The Guide of a MOSSLover

Kansas City Office Developer User Group (hopefully KC Office Geeks soon)

We will have a meeting for the Kansas City Office Developer Group Meeting on Thursday, March 6th at 6 pm at Centriq Foss.  The website is http://www.kcoffice.org.  I will be speaking about Feature Design in Sharepoint.  Basically, I will talk to you about what you should put in features, so that you can roll it out sitewise.  I promise to bring some candy with me and there may be some questions involved.  I don't have a full abstract or profile created, but I have basically been working with SharePoint for 2 1/2 years.  I went through Portal University with Levi, Ray, and Shoup for SharePoint 2003 and .Net 1.1 Training.  I am currently an Admin and Developer for Terracon Consultants Incorporated.  Levi, Ray, and Shoup has agreed to sponsor our meeting with pizza.  So you will be well fed if you show up.  I promise to try and make this presentation entertaining.

posted @ Friday, February 29, 2008 3:55 PM | Feedback (0) |

Is there a Ghost in SharePoint?

posted @ Thursday, February 28, 2008 10:50 AM | Feedback (2) |

Pardon My Construction

I want to apologize to anyone reading my feeds lately or reading my blog entries.  I am trying import 5 entries a day to the new blog, so you are going to see a bunch of entries from the old blog posted to FeedBurner again.  I am really sorry and this mess should be cleaned up, hopefully, within the next few months.  Maybe some of the new people reading the blog missed some of the entries, so it might be nice to re-visit some old entries.  Maybe you will also notice a gap in some topics related to SharePoint that you would like me to cover.  If you post a comment I may try my best to research that topic and add some additional information.  After all I am here to help you guys out.  This blog is more for you guys out there who experience a issue similar to the topics that I have covered.  I hope that you all have a nice night.  I am really sorry for clogging SharePointFeeds and Geeks with Blogs:)

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:34 PM | Feedback (0) |

Silly Error I should have known better...

Yesterday I messed with the default.master file for our main portal page to allow for more real estate on the site.  Today I noticed that the lists had a problem showing the bread crumbs on every single site, so I created another masterpage for only the lists and document libraries, unfortunately I did not realize what I had done...A bit later I got some complaints about "File Not Found" errors, so I realized that I did not check the file back in.  Later on people start complaining about messages that the list is deleted and I could see it without any problem.  I spent  hours on this problem, then I realized that I need to approve the default.master page.  Remember to check in and approve all default.master pages if you are using any type of publishing site or you will most likely fall into an Occam's Razor like I did.  If you have trouble remembering this problem just remember the movie Contact and the definition of "Occam's Razor", which is the simplest solution is usually the answer to your problem.  You should really go out and see Contact if you haven't.  I would say it's one of the better Science Fiction Films out there.  Have a nice night kids:)

Re-Posted from Old Blog

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:28 PM | Feedback (2) |

Programmatically Add and Remove Items from the Quick Launch Bar

I ran into a problem last week, where I need to update multiple sites navigation really quick by deleting and adding items to the navigation on the quick launch bar.  I found this great entry from Todd Baginski: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/tbaginski/archive/2007/12/26/how-to-programmatically-customize-site-navigation-in-wss-3-0-and-moss-2007.aspx.  I wanted to take this a step further by removing nodes from underneath a specific heading.  Then I wanted to re-add different nodes, so that I could pull up some javascript that would change the links based on certain phrases (i.e. http://reports, http://sql/[Specific Annual Report]).  Here is the sample code for the quick launch additions and removals:

                SiteName = "your site name here";

                    using (SPSite site = new SPSite(SiteName))
                    {


                        SPWeb quickLaunchWeb = site.OpenWeb();

                        SPNavigationNodeCollection quickLaunchNodes =  
                        quickLaunchWeb.Navigation.QuickLaunch;
                       
                       //deletes the first and second child underneath the 7th heading on
                       the page
                        quickLaunchNodes[6].Children.Delete(quickLaunchNodes[6].
                        Children[0]);
                        quickLaunchNodes[6].Children.Delete(quickLaunchNodes[6].
                        Children[1]);

                        //Notice that deleting any children is easy as long as you know the
                           position...You can probably also check the children's names too 
                          and create a dynamic component and loop through the quick 
                          launch list and delete items by adding an if or for loop.


