sharepoinTony

@info – The practical side of SharePoint

2010 in review

Posted by sharepoinTony on January 2, 2011

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

Featured image

The average container ship can carry about 4,500 containers. This blog was viewed about 14,000 times in 2010. If each view were a shipping container, your blog would have filled about 3 fully loaded ships.

In 2010, there were 33 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 84 posts. There were 5 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 306kb.

The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 153 views. The most popular post that day was Calendar Reminder (Part 2).

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were google.com, community.sharepointproconnections.com, sharepointproconnections.com, twitter.com, and google.co.in.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for sharepoint calendar reminder, sharepoint calendar reminder email, sharepoint calendar reminders, sharepoint calendar alerts, and moss 2007 file size limit.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Calendar Reminder (Part 2) April 2009
80 comments

2

“Conference” Room Manager for SharePoint June 2009
10 comments

3

Poor Folk’s Calendar Reminder (part 1) April 2009
2 comments

4

MOSS 2007 size limits – and List Item Attachments June 2009
2 comments

5

Fab 40 Help Desk Template screen shots November 2009

Posted in SharePoint 2007 | Leave a Comment »

SP2010 Incoming e-mail behavior

Posted by sharepoinTony on December 20, 2010

Scenario

I have a SharePoint 2010 library with incoming e-mail enabled.  The settings save all attachments in folders grouped by subject and Save the original e-mail.  The library incoming e-mail configuration also Accepts e-mail messages from any sender.  I have verified that incoming e-mail is routed to the library and attachments are saved correctly. 

Behavior

The original email message is kept for the FIRST email to arrive in a folder

  • Any additional emails that arrive in the folder, from the same or different sender do not save the email message. Subsequent email messages are discarded!
  • Emails with the same attachment going into a folder (folders based on subject) are discarded when the setting to Overwrite files with the same name is set to No – EVEN if the email is from different senders
  • Only unique attachments are saved into the folders in this scenario

Changing the library to Save attachments in folders grouped by e-mail sender altered the behavior significantly:

  • Both the email and attachment are saved for subsequent e-mails from the same sender
  • Emails with the same attachment from the same sender are saved into the folder, however the new attachment is discarded

This behavior makes some sense, however it seems odd that the email message is discarded.  Be warned. ;-)   I will be presenting on this topic (In-coming e-mail in SharePoint 2010) at the SharePoint Saturday San Diego in February so join us if you are interested in this topic.

Posted in Install & Configure, SharePoint 2010, Tips and Tricks | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Web Parts in SharePoint Editions

Posted by sharepoinTony on November 23, 2010

The table below displays Web Parts available in various SharePoint editions.  This list may not be exhaustive, however it does include all web parts I found when enabling Enterprise features.

Web Part

Foundation

Server 2010 Standard

Server 2010 Enterprise

Description

Business Data Actions

    

*

Displays a list of actions from Business Data Connectivity.

Business Data Connectivity Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from the Business Data Connectivity.

Business Data Item

    

*

Displays one item from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.

Business Data Item Builder

    

*

Creates a Business Data item from parameters in the query string and provides it to other Web Parts.

Business Data List

    

*

Displays a list of items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.

Business Data Related List

    

*

Displays a list of items related to one or more parent items from a data source in Business Data Connectivity.

Chart Web part

    

*

Helps you to visualize your data on SharePoint sites and portals. (MossChartWebPart)

Excel Web Access

    

*

Use the Excel Web Access Web Part to interact with an Excel workbook as a Web page. (Excel.WebUI)

Indicator Details

    

*

Displays the details of a single Status Indicator. Status Indicators display an important measure for an organization and may be obtained from other data sources including SharePoint lists, Excel workbooks, and SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services KPIs.

Status List

   

*

Shows a list of Status Indicators. Status Indicators display important measures for your organization, and show how your organization is performing with respect to your goals. (KPI List Web Part)

Visio Web Access

    

*

Enables viewing and refreshing of published Visio diagrams.

Categories

  

*

*

Displays categories from the Site Directory. (CategoryWebPart)

Relevant Documents

*

*

*

Displays documents that are relevant to the current user.

