SharePoint Administration & Development + InfoPath

Tutorial: Add Custom List actions using SharePoint Designer 2010

2011-10-26T00:34:00.000+11:00

One of the new features of SharePoint 2010 is the ability to easily add Custom Actions buttons to the Ribbon, List item menu and the built-in forms (Display, Edit and New). This can be done with SharePoint Designer 2010 and the “Custom Actions” functionality. In this tutorial I explain how to use this feature to add custom action buttons to various parts of the UI for lists and libraries in SharePoint 2010. There are a number of ways which you can access this functionality, which all require SharePoint Designer 2010. Depending on the method used to add a Custom Action to a list, certain options may or may not be available to customise what the Custom Action does when clicked, or where it appears in the Interface for the list. For example, when you are viewing a list or library in your web browser, there is a “New Quick Step” button on the Ribbon in the “Customize List” group. (Add a Quick Step to start a Workflow) Using this option will add a Custom Action to the list, but limits the functionality to starting an existing or new Workflow associated with the list. Once the Custom Actions has been configured, it will be added to the Ribbon on the “Items” tab in a group called “Quick Steps” (Button Location = View Ribbon). When viewing the list using SharePoint Designer 2010, there are two places that can be used to add Custom actions to the list. One is using the “Custom Action” drop-down option on the Ribbon, and the other is by pressing the “New...” button on the Custom Actions Section on the List Settings page. (Add a Custom Action to the List Item Menu) When you use the “New...” button from the Custom Actions section on the settings page, this will add the Custom Action to the List Item Menu / LIM (The List Item Menu in SharePoint 2010 was known as the ECB menu (Edit Control Block) in earlier versions of SharePoint). Once the Custom Action has been created, it will be...

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Add Custom Links to the SharePoint 2010 UI as a Feature with or without using Visual Studio

2011-10-24T20:04:00.002+11:00

In this article, I demonstrate the process of adding a custom link and group to the UI in SharePoint as a Site Feature without using Visual Studio, as well as using Visual Studio. In some cases you may not have Visual Studio installed on a Server running SharePoint, or may just want to quickly add a custom link in the interface such as on the Site Settings page, or the Actions or Settings menu for a Document Library or List. In other cases you may have a project in Visual Studio containing new functionality to be deployed to a SharePoint environment, that needs to be accessed through adding custom links to the UI. It makes sense to deploy the custom links as part of the solution feature, so I also explain how to achieve this from a Visual Studio Project. The purpose of this article is primarily to demonstrate the two methods of adding custom links to the UI in SharePoint 2010 with or without using Visual Studio. I therefore don’t go into detail about the links themselves. Please refer to other articles on this site for more specific information and examples for adding links to specific pages and menus in the SharePoint UI. References to some of these examples are provided later in this post. Adding a custom link to the User Interface without Visual Studio:First up, I explain the steps required to include a custom action link on the Site Settings page of SharePoint sites without incorporating into a Visual Studio project or solution. On the Frontend Server, browse to the FEATURES directory using Windows Explorer ( C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\FEATURES ) Create a new Folder in the FEATURES directory with a name that describes the type of feature / link that you are adding (eg. “CustomSiteSettingsLinks”). Inside the new folder, create a text file, and name it “Feature.xml” Open Feature.xml in a text editor and paste the...

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Apply Permissions to Custom UI Links / Actions in SharePoint Menus and Settings Pages

2011-10-24T20:00:00.002+11:00

This post explains how to incorporate permissions into custom links and actions added to the UI on menus, toolbars and default layout pages such as the Site Settings page in SharePoint 2010. Examples included in the post are: Restricting custom links on list settings pages to only site collection administrators Adding custom actions to the Document Library dropdown menu (ECB - Edit Control Block) that are displayed only to users with edit permissions on the document. Displaying a link on the Site Actions menu only to users with access to manage permissions for the current site. Displaying a custom link on the List Actions menu for users with access to manage the list. Display a link on the Site Settings page of a site to users with access to add and customise pages on the site, as well as apply themes and stylesheets to the site (Site Designers). The attributes used to control custom links are included in the CustomAction element when configuring the link or action. The RequireSiteAdministrator attribute accepts a boolean value that specifies if a user needs to be a Site Collection Administrator to see the link. The Rights attribute accepts one or more base permissions in a comma separated list, which a user must have for the link to be displayed. If multiple permissions are specified in the Role attribute, the user must have all of the permissions listed to see the link. Customising the User Interface by adding links and actions based on user permissions can enhance usability of the site for some, but without cluttering or adding links to irrelevant resources for other users. For example, displaying links to specific help content or branding guidelines to site designers may help maintain consistency and elements/themes required to maintain a acceptable look and feel when modifying themes and styles used across sites in a SharePoint environment. For help with creating a...

