'flex' is null or not an object in ext-all.js

I got this error for quite some time and i had no clue what was wrong in my page . Page consisted of only 2 panel controls . That's all

After playing around with some of properties of panel , the issue was resolved.

Issue in my case :

First panel had property layout: 'anchor'

Second Panel had property layout: 'border '

Resolution :

Changed the second panel property layout: 'anchor'

This might not be your case . This error is very generic and can pop up due to multiple reasons .

Ext JS : Data Model proxy for Json and XML return type

JSON RETURN DATA

If you data is returned in JSON format then your proxy for Data Model will look like :

Ext.define("Post", {

extend: 'Ext.data.Model',

proxy:

{

type: 'rest',

url : 'http://xyz.com/ID/18/',

reader: {

type: 'json',

root: 'CUSTOMER'

}

}

XML Return Data

Ext.define("Post", {

extend: 'Ext.data.Model',

proxy: {

type: 'ajax',

url : 'http://xyz.com/ID/18',

reader: {

type: 'xml',

record: 'CUSTOMER'

}

},

Ext JS Programming Basic Requirement

So , if you have started working with Ext JS make sure you are using the following tools . Believe me they are quite handy and saves you from head banging ;-)

1) Fiddler

2) Scripting client

3) REST Service Tested ( Firefox)

4) Firebug

Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'x' in the ServiceModel client

Scenario :

I was creating a WCf client to test the services . After creating client proxy and testing the services i bumped into below error. It seems the configuration in my app.config was not correct.

ERROR:

{System.InvalidOperationException: Could not find default endpoint element that references contract 'x' in the ServiceModel client configuration section. This might be because no configuration file was found for your application, or because no endpoint element matching this contract could be found in the client element.

Resolution :

When you generate client using the svcutil.exe , an output.xml is generated. This file contains the end point configuration information . Take the configuration from this file and add it to app.config. Service should work without configuration issue assuming your code is not erroneous ;-)

Visual Studio IntelliSense to show comments for the Custom Function

If you added Summary to your custom defined function and it's still now showing description as part of Visual Studio IntelliSense then for sure you are missing a setting .

e.g.

///<summary>

This is test function

///</summary>

public void TestFunction()

{

//Do something...

}

when you access this function , you expect the description to show up but in case its shows nothing . Then do this :

1) Open Projects property page

2) Click the Build Tab

30 Check the "Xml documentation file " checkbox

Compile project and try once more ...

Accessing Enterprise Application Blocks

There are mutiple ways to access application blocks :

Using the Enterprise Library Service Locator

var writer = EnterpriseLibraryContainer.Current.GetInstance();

writer.Write("I'm a log entry created by the Logging block!");

var customerDb

= EnterpriseLibraryContainer.Current.GetInstance("Customers");

The Sophisticated Approach — Accessing the Container Directly

var theContainer = new

UnityContainer().AddNewExtension();

var writer = theContainer.Resolve();

writer.Write("I'm a log entry created by the Logging block!");

var customerDb = theContainer.Resolve("Customers");

Check out this diagram :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/Ff953191.441da4ba-fa2e-4da3-bac1-89897580d80b(l=en-us,v=PandP.50).png

Validation Application Block

If you are looking for one stop article to understand the Validation application block , check out this article :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff953182(v=PandP.50).aspx

Also download these hands on Labs :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=2C34A9CB-17CF-4AEC-8DE6-EEACBBB74413

REST & WCF

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203052.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd315413.aspx

Video:

http://www.internet.com/video/?bcpid=86842592001&bclid=87185324001&bctid=87286894001

http://www.internet.com/video/?bcpid=86842592001&bclid=87185324001&bctid=87286894001

Debugging VB 6 Component from .NET Application

Debugging Hybrid Visual Basic 6.0/Visual Basic .NET Applications

Prism with Silverlight : Short Videos but covers topic really well

Creating a shell and modules

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/akmsft/creating-a-modular-application-using-prism-v2-part-1-of-4--creating-a-shell-and-modules

Visual Composition

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/akmsft/creating-a-modular-application-using-prism-v2-screencast-24--visual-composition

Implementing views and services

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/akmsft/creating-a-modular-application-using-prism-v2-screencast-34--implementing-views-and-services

Decoupled Communication

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/akmsft/creating-a-modular-application-using-prism-v2-screencast-44--decoupled-communication

Improving the Performance of Infopath 2007

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb380251(office.12).aspx

SharePoint 2010 as Application Development Framework

When i started working on SharePoint , i never thought it to be more than a document management system . Even today when i mention SharePoint i know what's in the end user mind( Document , Document , Document .......) .

