steveMann's Path

Chasing Paper: A satirical look at selling consulting services

2012-01-22T10:48:00.004-05:00

This is an adapted excerpt from my new mini e-book How to Kill a Consultant. The excerpt is from the Chasing Paper section of the e-book and is a sarcastic dialog which represents a common scenario for consulting firms that “specialize” but when it comes down to it they take whatever contracts they can.

Consulting sales people need to make their commission and get whatever signed paper they can - regardless of the work, price, duration, etc. Signed paper is what they are chasing and this helps in the killing of a consultant for sure.

Prospect: So now I see your consulting firm has various specialties - very good. My problem is not using a technology you focus on and I am not in the building stages. You see, I have some hacked programs and processes that are all fucked up and need someone to come in and clean it up because I don’t feel like dealing with this shit.

Sales Person: Oh great! Yes we have people to bill on your project and deal with your fucked up systems as long as you pay us and sign this contract. That’s all I really care about is this signed contract. I’ll get my commission and we’ll send in some guys for you. They’ll hate the work and slave over all your bullshit processes but both you and I won’t have to worry about it anymore.

Prospect: That’s great! I really need your best guys but since this isn’t a hot technology, I am not paying you that much as a billable rate. I can get someone else probably cheaper. So I want your best guys at the lowest rate possible.

Sales Person: Yes some of our best guys are coming off a project as we speak and since we don’t want to pay them for sitting on the bench and increasing their value in their specialty, we’ll stick them on your fucked up project and stress them out a bit. They want to bill those extra hours I am sure. They’ll love it here. Like I said, once you sign that contract I am out of here and I don’t give a shit what happens afterwards. It all becomes technical after that. I need to find some other fucked up project.

Consultant: So now I am working on some fucked up process using a technology I have no clue about and really don’t care about. I will bust my ass worrying about this bullshit client all while losing my edge on my specialty areas. At least I am getting paid for those billable hours - . plus I get to deal with this shit for 50 hours a week to boot. I will have no time to keep up with technology I am passionate about yet my firm will still see me as an expert. Two years later when I am off this project I’ll finally be put on a project using my technology and I will have forgotten every single thing about it. I love my job!

So basically signed contracts are king and it really doesn’t matter what the contract is for or what technology is being used. Signed paper is signed paper and the sales people chase it for a living. That’s all that matters because at the end of the day it results in more billable hours. There is just one expense - the killing of a consultant.

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Happy Days for 2012

2012-01-05T22:25:00.003-05:00

I decided that for this new year (and hopefully every new year) I will attempt to have a great day - every day. I call these "happy days". I find or think of something each day that makes it a happy day. Whether it is while it was happening or reflecting back at night, just finding one or two things can make you feel good about your day, your week, and your life. You can't have a great year if you don't have great days!

Day 1 - 1/1/2012
Today I checked my millionaire raffle tickets and found that I won $100.00. I tucked the ticket away for next weekend in which my wife and I will have a date night. Tonight we decided on a date night as well. We received a movie gift card over the holidays and she had one from before with $5 left. While going through her pocketbook, she found several old movie gift cards. We didn't know if there was anything on them but we needed to leave to get to the movie in time. We wanted to see the new Mission Impossible movie in the IMAX theatre. The old gift cards had some cash on them and our tickets were covered, We use a loyalty card there and on the receipt it showed we reached our next $10 credit. Our food was $20, we used the $10 credit and then had some left on the cards. I only had to pull out $4.50 in cash. So this is great. We get to go to the movies with food for only $4.50!!!

In the theatre, there was something wrong with the IMAX system and it needed to be rebooted. It took really long for them to get started so they ended up giving us free passes for next time! So now the next time we go, we'll at least get free admission. This was a happy day that ended great!

Day 2 - 1/2/2012
Today was the Winter Classic and two of my brother-in-laws came over. Since I was recovered from New Year's Eve, I decided to have more beer while watching the game. I think I had too many (again) but I felt great. However, this didn't make it a happy day. I was happy today because I forgot that there were still four spotlights in my family room that weren't replaced with CFLs - so they were still the filament kind burning 65 watts each. They are in the "bar room" area which is used for Xbox w/Kinect action, so the lights are on all the time. I previously scoped out using LED lights and found a dimmable model reduced to $15-something. I bought one to see where in my house I could use it. Even though it wasn't the BR-40,PAR-40, or R-40 spotlight types that fully fit in the family room recessed lighting structures, it did look nice in there and the light was bright white. I decided that I would use my test one in the living room lamp which is on almost all night and go get four more for the family room. Well today was the day for that. While my wife was looking for shoes at the shoe store, I decided to run over to get those light bulbs. Guess what? They only had four left and now they were reduced to $12.98!! Bonus! I felt great putting them into the lighting structures. Each one costs only 90 cents a year to run and the bulb should last for 20-25 years! That is estimated but even if only lasts 10 years and costs me $1.80/year to run - I'm still lovin it!

Day 3 - 1/3/2012
Back to work for the holiday but it was a happy day! One of my New Year's resolutions was to start getting coffee at work instead of going to Starbucks 2-3 times a day. I only get regular coffee but it still costs around $2.25-$3.00 after I drop some change in the tip jar. So wow, even though I don't get the fancy $5 mocha carmel machiata frappacino skinny vanilla lattes, it still adds up! I figured I was spending at least $100/month but probably more like $120-130/month. So today I took my new Drexel University coffee mug to the kitchen at work and made myself some K-Cup french roast coffee. It felt great! I saved time in the morning since I didn't have to stand in line and saved money! Looking back, I also made the 8:00 train instead of the 8:20. Even though I like to get in earlier than that, at least I wasn't stuck coming in later. The night ended up happy too but I'll leave it at that. Three happy days in a row!

