Rifaqat's SharePoint and BPM Blog

Features and their GUID’s in SP2010

2011-08-20T04:59:00.000-07:00

Gotten tired of finding the ID of a feature?

Please visit given below site:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcsnoiwb/archive/2010/01/07/features-and-their-guid-s-in-sp2010.aspx

A great deal of time and effort!

SharePoint 2010 as an application storage can be used SAN, NAS or DAS (SCSI or SATA or any other technology).

2011-06-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

Please refer to the below articles for more information:

Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2010)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298801.aspx

Capacity management and sizing overview for SharePoint Server 2010

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff758647.aspx

User limitations in SharePoint 2007- Affected Area is search and Alerts

2011-05-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

ISSUE:

Crawl does not work it throws an error "parameter incorrect" on the SSP.

Effected area is search and alerts:

DETAILS:

If you will add number of users/groups directly in SharePoint portal 2007 and number of users/groups will exceed more than 2000 then your search and alert will be affected. Because SharePoint 2007 product treat each users and groups as an single object and only 2000 direct user are supported.

User Limitation on SharePoint Web site:

=================================

- It recommended that we have 2000 User per web site, this is because the ACL sized

limit which is 64 KB. Users in groups 2 million per Web site You can add millions

of people to your Web site by using Microsoft Windows security groups to manage

security instead of using individual users.

- The size of the access control list is limited to a few thousand security
principals (users and groups in the Web site). In fact it is the site collection.

RESOLUTION:

Resolved the crawl issue with parameter incorrect error with the following fix.

1. Add users to an AD group.(Make sure this does not exceed 1000 to reduce performance issues later)

2. Then make sure the combination of the users and groups added to the site does not exceed 1000.

3. So let’s consider you have 1000 users in an AD group and you are going to add 100 such groups to the site, so in the end you shall have about 1000*100= 100000 users accessing the site. (however indirectly you have just added 100 groups on SharePoint Site)

Additional Information and Recommendations
==========================================
• ACL Limit- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953132
• Microsoft Cloud Services - http://www.microsoft.com/cloud/
• Database maintenance (Office SharePoint Server 2007) - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc825329(office.12).aspx
• Index for Stsadm operations and properties - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263384(office.12).aspx
• Back up, restore, or move a SharePoint site - http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-designer-help/back-up-restore-or-move-a-sharepoint-site-HA010069939.aspx

Saving a site as a template in SharePoint 2010

2011-05-08T10:53:00.000-07:00

I often create sites in one environment and then want to recreate them in another. Easiest way I've found is to save the site as a template (remember to tick to include content) and then use the template on your new environment to create the site.

Problem is I can't find the 'Save site as template' link in SharePoint 2010. You need to reactive the 'Publishing' feature for your site, then the option reveals itself in 'Site actions' under 'Site settings'.

Add more than one “This week in picture” web part in same page of the site then all the web part refers one picture library.

2010-06-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Resolution

This hotfix should fix this issue, http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956056

Configuring MOSS 2007 based Three Form server to search pdf documents - install and configure pdf ifilters

2010-06-21T10:55:00.001-07:00

Plan authentication methods (SharePoint Server 2010)

2010-06-14T09:03:00.000-07:00

Authentication Types in MOSS 2010, what all improvements basically in Forms based Authentication, Claims and classic auth types.

Please refer http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262350.aspx

SharePoint JavaScript – Page Load Add function:

2010-06-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

In most cases SharePoint pages are based on a master page that contains the “body” element. These content pages can’t directly add a function to the body’s onload event. In order to work around this limitation, SharePoint provides the “_spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames” array. When the body is loaded, the onload event handler executes each function whose name is contained in this array.

SharePoint JavaScript – Page Load Add function-Click Here for View Sample

Dynamic Image Rotator with Picture Library using Javascript(MOSS 2007)

2010-01-05T23:10:00.000-08:00

The image rotator allows you to display on your page a picture randomly selected from a SharePoint picture library

Image rotator: build your own! Click here!!!!

