SharePoint Blog - Jimmy Patel

SharePoint Application Template Error

2010-06-21T16:56:00.000-07:00

Action: when user trying to create new site using sharepoint Application template

Error:
Feature '75a0fea7-c54f-46b9-86b1-2e103a8fedba' is not installed in thisfarm, and can not be added to this scope.

Solution:
Did you install the Application Template Core prior to installing the ProjectTracking Workspace?

If not, you would have to do that first, and then re-install the ProjectTracking Workspace.

step1: First install ApplicationTemplateCore

stsadm -o addsolution -filename "C:\ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp"
stsadm -o deploysolution -name "ApplicationTemplateCore.wsp" -allowgacdeployment -immediate -force
stsadm -o copyappbincontent

step2:Install your selected Application template

stsadm -o addsolution -filename "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\WSP\ProjectTrackingWorkspace.wsp"
stsadm -o deploysolution -name "ProjectTrackingWorkspace.wsp" -allowgacdeployment -immediate -force
stsadm -o copyappbincontent

February 2010 cumulative update for WSS V3 and MOSS 2007

2010-03-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

Windows SharePoint Services V3 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 are now be able to get updated to the latest available bits with February CU.

WSS:
978396 The full server package for WSS http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;978396

MOSS:
978395 The full server package for MOSS http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;978395

Download and installation information:
Install SP2 for WSS and MOSS SP2 and Language Packs if not yet happened. With the next CU in April 2010 SP2 will be a real mandatory step!
Install the full server package for WSS http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=978396&kbln=en-us
Install the full server package for MOSS http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=978395&kbln=en-us
After applying the preceding updates, run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait” in command line. This needs to be done on every server in the farm with SharePoint installed.

reference from Click

Download the SharePoint 2010 VHD

2010-01-28T17:14:00.000-08:00

The SharePoint team just released a fully installed SharePoint 2010 VHD file. This will same you a ton of time when you are setting up your development environment.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0c51819b-3d40-435c-a103-a5481fe0a0d2&displaylang=en

The download contains 2 VHDs, 1 for SharePoint 2010 (and Office 2010) and 1 for Exchange 2010. Running both virtual machines will allow you to test out workflow and email scenarios with SharePoint and Office.

This is the same VHD that is used to complete the Hands On Labs in our SharePoint 2010 online training course.

http://blogs.msdn.com/pstubbs/archive/2009/12/15/updated-sharepoint-2010-training-kit-with-offline-and-hands-on-labs.aspx

SharePoint - IE Crashes when opening Office documents

2009-11-23T18:16:00.000-08:00

You cannot create a new document, Open document, or check out an existing document in a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 document library when you have multiple versions of Office installed

The problem happens when you have, or had, two versions of office installed. You have to go into your program files directory and delete the version of owssupp.dll you're not using (for example if you upgraded to office 2007 and then downgraded back to office 2003 you delete owssupp.dll in the office12 directory). IE 7's manage addons you can see two versions of the owssupp dll registered so IE gets confused and you have to forcefully remove the version you're not using anymore.

To resolve this problem, install hotfix 938888. For more information about hotfix 938888, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
938888 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938888/ )

Download Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta -Now Available!!!

2009-11-19T16:02:00.000-08:00

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

SharePoint Document Library: Require Check Out

2009-10-19T10:08:00.000-07:00

Today's best practices recommendation, why you should require check out in your document libraries, and how to go about doing so.

The reason that it's recommended that you require check out on the documents in your library is that, unless you do so, multiple users will be able to check out and edit a single document at the same time*, and without any indication that another user is already editing the same document. What do you think happens if two people are making changes to the same document at the same time? If you said, "whoever saves first wins," give yourself a gold star.

Such headaches can be avoided by requiring that users check out a document from a library before making changes. Don't worry, if someone has checked out a given document and is in the process of making changes, a read-only version can still be accessed by other users.

Is it a complicated or laborious process to set up a document library to require check out? Not at all. In fact, setting up a document library to require check out is as simple as selecting a single radio button in the library settings:

To navigate to the above setting, from within the library itself,

first select Document Library Settings from the Settings dropdown,
then select the Versioning Settings hyperlink under the General Settings header.
From there, you'll be presented with the setting options page for the library, and you'll notice that the last option is Require Check Out. Once you're here, all you need to do is switch the defaulted Require Check Out radio button selection from No to Yes (as pictured above),
click OK at the bottom of the page, and you're all set.

How to hide Meeting Workspace Option in SharePoint Calendar

2009-10-06T14:41:00.000-07:00

Use content Editor Webpart and copy following code into source editor, and add this web part to your Calendar's New Item Page [NewForm.aspx]

< type="text/javascript">
var TDs = document.getElementsByTagName("TD");
var i=0;
var tagContent = "";
while (i <>
{
try{tagContent = TDs[i].innerText TDs[i].textContent;
if (tagContent.indexOf("Workspace") == 0 tagContent.indexOf("Workspace") == 3)
{
TDs[i+1].parentNode.removeChild(TDs[i+1]);
TDs[i].parentNode.removeChild(TDs[i]);
}
}
catch(err){}i=i+1;
}
< /script >

SharePoint Server 2010 Preliminary System Requirements

2009-06-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

We’ve heard loud and clear that you want system requirements information as early as possible to assist in your budgeting and planning, so today we’re happy to announce (and confirm) some preliminary system requirements for SharePoint Server 2010:

SharePoint Server 2010 will be 64-bit only.
SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.
SharePoint Server 2010 will require 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005.