Day 4 - 1/4/2012
Another day at work and things were going well. Again, I didn't go to Starbucks so that made me happy but I can't use that again for it being a happy day (although keeping happy things happening every day does help make it a happy day). My wife and I had some miscellaneous checks from the holidays and belated birthdays. Today I ran next door from work and deposited it them into our account. We decided to use this towards our date night on Saturday. It felt good putting some money away for fun. Later at the dinner table, my son told me that is is not leaving the TV on all night anymore. I thought with his new TV he was using the sleep mode (which his old CRT type had anyway) but he said he wasn't even using that anymore. So now his new LED TV which only costs $13/year to watch should actually only cost about $13/year or less (since the usage was based on 5 hours/day). Saving money for fun and saving money on electricity in the same day! What a happy day!

Day 5 - 1/5/2012
Today was very busy at work. I wanted to get some processes coded and working but I ran into some issues which I thought would not make it a happy day. However, I was able to get everything done by the end of the day before I left work - so I was happy for that. Found out that they have creamers in the other refridgerator at work - I was using the powder stuff all week. So now my coffee is even better and free! When I came home from work I had a package! I ordered some copies of my self-published books a few days ago and they came today. Everyone loves getting packages. My wife came home from work after 9:00pm and she said she got her paycheck (they don't have direct deposit) - yahoo! We will be using her paychecks to clear off some bills! I want one bill gone by the end of March. Need to figure out which one - furniture, Macy's, or Dell. This is the last year for my car payments on my Jaguar anyway and it is a low percentage rate so it wouldn't make sense to send it there (plus I have been way ahead of schedule on it). Another great happy day!

Day 6 - 1/6/2012
Well shit it is Friday so it should be a happy day no matter what. I thought so but it was dampered by the fact that my wife didn't get too much sleep because my oldest daughter came in late and caused lots of sleep interuptions (i.e. making noise). This caused some grief but I was able to get some things done at work to balance this. The day ended with some beers and some happy times for me.

Day 7 - 1/7/2012
I decided that writing so much on each day was becoming a chore. So just a few points for happy days now. Tonight was date night with the wife. Dinner, Parx Casino, and then The Red Rooster to see an Irish Band. Great day and night out!
Day 8 - 1/8/2012
Football
Relaxing Day
Day 9 - 1/9/2012
Monday was tough because it was Monday but it was a good Monday. Stuff done at work and home.
Day 10 - 1/10/2012
Had to help my daughter with her paper which was not so great but the happy part was getting it about 60%-70% complete.
Day 11 - 1/11/2012
Irish Dancing - St. Patrick's Day Parade practice
Day 12 - 1/12/2012
One of the beta exams for Office 365

Having to update this for each day is becoming a chore and therefore I won't do that anymore. I think everyone gets the idea including myself.

The Walking Dead Season 2: Predictions for Episodes 6-?

2011-11-15T12:13:00.000-05:00

This falls under the "other cool and possibly geekly stuff" as it has nothing to do with SharePoint or InfoPath.

Introduction
Since there was a great cliffhanger on Episode 5, there have been good discussions and speculations on what happens next. Therefore, I thought it would be cool to document what I thought would happen in the near future including the explanation for the zombies in the barn. Later I can circle back and see if I correctly guessed anything. I am not good with character names so bear with me.

Zombies in Barn
Since the older farmer guy is a doctor, it would seem to make sense that he is keeping these zombies for research purposes. Maybe he is working on a cure. Why should he care? Maybe these used to be members of the family or farm hands (or both). He seems to be very protective of "his own".

Obviously we'll need these zombies to escape to keep the action going. So I assume there will be some standoff with these and the crew. I can see the barn being turned into a bonfire.

Someone Has to Be Next
There needs to be another casualty so I am guessing it is one of the farmer's family members. Probably the 17-year-old son. He wants to use firearms and it appears there will be some target practices in Episode 6. My guess is that whenever the zombies escape or a confrontation arises, the farmer's son will be in the action. He will fire and shoot his weapon as in target practice. Whoops. I am guessing he can't reload quick enough and his firearm becomes jammed, giving the zombies enough time to overwhelm him.

Heated Conflicts
First Otis and now his son. I see the farmer getting very pissed at the main crew and forcing them to leave. This pretty much terminates the search for Sophia. The farmer's daughter however, probably wants to go with the Korean guy so she fights with her dad to go with them. This would pose a question about food and resources so since the search for Sophia is off, there is no way Sophia's mom is leaving. Therefore as an even trade of mouths to feed, Sophia's mom stays at the farm while the farmer's daughter rolls with the main crew.

Radio Contact (and maybe Sophia)
Now that the main crew is rolling off the farm, they remember that they have radios. All of a sudden they receive some contact. It is from another house or dwelling that is probably boarded up with survivors inside. Maybe this is where Sophia is now? As the crew arrives there are walkers all around and there is some zombie slaying to be done.

If Sophia is in this new location, this is great. However, since Sophia's mom stayed back at the farm, now a group (of two possibly) need to go back to the farm to get her. Sound familiar? I am sure if anyone needs to go back to the farm there will be either random walkers or a few that escaped from the barn confrontation.

Conclusion
Season 2 was off to a slow start after Episode 1 but now seems to be getting better. Having the cliffhangers and zombie action will help. I will be anxious to see if any of my predictions come true or if there are other crazy things that happen.

Let me know what you think! Leave a comment and I'll post it accordingly.

Adding Klout to SharePoint: Klout Web Part

2011-10-12T12:21:00.002-04:00

My vision for a Klout web part was to have a control that served two purposes. The first purpose would be to allow users to enter their Klout account (if one wasn't entered already) which would then get stored in their profile. The second would be to actually display the Klout Score in the web part if the account was previously entered.

The steps to performing this are as follows:

Create a Visual Web Part that loads an .ascx control
Create a control that has at least a text box and button for the user to enter their Klout account.
Have the button update the SharePoint User Profile with the Klout account (see previous post for info on the custom property)
Have the web part render the Klout Widget image if the user's profile contained a Klout account.

I have a step-by-step walkthrough of these tasks in my guide here.
The steps in the guide are based on SharePoint 2010, however, it is a similiar process for SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint Online (via Office 365).

There are also instructions contained in the guide on how you may access and download code that assists in integrating Klout with SharePoint.

Adding Klout to SharePoint: Search

2011-10-10T08:13:00.003-04:00

When I thought of integrating Klout scores into SharePoint, the first thing I thought of was the People search results. This made sense since when searching for people in an organization, you would easily be able to see their Klout score with their information.