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SharePoint Application Page Security

2011-10-22T12:47:00.000+11:00

This article covers information relating to security for Application pages and page components in SharePoint: Selecting the correct base class to inherit from when developing Application Pages in SharePoint Securing Application pages with user permissions Specifying when the CheckRights method is called to determine if a user has access to the page. Programmatically check if the user has permission to access the page Code Access Security (CAS) Policy for SharePoint Components A number of other useful resources relating to security of Application Pages and page components such as Web Parts are also referenced throughout this post, with a description of the main points covered in each to help you understand the requirements and implications of developing Application pages that need to be secured or unrestricted. Choosing the correct class to inherit from when developing an Application PageWhen developing an Application Page for Sharepoint, there are two base classes that can be inherited from which include a number of properties and methods that can be used to help control access to the page. In some cases you may want a page to be accessible to any user, include anonymous users, but in most cases you will probably want to restrict the page and functionality to authenticated users with specific permissions on the site in which they access the page from. The base page classes to help control this are the LayoutPageBase and UnsecuredLayoutPageBase. LayoutPageBase Class The LayoutPageBase class Includes various properties and methods to help control security for the page to restrict the page or content on the page to users. This class should be inherited from in the code behind file ( .aspx.cs ) when creating a secured application page. You can the override certain properties or methods to restrict the page based on permisisons. To restrict based on specific built-in permisisons from the SPBasePermissions...

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SPBasePermissions Usage With (Programmatic) and Without Code

2011-10-18T23:09:00.000+11:00

In this post, I list some of the properties and methods that return a SPBasePermissions enum, and some methods that take SPBasePermissions as a parameter when checking if a user has certain rights on an object in SharePoint. Later in the post I also explain how the permission masks with SPBasePermissions can be used to customise (show / hide ) content and custom UI actions / links without using code. Programmatic uses of SPBasePermissions to check for or set permissions on various objects in SharePoint The following are some of the more common components in SharePoint that can be used to get or set permissions, or check if certain permissions are effective for a user on the object. Get or set the Base Permissions for a Role Definition in a Web SPWeb.RoleDefinitions.BasePermissions Get the current or specified user’s effective SPBasePermissions on an object (SPWeb, SPList, SPListItem, etc.) Username passed as String to GetUserEffectivePermissions(): SPSite SPSite.EffectiveBasePermissions SPSite.GetEffectiveRightsForAcl(SPReusableAcl) SPWeb SPWeb.EffectiveBasePermissions SPWeb.GetUserEffectivePermissions(String) SPList SPList.EffectiveBasePermissions SPList.EffectiveFolderPermissions SPList.GetUserEffectivePermissions(String) SPFolder SPFolder.EffectiveRawPermissions SPFile SPFile.EffectiveRawPermissions SPListItem SPListItem.EffectiveBasePermissions SPListItem.GetUserEffectivePermissions(String) Check if the current or specified user has the specified permissions and throws UnauthorizedAccessException if not: SPSite.CheckForPermissions(SPReusableAcl, SPBasePermissions) SPWeb.CheckPermissions(SPBasePermissions) SPList.CheckPermissions(SPBasePermissions) SPListItem.CheckPermissions(SPBasePermissions) Returns true/false indicating if the user has the specified permission(s) SPSite SPSite.DoesUserHavePermissions(SPReusableAcl, SPBasePermissions) SPSite.DoesUserHavePermissions(SPReusableAcl,...