SharePoint has changed so drastically within past decade. I was always excited about the fact that it's possible to develop custom application using SharePoint 2007 as base framework . We did multiple implementation and development time has reduced around 50 % . Reason is that we dont need to spend time doing too much data modelling obviously there is downside to it as complex data centric application is not real contender for such efforts and neither transaction based application . But what i have seen as per my experience is that in any organization there are very few key applications which are complex and they are mostly business drivers other are small custom applications just to automate business process and no surprise that these small applications sometimes makes more than 50% of the applications in an organizations and are good contender to be developed using SharePoint as framework .

Custom applications developed on top of SharePoint 2007 comes with drawbacks too , biggest evil is performance. Too much of data will drain the server resouces and might take ages to load pages. So i would say application development in SharePoint 2007 has proven to be more of POC and learning platform.

SharePoint 2010 seems to much more mature with its 64 bit architecture and promises to provide deliver better performance.

Story cut short , non business centric applications will be developed using SharePoint in future. So if you would like to equip yourself then refer the below URL :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=64b55569-2168-4545-8b7c-f185b2cf967d&displaylang=en

SharePoint 2010 Resources

If you are looking for one stop shop for SharePoint resources than this one is good place to start with :
http://blogs.technet.com/b/vedant/archive/2010/06/14/sharepoint-2010-resource-guide.aspx

and if you are the ones who prefer videos than here is the link :

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/Videos.aspx?VideoID=14

SharePoint 2010 Edition Comparison with Quick Details

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/Pages/Editions-Comparison.aspx

SharePoint 2010 Certifications

Some details on SharePoint 2010 certifications :
Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development

Designing and Developing Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Applications

Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring

Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator

Versions of SharePoint 2010

There are four versions of SharePoint Server 2010 as specified in following URL :

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee388573.aspx

SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License features

For organizations looking to expand their business collaboration platform to enable advanced scenarios. Use the Enterprise capabilities of SharePoint to fully interoperate with external line-of-business applications, Web services, and Microsoft Office client applications; make better decisions with rich data visualization, dashboards, and advanced analytics; and build robust forms and workflow-based solutions.

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise

For organizations looking to create customer-facing public internet sites and private extranets using the full enterprise capabilities of SharePoint. This provides full SharePoint Enterprise functionality and no other technical limits.

SharePoint Server 2010 Standard Client Access License features

For organizations looking to deploy a business collaboration platform across all types of content. Use the core capabilities of SharePoint to manage content and business processes, find and share information and expertise, and simplify how people work together across organizational boundaries.

SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard

For small and mid-sized organizations looking to create public Internet sites or basic extranets using the Standard features of SharePoint Server 2010.

SharePoint 2010 Product key

Here goes product keys for SharePoint 2010 Release Version:

SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Client Access License Features: GGDG8-JCMXH-8KG8C-RJYYX-3Y33H
SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise: 9FPGB-W6QTT-G68T4-TBX7M-R624H
SharePoint Server 2010 Standard Client Access License Features: KB443-F7CJV-J2RP4-QYQJ7-6PBB3
SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Standard: H4P2T-CYKM7-9FKKD-DTQ7X-W69GG

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee391660.aspx


HAPPY SHAREPOINTING!!!!

Retrieve Solution file from SharePoint Farm

Situation :
Developer created .wsp file and installed in SharePoint farm . We need install these solution files to new farm and we have no clue where developer has saved these files.It's not in Visual Source safe too.

Disaster Recovery :
Pull the .wsp from the existing farm using code below :

SPSolutionCollection solutions = SPFarm.Local.Solutions;

foreach (SPSolution solution in solutions)
{
SPPersistedFile wspFile = solution.SolutionFile;
wspFile.SaveAs("c:\\Temp\\Solutions\\" + solution.Name);
}

Make sure directory exists .

Enjoy!

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlError: Exclusive access could not be obtained because the database is in use. (Microsoft.SqlServer.Express.Smo)

I got this error while i was trying to restore SSP SQL Backp from source farm to new target farm SSP DB. Obviously DB by used by different processes which caused this error.

I did following steps to get it working( Make sure you can afford SQL DB outage during the restore )

1) Run the following SQL Query on SSP DB

USE master
GO

ALTER DATABASE   YOUR_SSP_DB_NAME
SET OFFLINE WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE

2) Perform SQL Restore from Backup

3)
ALTER DATABASE    YOUR_SSP_DB_NAME
SET ONLINE


Thats It .

This process is much simpler than the Central Administration Restore process. For some weird reasons i kept on getting errors while trying with Central Administration console .

Downloadable content for Sharepoint

Handy articles :

SharePoint 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262788(office.14).aspx

SharePoint 2007

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262788.aspx

Working with List Items MOSS 2007

Very good tool if you want to work with list items without using the web UI .

http://splistitemeditor.codeplex.com/

Content Query Web Part : Master of all OOB webpart

If you are looking for formatting sharepoint content as far as your imagination goes , you have to explore master of all OOB webpart "Content Query Web Part"

Customization Sample :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb447557.aspx

This is one of the most powerful webpart but still SharePointers avoid it's usage due to its complex looking .xsl language . Fact is that once you understand XSL then this webpart will become common in your websites.