The steps to performing this are as follows:

Add a custom property to the User Profile Service.
Crawl People to generate a new crawled property based on the new user profile property.
Create a Managed Property for search that maps to the crawled property.
Modify the People Search Core Results XSLT to display the Klout Widget incorporating the new search managed property.

Office 365: Changing the Domain of the Admin Account

2011-08-12T15:50:00.000-04:00

When you first sign up for Office 365, an admin account is created using the Microsoft Online domain. After you add a custom domain to your Office 365 service you may want to change the initial user to use that domain as well. You can't modify the domain of the admin user while you are logged in as the admin.

Therefore, you must create a new user account with administrative privledges:

Once you have created a new user with admin privledges, login as that user and then modify the original Admin user:

You may now change the domain of the initial admin user:

Catch more Office 365 tips and tricks in Steve's Office 365 Walkthough Guide.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevethemanmann

Office 365: Modifying Your Website Styles in 30 seconds

2011-08-05T14:12:00.000-04:00

Your Office 365 Website uses a default stylesheet named theme.css. When you change the color scheme of your website, the color changes are reflected within this file. You may customize the CSS in this file and apply it to your web site in several quick and easy steps.

With your web site in edit mode, click the Style Sheet button from the Design ribbon:

The Style Sheet dialog appears:

This first looked scary to me. I am not one of those blank CSS guys that just crank out styles from nowhere. And besides, which styles are being used? Have no fear - this is easier than it appears.

Click on the View default CSS link at the top of the dialog. Your browser will prompt whether to Open or Save the file:

If you want you can save off a copy but for my purposes I just clicked Open. If you are cool enough to have SharePoint Designer (SPD) installed, the theme.css file will open within SPD. Otherwise you may open it up using Notepad or any other design program you have (it is only text).

You may make modifications here in the file, save a local copy, and then copy the contents to your clipboard.

Note: Modifying specific text and background colors within a widget or header, as examples, overrides the styles defined in the theme.css regardless if default or custom CSS is being applied.

Return to the Style Sheet dialog and check the Apply custom CSS checkbox. Paste the CSS contents into the box.

Click OK. Your web site is updated to use the customized CSS.

So overall you do need to spend time to figure out what styles you want to change and what you want to change them to (which may take longer than 30 seconds) but the overall process of updating the styles to custom CSS is a breeze. So far I am content with simply changing the Color scheme of the web site without having to dork around with the CSS since I am only changing colors anyway, but I will soon have my designer take a look and see what he thinks..stay tuned...

Catch more Office 365 tips and tricks in Steve's Office 365 Walkthough Guide.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevethemanmann

Office 365 Ramp-up Tips

2011-08-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

Here are a list of tips that come to mind as I think about people getting started and ramped-up on Office 365. (Some of these pertain only to the Professionals and Small Businesses Edition)

1) Sign-up using an Admin user name
If you plan on using a custom domain with Office 365, you probably want your email to be "name@mydomain.com" and not using the Microsoft Online domain. The initial user that is generated upon sign up is an administrator but is set to the Microsoft Online domain. This can be changed but you need to login as another user with administrative privledges and then change the initial user. If you attempt to change the initial user while being logged in as that user, the username and domain name selection is disabled:

Therefore I find it easier to call the initial user Admin and then create a user for myself (with admin rights) after I add the custom domain to Office 365.

2) First Step After Sign Up - Add/Integrate Your Domain
After initial sign-up and sign-in, the next thing you should do is add your domain to Office 365. Do this before anything else. This will make life much easier. You do not want to add users and then have to switch their domain from the Microsoft Online domain to your custom domain. The username and domain affects everything within Office 365 including Exchange/Outlook Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint online. Again, life will be much easier if you add/integrate your domain first before doing anything else. (see my post here for adding a custom domain)

3) TeamSite URL
SharePoint Online provides the ability to change the name and URL of the TeamSite. This is achieved by selecting Site Settings from the Actions menu and then clicking Title, Description, and Icon under Look and Feel.

However, the TeamSite URL is used and expected in many places within Office 365 (including links on the user pages). Therefore, although it is OK to change the name of the site, I recommend not changing the URL of the TeamSite. This will break links and cause confusion if not user frustration.

4) Website Site Settings (Professionals and Small Businesses Edition)
When you navigate to the Website site within SharePoint Online, you may notice that the Actions menu has less options than on the TeamSite.

However, you may still get to Site Settings if you wish by using the URL access. Simply add _layouts/settings.aspx to the end of the current URL:

Corey Roth eluded to this already in his Office 365 Grid post here. If you are a SharePoint expert like us then you may use the same philosophy to access other SharePoint system pages.

5) Removing the Quick Launch
If you do not want the Quick Launch to show on your TeamSite or any of your sub-sites, there is an option to enable/disable it - but it is not where you think. You would think it is under Quick Launch from the Look and Feel section of Site Settings, but it is actually under the Tree View link:

The Tree view page has the option to Enable the Quick Launch:

Simply uncheck the Enable Quick Launch option and click OK to remove the Quick Launch from the current site.

6) Keep Cranking on Your Public Website

As you modify and customize your public Website, use the quick buttons at the top left of the screen to quickly save & publish and/or preview your changes.

Made a mistake? Use the Close the Web page menu item from the File ribbon menu and don't save any changes. Re-open the page to continue modifying.

7) Editing Website Pages
You do not need to edit each page one-at-a-time and then go back to the SharePoint Pages library to open and modify the next one. Simply use your web site navigation to go to the next page in edit mode:

8) Removing the Member Login
The Member Login menu item navigates to your internal TeamSite and thus prompts the user for authentication. You may remove this if you do not want it to appear. First, click Setup from the Design ribbon:

The Setup dialog appears. Uncheck the Display "Member Login" button in navigation option and click OK.

The Member Login menu item is removed from the web site navigation.

