SharePointNative

MCTS-2010

2011-01-16T01:00:00.002+13:00

Started to work on SharePoint 2010 ...completed the first step- cleared MCTS 70-667.
Will push the content now.

Data View Web Part- Update the List

2010-02-03T14:15:00.010+13:00

I got a requirement in which the client manager want to present the user with a contactform. And want to track the submitted data in the portal. And the main requirement is to use Out of Box features without much delay and with branding imposed.Then I prefered to use data view web part to achieve this solution in less than 1 hour.

Steps to achieve this quick solution.

1) Open the page in Sharepoint designer

2) Click on Insert->Sharepoint Controls->Data View web part to the page.

3) Data source library would be displayed(if not displayed, choose from Task Panes)

4) Select the required "List Name" from the displayed data sources, as shown here

5) Click on "Show data" in the context menu displayed when right-clicked on the "List Name"

6) Fields and their data would be displayed in the column "Current Data source"

7) Highlight Rows

8) Click on the "Insert Selected Fields as" to display dropdown.

9) Click on "New Item form"

10) Automatically SharePoint Designer embeds the field controls with their field name.

11) Save the page & publish changes

12) Navigate to the page in Browser and test it

Some more customizations

1) I created a list which has four columns (FullName(text), Contact(text), Email(text), Phone(text))

2) Inserted the data view web part as detailed in above steps.

3) Now after step 10, Right click on the text controls generated for more options

4) Choose as text box.
Or replace the entire line of
<sharepoint:formfield runat="server"....
with
<asp:TextBox runat="server" id="ff1{$Pos}" __designer:bind="{ddwrt:DataBind('i',concat('ff1',$Pos),'Text','TextChanged','ID',ddwrt:EscapeDelims(string(@ID)),'@Title')}" BorderColor="#25a5cc" BorderStyle="Solid" BorderWidth="1px" />

5) Save the changes and refresh the browser, then we can see the excellent form control which would update the data into the list

6) And we can even regular asp validator controls to validate and impose the mandatory field checks. This can also be achieved by making that field compulsary in List

7) To check whether the email field has a valid email address, add the following line after the Email field control
<asp:RegularExpressionValidator runat="server" ErrorMessage="Invalid Email !" id="RegularExpressionValidator1" ControlToValidate="ff2{$Pos}" ValidationExpression="\w+([-+.']\w+)*@\w+([-.]\w+)*\.\w+([-.]\w+)*" />

* You can customize the errormessage also.

8) Now save the changes and refresh the browser to see the result.

9) On entering the in correct data, the Email field throws the error message and prevents user from saving the data.

Cheers! Am done.

Enjoy SPD'ing

**************************************************************************************

Refer this link for displaying the list data in the data view web part

Common Errors with SharePoint and their Solutions

2010-01-25T12:07:00.003+13:00

I thought to create a ground for listing out most of the MOSS errors I have encountered and their solutions, so that they might be useful to some of the MOSS developer buddies.
And this list would be appended as I encounter the issues and their resolutions.

************************************************************************************************
#1)Connecting the Portal with sharepoint designer
The first error I encountered when trying to open the Portal using Sharepoint Designer is as follows:
"The Folder xxxxxx isint accessible. The folder might be located in unavailable location,protected with a password, or the file name contains a/ or \".

After struggling with issue for a while, I found that there are a quite a few locations in Central Administration which will help us to resolve this error.

Steps Of resolution:
1) Log into Central Administration
2) Navigate to Applications -- > Application Security -- User permissions for Web Applications.
3) Select this option
"Use Remote Interfaces - Use SOAP, Web DAV, or SharePoint Designer interfaces to access the Web site"
3) Navigate to Applications-- > Application Security -- Authentication Providers
4) Choose the appropriate zone and click on that
5) Choose "YES" for Enable Client Integration

It did the trick and after that am able to connect to the portal with SPD without any issues.
************************************************************************************************

Remove Inactive Accounts from MOSS

2009-12-01T14:24:00.008+13:00

A common problem which we regularly encounter in MOSS Intra-Net websites. "Importing the profiles from Corporate Active Directory". As the people move in and out, the active directory will be updated and modified continuously so as MOSS Profiles. And when we search for the people using MOSS search, it looks awkward if we are still showing inactive accounts ie, details of the people who have moved out of our organisations. So in order to get the active users from LDAP, we need to configure the following filter

(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)( !(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))

Steps for this:
1) Log into Central Administration --Shared Services Provider Application.

2) Click on Userprofiles and properties.

3) Click on View Import Connections to edit them (http://[SharedServices:Port]/ssp/admin/_layouts/EditDSServer.aspx?dn=xxxx)

4) Locate user Filter text field and then enter the following line:
(&(objectCategory=person)(objectClass=user)( !(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2)))

Now let us see what is the userAccountControl

userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803 specifies the user control to be queried against LDAP objects to get the field values which has value of 2 (bit value)-- means Disabled Accounts. As we are specifying ! (not) before, means Do not get the Inactive accounts.
Ampersand & before the variables means we are joining the different conditions with AND clause.
To specify more UserAccountControl values, refer this Link : http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa772300(VS.85).aspx;

5)Click on Start Full Import

6)As we have included the filter for not importing Inactive Accounts, we can see the total count of Inactive profiles and Active Profiles in http://[SSP:Port]/ssp/admin/_layouts/ProfMngr.aspx?ConsoleView=Active

7) Select the Inactive Profiles in the drop down and then select all of them (if they are any), and delete them from that View.(or doing a full import 3 times would delete inactive profiles)

8)Try to import again and see that this time no Inactive profiles are shown.

9)we can even delete these profiles from MOSS databases, but I would prefer to comply with MOSS strict recommendation of NOT TOUCHING DB.

10)After confirming the profiles, navigate to search administration in SSP

11)Timer jobs would have quick synchronisation jobs running to sync the profile details to portal.

12)Reset the crawled content and perform a full search.

~~I will add more for specifying more attributes to this LDAP filter. As the requirements are unique for each corporate.~~

Adding more attributes is more interesting thing for this LDAP Filters.
1) (&(K1)(K2)(K3)) -- this means join the conditions in brackets with AND operator
2) (|(K1)(K2)(K3)) --- obviously joining with OR operator.
3) Now the combination of them
(|(&(K1)(K2)(K3))(&(K4)(K5)))
means (K1 AND K2 AND K3) OR (K4 AND K5)

More information on this is available at MSDN Location

Details of available LDAP Attributes

Sharepoint 2010

2009-10-20T11:26:00.005+13:00

So finally the information of SHAREPOINT -2010 is getting unveiled.
Some of my tutors and friends started to update their blogs with this.
Refer :

Manish Speaks out about 2010

MSDN :

Begin with me

Exciting things to enjoy

Moving to Anumanchipalli
Cheers!
Happy SPD'ing

Content Editor Web Part Tricks

2009-09-08T11:30:00.011+12:00

1)Apply the styles dynamically using Content Editor Web part

I got a requirement, which needs to update the style dynamically on the page load for a specific tool bar item in the LIVE environment.
As the time we have is very limited, I thought of using java script to apply the required style.

Steps to achieve this

1. Added the Content Editor Web Part to the page
2. Added the following script
<script type = "text/javascript">
window.onload=function()
{
document.getElementById('[Id of tool bar Item]').style.background = "#BADDAD";
}

</script >
3. Content Editor web part is hidden.

Cheers we are done!.

*****************************************************************************************

2) Create a Upload Multiple Files Control using CEWP

Refer this for using Content Editor Web part for uploading Multiple Documents into your desired library

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3)Display your outlook emails using CEWP
With the following script you can access the Outlook Inbox from Content Editor Web part

1) Add Content Editor Web part to the page
2) Add the following code into the webpart

<object classid="clsid:0006F063-0000-0000-C000-000000000046"
id="ViewCtlFolder" width="100%" height="200"
codetype="application/x-oleobject"
codebase="http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/office/outlctlx.CAB#ver...">
<param name="Namespace" value="MAPI">
<param name="Folder" value="Inbox">//(you can replace this Inbox value with your required folder in Outlook box)
<param name="Restriction" value="">
<param name="DeferUpdate" value="0">
</object>

3) Click OK to see your outlook mails getting displayed in your page.
This needs outlook to be available on the box,where this page is being viewed.

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4) Display the Flash files in Sharepoint Pages

1) Upload the desired Flash File to the Image Library and ensure that its approved

2) Add the Content Editor Web part to the required page in Portal.

3) Click on the webpart menu to open the tool part and click on "Source Editor"

4) Paste the following code
<OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" WIDTH="320" HEIGHT="240" id="Yourfilename" ALIGN="">
<PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="FLASHFILENAMEWITHPATH.swf">
<PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#333399>
<EMBED src="FLASHFILENAMEWITHPATH.swf" quality=high bgcolor=#333399 WIDTH="320" HEIGHT="240" NAME="Yourfilename"
ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer">
</EMBED>
</OBJECT>

5) Fill the values of "FLASHFILENAMEWITHPATH.swf" with your flash file path from step 1.

6) Click on "OK"

Then the flash file would be displayed.

*****************************************************************************************

Happy SPD'ing

Create custom reports using Site Content and Structure

2009-07-03T14:08:00.004+12:00

I got a cute requirement from my content team manager, asking to find out a simple way to find out the pages Approved,Rejected,Pending,Draft,scheduled to any one in the team.
After doing some research on existing reports provided by MOSS--"Manage Content and Site Structure", I thought we can do some thing over there.
Finally I deduced a way to add the new report to existing reports.
Steps are as follows:
1) Locate "Content and Structure Reports" list.
2) Add a new item for that list
3) Enter the following values in the new form displayed
Title = "All Documents(Aspx)"
CAML Query = "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='DocIcon' /><Value Type='Computed'>aspx</Value></Eq></Where>"

4) Now Navigate to "Site Actions-->Manage Content Structure"
5) Select View on the top toolbar and select "All Documents(Aspx)" from drop down.
Then the view would be displayed with all the pages in the portal.
Total number of results can be modified by choosing relevant number on the tool bar.

