SharePoint Guidance - November 2008

This guidance helps architects and developers design, build, test, deploy, and upgrade SharePoint intranet applications. A reference implementation demonstrates solutions to common architectural, development, and application lifecycle management challenges.

It covers following topics..

- Architectural decisions about patterns, feature factoring and packaging.
- Design tradeoffs for common decisions many developers encounter.
- Implementation examples demonstrated in the RI and in the QuickStarts.
- How to design for testability, create unit tests, and run continuous integration.
- Set up of development, build, test, staging, and production environments.
- Managing the application life cycle including upgrade.
- Team-based intranet application development.

Click here to download from Microsoft Official site.

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Sharepoint Portal site is showing [System Account] instead of my username

Problem: After installation of my MOSS testing server when I login with my username & password into SharePoint Portal site, it was showing me "System Account" instead of my username on the top right corner of the Site.
Any activity which I was performing like updating system, updating lists, creating new document was stamping system account instead of “Tariq Younas”

Reason: While installation if you will use your account, it will be used to create SharePoint db. At that time you account will be marked as system account.

Solution:
If you face such type of problem then use stsadm utility and run this command
stsadm -o updatefarmcredentials -identitytype NetworkService
After running command restart your IIS

Also set your pool identity as NetWorkService account by performing these steps

1- Go to run
2- Write “inetmgr” and press OK
3- Here under application pools, select your application pool and right click
4- On identity tab select radio “predefined” Network service

This will not occur again.

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RampUp - New Community-based Learning Program

Another good community for Microsoft products learning.

Here number of different tracks will help you build your professional portfolio and development skills.

So, Just start by clicking here to visit....or click on image

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Redirect to a custom page after entering item in SharePoint List

Most of the time we need to redirect user after submitting on list on our custom page like Thanks You page.
Here i have custom list by name of "Feedback" and basic page "Thanks".

When user will submit his/her feedback in library he/she will be redirected to thanks page.

1- Create a basic page for Thanks Message.


2- Name it and press create



3- Go to site navigation Site Settings-> Modify Navigation


4- Select the link of library where you want to submit new item and then want to rout on another thanks page



5- As i have Feedback is List and i am giving path..................
To redirect users to your Thanks/Custom page after they have completed the feedback, simply add ?SOURCE=Your_Thanks_Page.

as i am doing below in this link
http://Tariqsite/Feedback/newform.aspx?source=http://Tariqsite/Feedback/Thankyou.aspx

6- Now click on new in Feedback List

7- Fill the form and press ok



8- After pressing ok instead of routing in your Feedback library....you will be redirected on Thank You page.

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Microsoft Innovation Day- Riyadh Saudia

Microsoft Innovation day in Riyadh on 4th Nov-2008 ......great i must be there.....For technology seekers its great oppt. So, don't miss it.

Who should attend?
Business decision makers, technical decision makers, IT professionals, solution architects and consultants.

If you haven’t registered yet, then click here to register.....

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Office SharePoint Server Search stuck in Stopping Status

Today when I get entered in my office I received a number of emails that
“Search is not working”
“Dear Mr. Tariq Younas, we are unable to search leave application form,”
“What’s wrong with search”

There was a long list of emails like that…..when I open our index server I found this server is in stopping state and unable to show restart/start options.


After some search we found a work around.

Go to Application (Search index and query server) Server

1. Start command prompt

2. Run taskkill /F /IM mssearch.exe /T

3. Navigate to the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12 \bin folder and run “psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait –force”

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Best Practices Analyzer tool (Office SharePoint Server)

You can run the Best Practices Analyzer tool to check for common issues and best security practices. The tool generates a report that can help you optimize the configuration of your system. The tool can be run locally or from a server that is not attached to the server farm.

I generate a report by using this tool on test server then it look like given below.
It shows your Errors & Warnnings.....what you are missing on your server e.g as i have not configure out-going email settings, Trusted DCL's on servers.
You can download it from Microsoft Official Site...Click here to download

Simply a tool which helps to help administrators to achieve greater performance, scalability, and uptime........So, be ready and start generate reporting.

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Flash file display on Portal

During search and on specific scenario requirement i found good post on msdn blog.
It show how to display your .swf flash file on Portal using content editor.
On msdn post there you will got a chunk of code....you just need to put that code in Content Editor Webpart and change its path.
It will be look like given below image as i test it on my testing portal.

