Sharepoint Tips And Tricks

Error message when checking in a document from office 2003

2009-06-24T18:34:00.000-07:00

In a custom solution I recently worked on we were receiving an error from office applications when we tried to check in documents from within office 2003 applications like word or excel.
The error was:
"Cannont perform this operation. The file is no longer checked out or has been deleted"

After a lot of digging, I found that the fault was in the custom content types that we deployed as features. The problem was that the person who wrote the CAML for the content types that inherit from the "Document" content type thought (understandably so) that it is enough to specify only the fields that the custom content type adds on top of the built in column. This meant that the content type did not have the right columns for file name for example. This was ok in the web UI or in office 2007 - but office 2003 must have some hard coded references that it missed, and it kept throwing errors.

The solution was simple - add a reference to the built-in columns in each content type - even if it does inherit from the document content type. The following are the columns I had to add to solve the issue:

<fieldref id="{5f47e085-2150-41dc-b661-442f3027f552}" name="SelectFilename">
<fieldref id="{8553196d-ec8d-4564-9861-3dbe931050c8}" name="FileLeafRef" required="TRUE">
<fieldref id="{8c06beca-0777-48f7-91c7-6da68bc07b69}" name="Created" hidden="TRUE">
<fieldref id="{fa564e0f-0c70-4ab9-b863-0177e6ddd247}" name="Title" required="FALSE" showinnewform="FALSE" showineditform="TRUE">
<fieldref id="{28cf69c5-fa48-462a-b5cd-27b6f9d2bd5f}" name="Modified" hidden="TRUE">
<fieldref id="{822c78e3-1ea9-4943-b449-57863ad33ca9}" name="Modified_x0020_By" hidden="FALSE">
<fieldref id="{4dd7e525-8d6b-4cb4-9d3e-44ee25f973eb}" name="Created_x0020_By" hidden="FALSE">

So that solved it for the content types - if I added those content types to document libraries, there was no more issue of checking documents from office 2003. However, if you are adding the content types to the document library using either a feature (elements file with ContentTypeBinding) or using schema.xml, an incorrect character or binding in the xml files may also trigger the same issue. so beware!

Using the Today token in a CAML query

2009-06-24T15:15:00.000-07:00

I just noticed today that the CAML creator application that I am using (by U2U) does not handle the today token properly (at least the version I have).

The Today token is used in views, when you want to filter on a date based on the current date. For example, if you want to set up a view that shows future events you set the filter on start date > "[Today]".

However, in CAML, you cannot use "[Today]" - the square brackets cause the query to break. Instead, you use "<Today />".

For example:

<Where><Geq><FieldRef Name='EventDate' /><Value Type='DateTime'><Today /></Value></Geq></Where>

Read bits of my book in google

2009-06-02T03:00:00.000-07:00

I just discovered that Google has bits of my sharepoint book that you can see for free- including the section on keyboard shortcuts (which I think is useful to print and put on the wall). Take a look (and feel free to write a review either there in google or here in the comments).
The link is http://books.google.com.au/books?id=aJa4sjrHVLkC

Easy links to remember for asking sharepoint questions

2009-05-31T19:28:00.000-07:00

I hope this will be useful for someone - I made two tinyurls to help me (and others) remember the links to the sharepoint discussion forums in msdn. this way, all you have to remember is tinyurl.com and the text that I added:

SharePoint Products and Technologies Forums home page:
http://tinyurl.com/SharePointForums

SharePoint general questions forum:
http://tinyurl.com/SharePointForum

SharePoint development forum:
http://tinyurl.com/SharePointDevForum

SharePoint How To Book is published and in print

2009-05-31T17:36:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone.
This is to let you know that my book - SharePoint 2007 How-To is now available for purchase as either paperback or pdf or for kindle or sony reader or whatever format you want.

This book is probably not for the regular reader of my blog, since this blog deals with development issues, and the book is targeting end users - so if you are a developer or a sharepoint administrator, you may want to consider this book as the end user training tool for your users. Teach them how to use sharepoint.

When writing the book I had a target in mind - I did not set out to write the difinitive sharepoint guide. The book does not have everything about sharepoint. Instead, it helps the user with the most common tasks that an end user just has to know to be able to use a sharepoint site. So, while there is much more to learn beyond the book, I feel the book gives the reader a good basis to start the learning - without being a heavy, forbidding book that is hard to read (or indeed lift).