Changing the DNS or URL (host header) in SharePoint 2007 Site

2009-05-05T03:41:00.000-07:00

Basic Details:

For changing the host header (and more), check out Alternate Access Mappings. You will find this under the Operations tab and Global Configuration section. Click "Edit Public URLs" and be sure to have the correct web application selected before you make any changes.

Scenario:If you have developed the sharepoint site with url http://xyz:47089 and later you have mapped with any public IP(Header will be change) then you will be able to access only home page but you can not access other resources and page that is bindup with link, In this case,you can change URL by Alternate access mappings.

Solution:

Step[1] : Open Sharepoint Central Admin & go to Operations tab

Step[2] : Under Global configuration heading select Alternate access mappings.

Step[3] : Select the desired web application i.e. [http://xyz:47089] (in this example)

Step[4] : On Edit Internal URLs page set the change the value of [http://xyz1:47089] to"[http://15.12.0.89:47089]".

Step[5] : Now this site[http://15.12.0.89:47089] will be accessible throughout the intranet from any domain.

Note: The same you can map with Public IP for e.g. 15.12.0.89 and you just need to provide windows authetication to this site

Find RSS Url for a List or Document Library using Code

2009-03-17T12:05:00.000-07:00

RSS Reader webpart which would take the RSS URL of list to render its feeds. Very much same like the out of the box webpart with the exception that it was AJAX enabled. I would post the details of that part on the blog when I am finished.
I thought it would be just a matter of accessing the RssUrl property of SPList object, but to my surprise it was not to be. There is no property such property in the API, so I decided to write my own function for it.
Let’s analyze the RSS URL of a list or a library. Whenever the user clicks on View RSS feed on a library, here is how SharePoint constructs
the URL:

http://server/site/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?List=%7B14206B18%2DF68F%2D479B%2DBC84%2D15EE48D19D7D%7D

Listfeed.aspx is the inbuilt RSS viewer of sharepoint which accepts a parameter which is the GUID of the list. %2D tokens refer to ‘-‘characters which exist inside the GUID. Considering all this, it’s easy to write a function which will return the RSS URL. Here is the code for the same:
private string CreateRssUrl(string rawurl)
{
try
{
Uri url = new Uri(rawurl, UriKind.Absolute);
if (url.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path).Contains(“_layouts/listfeed.aspx”))
{
return rawurl;
}
else
{
string rssurl;
using (SPWeb web = new SPSite(rawurl).OpenWeb())
{
SPList list = web.GetListFromUrl(rawurl);
rssurl = web.Url + "/_layouts/listfeed.aspx?list=" + list.ID;
return rssurl;
}
}
}
catch (UriFormatException e)
{
return string.Empty;
}
}

Sharepoint Workflow Custom Activity for Active Directory & Deployment on Moss 2007

2009-03-17T11:39:00.000-07:00

Creating your own Custom Workflow Activities as Components using Windows Workflow Foundation (Framework 3.0) and deployment on SharePoint 2007.Required Installation Setup

