Bart on SharePoint 2007

Ever dreamed of Recycle Bin Security?

2009-02-04T00:59:00.001+01:00

What I have learned today about the Recycle Bin Security behaviour:

The items in the recycle bin are only visible for the user who has deleted them. It's not accessible to all users who had access to that document.
The "Recycle Bin" is only visible in the quick launch bar if you have the permission level "Delete Items". But ... if you click "View all site content" you can see the link to the recycle bin (bug?)
Only a site collection administrator can see the recycle bin of the end users and the site collection recycle bin. Users with "Full Control" do not have acces.

Microsoft add Performance Point Server 2007 to the Enterprise CAL of SharePoint for FREE !

2009-01-27T22:44:00.001+01:00

Great news for companies who own an enterprise license of SharePoint 2007. Microsoft added a new product to the license for FREE ! The product is MS PerformancePoint Server 2007, this is a product for more advanced Business Intelligence (BI).

Announcement from Microsoft
More info on MS PerformancePoint Server 2007

How to configure a new SharePoint admin account?

2009-01-12T23:27:00.001+01:00

What are the steps to create a new active directory user that can do installations in the SharePoint farm without having permission problems.

First add the user to the SharePoint Farm administrators group. Go to "central administration" - "Operations" - "Update farm administrator's group" and add the user to the group.

Give the user access to the Shared Service Provider. Go to "Personalization services permissions" of the SSP and give the user all rights.

Make the AD user DBOwner on all SQL databases of the Moss installation
Make sure the AD user is DBOwner on the content database of the administration site. This is needed to add and install solutions in the farm.

If you run on Windows Server 2008 run all installation and .BAT files as administrator ("Run as administrator").

With this account you now should be able to install all SharePoint solutions.

First Blogpost of 2009 !

2009-01-12T23:25:00.001+01:00

First of all, I wish you all the best for 2009!

2009 will be an important and busy year for me.

First of all we are expecting our first baby! He or she, we don't know yet, will be very welcome this summer! This is a picture from our baby last week at 12 weeks! He or she is already 6,59cm!

And second ... we will start buidling our (dream)house this year. Some months ago we bought a piece of ground in 'Waarmaarde' that's nearby Avelgem in West Flanders (Belgium). During the past holiday I've tested Google Sketchup to create some 3D drawings to visualize our new home. I must say Google Sketchup is an easy to use 3D tool and you can watch some video's as a start. This is one of our idea's ... the water thing is phase 3 or 4 we think :-))

Why "ItemUpdated" fires 2 times ?

2008-11-20T21:20:00.002+01:00

Problem:
I have a document library with an "ItemUpdated" item eventreceiver. Each time I upload a document, the eventreceiver fired 2 times in two different threads, with update conflicts as a concequens.

Cause:
When you use check-in/check-out on your document libraries the check-in action also fires an ItemUpdated event. If found this information here (good article!):

Solution:
We need to check which "ItemUpdated" we deal with ... the one from the check-in or the 'real' one. If found this code on the MS site to check the source of the event:

if (properties.AfterProperties["vti_sourcecontrolcheckedoutby"] == null && properties.BeforeProperties["vti_sourcecontrolcheckedoutby"] != null)
{
     //This is when the update event is triggered by
     check-in.
}
else
{
     //This is triggered by events other than check-in
       action.
}

Source: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939307/en-us

Moss 2007 Database Migration - Diskspace Usage and Upgrade time

2008-11-12T22:49:00.001+01:00

I'm currently working on a database migration SharePoint 2003 to Moss 2007. One of my concerns was the diskspace usage during the migration.

In a previous post i wrote that a gradual upgrade can take up to 6,19 times the original diskspace. So i had reasons to worry ...