I am very interested if anyone who read the book can let me know if they think I achieved that goal. Please, if you have read it - can you leave constructive feedback either here (comment on this post) or in the book's page in Amazon (under "Customer Reviews").

Just so you get a feel what is in the book before you consider buying it (Amazon will let you read parts of it if you want), here is the table of contents:

Part I, "Solutions for Readers", has the most common and basic tasks that do not involve changing anything in SharePoint, but just viewing, browsing, and finding information. This part includes:

Chapter 1, “About Microsoft SharePoint 2007”

Chapter 2, “Finding Your Way Around a SharePoint Site”

Chapter 3, “Solutions Regarding Files, Documents, List Items, and Forms”

Chapter 4, “Searching in SharePoint”

Chapter 5, “Personal Sites and Personal Details (Available Only in MOSS)”

Part II, “Solutions for Authors and Content Managers”, teaches you how to perform tasks that involve adding content to SharePoint or changing the way it looks. This part includes:

Chapter 6, “Creating and Managing Files, List Items, and Forms in SharePoint”

Chapter 7, “Creating Lists and Document Libraries”

Chapter 8, “Creating List Views”

Chapter 9, “Authoring Pages”

Chapter 10, “Managing Security”

Chapter 11, “Workflows”

Part III, “Solutions for Site Managers,” has advanced tasks involved in creating andcustomizing SharePoint sites. This part includes:

Chapter 12, “Creating Subsites”

Chapter 13, “Customizing a SharePoint Site”

Chapter 14, “Managing Site Security”

Finally, I list Common Keyboard Shortcuts for sharepoint (which may surprise you) and useful links to pages that every sharepoint site has (for example- how to get to the "Site content and structure" page or to the page that shows the list of last content you edited... again - this may surprise even the expirienced user.

So what do you think? useful? useless? are you going to buy this? do you need this for end user training? Should I change anything if I write another book for the next version of sharepoint?
I'd love to hear what you have to say...

Access denied in win2008 with a custom host header

2009-04-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

As usual - I failed to write this down when it happened before, and every time I encounter this issue I fail to remember how to solve it.

The issue - you install a new sharepoint machine and create a web application with a custom host header and then try to browse to it from the server itself using the host header (which is correctly configured in the DNS and host files and all) and you get prompted for a username\password three times and then get thrown out.

This happened with sharepoint 2003 as well, and with windows 2003 server and has the same reason behind it - a loopback check on the server. In 2008 however it threw me several times when I created a web application, and browsed to it and it worked and then I had to recreate it and it suddenly stopped working from the server, while other machines could browse to it with no issues. arrrggghhh!

So, if you have a web application with a custom host header, and if you browse to it from a client machine you can view the sites, but from the server you get prompted for password and nothing you enter works...try the solutions described in this KB article (KB896861). I know the title refers only to IIS 6, and I know the article mentions windows XP and windows 2003 - trust me, it solves this issue for windows 2008 just as well.

Fix for the infrastructure update picture library bug

2009-03-10T21:22:00.000-07:00

If like me you find the infrastructure update ruined your picture library views, check out this hot fix that microsoft released

Finally - a solution to having bluetooth in windows 2008

2009-02-25T02:41:00.000-08:00

As you know, I run windows 2008 on my laptop - to take advantage of hyper-v, and to be able to develop and demo sharepoint FAST.

The only problem I had so far was the bluetooth - which I solved in past installations, and then something broke and I couldnt get it to work again. Well - if you have the same problem as me, here is the solution that solved my issues: http://www.dev-toast.com/2007/01/05/uncrippling-bluetooth-in-vista-rtm

Preventing IIS from logging activity on a specific sharepoint site

2009-02-09T18:45:00.000-08:00

A friend at "Kraft Foods" sent me the following tip to share with you. I must say that I didn't try it myself - so use at your own risk.

The problem

IIS logs activity for a sharepoint web application, for all sites. If you have a web application with a lot of sites, and a lot of activity, the IIS logs may grow out of proportion and make analysis of the logs harder and harder. What if you don't want it to audit all sites, but just some of them? what if we want to exclude a certain site that is hit often, and we don't care if it is audited by IIS?