Visual Studio .Net 2005

Framework 3.0

Windows Workflow Foundation Extension for Workflow Activity Template

SharePoint Portal 2007,SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

The steps to add a simple activity to the SharePoint Designer interface include:
Create a custom activity assembly.
Sign and deploy the activity assembly to the GAC.
Configure SharePoint to recognize the custom activity.
Create a .ACTIONS file to be used by SharePoint Designer.
Step 1: Create a custom activity assembly
Open Visual Studio 2005 solution.
Select New Project and Workflow Activity Library Template which is a project for creating a library of activities which can later be reused as building blocks in workflows.
Code Block
using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.ComponentModel.Design;
using System.Collections;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Serialization;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel;
using System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Design;
using System.Workflow.Runtime;
using System.Workflow.Activities;
using System.Workflow.Activities.Rules;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
namespace ActivityLibrary1
{
public partial class ADComponent : System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity
{
private string cn;
public ADComponent()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public static DependencyProperty DirectoryUriProperty = DependencyProperty. Register"DirectoryUri",typeofSystem.String),typeo(ActivityLibrary1.ADComponent)); [DescriptionAttribute("Please specify the URI of the directory. Either an AD Server or an XML File.")]
[DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Required)]
[BrowsableAttribute(true)]
[Category("Directory")]
public string DirectoryUri
{
get
{
return ((String)(base.GetValue(ADComponent.DirectoryUriProperty)));
}
set
{
base.SetValue(ADComponent.DirectoryUriProperty, value);
}
}
public static DependencyProperty QueryProperty = DependencyProperty.Register ("Query", typeof(System.String), typeof(ActivityLibrary1.ADComponent));
[DescriptionAttribute("Please specify the Username of the user to retrieve.")]
[DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
[BrowsableAttribute(true)]
[Category("Query")]
public string Query
{
get
{
return ((String)(base.GetValue(ADComponent.QueryProperty)));
}
set
{
base.SetValue(ADComponent.QueryProperty, value);
}
}
public static DependencyProperty RetrievedUserDataProperty = Dependency Property.Register ("RetrievedUserData", typeof(System.String), typeof (ActivityLibrary1.ADComponent));
[DescriptionAttribute("Please specify the Username of the user to retrieve.")]
[DesignerSerializationVisibilityAttribute(DesignerSerializationVisibility.Visible)]
[ValidationOption(ValidationOption.Optional)]
[BrowsableAttribute(true)]
[Category("RetrievedUserData")]
public string RetrievedUserData
{
get
{
return ((String)(base.GetValue(ADComponent.RetrievedUserDataProperty)));
}
set
{
base.SetValue(ADComponent.RetrievedUserDataProperty, value);
}
}
public string CN
{
get
{
return cn;
}
set
{
cn = value;
}
}
protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext context)
{
string a = "ActiveDirectory";
switch (a)
{
case "ActiveDirectory":
ADHelper adh = new ADHelper(this.DirectoryUri);
CN = adh.FetchUser(this.Query);
break;
}
//Set the results property
this.RetrievedUserData = CN;
return ActivityExecutionStatus.Closed;
}
}}
Code Bock For Supportive ADHelper Class
//-----------------------------------------------------------------------------//
//--------------Active Directory helper Class----(Rifaqat:2nd April 06)-------//
//-------Description: ...............................................--------//
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------//
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.DirectoryServices;
using System.Collections;
namespace ActivityLibrary1
{
internal class ADHelper
{
private string ldapPath;
DirectorySearcher search;
internal ADHelper(string ldapPath)
{
this.ldapPath = ldapPath;
search = new DirectorySearcher(new DirectoryEntry(ldapPath));
}
internal string GetUsersManager(string loginName)
{
SearchResult result;
search.Filter = String.Format("(SAMAccountName={0})", loginName);
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("manager");
result = search.FindOne();
if (result == null)
{
return "";
}
else
{
string userPath = result.Properties["manager"][0].ToString();
System.DirectoryServices.DirectoryEntry de = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://" + userPath);
return de.Properties["sAMAccountName"].Value.ToString();
}
}

internal string FetchUser(string Designation)
{
string _User = "";
try
{
SearchResult result;
search.Filter = String.Format("(Title={0})", Designation);
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("cn");
result = search.FindOne();
if (result != null)
{
_User = result.Properties["cn"][0].ToString();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
}
return _User;
}
internal string FetchUseronDesg(string loginName)
{
string _User = "";
try
{
SearchResult result;
search.Filter = String.Format("(SAMAccountName={0})", loginName);
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("title");
search.PropertiesToLoad.Add("cn");
result = search.FindOne();
if (result != null)
{
_User = result.Properties["title"][0].ToString();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
string s = ex.Message;
}
return _User;
}
}
}Your Solution Explorer will be like this:In this code the DirectoryUri and Query are passing as inputproperty and are used to specify the text that will be displayed in the Display Name of User as Output. We use a dependency property to enable the workflow to bind data to it. As with all workflow activities, the Execute method performs the action. Step 2: Sign and deploy the activity assembly to the GACStep 3: Configure SharePoint to recognize the custom activityAfter you build the custom activity assembly, sign it and copy it to the GAC. You then have to tell SharePoint to trust the assembly. This is similar to configuring a web part as a safe control, but instead of adding an entry to the section, you add an entry to the section. Edit the web.config file for your SharePoint web application and add an element as in the following example:
Goto in your Site using this URL C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\10161
Open your Config File.
You need to add your assembly in specific site port config file:
Step 4: Create a .ACTIONS file to be used by SharePoint Designer
The final step is to create the .ACTIONS file that describes the activity to SharePoint Designer. Since this is an XML file, you can create it using Visual Studio or any XML editor.
This file describes the public properties exposed by the activity and tells SharePoint Designer how to map those properties into rules that can be displayed to the user. The following code shows a custom .ACTIONS file for the custom Active Directory activity.
Goto this path for .Actions FileC:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\1033\Workflow

