KEYSIZE	Returns the number of bits in Secure Sockets Layer connection key size
HTTPS_SECRETKEYSIZE	Returns the number of bits in server certificate private key
HTTPS_SERVER_ISSUER	Returns the issuer field of the server certificate
HTTPS_SERVER_SUBJECT	Returns the subject field of the server certificate
INSTANCE_ID	The ID for the IIS instance in text format
INSTANCE_META_PATH	The meta base path for the instance of IIS that responds to the request
LOCAL_ADDR	Returns the server address on which the request came in
LOGON_USER	Returns the Windows account that the user is logged into
PATH_INFO	Returns extra path information as given by the client
PATH_TRANSLATED	A translated version of PATH_INFO that takes the path and performs any necessary virtual-to-physical mapping
QUERY_STRING	Returns the query information stored in the string following the question mark (?) in the HTTP request
REMOTE_ADDR	Returns the IP address of the remote host making the request
REMOTE_HOST	Returns the name of the host making the request
REMOTE_USER	Returns an unmapped user-name string sent in by the user
REQUEST_METHOD	Returns the method used to make the request
SCRIPT_NAME	Returns a virtual path to the script being executed
SERVER_NAME	Returns the server’s host name, DNS alias, or IP address as it would appear in self-referencing URLs
SERVER_PORT	Returns the port number to which the request was sent
SERVER_PORT_SECURE	Returns a string that contains 0 or 1. If the request is being handled on the secure port, it will be 1. Otherwise, it will be 0
SERVER_PROTOCOL	Returns the name and revision of the request information protocol
SERVER_SOFTWARE	Returns the name and version of the server software that answers the request and runs the gateway
URL	Returns the base portion of the URL

Source or read more about it on MSDN.

Note: A fun trick to see what the server variable values actually are is to output them into your data view: <xsl:value-of select=”$MyServerParam” />

Now whenever you change Server Variable Name (ex: LOGON_USER to AUTH_TYPE) the value will be reflected in your data view.

Interested in a job supporting SharePoint Designer at Microsoft?

michmon — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:58:00 GMT

This may seem a bit odd for a blog post, but I wanted our new team position to get as much exposure as possible. After all, we are hoping to attract the very best! :)

We are seeking an individual who is passionate about web technologies, such as Microsoft SharePoint / Designer. Specifically, we are looking for someone who has interest and aptitude in some of the following areas: HTML, CSS, XML, XSLT, JavaScript, SOAP, ASP.NET, SQL, web design + development, workflows, etc. Overall, we are a small and closely knit team, but make a large impact in the greater SharePoint ecosystem. It's a challenging position that requires cross-product knowledge, the ability to learn quickly, and a willingness to take on technically complex and politically challenging cases.

Anyways, enough of my little blurb about the team and the position. Read the official details here. Also, feel free to comment on this post or email us at blogspd@microsoft.com with any questions you may have.

How to fix: Error in SharePoint when custom master page is applied

michmon — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:55:00 GMT

UPDATE: Found this get hit through our support channels several times last week. As it turns out, depending on the missing content placeholder (or other pieces), the cause of the error may be different than just creating new list items; like I previously stated. Therefore, I "genericized" my post to be more applicable to a wider-range of situations. Same steps apply to find what's causing the issue, though.

Symptoms:

After changing to a customized master page, creating new items for several lists, along with several other operations, no longer works and result in an error message.

Error:

"An unexpected error has occurred."

Cause:

There may be several causes. One, is that the custom master page is missing necessary content place holders.

Resolution:

Method 1: Identify the missing content place holders by modifying the web.config.

Browse to c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\[port of web application]. Note: in this folder you will find a web.config file.
Open the web.config file in Notepad (or like-application).
In Notepad, click Edit -> Find, enter "custom" (without quotes). Click Find Next. You should find the following node: <customErrors mode="On" />. Change mode from "On" to "Off".
In Notepad, click Edit -> Find, enter "callstack" (without quotes). Click Find Next (change direction Up / Down, if needed). You should find the following node: <SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="false" DirectFileDependencies="10" TotalFileDependencies="50" AllowPageLevelTrace="false">. Change the CallStack attribute from "false" to "true".
Save the web.config file, and perform an iisreset /noforce.

NOTE: After performing the above steps, attempt to reproduce the error in the web browser. The error message should be descriptive in terms of what content place holder is missing. Take note of the place holder name.

Open the master page, and in code view add: <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderName" runat="server" />. Replace PlaceHolderName with that of the actual content place holder name that was shown in the error message from step 5.

Method 2: Find the missing content place holders manually.