The site collection could not be restored. Please make sure the content databases are available and have sufficient free space

"The site collection could not be restored. Please make sure the content databases are available and have sufficient free space "
Follow this article in case you bump on to above error :
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926061

Exception Error 0x80020009 when trying to Activate "Office Sharepoint Server Publishing Infrastructure"

If you face issue activating the Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature , try following these steps mentioned by Chris Winebarger

Following are the steps :

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishing\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingresources\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingSite\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishingweb\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename publishinglayouts\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

stsadm -o activatefeature -filename navigation\feature.xml -url http://URL -force

Worked for me ...

Cloud Computing Azure

Pretty interesting webcast on cloud computing :

Webcast

Customize application pages in the Layouts folder

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944105

Error in PortalCrawl Web Service.

People search was not working even after crawl and i saw this error message in error log.
To get it working i had to create a dummy root site collection at http://servername

Request for the permission of type 'System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission failed

Request for the permission of type 'System.Security.Permissions.FileIOPermission, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089' failed

In case you receive security issue when executing the managed code infopath form , solution is to make the infopath form Full Trust.

To make form full trust , in Office Infopath design mode, go to Tools -> Form Options -> Security and Trust -> Full Trust (Change Security level to full trust ).

Publish theform .

Auditing SharePoint 2007 List/ Library

Auditing documents/ list items in SharePoint 2007 is a 3 step process :


1) Create Site Collection Policy
- Go to Site Actions ->Modify all Site Settings - >Site Collection Policies
- Create new policy -> Provide Name and Enable Auditing
- Select Events you would like to audit -> Click OK


2) Set up the Document Library / List which requires auditing
- Go to List Settings of Document Library you would like to audit
- Click on Information Management Policy Settings
- Under use site collection policy , select the policy you had defined in first step
- Click Ok

At this point you library / list is set for auditing and any action will be logged .

3) Viewing the results
- Go to Site Actions ->Modify all Site Settings - >Audit log Reports
- Under Custom Reports click on "Run a custom report "
- Select checkbox "Restrict this Report to " and select corresponding web application and list name
- You can select various filters (start date , end date , users ), though these are optional but its better to use them as they improve the report performance
- Select the events you would like to see the report for and click ok
- Voila ! you have the details reports with worksheet displaying the activity and usernames ,you have to use the filter to zero down to required data. UserNames can be accessed worksheet named"Report Data". Event column will display the action performed on a particular item

Enjoy !

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!

Happy New Year !! to all . This year is going to bring more interesting technology challenges.

Bring it on !!!!

Another user has changed the structure of this list .

ERROR :
Another user has changed the structure of this list . All your pending changes to this list will be discarded . To retrieve the latest copy of the list , click refresh

Suggested Resolution : Removing comma in hyperlinks
Reference URL : http://bmerri19.wordpress.com/

Implementing ASP.NET Impersonation

Impersonation can be implemented using one of four methods:

• Impersonate the IIS authenticated account or user
• Impersonate a specific user for all the requests of an ASP.NET application
• Impersonate the authenticating user in code
• Impersonate a specific user in code

More details give in following article :

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/306158#4

Feature '7a8b11f4-38b2-402b-ad94-1213e25150ca' for list template '1102' is not installed in this farm. The operation could not be completed.

I got this error while performing export of SharePoint site with stsadm and sharepoint designer.
It was happening because ShaerPoint Site was searching for the following feature "PWAProposals" which was present in my dev machine and not in my production . I was able to move it successsfully before as i used stsadm-backup but it started failing with stsadm -export.

Resolution :
Just copy the feature from your source server ---> destination server and install the feature. This will resolve the issue . Well this is not ideal solution . I am still in process of figuring out the reference to the feature in order to remove it from list template.

Sharepoint Config DB Size Grown too large

In my case the SharePoint Config DB log size became 35 GB which ate up all the disk space nearly crashing the system . This is a development machine so disk space was limited to 50 GB .

Did some search and the below steps solved the issue. The steps given below is not recommended to be implemeted in production , only in development / QA machine in order to save some resource .