If we want to show only pages only with
a) Approved
Query: <Where><Eq><FieldRef ID="{fdc3b2ed-5bf2-4835-a4bc-b885f3396a61}"></FieldRef><Value Type="Number">0</Value></Eq></Where>
b) Rejected
Query: <Where><Eq><FieldRef ID="{fdc3b2ed-5bf2-4835-a4bc-b885f3396a61}"></FieldRef><Value Type="Number">1 </Value></Eq></Where>
c) Pending
Query: <Where><Eq><FieldRef ID="{fdc3b2ed-5bf2-4835-a4bc-b885f3396a61}"></FieldRef><Value Type="Number">2</Value></Eq></Where>
d) Draft
Query: <Where><Eq><FieldRef ID="{fdc3b2ed-5bf2-4835-a4bc-b885f3396a61}"></FieldRef><Value Type="Number">3</Value></Eq></Where>
e) Scheduled
Query: <Where><Eq><FieldRef ID="{fdc3b2ed-5bf2-4835-a4bc-b885f3396a61}"></FieldRef><Value Type="Number">4</Value></Eq></Where>

Cheers!We are done
Happy SPD'ing

Host EXE files in MOSS

2009-06-27T18:42:00.006+12:00

I got a typical requirement from my product manager. They are planning to host some of the MSI Installers and executables inside our current internet facing MOSS portal. As we are aware MOSS doesnt entertain EXE's, Even though we can remove them from exception list from Central Admin and can host them, it makes a vulnerable security leak in portal. As the site is Internet facing, virus infected EXE's can be uploaded into portal in that exception. So after some research I found a way where we can host the EXE's files in the MOSS.

1) Create a folder in the shared location on the web server (should be repeated on all Front end servers)
2) Provide the web-sharing for that folder and add an alias name for that by selecting the Relevant Sharepoint Web Application in the web-sharing properties tab
3) Add every one to that folder from security tab with "READ" access only
4) Open IIS and browse this newly created folder properties and ensure that "Anonymous access" is enabled.
5) Add the link as follows in any content enabled pages
Download your executable from here: "<a href = "[servername]/[websharedfoldername]/[exename]">"EXEName" </a>

Cheers!! we are done
Happy SPD'ing

Content Editor WebPart to Upload Multiple Documents to SharePoint Library

2009-05-09T17:12:00.008+12:00

Today I got a cute requirement from my client manager to upload a huge bunch of documents to sharepoint library, for which they are unable to get "Multiple Upload" feature.
Then as an immediate resolution I have added an content Editor Web Part and added this piece of code chunks into that.
In this we are using the existing Upload file which can be found at 12 hive\Layouts.

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="javascript">

function FilesUpload()
{
document.getElementById('idUploadCtl').MultipleUpload();
alert('File Uploading Completed');
}
</SCRIPT>

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="Cmd" VALUE="Save">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="NextUsing" VALUE="http://[Server]/[Document Library]/Forms/AllItems.aspx">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="New">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="putopts" VALUE="true">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="destination" VALUE="http://[Server]/[Document Library]">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="Confirmation-URL" VALUE="http://[Server]/[Document Library]/Forms/AllItems.aspx">
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="PostURL" VALUE="http://[Server]/_vti_bin/shtml.dll/_layouts/UpLoad.aspx" />
<INPUT TYPE="hidden" NAME="VTI-GROUP" VALUE="0">

<DIV ID='MukiDidAgain' >
<P CLASS="ms-toolbar">
<A HREF="javascript:FilesUpload()"
TARGET="_self">Save Files</A>
</P>
<OBJECT id=idUploadCtl name=idUploadCtl CLASSID=CLSID:07B06095-5687-4d13-9E32-12B4259C9813 WIDTH='100%' HEIGHT='350px'></OBJECT>
</DIV>

! Replace [Server] with your server URL and [Document Library] with the desired document library

Cheers! we are done
Happy SPD'ing.

MOSS Developer handy dandy tips

2009-02-11T12:34:00.032+13:00

The most common tips which a MOSS Developer may need :
1)Access STSADM from any directory while in command prompt.

Start -> All Programs -> Control Panel -> Advanced-->System

Click the Environment Variables -->variable Path -->Edit button.

;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN

Click OK. Dont forget ; before the variable path.

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2) Recyle the Application Pool with command prompt.

Open the command prompt and then type in following line.

%windir%\system32\cscript.exe c:\windows\system32\iisapp.vbs /a "[Name of your App Pool]" /r.

In placeholder of Name --write your application pool which you wish to recycle.

There is also a small custom tool which would do this.http://www.harbar.net/apm/apm2.zip.
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3) Grab the Public Key Token while in Visual Studio Environment.

In Visual Studio 2005, click Tools -> External Tools...

Click Add and enter the following into the different fields as displayed in the following

Title: Grab Public Key value
Command: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\SDK\v2.0\Bin\sn.exe
Arguments: -Tp "$(TargetPath)"
Check Output window option.
Now when we have a signed project, and after building that project, just click on the Tools-->Grab Public Key value button, then we can see that value in the output window.
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4)Display all the Search Results before applying our custom XSLT/Styling
a) Open the Search Results Page in Edit Mode.
b) Click on "Modify Shared WebPart" link on "Search Core Results" web part.
c) Click on XSL Editor button and in the Opened Editor window paste the following code.
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform > <xsl:output method="xml" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/> <xsl:template match="/">
<xmp>
<xsl:copy-of select="*"/>
</xmp>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

d) Click OK and then refresh the page with search key word again then we can see the full results without any styling or customizations.
******************************************************************************
5)Search for specific command in STSADM list at command prompt

We all often have seen when we type STSADM at its command prompt would show the huge list of its commands including the custom commands if we have any. It would be tiresome if we wanna run through the entire list to choose only one command which we forget that complete semantic.

For example if we want to create a site using STSADM then we can type in
stsadm -help createsite. This shows the command with parameters.
But if we want to rename the site then it would be tough for us trying to remember the correct operation Name.

But there is a way in which we can find all the relevant commands with keyword "site".
Simply type in STSADM FIND "SITE" (with quotes, STSADM and Find are seperated using pipe symbol ) at the command prompt. It lists out all the commands which has word "site" in them.

Then pick your required command from them.

Check this link for all STSADM Commands and their purpose.

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6) Export the (My)sites list to end user with less effort.

Recently I had a request from one of my client where they want to see all the MYSites of their corpnet users and their storage limits/details in XML format.

As usual STSADM came to my rescue with its wonderful command "enumsites".
Just type in STSADM -o enumsites -url http://moss:xxxxx >>c:\MySitesList.xml
And you are done. When the Operation is completed, then simply open C:\MySitesList.xml file for the details.

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7)Display Time at your Command prompt

While executing the one of the STSADM commands, I found it took long time, but how much. We cant always look at the system time or your watch before executing command. I felt there should be some way in command window itself to show the command execution time.

Then after a small research, I found we can get the command executed time. Steps are following..

Open command prompt. Type in PROMPT $T $_ $P . And click enter.

Then the command prompt shows time before each command. Now we can find the total time of execution.

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8) To Open Central Admin from command prompt

Make sure that "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN\" is entered into environment variables as I mentioned earlier.

Then open command prompt type in psconfigui.exe -cmd showcentraladmin.

It opens the Central Admin quickly.

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9) To perform mass publishing for documents/Images

Once the files are uploaded and every file is checked out, then go to that Library settings

Click on Versioning settings

Click on 'NO' for content Approval and click OK

Select Site Actions--Manage Content and Structure

And select the library and the items of the library would be displayed on the right pane. Select all of them and right click to find option "Publish".

It will do the trick. Once you are done then turn back Content Approval on

Even though this not a best practice, some times it help us

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10) Saving output of STSADM command
To save the output of STSADM Command into a text file use the following :
eg:stsadm -o addsolution -filename MySoln.wsp >>output.txt 2>&1
(Dont remove 2>&1--these are standard dos error handlers.)
If we are using -immediate or -time or -local (Asynchronous commands) with STSADM command, then next STSADM command would fail. Like:
stsadm -o retractsolution -name Mysolution.wsp -immediate
stsadm -o deletesolution -name Mysolution.wsp
The second command should execute after the first command has executed completely. But here it would fail.In order to avoid that we have two solutions
Solution One:

echo some text pause

Solution Two:

Execadmsvcjobs command.But this should be used very carefully because it would execute all the administrative jobs immediately

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11) Opening the Multiple Upload Window

Sometimes, I have seen in the client environment, "MultipleUpload" link is not shown in document libraries,which we will discuss later, but as a simple trick to enable that, try to do following

1. Open the document Library for which they cannot see "MultipleUpload"
2. Click on "UploadDocument" and the window opens with URL /_layouts/Upload.aspx?=[ListID and some blah blah]
3. Now add the "&MultipleUpload=1" at the end of the URL and press enter.

It would open the MultipleUpload screen, still if you are unable to see "MultipleUpload", then refer the "Content Editor Web Part tricks" in Interesting Links.

******************************************************************************

Happy SPD'ing

Steps to Create a Alert WebControl and deploy to MOSS

2009-01-27T15:25:00.005+13:00

After many days I got an opportunity to create a webcontrol which creates the Alerts for the Logged in user. As my client insisted that they dont want to strain users by navigating inside the Sharepoint application page to create a alert, they want to create an alert with a single mouse click.

Steps involved in creating a webcontrol:
1) Create a button control,intialize it on the Page load, Assign the click event to that
And attach code for that event handler.