I can tell you, a database migration takes less space, here are my test results:

DISKSPACE USAGE

Content Database 1 (+/- 12 GB)

	Before Migration	After DB Migration
DATA File	11.706.624 kb	11.706.624 kb
LOG File	20.096 kb	1.219.712 kb

Logfile growth / data file = 10,42 %

Content Database 2 (+/- 58 GB)

	Before Migration	After DB Migration
DATA File	58.035.584 kb	58.035.584 kb
LOG File	20.096 kb	9.930.624 kb

Logfile growth / data file = 17,11 %

Content Database 3 (+/- 18 GB)

	Before Migration	After DB Migration
DATA File	17.139.776 kb	17.139.776 kb
LOG File	26.816 kb	1.321.088 kb

Logfile growth / data file = 7,71 %

UPGRADE TIME

The upgrade time of the DB migration depends on the hardware AND the features you want to activate during the migration. I did a test activating the publishing features during the upgrade.

Database 1 - without publishing features : 15 minutes
Database 1 - with publishing features : 1 hour 40 minutes

Database 2 - without publishing features : not tested
Database 2 - with publishing features : 1 hour 53 minutes

Database 3 - without publishing features : 12 minutes
Database 3 - with publishing features : 51 minutes

CONCLUSIONS

The DATA file does not grow
The LOG file grows between 7% and 20% of the datafile
The upgrade time of the migration is short but depends on the features you want to activate during the upgrade.

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint

2008-11-12T22:48:00.001+01:00

A summary of what we can expect:

Server Explorer for SharePoint viewing Lists and other artifacts in SharePoint directly inside of Visual Studio
Windows SharePoint Services Project (WSP file) Import to create a new solution
Added a new web part project item and showed the Visual web part designer which loads a user control as a web part for SharePoint
Showed adding an event receiver for SharePoint and using the wizard to choose the event receiver and to just create a source file with that event receiver.
Added an ASPX workflow initiation form to a workflow project and showed how this workflow initiation form has designer capability
Showed the packaging explorer and the packaging editor which lets you structure the SharePoint features and WSP file that is created

Source:
http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2008/11/10/visual-studio-2010-tools-for-sharepoint-announced-at-teched-emea-developers-2008.aspx

Looking for some samples on Moss 2007 WCM ?

2008-10-05T23:27:00.001+02:00

Here you can find about 100 websites build on SharePoint 2007 WCM:

http://www.wssdemo.com/Pages/topwebsites.aspx

Can you run Moss 2007 on .Net Framework 3.5 ?

2008-09-28T10:52:00.001+02:00

Microsoft says YES ! So you can use the latest features in your SharePoint Applications.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288751.aspx

Resources for installing Moss 2007 on Windows Server 2008

2008-09-28T10:44:00.001+02:00

I'm currently setting up some virtual development machines based on Windows Server 2008. Before I started I collected some resources on the net.

One importing thing, use always the installation files with Service Pack 1 included otherwise your installation will fail.

Installing Moss 2007 on Windows Server 2008:

SQL Server 2008 deployment on Windows Server 2008 by Dell
http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/solutions/public/white_papers/sql2008_ws2008.pdf

Deploy a simple farm on the Windows Server 2008 operating system (Windows SharePoint Services)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287748.aspx

Install a stand-alone server on Windows Server 2008 (Windows SharePoint Services)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287813.aspx

Upgrading to Windows Server 2008 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288690.aspx

Perform a stand-alone installation of Office SharePoint Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008
http://technet.microsoft.com/nl-be/library/cc262177(en-us).aspx

Deploy a simple farm on the Windows Server 2008 operating system (Office SharePoint Server)
http://technet.microsoft.com/nl-be/library/cc263408(en-us).aspx

If you are using SQL Server 2005 for your installation:

FIX: SQL Server 2005 is not installed on a Windows Web Server 2008-based system
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950636

How to install and how to configure SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services on a computer that is running Windows Server 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938245/

SharePoint Infrastructure Update

2008-09-28T10:34:00.001+02:00

Some months ago I blogged about MS Search Server 2008 and the Federated Search. Some weeks ago (finally) Microsoft released the update that adds the federated search functionality for the Moss 2007 users. I made a summary of the links for easy downloading:

Key updates for SharePoint Server 2007 include:

New Search features such as federated search and a unified search administration dashboard.
Several core fixes to Search to improve performance and scale.
Platform performance improvements and fixes.
Several core fixes to the publishing Content Deployment features to improve reliability.