1) Right click on you DB -> Properties
2)Select Options
3) Change the Recovery Model to SIMPLE and Click Ok

Once that is done ,
-Right click on DB -> Tasks - > Shrink -> Files
- In File type select log and click OK

My Config DB Log files were reduced from 35 GB - > 504 KB

Note : Simple recovery model is not suggested for Production Systems

Allow Access Request SharePoint 2007

In order to set individual email ID to receve email when the Access is requested for a SharePoint Site , follow these steps :
1) Go To Site Settings ->Modify All Site Settings
2) Click on Advanced Permissions under User and Permission
3)List Settings -> Access Requests
4) Set the email ID and activate the Allow Request for access

SharePoint 2010 Beta Product Key

Well i did my installation of SharePoint 2010 Beta and found the product key here :

SharePoint Server 2010 Beta (Enterprise CAL features): PKXTJ-DCM9D-6MM3V-G86P8-MJ8CY
SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites Beta, Enterprise: BV7VC-RMR6B-26P6Y-BTQDG-DX2KQ

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ee391660.aspx

SharePoint 2010 New Features

here is one of interesting article on SharePoint 2010

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/10/19/sharepoint-2010.aspx

Feature 1 SharePoint 2010 : Sandbox Solutions

This feature i am sure is one of the big enhancement in SharePoint 2010 . For all those developers out there who gave day and night to convince server admins that the developed code is safe and won't break the farm this is sign of relief.

Now the developers / Site administrator can get their custom code(restricted features) to the SharePoint site without concern .So in case there is bug in code then the only thing which will bomb is site owned by the team .

Farm administrator has total control over the deployed solution and can even define resource limit for the solution . It's win - win for the server admins as well as the site owners.

Less politics in organization now ;-) .

More details here

Atlast SharePoint 2010 Beta Installation complete

Today i completed my first SharePoint 2010 beta installation in my machine . AHHH what a relief, i have been planning to do this from past 2 weeks.

Well lets see how the new features turns up . I hope i can get some momentum now......

Free Tools from Metalogix

http://www.metalogix.net/Free-Tools/

Just tried SWAT tool till now, pretty impressive.

Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040E14 STSADM ERROR

In my case this error was purely due to lack of disk space in DB server.

ERROR:
Exception from HRESULT: 0x80040E14

Clearing hard disk space in DB server resolved the issue.

Unable to Delete SSP (unprovisioning)

If you are stuck with SSP and have no clue how to get rid of it then you are at right place.

Use the SharePoint Master Tool (STSADM), nobody says "no" to Master ;-)

stsadm -o deletessp -title [-deletedatabases] -[force]
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263248.aspx

Caching in MOSS 2007

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa661294.aspx

Cannot connect to the configuration database.

This might happen due to various reasons . Below are the most common reasons :
1) Check SQL DB exist and enabled
2) Application pool Identity has been added to SQL DB

SharePoint 2007 Best Practices

• Best Practices: Using Disposable Windows SharePoint Services Objects http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973248.aspx
  
• Best Practices: Common Coding Issues When Using the SharePoint Object Model http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687949.aspx
  
• Dispose Checker Tool http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SPDisposeCheck
  
• Working with Large Lists in SharePoint Server 2007 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262813.aspx
  
• SharePoint Products and Technologies Customization Best Practices http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb861954.aspx
  
• Developing Workflow Solutions with SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows Workflow Foundation http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc514224.aspx
  
• Developing SharePoint Applications:Patterns and Practices http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203468.aspx
  
• Managed Path http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb802766.aspx
  
• Web Services Access http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb862916.aspx

SharePoint Pattern and Practices

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203468.aspx

Save as Site Template Missing

Are you trying to save a publishing site as site template and are still wondering where the "Save as Site Template " is?

Well It's hidden . Here is a nice article for you.

http://www.kwizcom.com/ContentPage.asp?PageId=1165

Cheers!!!

Improve SharePoint 2007 Website Performance

http://blogs.msdn.com/ecm/archive/2006/11/08/how-to-make-your-moss-2007-web-site-faster-with-caching.aspx

Get Client Machine Name ASP.NET

System.Net.Dns.GetHostByAddress(Request.UserHostAddress).HostName

Preliminary System Requirement SharePoint 2010

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/07/announcing-sharepoint-server-2010-preliminary-system-requirements.aspx

ASP.NET Progress control for FREE!!!

I tried this control and i must say it's too good to be free.
http://www.essentialobjects.com/Products/EOWeb/ProgressBar.aspx

Upgrade Checker in SP2 for SharePoint 2010

AJAX ERROR : Sys.WebForms.PageRequestManagerTimeoutException - The server request timed out

Well if you have this error then its due to long running process as the default time out set is 90 seconds.
If you want to increase the time out value , then make change to the Script Manager attribute .
For e.g to increase it to 5 min :




(Click on image to enlarge it)

SharePoint 2007 Scalability and Performance White Paper

http://blogs.technet.com/gurmeets/archive/2008/06/18/sharepoint-server-2007-scalability-and-performance-whitepaper-now-available.aspx

Enterprise Search Training Videos

http://blogs.technet.com/gurmeets/archive/2008/04/24/18-hours-of-free-enterprise-search-training.aspx

GetListItems SharePoint WebService

http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/2007/02/how-to-use-getlistitems-web-service.html

Unknown server tag 'asp:ScriptManager' PKS

I had configured PKS (Podcasting Kit for SharePoint ) June 2009 release. Everything went smooth and even the application was working well except the encoding which i haven't yet tested .