Code goes like this.

namespace AlertMeWC
{

[ToolboxData("<{0}:ManageAlerts runat=server>")]
public class ManageAlerts : WebControl
{

private System.String btnCreateAlert;
private LinkButton btnCreate;

public System.String btnCreateAlertID
{
get
{
return btnCreateAlert;
}
set
{
btnCreateAlert = value;
}
}

private void CreateAlert(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

try
{
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate(){

SPSite _site = SPContext.Current.Site;
SPWeb _web = _site.OpenWeb();
SPAlert newalert = _web.Alerts.Add();
newalert.AlertType = SPAlertType.Item;
newalert.AlertFrequency = SPAlertFrequency.Immediate;
newalert.DynamicRecipient = Get the Logged in user details.

if (HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString().ToLower().Contains("/pages"))
{
newalert.Item = _web.GetListItem(HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString()); newalert.Title = "Pages: FirstPage.aspx";
newalert.Update();
_web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
_web.Update();
_web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
}
});
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Page.Response.Write("Error in ManageAlerts " + ex.Message.ToString());
}
finally
{
//Dispose web
}
}

private void InitializeControls()
{
btnCreate = InitializeControls("btnCreateAlert", btnCreateAlert);
}

private T InitializeControls(string strPropertyName, string strControlID)
{
object _BaseControl = null;
T _Return = default(T);

if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(strControlID))
{
throw new ApplicationException("ManageAlerts Initialization failed: The " + strPropertyName + " attribute must specify a valid " + typeof(T).ToString() + ". The attribute was not specified.");
}

_BaseControl = this.NamingContainer.FindControl(strControlID);

if (_BaseControl == null)
{
throw new ApplicationException("ManageAlerts Initialization failed: The " + strPropertyName + " attribute must specify a valid " + typeof(T).ToString() + ". The control " + strControlID + " cannot be found.");
}

if (!(_BaseControl is T))
{
throw new ApplicationException("ManageAlerts Initialization failed: The " + strPropertyName + " attribute must specify a valid " + typeof(T).ToString() + ". The control " + strControlID + " is a " + _BaseControl.GetType().ToString() + ", and is not supported.");
}

_Return =(T)_BaseControl;
Return _Return;
}

protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{

base.OnLoad(e);
try
{
InitializeControls();

btnCreate.Click += new EventHandler(this.CreateAlert);

}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Page.Response.Write("Error: " + ex.Message.ToString());
}
finally
{
}

}

}
}

2)Assign the strong name, GAC and grab public key token.
3)Navigate to your site where we would like to stick this webcontrol on.
4)Create a new page and edit that page in Sharepoint designer.
Add the following lines to that Page in SPD.
<@ Register Tagprefix="muki" Namespace="AlertMeWC" Assembly="AlertmeWC, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=#$@$%@$%@#%@5" %>
Add this in body tag.
<muki:ManageAlerts ID="ManageAlerts" runat="server" btnCreateReportID ="btnCreate"/>

When ever the user clicks on this link, then automatically alerts are created
Enjoy SPD'ing!!

Adding Site Collection Administrators programatically

2008-12-15T16:23:00.004+13:00

One of my team mates had a question whether we can add site collection Administrators to the site through object model.
Its fairly simple and easy.
code chunks:
****************************************************************************
SPSite _site = null;
SPUser user = null;
SPWeb _web = null;
try
{

SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
{

_site = new SPSite("siteURL");

_web = _site.OpenWeb();
_web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
_web.SiteUsers.Add(@"mossbox\user1", "user1@email.com", "user1", "Added via object model");
_web.Update();
user = _web.SiteUsers[@"mossbox\user1"];
_site.SecondaryContact = user;
user.Update();
_web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
});
}
catch (Exception ex)
{

MessageBox.Show("Error in Adding Site Collection Administrators " + ex.Message.ToString());

}
finally
{
if (_site != null)
{
_site.Dispose();
}
if (_web != null)
{
_web.Dispose();
}

}

}

****************************************************************************

Host ASP.NET UserControls in MOSS

2008-08-28T12:09:00.006+12:00

I got an interesting change request from my client manager, where they want to host the ASP.NET user control as is in MOSS(This has DLL available). I googled around and found five different ways to do and one mukiway(my way)
1. Deploy the Usercontrol using Smart Part
2. Wrap the UserControl with webpart
3. Modify the UserControl as Webcontrol and deploy the control
4. Recreate this UserControl as new Webpart
5. Deploy this control into 12 hive controltemplates folder along with .cs file

Mukiway:
1. Copy the control and its files into _Layouts/MukiControl/
2. Create a test page in ASP.NET and host the UserControl in that test page
<% Register src="UserControl.ascx" tagname="mukicontrol" tagprefix="muki" %>
In the body tag
<muki:UserControl ID="UserControl" runat="server"/>
save this page as test.aspx

3. GAC the UserControl DLL
3. Mark that DLL as safe entry in web.config file of the hosting site collection
4. Perform IISReset.
5. Add a PageViewer Webpart
6. Select Web Page as option and in the URL field give /_Layouts/MukiControl/test.aspx

Cheers! you are done.

Prevent users from viewing Application Pages

2008-08-15T10:07:00.004+12:00

As a part of security measure, we have been asked to restrict the people accessing the default application pages like /Forms/Allitems.aspx,/_layouts/mcontent.aspx, Userdisp.aspx.
I ve heard about viewlockdownfeature but also heard that there are some issues with that. So I thought we can do this task by a custom http handler.
In order to make this handler configurable instead of hardcoding the URL's I made an entry in node of web.config file and redirect those URL's to desired page.
The code for Http Handler goes like this :

******************************************************************
// Description:
// This HTTP handler redirects the Application pages to desired page defined in <AppSettings>node in web.config file
//
// Implementation :
//<httpModules>
//<add name="ReRoutePages" type="muki.ReRouteAppPages, ForceSSL,Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=XXXXX" />
//</httpModules>
//<appsettings>
//<add key ="ApplicationPages" value="/Forms/AllItems.aspx,/_layouts/settings.aspx"/>
//<add key ="AdminPagesReRoutedURL" value ="http://servername/Pages/DontSeethosePages.aspx"/>
//</appsettings>

*******Code begins***********************
namespace muki
{
class ReRouteAppPages : System.Web.IHttpModule
{
#region IHttpModule Members

public void Dispose()
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}

public void Init(System.Web.HttpApplication context)
{
context.BeginRequest += new EventHandler(context_BeginRequest);
}

#endregion
void context_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ReRoutePages(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.PathAndQuery);
}
public void ReRoutePages(string pageURL)
{
//check for the current page exists in the group of pages requiring ReRouting
//if page is found in ReRoute group then redirect page to desired page as per web.config entry
try
{
bool found = false;
string AppPages = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ApplicationPages"];
string destURL = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["AdminPagesReRoutedURL"];
char[] separator;
separator = new char[] { ',' };
string[] pages;
pages = AppPages.Split(separator);

for (int i = 0; i < pages.Length; i++)
{
if (pageURL.ToLower().Contains(pages[i].ToLower()))
{
found = true;
break;
}
}
if (found)
{
HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect(destURL);
}

}
catch (Exception ex)
{

HttpContext.Current.Response.Write("An error has occured in ReRouting Application Pages" + ex.InnerException.ToString());
}

}
}
}

******************************************************************

2.Strong Name the assembly and GAC it.
3.Refer the Implementation
4.Perform IISReset.

We are done right!

Restrict access to MOSS Web Services

2008-08-06T15:49:00.004+12:00

As a part of Security measure, we need to block the access to MOSS Web Services.
Every MOSS Developer knows how to access the exposed web services of MOSS.
http://servername/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx ...
This would open up the entire webservice and available methods in that.

In order to restrict that we can add an entry in web.config file of that Site Collections web application.

Add the following block

<location path="_vti_bin">
<system.web>
<authorization>
<allow users="mossserver\Myuser" />
<deny users="*" />
</authorization>
</system.web>
</location>

Its blocked!! Right?

*** But beware, you cannot open the Site in SharePoint designer if you block webservices for all users. So please allow atleast one account for accessing webservices.**

Restrict Access to MOSS Customizations

2008-08-06T15:43:00.004+12:00

If we need to make sure that a user is logged in before accessing our customizations in MOSS and then redirected back after login, I found a inbuilt way

Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.EnsureAuthentication();
This will redirect unauthenticated users to the login screen and show users access denied screens if applicable.

It's that simple.

Enable SSL for selected Pages in MOSS

2008-07-25T08:43:00.011+12:00

An article on automatically switching between HTTP and HTTPS protocols without hard-coding absolute URLs

I came across a change request of my client who wants to enable SSL on selected pages in MOSS site collection. we all know that we can create SSL enabled web application from scratch. But here the requirement is unique and client requirement says he should be able to Enable SSL on pages of his choice. So it should be configurable and at same time we should be able to maintain session state across http and https. Amazingly MOSS has that ability to support session state when switching across HTTP and HTTPS. I followed the steps below and was able to achieve result
1) Wrote a custom HTTP handler which redirects http to https for selected pages.

2) The page list is read from web.config file.
****** Source code for HTTP handler************************
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace muki.ForceSSL
{
public class ForceSSL : System.Web.IHttpModule
{
#region IHttpModule Members

public void Dispose()
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}

public void Init(System.Web.HttpApplication context)
{
context.BeginRequest += new EventHandler(context_BeginRequest);

}

#endregion

void context_BeginRequest(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
RedirectSSL(System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.PathAndQuery);
}
public void RedirectSSL(string pageURL)
{
//check for the current page exists in the group of pages requiring SSL
//if page is found in ssl group then redirect using https:// otherwise redirect with http://
bool found = false;
string sslPages = System.Configuration.ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["SSLPages"];
char[] separator;
separator = new char[] { ',' };
string[] pages;
pages = sslPages.Split(separator);
for (int i = 0; i < pages.Length; i++)
{

if( pageURL.ToLower().Contains(pages[i].ToLower()))
{
found = true;
break;
}
}
if (found)
{
if (System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Scheme.ToString() == "http")
{
string sURL = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString();
sURL = sURL.Replace("http://", "https://");
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect(sURL);

}
}
else
{
if (System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.Scheme.ToString() == "https")
{
string sURL = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Url.ToString();
sURL = sURL.Replace("https://", "http://");
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect(sURL);
}
}

}
}

}
**********************************Source code for Http handler ends**************
4) Sign this assembly and GAC it.