Open SharePoint Designer 2007. Go to File | Open Site and connect to SharePoint site.
Expand out _catalogs -> masterpage -> open customized master page.
Go to Code view. Go to Edit | Find.
In the Find and Replace dialog, enter: "<asp:contentplaceholder" (without quotes). Click Find All.
Reference the occurrences found in the file with that of available content place holders:

PlaceHolderBodyAreaClass
PlaceHolderBodyLeftBorder
PlaceHolderBodyRightMargin
PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator
PlaceHolderFormDigest
PlaceHolderGlobalNavigation
PlaceHolderHorizontalNav
PlaceHolderLeftActions
PlaceHolderLeftNavBar
PlaceHolderLeftNavBarBorder
PlaceHolderLeftNavBarDataSource
PlaceHolderLeftNavBarTop
PlaceHolderMain
PlaceHolderMiniConsole
PlaceHolderNavSpacer
PlaceHolderPageDescription
PlaceHolderPageImage
PlaceHolderSearchArea
PlaceHolderSiteName
PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass
PlaceHolderTitleAreaSeparator
PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb
PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea
PlaceHolderTitleLeftBorder
PlaceHolderTitleRightMargin
PlaceHolderTopNavBar
PlaceHolderUtilityContent
SPNavigation
WSSDesignConsole

Iteratively add any missing content place holders to the master page in the form of: <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderName" runat="server" />. Replace PlaceHolderName with that of the actual content place holder name.
Save master page (Check In, and Approve if necessary) after each added content place holder, and test to see if error still occurs.

NOTE: In SharePoint Designer 2007, go to View | Toolbars | Master page to bring up the master page toolbar. This may also help in identifying place holders currently used on the customized master page.

Additional Information:

I hope this helps some of you SharePoint branders out there running into similar problems. Certainly, there are few things more frustrating then finding out your beautiful and slick-looking master page is actually causing SharePoint to fail. With that said, I am interested in learning what kind of problems you've ran into with customized master page files with SharePoint, and how you resolved the issues.

How to fix: Custom List Forms will not insert or show up on the Design surface of SharePoint Designer

michmon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:37:00 GMT

Symptoms:

When attempting to insert a custom list form in SharePoint Designer the form never displays in design view. There is no error message, and the form never gets inserted into the page.

Cause:

There may be multiple causes. Thus far, we've identified that it can occur because of a failed SP1 install for MOSS. If you take a look at the Netmon traffic and compare it to a healthy server all you'll notice it is missing SOAP calls. Note: The other thing that is odd about this issue is that all SPD users will experience it.

Resolution:

Method 1 - Fix the failed upgrade.

You'll need to reinstall SP1 using our recommendations:

Method 2 - Clean up the user profile.

You'll need to clean up the user profile using these steps:

Close SharePoint Designer 2007.
Clear your Internet Explorer's temporary Internet cache.
Open My Computer and go to %System Drive%\Documents and Settings\%user%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\WebSiteCache (If you are running Vista, that path is different - look for %System Drive%\Users\%user%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WebSiteCache).
Go to a directory that looks similar to the name of the website you were connecting to.
Delete the assembly with the name of your SharePoint Site.
Type %temp% at a run prompt and delete all the temp files in there.
Delete the contents of: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Microsoft\Web Server Extensions\Cache.

How to fix: Multipage Meeting Workspace will not display items copied / created by SharePoint Designer workflows

michmon — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:26:00 GMT

Symptoms:

Documents copied from one document library to another using a SharePoint Designer workflow will not display if you use the Multipage Meeting Workspace. They will show up in SharePoint Designer under the destination document library. There is no error message. The documents are just not visible and gives the illusion that the workflow didn't copy the document.

Cause:

This occurs because the template sets the advance settings of the document library to no allow Sharing of List Items Across All Meetings (Series Items).

Steps to Reproduce:

Create a site using the Multipage Meeting Workspace.
Create two document libraries. Name one source and the other destination.
Create a SharePoint Designer workflow that starts on new item creation. Also, use the copy list item action to move a document from Source to Destination.
Upload or create a document in source. Take a look at the destination library. There will be no documents.

Resolution:

If you need this items to display and you don't need this functionality then set that setting to Yes under Advanced Settings and they will show up. The alternative is to think about using a different template as this will be a consideration for all future libraries under the Multipage Meeting Workspace.

How to fix: Slow page loads when opening pages that have custom new item forms [DataFormWebPart] for large lists [around 6000 items]

michmon — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:26:00 GMT

Symptoms:

After creating a custom new item form for a SharePoint list having a very large number of items, the new item form will take a very long time to load at browse time. There are no error messages.

Cause:

The issue happens because the default value "0" of the ListItemID parameter of the data source in the new item form causes a very resource intensive query to be run at page load time. This causes the perfiormance issue during page load. The reason we include all those parameters is to make the datasourcecontrol extensible in design time. The datasourcecontrol can be used by another webpart or view on the page and it could still work. If you don’t need those scenarios, then removing them should still work in runtime.