RSS Viewer

  

*

*

Displays an RSS feed.

Table Of Contents

*

Displays the navigation hierarchy of your site.

Site Aggregator

  

*

*

Displays sites of your choice. (siteFramer)

Sites in Category

  

*

*

Displays sites from the Site Directory within a specific category. (CategoryResults)

Table of Contents

  

*

*

Displays the navigation hierarchy of your site.

Web Analytics web part

  

*

*

Displays the most viewed content, most frequent search queries from a site, or most frequent search queries from a search center. (WhatsPopular)

WSRP Viewer

    

*

Displays portlets from web sites using WSRP 1.1. (WSRPConsumer)

XML Viewer

*

*

*

Transforms XML data using XSL and shows the results.

Choice Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values entered by the page author. (AuthoredListFilter)

Current User Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts by using properties of the current user.

Date Filter

    

*

Filter the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter or pick a date.

Filter Actions

    

*

Use the Filter Actions Web Part when you have two or more filter Web Parts on one Web Part Page, and you want to synchronize the display of the filter results.

Page Field Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts using information about the current page. (PageContextFilter)

Query String (URL) Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts using values passed via the query string.

SharePoint List Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts by using a list of values.

SQL Server Analysis Services Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts using a list of values from SQL Server Analysis Services cubes. (OlapFilter)

Text Filter

    

*

Filters the contents of Web Parts by allowing users to enter a text value.

HTML Form Web Part

*

*

*

Connects simple form controls to other web parts. (MSSimpleForm)

InfoPath Form Web Part

    

*

Use this Web Part to display an InfoPath browser-enabled form.

Content Editor

*

*

*

Allows authors to enter rich text content.

Image Viewer

*

*

*

Displays a specified image. (MSImage)

Page Viewer

*

*

*

Displays another Web page on this Web Page. The other Web page is presented in an iFrame. (MSPageViewer)

Picture Library Slideshow Web Part

*

*

*

Use to display a slideshow of images and photos from a picture library. (MSPictureLibrarySlideshow)

Silverlight Web Part

*

*

*

A web part to display a Silverlight application.

My Calendar

  

*

*

Displays your calendar using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.

My Contacts

  

*

*

Displays your contacts using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.

My Inbox

  

*

x

Displays your inbox using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.

My Mail Folder

  

*

*

Displays your mail folder using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2000 or later.

My Tasks

  

*

*

Displays your tasks using Outlook Web Access for Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or later.

Advanced Search Box

  

*

*

Displays parameterized search options based on properties and combinations of words.

Dual Chinese Search

  

*

*

Used to search Dual Chinese document and items at the same time.

Federated Results

  

*

*

Displays search results from a configured location.

People Refinement Panel

  

*

*

This webpart helps the users to refine people search results

People Search Box

  

*

*

Presents a search box that allows users to search for people.

People Search Core Results

  

*

*

Displays the people search results and the properties associated with them.

Refinement Panel

  

*

*

This webpart helps the users to refine search results.

Related Queries

  

*

*

This webpart displays related queries to a user query. (QuerySuggestions)

Search Action Links

  

*

*

Displays the search action links on the search results page.

Search Best Bets

  

*

*

Displays high-confidence results on a search results page.

Search Box

  

*

*

Displays a search box that allows users to search for information.

Search Core Results

  

*

*

Displays the search results and the properties associated with them

Search Paging

  

*

*

Display links for navigating pages containing search results.

Search Statistics

  

*

*

Displays the search statistics such as the number of results shown on the current page, total number of results and time taken to perform the search.

Search Summary

  

*

*

Displays suggestions for current search query.

Search Visual Best Bet

    

*

Displays Visual Best Bet.

Top Federated Results

  

*

*

Displays the Top Federated result from the configured location. (TopAnswer)

Contact Details

  

*

*

Displays details about a contact for this page or site.