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Permission Based Content in SharePoint (With Examples)

2011-10-11T18:30:00.000+11:00

The examples in this tutorial demonstrate how to restrict certain content or controls on a page in SharePoint to specific users based on their permissions. It can be applied to a Master Page, or directly to a .aspx page in SharePoint using SharePoint Designer. Many options are available to configure exactly how and when the content should be displayed using the base permissions available in SharePoint with the SPSecurityTrimmedControl class. The complete list of base permissions that can be used with the class can be viewed on this page: SPBasePermissions. It is also possible to show or hide content based on user authentication using the AuthenticationRestrictions property of the class, which may be useful if you want to display a different set of links depending on if a user has been authenticated or is anonymous. Below are some examples of base permissions that are more likely to be used to restrict content to specific users with the associated permission. Show content to only a user with full permissions on the site: <SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl ID="ShowContent1" PermissionsString="ManageWeb" runat="server"> ASP Controls or HTML included here will be visible only to users with full permission on the site.</SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl> Show content to only users who can manage lists <SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl ID="ShowContent2" PermissionsString="ManageLists" runat="server"> ASP Users Controls or HTML included here will be visible only to users who have the Manage Lists permission.</SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl> Show Content to users with access to manage permissions <SharePoint:SPSecurityTrimmedControl ID="ShowContent3" ...

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SharePoint 2010: Add User Control to Master Page Using SharePoint Designer 2010

2011-10-11T01:21:00.000+11:00

In this article I explain the steps to include a custom User Control in a Master Page in SharePoint 2010 using SharePoint Designer. In my case, the example User Control I am adding to the Master Page in this tutorial is in the following location which would vary depending on the name and of the Control and the folder it is saved in: “~/_controltemplates/SP2010_UserControl_Example/DynamicSiteTitle.ascx file” SharePoint Designer 2010 Master Page User Control Using SharePoint Designer 2010, open the Site and Master Page Library where the Master Page will be stored containing the User Control. In this example, I am creating a copy of the default v4.master used in SharePoint 2010 in the root site Master Page Library and calling it v4b.master. Open the Master Page you wish to modify by right clicking the and selecting the “Edit File in Advanced Mode” option. Close to the top of the markup below the existing @Register / @Import tags, add the following line to register the User Control for use in the page. Change the reference to the User Control file (.ascx) to point to your User Control if required: <%@ Register TagPrefix="custom" TagName="DynamicTitle" src="~/_controltemplates/SP2010_UserControl_Example/DynamicSiteTitle.ascx" %> Now that the User Control is registered, it can be included in the page by adding an element with the tag prefix and tag name specified when registering the control. As the example User Control displays a dynamic title the tag and prefix have been named to suit, but can be something else if required. The element in this case will look like: <custom:DynamicTitle id="DynamicTitle1" runat="server"/> The value of the id attribute can also vary, which should be unique for each instance that the control is included on the page if more than once. I have added the control to the Site Name placeholder ...

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Hide / Disable Global Navigation Settings on SharePoint Site (MOSS 2007)

2011-09-22T01:39:00.001+10:00

The following is a reference to an article which explains a simple solution to hide the Global Navigation settings from the Navigation Settings page on a SharePoint site. If you need to allow site owners to manage the navigation links on their site, but want to control the global navigation to prevent them from changing or breaking the inheritance you can modify the Navigation Settings page ( AreaNavigationSettings.aspx ) so that the Global Navigation section is not displayed on the page. Example customised Navigation Settings page without the Global Navigation section (from the article). The OOB AreaNavigationSettings.aspx page is customised using inline styles, and by removing the elements used to display the global navigation settings. Once modified, the global navigation can still be managed from the top level site in the site collection. For details, including step by step instructions on how to implement the solution, please see: Hide SharePoint Global / Top Navigation Settings from Sites SharePoint Administration & Development

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Visual Studio 2010 Installation Errors & SharePoint 2010 "Service Unavailable" after VS 2010 Install