In addition to the requirements listed above we also wanted to share with you some preliminary detail about SharePoint Server 2010 browser compatibility.

To ensure the best possible experience across multiple browsers we’re focusing our SharePoint 2010 engineering efforts on targeting standards based browsers (XHTML 1.0 compliant) including Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3.x. running on Windows Operating Systems. In addition we’re planning on an increased level of compatibility with Firefox 3.x and Safari 3.x on non-Windows Operating Systems. Due to this focus Internet Explorer 6 will not be a supported browser for SharePoint Server 2010.

So, what can you do today to get into the best shape for SharePoint Server 2010?

Start by ensuring new hardware is 64-bit. Deploying 64-bit is our current best practice recommendation for SharePoint 2007.
Deploy Service Pack 2 and take a good look at the SharePoint 2010 Upgrade Checker that’s shipped as part of the update. The Upgrade Checker will scan your SharePoint Server 2007 deployment for many issues that could affect a future upgrade to SharePoint 2010.
Get to know Windows Server 2008 with SharePoint 2007, this post is a great starting point.
Consider your desktop browser strategy if you have large population of Internet Explorer 6 users.
Continue to follow the Best Practices guidance for SharePoint Server 2007.
Keep an eye on this blog for updates and more details in the coming months.

Below are a few common Q&A’s (which we’ll add to as required)

Q: What about Internet Explorer 6 and SharePoint 2010 publishing sites?

A: The Web Content Management features built into SharePoint 2010 will provide a deep level of control over the markup and styling of the reader experience. These features will enable customers to design pages that are compatible with additional browsers for viewing content, including Internet Explorer 6. A standards based browser such as Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.x will be required to author content.

Q: Is Internet Explorer 6 officially supported by Microsoft?

A: Official Microsoft Product Support for Internet Explorer 6 follows the lifecycle of the Operating System with which it was shipped. In order for customers to receive product support through the Mainstream Support and Extended Support phases, they need to have installed a supported Service Pack. For example, customers who are using Windows XP must transition to Service Pack 3 by July, 2010 and are eligible to receive support for Internet Explorer 6 until April, 2014.
You can find additional information on Microsoft’s Support Lifecycle Policy including specific dates, product information and support offerings here: http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy.

Q: Why are you only supporting the 64-bit versions of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 for SharePoint Server 2010?

A: This decision was based on our current test data for SharePoint Server 2010 and real world experience from customers running SharePoint Server 2007 with 32-bit SQL Server. SharePoint performance and scalability can benefit significantly from 64-bit SQL Server and the throughput increases are significant enough for us to make the difficult decision to only support SharePoint Server 2010 on 64-bit SQL Server 2005 or 2008. It has been our strong recommendation for some time that SharePoint Server 2007 customers take advantage of 64-bit SQL Server due to the inherent performance and scale benefits it can provide.

Q: Where can I find more information on the advantages of 64-bit hardware and guidance on how to migrate SharePoint from 32-bit to 64-bit.

A: These two TechNet articles are a good starting point;
Advantages of 64-bit hardware and software (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
Migrate an existing server farm to a 64-bit environment (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

Adding a new document type and file type icon

2009-06-02T11:56:00.000-07:00

To add a document type and type icon, do the following:

In the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\50\Templates\1033\xml directory, open DOCICON.XML.
In the middle of the file, find the ByExtension section.
For the sake of example, we will add a wav file type and an icon to represent what kind of file it is. Add a line like the following:
In the Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\50\Templates\1033\Images directory, add an appropriate icon and call it "icwav.gif".
Restart Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).
Create a new subweb.
All sites created from now on will display icwav.gif in document libraries for files that have the .wav extension.

Hiding the Web Controls When Printing - example Search Box

2009-04-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

The Search box can be hidden, along with other parts of a form you don’t want printed by using styles. This can be done using Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer:

Open the master page in SharePoint Designer
Add the following style either to a CSS file included in the master page or as a style within the master page itself:

@media print{
.HideForPrinting
{
display:none;
}
}

Locate the delegate control used to display the search box and add the code shown in italics:

<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id=”PlaceHolderSearchArea” runat=”server”>
<span class=”HideForPrinting”>
<SharePoint:DelegateControl runat=”server” ControlId=”SmallSearchInputBox”/>
</span>
</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

This defines a span that uses the style HideForPriting, the content of which will be hidden when the page is printed.

Health Check Screening of the MOSS Farm

2009-04-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

Web Front End Servers

Check Installed Software through Add/Remove Software and make sure there is no unwanted software installed on the server.
Check "My Computer" for number of drives, partitions, and used/available space. Add more space if it there is hard disk space problem. Make sure there are additional drives configured for the logs and index files.
Go to "Task Manager" and check for CPUs, Resource Usage, Network Performance.
Go to "System" in control panel and check for hardware profiles (RAM, Processor Speed, etc.), Automatic Updates (Make sure its disabled), and Networking Capabilities
Check IIS Manager - Check for host headers and IP address bindings, SSL settings, App Pool Settings, and App Pool Service Accounts. Put the IIS Logs on the drive other than C.
Check Event Log for any MOSS errors. Resolve all the critical errors.