5) Add this line <httpmodules> section and see that this line is first among all
<add name="ForceSSL" type="muki.ForceSSL.ForceSSL, ForceSSL,Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=xxxxxxxx" />
Add key in Appsettings of web.config file like this.
<add key="SSLPages" value="/SitesWithSSL/Pages/SSL1.html,/subsite/Pages/SSL1.aspx" />
we can add as many pages we need for this. All these pages would be SSL enabled.

6)Now come to IIS-->WebApplication which needs SSL enabling for selected pages

7)Navigate to Properties--Directory Settings--Secure Communications--Server Certificate-->Assign the existing certificate.
More Details on SSL enabling

8)Assign port 443 for SSL ( we can choose port of our choice, but we should be aware that 443, 80 doesnt require ports to be mentioned in URL, otherwise we have to tweak our code settings to read through those ports)

9)Please be sure that in Directory settings-->SecureCommunications-->Edit-->Require Secure Channel is NOT SELECTED.

10)Now come back to Central Administration-->Operations-->Alternate Access Mappings

11)Add the new URL via internal URL's link.
https://servername//.

12)Perform IISReset-->Now Browse Application..
we can see our selected pages(as specified in web.config) are over SSL mode and the rest are under normal HTTP.

Cheers! we are done

Debugging in MOSS application

2008-06-23T10:12:00.003+12:00

If you're building a new Web Part, in order to debug it,
1)You have to manually attach the Visual Studio debugger to the W3SVC.EXE process
2)Select Debug -> Attached to Process...
3)And then selecting one or more instances of the W3SVC.EXE process, and click Attach.

Some times this throws error message saying "Cannot load symbols" and our code lines are not hit by debugger.
Then in that case we have to point the debugger to symbols in following way.
1)Copy the PDB file we have with our application and move to put the debugging symbols in the same location as the assembly.
2)Start » Run then type in run command prompt "%systemroot%\assembly\gac "
This will open the GAC folder. Now select your file of choice which is in following format
[assembly file name -.DLL extention]\[assembly version in format of #.#.#.#]__[assembly public key token].

3)Copy the PDB file to that folder and then attach the debugger.

How to Identify the Search Settings for the Farm

2008-06-20T16:10:00.003+12:00

Steps to Identify the Search Settings for farm
1) Open command prompt
2) stsadm -o spsearch action list..
This details the primary information about the search settings of the farm.

To identify the search settings of SSP.
1) Open central admin
2) Navigate to "Manage this farms Shared services"
3) Right click the SSP Name for its "Edit Properties" link.

Calculate difference between two dates

2008-06-10T15:00:00.001+12:00

Today I had a cute requirement which is pretty small. The user want to see the time difference between two different time stamps.
Steps to do this
1) Create a column Date1 of DateTime
2) Create a column Date2 of DateTime
3) Create another column of Datatype Calculated type.
then enter the following formula in that column settings
=TEXT([DATE2]-[DATE1],"H:MM").

then you are done

Some windows Run Commands

2008-05-22T13:56:00.006+12:00

I knew this is deviation from MOSS. Since am fond of the windows commands, I prefered to share with my technical siblings across.

To Access	Run Command
Accessibility Controls	access.cpl
Add Hardware Wizard	hdwwiz.cpl
Add/Remove Programs	appwiz.cpl
Administrative Tools control	admintools
Automatic Updates	wuaucpl.cpl
Bluetooth Transfer Wizard	fsquirt
Calculator	calc
Certificate Manager	certmgr.msc
Character Map	charmap
Check Disk Utility	chkdsk
Clipboard Viewer	clipbrd
Command Prompt	cmd
Component Services	dcomcnfg
Computer Management	compmgmt.msc
Date and Time Properties	timedate.cpl
DDE Shares	ddeshare
Device Manager	devmgmt.msc
Direct X Control Panel (If Installed)*	directx.cpl
Direct X Troubleshooter	dxdiag
Disk Cleanup Utility	cleanmgr
Disk Defragment	dfrg.msc
Disk Management	diskmgmt.msc
Disk Partition Manager	diskpart
Display Properties	control desktop
Display Properties	desk.cpl
Display Properties (w/Appearance Tab Preselected)	control color
Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility	drwtsn32
Driver Verifier Utility	verifier
Event Viewer	eventvwr.msc
File Signature Verification Tool	sigverif
Findfast	findfast.cpl
Folders Properties	control folders
Fonts control	fonts
Fonts Folder	fonts
Free Cell Card Game	freecell
Game Controllers	joy.cpl
Group Policy Editor (XP Prof)	gpedit.msc
Hearts Card Game	mshearts
Iexpress Wizard	iexpress
Indexing Service	ciadv.msc
Internet Properties	inetcpl.cpl
IP Configuration (Display Connection Configuration)	ipconfig /all
IP Configuration (Display DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /displaydns
IP Configuration (Delete DNS Cache Contents)	ipconfig /flushdns
IP Configuration (Release All Connections)	ipconfig /release
IP Configuration (Renew All Connections)	ipconfig /renew
IP Configuration (Refreshes DHCP & Re-Registers DNS)	ipconfig /registerdns
IP Configuration (Display DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /showclassid
IP Configuration (Modifies DHCP Class ID)	ipconfig /setclassid
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	jpicpl32.cpl
Java Control Panel (If Installed)	javaws
Keyboard Properties	control keyboard
Local Security Settings	secpol.msc
Local Users and Groups	lusrmgr.msc
Logs You Out Of Windows	logoff
Microsoft Chat	winchat
Minesweeper Game	winmine
Mouse Properties	control mouse
Mouse Properties	main.cpl
Network Connections	control netconnections
Network Connections	ncpa.cpl
Network Setup Wizard	netsetup.cpl
Notepad	notepad
Nview Desktop Manager (If Installed)	nvtuicpl.cpl
Object Packager	packager
ODBC Data Source Administrator	odbccp32.cpl
On Screen Keyboard	osk
Opens AC3 Filter (If Installed)	ac3filter.cpl
Password Properties	password.cpl
Performance Monitor	perfmon.msc
Performance Monitor	perfmon
Phone and Modem Options	telephon.cpl
Power Configuration	powercfg.cpl
Printers and Faxes	control printers
Printers Folder	printers
Private Character Editor	eudcedit
Quicktime (If Installed)	QuickTime.cpl
Regional Settings	intl.cpl
Registry Editor	regedit
Registry Editor	regedit32
Remote Desktop	mstsc
Removable Storage	ntmsmgr.msc
Removable Storage Operator Requests	ntmsoprq.msc
Resultant Set of Policy (XP Prof)	rsop.msc
Scanners and Cameras	sticpl.cpl
Scheduled Tasks control	schedtasks
Security Center	wscui.cpl
Services	services.msc
Shared Folders	fsmgmt.msc
Shuts Down Windows	shutdown
Sounds and Audio	mmsys.cpl
Spider Solitare Card Game	spider
System Configuration Editor	sysedit
System Configuration Utility	msconfig
System File Checker Utility (Scan Immediately)	sfc /scannow
System File Checker Utility (Scan Once At Next Boot)	sfc /scanonce
System File Checker Utility (Scan On Every Boot)	sfc /scanboot
System File Checker Utility (Return to Default Setting)	sfc /revert
System File Checker Utility (Purge File Cache)	sfc /purgecache
System File Checker Utility (Set Cache Size to size x)	sfc /cachesize=x
System Properties	sysdm.cpl
Task Manager	taskmgr
Telnet Client	telnet
Te7SQL Client Configuration	cliconfg
User Account Management	nusrmgr.cpl
Utility Manager	utilman
Windows Firewall	firewall.cpl
Windows Magnifier	magnify
Windows Management Infrastructure	wmimgmt.msc
Windows System Security Tool	syskey
Windows Update Launches	wupdmgr
Windows XP Tour Wizard	tourstart
Wordpad	write

How to redirect the user from userdisplay page to MySite page

2008-05-08T12:48:00.002+12:00

Today I came across a strange request from client. They want the users to be redirected to My Profile page of MySite of individual users when they click on user name.
Eg:Contact : abc. Clicking on abc should be redirected to abc profile page instead of regular MOSS page http://servername/userdisp.aspx.

I found a way for this after some explore:
1. Go to Site Actions--Site Settings
2. Go to PortalConnections under Site Collection Administration tab.
3. Give the URL like http://URL of Mysite/personal.aspx.

you are done.
pretty simple right?

Tips & Tricks for using STSADM command

2008-04-30T15:59:00.004+12:00

To save the output of STSADM Command into a text file use the following :
eg:stsadm -o addsolution -filename MySoln.wsp >>output.txt 2>&1
(Dont remove 2>&1--these are standard dos error handlers.)