Key updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 include:

Platform performance improvements and fixes.
Several backup and restore fixes.
Several core Workflow fixes.

Italy was wonderful !

2008-09-15T21:40:00.001+02:00

It has been silent for a while on my blog, but after a nice holiday we are back! Me and my wife went on holiday to Sorrento in Italy. A very nice country and city, i recommend it to everyone! We also visited Amalfi, Carpi, Ercolano, Ischia, Naples, Positano, Ravello and St. Agata, where our hotel was located.

Before we start with SharePoint stuff again, some nice pictures from our trip. Enjoy!

How to manage multiple Remote Desktop Connections

2008-07-21T18:13:00.001+02:00

I my job as SharePoint Consultant I work on many different customer locations with many different SharePoint servers and thus many remote server connections.

I found a good tool to manage all my Remote Desktop connections for each customer, something better than the standard "remote desktop connection" in Windows XP or Vista.

and ... it's a free tool ...

visionapp Remote Desktop (vRD 1.5)
You can download it here: http://www.visionapp.com/141.0.html?

There is also a more advanced version available
(read: you have to pay for it ...) visionapp Remote Desktop 2008

visionapp Remote Desktop 2008 (vRD 2008) is a powerful tool for managing and accessing multiple Windows servers and desktops via RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol).

There is a nice comparison sheet between the free and the pro version:
http://software.visionapp.com/1934.0.html?&ftu=31c8cdd49d

Previously i used Royal TS
http://code4ward.net/cs2/files/folders/rts1/entry1247.aspx

but Visionapp has one big difference that you can define your user accounts centrally so if your password changes, you can update it once and all your Remote Desktop connections are up to date. With Royal TS i need to update them one by one.

How to install Forms Based Authentication (FBA) in SharePoint 2007

2008-07-14T20:08:00.001+02:00

Last week i needed to install Forms Based Authentication (FBA) in SharePoint 2007.

This article was a good help for me:

Configuring Forms Authentication in SharePoint 2007
http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/windows-forms/configuring-forms-authentication-in-sharepoint-2007/

Once configured you need a good solution to manage the users and roles for your site and if possible IN SharePoint and not in another application. I found a cool project on Codeplex that had these requirements!

Forms Base Authentication Tools and Utils for SharePoint 2007
http://www.codeplex.com/fba

Click here if you want to see more screenshots

Why using MS Office 2007 with SharePoint 2007?

2008-07-14T20:04:00.001+02:00

If you are using SharePoint 2007, why should you upgrade from MS Office 2003 to MS Office 2007? Here is a list of the additional end-user benefits realized when interfacing with SharePoint 2007:

http://blogs.msdn.com/brittog/archive/2007/02/16/wht-you-get-with-office-2007.aspx

Another good article on this topic: MS Office Integration with SharePoint [Fair, Good, Better and Best]
http://www.sharepointbuzz.com/2007/04/18/ms-office-integration-with-sharepoint-fair-good-better-and-best/

How to hide buttons in SharePoint - SharePoint Toolbar Manager

2008-07-11T14:47:00.003+02:00

Today i needed a solution to hide the new button in a view. If found an elegant solution on Codeplex, the "Toolbar Manager"

Toolbar ManagerThis Feature allows you to selectively show and hide menu items on the standard list/library toolbar. The feature adds a new web part to the gallery that you can place on any list/library view page. Once placed on the page, you can use the properties of the web part to show or hide menu items. This is the perfect solution for hiding a single menu item such as “Export to Spreadsheet” to prevent users from taking that action.