                        //creates 5 children underneath the 7th heading
                        SPNavigationNodeCollection quickLaunchNodes2 = 
                                           quickLaunchWeb.Navigation.QuickLaunch;


                        SPNavigationNode externalSubMenuItem1 = 
                                        new SPNavigationNode("Link1", "Url1", true);

                        quickLaunchNodes2[6].Children.AddAsLast(externalSubMenuItem1);

                        SPNavigationNode externalSubMenuItem2 =
                                  new SPNavigationNode("Link2", "Url2", true);

                        quickLaunchNodes2[6].Children.AddAsLast(externalSubMenuItem2);

                        SPNavigationNode externalSubMenuItem3 =
                                    new SPNavigationNode("Link3", "Url3", true);

                       quickLaunchNodes2[6].Children.AddAsLast(externalSubMenuItem3);



                        quickLaunchWeb.Navigation.UseShared = true;

                         //You only need one update statement for all the remove and adds,
                             on first shot I accidentally added it twice and learned this lesson.
                         quickLaunchWeb.Update();
                    }

I came up with this program really quick and it was a console application.  I added the first part of the site and had a console.readline statement to type in the site number, because ours were numerically based.  I wanted to double check every site to see if anything was broken in other areas.  If you want a quicker version, then you could probably just run any site in that specific web or read from an outside data source.  For example,  we have a web service that lists all the sites I could have called the web service to get the number and add/remove items from the quick launch with one go at the program.  If you guys would like a script example on how to use these items that I added to the quick launch to change the links with one file let me know.  I have a script that dynamically replaces specific text through the master file.  I hope that you guys enjoy.

Re-Posted from Old Blog

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:26 PM | Feedback (17) |

Calling all people involved in a SharePoint User Group for Any Kind of Help

So I am somewhat involved in a user group that was started a couple months ago by Jeff Julian.  This user group was created due to a lack of a SharePoint User Group that deals with more developmental and administrative aspects of SharePoint in the Kansas City Area.  (Please stop posting comments about the user group that Daniel Webster hosts.  I have no beef with him or his user group it is great for project leads and business analysts.  I am not trying to spread hate towards anyone.)  So we have some problems getting people to attend our user group meetings as only 2 people are showing up per meeting.  I know that there a couple more SharePoint Admins and Developers in the area.  I have no idea how to coerce these people out of there houses without food or sponsor or a huge hook.  I have no idea what that hook could be.  Maybe it's the way we are advertising.  Maybe it's the design of the site at www.kcoffice.org.  I really have no idea, but I would like some input from anyone who has anything to do with a SharePoint User Group, especially those of you who created one from the ground up and know how it feels to start from scratch.  I appreciate any help in advance.  I am probably going to post something on facebook to see if I can get anyone to respond.

Re-Posted from Old Blog

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:19 PM | Feedback (3) |

Custom Flag Issue in Wikis

I must admit that I know only the most basic things about javascript (how to create a slideshow, how to redirect items, and how to write basic functions).  I am debugging someone else's code and I still have no idea what I am doing.  Basically on every one of these sites we have one default master page with a script inside to check every list and document library to see if a yes/no "Flag" field is checked and also checks the "Flag Expiration" to see if it is expired.  If the field is checked and it is not expired, then a Flag Picture shows up (rather than yes or no) and the  Flag Expiration Field is hidden.  Well there is a problem with wiki articles, because the ListIteratorView Webpart only shows columns in text without a picture.  I understand that to get these to push out on all the sites that were created the template would need to be overrode or someway to override the ListFieldIterator part on just the wiki pages would need to be implemented (possibly a custom template).  If anyone has a great idea for me I'm all ears and maybe some awesome linking.  Here is the code for the convert to flag function:

function convertFlagColumn(listName, columnName, pictureURL){
    //alert('test2');
    var error;
    try{
        //alert('test3');
        var permList;
        //alert('test4');
        var tables = document.getElementsByTagName('table');
        //alert('test5');
        for(var i = 0; i < tables.length; i++){
            //alert('test6');
            if(tables[i].summary.indexOf(listName) != -1){
                //alert('test7');
                webpartZone = tables
              [i].parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.
              parentNode.parentNode.parentNode.parentNode; 