If we are using -immediate or -time or -local (Asynchronous commands) with STSADM command, then next STSADM command would fail. Like:
stsadm -o retractsolution -name Mysolution.wsp -immediate
stsadm -o deletesolution -name Mysolution.wsp
The second command should execute after the first command has executed completely. But here it would fail.In order to avoid that we have two solutions
Solution One:

echo some text pause

Solution Two:

Execadmsvcjobs command.But this should be used very carefully because it would execute all the administrative jobs immediately

STSADM Command Line Tool

2008-04-29T15:29:00.019+12:00

To use STSADM command line

You must be a member of the local Administrators group on the server. When you invoke Stsadm.
You supply an operation and a set of command-line parameters in the form: -operation OperationName -parameter value
For more additional Information : STSADM Operations

For more tips and tricks with STSADM refer this link

STSCOMMAND	Description
Activatefeature	Activates a feature in the feature collection.
Addalternatedomain	Adds an internal URL and maps it to one of the five URL zones of a Web application or external resource.
Addcontentdb	Creates a new content database or adds a database that needs to be upgraded when the url and databasename parameters are specified.
Adddataconnectionfile	Adds a new DataConnectionFile to the DataConnectionFiles collection for InfoPath Forms Services.
Add-ecsfiletrustedlocation	Lets an administrator add a file to the trusted location list.
Add-ecssafedataprovider	Lets an administrator add a supported provider type to the safe provider list.
Add-ecstrusteddataconnectionlibrary	Adds a trusted data connection to a library.
Add-ecsuserdefinedfunction	Adds a user defined function.
Addexemptuseragent	Adds a user agent, which is typically in the form of a search bot, to receive the XML file that contains the data of the form for indexing instead of the HTML rendering of the form.
Addpath	Adds a managed path inclusion to a Web application.
Addpermissionpolicy	Adds a user to a policy role for the Web application based on the specified permission level name and corresponding zone.
Addsolution	Adds a solution file to the solution store.
Addtemplate	Adds a site template to the template gallery.
Adduser	Adds a user account to the specified site collection and assigns it to the specified site group.
Addwppack	Adds a Web Part package to the server Web Part gallery.
Addzoneurl	Configures the public URL and maps it to one of the five URL zones of a Web application or external resource.
Allowuserformwebserviceproxy	Determines whether a user form template (that is, a non-administrator deployed form template published to a content type or a document library) can use the proxy.
Allowwebserviceproxy	Turns on or off the Web service proxy for the specified Web application.
Authentication	Authentication provides the user identity input to the authorization process which determines what actions the current user is allowed to perform on a given object.
Backup	Describes how to back up a site collection, an individual database, a Web application, or an entire farm.
Backuphistory	Displays a history of backup and restore operations that have been run.
Binddrservice	Registers a data retrieval service adapter.
Blockedfilelist	Enables an administrator to add or delete a file type to the blocked file types list for a Web application.
Changepermissionpolicy	Updates the Web application policy level for a user to enable a change to specific permission levels the user is assigned.
Copyappbincontent	Copies Web application–specific files, such as page resource (*.resx) files from their respective locations in the 12\CONFIG folder to the correct location in each Web application on the computer.
Createadminvs	Displays the port number to the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Createcmsmigrationprofile	Creates a migration profile by providing a profile name, database server name, database name, and database user name.
Creategroup	Lets site collection administrators create new groups from any site collection.
Createsite	Creates a site collection at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL) with the specified user as site collection owner and site collection administrator.
Createsiteinnewdb	Creates a site at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and creates a new content database using the user name and password you specify.
Createssp	Creates a new Shared Services Provider (SSP) in the farm.
Createweb	Creates a subsite at the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Databaserepair	Detects and removes orphaned items from content databases in Windows SharePoint Services.
Deactivatefeature	Deactivates a feature in the feature collection.
Deleteadminvs	Unprovisions the SharePoint Central Administration Web site from the local machine.
Deletealternatedomain	Deletes an internal URL from a URL zone.
Deletecmsmigrationprofile	Deletes the named migration profile.
Deleteconfigdb	Unprovisions the local machine from the farm and deletes the configuration database (but does not drop the configuration database).
Deletecontentdb	Detaches a content database when the Web application, database name, and database server are specified.
Deletegroup	Deletes a group created in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Deletepath	Removes an included path from the list of paths managed by Windows SharePoint Services.
Deletepermissionpolicy	Deletes a permission policy for a user from the site collection by specifiying the URL name and user login.
Deletesite	Deletes the site collection with the specified URL from the Web application.
Deletesolution	Removes a Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (*.wsp) from the solution store.
Deletessp	Deletes a Shared Services Provider (SSP) in a Web application when the title parameter is specified.
Deletessptimerjob	Deletes all of the timer jobs in the Shared Services Provider (SSP).
Deletetemplate	Deletes a specified site template from the site template gallery.
Deleteuser	Deletes a user account from the specified site collection and specified site.
Deleteweb	Deletes a subsite using the specified Uniform Resource Locator (URL).
Deletewppack	Removes the Web Parts in a Web Part package from a virtual server.
Deletezoneurl	Deletes a public URL and the zone to which it is mapped.
Deploysolution	Deploys files related to a solution from the configuration database to individual front-end Web servers in the farm.
Deploywppack	Deploys a Web Part package.
Disablessc	Disables Self-Service Site Creation for the specified Web application.
Displaysolution	Displays specific solution or Web Part information in a solution store.
Editcmsmigrationprofile	Edits a migration profile by providing a profile name, database server name, database name, and database user name.
Editcontentdeploymentpath	Edits and manages a content deployment path.
Editssp	Allows the site collection administrator for the Shared Services Administration site to perform the following functions:
	Change the databases that a Shared Services Provider (SSP) uses.
	Change the SQL credentials associated with the SSP databases.
	Modify the service account credentials.
	Rename an SSP.
Enablecmsurlredirect	Activates the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) redirection feature for URLs in Microsoft Content Management Server 2002.
Enablessc	Enables Self-Service Site Creation for the specified Web application.
Enumalternatedomains	Lists the internal URLs and specifies the URL zones and public URLs to which they are mapped.
Enumcontentdbs	Enumerates all content databases in the Web application.
Enumdataconnectionfiledependants	Enumerates all form that are dependent on the specified data connection file.
Enumdataconnectionfiles	Enumerates all of the DataConnectionFiles in the collection in alphabetical order.
Enumdeployments	Enumerates all pending and active deployments in the farm.
Enumexemptuseragents	Returns the rendering content of the form as an XML instead HTML.
Enumformtemplates	Lists the administrator-deployed form templates on the farm.
Enumgroups	Lists all the groups in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
Enumroles	Lists the site groups that are available for use in a particular site or subsite.
Enumservices	Lists all the services in the Web application within a farm.
Enumsites	Displays a list of sites that are hosted in a Web application. To find the sites that need to be upgraded, use the redirectedsites parameter.
Enumsolutions	Enumerates the list of Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (*.wsp) and Web Part packages located in the solution store of the farm.
Enumssp	Lists all the details of the Shared Services Providers (SSPs) in the farm or of a single SSP.
Enumssptimerjobs	Enumerates all of the timer jobs in the Shared Services Provider (SSP).
Enumsubwebs	Lists the subsites that have been created immediately below a particular site.
Enumtemplates	Lists the site templates that have been submitted to the global site template catalog.
Enumusers	Lists the users of a particular site collection or subsite.
Enumwppacks	Lists the Web Part packages currently in the server Web Part gallery.
Enumzoneurls	Lists all of the public URL and the zones to which they are mapped.
Email	Sets the e-mail configuration settings for your server.
Execadmsvcjobs	Permits a user to run any administrative service job in which the Windows SharePoint Services Administration (SPAdmin) service has been disabled.
Export	Exports site and subsite data from your Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation.
Extendvs	Extends a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web application and creates a new content database.
Extendvsinwebfarm	Extends a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web application for use in a server farm
Forcedeletelist	Allows a user to delete a list that might appear to be in a corrupted state.
Formtemplatequiescestatus	Displays the status of the quiesce process of a form template.
Getadminport	Returns the administration port for Windows SharePoint Services.
Getdataconnectionfileproperty	Displays the file property of each data connection file in the store of InfoPath Forms Services.
Getformtemplateproperty	Retrieves properties on individual InfoPath Form Services templates.
Getsitedirectoryscanschedule	Displays the current schedule of all site directory links scan jobs to be run.
Getsitelock	Retrieves the lock status of a site.
Import	Imports site and subsite data from your Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation.
Installfeature	Installs a feature.
Listlogginglevels	Lists the current event log and trace log logging levels for each diagnostic logging category that is registered in a farm.
Listregisteredsecuritytrimmers	Lists all registered security trimmers in the farm.
Localupgradestatus	Displays the farm and local server components that need to be upgraded.
Managepermissionpolicylevel	Enables an administrator to manage the policy levels for a Web application.
Mergecontentdbs	Permits a site collection to be moved from one content database to another when the souredatabasename and destinationdatabasename parameters are specified.
Migrateuser	Migrates a user account in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to a new user name and binary ID.
Osearch	Manages the Office SharePoint Server Search service.
Osearchdiacriticsensitive	Enables or disables the diacritic sensitivity setting.
Peoplepicker-getsiteuseraccountdirectorypath	Retrieves the user account directory path setting for the site collection.
Peoplepicker-setsiteuseraccountdirectorypath	Sets the site user account directory path to a specific Organizational Unit (OU) in the same domain when the url and path parameters are specified.
Preparetomove	Prepares sites and content databases before moving to a new Web application by setting up the profile and membership synchronization service.
Profilechangelog	Maintains a change log that records the changes made to the user profiles.
Profiledeletehandler	Gives an administrator a chance to run a workflow when a user is about to be deleted.
Provisionservice	Starts or stops the SPService on the local computer or a custom service.
Quiescefarm	Temporartily suspends the farm’s ability to accept new sessions that are essential to rendering infopath forms on a server.
Quiescefarmstatus	Displays the quiesce status of the server farm.
Quiesceformtemplate	Temporarily takes a form template offline.
Reconvertallformtemplates	Upgrades the form template cached data to run on the upgraded server.
Refreshdms	Refreshes the Directory Management Service if a database is restored or moved to a location where the incoming e-mail settings are not correct.
Refreshsitedms	Performs the same function as the Refreshdms operation but on a site collection level.
Registersecuritytrimmer	Enterprise Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 performs security trimming of search results at query time.
Registerwsswriter	Enables the Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (known as WSS Writer service) on any front-end Web server.
Removedataconnectionfile	Removes all DataConnectionFiles from the DataConnectionFiles collection.
Removedrservice	Removes a data retrieval service from the list of data retrieval services.