Central Administration Site - Operations Tab

Check Servers in farm page - Check for all the SharePoint servers with the same version and patch level
Check the search service accounts on MOSS Search and WSS Search page, it should be dedicated account, shouldn't be farm admin account
On the MOSS Search Service for Index role, check for Indexer Performance based on the Number of CPUs on the machine. At minimum, use Partially Reduced
On the MOSS Search Service for Index role, check WFE Crawling setting - Use all WFE servers for crawling. Do not use Dedicated WFE.
Make sure only one server is running Index Role in the farm for each SSP
Make sure WSS Search Service runs only once a day and only one instance of WSS Search Service runs on the farm
Make sure Outgoing Email Settings are set to the valid exchange/SMTP server
Check the Timer Job Status page - Check for any failed jobs
Diagnostic Logging and Usage Analysis Logging - Change the default location to the drive other than C (e.g. F:\logs) and make sure all servers in the farm has a defined drive (e.g. F in this case).
Check Current License Type - Verify what license is and make sure farm is not running on trial version. This is very crucial to understand what MOSS services are running on the farm.

Central Administration Site - Applications Tab

"Check the Services Enabled in the Farm" section to see any farm configuration errors
Make sure Web Application URLs and Content Databases has a meaningful name.
Check the number of Content Databases per web application, site collection created per content databases, and verify round-robin allocations.

Content Databases on the SQL Server

Check the DB size - Shouldn't be more than 100 GB.
DB Files Properties - Check the Auto Growth Settings - it should be minimum 500 MB or 1 GB.
Transaction Log Files Properties - Check the log file size. It shouldn't be large. Shouldn't be more than 4-5 GB. If it's too large, backup and shrink the logs, set the Auto Growth settings to reasonable settings.

Shared Service Provider: SSP

SSP Edit Page - Index files location other than C drive, Check for the SSP service accounts, and shouldn't be farm admin accounts
Search - Check Crawl Schedules and Crawl Log Errors. Make sure Crawl Schedules won't overlap.
User Profiles - Verify the Profile Source and Check the Crawl Schedules

Now SharePoint Designer available as a free download

2009-04-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

Wow !!! good news about SharePoint Designer 2007. Starting now (April 2, 2009), SharePoint Designer 2007 will be available as a free download! Microsoft want more of you customizing SharePoint and feel that this a good way to put the tool in the hands of more people.

a) Letter to our Customers
b) Frequently Asked Questions
c) Free Download

Also, make sure to watch this YouTube video where Tom Rizzo and J.R. Arredondo discuss these changes and provide some insights into what is coming in the future. Or if you prefer to download the video, just pick the appropriate version for your bandwidth in the list below:
· Small size video (6MB)
· Medium size video (17 MB)
· Large size video (83 MB)

Announcing Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Microsoft Office System 2007

2009-02-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Office Team’re pleased to announce that Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the 2007 Microsoft Office system is expected to be released in the near future. Although we aren’t yet announcing the exact release date, it will fall between February and April of 2009.

Historically, we have waited to communicate details about service packs until their release (or very shortly before). As we communicated with SP3 for Office 2003 and SP1 for the 2007 Office System, we will be taking steps to increase transparency and visibility into the Office servicing model at the request of our customers. To that end, we would like to start sharing some details into what will be included in SP2 for the 2007 Office system. This is by no means an exhaustive list of everything included in this service pack and we will share more details prior to the final release, but we want to start communicating to customers what they should be aware of at a high level.

To be fair, this is not the first time we have talked about SP2. Several months ago, we announced that we’ll be further demonstrating our increased commitment to interoperability by including support for Open Document Format (ODF), XML Paper Specification (XPS), and Portable Document Format (PDF) in SP2. In addition to those file format additions, some other highlights that you’ll find in SP2 include:

For Office Desktop Programs:
· Improved Outlook Calendaring Reliability
· Improved Outlook Performance
· Enabling Object Model support for Charts in PowerPoint and Word
· Improved cryptographic functionality by supporting all cryptographic algorithms offered by the operating system
· Improved functionality in Excel’s charting mechanism
· Ability to ungroup SmartArt graphics (and as a result, the ability to add animations to them in PowerPoint)
· Ability for Visio to export UML models to an XML file compliant with the XMI standard
· Tool that enables the uninstall of Office client Service Packs

For Servers:
· Performance and manageability improvements to variations in Enterprise Content Management (ECM) including STSADM commands for repairing links between source and target pages
· Improvements around processing status approvals from Office Project Web Access into Office Project Professional 2007
· Improvements to read-only content databases and index rebuild timer jobs in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

In the coming weeks, individual product teams across Office will begin updating their blogs and highlighting some of the specific work that they’ve included in SP2. You can find the links to some of the blogs at the end of the post.

In the next few days we will also invite a select set of Office enterprise customers to a private SP2 beta. From these customers we hope to gather great feedback about the service pack, including areas that we’ll need to improve upon before we release it to the general public. Based on the success of the SP2 beta program and customer needs, we will certainly evaluate whether to expand this in the future.