2011-09-17T10:13:00.000+10:00

Last night I set up a fresh development environment for SharePoint 2010, but ran into a few issues when I came to install Visual Studio 2010 on the server, and also SharePoint 2010 once Visual Studio was installed, although there were a number of possible causes of SharePoint stopping working during the process. In this article, I explain the steps taken to resolve issues with the Visual Studio 2010 installation and the SharePoint 2010 environment. Server Configuration The server is configured with Windows Server 2008 Standard as the operating System, which was created from a snapshot taken from the base install some months ago. In the “base install”, I had installed MS SQL Server 2008, and SharePoint 2010 which were both working fine at the time the snapshot was created. The problems and steps taken to resolve: After creating a new VM from the snapshot and testing SharePoint, I was able to load the root SharePoint site as expected. No other sites existed in the environment at this point as it was a fresh install of SharePoint when the snapshot was taken. My first attempt at installing Visual Studio 2010 failed before it even started, as the Windows Installer was in use, or a reboot was required. Due to the time between making the snapshot and creating this VM, a number of updates had been released by Microsoft that were applicable to the server. Rebooting the server resulted in many updates being installed. I also activated the Windows Server 2008 installation after the reboot as the previous product key had expired. My second attempt at installing Visual Studio also failed when attempting to install the first of the long list of required components. I rebooted again to find that there were still some updates that needed to be configured on the server even though there was no notification of this requirements after the initial reboot. A number of updates relating...

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SharePoint Document Library Opening as Web Folder

2011-08-20T12:31:00.000+10:00

Today I needed to work with a document library in SharePoint by opening it via it’s UNC path using Windows Explorer. The issue that I faced, was that the library would be opened in Explorer as a Web Folder using the URL of the library ( via http/https ) and not using the UNC as I required. I needed to work with files in bulk, including opening and saving using their native client software/application. When I attempted to load a selection of files, instead of the files opening in the client, each file would be opened in a new browser tab/window before prompting to open or save the file. Not useful to me at all.. Solution: The solution was simple in my case, was simply to adjust the network provider order for the connection that was being used so that the “Microsoft Windows Network” provider takes precedence over the “Web Client Network” provider. Adjust the Network Provider order: Network Provider Order on Windows 7: Start -> type “view network connections” OR: Start -> Control Panel -> Network and Sharing -> Change Adapter Settings (Left column) Network Provider Order on Windows XP: Start -> Settings -> Network Connections Select the network connection you with to modify (likely the one active and connected) Press F10, or ALT to show the menu if required. From the “Advanced” dropdown, open the “Advanced Settings” dialog. Select the “Provider Order” tab. Adjust the order as required. (“Web Client Network” should be below the Microsoft Windows Network to help prevent a library from always opening as a Web Folder.) Restart your computer After adjusting the provider order, you will most likely need to restart before the changes will be active. After making the adjustment myself, I was no longer able to access the library at all using Windows Explorer (not even using Web Folders), until I restarted. After restarting, I was able to access the same Document...

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How To Add column to all content types and lists in SharePoint

2011-03-21T19:24:00.000+11:00

Adding a column to all content types and list in SharePoint is simple, but there are implications that first need to be considered before doing so. Once completed, the new column will be available in all existing content types in the Site Collection, as well as lists and libraries that exist on SharePoint sites. Implication: The implication of this change, is that the process to reverse is not nearly as simple as the process to implement. Removing the column from the content type(s) will not remove the association of the column with lists that previously had the global column. A custom solution could be developed to automate removal of the column from content types and lists, but the alternative would be to manually remove each instance which could be time consuming in larger, more complex environments. Process: Content Types in SharePoint inherit from the Item content type. If a column is added to this content type (with the “Update all content types inheriting from this type?” option selected), the column will also be added to all existing content types in the site collection. Navigate to the Content Type Gallery at the root of the site collection, via the site settings page From under the List Content Types heading, select the “Item” content type. Press the “Add from new site column”, link to add a new global column, or the add from existing option to add an existing column to all content types. (If adding a new column) Complete the information about the new column, ensure that the “Update all content types inheriting from this type?” option is selected, and press OK to add the column. SharePoint Administration & Development

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Dynamic List Filter Menu Using Data View Grouping