A complete article on this feature can be found here: http://scothillier.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!8F5DEA8AEA9E6FBB!280.entry

This feature belongs to the "SharePoint 2007 Features" on Codeplex http://www.codeplex.com/features which contains many other interesting features!

Have a look at it!

MS Search Server 2008 Part 4 - What is Federated Search?

2008-06-05T20:38:00.018+02:00

This is the 5th post of a serie on MS Search Server 2008:

MS Search Server 2008 Part 1 - What is MSS 2008?
MS Search Server 2008 Part 2 - Versions
MS Search Server 2008 Part 3 - Product Improvements
MS Search Server 2008 Part 4 - MS Search Server 2008 compared to MS Offiche SharePoint Server 2007

What?
The federated search is a new search functionality that comes with the release of MS Search Server 2008. The new webparts can display search results from other non-sharepoint sources like Yahoo, Live.com, Technet, wikipedia, Flickr, ...

They can also be used to display search results form a custom database or a 3rd party application like Symantec Enterprise Vault, Coveo, EMC, ... And last but not least federated search can be used to search in remote SharePoint Farms (!!!)

Webparts

Federated Results Webpart: connects to a single federated location and displays the top X results returned from the location.

Top Federated Results Webpart: connects to multiple federated locations and displays the top X results from the first location to return a result in the order of the configured locations

How does it work?

The server will send a query to the other search engine or application as a parameterized URL, for example : http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q={searchTerms}

The external search engine returns and renders the result in a predefined XML format
The federated results webpart renders the xml on the screen based on the XSLT formatting rules.

All these operations are defined in one XML file, the .FLD file. FLD stands for Federated Location Definition.

This file describes the following:

how and when the queries will be federated to the location
the formatting of the results in XSLT
the authentication settings

Here you can download some sample connectors files + a list of the MS Partners who already have a solution for the Federated Search:
http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/connectors/federated.aspx

Some Screenshots

Sample of a federated results webpart showing results from MS Live search:

Sample of a federated results webpart showing results from You Tube:

Management of the Federated Locations in the SharePoint administration website:

SAP .NET Connector 2.0 and SharePoint 2007 ?

2008-06-05T20:02:00.009+02:00

Question?
How do we upgrade webparts from SharePoint 2003 that are using the SAP .NET Connector 2.0 to SharePoint 2007.

Answer ...
First of all you need to upgrade your webpart to framework 2.0 using the SharePoint 2007 DLLs. Problem is here that there is no SAP .NET Connector for framework 2.0. (SAP .NET Connetor 2.0 is still based on Framework 1.1).

Here you can find an article describing how to use the SAP Connector in Visual Studio 2005. The solution also should work with Visual Studio 2008

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/92333e6b-0b01-0010-9cbf-fecd62d6c895

Currently, SAP Connector for .NET is not supported in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. We suggest a workaround that enables easy design-time connectivity to SAP backend systems in Visual Studio 2005 by creating the .NET Connector proxies in Visual Studio 2003 and porting them to Visual Studio 2005.

Important to know is that this component is discontinued, so they will not provide newer versions of the SAP .NET Connector. You now should use the webservices solution with SAP Netweaver.

Some extra links:
http://forums.asp.net/p/979309/1933629.aspx
http://blogs.clearscreen.com/enadan/archive/2006/08/25/3419.aspx

Overview of SharePoint 2007 limitations

2008-05-15T10:06:00.005+02:00

This is an article on Technet I want to share with you! I use it very often to make technical designs for clients:

Plan for software boundaries (Office SharePoint Server)http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx

This article provides information to help you understand the tested performance and capacity limits of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, provides information about the test environment and test results, and offers guidelines for acceptable performance. Use the information in this article to determine whether your planned deployment falls within acceptable performance and capacity limits.

How to add the SharePoint versionnumber in your Word 2003 / 2007 document?