Sharepoint Conference 2009

2009-02-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Microsoft is delighted to announce the SharePoint Conference 2009 - the premier worldwide conference dedicated to SharePoint and related technologies. There’s an exciting mix in the plans for this year. This year’s conference will be looking towards the future with a broad array of deep content centered on the next version of SharePoint, codenamed SharePoint “14” and at the same time be firmly planted in the present, sharing real world experience and guidance to help you maximize your investment in SharePoint Server 2007. SharePoint Conference 2009 will be the conference to learn about SharePoint “14”. Be the first to learn about the improvements we’ve made to the platform and how many of those investments can be quickly implemented to add value to your organization and businesses. If you’re an IT Professional, an IT Decision Maker, an Architect or a Developer you’ll find a deep set of technical content to give you a kick start for SharePoint “14” and further your skills and knowledge with SharePoint Server 2007. In addition to the session content you'll have ample opportunities to network with technical and industry experts including many of the Microsoft staff that helped build SharePoint, Microsoft Most Valued Professionals and many of our top Certified Partners. Don’t miss out on the biggest SharePoint event of the year! REGISTER NOW to attend from the 19th to the 22nd of October 2009 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. This event promises to be the biggest and the best SharePoint Conference yet! Early bird registration is open today for $899 (USD) for the first 500 registrations - a savings of $300 (USD) off the regular attendee cost.

Link: http://www.mssharepointconference.com/Pages/default.aspx

Using the new features in SQL Server 2008 with Office SharePoint Server 2007

2008-11-21T07:52:00.000-08:00

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 includes several new and enhanced features that are important for deploying Office SharePoint Server 2007. New and enhanced SQL Server 2008 features are especially relevant for SharePoint deployments in four principal areas:

> Performance
> Availability
> Security
> Resource management

You can improve Office SharePoint Server performance by implementing the new database backup compression feature in SQL Server 2008. The ability to compress database backups is a significant improvement for Office SharePoint Server users; it enables you to significantly decrease the size of your database backups and shipped logs.

You can improve Office SharePoint Server availability by implementing the new log stream compression feature in SQL Server 2008. One of the performance-limiting factors of database mirroring is network throughput between the principal and mirror servers. SQL Server 2008 supports compression of the log stream, which consists of the inserts, updates, and deletes that are transferred between servers. Log stream compression can help maximize network throughput, especially in environments where network conditions are poor.

You can improve Office SharePoint Server security by using the new Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) feature in SQL Server 2008. TDE enables you to encrypt entire databases and requires no application awareness or modification. TDE encrypts data as it is written to disk and decrypts data as it is read from disk.

You can improve Office SharePoint Server resource management by using SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor. SQL Server Resource Governor enables you to maintain and administer your SQL Server resources, such as CPU and memory. You can use SQL Server Resource Governor to precisely control how your SQL Server resources are allocated. With SQL Server Resource Governor, you can apply thresholds to incoming connections based on assigned criteria.

For prescriptive guidance about implementing some of the new features in SQL Server 2008 that enhance the deployment of Office SharePoint Server 2007, see Integration of SQL Server 2008 and Office SharePoint Server 2007.

For information about SQL Server 2008 system requirements, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2008.

SharePoint group audience targeting stops functioning

2008-11-17T08:24:00.000-08:00

After you install the updates that are described in Microsoft Knowledge Base articles 952294 and 946517, Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 audience targeting stops functioning for nested SharePoint groups for global navigation and for any SharePoint group audience targeting for Web parts. The navigation links and Web parts in these cases are not visible at all. Therefore, they are inaccessible to the user targeted.

Hot Fix :

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreserver.msp): October 28, 2008
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957693
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=957693

WSS & SharePoint Update / Hot Fix

2008-11-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

Announcing August Cumulative Update for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
The Microsoft Office team has changed the way that it delivers hotfixes for reported problems. This change comes in the form of cumulative updates and critical on-demand hotfixes. The objective is to deliver high-quality fixes in an acceptable time and on a predictable schedule. Cumulative updates are scheduled for every two months, so customers can be better prepared to test and apply new updates. Those who need an emergency fix can request critical on-demand (COD) fix. For information, please refer to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953878.
The detail of August Cumulative Update (CU) for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 can be found here:
Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package (Wssmui.msp): August 26, 2008
Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: August 26, 2008
Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package: August 26, 2008
Customers are not needed to install these updates unless they are affected by specific problems described in the KB articles. And these cumulative updates will be rolled in to Service Pack 2.
To keep all files in a SharePoint installation updated, we recommend customers to follow the path below:
1. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1
2. The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1
3. The Windows SharePoint Services Infrastructure Update x86 x64
4. The Microsoft Office Servers Infrastructure Update x86 x64
5. KB 953397: Excel Server Security Update x86 x64
6. KB 955586: Document Lifecycle Workflow Update
7. August Cumulative Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Global)
8. August Cumulative Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Local)
9. August Cumulative Update for Microsoft Office Servers
After applied all these updates, run SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b” in command line. This need to be done on every server in the farm with SharePoint installed.
The version of databases should be 12.0.6327 after all these updates.
For a better guided update process, customers would also like to check out the following guides. These articles provide a correct way to deploy updates, as well as known issues and how to do slipstream builds.
Deploy software updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288269.aspx
Deploy software updates for Office SharePoint Server 2007
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263467.aspx

Update: October Cumulative Update has been released on Oct 28th. Here're the download links and descriptions.