Note Board

  

*

*

Enable users to leave short, publicly-viewable notes about this page. (SocialComment)

Organization Browser

  

*

*

This Web Part displays each person in the reporting chain in an interactive view optimized for browsing organization charts. (ProfileBrowser)

Site Users

*

*

*

Use the Site Users Web Part to see a list of the site users and their online status.

User Tasks

*

*

*

Displays tasks that are assigned to the current user.

Tag Cloud

  

*

*

Displays the most popular subjects being tagged inside your organization.

Media Web Part

*

*

Use to embed media clips (video and audio) in a web page.

Content Query

*

*

Displays a dynamic view of content from your site.

Summary Links

*

*

Allows authors to create links that can be grouped and styled.

List View Web Part

*

*

*

Use to display a view of a list or document library.

Blog Year Archive

*

*

*

Displays the blog archive of the previous three years.

Document Set Contents

*

*

Displays the contents of a Document Set.

Document Set Properties

*

*

Displays the properties of the Document Set.

Enter a Document ID

*

*

Finds a document by its Document ID

My Links

*

*

Displays a list of a users ‘My Links’

What’s New

*

*

*

This Web Part shows new information from specified lists and libraries.

Whereabouts

*

*

*

Use to display Whereabouts information

PerformancePoint

 

PerformancePoint Filter

*

This web part displays PerformancePoint filters. Filters may be linked to other web parts to provide an interactive dashboard experience. Filter types include lists and trees based on a variety of data sources.

PerformancePoint Report

*

This web part displays PerformancePoint reports. Reports may be linked to other web parts to create an interactive dashboard experience. Report types include: Analytic charts & grids, Strategy Maps, Excel Services, Reporting Services, Predictive Trend charts, and web pages.

PerformancePoint Scorecard

*

This web part displays a PerformancePoint scorecard. Scorecards may be linked to other web parts, such as filters and reports, to create an interactive dashboard experience.

PerformancePoint Stack Selector

*

This web part displays a PerformancePoint Stack Selector. All PerformancePoint web parts, such as filters and reports, contained in the same zone will be automatically stacked and selectable using this web part.

SQL Server Reporting Services Report Viewer

*

Use the Report Viewer to view SQL Server Reporting Services reports. (ReportViewer) Only available with Reporting Services integration.

Posted in Install & Configure, SharePoint 2010 | Tagged: | Leave a Comment »

SP2010 in-place upgrade error resolution

Posted by sharepoinTony on November 1, 2010

After running the prerequisiteinstaller successfully, I was running Setup.exe during an in-place upgrade I ran across the following error:

Setup is unable to proceed due to the following error(s):

A system restart from a previous installation or update is pending.  Restart your computer and run setup to continue.

I found only a few blog posts on this, one on TechNet by Bill Baer which points to a couple of registry keys that could be modified to resolve the problem and allow the upgrade to continue.  I tested the registry key solution in a vm test environment, and it did the trick, resolving the error and allowing the upgrade to continue to completion.    (That article describes several different issues that may happen during your SharePoint Server 2010 installation/upgrade and possible solutions)

While implementing this upgrade on a production machine I was a little more concerned about this error and that solution when the same error occurred.   I attempted to restart the system, however the same error returned.  I attempted to re-run the prerequisiteinstaller, reboot, and then run the setup.exe again – but continued to receive this same error.  In this case we had Microsoft Support on the line already so I asked about this error and how to resolve it.  The response was: 

  1. Stop the Print Spooler service
  2. then disable it
  3.  then complete a system restart 

After doing this the SharePoint 2010 installation (setup.exe) ran to completion successfully.    If you have the Print Spooler running on your server you may want to ask yourself if you need that service or not.  In our case, we didn’t so I left the service disabled after the upgrade completed.  You may want to restart yours.

Posted in Install & Configure, SharePoint 2010, Tips and Tricks | Tagged: , , | 2 Comments »

Warm-up SharePoint 2010 sites

Posted by sharepoinTony on October 20, 2010

Technorati Tags: ,,

Background

Customers may ask for a “warm-up script” to enable their SharePoint sites to load faster after a restart, etc.  With versions of SharePoint prior to 2010, such as 2003 and 2007 there were several variations of scripts developed to accomplish this, each with their own negative impact.  Generally, Microsoft recommended against using these scripts in a production environment.  For SharePoint 2010 there is a new and better solution which is an extension to IIS.  You must evaluate your environment to determine if this solutions is appropriate or not.