Workaround:

Using the "Common Data View Tasks" pane for the new item form, click on "Parameters" to open the "Data View Parameters" dialog box.
Select ListItemID and delete "0" in the Default Value input box.
Leave the default value of ListItemID blank and click on OK.
Save the page, and browse to it.

Additional Advice / Tip:

When working with large data sets you may experience other slowness in SharePoint Designer while working with data views. In those situations, you may see SharePoint Designer as non-responsive for several seconds after changes are made and / or may seem very sluggish once it's responding. Quick fix is to click "Common Data View Tasks" pane for the data view, and select "Show with sample data". Instead of showing all of the data from the data source, it limits it to 5 sample items.

How to fix: SharePoint Designer created workflow that periodically stops and does not send emails

michmon — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:42:00 GMT

Symptoms:

SharePoint Designer 2007 created workflow will "stop" before the Send Email action. This may only happen for certain users, therefore, making the issue seem to happen intermittently.

Workflow status error: "Stopped"

Cause:

Send Email action has SharePoint group(s) and/or workflow lookups in the To / Cc line.

Workaround:

Make sure each SharePoint group has at least Read permissions for the site. Additionally, that in the Group Settings area of the Group Page, under Who can view the membership of the group, Everyone is selected.

On SharePoint site, click Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Modify All Site Settings.
Under Users and Permissions heading, click People and groups.
Select appropriate group(s), click Settings -> Group Settings.
Under Group Settings area, select Everyone for Who can view the membership of the group, click OK.

Additional Information:

Office Online - Send e-mail in a workflow

How to fix: Recieve error "Unable to display this Web Part" on Data Views after restoring site from backup

michmon — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:21:00 GMT

Symptoms:

After restoring a SharePoint site using site template .STP files, .CMP files, or the stsadm commands import / export all data views / data forms show error messages.

Web browser error: "Unable to display this Web Part. To troubleshoot the problem, open this Web page in a Windows SharePoint Services-compatible HTML editor such as Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer. If the problem persists, contact your Web server administrator."

SharePoint Designer error: "The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get data from the data source. Check the format and content of your query and try again. If the problem persists, contact the server administrator."

Cause:

This is a known issue, actually. We have done some work for O14 which will address this problem. The issue is caused by the incorrect ListName, which is a GUID id for the list's instance on a given site instance. We don't do GUID fix-up, and therefore the broken data views are pointing to the incorrect data source (from the old site).

Workaround:

Start SharePoint Designer, and open page containing broken data view(s).
In SharePoint Designer's menu, click Task Panes -> Data Source Library.
From the Data Source Library task pane, drag in a new instance of the broken data view's data source (example: Announcements list) onto the page. This will create a new and working data view.
Highlight the newly inserted data view, and go into split view (half code, half design). From the code portion highlighted, look for the ListName property. Note: it should be on the first line of the highlighted code, but you may have to scroll to the right in order to see it.
Once you find the ListName property, copy everything in between { ... } (without the braces). Store that value, as we will need it later (example: paste into Notepad).
Remove the newly inserted data view.
Highlight the broken data view, and go into split view (half code, half design). From the code portion highlighted, look for the ListName Property. Note: it should be on the first line of the highlighted code, but you may have to scroll to the right in order to see it.
Once you find the ListName property, copy everything in between { ... } (without the braces).
In SharePoint Designer's menu, click Edit -> Replace. In the "Find What" portion, paste in the broken data views ListName value. In the "Replace With" portion, paste in the previous working data view's ListName value (example: the one stored in Notepad). Click Replace All, and let the process finish. Click close.
Perform steps 3 - 9 for each respective data view.

I've seen several support instances with questions and concerns on this problem. Hopefully, this helps you to understand the cause of the problem, and how to fix it.

Cat's out of the bag - How to get back attachment functionality with Custom List Forms

michmon — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:19:00 GMT

IMPORTANT: This issue has now been resolved via an official hotfix from Microsoft. Please see Error message when you try to attach a file in a custom form on the Web site in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: “This form was customized not working with attachment".

As posted by Marc Davis, there is an unsupported workaround for retaining attachment functionality with your custom list forms. For some time now, we've been supplying the workaround free of cost to customers who've opened support cases and requested a fix. We are okay with the Marc's posting, and to be honest something like this was bound to happen, considering our delay in posting the MSDN documentation for the issue. I am also relieved to see Marc's disclaimer in bold red. We understand your guys' frustration with the attachment problem, and I apologize we didn't post the workaround earlier. We just don't generally like providing unsupported cumbersome workarounds. Although I can't guarantee or give anything "official," I can hint that you may be seeing a real fix circa SP2 time frame. May be a ray of light at the end of the tunnel, yet.