                var error; 
                try{
                   //If regular list without full toolbar
                    permList = webpartZone.children[0].children[0].children[0].children
                   [0].children[1].children[0].children[0].children[0].children[0].children;
                }
                catch(error){
                    var error2;
                    try{
                        //If regular list with full toolbar
                        permList = webpartZone.children[0].children[0].children[0].children
                        [1].children[1].children[0].children[0].children[0].children
                       [0].children;
                    }
                    catch(error2){
                        var error3;
                        try{
                           //If document library with full toobar
                            permList = webpartZone.children[0].children[0].children
                           [0].children[1].children[2].children[0].children[0].children
                          [0].children[0].children;
                        }
                        catch(error3){
                            //If document library without full toolbar
                            var error4;
                            try{
                                permList = webpartZone.children[0].children[0].children
                               [0].children[0].children[2].children[0].children[0].children
                              [0].children[0].children;
                            }
                            catch(error4){
                                //If no Items
                                var error5;
                                try{
                                    permList = webpartZone.children[0].children[0].children
                                    [0].children[2].children[0].children;
                                }
                                catch(error5){ 
                                          break;
                                }
                            }
                        }   
                    }
                } 
                var colNum = -1;
                var columns = permList[0].getElementsByTagName('th'); 
                for(var o = 0; o < columns.length; o++){
                    if(columns[o].innerText == columnName){
                        colNum = o;
                        //alert(columns[o+1].innerText);
                        columns[o+1].style.display = "none";
                        break;
                    }
                }
                //alert('test20');
                if(colNum > -1){
                    for(var q = 1; q < permList.length; q++){
                        var Flag = permList[q].children[colNum];
                        var FlagExpiration = permList[q].children[(colNum+1)]
                        if(FlagExpiration){
                            var expired = checkExpiration(FlagExpiration.innerText);
                            FlagExpiration.style.display = "none";
                            if(Flag.innerText == "Yes" && !expired)
                                Flag.innerHTML = "<img src='"+pictureURL+"'>";
                            else
                                Flag.innerHTML = "";
                        }
                    }
                } 
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    catch(error){
        alert(error.message);
    }
}
function grabTitle(){
    return document.getElementsByTagName('title')[0].innerText;
}
function runUIMods(){
    var error;
    try{
        var EditMode = false;
        var hyperlinks = document.getElementsByTagName("a");
        for(var t = 0; t < hyperlinks.length; t++){
            if(hyperlinks[t].innerHTML == "Exit Edit Mode"){
                EditMode = true;
                break;
            }
        }
        //if edit mode clear all titles
        if(EditMode == false){
            //hideNC_Number(grabTitle());
            //alert('test1');
            convertFlagColumn(grabTitle(), 'Flag', 'redflag2_jpg.jpg')
        }
       
    }
    catch(error){
        alert(error.message);
    }
}
runUIMods();

Thanks for the help in advance to anyone out there that is willing to help out.

Re-Posted from Old Blog

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 6:12 PM | Feedback (0) |

Knowledge Base Template Error

We created a test farm with SP1 for WSS 3.0 and MOSS.  We added our content database from Production by importing the backup files and recreated the application.  When I tried to install the 20 WSP Templates for the Fantastic 40 I find out the solution packages are not installing properly.  I haven't tried to install these templates after installing SP1, because the old farm they were installed prior to SP1 existing.  Does anyone know why the solution package would only install half of the features for the templates?

***Update***

After about 5 retracts and installs the Knowledge Base Template finally worked.  Honestly, I will never know why it did or didn't install half the features the first four tries...I am getting a little irritated with WSP Solution Packages, but will get over myself in a few days...