______________________________________________________________

Cumulative update packages for the 2007 Microsoft Office core suite applications and for 2007 Microsoft Office servers: October 28, 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958847

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hotfix package: October 28, 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957691

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=957691

Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 hotfix package (Coreserver.msp): October 28, 2008

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957693

http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=957693

Announcing December Cumulative Update for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

___________________________________________________

We are happy to announce that December Cumulative Update for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is available now. Despite the fixes and improvements, this new update package is also an effort to create a more convenient way for SharePoint administrators to keep all files in their SharePoint installations up-to-date. In this post, we will guide you on how and when to update, and the background of this new update model improvement.

December Cumulative Update Steps & Suggestions
Customers do not need to install these updates unless they are affected by the specific problems described in the KB articles. These cumulative updates will be rolled in to Service Pack 2.
To keep all the files in a SharePoint installation up-to-date, we recommend that customers install updates in the following sequence:

1. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1
2. The 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1
3. December Cumulative Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
4. December Cumulative Update for Microsoft Office Servers

After applying the preceding updates, run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig –cmd upgrade –inplace b2b -wait” in command line. This needs to be done on every server in the farm with SharePoint installed. The version of content databases should be 12.0.0.6335 after successfully applying these updates.

The detail of December Cumulative Update (CU) for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 can be found here:
Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 cumulative update package: December 16, 2008 (The link will be active soon)
Description of the SharePoint Server 2007 cumulative update package: December 16, 2008 (The link will be active soon)

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint & .NET Framework 4.0

2008-11-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint Announced at TechEd EMEA Developers 2008

This week at TechEd EMEA in Barcelona, Jason Zander, the GM for Visual Studio, announced and demonstrated the Visual Studio 2010 tools for SharePoint. Here's a quick summary of what he showed:
•Server Explorer for SharePoint viewing Lists and other artifacts in SharePoint directly inside of Visual Studio
•Windows SharePoint Services Project (WSP file) Import to create a new solution
•Added a new web part project item and showed the Visual web part designer which loads a user control as a web part for SharePoint
•Showed adding an event receiver for SharePoint and using the wizard to choose the event receiver and to just create a source file with that event receiver.
•Added an ASPX workflow initiation form to a workflow project and showed how this workflow initiation form has designer capability
•Showed the packaging explorer and the packaging editor which lets you structure the SharePoint features and WSP file that is created

Web Url: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vs2008/products/cc948977.aspx

Visual Studio 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/2010/overview.mspx

.NET Framework 4.0 [Dublin] : http://www.microsoft.com/net/Dublin.aspx

Custom Site Theme for SharePoint 2007 (MOSS 2007) and WSS 3.0

2008-10-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

The easiest and the fastest way to apply the same look and feel on any SharePoint site is creating a site theme. A SharePoint site theme basically consists of theme.inf, theme.css, and image files. Theme.inf file simply represents the title of the theme. Theme.css is a stylesheet file that defines colors, header images and layouts of a site and image files can be referenced here to display on the page. By creating a custom site theme, you can easily change the style but in fact, writing and editing the stylesheet can be somewhat chanllenging when you have more than a hundred of elements to deal with.

Here is a short procedure of creating a custom site theme named "India":
1. Copy any theme folder in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\THEMES" folder and paste with its name replaced with "India". In this example, copy GRANITE folder.
2. In India folder, rename GRANITE.INF file to INDIA.INF in upper case.
3. Open INDIA.INF file with notepad.
4. Change the value of title under [Info] to India.
5. Replace every word, Granite, under [titles] with India.
6. Open "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\1033\SPTHEMES.XML" file with notepad.
7. Add the following lines under tag:
Templates>
TemplateID>India
DisplayName>India
Description>We love India .
Thumbnail>images/India.gif
Preview>images/India.gif
/Templates>

Notice that preview and thumbnail paths are images/India.gif. By default, MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 will not have such image files.

8. In order to display thumbnail and preview correctly, you will need to capture the screen and save the file in "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES" folder with India.gif name. You can change the .gif file name if you change the thumbnail and preview file names in tag.

9. Do an iisrest for the server to recognize the new theme.

Pretty simple procedure. Now you are ready to test your new theme. In Site Settings, you can now choose India theme; however, the theme will not differ from Base theme. Now, it is time for you to play with theme.css file!

Patrick, you'll be greatly missed...

2008-09-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got word that the legendary SharePoint developer, presenter, author, instructor, and friend Patrick Tissghem suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I had just talked to him over IM just a day earlier. If the name isn't familiar to you, well you have surely used some of this work. From the blog posts, the books, the screencasts... you name it, he's been instrumental in the SharePoint world for years.
But it isn't just SharePoint. Patrick was a great person... someone who was a ton of fun and a real joy to be around. I consider myself quite fortunate in working with him over email and virtually over the last few years and fortune to get to finally meet him last year at TechEd.