9) Logo vs. Theme Image
When modifying the Header, you may notice a Logo tab that may be used to upload and use a logo image on the header:

This is not the image that appears on the left of the header (out-of-the-box displays an airplane propeller). The image that appears on the left is the theme image. This may be changed by using the Theme drop-down menu from the Design ribbon:

Upload an image or use one of the many stock images available (or no image at all).

10) Walkthrough Guide
Of course I need to throw in some promotional material here. Last but not least on my list is to make sure you have my walkthrough guide besides you to help you walkthrough and ramp-up on Office 365.

Catch more Office 365 tips and tricks in Steve's Office 365 Walkthough Guide.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevethemanmann

Office 365: Installing and Updating Lync Online

2011-08-01T21:14:00.000-04:00

Installing Lync is part of the user boarding process which I explain in my guide. Each user receives a temporary password for Office 365 so it is important for them to login and change their password.
Once the user has updated their password and are logged into Office 365, it is time to setup the computer for Office 365 use. In the Start here list, click the Set up now link on line #1.

The Downloads page appears. The first step is to download and install Microsoft Lync 2010.

Select the Language and the Version for the computer and click on Install. You are prompted to Run or Save the Lync setup package. Click Run. Once downloaded, the Micrsoft Lync 2010 Setup is launched.

Click Install. Since Internet Explorer is running you are prompted to close the application.Click OK.

Microsoft Lync 2010 begins installation.

Once the install is complete, the setup displays Install succeeded. Make sure Start Lync is checked and click Close.

The communicator icon appears in your task bar but you may need additional software updates before continuing.

After installing Microsoft Lync 2010, your computer may need software updates for Lync 2010 to run. Right-click the communicator icon on your task bar and select Open.

The Microsoft Lync window opens. Click on the Download and install now? link to install the additional software that is required.

When prompted to Run or Save, click Run.

The software is downloaded and the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant Setup launches.

Check the acceptance check box to agree the License Agreement and click Install. The software is installed.

On the completion dialog click Finish. Go back to the Lync sign in and click Sign in.

You are signed into Lync 2010 and the main Lync dashboard appears.

A Microsoft Lync 2010 tutorial is also launched.

Click the start here link in the lower left-hand corner.

Each user should run through the tutorial and setup. There are navigation links in the lower left-hand corner of the screens to start and move to the next step.

Once completed, click the exit link in the lower left-hand corner. Lync 2010 is now installed, setup, and configured for use.

Catch more Office 365 steps in Steve's Office 365 Walkthough Guide.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevethemanmann

Adding a Custom Domain to Office 365

2011-08-01T19:57:00.000-04:00

If you have not registered for a custom domain, you may use the many providers on the internet such as the Domain Registry of America (www.droa.com). You will first need to determine if the domain name is available and then go through the purchasing procedures accordingly. Since I already have stevethemanmann.com and use that for my blog site, for my walkkthrough guide I created a new domain of “stevethemanmann.net”. After making the purchase, it could take several hours before your domain name is ready and available for configuration.

When you know your domain name is ready, return to your Office 365 home page and click on the Admin menu item at the top of the page.

The Admin screen appears. Under Get your team started, click on the Add and verify your domain.

The Add a Domain screen appears. Enter your custom domain in the text box and click Check domain.

Your domain will be verified and a Domain Verification appears on the screen.

Click Next. The Verify Domain screen appears. Although the TXT record method is preferred, in my case I needed to use the MX record method. Read the directions carefully on this screen.

You need to modify the host settings within your domain configuration from your provider.

Once you modify the settings, return to the Verify Domain screen and click Verify. You may need to wait a few minutes before your domain can be verified.

Once verified, the Edit Name Server screen appears. Read the directions carefully. Again you will need to configure your domain and modify the Nameservers settings.

The Nameserver names are listed on the Office 365 screen (in Step #3). Enter these values into your domain configuration and accept the changes.

Back on the Office 365 screen, click Next. The Domain is added and a confirmation screen appears.

Click Finish. The Domains screen appears and now your custom domain is listed.

Catch more Office 365 steps in Steve's Office 365 Walkthough Guide.

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevethemanmann

Using the Rad Ajax Loading Panel in SharePoint with a Rad Grid

2011-08-01T10:03:00.000-04:00

I implemented a Rad Grid which contained two levels of information within a user control that is being rendered in SharePoint (MOSS 2007). I therefore used coding and markup as explained on the Telerik demo site here. When expanding the master rows to expose the "child" rows, the detail data is loaded on demand via the DetailTableDataBind event. In our situation this took a few seconds and therefore I wanted something to show that data was loading. Enter the Rad Ajax Loading Panel.

The RadAjaxLoadingPanel object looked like a great fit. By default it presents a nice loading animation similiar to what I have seen in Silverlight. I therefore attempted to implement the loading panel for my situation. I followed examples as explained here.

While running the example code locally within a .NET Framework environment, the Rad Ajax Loading Panel worked like a charm. However, when attempting to run the same code within SharePoint, I was not so lucky. At first I was seeing the loading panel on the first postback but never again and in certain configurations based on examples, I did not see it appear at all.

Finally, I was able to get it all to work within SharePoint. Here is how my markup ended up being structured:

1) First I declared the RadAjaxLoading Panel.
<telerik:RadAjaxLoadingPanel runat="server" ID="RadAjaxLoadingPanel1" MinDisplayTime="200" ZIndex="1" EnableTheming="false" Skin="Default">
</telerik:RadAjaxLoadingPanel>

2) Next I needed to wrap everything else within a RadAjaxPanel. I believe this was the key to having everything work in SharePoint.

<telerik:RadAjaxPanel runat="server" ID="AjaxPanel">

3) Now comes the RadAjaxManager which controls when to show the loading panel. <telerik:RadAjaxManager ID="RadAjaxManager1" runat="server"
EnablePageHeadUpdate="False">
<AjaxSettings>
    <telerik:AjaxSetting AjaxControlID="RadGrid1">
      <UpdatedControls>
         <telerik:AjaxUpdatedControl ControlID="RadGrid1" LoadingPanelID="RadAjaxLoadingPanel1" />
      </UpdatedControls>
     </telerik:AjaxSetting>
   </AjaxSettings>
</telerik:RadAjaxManager>

4) Then I have all my grid goodness which I will spare all the details.