2011-03-19T14:55:00.000+11:00

This article explains how to create a dynamic filter menu for content in SharePoint. Methods from the article SharePoint: List Distinct (unique) values from a specific column in a list are used to obtain unique values from a specific column in a SharePoint list to be displayed as each menu item. When an filter option from the menu is selected, content on the page will be filtered based on the selection. For a single menu displaying filter options dynamically, you only need to associate the menu with one column from the main list. When an option is selected, the browser is redirected to the same page with a query string parameter set to the selected filter parameter using JavaScript. The main list on the page is then configured to filter contents based on the parameter. Components: Document Library with custom column "Heading" One Web Part page with the following components: Data View Web Part displaying the actual documents in the library Data View web Part displaying the possible filter options (from the Heading column) Usage:When a filter option is selected from the menu Data View, the browser will be sent to the current page with the selected option included as a Query String Parameter (using link or JS). The main Data View web part would be configured with a custom parameter obtained from the Query String. The custom parameter would be used as filter criteria for the Data View. The result is that when an option from the dynamic menu is selected, the documents listed in the main Data View will be dynamically filtered based on the selected option. JavaScript Reference: The “How To” instructions below refer to JavaScript functions used for Query String Manipulation. To view details about the functions referred to below, as well as other functions for hyperlink/query string manipulation, see: Query String Manipulation using JavaScript - Add Query String...

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SharePoint: List Distinct (unique) values from a specific column in a list

2011-03-14T00:57:00.001+11:00

The following describes two methods to list distinct/unique values from a specific column in a SharePoint list. An example where this may be useful is a menu system providing filter options for items in a list, using only values that are being used at the time. Display Unique Values using Data View Grouping (No Code): Obtaining a distinct/unique list of values from a specific column in a SharePoint list can be achieved easily using a Data View Web Part, and by applying sort and group criteria to group items. When grouping (group by) criteria of a Data View web part has been provided, the result is a distinct (unique) list of values from the particular column in the list that will be displayed as group headings. Once the Data View is listing items grouped by the specified column, you can manually modify (remove cells/rows) the XSL template used to display the table to remove the actual list items from under each group (use Design mode in SPD to easily manipulate the default table layout). The resulting Data View will list the group names (no items listed), which will be each unique value found in the specified column across all list items in the list. Using the grouping functionality will ensure that only unique values are returned, as long as you sort by the same field to ensure that items are grouped correctly. Once you have the list of group headings you can then modify the values displayed to be formatted as hyperlink or another control. I typically use hyperlinks or buttons with calls to JavaScript functions that add Query String parameters to the current url. Display Unique Values using XSL: Selecting a list of unique values in a column that contains multiple instances of the same value can also be achieved using an XSL template and the “following” operator. The following was achieved with the help of this article: http://www.bernzilla.com/item.php?id=333 , and...

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2011-02-19T17:29:00.009+11:00

Not Found. SharePoint Administration & Development

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MOSS: Multiple Line Text Field - Consolidate appended text from versions for use in SharePoint Workflow

2011-01-23T16:44:00.000+11:00

When playing around with "Multiple Lines of text" fields that were configured to append changes to the previous versions. I found that when trying to use the value in the field in a workflow created using SharePoint Designer, it would only find the value entered into the field in the most recent version of the item even if the field was left blank. For example, if you create a new list item with some text in the multiple lines of text field, the workflow will pick up the value as expected. If you then make a change to the item, but leave the appended text field blank this time, the version is incremented and the most recent version will not have a value for this field. The result in the workflow created using SharePoint Designer was that it would only see the value in the field of the most recent version. I needed all entries appended to the field, and not just the most recent by consolidating the text from each version. I achieved this using a workaround solution, as I was not able to access data from past versions of a list item without writing or installing custom workflow extensions for SharePoint Designer. My solution was to create a hidden text field in the list, which was updated using a separate workflow each time a change is made to the list item to replicate the "Append Text" functionality. I left the original multiple line text field configured to append text to previous versions so that the historic entries of the text field could still be displayed in the standard display or edit form (the hidden field is not visible on edit/display fields as it should be manually edited by a user). The process of the workflow to append the new text to the hidden field was quite simple. I first used the "build a dynamic string" action to create a workflow variable that contained the past entries as well as the newly updated entry, including the modify date and modified by user for reference purposes. The next and final step is to update the hidden field with the...