My thoughts are with Patrick's family and extended family at U2U. You will be greatly missed.

Integrating ASP.NET AJAX with SharePoint

2008-09-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

How does Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX integrate with SharePoint? Here are some notes I've collected on this.

Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 1.0: A Background

Microsoft ASP. NET AJAX 1.0 lets developers build Web 2.0 sites using the latest Ajax techniques.
ASP.NET AJAX extends ASP.NET 2.0 and makes several new tools and techniques available to help you build applications more quickly:

Extensions to JavaScript. ASP.NET AJAX extends the JavaScript library to bring standard object oriented concepts to JavaScript. It brings a formal type declaration system, with support for inheritance. It also provides a significant number of out of the box types, including types such as Sys.Net.WebRequest for working with web services. Finally, it helps to abstract some cross-browser issues such as XML element traversal. This makes it much easier to create robust JavaScript libraries and frameworks which are commonly needed by rich internet applications.
ASP.NET Control Extenders. Extenders are additional ASP.NET controls which can extend the functionality of existing controls with additional Ajax capabilities. A common example is an extender which allows existing textbox controls to have autocomplete functionality with no modification to the extended control. (The autocomplete extender is included with the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit.)
UpdatePanels. UpdatePanels allow your existing ASP.NET controls and web parts to achieve the fluid, no-postback updates of Ajax-based applications with minimal re-coding of your control or part. Quite simply, controls within the UpdatePanel control which ordinarily would post back to update their data will now be routed through an Ajax-style callback, resulting in a silent update back to the server. This makes your application “postback” much less, making interaction with your control more seamless.

For More...

Fix for Forefront Update Timeout Errors

2008-09-05T11:02:00.000-07:00

I use Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint Server on my SharePoint Server 2007 .Recently I noticed the following error in the Application Event log:

Event Type: ErrorEvent

Source: GetEngineFiles

Event Category: Engine

ErrorEvent ID: 6014

Date: 2/9/2008Time: 10:08:43 AM

User: N/A

Computer: GATEWAY

Description:Microsoft Forefront Server Security encountered an error while performing a scan engine update.Scan Engine: Kaspersky5Update Path: http://forefrontdl.microsoft.com/server/scanengineupdate/x86/Kaspersky5Proxy Settings: DisabledError Code: 0xC0001F58Description: The operation timed out.

Followed immediately by:

Event Type: Information

Event Source: GetEngineFiles

Event Category: General

Event ID: 2017

Date: 2/9/2008

Time: 10:08:43 AM

User: N/A

Computer: GATEWAY

Description:Forefront Server Security has rolled back a scan engine.Scan Engine: Kaspersky5This was happening every 5 minutes after Event ID 2034, which reports that Microsoft Forefront Server Security is attempting a scan engine update of the Kaspersky5 scan engine.

To solve this error make the following change to the registry on the server running Forefront:

> Open Regedit
> Navigate to the following key:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Forefront Server Security\Exchange Server
>Click New DWORD Value
>Type EngineDownloadTimeout, and then press ENTER
>Right-click the new value and select Modify
>Select Decimal as the base, enter 600 in the Value data box, and then click OK. This setting causes the scan engine download process to time out after 600 seconds (10 minutes, instead of 5 minutes)
> Exit Regedit

Note: You do not have to restart Forefront Server services or Exchange Server services after you change this registry entry.
Now perform a manual scanner update in Forefront:
Open Forefront Server Security Administrator
Click Scanner Updates under Settings
Select the appropriate scan engine that was previously timing out. In my case, Kaspersky Antivirus Technology
Click the Update Now button on the right side of the screen
Check the Application event log to ensure that the scan engine has updated properly (Event ID 2012).

WSS 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1 on Win2k3 64bit

2008-08-21T12:10:00.000-07:00

I got this to work for me using Orca to edit the MSI using the following:

1. Download Visual Studio 2005 Extensions, Version 1.1 for Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition 64-bit
A. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3E1DCCCD-1CCA-433A-BB4D-97B96BF7AB63&displaylang=en
2. Save the install file: C:\Temp\VSeWSSv11.exe

3. Extract the MSI using this command: C:\Temp\> VSeWSSv11.exe /Extract

4. Output MSI file: C:\Temp\VSeWSSv11.msi

5. Downloaded Windows® Server 2003 SP1 Platform SDK
A. Installed just Orca

6. Edit MSI using Orca
A. In the Tables column
1. Select: InstallExecuteSequence
2. In the right pane, drop these two rows.
a. X64System
b. WSSNotInstalled
3. Select: InstallUISequence
4. In the right pane, drop these two rows.
a. X64System
b. WSSNotInstalled
B. Save MSI

7. Run edited MSI and follow the prompts.

Hope this helps someone else, it sure did for me!

Where is the change log?

2008-08-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

Shane today in class was looking for where the SharePoint change log is. I did a quick search and found a decent answer on MSDN with detail on Change Log Freshness...

"The Change Log is a physical table in each content database, and each transaction writes to the log." The Change Log recevied by hitting the lists web service http:///_vti_bin/Lists.asmx GetListItemChanges with GetListItemChangesSinceToken method of the Lists Web service to get changes starting from a specified point in time."