<telerik:RadGrid ID="RadGrid1" runat="server" Width="100%" ShowStatusBar="true" AutoGenerateColumns="False" AllowSorting="True" AllowMultiRowSelection="False"
AllowPaging="True" OnDetailTableDataBind="RadGrid1_DetailTableDataBind" OnItemDataBound="RadGrid1_ItemDataBound"
OnNeedDataSource="RadGrid1_NeedDataSource" EnableEmbeddedSkins="false" EnableViewState="true">

.......GRID MARKUP HERE
</telerik:RadGrid>

4) Finally I have the closing RadAjaxPanel tag.
</telerik:RadAjaxPanel>

This sequence of markup allowed the loading panel animation to display everytime there was a postback to get the detail data without refreshing the entire page within SharePoint. As I said above, I think the key was wrapping the Ajax Manager and the Rad Grid within a Rad Ajax Panel which was not needed or shown in the Telerik demos.

Adding Telerik RAD ToolTips to Your SharePoint Search Results

2011-07-26T09:32:00.000-04:00

We have heavily customized Search results in MOSS 2007. We wanted to present a tooltip pop-up when the users hover over each result. We have XSLT search result templates for various types of results including clients and people. For example purposes, I will explain using the people results.

Each result on the search results page has an ID that contains CoreResultListItem. This is set in the search results XSLT. The first thing that needs to be done is to insure that the search results template has a <div> running at the server.
<div runat="server" class="people" id="{concat('CoreResultListItem',id)}" accountname="{accountname}" >

Since I am dealing with multiple types of results together, I set the class="people" so I know its a person. Next I use an identifying field so I know which person to display the information about. Here I am using {accountname} which is one of the managed properties for people results.

Once that is in place, I created a non visual web part that will sit on the search results page and handle the "tooltipification". The main method I created was AddControls loops through the search results and adds the tooltip to each result using an ASCX User Control. This user control displays information about the person as the accountname will be passed into the control. This control runs separate from the web part (see examples on the Telerik RAD Controls site if you need more info).

A condensed version is shown here:

private void AddControls(ControlCollection page)
{
   foreach (Control c in page)
    {
     if (c.ClientID != null)
      {
        if (c.ClientID.Contains("CoreResultListItem"))
        {
           RadToolTip tooltip = new RadToolTip();
           tooltip.ShowEvent = ToolTipShowEvent.OnMouseOver;
           tooltip.TargetControlID = c.ClientID;
          tooltip.IsClientID = true;
          tooltip.ID = "RadToolTip" + c.ID;
           tooltip.HideEvent = ToolTipHideEvent.LeaveToolTip;

           switch ((c as HtmlGenericControl).Attributes["Class"])
          {
                case "people": //Person

                 Control ctrlPerson = Page.LoadControl("~\\UserControls\\PublicContactCardSearch.ascx");
                PublicContactCardSearch.PublicContactCardSearch detailsPerson =
                             (PublicContactCardSearch.PublicContactCardSearch)ctrlPerson;
                if ((c as HtmlGenericControl).Attributes["accountname"] != null)
               {
                    if ((c as HtmlGenericControl).Attributes["accountname"] != string.Empty)
                   {
                         detailsPerson.ADAccount = (c as HtmlGenericControl).Attributes["accountname"];
                         tooltip.Controls.Add(ctrlPerson);
                        c.NamingContainer.Controls.Add(tooltip);
                    }
              }
               break;

         case "client": //Client
                    .... SIMILIAR CODE FOR EACH TYPE OF RESULT

          }
       }
     }
     if (c.HasControls())
     {
           AddControls(c.Controls);
     }
    }
}

I then call this in the CreateChildControls method:

AddControls(Page.FindControl("ctl00").Controls);

The "ctl00" is the master page so I pass in the controls collection of the master page. The AddControls method is recursive which isn't favorable but was the only way I could get to the search result items.

When switching search results pages using the paging, I noticed the tooltips were showing from the orignal page. Therefore I needed to make sure that the control states were clear:

ClearChildControlState();
ViewState.Clear();

I used both of these in the Page_Load and the ClearChildControlState() in the Render method as well.

The results (although my picture looks goofy):

Keep Your Android Running All Day

2011-06-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

I just wrote and published a little guide to help keep your Android-powered smart phone running all day without charging. http://amzn.to/mE4sFe

It is currently only available in Kindle but the hard copy will be available soon.

IMNRC in UpdatePanel - Postback Issue Resolved

2011-03-24T16:32:00.000-04:00

Issue Premise
When using IMNRC within an Ajax based UpdatePanel, the Communicator/Lync presence appears fine upon initial load. Once a post back occurs, the presence indicators render as offline images and the communication menu is not available. This is the exact issue discussed in the Microsoft forums here.

Scenario
I created a tabbed version of the Smart Part web part. This tabbed version renders various configurable tabs, and just like the Smart Part, loads the selected aspx user control. I use an UpdatePanel to load the controls and perform partial post backs when a different tab is selected.

One of the controls I created for use within this tabbed web part is a list of users based on certain filters or criteria. I generate the users using the presence image calling the IMNRC javascript function within the onload parameter. As described in the Issue Premise, upon initial rendering, the indicators function normally. When I click on a different tab and then come back to the list of users, all of the images go "offline" and there is no more drop-down menu available.

Root Cause
The root cause lies within the IMNRC function during a postback. The objects are not set properly for conditions to render the proper code. The orginal poster of the problem found that commenting out a condition in the IMNRC function allowed the presence to persist upon postbacks. I was able to reproduce his solution and it did work but I noticed that even though the indicators showed the users' status, I no longer had the communicator menu after a postback. So the loss of functionality as well as the editing of system javascript would not work for me.

Solution
My solution involved four steps:

1) Copying and tweaking the IMNRC function to handle postbacks
2) Renaming the IMNRC function to something else (e.g. CustomIMNRC)
3) Including the new function in my control markup or including in a referenced custom .js file
4) Modifying the onload parameter of the img tag to use the new function name.