Solution

Use the Application Warm-Up Module for IIS 7.5.

IIS Application Warm-Up for IIS 7.5 can be configured to initialize Web applications by using specific Web pages and user identities. This makes it possible to create specific initialization processes that can be executed synchronously or asynchronously depending on the initialization logic. In addition, these procedures can use specific identities in order to ensure a proper initialization.

Steps To Implement

  1. Download the 64-bit version for Windows Server 2008 R2 from the iis.net site (Application Warm-Up Module for IIS 7.5)
  2. Install the module on the machine hosting SharePoint 2010 web applications
  3. Configure the module by launching IIS Manager
  4. Click on your SharePoint site, double-click on the Application Warm-Up item
  5. Select Settings from the Actions section on the far right pane
  6. Select both options in the Settings dialog and click the OK button
  7. Click Add Request….
  8. Enter the URL of your SharePoint site (typically the main page) – the status codes will auto-populate
  9. Enter a name for this Request in the Request context parameter field, click OK
  10. Click Edit User Context… to specify authentication settings
  11. Select Set Username and Type only from the Mode selection box of the Edit User Context dialog
  12. Select Windows from the Type selection list (or another appropriate option for the environment)
  13. Enter the User name and click OK
  14. Repeat steps 7-13 for each site or site collection running on this IIS server which you want to ‘warm-up’

Notes

  • If you try to use Anonymous or do not set the User Context the module will not work & will generate errors in the event log.  There are situations where Anonymous would work, such as an external SharePoint site with Anonymous access enabled then you could use Anonymous in the User Context settings.
  • This module will warm-up the site after an IIS Reset, Server Reboot, or Application Pool recycle.

Reference:

http://www.iis.net/download/ApplicationWarmUp

Using the IIS Application Warm-Up Module http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/688/using-the-iis-application-warm-up-module/

http://sharepointgeorge.com/2010/warm-sharepoint-web-applications-windows-2008-r2-iis-75-application-warmup-module/

Posted in Install & Configure, SharePoint 2010, Tips and Tricks | Leave a Comment »

SharePoint Saturday San Diego

Posted by sharepoinTony on September 29, 2010

Announcing SharePoint Saturday San Diego!

This event will be held on Feb 26th, 2011 at the San Diego Convention Center!

Registration is open

Join SharePoint architects, developers, and other professionals that work with Microsoft SharePoint for ‘SharePoint Saturday’.  SharePoint Saturday will be an educational, informative & lively day filled with sessions from respected SharePoint professionals & MVPs, covering a wide variety of SharePoint-orientated topics.  SharePoint Saturday is FREE, open to the public and is your local chance to immerse yourself in SharePoint!

Here are a few highlights for our event:

  • Over 40 sessions and 7 tracks…
  • MVPs and Experts from all over North America…
  • SharePint with attendees and speakers directly following..

Please save the date and register NOW!

The San Diego SharePoint Users Group (SanSPUG) is proud to host this event.  Follow SanSPUG on twitter or use the #SPSsan hashtag in your twitter search to stay informed about this event.  You can also find SANSPUG on LinkedIn and Facebook.  For more information about SharePoint Saturday see the SharePoint Saturday international home.

Posted in Announcement, Event | Tagged: , , , | Leave a Comment »

Security Advisory for ASP.NET updated for SharePoint 2007

Posted by sharepoinTony on September 28, 2010

The Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2010/09/21/security-advisory-2416728-vulnerability-in-asp-net-and-sharepoint.aspx) lists WORKAROUND steps that should be taken for SharePoint Web Front Ends (WFE’s) to mitigate the vulnerability related to ASP.NET.
Follow the link above to find the steps for your version of SharePoint and implement this in your environment.  It only takes a few minutes!