Remove-ecsfiletrustedlocation	Lets an administrator remove a file from the trusted location list.
Remove-ecssafedataprovider	Lets an administrator remove a supported provider type to the safe provider list.
Remove-ecstrusteddataconnectionlibrary	Removes a trusted data connection from a library.
Remove-ecsuserdefinedfunction	Removes a user-defined function from Excel Calculation Services.
Removeexemptuseragent	Removes a user agent, which is typically in the form of a search bot, from the ExemptUserAgent collection.
Removesolutiondeploymentlock	Removes the solution deployment lock for the specified server or all servers from the back-end database.
Renameserver	Changes the name of the specified server in the configuration database.
Renamesite	Changes a URL of a host-named site collection to a new URL.
Renameweb	Changes the URL of a subsite.
Restore	Explains how a restoration of a site collection, an individual database, a Web application, or an entire farm is performed.
Restoressp	Creates a Shared Service Provider using a restored database.
Retractsolution	Retracts the specified solution’s deployment, and removes files from the front-end Web server.
Retractwppack	Retracts the deployment of a specified Web Part package.
Runcmsmigrationprofile	Runs a named migration profile. The profile name is the only required parameter.
Runcontentdeploymentjob	Runs a named deployment job.
Scanforfeatures	Scans for new features in the file system, and if new features are present, installs them.
Setadminport	Changes the default zone Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and/or application pool located on the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Setbulkworkflowtaskprocessingschedule	Sets the schedule for when tasks are processed by using the Process all tasks option.
Setconfigdb	Creates a new configuration database in a farm or joins the local computer to an existing farm's configuration database.
Setcontentdeploymentjobschedule	Enables the user to create an advanced schedule to run a deployment job.
Setdataconnectionfileproperty	Sets a file property to a data connection file in the store of InfoPath Forms Services.
Setdefaultssp	Sets a Shared Services Provider (SSP) as the default SSP in a farm.
Set-ecsexternaldata	Lets an administrator set an external data connection to Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsloadbalancing	Lets an administrator define load balancing for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsmemoryutilization	Lets an administrator determine memory allocation for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecssecurity	Lets an administrator set security settings for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecssessionmanagement	Lets an administrator set session management settings for Excel Calculation Services.
Set-ecsworkbookcache	Lets an administrator set workbook cache settings on disk and in memory for Excel Calculation Services.
Setformtemplateproperty	Sets the properties of an individual form template.
Setholdschedule	Sets the schedule to process all records that are on hold (records whose retention schedules are suspended).
Setlogginglevel	Sets the Windows event log and trace log logging level for one or more diagnostic logging categories registered in the farm.
Setpolicyschedule	Sets the schedule for processing changes to a policy on the items that are impacted by that policy.
Setrecordsrepositoryschedule	Sets the schedule to process all records that have been submitted to Records Center sites in the farm.
Setsearchandprocessschedule	Sets the schedule for when the search and process timer job runs.
Setsitedirectoryscanschedule	Sets a schedule for a job to run the site directory links scan.
Setsitelock	Sets a value that specifies whether the site collection is locked and unavailable for read or write access.
Setsspport	Updates the port or ports for the shared Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web site, "Office Server Web Services", which used by Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web services.
Setworkflowconfig	Enables or disables the workflow settings.
Siteowner	Sets the primary or secondary administrator of a site collection.
Sync	Configures the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 synchronization job. Normally, this operation is used in conjunction with the preparetomove operation
Syncsolution	Performs a synchronization of the Windows SharePoint Services Solution Package (WSP) solutions stored in the configuration database with the files stored on disk.
Tzmove	Allows an administrator to update data that is affected by a change in the start and/or end of Daylight Saving time (DST).
Unextendvs	Removes Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 from a particular Web application.
Uninstallfeature	Removes the specified feature definition from the collection of feature definitions in the farm.
Unquiescefarm	Resumes the farm’s ability to accept new sessions that are essential to rendering InfoPath forms on a server.
Unquiesceformtemplate	Restores a specific form template for use on the server.
Unregistersecuritytrimmer	Unregisters a custom security trimmer when the ssp and id parameters are specified.
Unregisterwsswriter	Disables the Windows SharePoint Services VSS Writer service (known as WSS Writer service) on any front-end Web server.
Updateaccountpassword	Updates the Web application pool passwords.
Updatefarmcredential	Updates the Web application pool for the SharePoint Central Administration Web site and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service (SPTimer).
Upgrade	Upgrades the specified site collection during a gradual upgrade.
Upgradesolution	Upgrades an existing solution. The solution to be upgraded could be either deployed or not deployed; however, the immediate or time parameters apply only if the solution has been deployed.
Upgradetargetwebapplication	Prepares the environment for the gradual upgrade of a specific version 2.0 Web application by moving the existing version 2.0 Web application to a new URL and making a new version 3.0 Web application that is based on the existing version 2.0 Web application and associated settings.
Userrole	Adds or deletes permission levels to site groups.
Verifyformtemplate	Verifies that the form template can be browser-enabled.
Properties
Property name	Description
Alerts-enabled	Turns alerts on or off.
Alerts-limited	Specifies the number of alerts to which a user can create.
Alerts-maximum	Specifies the maximum number of alerts a user can create.
Avallowdownload	Specifies whether users can download infected documents to their local computers.
Avcleaningenabled	Specifies whether antivirus cleaning is enabled or disabled.
Avdownloadscanenabled	Specifies whether documents are scanned when they are downloaded.
Avnumberofthreads	Specifies the number of threads to use for antivirus processes.
Avtimeout	Specifies how long to wait before an antivirus process times out.
Avuploadscanenabled	Specifies whether documents are scanned when they are uploaded.
Change-log-expiration-enabled	Specifies whether change logs are deleted after the time span defined in the Change-log-retention-period: Stsadm property (Office SharePoint Server) property.
Change-log-retention-period	Specifies the amount of time to preserve change logs
Command-line-upgrade-running	Specifies whether the upgrade process has already been started.
Data-retrieval-services-enabled	Turns data retrieval services on or off.
Data-retrieval-services-inherit	Specifies whether the Web application inherits data retrieval service settings that are located on the SharePoint Central Administration Web site.
Data-retrieval-services-oledb-providers	Obsolete.
Data-retrieval-services-response-size	Specifies the response size of the data source that is returned to the data retrieval service.
Data-retrieval-services-timeout	Specifies the request time out setting.
Data-retrieval-services-update	Turns the support for update queries on or off.
Data-source-controls-enabled	Turns the data source controls on the server on or off.
Database-command-timeout	Retrieves or sets the wait time before terminating the attempt to execute a command and generating an error.
Database-connection-timeout	Retrieves an open connection or sets a connection to a Microsoft SQL Server database.
Days-to-show-new-icon	Specifies the number of days to display the "New" icon for items added to a Web site.
Dead-site-auto-delete	Turns on or off the setting to delete the site collection
Dead-site-notify-after	Specifies the number of days to wait before sending notifications
Dead-site-num-notifications	Specifies the number of notifications to send
Defaultquotatemplate	Specifies the default quota template to be used when creating new site collection on a specified Web application.
Defaulttimezone	Specifies the time zone for sites that are created in a Web application.
Delete-web-send-email	Deletes the site collection if use is not confirmed
Irmaddinsenabled	Specifies a rights management platform other than Windows Rights Management Server.
Irmrmscertserver	Specifies the location of the Windows Rights Management Services server.
Irmrmsenabled	Controls whether the server should use the Windows RMS infrastructure instead of another rights management platform.
Irmrmsusead	Specifies that Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 should use the location of the RMS server that is stored in Active Directory, rather than an administrator manually specifying the location of the Windows RMS.
Job-ceip-datacollection	Specifies the time schedule for when Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) data is collected.
Job-change-log-expiration	Specifies the time schedule when the change log timer job occurs.
Job-config-refresh	Specifies the schedule for the configuration refresh job.
Job-database-statistics	Specifies the time schedule when database statistics are collected.
Job-dead-site-delete	Specifies the frequency interval and time range to delete unused Web sites automatically, for example, "Weekly at Sat 0:00:00".
Job-immediate-alerts	Specifies the frequency to check for alerts that are to be sent immediately.
Job-recycle-bin-cleanup	Specifies the time schedule for a cleanup of the Recycle Bin to occur.
Job-usage-analysis	Lets an administrator set the time interval for usage processing.
Job-watson-trigger	Displays the time schedule of the Windows SharePoint Services Watson Upload job.
Job-workflow	Sends the workflow events that have been queued and delivers them to workflows.
Job-workflow-autoclean	Specifies the time schedule for when a scan occurs to delete workflow instance data.
Job-workflow-failover	Specifies a schedule for restarting workflow operations that fail because of external reasons.
Large-file-chunk-size	Specifies the amount of data that can be read from the server running Microsoft SQL Server at one time.
Max-file-post-size	Specifies the maximum allowable size for a single upload of content to any site.
Peoplepicker-activedirectorysearchtimeout	Configures the timeout when a query is issued to Active Directory.
Peoplepicker-distributionlistsearchdomains	Restricts the search of a distribution list to a specific subset of domains.
Peoplepicker-nowindowsaccountsfornonwindowsauthenticationmode	Specifies not to search Active Directory when the current port is using forms-based authentication.
Peoplepicker-onlysearchwithinsitecollection	Displays only users that are members of the site collection.
Peoplepicker-searchadcustomfilter	Enables a farm administrator to specify a unique search query.
Peoplepicker-searchadcustomquery	Permits the administrator to set the custom query that is sent to Active Directory.
Peoplepicker-searchadforests	Permits a user to search from a second one-way trusted forest or domain.
Peoplepicker- serviceaccountdirectorypaths	Enables a farm administrator to manage the site collection that has a specific organizational unit (OU) setting defined.
Presenceenabled	Allows users of a SharePoint site to see if other users are online and send instant messages to them.
Recycle-bin-cleanup-enabled	Specifies whether a cleanup to the recycle bin occurs.
Recycle-bin-enabled	Turns the Recycle Bin on or off.
Recycle-bin-retention-period	Specifies the retention period, in days, of deleted items in the Recycle Bin.
Second-stage-recycle-bin-quota	Specifies how much hard disk space is available to a second stage Recycle Bin as a percentage of the quota allotted to the Web application.
Token-timeout	Specifies the amount of time before a user token times out.
Usageprocessingenabled	Configures whether the usage analysis process is turned on or off.
Workflow-cpu-throttle	Obsolete.
Workflow-eventdelivery-batchsize	Specifies the maximum number of work items that will be paged in to a processing timer job.
Workflow-eventdelivery-throttle	The number of workflows that can be processed (that is, using the processor, not idle) at the same time across all Web front-end computers.
Workflow-eventdelivery-timeout	The time value a workflow job must run without the job timing out.
Workflow-timerjob-cpu-throttle	Obsolete.
Workitem-eventdelivery-batchsize	The paging size for events delivered to a single workflow instance.
Workitem-eventdelivery-throttle	Specifies the maximum number of work items that can be obtained on a given query for runnable work items

