Modifying Microsoft SharePoint Template

Tips, tips and more tips. Well, as i said earlier, i am posting lot of tips these days on Microsoft newsgroups. Here is another one! There was a question posted by a user concerning Microsoft SharePoint Templates. Here is the question:

Q: Has anyone downloaded the Helpdesk App from Microsoft? I am attempting to  use it, and would like to change the categories and projects lists. How do I do this?

Before i answer the above question, here is the link from where you can download these applications:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/sppt/wssapps/default.mspx

These are custom out-of-the-box scenarios for the Windows SharePoint Services platform.

On the main page of "Helpdesk" application, there is a section that lists the categories. This is an "Issues" list.

1. Click on "All Issues" link in this section.

2. Click on "Modify Settings and columns" under "Actions" heading in the left side menu.
3. Under "Columns", click on "category".
4. In "Optional settings for column" section, you can define choices for this column. You will see following choices by default: Outage, Poor Quality, Equipment Issue, Other. Modify these and use your own choices.
5. Click OK.

That's it! You can add more columns of your choice. You can modify or delete existing columns. You can modify other lists in this application in the same way.

Hope this helps!

-SSA

How to delete a site in SharePoint?

Here is yet another question from a user:

How can i delete a recently added site? I don't like it's format. I want to delete it but don't know how to do it?

Well, here is the solution:

1. If you are inside the site, go to "Site Settings".

2. Click "Go to Site Administration".

3. Click "Delete this site" under "Management and Statistics" heading.

This should delete the site.

SharePoint Document Puller

SharePoint Document Puller

This is a small tool developed to extract documents from your SharePoint portal. Documents extracted will be saved to your hard disk. This utility will be of great help to the administrators who use SharePoint as document management system. I have worked with such systems. I have deployed enterprise level document management systems for large organizations and I know they have got hundreds of thousands of documents to store in SharePoint libraries. Searching for specific documents in such a large document management system is a headache, so that is where this tool will come in handy. Users can search for Word documents in SharePoint. Tool will return all word documents from all sites, subsites, libraries, etc. With a single click of a button, user can save the selected document to the hard disk. It's that simple.

I could have made this tool a complicated one with lots of other features but for the sake of simplicity, I have kept it small and simple. This version has two main features:

1. With a single click, you can find all Word documents in your SharePoint deployment.
2. You can save selected document to your hard disk.

Some features that I wanted to implement and might include in the next version:

1. Currently, application retrieves database settings from a text file and hence, it is important for users to modify this text file before being able to use the application. I wanted to include a couple of fields on the form itself so that users would not have to modify the text file. Furthermore, new users may find it difficult to locate the SharePoint database and add it's name to the connection string in the text file.

2. This application searches only Word files in SharePoint whereas it should have the capability to find all other types especially PDF, XLS, PPT, etc. This is not much work and only a couple of lines need to be included in the code. I promise I will do it in next release.

3. Application saves the Word file in the folder where the executable resides. Application should have allowed the user to select a location on the hard disk. This will be included in next release.

Here is what you need to do to run the executable:

1. Edit the db.txt file which is located in the same folder where the EXE resides. This file contains the db connection string. Modify the connection string in this file.

Data Source=sqlserver;Initial Catalog=myPortal1_SITE;User Id=sa;Password=abcd;

"Data source" is your sql server name. "Initial Catalog" contains the name of your portal server site database, for example, if your portal name is "myPortal" then most probably, your database name will be "myPortal1_SITE". Remember, there are three main databases associated with your portal:

a. myPortal1_PROF
b. myPortal1_SERV
c. myPortal1_SITE

We are concerned about the third one only, myPortal1_SITE. You also need to provide User Id and Password (if any) for your database. Modify the connection string and save the db.txt file.

The zip file attached contains only two files: SPDocPuller.exe and db.txt. I could have created an installer but that would have taken a lot of space unnecessarily. I assume you will be running this tool on the SharePoint box. The executable references following files, therefore these should be available on your machine:

1. Microsoft.Office.Core
2. Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal
3. Microsoft.VisualBasic
4. Scripting

Clicking the "Pull Document" button will save the file in the same folder from where you will run the executable file.

I will be looking forward to your comments and suggestions.

Thanks,

-SSA

The "Modified" column shows the current date and time instead of the date and time that you configured in a custom program in SharePoint Portal Server 2003

"Consider the following scenario. You create a discussion board in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. You run a custom program that adds discussion items to the discussion board programmatically. The custom program also configures the date and time that appear in the Modified column for the discussion items. However, after you run the custom program, the Modified column for the discussion items shows the current date and time instead of the date and time that you configured in the custom program. " I noticed this problem even before but couldn't find solution at that time but now Microsoft has released a KB article that gives you a solution. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/915489/en-us?spid=2528

Unblocking blocked files

Update (Sep 13, 2007): You can remove a blocked filetype from the SharePoint Central Administration. There is no such thing as global list. Ignore the message that is shown in SharePoint Central Administration ( .... you must remove it from both global and web application lists). ---  To allow a file type that is currently blocked, you must remove it from both the global and Web application lists. This is a very common question asked by the users. If removing the file extension from SharePoint Central Administration does not unblock the file, then you must remove it from the web application as well. Change the application in the "web application" drop down by clicking the arrow and selecting "Change web application" and then remove the file type from the list of blocked files.

Connecting SharePoint with a File Share

1. Drop a page viewer web part on your page.
2. Select folder as the source.
3. Create a network place on your machine. Add network folder's path in the folder source.

This is the easiest way to view files from a file share.

-SSA

"EnterpriseInitializationModule" Error

EnterpriseInitializationModule

Have you ever encountered this error in SharePoint? Probably not! Very recently a couple of people asked me about this error so i thought i should post it here so that others may also benefit.  One user complained that when he tried to export SharePoint list to Excel, he got "Cannot connect to server" error. It is very difficult for ordinary users to debug such errors. If you debug, you will find the actual error message which will be something like this: "There is no EnterpriseInitializationModule" module ...".
Here is the solution:
To resolve this issue, remove the following lines from the Web.config file that is located in the Drive:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedWeb server extensions60Isapi folder:


Following KB article discusses this issue:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914212/en-us 

-SSA

Setting custom properties in Word Template (Document Library)

Level: Beginner 

Q: I want my document library template to have custom properties?

1. In your document library select "Modify settings and columns".
2. "Document Template" under "General Settings" shows template URL. Click "Edit Template" link at the end of the URL. This will open the template in MS Word.
3. Select File > Properties.
4. Select "Custom" tab.
5. You will find predefined properties in the drop down. You can also add a new property by typing in the name box, giving it a value and clicking the "Add" button.
6. Click "OK" and save the template.

Now, all new documents created in the library will have custom properties set.

-SSA

Explorer view problem

I was just looking at the explorer view solution posted by a user (Stephane) in SharePoint (portalserver) newsgroup, there are some good suggestions posted by the user. This is one of the most frequently asked questions. I am posting these suggestions hoping these might benefit my blog readers:

- Install IE6 SP1, if it's already installed, make a repair
- Remove and Install the WebFolders (c:winntsystem32WebFldrs.msi)
- Install MDAC 2.8 SP1
- Register this key to support a url more than 100 caracters
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftInternet
ExplorerMainFeatureControlKB325355_INCREASE_WEBFOLDER_MAXURLLENGTH_TO_260CHAR]
"Iexplore.exe"=dword:00000001
- Install the patch Webfldrs-KB892211-ENU.exe