The tweaking of the IMNRC function involves creating a new variable named postback and setting that to true:

var objSpan = obj;
var id = obj.id;
var fFirst = false;
var postback = true;

Next change the fFirst variable to postback in one of the lower if conditions:

if (postback && EnsureIMNControl() && IMNControlObj.PresenceEnabled) {
var state = 1, img;
state = IMNControlObj.GetStatus(name, id);
....
Finally add || postback to the last if (fFirst) condition: {this block of code allows the communicator menu to appear over the image when moused over}

if (fFirst || postback) {
var objRet = IMNGetOOUILocation(obj);
objSpan = objRet.objSpan;
...
The full function is show below: (use it in as script in your markup or include in a reference .js file)

function CustomIMNRC(name, elem) {
        if (name == null || name == '')
            return;
        if (browseris.ie5up && browseris.win32) {
            var obj = (elem) ? elem : window.event.srcElement;
            var objSpan = obj;
            var id = obj.id;
            var fFirst = false;
            var postback = true;
            if (!IMNDictionaryObj) {
                IMNDictionaryObj = new Object();
                IMNNameDictionaryObj = new Object();
                IMNSortableObj = new Object();
                IMNShowOfflineObj = new Object();
                if (!IMNOrigScrollFunc) {
                    IMNOrigScrollFunc = window.onscroll;
                    window.onscroll = IMNScroll;
                }
            }
            if (IMNDictionaryObj) {
                if (!IMNNameDictionaryObj[id]) {
                    IMNNameDictionaryObj[id] = name;
                    fFirst = true;
                }
                if (typeof (IMNDictionaryObj[id]) == "undefined") {
                    IMNDictionaryObj[id] = 1;
                }
                if (!IMNSortableObj[id] &&
    (typeof (obj.Sortable) != "undefined")) {
                    IMNSortableObj[id] = obj.Sortable;
                    if (!bIMNOnloadAttached) {
                        if (EnsureIMNControl() && IMNControlObj.PresenceEnabled)
                            window.attachEvent("onload", IMNSortTable);
                        bIMNOnloadAttached = true;
                    }
                }
                if (!IMNShowOfflineObj[id] &&
    (typeof (obj.ShowOfflinePawn) != "undefined")) {
                    IMNShowOfflineObj[id] = obj.ShowOfflinePawn;
                }
                if (postback && EnsureIMNControl() && IMNControlObj.PresenceEnabled) {
                    var state = 1, img;
                    state = IMNControlObj.GetStatus(name, id);
                    if (IMNIsOnlineState(state) || IMNSortableObj[id] ||
     IMNShowOfflineObj[id]) {
                        img = IMNGetStatusImage(state, IMNSortableObj[id] ||
           IMNShowOfflineObj[id]);
                        IMNUpdateImage(id, img);
                        IMNDictionaryObj[id] = state;
                    }
                }
            }
            if (fFirst || postback) {
                var objRet = IMNGetOOUILocation(obj);
                objSpan = objRet.objSpan;
                if (objSpan) {
                    objSpan.onmouseover = IMNShowOOUIMouse;
                    objSpan.onfocusin = IMNShowOOUIKyb;
                    objSpan.onmouseout = IMNHideOOUI;
                    objSpan.onfocusout = IMNHideOOUI;
                }
            }
        }
    }

InfoPath 2007/2010: Tracking Changes in InfoPath

2011-02-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

One of the coolest solutions in my InfoPath How-To book is the tracking of changes within a form. Although this requires code-behind the results are well worth the effort. Although my latest solution is for InfoPath 2010, you can use the same code and concepts in InfoPath 2007. My original solution was indeed in InfoPath 2007.

While writing the solution for the book, I realized I did not have the latest code and that there were some missing steps that I coded at the client site to handle line breaks. Have no fear! I am now working for that previous customer and reviewed the code that I was missing.

On Page 280 of my book, there is Listing 18.5. You'll see the "Get the Changes" line which calls the Diff method of the SPDiffUtility. Before this line, enter the following:

oldValue = oldValue.Replace("\n", SPDiffUtility.ChangeOpenTag + "<br></br>" + SPDiffUtility.ChangeCloseTag);
newValue = newValue.Replace("\n", SPDiffUtility.ChangeOpenTag + "<br></br>" + SPDiffUtility.ChangeCloseTag);

You'll need to declare oldValue and newValue prior to these lines. You can set these to the event values e.OldValue and e.NewValue. Without using these replace statements, any line breaks in the original text do not get reflected in the track changes text. Replacing the line breaks (\n) with the html shown above preserves the new lines in the tracked changes.

SharePoint 2010: Removing GUIDs in Several Service Application Database Names

2011-01-18T07:28:00.000-05:00

Introduction

I noticed a few months ago that Shane Young was on a mission to explain how to remove the GUID from the default database names that are generated for each service application in SharePoint 2010. His main post which contains links to specific items is available here.

I luckily ran into several service applications that make it easy to rename the database as a new database is created and configured.

Word Automation Services
This was the first one I found. Using the SharePoint Powershell cmdlet, Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication allows you to create a new database:

Set-SPWordConversionServiceApplication -Identity "Word Automation Services" -DatabaseServer SP2010\SQLSharePoint -DatabaseName WordServices

Managed Metadata Service
The Managed Metadata Service works the same way:

Set-SPMetadataServiceApplication –Identity “Managed Metadata Service” –DatabaseName TermStoreDB

Business Data Connectivity Service
The BCS works similiar:

$bcs = Get-SPServiceApplication -Identity bc4399ed-a2e0-4397-bf07-cd3d207e630e

Set-SPBusinessDataCatalogServiceApplication –Identity $bcs –DatabaseName BCS_DB

NOTE: You can find the GUID by using Get-SPServiceApplication and finding the BCS Service in the listing.

Secure Store Service
The Secure Store Service is similiar yet different. The Set-SPSecureStoreServiceApplication needs the identity of the service application, so you need to get that first:

$sss = Get-SPServiceApplication -Identity bc4399ed-a2e0-4397-bf07-cd3d207e630e

Set-SPSecureStoreServiceApplication –Identity $sss –DatabaseName SecureStoreDB

NOTE: You can find the GUID by using Get-SPServiceApplication and finding the Secure Store Service in the listing.