Click here to see the msdn blog post

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Office SharePoint Server Search - Error Stopping

While administrating my company SharePoint Portal our search services unable to stopped. Many times we try to stop it from different servers using central administration but they were continuous showing message.

Error Stopping

Workaround:
1- Go to run
2- Write services.msc and press Enter
3- Select & right click service [Windows SharePoint Services Search]
4- Stop it and restart from here

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Big Loss in SharePoint Community

Patrick Tisseghem, long time SharePoint MVP and co-founder of U2U, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, suddenly passed away on September 3rd evening in Gothenburg, Sweden due to heart failure. He is survived by his wife, Linda, and daughters, Anahi and Laura.

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Flight to KSA

My first flight of KSA…it was nice experience through Qatar Air ways.
I suffered a lot due to connected flight & stay @ Doha airport about 7 hrs.
My advice to everyone who is taking first flight please..please..please never take connected flight having stay more than 2 hrs.

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Create a Custom List Data Form with SharePoint Designer 2007

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"One or more features must be turned on before this feature can be activated"

I was working on MySite. There i get need to add content query webpart as it facilitates to grab diff task etc from site collections and summarize on single spot.
Here i try to enable 'Office SharePoint Server Publishing' feature on a site collection thru

Site Settings > Site Administration > Site features

On clicking 'Activate' button I get the message

'One or more features must be turned on before this feature can be activated: Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure'


Solution
-----------
Here same problem was with Mark..he mention great explanation'Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure' site feature will not appear unless you are explicitly set as a Site Collection Administrator. and it worked for me. Great :)

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The Imagine Cup: 2008 World Finals in Paris

"I wish there had been an imagine Cup when i was growing up. It gets people involved in seeing that software is changing the world"
Bill Gates
Chairman, Microsoft Corp

Click image for details.

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Microsoft SharePoint Sales To Hit $1 Billion In 2008

Microsoft said it has now sold more than 100 million SharePoint licenses since launching the product in 2001.
Microsoft sold 75 million through the end of 2005 and 25 million more in the last two years -- meaning the suite has enjoyed a compound growth rate in license sales of about 15% over the past two years. Click here to get more.....

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Error: Cannot get the list schema column property from the SharePoint list

I was working on SharePoint list. When I open a list in datasheet view and export in Office 2003 Excel then I got a prompt error given below

“Cannot get the List Schema Column Property from the SharePoint list”




I fix that problem by changing the date column from my SharePoint List.
What you have to do is…simply remove your previous date column and add it again.

Do not delete your existed column. Copy your old column data in new column with different name. Then remove old column. Now it will work happily and your datasheet will export happily.

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GEAR Up for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server!

GEAR Up is an online content tool that will assist IT professionals and business managers to find timely resources and guidance through phases of a typical SharePoint Server 2007 deployment cycle: Get Ready, Engineer, Adopt, and Release. Each phase relates to end user adoption of SharePoint Server 2007.

Click on Image to go there.......

So, don't wait and catch it....and learn yourself

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InfoPath Error Log ID:5566

While accessing InfoPath form using browser an error occurs given below

This error normally occured on MS Office InfoPath Form while fetching data from data source.

Problem Example:

I have list "Employees" at my SharePoint Site.

And i am using MS InfoPath form to populate combobox from sharepoint list data.

After publishing form successfully when i access that form in browser i got this error 5566.

Reason:

Error occurs when the user who is using form which is going to populate from shareopint list data have not enough rights on SharePoint List.

Solution:

You must permit target user to read the list.

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SharePoint is positioned as a leader within the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals products

For Ref Click Here

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Free MOSS 2007 Training Available @ Microsoft Site - Download Now

Now you can explore Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS 2007) with training from Microsoft experts by living at your desktop :)You can download a simple file which have grand tour of the latest features and changes in SharePoint, including automated workflows to track approval cycles, business dashboards showing how well you are performing on your goals, and syncing documents to Outlook.