2008-04-17T20:33:00.006+02:00

You shoud think this is possible out of the box, but no luck ... The SharePoint version field is not exposed in Word 2003 or 2007. The reason is that the version field is not a default text field. So you need to look for a workaround, the most easy way is to create your onw "DocumentVersion" text field and copy the value of the SharePoint version field into the new "DocumentVersion" field with code. You need to execute this piece of code after the document has been added (ItemAdded) or updated (ItemUpdated):

This is a sample:

public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties)
{
SPListItem item = properties.ListItem;
item["NameOfYourNewField"] = item["Version"];
item.SystemUpdate(false);
}

Here you can find the full blogpost about adding the version field in Word 2003:
http://www.sharepointblogs.com/johnwpowell/archive/2007/07/13/display-version-number-and-other-sharepoint-metadata-in-word-2003-documents.aspx

If you want to know how to add the field in Word 2007, check here:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA101004261033.aspx?pid=CH100992711033#2

Slides MS Search Server 2008 from the BIWUG Session !

2008-03-21T21:09:00.004+01:00

As promised, you can download here the MS Search Server 2008 slides from the BIWUG Session.

Thank you to all attendees!

Joris Poelmans also did an interesting session about "SharePoint as development platform - complaints/issues/rants ...and answers" He already made a blogpost about it!

Silverlight and SharePoint 2007 - 6 samples

2008-03-03T13:04:00.005+01:00

Today i found 6 samples about Silverlight and Moss, the samples are with video, source code, documentation and setup:

Hello World
Silverlight navigation controls
Silverlight social networking webpart
Visual how-to center with webpart
Picture viewer sample
Silverlight custom field types

You can download the samples here:
http://www.ssblueprints.net/sharepoint/

Join my session about MS Search Server 2008 on BIWUG

2008-02-26T18:22:00.011+01:00

On 20/03/2007 i will deliver a session about the search capabilities of MS Office SharePoint Server and the new product MS Search Server 2008 for BIWUG the "Belgian Information Worker User Group"

I will also demo the new federated search functionality!

20:15 - 21:30 Overview of Search in the Microsoft Platform and introduction to Search Server 2008 by Bart Vandenheede, Dolmen
In the first part of this session we will focus on the search capabilities in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. What’s in there out of the box and how can you extend the search functionality. The second part will focus on the soon to be released Search Server 2008.

There will also be a presentation about "Infonic SharePoint Geo-Replicator (formerly known as iOra) " about Server to Server and Offline Replication of Microsoft SharePoint 2003 & MOSS 2007

More information and registration on http://www.biwug.be/

See you there !

MS Search Server 2008 - When will it be available?

2008-02-06T21:33:00.000+01:00

At this moments you can download Release Candidate 1 on the Microsoft site (here)
Q1 2008 : MS Search Server 2008 RTM will be released
Q1 2008 : Af ther the RTM version is release, MS will bring an update patch for Moss 2007
somewhere in 2008 : the update patch for Moss will be included in Moss 2007 SP 2

MS Search Server 2008 Part 4 - MS Search Server 2008 compared to MS Offiche SharePoint Server 2007

2008-02-06T21:22:00.000+01:00

This matrix gives a good overview of the differences between Moss 2007 and MSS 2008:

In summary this matrix says:

The search and crawl functions are almost the same
MSS 2008 Express cannot be used for High availability solutions and load balancing
MSS 2008 has NO people search, users profiles or My Sites
MSS 2008 has no Business Data Catalog Search
MSS 2008 does not have templates for a colaboration portal, records center, document center, ... and has no advanced publishing features.

So when to choose for Moss 2007 and when for MSS 2008 ?

If you do not need the more advance features of Moss 2007 like user profiles, mysites, people search, BDC, Froms Services, Excel Services, ... and you just need document management with good collaboration and good search functionality then MS Search Server 2008 is the right choice for you!