Well, if our site was a regular .net site, we would have the folders of that site (the virtual directories) shown and we could mark places in the hierarchy that we do not want to audit. But SharePoint does not create virtual folders in IIS, instead IIS has only one folder for all site collections in the web application.

The solution
According to my friend, the solution is to manually create folders under the IIS physical folder by the url names of the sites that you want to exclude. For example, if you have a site called "News" that you want to exclude from the logs, go to "C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\{your web application}" and create a folder "News". Then, in IIS right click the folder, and configure it to be excluded from the logs.

More Info

I couldnt find how to exclude the folder in windows 2008 - but in IIS6 you can do that under "Directories" tab, by setting "Log Visits" = unchecked.

New MOSS internet site launched - good case study

2009-02-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

One of the three Israeli mobile communication companies has released a new web site – using MOSS. From my initial review, it is one of the best implementations I have seen so far in that it:

Works (I couldn’t find a page with errors or place holder text which is usual in new sites)
works reasonably fast
usable – nice big global navigation, in sub sites there is a nice distinct secondary navigation
different sections have different backgrounds – so the shop pages look different from the customer relations pages
makes use of personalisation – users can log on, see their account and special offers
even search looks good and is optimised with keywords and best bets – although they could have used a different font for the description to make it different from the link)
system pages are properly disabled – showing a user friendly error message
same for page not found error

The site (which is in Hebrew) can be found under http://www.cellcom.co.il

Does anyone know who built the site for them? kudos!

Dispose check tool - to check your best practices

2009-02-01T22:49:00.000-08:00

Paul Andrew from Microsoft has just announced that the SPDisposeCheck tool was released to the public. I have tested this tool in Alpha and Beta, and provided Microsoft with feedback -and now the completed tool is ready for you to download. A must for every sharepoint developer!

See Paul's blog post or go to the MSDN download page

Memberships

2009-01-26T21:28:00.000-08:00

I was puzzled why on my development server the memberships web parts never showed the sites that my test users were members of. After much searching and tinkering I found that I needed to run a full profile import and a full search crawl. It could be that only one was required - but I cannot verify it. The profile import does say that it updates memberships, but even after that it didnt add the memberships - only after I performed a full search crawl that it started working.

Discounted Microsoft Certification code

2009-01-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

Want to do a Microsoft certification exam? is it a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) exam?

Here is how you can get 10% off the price, and get a free retake if you fail the first try.
Simply go to http://www.learnandcertify.com/ and click on "Get my exam offer voucher" and when it asks you for the MVP promotion code, enter AUD2D426 and you will be sent a voucher to use in a Prometric exam centre of your choice.

This offer is valid until March 2009 - so go on, get the vouchers and start taking exams!

Have fun!

Changing fields by code - common oversight

2008-12-15T21:42:00.000-08:00

I just helped someone on the OzMOss mailing list who had the following problem - he was trying to change a SPField object, but it was not getting updated, despite of no errors being thrown. Here is a sample of the code he was using:


Guid listID = web.Lists.Add("test", "", SPListTemplateType.PictureLibrary);
SPList list =web.Lists[listID];
SPField myField = list.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("Title");
myField.Title = "TEST";
list.Update();

The problem with that code is a common oversight that developers who are new to the SharePoint object model usually make - the field object has to be updated. updating the list will have no effect, since the object that was modified was a column on the list, not a property of the list.

The right code would be:


Guid listID = web.Lists.Add("test", "", SPListTemplateType.PictureLibrary);
SPList list =web.Lists[listID];
SPField myField = list.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("Title");
myField.Title = "TEST";
myField.Update();

How to copy attachments from one list item to another

2008-11-25T14:31:00.000-08:00

The microsoft support article for WSS 2 shows us how to download attachments from a list item. Basically, the attachments for a list item are stored as SPFile objects under a hidden folder in the list where those attachments are (a folder called "Attachments") - where each list item that has an attachment has its own folder - with the ID of the item being the folder's name.