Found a great WSS 3.0 web service one page quick reference on Look Alive blog which I'm sure came from across the various MSDN pages.

Note: The change log is security trimmed. "The change log returns a list of SPChange objects for changes that happened, for example, to the following object types:

Items, files, and folders
List metadata
Site metadata
Security

How to change service accounts and service account passwords in SharePoint Server 2007 and in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

2008-07-29T13:17:00.000-07:00

This article describes how to change the passwords for service accounts in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Use the procedure in the "More Information" section to update the passwords if the passwords for service accounts expire.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934838

Deleting A Web Part

2008-07-28T12:20:00.000-07:00

It is important to realise the difference between Closing and Deleting a Web Part. By default the Reminder Web Parts will not let you Close them for reasons explained below. Therefore you must delete them form a page instead.

Deleting a Web Part

To Delete a web part you must first Select Modify Shared Page > Design This Page

You can then select Delete from the Web Parts Menu
Note - Reminder Web Parts will not have a Close menu item for reasons described below.

Closing a Web Part

By default SharePoint Reminder Web Parts will not allow you to close them, although you can change this. Closed web parts are often mistaken for Deleted Web Parts. If you Close rather than Delete a web part you will receive a warning in your servers event log.
You can then delete the web part by Adding it back onto the page and then deleting it or by using the Web Part Maintenance page.
Deleting a closed web part using the Web Part Maintenance page
You can open the Web Part Maintenance view of any web part page by appending ?contents=1 onto the end of the URL? E.g.
http://www.yourserver.com/yoursite/yourpage.aspx?contents=1

The following page will open

You can the web part that has been closed (Open on page = No) and delete it by selecting the checkbox and pressing Delete

Adding a closed web part back onto a page in order to Delete it
You can select the Close command from a Web Parts Menu.

The web part is not actually deleted from the page, it is removed from the Visible area of the page and placed in the Web Part Page Gallery.
To Delete this web part completely you would drag it back onto the page and perform the steps for Deleting A Web Part above.

Sharepoint Site : ACCESS DENIED

2008-07-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Having Problem all domian user ubable to Access the Specific SharePoint site

Solution :

Open : Central Administrator

Teb on: Application Management

Open: Application Security --> Policy for Web Application

Selct Your Web Application

Delete the Local Service Account “NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE”

Add Again “NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE” with "Full Read" Permissions Only.

Infrastructure Updates for Windows Server

2008-07-24T12:47:00.000-07:00

This morning we released to web three new important updates that affect SharePoint Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Project Server 2007, Search Server 2008, Search Server 2008 Express and Project Professional 2007.

The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) applies to:
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
Microsoft Search Server 2008
Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express

The Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) applies to:
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) applies to:
Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers contains the new Enterprise Search features that were shipped in Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express that were are not already in SharePoint Server 2007; this includes Federated Search capability, a unified administration dashboard and several Search core platform performance updates. Read more about the new Search features here.
There are several Content Deployment updates included in both the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers and the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. These updates address many of the top customer reported issues with Content Deployment. Read more about the Content Deployment updates here.
The Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) and the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) include several usability and performance updates for Project Server 2007 and Project Professional 2007 in addition to addressing the top customer reported issues. Read more about the Project Server and Project Professional updates here and in this White Paper.
All three updates contain fixes and product performance updates driven by customer feedback which have resulted in significant platform performance improvements in several areas. There has also been a focus on several core platform components, including improvements to upgrade, future patching and servicing, several targeted updates for workflow, the Business Data Catalog and inter-farm server authentication with Kerberos. For more detailed information please read the KB articles listed further on in this post.
We strongly recommend that you install the updates that apply to you as soon as your patching and maintenance schedules permit.

The updates can be downloaded from the links below:

Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x86
Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297) - x64
Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x86
Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695) - x64
Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) - x86
* The updates are applicable to all shipping languages.

Installation Instructions are available from the links below:

Deploy Software Updates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
Deploy Software Updates for Office SharePoint Server 2007 - This article also applies to Project Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2007, Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express.
Install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
Install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (Search Server 2008)
Related Knowledge Base Articles are available from the links below:
Description of the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695)
Fixes Included in the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB953749)
Description of the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297)
Fixes Included in the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB953750)
Description of the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547)
Fixes Included in the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB953751)

Please read and familiarize yourself with the installation instructions before you start.
For reference the following products require the following updates to be applied.

If you are running SharePoint Server 2007 you should:

> Install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) if you haven’t already
> Install 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (SP1) if you haven’t already.
> Install the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695).
Cancel out of the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard". (You CAN run the wizard if you want. It will just save you time if you run it once at the end.)
> Install Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297)
> Run the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard".

If you are running Project Server 2007 you should:
> Install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) if you haven’t already
> Install 2007 Microsoft Office Servers Service Pack 1 (SP1) if you haven’t already.
> Install the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695).
Cancel out of the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard". (You CAN run the wizard if you want. It will just save you time if you run it once at the end.)
> Install Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297)
> Run the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard".
You should also then install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547) on all Project Professional 2007 client PC’s.