How to prevent Supporting Files from being incorrectly set to erroneous page

michmon — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 00:51:00 GMT

Symptoms:

After replacing normal list form (ListFormWebPart) with custom list form (DataFormWebPart) on any of the supporting files (New, Edit, Display) for a SharePoint list, the list view properties do not work as expected. Hyperlinks for corresponding supporting file will point to erroneous or incorrect location.

Example: replacing normal list form with a custom list form on supporting file DispForm.aspx results in "display" hyperlinks going to an erroneous page, such as a different, un-intended supporting file.

This is incredibly frustrating, right? Here is a sure-fire to prevent this from occurring.

Prevention:

Open SharePoint Designer 2007. Go to File | Open Site and connect to SharePoint site.
Expand out Lists -> [List Name] -> open DispForm.aspx .
Highlight normal list form by clicking on it. This will select the entire web
part.
Right-click on selected web part, and choose Web Part Properties…
Expand [+] Layout, check option for Hidden, click OK.
With web part still highlighted, hit the right-arrow key once. Hit Enter. This creates some whitespace to insert.
Go to Insert | SharePoint Controls | Custom List Form…
Select appropriate list or library, content type, and type of form to create. Click OK.
Save page.

NOTE: The steps above are how to prevent supporting files from being incorrectly set to erroneous page, not how to fix a pre-existing problem. That's quite a bit more tricky.

Keeping the normal list form on the page should ensure the supporting files stay intact. Think of this as a sort of “best practice” and you should never run into the problem again.

Additional Information:

KB 935504 - Error message when you click "New" to create a new item in a list or when you click an existing item in SharePoint Server 2007 or in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: "Invalid page URL" or "An unexpected error has occurred"

How to hide search control on default.master

michmon — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 23:12:00 GMT

Summary:

This post describes how to hide the search control on default.master. The steps described below are applicable for other master pages, as well.

Resolution:

Open SharePoint Designer 2007. Go to File | Open Site and connect to SharePoint site.
Expand out _catalogs -> masterpage -> open default.master. Check out file, if necessary.
In Code View, search for "PlaceHolderSearchArea". After id="PlaceHolderSearchArea", add the following property: Visible="false". In all, the code should look something like:
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" Visible="false" runat="server">
<SharePoint:DelegateControl runat="server" ControlId="SmallSearchInputBox"/>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
Save master page, check in (if necessary), and publish major version.

NOTE: To reverse the changes, simply set Visible="true" on the placeholder.

I decided to write this post as we've seen several support cases with questions on how to hide / manipulate the search control on master pages. This post just covers hiding the search box. There are multiple ways to hide the search control, to be sure, including using CSS (ex: "display:none;").

How to fix: Recurring Meeting Workspace error: ‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined

michmon — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:54:00 GMT

Note: I'm lifting this from my ~~DataFormWebPart.com~~ blog ~~post~~, in hopes of the workaround getting more traffic.

Scenarios:

After changing the master page on a Meeting Workspace site, the recurring meeting workspace hyperlinks under “Select a date from the list below” do not work and throw a JavaScript error.

If you create a custom master page and use it for your Meeting Workspaces, a JavaScript error is thrown.

Error:
‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined

Cause:
The g_instanceId global JavaScript variable is declared in a script registered runtime by the Microsoft.SharePoint.Meetings.PropertyBag web control. This control is used in the master page that’s used by Meeting Workspace sites called “MWSDefault.master” (located on server in 12 hive\TEMPLATE\GLOBAL\).

Steps to Reproduce:

Create a new Workspace: Site Actions-> Create Site -> Select [Meetings] Basic Meeting Workspace, click Create.
On Workspace site, add a Calendar list: Site Actions -> Create -> [Tracking] Calendar.
Add a new event to Calendar list, make recurring event, and select [x] Use a Meeting Workspace to organize attendees, agendas, documents, minutes, and other details for this event. Click OK.
Follow steps to create workspace for Calendar event. Go to workspace.
Change master page for workspace: Site Actions -> Site Settings -> [Look and Feel] Master page -> select any master page for Site Master Page and System Master Page. Click OK. Go back to workspace.
Now the links under “Select a date from the list below:” do not work and throw a JavaScript error message: ‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined .

Workaround:

Open SharePoint Designer 2007. Go to File | Open Site and connect to SharePoint site.
Expand out _catalogs -> masterpage -> open master page used on Meeting Workspace.
In Code View, add the following line of code under <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %> tag:

<%@ Register Tagprefix="Meetings" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Meetings" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
Add the following line of code after opening <body …> tag: <Meetings:PropertyBag runat="server"/>
Save master page, check in (if necessary), and publish major version.