Anyways after couple of days when i tried accessing the site the main page went KAPUT , i started getting this error "Unknown server tag 'asp"ScriptManager" .Now the question was "What might have gone wrong?" . I didn't even touched the site for 2 days and everything was working fine before (Typical sentence used by most developers -;)) .

After some search i found one article which asked to check the web.config file for some entries and it's weird those entries were gone from my web.config file. (Murphy's law in total effect ) .

Anyways as suggested i made the following entries ,In case image is not clear click on it to get better view.

I am glad website is back . Up and running .

Here is the link where i got the web.config entries .

ENJOY!!!

The template you have chosen is invalid or cannot be found. SharePoint Template Error

It's pretty hard to find the actual reason of these kind of error . But one thing is sure that template is causing issue.
The most common reason for this error is missing of dependency . for e.g. missing feature.
Best solution is to run the STPInspector tool . It will help to diagnose whether all the dependency are present in server or missing something .
You can get tool from STPINSPECTOR

ENJOY!!!

Essential SharePoint Governance Tool

Tool which you should have to administer/Develop SharePoint 2007 :

• SP Forms Designer with content types(http://sptoolbasket.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=SharePoint%20-%20SPForms%20Designer)

• SPFeature Explorer(http://sptoolbasket.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=SharePoint%20-%20SPFeature%20Explorer)

• SharePoint - List Columns Manager(http://sptoolbasket.codeplex.com/Wiki/View.aspx?title=SharePoint%20-%20List%20Columns%20Manager)

• Security Management Tool m(http://www.codeplex.com/sushi)

• STP Inspector ( http://stpinspector.codeplex.com/)

Aspnet_merge.exe Exited with Code 1

I got this error while building the Web deployment project . After some search it came to my notice that class names in my webcontrols were same ,due to which build started bombing while merging the assembly .

I changed the class names and Voila ! it started working.

Creating single DLL for Web User Controls in ASP.NET website project

Are you trying to create single DLL for a web user control and end up getting multiple DLL's for each user control ?

Well you are in right place . The best option is to use web deployment project which is an Add in to Visual Studio .

Install the project template from here

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/asp.net/aa336619.aspx

Once installed follow this article for creating a single DLL for your web project :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa479568.aspx

Microsoft New Search Engine

BING!!!!

I am impressed with the new search engine from Microsoft and i am glad it's fast.

http://www.bing.com/

Best Practices Webpart

It's a old story now, sharepoint has been around now for more than 6 years and numerous solution has been created using SharePoint Technology. But the basic remains and shoud be always kept in mind to have succesful implementation . I know many of developers might be aware of the best practices for developing the webparts but question is do we really follow them ?
Generally people go back to basics when something bombs , till then best practices are kept only in books. Anyways i have been thinking of writing about it from long time and here it goes today . just follow some of best practices and webparts maintenace becomes much easier and no more "Webpart maintenance page ".

• Error Handling : This is the most important part of webpart development . Always defined a try , catch , finally block in your webpart .E.g http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/Errorhandling_in_Webparts.aspx
• Validate all user inputs
• Register the Client Side script to improve performance
• Always dispose the sharepoint Objects e.g. SPSite, SPWeb e.g. http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/2006/06/best-practices-writing-webparts-for.html
• Refrain using loops with list objects . use CAML query as much as possible to retrieve desired data

FIELD CONTROLS VS WEB PARTS

Lot of people had question surrounding this including me .Thanks toAndrew Connell for sharing the fundamental aspect of the differences put forward in the simplest way :

Article by Andrew Connell

Enjoy!!!!

SPUpdatedConcurrencyException: An update conflict has occurred, and you must re-try this action

I was moving site from One server farm to another , completed backup of source site successfully,everything was working fine till the Murhy's extended Law got into effect ......

"If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong"

Anyways , i started restoring the site and bumped into this error. I had no clue why even this popped up . Tried multiple time but same result .Started search for error resolution and it was good to see that there are more victim of this issue.

So i tried one of the suggested approach and it worked ......

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939308

Well i just completed the site restoration and hope i dont fall victim to another law which i read somewhere and i felt it's kind of funny :

"No matter how perfect things are made to appear, Murphy's law will take effect and screw it up"

ENJOY!!!!!

"HTTP Error 401.1 - Unauthorized: Access is denied

We had this error in our IIS and this solved the puzzle...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/871179

Create new Content DB

Well it's a generic case where in we end up creating large number of site collections and then realize that DB size is too big to manage.

Well to take care of such situation, it's a good practice to create new content DB and move existing site collection new DB.