Posted in Administration, Announcement | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

USPJ does a great job

Posted by sharepoinTony on September 26, 2010

I finally got to read through the latest Understanding SharePoint Journal and I have to say I was impressed.  

The journal is clear and concise, it is very informative, and it is very easy to read.  The level of detail is great for anyone learning about SharePoint and provides sufficient information to allow you to build something of value by the time you finish reading.  In fact, the examples allow you to follow along and build something while you are reading. 

The format of these journals focus on one topic at a time, allowing you to get more depth in the topic and learning more without feeling like you sat through a lecture.  The coverage of the topic is excellent and fits the audience well.  I highly recommending the Understanding SharePoint Journal to anyone trying to learn SharePoint or learn more about SharePoint.   I certainly learned more about SharePoint 2010 Workflows than I expected after reading this issue.

Kudo’s to Bjorn and the USPJ team.

Posted in Commentary, SharePoint Tools, Workflow | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

Odd Profile Import from AD

Posted by sharepoinTony on September 23, 2010

I am running a clean install of MOSS 2007 SP2 on Windows Server 2008 R2, all patches/updates etc. have been applied (this was not an upgraded SP2003 server).

I have the following User Filter in place for the import from our Active Directory:

(&(objectCategory=Person)(objectClass=User)(!(userAccountControl:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))(!(!company=*)))

This should be filtering such that I import only people with the account type of User, which are not disabled, and do not have a blank value listed in Company.

What I get: SOME disabled accounts are imported into the User Profiles and appear in the User Information list, while others are not.

This is happening AFTER 3 or more Full Imports have run since the time the user accounts were disabled in AD.  All of the accounts are ‘disabled’ the same way in AD, right-click and choose disable. Looknig at the menu via right-click on the account displays “enable” and looking at the properties shows that the accounts are disabled.

After searching and trying various things I did find one very interesting thing.  When the import is run using the domain administrator account rather than my SharePoint service account (which has read access to the AD) then all of the disabled accounts filter properly.  When I switch back and do a full import, then the rogue disabled accounts return to Active.  It is always the same accounts that do not filter and the same disabled accounts that do filter regardless of the user who runs the import.

There must be some kind of permission thing going on here, and I am still testing but this seems like an odd behavior that may have as its source Active Directory.  Updates to follow, if I ever find the final answer.

Posted in Administration, SharePoint 2007, User Profiles | Tagged: , | Leave a Comment »

What not to do – buying web parts

Posted by sharepoinTony on September 10, 2010

This is a message to business managers trying to solve problems using SharePoint.

First, good job using SharePoint!

Now, please DO look at the options available to you that will help you get things done or enrich your SharePoint environment.

Please DON’T puchase web parts without talking to your SharePoint Administrator, Specialist or whomever you have focused on SharePoint.

Why?  Well, here is a short story (which I will call a fairy tale) that should make my point.

Once upon a time there was a department looking for a more robust solution than was available in their OOTB SharePoint 2007 environment.  They happily danced around while looking for solutions and discovered a shiny web part package that was priced very well.  The joyful department manager purchased the package and gleefully notified the SharePoint Administrator of the wonderful find.  The glorious admin reviewed and installed the tool and went about configuring for the perfectly good solution for the happy department.

The happy department requested a meeting.  Before they start using this new dandy they want a few changes.  The excitement filled the air as the team listed requirements for their solution.  What’s this?  They want to change the columns used by the solution’s installed list.  They want the solution to use existing InfoPath forms.   Gee, that seems reasonable doesn’t it?

A cloud of darkness appeared over the happy crowd, evil seemed to rain over them, sadness ensued.

You see children, the solution is a good one only if it meets the requirements set forth in the beginning.  Oops, no requirements had been written.  That’s OK as long as the needs to enrich the environment and make the identified task easier for the joyous department members are met.  Oops, the solution won’t allow those desired changes to the list.  Oops, it will not allow the use of InfoPath forms.

Hmm, what went wrong?

Then End.

Posted in Best Practice, Commentary, SharePoint Tools | Tagged: , , | Leave a Comment »

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