Here is a code sample for a function to copy attachments from one item to another.


private void CopyAttachments(SPListItem sourceItem, SPListItem targetItem)
{
  try
  {
     //get the folder with the attachments for the source item
     SPFolder sourceItemAttachmentsFolder =
         sourceItem.Web.Folders["Lists"].SubFolders[sourceItem.ParentList.Title].SubFolders["Attachments"].SubFolders[sourceItem.ID.ToString()];
      //Loop over the attachments, and add them to the target item
     foreach (SPFile file in sourceItemAttachmentsFolder.Files)
     {
        byte[] binFile = file.OpenBinary();
        targetItem.Attachments.AddNow(file.Name, binFile);
     }
  }
  catch { }
  finally
  {
     sourceItem.Web.Dispose();
  }
}

Custom fields with custom properties - important link

2008-11-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

If you have developed a custom field type that has custom properties, and now want to create a feature that uses that custom field (to add a site column for example) and want to set the custom property, you may be puzzled how to set the custom property, since the schema of the elements file does not allow it.

I found that Péter Holpár has a solution - I tested, and it works. Basically, just add the custom property with a custom name space - for example, using my datevalidator field type from my teched presentation, you can define it as a site column thus (important bits are highlighted):

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!--
-->
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"
xmlns:custom="http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/customfields">
 <Field ID="{BBC8063E-252E-4fc0-9DC6-CA162512BB33}"
        SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3"
        Type="DateValidationFieldType"
        Name="MyTestValidationField"
        StaticName="MyTestValidationField"
        DisplayName="My Test Validation Field"
        Group="Custom"
        Hidden="FALSE"
        ReadOnly="FALSE"
        Required="FALSE"
        RowOrdinal="0"
        custom:StartDateFieldName="Start Date"
        custom:EndDateFieldName ="Due Date"
 >   
 </Field>
</Elements>

I hope it solves your questions as well.

Using the People picker - how to specify what can users choose

2008-11-13T04:49:00.000-08:00

Just got this question in the Ask-The-Experts stand in Tech.ED europe. If I use the people picker like I showed in a previous article, how can I specify if the users can pick a user or a security group or a distribution list?

Well, the answer was in the SDK - there is a property "SelectionSet" that accepts a comma-delimited list of strings that say what can be picked.

For example, "User,DL,SecGroup" will allow users to pick user accounts, distribution lists and security groups. Choosing just "User" will allow only people accounts. The sharepoint people picker ususaly sets "User,SecGroup,SPGroup" or "User,SecGroup" or just "User"

My code for the custom fields presentation

2008-11-12T03:26:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the code I used. For the PowerPoint presentation I need to get approval, so wait for it.

The code has three samples of custom field types - one is a prime number validation field type (allows people to type only prime numbers), one is a date validation field that checks two other fields that the end date is after the start date (this is a good example for creating custom properties for the custom field) and the last is a sample how to create a custom look and feel for a custom field, without compiled code - just XML definition (CAML) in the renderpattern section. have fun!

Tech.Ed EMEA presentation

2008-11-11T08:22:00.000-08:00

I just came out of my presentation in Tech.ED EMEA, and it was great fun! I showed how to develop custom field types, and was very well recceived. My current rating is 8.07 (which is pretty high, especially for a 400 level presentation) and here is some of the great feedback I got:

"I wish all teched sessions were this informative! Maybe some more time for questions."

"a fantastic engaging performance"

"Great session by Ishai Sagi. Keeping it to the topic and quickly answering questions in a good fashion. Great work. Kept me awake although I was rather sleepy (Jetlag? :-))"

"very good presentation, deep look inside sharepoint!!"

I am doing the same presentation again on thursday, and then I will be able to post the content here on the blog. anyone interested?

Throwing myself behind the site definitions

2008-10-28T18:05:00.000-07:00

Recently on the sharepoint blogs people have begun discussing "site defintions - good or evil" again. I wanted to make my stand, but my fellow MVP Eric Shupps beat me to it and posted exactly what I think of site defitions in his blog.
So thanks Eric for pointing out what I think is right, and doing it so well. The bottom line? Site definitions are not evil, and when time will come to upgrading to sharepoint 14 (or whatever the name\number will be) then site definitions upgrade will be no worse than the features upgrade. Do your site definitions right and that will save a lot of headache, but using all kind of wierd workarounds just to avoid using site defintions is silly, and will not save you time upgrading.

That said, doing the site definitions the wrong way (get into very complex CAML work and use the site defintions as if you are still using sharepoint 2003) can be very detramental to both the current setup that you have, and to the future upgrade path. So make sure you know what you are doing, and follow Eric's advice. I agree with it 100%.