How to do it ?Here you go.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825327.aspx

MOSS SP2 is out

MOSS 2007 is out in April :

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B7816D90-5FC6-4347-89B0-A80DEB27A082&displaylang=en

Performance testing and Performance counters for Sharepoint 2007

Useful performance counters which cas be used while peformance testing of SharePoint 2007 Environment
http://blogs.msdn.com/ketaanhs/archive/2008/08/12/performance-testing-and-performance-counters-for-sharepoint-2007-moss.aspx

Business Intelligence Fundamentals Web Seminar Series

This link contains collection of web seminars on BI ..

http://www.msdev.com/Directory/SeriesDescription.aspx?CourseId=61

stsadm import failed with AllowAutomaticASPXPageIndexing error

Well i got stuck with this issue and the following hotfix helped to come over it :

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;957691

Server SQL Server evaluation period has expired.

In case you are trying to upgrade the Expired SQL server with retail SQL server follow these steps :

• Take Back up of the DB files (MDF and LDF)
• Unistall the expired SQL Server
• Install retail SQL Server
• Re-Attach old DB's

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914158

SharePoint Designer for FREEE!!!!

Here it goes....


http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42

Calculated Column in SharePoint List

Am sure lot of you are searching for formulae which can we used in the Calculated column in SharePoint list. If yes, you are in right place .

Here are some useful links :
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/CH100650061033.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/CH101032701033.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/HA101054791033.aspx?pid=CH100650061033#4

STSADM: The farm is unavailable

This error pops up when the user running the command doesn't have access to SQl Server , make sure you are using admin account(preferable) in order to run stsadm tool.

Alert Not Working

Try this :

• stsadm.exe -o setproperty -propertyname job-immediate-alerts -propertyvalue "every 1 minutes between 0 and 59" -url "http://SiteName"
• stsadm.exe -o setproperty -propertyname alerts-enabled -propertyvalue "true" -url "http://SiteName"

CAML Query Builder

Life gets's so much easier when intellect people think of tool which developer community actually needs , here is the one tool which actually has the potential to give you that extra time which you spend writing long CAML query :-):

http://www.u2u.be/res/Tools/CamlQueryBuilder.aspx

Unable to add selected web part(s).

ERROR :

<WebpartName>: The file is not checked out. You must first check out this document before making changes.

Scenario with Solution

While trying to add webpart to the page , i received the above error. After some minutes i got the culprit .

1) Even on clicking "Edit Page" my file was not checking out , so i had to check out my webform using sharePoint designer. This solved my intial issue of adding web part .

2) Now question was , Why the "Edit Page" is not chekcing out my page , well it was no brainer . Publishing feature in my Site Feature was not active.

ENJOY!!

"Access Denied" MOSS 2007

I got this error while playing with the multiple authentication ie. authenticating sharepoint application with third party LDAP and Active Directory.
I was able to log in to home page but any system page e.g. _layouts/settings.aspx threw the "Access Denied " error.

This is how i got it working :

1) Go to "Application Management" tab in Central Administration
2) Click on the "Policy of Web application " link under "Application Security" section
3) Add the following users :

• - NT AUTHORITY\local service (Full Control)
• - "Site Collection Administrator" (Full Control)

Get all Custom Site Templates from Site collection

using (SPSite newSite = new SPSite(SiteURL))
{
using (SPWeb newWeb = newSite.OpenWeb())
{
SPWebTemplateCollection customTempCollection = newSite.GetCustomWebTemplates((uint)newWeb.Locale.LCID);
}
}

Unable to add selected web part(s).

ERROR:
Assemblies that implement ASP.NET Web Parts and are installed into a partially trusted location, such as the bin directory, must be compiled with the AllowPartiallyTrustedCallersAttribute set for import to succeed.

SOLUTION:
Add [assembly:AllowPartiallyTrustedCallers] to AssemblyInfo.cs

REFER :
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.security.allowpartiallytrustedcallersattribute(VS.71).aspx

Hiding Menu Items on SharePoint 2007 List

If your requirement is to hide any menu item in SharePoint list for e.g. "Connect to Outlook" or "Open with Access" etc. then "ToolBar Manager " feature in codeplex is of great help .
http://www.codeplex.com/features

There are additional features which are useful too. You can download the same from :
http://www.codeplex.com/features/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=2502#ReleaseFiles

Configuring AJAX in ASP.NET

Here is the list of web.config entries requires for AJAX to work in ASP.NET App.

http://www.asp.net/AJAX/documentation/live/ConfiguringASPNETAJAX.aspx

Delete all Items in SharePoint List

You might end up with this requirement quite often and and try top down approach for delete :
for (int count=0;count < itemCount ; count++)
{ itemcoll[count].Delete(); }

and bump into exceptions , well the other way to do it is bottom up delete

for (int count =itemCount-1 ; count>0 ; count--)
{ itemcoll[count].Delete(); }

SharePoint Utility Pack

If you are looking for a tool for Site Mangement with following features :

• Recursively deleting sites
  
• Create a list in multiple sites at once
  
• Modifying field settings - some internal settings that you cannot modify in the regular interface, and the option to modify lists with the same name in multiple sites at once
  
• Push a web part to multiple sites (a specific page in each site) at once
  
• Manage list event hanlders (register and remove event handlers from lists)
  

Then you need to have this tool by Ishai Sagi

http://www.codeplex.com/spstipsUtilityPack

The event handler functionality has proven to be of great help to me.