If you are running Search Server 2008 or Search Server 2008 Express you should:

> Install the Infrastructure Update for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (KB951695).
> Cancel out of the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard". (You CAN run the wizard if you want. It will just save you time if you run it once at the end.)
> Install Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers (KB951297)
> Run the "SharePoint 3.0 Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard".
If you are running Project Professional 2007 you should Install the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Project 2007 (KB951547).

The installation process will incur server and farm downtime that you will need to plan for – updates should be installed on all servers in a farm.
Related blog posts:
The SharePoint ITPro documentation team blog – Infrastructure Updates
Office Sustained Engineering blog – Announcing Availability of Infrastructure Updates
Get the Point, Microsoft Office SharePoint Blog - What’s new in the MOSS 2007 Infrastructure Update?

Principles of Planning and Design: Architecture Blueprints

2008-07-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

The Architecture Blueprints are organized at an architecture level in order to provide IT professionals with a common understanding of overriding principles prior to leveraging guidance on specific IT services. The guides relevant to the IT services are provided in a modular fashion to make the overall documentation set more accessible and consumable.

IIS configuration script : Iiscnfg.vbs

2008-07-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Iiscnfg.vbs: IIS configuration script
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imports and exports all or selected elements of an Internet Information Services (IIS) metabase on a local or remote computer, or copies the entire IIS configuration (metabase and schema) to another computer to replicate a configuration. Iiscnfg performs the following functions:
To view the command syntax, click a command:

•iiscnfg /export

•iiscnfg /import

•iiscnfg /copy

•iiscnfg /save

Solution:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Start -> Run -> Cmd ->

cd c:\windows\system32\
Cscript iiscnfg.vbs /export /f "c:\Filename.xml" /sp /LM/W3SVC/website ID "Example :/LM/W3SVC/23432" /children /inherited

Developer Job

2008-07-07T13:24:00.002-07:00

Windows Vista Expiration Message

2008-07-07T06:59:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista: Beta 2, RC1, and RC2 Have Expired
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 31 May 2007, all Customer Preview Program (CPP) pre-release versions of Windows Vista will expire. If you are running a pre-release version of Windows Vista (Beta 2, RC1 or RC2), you will begin to receive warning notifications about the upcoming expiration on 18 May. To avoid work disruption and loss of data, we strongly recommend that customers running any of these pre-release versions of Windows Vista migrate their PCs to the final version of Windows Vista prior to 31 May.

For more information on migrating away from CPP versions, please go to http://www.windowsvista.com/preview.mspx. We've included below a listing of frequently asked questions to help those of you still running a pre-release version of Windows Vista on your PCs to get started.

Solution :
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
First Step: Uninstall the Windows Vista Service Pack 1 from the local Machine.

Download: New Windows Vista SP1 - DOWNLOAD

Third Step: Install New Windows Vista SP1

All Set good to go.

Thanks,

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hosting Multiple Web Sites on a Single Server (IIS 6.0)

2008-07-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

IIS supports multiple Web sites on a single server. For example, rather than using three different servers to host three different Web sites, you can install all three Web sites on the same server. Consolidating Web sites saves hardware resources, conserves space, and reduces energy costs.
To ensure that user requests reach the correct Web site, you must configure a unique identity for each site on the server. To do so, you must distinguish each Web site with at least one of three unique identifiers: a host header name, an IP address, or a unique TCP port number.
Web sites hosted on the same server can be distinguished using the following unique identifiers.
•Host header name
•IP address
•TCP port number

Using host header names to uniquely identify sites on a server is recommended for most situations.
This section includes the following information:
•Creating Multiple Sites Using Multiple IP Addresses: Describes how to use unique IP addresses to to distinguish multiple sites.
•Creating Multiple Sites Using Host Header Names: Describes how to use host headers to distinguish multiple sites.
•Creating Multiple Sites Using Ports: Describes how to use nonstandard TCP port numbers to distinguish multiple sites.

SQL Server Reporting Services [SSRS] Installation- Configuration

2008-07-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Sharepoint Team Blog has made an invaluable guide available documenting the process of installing SSRS in Sharepoint Integration mode. Get it here (download link - Word document, approx 3.5mb). This will help (immensely!) augment the information found at the team's earlier post, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP2 Reporting Services integration with WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007
Some highlights from the document:
REQUIREMENTS FOR RUNNING REPORTING SERVICES IN SHAREPOINT INTEGRATED MODEYou can integrate Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services with Windows SharePoint Services or Office SharePoint Server by configuring a report server to run in SharePoint integrated mode and by installing a Reporting Services Add-in that adds infrastructure and application pages to a SharePoint Web application.
The following versions and editions can be used to support integrated operations:
SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services with Service Pack 2. You cannot integrate a report server instance that is running earlier versions of the software. Supported editions include Evaluation, Standard, Developer, and Enterprise. There is no support for this feature in the Workgroup Edition or in SQL Server 2005 Express with Advanced Services.
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. If you are using Office SharePoint Server , you must have the Office Server Premium or the Office Server Standard Edition.
Reporting Services Add-in for SharePoint Technologies. The add-in must be installed on the instance of the SharePoint technology you are using. There is only one version of the Reporting Services Add-in.
The document also provides links to the following resources:

Reference
SQL Server 2005 Books Online (May 2007)
SQL Server 2005 SP2