Here's the tricky part, although the command lines above run and take a few moments to process, the new database is not created. The new database name is set within the properties but SQL Server knows of no such thing. The easy fix here is to view the Secure Store Service Application properties from within Central Admin and click OK. Even though you may not have changed anything from the UI, the database name will be processed and a new database will be created.

Since you need to visit Central Admin anyway, you may just want to skip the PowerShell part and go right into the properties to change the name there.

Conclusion
Each service application has its own way of doing things, however, some make it easy to change the database name and actually create a new instance in SQL Server. Once the new databases are created, you can drop the old databases with the GUID. You may need to restart your servers such that the old databases are no longer in use.

SharePoint 2010: Using Visual Studio 2010 to Create a List Definition and List Instance (Based on a new Content Type)

2010-12-04T20:06:00.000-05:00

In order to programmatically add a new list definition and instance based on a new content type, you will need to expand upon the solution/project created in the content type post. Right-click the project and select Add New Item. The Add New Item dialog appears:

Select List Definition from Content Type, enter a name, and then click Add. The SharePoint Customization Wizard appears:

Enter an appropriate display name for the list definition and select the content type from the drop-down. The drop-down will only show the content types that are being defined within the current solution. Leave the Add a list instance checked if you want the deployment of the solution to create the actual list. Click Finish.

The list definition elements file is opened. Add Unique=”TRUE”. The Unique setting means that the list instance will be created once and there is no need to show this definition to the users moving forward:

Expand the ListInstance1 item in the Solution Explorer and click on the Elements.xml underneath. This defines the instance of the list (or document library). Change the title to determine the name of the list instance. If the list will be a document library, modify the URL setting by removing the “Lists/”. Enter a name without spaces for the URL. Enter an appropriate description:

Save all of the changes to the files.

Right-click the Project in Solution Explorer and select Deploy. The content type package is built and added to the SharePoint farm solutions. The solution is deployed globally as a feature that is available at the site level. The site feature will be activated at the root site collection but may not be activated within other sites. The site columns, content type, and list (document library) are created accordingly on the root site.

InfoPath Holiday Poem

2010-11-26T10:01:00.000-05:00

InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 Holiday Poem

Twas the night before deployment, when all through the farm,
Not a service was stirring, not even an alarm*.
The forms were all published to a network location with care,
In hopes that the Admin will map a drive there.

The secondary data sources were all snug in their connection,
While the Secure Store Service provided protection.
And the assembly all built, and placed in the cache,
Had just settled strong names with keys to match.

When out on the farm there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the VM to see what was the matter.
Away to the Windows Server, I remoted like a flash,
Tore open the Services and threw up the GAC.

The XML in the manifest and the method it knows,
Gave access to instantiate the objects below.
When, what did my wondering eyes see in the tools,
But picker controls and several “If” rules.

With a little rule driver, so lively and gay,
I knew in a moment it was hacked from the SDK.
More rapid than eagles the Conditions they came,
With dialogs and Actions that called them by name!

“Is Blank! Is Not Equal To! Is not a URL!”,
Setting a field’s value was all blown to hell.
“Begins with! Contains! This Field Changes!”,
Submit will not work with values in these ranges.

As workflows that before the wild tasks did fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, we just mount a new drive.
So up to the production server they flew,
With an XSN full of schemas, and a DLL too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the prompt,
s-t-s-a-d-m someone did stomp.
I tried to be quiet, I tried not to yell,
“hey, now you can do that using PowerShell…”.

We added the template and with the .wsp,
Deployed the solution at a quarter-til three.
They asked if in a dilemma, what should they do?

Just pick up a copy of “InfoPath with SharePoint 2010 How-To”**!

Happy Holidays!!!

Steve Mann

www.SteveTheManMann.com

*another word for alert since alert doesn’t rhyme with farm

**Release Dates

Europe – Dec 3rd

USA and Japan– December 13^th

Canada – December 14^th

SharePoint 2010: Leveraging Visual Studio 2010 to Deploy Custom Content Types

2010-11-11T14:10:00.000-05:00

lIt's fairly easy to create content types right within SharePoint itself. However, when in a development scenario, you need an easy way to replicate custom content type creation without having to manually enter site columns and site content types by hand. Luckily Visual Studio 2010 has a project for that. Generating a Content Type project will easily package up site column and content type definitions into a re-distributable solution/feature allowing for seemless deployment between environments (e.g. dev, staging, uat, production, etc.).

The first step is to fire up Visual Studio 2010 and select File -> New -> Project. The New Project dialog appears:

In the New Project dialog change the target platform at the top to .NET Framework 3.5.and select the Content Type template. Enter the appropriate name and location and click OK. The SharePoint Customization Wizard dialog appears:

The local site should be populated automatically but you may enter a different address if needed. Clicking on the Validate button will ensure the server is reachable. Change the trust level option to Deploy as a farm solution and click Next.

Select the type of base content type that your new content type should inherit. For document libraries, select Document, for lists, select Item. Click Finish. The project is generated and displays the Elements.xml contents.

TIP: The Document content type actually inherits off of the Item content type. You may use the same type of hierarchical structure if you have a common custom content type that can act as a base for additional custom content types.

The content type structure is displayed but there are no fields. For each custom field you wish to create for the content type, you need a Field Definition. Therefore at the top of the Elements.xml before the Parent Content Type comment but after the <Elements> tag, enter a field definition entry similar to the following:

To create the ID, use the Create GUID utility which is accessible from the Tools menu. Select the Registry Format (option 4) and click the Copy button. Paste the GUID into the ID. Click the New GUID button for all subsequent columns (field defs). The Elements.xml should look similar to the following:

NOTE: The use of site columns is necessary!! Generating the fields as site columns allows you to use them in other content types.