posted @ Wednesday, February 27, 2008 2:34 PM | Feedback (3) |

Upcoming Work this Week

This week I wrote yet another console application that will write to an html file and create two tables.  It basically reads from a list a specific entry, then breaks up the entry into multiple pieces based on a delimiter.  Then it uses a web service to send the information through a stored procedure and writes to an html file.   If you are remotely interested in the code I can post it just let me know.
I am also working on setting up incoming e-mail.  So far I have found a couple entries that all link back to this article: http://www.combined-knowledge.com/Downloads%202007.htm.
It looks to be a great article that talks about Exchange Server 2003 and 2007.  I am really interested in setting this up, because I have never really seen the incoming e-mail feature in action.  I would like to know how the e-mails are changed when they hit SharePoint.  I am also curious how the routing through the SMTP Server will look like.  I played a little bit with the drop folder and tried to get it to work without the SMTP Server.  I did a little googling and realized you can't trick SharePoint it knows that there is no SMTP Server.
The other really cool thing I did this week was setup a bunch of Virtual Servers (3 to be exact) on our test server, so that we could host the our Test SharePoint Box in an almost similar environment to our SharePoint Production Box.  It was really neat, because we can remote into the Virtual Servers without an issue and they are all hosted on the Test Box.  I started out thinking this project would be incredibly hard, but it really isn't.  I installed Server 2003 and the network guy joined the servers to the domain and setup remote PC.  We setup SQL 2005 on one box and a complete install of SharePoint on the main box and two of the VPCS.  I installed SharePoint complete on the main box first as a new server farm.  Then all I needed to do was do a complete install and join them to the existing farm.  It was so simple.  You turn off the Search Service on the Application Box and turn it on the Query and Index Boxes.  Then you pretty much check the box in the service on Central Admin based on the server you choose.  I chose the Query option for the Query Server and the Indexing option for the Index Server.  When I setup the SSP it recognized the Index Server and Indexed all the profiles and content properly.  I was so amazed.  Now I need to fix our Production Server, so that it includes two web front ends, a query server, an index server, an application box, and a SQL Box.  Right now we only have a SQL Box and an Application Box, so this will be rather interesting to setup.  I will probably post in the upcoming weeks about how it went.
I hope that you guys all have a nice night.  As I posted in my last entry if you are in the KC Area and free come to the user group meeting tonight.

posted @ Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:23 PM | Feedback (0) |

Kansas City .Net User Group Meeting

Tonight is the Kansas City .Net User Group Meeting at Centriq Foss in Leawood, Kansas.  The meeting should start around 6:00 pm.  The topic is MVC in ASP .Net and Doug Butscher, Jeff Julian, and John Alexander should be speaking tonight.  So if you can attend I would highly recommend it.  If you really want to you can wish me an early birthday, since my 26th birthday is this Sunday (any presents you want to give me I will not turn down:-D).  Hope to see you there tonight!

posted @ Tuesday, February 26, 2008 3:38 PM | Feedback (0) |

Hard Day...

So I saw a weird post on my online banking statement this morning.  I googled the company and it turned out to be a Christian Bookstore.  I go to work and immediately call the debit card company, because it looked like someone had used my debit card to buy some Christian Book or Paraphanalia.  This post was for Friday and it had posted right before I woke up.  Not to mention, I am Jewish and I don't remember the last time I ever bought any Christian Books or Paraphanalia since I was taking religious studies classes in college.  I have absolutely nothing against Christianity or any other religion.  In fact I am all about Interfaith Groups...More power to you if you are a member.  Anyway, when I talked to the debit card company the girl couldn't really do much, except tell me that I could close my account or wait it out.  I decided to wait and see until the end of the day.
It was around 10 pm or so and I just decided hey let's check my bank statement, because the last 300 times nothing had posted.  I notice all these Yahoo Voice and Ipower posts on the pending transactions.  I didn't buy anything, but lunch at Jason's Deli today.  I decide it's time to put a fraud alert on my account, so I go through the motions with the card company and call up one of the three big credit unions to put a 6 month hold on pre-approved credit.  At that point I think maybe my computer is compromised, so we start a packet sniffer.  Me and my boyfriend couldn't really tell if there was anything malicious, so I decide at that point to remove all my music and pictures and reformat the entire computer.  So here I am at 3 am reinstalling everything on my computer plus Peer Guardian, CC Cleaner, etc.  I turned on something that will clear all my private data in Firefox and I am contemplating getting NoScript for Firefox also.  Honestly, I really can't tell if someone took my number (and possibly more data) from my personal computer or if it was some random person that double swiped my card or memorized my card at some store.  There is just so much fraud that occurs that I may be just a lucky person on someone's list today.  I noticed that nothing else was compromised, but that card thus far.  I changed just about every single password I had, including work passwords just because I could.  I am doubting that someone would have the ability to crack the company security, but I changed that password just in case.  All my e-mails and blogs and any type of money buying or using site that I have ever hit is changed.  I am no longer using any type of cookie for at least now.  I feel so vulnerable like someone could knock me down with a feather and I could crash on the ground.  This sucks, because a week from Sunday is my birthday.  I look forward to this period of time every year.  It just doesn't feel like a happy time right now.  Hopefully, my mood will improve tenfold next Friday, because my dad is coming to visit.  Anyway, on a happy note at least it's a weekend, so I can pass out for a long period of time without having to get up at 7 am.