Training topics included

Collaboration
Finding your way around a team site Understanding permissions Customizing a team site Linking calendars to Outlook Adding Web Parts Collaborating in libraries, lists, and workspaces Using blogs and wikis to share information

Enterprise Content Management
Document management Protecting files Using workflows Records management Creating and publishing Web pages Improving compliance and support litigation discovery

Search
Finding files, Web sites, information, and people

Portals and personalization
My Sites Targeting content to specific audiences Managing access to your My Site

Business processes and forms
Streamlining business processes with forms and workflow Gathering information with browser-compatible forms Designing custom workflows using SharePoint Designer

Business intelligence
Sharing Excel workbooks as interactive reports Working with a Report Center site Using dashboards to drive decisions

So, why are you waiting .....click here to download from Microsoft's official site

Happy Learining :)

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MOSS 2007 DRP - Disaster Recovery Plan

In MOSS 2007 we can take back by using stsadm utility.
But here i am doing it step by step using MOSS Central Administration
So, Let's start...

1- Go to Central Administration -> Operations under backup and restore click perform backup

2- Select Farm’s checkbox to backup & click Continue to Backup Options
3- By selecting it you will select complete backup

4- Select type of backup Full or Differential
5- Mention the path to where to store backup file

6- File will be stored at given path with path with as folder name [spbr003] and spbtroc.xml file
Where 003 is auto number

Note: Please do not delete sptroc.xml file. It makes log of your MOSS 2007 backups. As xml file is showing list of your MOSS 2007 backups.

Following error will be displayed during backup restoration if it will not found sptroc.xml file.

Restoring MOSS 2007 Backup
Pre-requisites
a. Run dotnetfxv2.exe to Install Microsoft .NetFramework 2.0 on target machine
b. Click to given below document for IIS Installation

1- Go to Central Administration -> Operations under backup and restore click Restore from backup

2- Select desired file you want to restore backup and click Continue Restore Process

3- Select the contents you want to restore (here we select the whole farm to restore)

4- selecting Same Configuration your previous configuration will be restored e.g
Database Server Name = Previous Database Server name
5- Content Database Name= Previous Content Database name

Here we will select New Configuration
6- Put new Database Server name= Your Database Server Machine Name

Change the New Web Application URL (Otherwise previous name will be selected automatically), New Web Application Name and New Database Server Name. Rest of settings will be loaded automatically
e.g New directory name.
7- Go to Central Administration -> Operations under backup and restore click Backup and restore job status

8- Given below screen will show you MOSS 2007 backup in progress
Here you can see failure message for shared search index because it will not get the search configuration

Now for TestPortal you must login using your local administrator’s account. E.g
http://testportal/
Or
http://your_machine_name/

Cheers :)

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Corporate Presentation in ABCPort.com

Yesterday I deliver my first corporate presentation for client company ABCPort in Gulberg arranged by INTECH. It was very hot day and I was unable to wear suit….oohhHHh.

Thanks GOD its was fine. I got appreciation by our Client Technical Support Manager. Special thanks to Zahid & wasif who help me to prepare this stuff in very short time.

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Personalization in MOSS 2007 Search Results / Customization Using Office SharePoint Designer 2007

Here our company requirement was to customize employee searching in MOSS 2007.
They were needed employee information with image in this way

-----------------------------------------------------------
Name: Tariq Younas
Ext:1122, Email: tariq.younas@gmail.com
Department: CTS, P&L: Intech, Office: Lahore
Designation: Software Engineer
-----------------------------------------------------------


Then i do some customization of People Search in MOSS 2007 Using Microsoft Office SharePoint designer 2007.
Microsoft Office SharePoint designer is great tool to customization.

Following given below is Step by Step Search Customization
Let's start........

1- Click to edit search page




2- Click on Edit XSL Editor and paste the following xml code



3- Replace the existing XSL markup from the Search Core Results Web Part with the following snippet
4- It will give you raw XML output during search

5- Now if you publish the page, you will see a result like the result in the following picture, which illustrates how the raw XML could look: copy it

6- Take a blank text file and paste it with xml extension now it will look like this

7- Open SharePoint designer and click on new aspx page

8- From SharePoint designer menu items click on Data View & insert Data view

9- Now click to add temp.xml and add your xml in SharePoint designer
10- After importing click on xml then there will option to show data



11- On right side pane you will see data
12- Just drag and drop you data fields as per your requirements

13- Click on the split window on aspx page. A XSL code will appear infront of you

14- copy code between two tags to next

15- Edit your search page and paste this code in XSL editor and apply

16- Ssearch like employee name
As I search tariq younas
Now results will be like this

Happy Search Customization

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