Cannot use 'partitionResolver' unless the mode is 'StateServer' or 'SQLServer'

Have you ever got this error while trying to run an ASP.NET 2.0  web application in same port containing SharePoint 2007 Portal?

If yes here is the fix :

Add partitionResolverType="" in your ASP.NET web.config file

e.g.

sessionState mode="InProc" stateConnectionString="tcpip=127.0.0.1:42424" partitionResolverType="" sqlConnectionString="data 

source=127.0.0.1;Trusted_Connection=yes" cookieless="false" timeout="20"

SharePoint List Rating Engine

In my previous post of rating i had mentioned the lack of rating in discussion board .
http://metahat.blogspot.com/2008/12/sharepoint-listcontent-rating-system.html

Thanks to http://www.codeplex.com/site/users/view/StephaneEyskens for updating the rating engine and incorporating it in the discussion forum control too.

You can get the same from http://www.codeplex.com/sptoolbasket

Microsoft and SAP Business Process Integration Tool

http://www.duet.com/index.aspx

Migrating SharePoint /MOSS 2007 database from one Farm / DB to another Farm /DB

In case you are performing any one of these activities then you are looking at right blog :
1) Migrating Portal from One Farm to another Farm
2)Migrating Portal from Development/Test Server to Production Server

I would like to put this process in order to make other's life simpler.If you are performing these migration /move and facing these errors then you have to follow this blog :

ERROR 1 :
An unexpected error occurred while refreshing the shared object manager cache.
Reason: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Techinal Details:System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object. at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.SharedResourceProviderStoreDependency.get_IsValid() at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.SharedObjectManager.Refresh()

ERROR 2 :
"The search service is currently offline. Visit the Services on Server page in SharePoint Central Administration to verify whether the service is enabled. This might also be because an indexer move is in progress. "

Process for Farm Migration

1)Back up Complete Farm using Central Administration (Central Administration > Operations > Perform a Backup )
2) Disconnect from existing Server farm using SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard
3) Create New Farm using "SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard" in desired DB server and Web Server
4)Most important STEP , if you miss this you will end up with all kind of search errors in world
Start all services in that server

• Excel Calculation Services
• Office SharePoint Server Search
• Windows SharePoint Services Help Search

5)Restore farm back using Central Administration (Central Administration > Operations > Restore from Backup )


AFTER MIGRATION
Once you are done you might get this Error :
Following Web Part error in the page: “One of the properties of the Web Part has an incorrect format. Windows SharePoint Services cannot deserialize the Web Part. Check the format of the properties and try again.”

Suggestion: The AppPool may not have appropriate permissions
Do this ,

• GO TO Central Administration (Central Administration > Operations > Service Accounts)
• Select Web Application Pool option
• Select the Central Administration Web app from drop down
• Provide Account ID to be used by web application

One More Pit Fall After Migration :

Infopath Managed form stops working . If you have Infopath Managed form in your site upload the same to (Central Administration > Application Management > Manage Form Templates )

Well these steps might help to make migration much simpler .

Also refer this excellent blog post for process with image depiction:
http://lkar.blogspot.com/2008/05/moving-moss-project-server-2007.html

SharePoint List/Content Rating System

I am working on rating system for SharePoint list and got this excellent sample in codeplex.

http://www.codeplex.com/spdocrating

It seems to work great with Custom List, Issue List , Document library and Link list but unfortunately lacking the most important list (Discussion Board). 

Well i am still trying to figure out ways to integrate the same engine to Discussion Board , if i get something it will be soon in my blog.

Cheers

-Rags

What are Content Type IDs?

Excellent Article in order to understand Content Type IDs.

http://blogs.msdn.com/andrew_may/archive/2006/06/24/SharePointBeta2WhatAreContentTypeIDs.aspx

Redirecting to same Page ASP.NET

Simple concept but still pain in head if unable to figure out :)

  Response.Redirect("#"); 

Sum a column of numbers in a repeating tabl

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/infopath/HP100819391033.aspx

Application synchronization failed for Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchService..

ERROR:

Application synchronization failed for Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchService.
Reason: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.