ClassName="Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions.CollectDataTask"
Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.WorkflowActions, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
AppliesTo="all"
CreatesTask="true"
Category="Task Actions">

The Actions tag tells SharePoint Designer what to display for each action in the set. Within that, the Action tag describes the individual action. The Name attribute is what gets displayed in the designer. The ClassName and Assembly attributes are used in the generated XAML for the workflow. The interesting part is the way the RuleDesigner and Parameter tags work. The RuleDesigner tag lets you set up a sentence that gets displayed in the designer as you build up the workflow. The Sentence attribute allows you to bind to the activity properties and then substitute their values when the activity is executed.
You can declare as many actions as you want in the file. A good rule of thumb is to use a separate .ACTIONS file for each logical group of custom activities you wish to deploy. Once you've created your .ACTIONS file and copied it to the server, you can refresh the site in SharePoint Designer and your custom activity will appear in the workflow designer as shown below.

Code for Developed Own Activity Control

2007-08-20T01:42:00.000-07:00

Notification Email :

Windows Workflow Foundation provides a visual interface for creating and hosting workflows that integrate seamlessly into line-of-business applications built on the .NET 3.0 Framework. Activity binding, one feature of Windows Workflow Foundation, allows an activity author to expose the properties of his or her activity to other activities at a workflow level. Once the properties are available at the workflow level, they can interact with the components that serve as the solution's user interface. This allows developers to set activity properties dynamically in a way that they are familiar with in a Visual Studio environment. This article walks through an example solution that demonstrates activity binding.

This article constructs a activity and shows how to use that activity within a workflow,There are a class [System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity] that you'll need to get to grips with in order to create an activity—in this example I'll create an activity called

[1] The first step in creating the example solution is to create a simple activity. In Visual Studio 2005, start a new solution with a Workflow Activity Library project. Visual Studio will provide a base activity (Activity1). Rename the activity to something suitable .System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Activity.

[2] dependency properties are configured as follows:

public static DependencyProperty FromProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("From", typeof(string), typeof(SendMailActivity));
[System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler.ValidationOptionAttribute(System.Workflow.ComponentModel.Compiler.ValidationOption.Required)]
public string From
{
get
{
return ((string)(this.GetValue(SendMailActivity.FromProperty)));
}
set
{
this.SetValue(SendMailActivity.FromProperty, value);
}
}

[3] Now that the dependency properties have been defined, it is time to define the activity's function. This is done by overriding the Execute method of the activity. Simply add the following code.
protected override ActivityExecutionStatus Execute(ActivityExecutionContext executionContext)
{
string url = System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.AppSettings["url"].ToString();
MailAddress toAddress = new MailAddress(To);
MailAddress fromAddress = new MailAddress(From);
MailAddressCollection addresses = new MailAddressCollection();
addresses.Add(toAddress);
MailMessage msg = new MailMessage(fromAddress, toAddress);

SmtpClient mail = new SmtpClient(MailServerUrl,25);
mail.Send(msg);
}

[4] Build Your Solution

[5] You can find This Actvity Component in your ToolBox Item.

[6] Now, You can drag and drop in your workflow state where you have need used to sent the notfication mail.

fig1:Repersenting State of State machine workflow.

<------SentMail Activity.

fig2:Dynamic Dependency Property:

<--From [Similarly you can craete more property eg:To,Subject,Email Body etc.]

Thanx & Regards

Rifaqat Ali

Sr. Software Engineer

09868459010