How to Identify the SPFile.Properties hash table collection

2008-04-29T14:13:00.007+12:00

using Microsoft.Sharepoint;
using System.Collections;

SPSite _site = new SPSite("http://servername");
SPFile _file = _site.OpenWeb().Folders("/Pages").File[1];
Hashtable ht = _file.Properties;
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
sb.AppendLine("**The Properties of " + _file.Name.ToString()+" are as follows**");
foreach(DictionaryEntry de in ht)
{
sb.Appendline("The key is " + de.Key.ToString() + " ; Value is " + de.Value.ToString() );

}

MessageBox.Show(sb.ToString());

To Identify whether page is ghosted or not use SPFile.CustomizedPageStatus.

YUKON Reporting Services and MOSS 2007

2008-04-24T10:36:00.006+12:00

I have just begun to learn SSRS + MOSS in a Integrated tone.
Came through the following links and felt as these would be good starters

Download :Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies

My favourite notes on SSRS + MOSS

Configure the Report Server Integration Feature in SharePoint Central Administration

How to: Activate the Report Server Feature in SharePoint Central Administration

Report Server How-to Topics (SharePoint Integrated Mode)

Configuring Reporting Services for SharePoint 3.0 Integration

Requirements for Running Reporting Services in SharePoint Integrated Mode

Using the Report Viewer Web Part on a SharePoint Site

Customizing the Report Viewer Web Part

Deploying Reports, Models, and Shared Data Sources to a SharePoint Site

How to avoid your MOSS WebSite Breaking - Part-2

2008-04-23T13:57:00.006+12:00

This time we will see how the contributors group work.
-- (will continue this shortly,now am moved to SSRS integration with MOSS)

These are some of the videos from Microsoft on usage of SharePointDesigner(SPD)

Intro to SharePoint Designer

Customize SharePoint Sites

Create and Modify Layout Pages

How to create Layouts

Create and Modify rules based workflow applications

Build Composite no-code SharePoint Application

Visual Studio Integration

Opening the Sharepoint designer via Command line with the required page.
1. Go to windows--Run
2. Type in "spdesign.exe /n http://servername/sitename/page.aspx".

This opens the sharepoint designer with a copy of page of our choice.

..
Happy SPD'ing

How to avoid your MOSS WebSite Breaking

2008-04-22T12:12:00.005+12:00

Very often we work with with various groups such as Web designers or content authors who are working on different aspects of a Web site. With so many groups working simultaneously, you are probably worried that somebody might inadvertently break a site — for example, by changing the design of the home page, modifying the style sheet, saving files in a wrong location, or breaking the site navigation or search functionality. If you are concerned, then I have a good news, We can avoid these scenarios by using Contributor Settings to turn on and configure Contributor mode in Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

Let us see what are these Contributor groups and how they are related to MOSS/SPD.
1. Contributor mode is enabled by default, and there is no required setup for the site manager or administrator. Only an administrator can turn Contributor mode on or off.

2.With Contributor Settings, a site manager can define Contributor groups in an organization, and then define exactly what tasks they can or cannot do in Office SharePoint Designer 2007.

3.This means that you can use the Contributor Settings to set different editing restrictions for different groups.

For example, you can allow Web designers to create new styles but restrict content authors from doing the same.

Or you can allow content authors to create new pages from a master page but restrict the same for a different group.

Site managers can configure Contributor groups so that users have access to only those commands and features in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 that they need to complete their tasks.

The features that you can access in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 depend on your role in the organization. See the following table for more details.
The features that you can access in Office SharePoint Designer 2007 depend on
your role in the organization.
If you are a Site Manager
If your SharePoint permission level gives you full control, you can:

Create Contributor groups and assign them editing restrictions.
Insert content regions on a master page and specify the type of content that is allowed in that region.

Restrict areas outside of content regions on a master page from being edited.
Control how and what types of pages are created and where content is saved.

Prevent users from modifying the default home page, master page, or any other page included in the site definition.

Allow full, unrestricted use of Office SharePoint Designer 2007 to only the groups you choose.

If you are User such as a Web Designer or a Content Author (or any restricted user)
Depending on the editing restrictions for your Contributor group, you can:

Create new pages

Apply styles and formatting to existing pages.

Insert images and media files

Work with SharePoint content such as Web Parts and Data Views

Contributor Settings is not a security feature
Important
1)Contributor Settings is not a security feature. Contributor mode is a limited access mode for users who open and edit SharePoint sites in Office SharePoint Designer 2007.
2)Contributor mode is designed to be used in an environment where site managers are confident of their users’ intentions.
3)Contributor mode helps to guide users in a particular direction to carry out their tasks, and this guidance prevents accidental changes to the Web site.

Understanding the Anatomy of MOSS

2008-04-22T11:50:00.003+12:00

I found a cute article which provides the dissected view of MOSS.
Go through this link : MOSS Anatomy

Using DataFormWebPart to render the List

2008-04-04T15:46:00.005+13:00

1. Open the page in Sharepoint Designer
2. Insert the DataformWebpart
3. Select the required list
4. Switch to code pane of SPD.

Replace the entire XSL
<xsl>
<?xml:namespace prefix = xsl />
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" x="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/dsp" prefixes="xsl msxsl ddwrt" ddwrt="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebParts/v2/DataView/runtime" asp="http://schemas.microsoft.com/ASPNET/20" __designer="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebParts/v2/DataView/designer" xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" msxsl="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:xslt" sharepoint="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" ddwrt2="urn:frontpage:internal">

<xsl:output indent="no" method="html"></xsl:output>
<xsl:decimal-format nan=""></xsl:decimal-format>
<xsl:param name="dvt_apos">'</xsl:param>
<xsl:variable name="dvt_1_automode">0</xsl:variable>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:call-template name="dvt_1"></xsl:call-template>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1">
<xsl:variable name="dvt_StyleName">Table</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="Rows" select="/dsQueryResponse/Rows/Row"></xsl:variable>
<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" width="100%" border="0">
<tbody><tr valign="top">
<xsl:if test="$dvt_1_automode = '1'" cf_ignore="1">
<th class="ms-vh" width="1%"></th>
</xsl:if>
<th class="ms-vh">Title</th>
</tr>
<xsl:call-template name="dvt_1.body">
<xsl:with-param name="Rows" select="$Rows"></xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>
</tbody></table>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="dvt_1.body">
<xsl:param name="Rows"></xsl:param>
<xsl:for-each select="$Rows">
<span class="ms-acclink">
<xsl:text escaping="yes"> </xsl:text>
<xsl:text></xsl:text>
<xsl:text escaping="yes"> </xsl:text>
</span>

<a>
<xsl:attribute name="href"><xsl:value-of select="@NavigateURL"></xsl:value-of></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:attribute name="title"><xsl:value-of select="@Location"></xsl:value-of>-- <xsl:value-of select="@WorkCity"></xsl:value-of></xsl:attribute>
<xsl:value-of select="@Title"></xsl:value-of>
</a>

</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet></xsl>
<parameterbindings>
<parameterbinding name="ListName" defaultvalue="TopNavigation" location="None">
<parameterbinding name="WebURL" defaultvalue="/" location="None">
<parameterbinding name="dvt_apos" location="Postback;Connection">
<parameterbinding name="UserID" defaultvalue="CurrentUserName" location="CAMLVariable">
<parameterbinding name="Today" defaultvalue="CurrentDate" location="CAMLVariable">
</parameterbindings>

Getting user full name from Login information in MOSS

2008-04-02T17:15:00.001+13:00

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles;
using Microsoft.Office.Server;

SPSite _site = new SPSite("http://server/");
ServerContext scontext = ServerContext.GetContext(_site);
SPUser memb = _site.OpenWeb().CurrentUser;
UserProfileManager upm = new UserProfileManager(scontext);
UserProfile up = upm.GetUserProfile(memb.LoginName);
MessageBox.Show(up["FirstName"].ToString() + up["LastName"].ToString());

Hope this will help.

we can get from Active directory also.

In this we are accessing only sharepoint user profile store

Creating Page Layouts

2008-03-12T21:53:00.001+13:00

STEPS TO CREATE PAGE LAYOUTS
1#.Page layouts are templates that define content structure for a page and are always associated with a content type.
2#.A content type contains a document template, data columns, workflows, and other information that completely define a document.
3#.The publishing feature of MOSS uses a single root content type for publishing called Page.
4#.All of the page layouts inherit from this base. Here’s how to create a new page layout in MOSS.

STEP 1: Define Site Columns
The individual content elements that appear in a page layout are derived from site columns. When you create a page layout, you can use any of the site columns already defined or define your own.