Resolution :
The following worked with me , i hate to say this but i have no clue what went wrong and why this started working .

In order to get search working i did the following steps and all other options didn't worked even given here in microsoft discussion group

• Start the search using Central Adminsitration -> Operations -> Services on Server ->Click "Start" for "Office SharePoint Server Search "


• Select only "Use this server for serving search queries". Provide credentials and Press "OK". This should atleast start the search service


• Now go back go Central Adminsitration -> Operations -> Services on Server ->Click Link "Office SharePoint Server Search"


• Select "Use this server for indexing content" too and provide credentials and Press OK


• This was start indexer too


• Now go forward and create a new SSP. Now you will see indexer available in dropdown

Hope it works for others too.

Backup / Restoring SharePoint 2007 Site from SQL Database

I got this excellent article on SharePointdogs for backup / restoring the SharePoint site from SQL DB :

http://sharepointdogs.wordpress.com/2008/07/30/content-migration-or-backuprestore-in-moss-2007/#comment-9

Here is one of defined approach which worked wonders for me :

USING SQL
Using SQL, Backup the SQL Content Databases which are required and Restore them to a new databases in the SQL and attach these databases to the new application.
(Briefly we can say that take your content db ‘Offline’ using the Central admin. Take the content database offline in SQL Studio (Take Offline context menu item). Copy your database mdf and ldf files to the new machine (the destination machine). Attach the copies on the new SQL server using SQL Studio. Add the copied content DB to the Web Application on the new machine using the Central Admin on the new web server.)
STEPS:
1)Find the content Database
These are listed under Central Admin->Application Management->Site Collection List
2) Backup the content database
You could alternatively detach it, and copy it. Just doing a backup in SQL Server 2005 Management studio is easier.
3) Restore content database to new server
Copy the BAK file to new server. Create an empty DB in Management Studio, restore from backup, you may need to change an option in the “options” tabof the restore dialog to get it to work. (Overwrite db).
4) Create Web App on new Server
Central Admin->Application Management->Create or extend Web App->Create New Web App.
5) Associate restored DB with new Web App
Central Admin->Application Management->
SharePoint Web Application Management->Content Databases->
Remove Content Database from your new web app.
Now use STSADM to add restored DB to this web app
c:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extentions\12\bin on new server is where you can find the STSADM.
run this command from there.
stsadm -o addcontentdb -url http://yourwebapp:port -databasename yourcontentdb -databaseserver yoursqlserver
6) Run ISSRESET from command prompt.

Setting RSS Update time limit in SharePoint 2007

My previous blog on RSS ended with a very un-satisfied note as i was still trying to find the way to set the update time for RSS feeds in SharePoint 2007 . I am glad i got it now. It was a setting in Site Collection Level . Here it goes :

• Go to Site Settings


• In Site Adminisration Section click on link RSS


• Set the Time To Live(Minutes) filed with required refresh time

Outlook 2007 RSS feed not updating when Sync with SharePoint 2007 List

I had issue wherein my Outlook 2007 RSS was not updating once new data is added to the SharePoint List. After lot of brain damage it came to my notice that it starts working when i remove the "Update check box " as shown in figure below while adding the New feed.Well i am still working on actual issue and trying to understand how to define content feed publisher time limit.

Get Discussion List Items from SharePoint Discussion Forum

If you are trying to retrieve all the root items of the Discussion List this way , it's not going to work :
SPSite site = new SPSite("Site URL");
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPList list1 = web.Lists["DiscussionListName"];
SPListItemCollection coll = list1.Items ;



Well Here is the right way of doing it :-)
SPSite site = new SPSite("Site URL");
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPList list1 = web.Lists["DiscussionListName"];
SPListItemCollection coll =list1.Folders ;

This page has encountered a critical error. Contact your system administrator if this problem persists.

ERROR:"An error occurred during the parsing of a resource required to service this request. Please review the following specific parse error details and modify your source file appropriately. "

Do you get this error in your sharepoint site ?

Just one bad day you come in to see that your main page is bombing due to this error with no proper clue .Well it happened to me and i had no idea what went wrong.After lot of research i found something.

I had "?" marks all over my web.config file , which even erased some of characters.

Solution :

Search for "?" in web.config and start fixing the character in the file. I would suggest replace the web.config (obviously retain the custom entry ) with working one , i replaced my web .config with a working one and Volla!!! it worked for me .

In short the culprit is web.config and not SharePoint installation.

Cheers!!!

If this helps do leave comments , i would like to know how many SharePointeers got into this issue. :-)

Restricting MySite Create Access in MOSS 2007

Ever thought of restricting the MySite creation access and to allow very few user to create there personal site ?
Then this is for you :

Open Shared Service Provider Administration Page and click on link as shown in image to specify the access level of users .

Do leave message if this helps you. It's good to know i am not the only one having this requirememt :)