posted @ Saturday, February 23, 2008 3:20 AM | Feedback (3) |

My Family...Specifically My Dad...

I don't like writing about too much personal stuff in this blog.  I usually save it for my anonymous blogspot entries where I usually free style write.  I wanted to throw out a good reason why I don't post as often as I would like.  My dad has been having a really hard time the past few months.
A month ago I got this really bizarre call from my mom that entailed her speaking with an EMT and not directly at the voicemail.  I gave her a call on her cell, but she didn't answer.  Finally my dad answers, but he's shaking.  He was giving a speech in front an Interfaith Dialogue Group in front of his friends and he started shaking.  I was really worried.  Luckily it turned out to be a urinary tract infection that was caught in enough time.  Apparently, this is the same problem that killed Jim Henson, but he was in front of a group of friends (some who happened to be doctors), so he was quickly rushed to the Emergency Room.  That was an incredible miracle.
About a month earlier he was having some other issues financially and emotionally related to my mom.  She has been Bipolar since I was 3 years old.  She was going out and wracking up huge debt.  It had finally gotten to the point where he could no longer handle the situation financially and emotionally.  Eventually my brother, myself, and other family members helped him get her into a program and start on a path that would help him out a little better.
Now coming upon about a week ago...I wasn't paying attention to my phone.  I checked my voice mail and I find out my parents car was totaled, but they are fine health wise.   When I called up my dad he told me the story of what happened.  He was coming off the highway onto Kingshighway South in St. Louis and he got into the right hand lane to turn.  There is a no right turn on red sign, so he came to a full stop.  In the middle lane a huge semi with a trailer came up on him and decided to ignore the sign and turn right.  The entire side that my dad was sitting on was side swiped by the trailer of the truck.  There were no people willing to stop and take witness, so the cops just wrote a report.  I guess the truck driver decided he wanted to lie about the accident, because honestly who could do anything if there were no witnesses?  So the insurance company called the 2000 Outback that my dad owned totaled and they gave him half of what a compact car might cost.  Well if you were paying attention you have to realize that my dad can barely afford a moving vehicle.  I had a really nice 2006 Hyundai Sonata LX, which I never quite felt suited me.  My dad had helped me pick it out a few years ago, so I told him if he bought me a 2006/2007 Focus with the money he got from the settlement and my grandmother that I would give him my car.  We finished the transaction this weekend.  I'm glad I could finally do something for my dad and I will continue to help him as much as I can give back.  He doesn't ask for much, but I feel like he deserves a lot more than he has received in the past few months.  He is a great man and I hope that his 54th birthday this weekend goes off without a hitch.  I am going to try and get into town and hook him up with a really nice dinner.  For the past 25 birthdays he has never once missed a phone call or buying me a cake.  Happy 54st Birthday Boingy! (don't bother asking...it's a ridiculous story as to why we call him this name and it involves Animaniacs way too much)
Note this blog post took place the week of February 1st...My dad's birthday was February 1st...

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 5:04 PM | Feedback (0) |

Replace URL's on the Quicklaunch in Javascript

Here is some sample code:

while(document.getElementById('zz2_QuickLaunchMenu'+i) != null) 
{  
               var menu = document.getElementById('zz2_QuickLaunchMenu'+i); 
              //looks for the hyperlink tags using the quicklaunch tag 
               var hyperlinks = menu.getElementsByTagName('a');  
               hyperlinks[0].href = hyperlinks[0].href.replace(URL, URLToReplace);  //replaces the URL text 
               hyperlinks[0].target = "_blank";                            //allows for opening the link in a new window                
               i+=1; 
}
This tag for the quicklaunch: zz2_QuickLaunchMenu you can find by right clicking on your list and looking for the quick launch menu.  It will probably include the name "QuickLaunchMenu" and some text in the same format as zz2_.  The code is pretty straightforward.  If you have any comments or questions let me know.  Have a very good weekend!