Cool new free feature - download all files zipped!

2008-10-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

This is a cool one - Mohamed Zaki (fellow MVP) just released an open source feature that allows users to download an entire document library as a zip file.
Take a look at his blog post about it.

Application pool crash on win2008

2008-10-24T22:44:00.000-07:00

This just happened to me - installed sharepoint on win2008, and for the first time ever, when I configured the farm search service, I did not choose "Use all web front end computers for crawling", but instead I selected my server. The result? Sharepoint mangled my hosts file, using IPv6 entries.
This in turn caused my application pools to crash with the error "A listener channel for protocol 'http' in worker process '6120' serving application pool 'SharePoint Central Administration v3' reported a listener channel failure. The data field contains the error number.".

Resolution? I fixed my hosts file, then disabled the IPv6 on my loopback adapter, and restarted the application pool - then I was able to go back to the search service configuration and undo what I did. That again changed my hosts file, so I had to edit it again and done! sharepoint is working again - ready for TechEd EMEA.

Talking about Tech.ED EMEA, I still didnt get any takers on the competition I started. Apparently a lot of people signed up to my presentation - enough for the teched administrators to ask me if I don't mind presenting twice (I don't - see me on tuesday or thursday). If you want to win a special prize from Australia, and are coming to Tech.ED Barcelona, comment here - and I will draw a prize from all the commenters who are there. Please leave full name.

New SharePoint book coming up - by me!

2008-10-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

If you have a lot of end users asking you how to do stuff in sharepoint, maybe you should preorder this book. I have been writing it in the last few months, and am getting close to finishing it, and it is already up for pre ordering in Amazon.

This book is intended for non technical users.(Not for developers or administrators) who want a SharePoint companion to help them with day to day sharepoint tasks - things like "What is sharepoint?" and "How do I switch views in a list?" or "How do I create a view?" and so on.

I am very excited about this - and I hope it will be a success so I can write some more books - maybe the next one will be for you - the developer? But that will only be possible if this book is a success, since writing is a lot of effort. So, please, tell your friends, and get your purchasing officer to pre order some - it is on discount!

Developing Custom SharePoint fields - coming soon to Tech.Ed EMEA!

2008-09-30T00:10:00.000-07:00

Are you from Europe? coming to Tech.ed in Barcelona? Well, make sure to catch my presentation about developing Custom SharePoint fields! Update:The session will be on November 13 09:00 - 10:15 (Why is it that my presentations are always either the first thing in the morning, or the last before the party?).

If you are a long time reader of this blog, and coming to Tech.ed, comment on this post, and leave your (real!) name - I will draw a prize for one person who commented on this post. I havent decided on the prize yet - but it will be coming all the way from Australia - for you to take home if you are there at the end of my presentation, and can prove your identity using the Tech.ed name tag. (note - if there are two or more people with the same name, I will ask questions about custom field development and the best answer wins!)

See you there!

Offtopic - Zune new updates do not work on win2008 (Update: solution!)

2008-09-16T16:33:00.000-07:00

Update with a solution to this below!

What's this? I was so happy that the zune software runs on my win2008 laptop, and now the new version refuses to install? bah!

Notice something strange - the "supported" only quotes 32bit operating systems, even though I downloaded and (tried to) installed the 64bit version.

It seems that Microsoft has the same problem that the software vendors have with supporting commercial software on servers.

Update:

It looks like I am doing a lot of hacking lately...like my hack to install the solution generator on 64bit machines, resolve this issue is done in a similar manner.
One caveat though -you have to uninstall the old Zune software before starting. In my case the settings were saved, but I do not gaurantee that will be the case for you.

Download the zune v3 software from Microsoft, either 32bit or 64bit version - depends on what you are running.

Using a decompressor like 7-zip, extract the file (right click the file, and choose extract to...)

Go into the folder. It should have a sub folder called "Packages" and in there a file called "Zune-x64.msi" (I don't know what the 32bit one is called)

Double click on that file. The installer may take a while, and at the end you have zune v3 installed on win 2008! (I didnt try to synch yet though - but it is playing music)

Another update - I tried upgrading the device and it failed. It only worked when I did it from my vista machine. So I guess this workaround isnt all that great - and comments below say that connecting to the market place also doesnt work (I cant comment on that because I do not live in the USA and dont have access to the market place)