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InfoPath SharePoint Performance - Web Service Data Connections

2010-11-19T22:59:00.000+11:00

InfoPath provides a rich set of capabilities for integrating with SharePoint. This includes the ability to easily configure data connections to retrieve or submit data to SharePoint without the use of code. When the lists and libraries being queried from InfoPath become large, the InfoPath form can become slow when working with the results from data connections. This is more apparent if the form is being displayed in a browser using InfoPath Form Services, at the results of the query must be rendered into HTML, sent to the client and updated in the browser. Many of the solutions that I have built in the past required variation to the process depending on if data exists in SharePoint, or if the data falls within specific ranges or explicit values. To do this, code was used to loop through the results of the secondary data sources to find the required records. This can become slow very quickly once there are a large number of documents of items in the SharePoint lists and libraries. There are a number of methods that can be used to improve the performance of InfoPath forms that are integrated with SharePoint. If using the data connection wizard to create connections to SharePoint, the results of the selected lists will include items displayed in the default view of the list in SharePoint. This means that filtering, an appropriate sort order and item limit can be applied to reduce the number of items that are retrieved by the data connection from InfoPath, but you need to ensure that the criteria applied will always display the correct items from the list. If a SharePoint list item that is required by an InfoPath form is not displayed in the default view of the list, the items won’t be included in the result set when the data connection is executed. An alternative approach may be to configure specific queries to the Lists web service on a SharePoint site. This allows for much greater functionality and...

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Multiple Site Permissions Report Using Excel

2010-09-19T01:18:00.001+10:00

Managing SharePoint site permissions can become difficult when the Site Collection expands to have many sites with different permission settings for each. This is especially true if the permissions are not inherited from a parent site, list or library, or item level permissions are used on items in a list or library. Some third party reporting tools provide an overview of the permission applied across a site collection, with the possibility to drill down to more detailed information about the configuration of groups and permissions applied to each site. This article explains how to use Excel to create a single report with permissions of multiple sites in one site collection. This is achieved by using data connections and a "Web Query", by selecting the "world" option in Excel 2007 to create a data connection to configure. The address on the site permissions page for each site is added to a separate Web Query link, which retrieves the specified page from SharePoint, it retrieves data from these regions on the page when configuring the data connection. If the table that all users / groups and their assigned permission levels is selected as the region to use, the spreadsheet can retrieve this data from SharePoint and display on the Excel sheet. Once a connection is configured for each of the sites, the spreadsheet will list permissions from each of the sites as dynamic data sources / connections are renewed. You may need to configure a data connection to insert additional rows if there is not enough space in the current spreadsheet to fit the updated information. Configuring data connections on a periodic background refresh time frame, or to download the data when the spreadsheet loads will help to ensure that the report will remain up-refresh to implement to date. The report can be useful tool for SharePoint Administration, as it allows for permissions from multiple sites to be listed on an Excel spreadsheet, making it easy to see how the...

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2010-09-14T02:40:00.002+10:00

Not Found. SharePoint Administration & Development

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User Information List not Synchronised with User Profiles

2010-08-26T21:27:00.001+10:00

This evening I ran into a profile synchronisation issue, where fields available in the User Information List were showing outdated personal information for each account, even when the equivalent field on the user profile had been updated. A field in the User Profiles was previously mapped to a field in Active Directory, and successfully pulled the corresponding data from AD during profile imports. I wanted to allow the field to be edited in SharePoint, so AD mapping for this field was then removed. Data that was previously pulled from AD remained in the field, and at this point was in sync with data in User Information Lists accross the site collection. After making changes to the information via the My Profile area on the MySite Host, the changes were not reflected in User Information Lists. Both full and incremental profile imports had run after the changes were made, but this didn't seem to have any effect on User Information Lists. I also used the sync operation in stsadm to force synchronisation of the User Information List (Both Profile Synchronization & Quick Profile Synchronization jobs), but this also had no effect. I also thought that the issue may have been due to the fact that this environment is used only for development purposes, and has had a small number of local service accounts as well as accounts imported from AD over time, some of which no longer exist. I tested this by modifying profile information for both a local and AD account, then forced a profile sync using stsadm. I was able to update information in the “My Profile” for both accounts, but neither of the changes were applied to User Information Lists after the sync jobs were completed. After running the "stsadm -o sync -listolddatabases <num days>" command, I found that there were two databases with out of date sync information. I then ran the "stsadm -o sync -deleteolddatabases <num days>" command to remove the...