Re-posted from old blog.

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 5:00 PM | Feedback (5) |

Using SharePoint Designer Workflows to Check-In an Item

At EndUserSharePoint I noticed that he encountered a bug when checking in files, so I responded with a little fix I created that involves a SharePoint Designer Workflow.  Here is a link to his blog post: http://www.endusersharepoint.com/?p=127.  It looks like a few people want to know how you would use SharePoint Designer to Check-In Items.  So here is a little walk-through (will be adding screen shots as this post has been moved):

1. For starters you need to open up Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer
2. Now click on File-->Open Site and type in the url of the document library you want to add the workflow
3. After you type in the url click Open
   
4. Now on File-->New Workflow
   
5. The Workflow Designer window will pop up
6. There should be a textbox where you can name the workflow whatever you would like and a drop down that says What list should this workflow be attached to?
   Choose the document library from the drop down menu.  If it was chosen right site in step 2, then it should appear.
7. The next item says Select workflow start options for items in Documents:
   At this point choose Automatically start this workflow when a new item is created and Automatically start this workflow when an item is changed
   What these options will do is set off the event that will be added a few steps later anytime the Properties are changed or anytime a document is added or changed.
8. Click on the Next button
   
9. A screen should appear that says Specify details for Step '1', then Choose and conditions and actions that define the steps of the workflow. and below that you will see Conditions and Actions
   In this workflow only one action will be needed and no Conditions, because the document needs to be checked in every time an item is changed or addedCli
10. Click the Actions button and you will see many options, such as Send an E-Mail or Pause for Duration.  These are all actions that you could fire when an item is added or changed in the document library.  For today we want to choose Check In Item.  If you do not see this option on the menu, then click More Actions and a window will appear. 
    Scroll down the list until you find this option, then highlight it and click Add.
    
11. An item will now appear next to Actions that says Check in a item in the list with comment: comment
    
12. Click on this list and a box should pop up that says Current Item.  This will choose the current item that is changed or added to the document library by the user.  Click Ok.
    
13. Now click on Comment and an area to type in some text will appear.  It does not matter what is typed into this field.  It is only for the record of the workflow.
    
14. At the bottom of the screen there will be a Finish button.  Click on this button.  A progress bar should appear quickly and then close out.  The workflow is now ready and should check in documents within your library.

If anyone has any comments or questions about this post please let me know and I will try to get back to you when I can.
After experiencing numerous issues with random bolding and the inability to add screenshots in an easy manner I am considering mirroring this blog to another hosting company.  I hope you guys enjoy this post have a nice day all.

Re-posted from old blog

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 4:57 PM | Feedback (17) |

What's in the Pipline for Me in the Future...

I have a lull at work as it happens every once in a while, so of course you see me post at least once a day.  I am kind of ADHD when it comes to having nothing to do at work.  Today I went through SharePointFeeds.com about 800 times refreshing the OMEA Reader, looked up some Silverlight creation tools, played around with a few PowerShell Tools, and now I find myself at this blog yet again.  I am half waiting for a book proposal to get pushed through a publishing company that contacted me.  I just sent out a family tree that I updated and created through Ancestry.com last night.  Also, in March I will be presenting again at the Kansas City Office Developer Group and I have signed up for this event: Coders4Charity.  So basically I have a little bit of exploratory time and then it's going to hit me like no other in a week or so.  I hate sitting around and doing nothing, but it's awesome to be able to do so.  There are no metaphorical stacks of papers falling on top of me devouring my whole being.  So does anyone have any good suggestions on technologies that are new and emerging while I wait or in general know of a need to fill some gap in SharePoint that you want me to work on?

Also, does anyone know a good resource for training materials on the four SharePoint Exams that MS Offers?

Re-posted from old blog.