STEP 2: Define a Content Type
Page layouts have a direct relationship to a content type defined within the site. The content type is a collection of site columns, a page template, workflows, and other information that determine the appearance and behavior of a page layout. In order to create a page layout, you must create a new content type that derives from the existing Page content type. Inheriting the Page content type allows the new page layout to function correctly within the MOSS content management Feature.

STEP 3: Create the Page Layout
Page layouts are stored in Master Page and Page Layout Gallery. From this gallery, you can create a new page layout and associate it with a content type.This process makes the site columns that are defined for the content type available to the page layout as field controls that you can place on the page with the SharePoint Designer.

STEP 4: Edit the Page Layout in SharePoint Designer
Once you have created the new page layout, you must open it in the SharePoint Designer so that you can add the desired field controls. The site columns you defined as part of the content type become available in the SharePoint Designer as field controls that you can place on the page layout.

STEP 5: Publish the New Page Layout
Once the page layout is created, you must publish and approve it so that it becomes available for content authors. This process is essentially the same as publishing any item in MOSS. First the document is checked in, then it is published, and finally it is approved.

STEP 6: Create a New Page
Once the page layout is published and approved, content authors may use it to create new pages. This is done in the normal way by selecting the Create Page item from the Site Actions menu. After the page is created, the field controls may be edited to develop the actual page content.

Preparing a WSP to deploy a webpart as a feature

2008-03-10T22:13:00.002+13:00

Steps in creating a WSP
1. After the webpart is built and compiled.

2. Create a folder "Deployment"

3.Prepare manifest.xml with the following content
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Solution xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
SolutionId="60AB14A4-975F-4ddc-9314-A4E95BD68B0D" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<FeatureManifests>
<FeatureManifest Location="MyWebPart9\feature.xml" />
</FeatureManifests>
<Assemblies>
<Assembly Location="MyWebPart9.dll" DeploymentTarget="GlobalAssemblyCache">
<SafeControls>
<SafeControl Assembly="MyWebPart9, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=72d040bf09bc4e29" Namespace="MyWebPart9" TypeName="*" Safe="True" />
</SafeControls>
</Assembly>
</Assemblies>

<ApplicationResourceFiles>
<ApplicationResourceFile Location="MyWebPart9.dll" />

</ApplicationResourceFiles>
<RootFiles>
<RootFile Location="TEMPLATE\IMAGES\MyWebPart9\muki.jpg" />
</RootFiles>
<Resources>
<Resource Location="MyWebPart9\MyWebPart9.webpart" />

</Resources>
</Solution>

4.Create folder "MyWebPart9"in Deployment folder -- this should have same name as webpart file.
(Deployment folder should contain the DLL)

5.Prepare feature.xml in same folder with following content
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Feature xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"
Id="{B8E5AEC5-8DD4-46b2-B066-CDD8651BEBB7}"
Title="My Web Part"
Description="My Web Part getting deployed with a WSP"
Scope="Site"
ImageUrl="muki.jpg"
>

<ElementManifests>
<ElementManifest Location="webpartsmanifest.xml"/>
</ElementManifests>

</Feature>

6. Create "webpartmanifest".xml file with following content in the \Deployment\MyWebPart9 folder
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="MyWebPart9" List="113" Url="_catalogs/wp">
<File Url="MyWebPart9.webpart" Type="GhostableInLibrary">
<Property Name="Group" Value="muki"></Property>
</File>
</Module>

</Elements>

7. Create "MyWebPart9.webpart" in the same folder with the following content
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<webParts>
<webPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3">
<metaData>
<type name="MyWebPart9.MyWebPart9"/>
<importErrorMessage>Cannot import this Web Part. </importErrorMessage>
</metaData>
<data>
<properties>
<property name="Title" type="string">MyWebPart9 Web Part</property>
<property name="Description" type="string">Sample Web Part that display label.</property>
</properties>
</data>
</webPart>
</webParts>

8.Copy the Image to this same folder, which serves as a Icon to our feature in the activation screen

9.Create "MyWebPartDeploy.ddf"file in the Deployment folder with the following content
;
.OPTION EXPLICIT ; Generate errors
.Set CabinetNameTemplate=MyWebPart9.wsp
.set DiskDirectoryTemplate=CDROM ; All cabinets go in a single directory
.Set CompressionType=MSZIP;** All files are compressed in cabinet files
.Set UniqueFiles="ON"
.Set Cabinet=on
.Set DiskDirectory1=Package
;
; ** CAB Root
manifest.xml
MyWebPart9.dll
;
; ** MyWebPart9
.Set DestinationDir=MyWebPart9
MyWebPart9\Feature.xml
MyWebPart9\webpartsmanifest.xml
MyWebPart9\MyWebPart9.webpart
;
; ** MyImages
.Set DestinationDir=TEMPLATE\IMAGES\MyWebPart9
MyWebPart9\muki.jpg

10. Execute the following command
makecab.exe -f DEPLOYMENT\MyWebPartDeploy.ddf

11. Execute the following command to add the WSP to solution store in portal
stsadm -o addsolution -filename MyWebPart9.wsp

12. Execute the following command to deploy the wsp to portal
stsadm -o deploysolution -name MyWebPart9.wsp -url http://servername:portnumber-immediate -allowGacDeployment

MCTS

2008-03-02T03:43:00.000+13:00

I passed out all the MCTS exams for WSS, MOSS
TS : 70-542 - Application developement using MOSS
70-541 - Application developement using WSS
70-630 - Configuring MOSS
70-631 - Configuring WSS

MCTS Certification

2007-12-21T22:31:00.000+13:00

I have cleared one more exam as well
Sharepoint-Configuring (70-630)
Am able to complete my MCTS certification in Sharepoint-Application Developement (Exam 70-542).

Logging Errors in MOSS

2007-12-17T20:11:00.004+13:00

Logging Errors in SharePoint 2007
The error will be logged into folder 12/logs/ write your custom message to easily identify the error
If you have this need, use something like the following line of code:
catch(Exception myException)
{
Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics.PortalLog.LogString("Exception Occurred: {0} || {1}", myException.Message, myException.StackTrace);
}

One more Important thing
The most popular error message is "An unexpected error has occured. Please contact your Administrator".
Am fed up with this generic error message, which gives no clue of error.
In order to see the real error messages as well as the stack trace of where the error happened within SharePoint, you have to do two simple things - in fact, this is mainly standard ASP.NET business:

In the web.config file of your SharePoint web application, edit these two entries:

1. Switch custom errors off
<system.web>
...
<customErrors mode="On" />
...
</system.web>

Set the value "On" to "Off" in a development or staging environment, or to "RemoteOnly" if you have to troubleshoot an issue in a productive environment (of course, the error has to be reproduced locally in this case).

2. Enable CallStack
<SharePoint>
...
<SafeMode MaxControls="50" CallStack="false" />
...
</SharePoint>

To make the CallStack visible, set the value to "true".

Please note that changing the web.config will cause SharePoint to restart the whole web application immediately after saving.

Happy D' ing.

MOSS WorkFlows : Failed on Start

2007-12-14T01:09:00.001+13:00

In case the workflows fails on start--Keep a eye on Application Pool of the application and see that account on which the app pool runs has full priveleges over database and over the site-preferably admin priveleges are required.

MOSS Hard Limitations

2007-12-05T06:04:00.003+13:00

SharePoint 2007 Maximum Limitations
Following is a list of names and other parameters with the maximum allowable size on each. If during your course of using the product, you inadvertently cross these limits, then you would end up with errors. These are hard limits

Site Name	128 characters
Site URL	255 characters
Display name	128 characters
Connection string	384 characters
Email address	128 characters
Version numbers	064 characters
Virtual Server Friendly Name	064 characters
SQL Database Name	123 characters
SQL Database Column	128 characters
SQL Database Table Name	128 characters
SQL Role Name	128 characters
Server Name	128 characters
Windows User Name	300 characters
Windows Password	300 characters
Dependencies per object	032 objects
Zone enumeration value	004 zones
Default SQL command timeout	300 seconds
Number of simultaneous workflows that can be run	* 015

For some more Limitations refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx

Upload Multiple Documents from client to Sharepoint Library

2007-12-03T23:02:00.001+13:00

Create a .aspx file in 12 hive-Layouts directory, and it can be opened through the URL http://Server_Name/_layouts/WebForm1.aspx.

Copy the code from the following location into the newly created WebForm1.aspx.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms456628.aspx

Difference between View and Read in Permissions in Sharepoint

2007-12-03T22:58:00.000+13:00

Users with Read only permissions can view the content using Client side application like Excel or Infopath.
Users with View only permissions cannot.Like they can view only Server side rendering items.

Moss Profile Import Limitations

2007-11-22T00:22:00.001+13:00

MOSS parser can import profiles only from Security group not from distribution groups.
Eventhough Active directory supports both the groups.

2007-10-06T22:12:00.000+13:00

An application pool is a configurable entity that allows you to control how IIS maps IISWeb sites and virtual directories to instances of the IIS worker process.The routing architecture of IIS is controlled by a kernel-level device driver named http.sys.This listens to the HTTP requests and uses the information in IIS Metabase and routes the requests to the instance of W3WP.exe is associated application pool.
If http.sys determines that the target application pool doesn’t have a running instance of
w3wp.exe, it launches a new instance. When http.sys launches a new instance of w3wp.exe for a specific application pool,it uses the application pool identity to initialize a Windows security token that serves as the process token.
If we want to refresh the XML file as part of feature refresh, instead of IISRESET, Application pool restarting might help in saving some time.The main advantage of using this technique is that it is faster than a full IISRESET command, which restarts all processes associated with IIS. Using this command instead of an IISRESET command can save you a few seconds here and there.

2007-10-06T22:07:00.000+13:00

Whenever the GAC disappears from server, restart the server and your GAC would be back