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Set SharePoint List Form Web Part field values using JavaScript when Creating New Item

2010-08-19T23:35:00.001+10:00

How to set values of form fields generated by the SharePoint List Form Web Part when adding a new item to the list using JavaScript. Using a custom metadata field in a SharePoint list to set categorisation & filter criteria that is later used by List and Data View Web Parts to arrange & filter content for specific audiences. Depending on the audience that a user is in, I wish to set alternate default values for specific fields rendered by the List Form Web Part. In most cases, a custom multiple choice field in the list will be set to a value which corresponds to the current user’s audience, but will sometimes need to be manually adjusted. To improve the experience for end users, the appropriate checkbox option from the multiple choice field that corresponds to the current user’s audience will be selected when the form loads, and the default value for the field un-checked if required. The custom field is used in multiple content types across the primary site collection. I found that when the field is included in a form rendered by the List View Web Part for a particular list, the HTML element name and id is not the equal to the same field rendered by a List Form Web Part on another list. For this reason, I included the javascript on the NewForm.aspx page only on the list i wish to implement the feature using a Content Editor Web Part (CEWP). A separate CEWP containing the JavaScript for each audience was added to the page under the List View Web Part, then targeted to the corresponding audience. The JavaScript used to update the field values is quite simple. As the field i wish to update is a multiple choice field (check boxes), I needed two lines of code in the script; the first unsellects the original default value for the field (set via the column settings), then selects the checkbox option that corresponds to the current user’s audience. As all CEWPs are targeted to each audience, only one should display...

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Useful Tip: Add a link to Create a New Document From a Content Type Template

2010-08-18T22:04:00.002+10:00

I found a blog post by Andy Burns that explains how to find and use the javascript from the 'New' button on a Document Library with managed content types to add a link to any page which will open a new document from the template. As the "add new document" link on the summary toolbar of a List or Data View Web Part links to the Upload page of the document library, i used the javascript from the new button instead to create a link that opens a new blank document from the content type template associated with the document library. This meant that the default save location for the document was set to the document library. Andy's post explains how to incorporate the javascript behind the 'New' button into a link on a different page. The issue that I was attempting to resolve is that I wanted to use the link in client applications outisde of SharePoint. this meant that I couldn't use javascript, as the function called was not available to the application. My solution was to add the javascript to the head setion of a separate page to a function which is called by the settimeout() method after a few seconds. Once the function is called and the blank document loaded, the script redirected to the default view of the document library. I used the timeout method as the script was not working properly if the page had not fully loaded, as well as to display a brief message to the user informing them of the process before redirecting to the document library. Redirecting to the document library also prevents an infinant loop if you press "Cancel" if asked to confirm opening the blank document, as the page is reloaded when the Cancel button is pressed. Javascript: function newDoc() { 'create a new document from a specific content type template createNewDocumentWithProgID('http:\u002f\u002fserver\u002fsites\u002fSales\u002fDocuments\u002fForms\u002fSales...

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InfoPath SharePoint Development

2010-08-16T22:26:00.003+10:00

SharePoint News & Development Resources DevSharePoint.com provides the latest SharePoint news and resources. Stay up to date with SharePoint 2010, MOSS 2007, WSS, SharePoint Designer (2007/2010), InfoPath. InfoPath & SharePoint Development Tutorials, Resources & How To's InfoPathSharePoint.net provides the latest InfoPath development tutorials, InfoPath Form Services administration tips, tricks and how to's. InfoPath SharePoint Integration: Integrate InfoPath Forms with SharePoint lists, libraries & workflow. SharePoint & InfoPath News & Resources SharePoint Administration, Development, Design & Customization Resources from around the internet. SharePoint & InfoPath News. InfoPath SharePoint Integration. InfoPath Form Template Design. InfoPath Form layouts, design tips & techniques. SharePoint Administration & Development

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Metadata Property Mappings - Managed Property not populating with data