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 4:55 PM | Feedback (0) |

WPF, WCF, and WF and SharePoint Cert Classes/Books/Reference Materials

I am looking around on the net for some classes for WPF, WCF, and WF plus any type of certification classes for the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Tests.  I want to try and pass at least one certification exam for MOSS by the middle of the year.  I would also like to learn more information and start writing my own work flows.  I know barely anything about WPF, except that it looks really nice.  I bet that I could make some really snazzy webparts implementing this technology.  I'm not the most awesome developer.  In fact I am about one third administrator, one third developer, and one third designer.  I have played around with Flash and Photoshop in my time and I think WPF looks appealing.  I am sure that I could implement it somehow in my everyday work.  I really don't know much about Windows Communication Foundation or Cardspace and would like to know a whole lot more.  Overall this would help my development skills out by ten fold learning .Net 3.5.  I am getting a lot better after taking that Asp .Net 2.0 refresher course.  I am a whole lot more confident in my abilities.  If anyone out there has any good book, class, or other reference material suggestions for the certification exams or .Net 3.5 I'm all ears. 

Re-posted from old blog.

posted @ Friday, February 22, 2008 4:52 PM | Feedback (0) |

Adding a New Survey to SharePoint w/ Alerts and Custom Permissions

At work they wanted me to create a 2 question survey that allowed the users to post as many times as they wanted anonymously on multiple sites.  I had created a document library on multiple sites using a console application, but I had never created a survey.  They also wanted there domain users to have access to the survey, so that they could post and not delete or edit the surveys plus a couple of alerts setup.  The sites already existed and were being created from a template, so I just updated the template initially.  The second part dealt with some custom code that I wrote against this custom survey template.  Here is an example of how you would create off of a custom survey template, add the permissions, then add the alerts using the SharePoint Object Model:
                string listName = "Rate This Site";
                string listDescription = "Site Rating.";
               
                try
                {
                    SPListTemplateCollection SurveyTemplateCollection =
                    site.GetCustomListTemplates(WebName);
                    SPListTemplate SurveyTemplate = SurveyTemplateCollection["Survey Template Name"];


                    //creates survey using custom template, must do an update on the web before making changes
                   //i.e. adding alerts and permissions
                    WebName.Lists.Add(listName, listDescription, SurveyTemplate);

                    WebName.Update();

                
                    SPList ListName= WebName.Lists[List Name];

                   //add a SharePoint User Group to the list and does not inherit permissions from the site
                    ListName.BreakRoleInheritance(false); //set to true if you are only adding a group
                   SPGroup RegularUser = WebName.SiteGroups["Group Name"];
                    SPRoleDefinition RoleDefinition;
                    SPRoleAssignment RoleAssignment;
                    RoleDefinition = WebName.RoleDefinitions["Permission Name"];
                    RoleAssignment = new SPRoleAssignment(RegularUser);
                    RoleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add(RoleDefinition);
                    ListName.RoleAssignments.Add(RoleAssignment);

                    SPGroup GroupName = ChangeNAPWeb.SiteGroups[Group Name];
                    foreach (SPUser UserName in GroupName.Users)
                    {
                         //setup alerts for a specific user
                       if (UserName.LoginName == "username with domain in caps")
                        //domain name is always in caps
                        {
                            SPAlert alert = WebName.Alerts.Add();
                            alert.AlertType = SPAlertType.List;
                            alert.Title = "Title of Survey";
                            alert.EventType = SPEventType.All;
                            alert.AlertFrequency = SPAlertFrequency.Immediate; //this is for immediate alerts
                            alert.User = UserName
                            alert.List = List;
                            alert.Status = SPAlertStatus.On;
                            alert.Update(true);
                        }
                    }

                    localList.Update(); //if you don't include this statement then the survey will not be updated
              }
               catch(Exception ex)
                {
                }

If you would like any additional information or you have a comment or question let me know.  I believe on my old blog there is an entry on how you would set this up in a Console Application and how you could add information to the quick launch bar programmatically.  If you don't like how it adds the survey to the top of the quick launch bar you can add the following code: ListName.OnQuickLaunch = false;
Then you can go back to my old post and look at the code on how to add the link to the point in the quicklaunch where you would like.  I hope that you enjoy the code.

posted @ Thursday, February 21, 2008 1:22 PM | Feedback (1) |

Moving My Blog

posted @ Wednesday, February 20, 2008 10:56 PM | Feedback (2) |