The current state of the Elements.xml will generate the site columns but not place them into the content type. For that to happen, you need to enter Field Reference entries based on the site column definitions:

Place these field reference lines within the <FieldRefs></FieldRefs> tags. Your content type section should look like the following:

Rename the Content Type to a more meaningful descriptive name. Use the same name to rename the Content Type object in the project within the Solution Explorer pane as well as within the Project-level properties. Save the Elements.xml changes.

Double-click the Feature1 entry in the Solution Explorer pane and modify the Title and Description accordingly as well as the Feature1 item. Save the Feature1.feature file. Double-click the Package.package file and change the name of the solution file. Save the Package.package file.

If you have a new list or library that will use the new content type you may want to include that within this solution such that they can be deployed together (see this post).

Right-click the Project in Solution Explorer and select Deploy:

The content type package is built and added to the SharePoint site as a farm solution. The solution is deployed globally as a feature that is available at the site level. The site feature will be activated at the root site collection but may not be activated within other sites. The site columns and content type are created accordingly on the root site.

BPOS: Adding Your Own Domain

2010-11-10T16:04:00.000-05:00

I just posted an article on the RDA Collaboaration Blog in regards to adding a domain to your Microsoft Online Services subscription. It is located here.

BPOS: Setting up Email on a Blackberry Device

2010-11-10T13:53:00.000-05:00

I recently have been working with Microsoft Online Services since it provides a viable solution for my friend's up-and-coming campaign for a certain elected position. When signing up for BPOS or one of the other online services, you need to select a domain. The resultant final domain becomes <domain entered>.microsoftonline.com.

Since we didn't want the user's email addresses to be so long like that, we added our own domain which we registered for public website purposes. I have the steps posted on the RDA Collaboration Blog here.
Anyway, after setting up the Exchange Online Services, my friend wanted to access the email from his Blackberry device which looks like it runs a flavor of Outlook. The interface, instructions, and messages were a bit confusing or misleading and it took several tries to enter the right information in the right locations to add the email to his device.

For example purposes, let's say the domain that we added was named "voteformyfriend.com". When I added the users, even though it requires a first and last name, I only used their first name as the user name (per my friend's request). So a valid email for this Exchange server would be steve@voteformyfriend.com. A temporary password is assigned and when the user logs into MOS for the first time, they are prompted to change it.

So the first step was to click on Add a New Email on the Blackberry. You are prompted to use POP/SMTP or Outlook Web Access (OWA). Select the the OWA option and hit enter. That renders a screen asking for a Username and Password. For this prompt enter the email address for the username and then the email password. There is a Show Password button on the Blackberry screen which will umask the entered values - highly recommended! - with the need for upper case and numbers it is real easy to type the wrong password with those micron-sized keys.

The request is processed and the first misleading error message is presented. The messages states something like "The username and/or password are wrong. blah blah blah...or additional information is required". My friend thought it was the wrong password but it wasn't. In reality additional information was required. Those words are a link that you need to click such that you can enter the additional information.

When the additional information page comes up, you are asked for the OWA address. Here we go. There were several iterations of trial and error to figure out which URL to use. The important URL listings for OWA within BPOS are posted here.

There is a seperate section for OWA Access and Mobile access URLs. The prompt asks for the OWA Server URL but it is a Mobile device. So which one to use? I think both will actually work as if you type the OWA address in a broswer it resolves the Mobile address (adds the Redmond server prefix e.g. red001), however, I used the Mobile device listing from that list making sure to use the https:// and not http://.

Now, the screen also prompts for a User Name. Now since we were in the Exchange settings I was thinking that this was the first and last name of the user I created in BPOS or even just the first name. Nope! It is still the email address (e.g. steve@voteformyfriend.com). The example on the screen domain/lisa.perry really makes you think it's the user you setup - but if you think about AD names and such it makes sense - but my friend is not technical..

Next, it asks for a mail box name. Oh boy. In Outlook and OWA on the laptop, the mailbox is showing the full name - so is that the mailbox or is just the username in front of the "@"? After doing it wrong the first few times, it is indeed just the userrname in front of the "@" in the email address (e.g. steve). The example on the screen does elude to this.

Entering this information correctly allowed us to easily setup the email account on his Blackberry device. It does take up to 20 minutes before the email starts sync'ing properly. Hopefully this provides some claification and saves someone some time. We searched online for the correct values to use but with no luck.

SharePoint 2010: Patch Warnings in Health Reports

2010-11-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

I recently recieved two warnings in Central Admin in regards to upgrades:

Product / patch installation or server upgrade required
Databases running in compatibility range, upgrade recommended.

I thought this was strange since I just applied the August 2010 Cumulative Hotfixes. After reviewing the details of the issues I realized that the SharePoint Product Configuration wizard needed to be run. The details explain about running psconfig or psconfigUI - don't be alarmed - psconfigUI is just a fancy technical term for the SharePoint Product Configuration wizard. Usually patches and updates run that automatically but I guess I missed the memo that you need to make sure it runs after applying the hotfixes. Anyway, it is an easy fix and I am always confident that the wizard is doing the right thing.

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Bible Release

2010-10-05T20:10:00.000-04:00

While online retailers have been shipping the book since last week, today is the official release of this awesome publication.

InfoPath 2010: The Infamous Form Name

2010-09-25T00:22:00.000-04:00

Yes the infamous form name issue. I rant on about this in my InfoPath Book. I always had an out with the dilemma of new versus updates and keeping the same name.

Several members of my audience at SharePoint Saturday Baltimore eluded to a good solution and one of my colleagues came up with the same idea. It's not anything new but a good altenative if the fields you decide to use can be edited and changed.

The first part of this requires a common theme in form template design; determining if the form is a new instance. I have used a IsNew-type field in the past where the default is 0 or false and when the form instance is rendered (or submitted), rules force it to 1 or true.

So for the form name, instead of using a function at the time of submission, use a field value that has been pre-calculated. If the form is new, create the form name and store that into a field. Then, use that field as the form name that is saved during submission.

This way, the form name will never change during edits. So using an entered field, todays date, etc. in the form name will never have the chance to change since the form name is initially figuired out when the form is new.

SP2010 Patches

2010-09-13T15:25:00.001-04:00

The August 31, 2010 patches for SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server can be found at the following links:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2266423

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2352342