2010-08-15T23:39:00.005+10:00

Managed Property not populating with data I was playing around with search scopes and result page XSL templates in order to develop a search solution that incorporates custom fields from a content type used on multiple site collections. Content types containing custom columns that were to be searched across, as well as displayed in the search results. The same content type has been reused multiple times across the primary site collection, and has also been deployed and used multiple time in other site collections. When configuring managed metadata property mappings for the custom fields, I was able to map each field to a managed property by searching for the field name. I was then able to create an advanced search page the included the custom properties. When incorporating the additional managed properties into the search results, I found that only items from the original (primary) site collection would have data associated with the custom mappings. The content type had been deployed to each site collection by deploying and enabling an InfoPath Form Service solution. The content type created once enabled was then associated with the form library from each site collection. I found that the internal column names from the content types on all site collections except for the primary site collection were set in the format of an Id, and not the text representation for column names the original content type. To allow the managed properties to contain data from a particular column across each site collection, I needed to do one of the two things: 1. Remove and re-create the column on the site collections where the column names were set as Ids. This resulted in the column names reverting to the same text name of the equivalent column on the primary site collection. The search crawler then maps data from the column on each site collection. Or: 2. Update the managed properties so that each...

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Metadata not saving after editing properties - Document Metadata Error

2010-08-10T19:11:00.004+10:00

Metadata Error: Metadata not saving on item in Document Library after editing Properties Scenario: I came accross an issue in a Document library where i was unable to update the document metadata properties using the SharePoint interface. The Edit Item page worked fine, and I was able to set the metadata to the values i required, but after pressing ok to save the metadata the new values weren’t being saved into SharePoint (reverting back to the previous value). The issue was on multiple documents, but not specific to a folder within the library or dependent on certain metadata properties. The majority of documents in the library work fine when applying changes to metadata. After troubleshooting the issue a little, I found that I was able to update the metadata when editing the document using Office 2007. After saving the document (stored in SharePoint), the metadata would be applied as expected. I was also able to replicate the issue in a separate document library, where documents saved in Office 2007 format were not able to have the metadata applied using the SharePoint browser interface. Searching the Internet for information about the issue didn’t help a lot in the end, but gave me a few things to try. Issues others were having were possibly related to managed content types resulting in multiple columns being referenced in a document, and the patch level of the SharePoint environment. Some users with SP1 or later applied weren’t able to replicate the issue. See the following for more info: Metadata from Word 2007 Document Information Panel not Populating Columns in SharePoint Document Libraries and vice-a-versa Metadata not saved when uploading Doc and Docx documents Possible Cause(s) Office 2007 Document in SharePoint Library with 2003 Compatible template Service Pack - Patch Level Managed Content Types: - Corrupt Document Template associated with Content Type - Duplicate Columns (1...

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Web Part Connections Not working - Web Parts Disappearing off page

2010-07-22T20:06:00.001+10:00

Scenario: Single Web Part being used to pass filter values to multiple web parts on a page. After making changes to Web Part connections, only the most recent connection works. All other connections previously configured on the source web part no longer worked. The Web Parts being connected to were no longer displayed on the page. In the end I was able to resolve the issue, but was not sure of the underlying cause. My suspicions lean toward the custom web parts being used not being able to handle Web Part Connections properly. Issue: After completing the initial configuration of the various web parts on a page, I started configuring web part connections between the web parts. I noticed that after configuring a connection, that it would be the only connection that works once applied. Any previously configured connections to other web parts no longer worked and the web parts disappeared off the page. I found that if configuring the connection from the source or destination web parts (“Send data to..” or similar) by editing the page using the browser, the web Part connections we able to be configured properly, and worked as expected once applied. If continuing to use the browser to configure or make changes to Web Part Connections, the changes remained in place on all web parts once applied. I then wanted to adjust the text displayed by a web part if there were no items that matched the filter criteria, which I did using SharePoint Designer as the Web Part was a Data View. I loaded the page in SharePoint Designer and made the changes to the Data View Web Part, but upon saving the changes to the page, all except one Web Part Connection stopped working. When viewing the page in a browser once saved, all Web Parts previously connected to the source web part were not visible on the page. Adjusting or re-setting the Web Part connection settings using SharePoint Designer had no affect on the...

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