XPath, XQuery, and XSLT Functions

Some XML functions can be very useful in InfoPath, especially if you are an InfoPath developer. For example, suppose you are using data validation in your InfoPath form and you want the users to enter a value in one of the text boxes on your form. Of course, you can use the built-in data validation functions, for example, "If field is blank then show error alert" but users can dodge you by entering a space in the text box. In this case, InfoPath won't generate any error and will accept the value entered by the user. How can handle this situation? The answer is XML functions. You can use normalize-space() function. Right click the control and select "Data Validation". In the drop down, select "The expression" and in the text box enter normalize-space(.)="". In the screen tip, enter "Please enter valid value" and click Ok. InfoPath will now show an error if users try to enter an invalid value like a whitespace. Similarly, you can use other XML functions in your code or to validate data using the built-in data validation. More functions can be found on the following page. The page has the list of functions and examples to show how each function works:

http://www.w3schools.com/Xpath/xpath_functions.asp

 

-SSA

How to grant permissions to a custom assembly that is referenced in a report in Reporting Services

It seems straight forward. Isn't it? but it may not be as simple and straight forward for the newbies as it seems at first. A colleague and a  friend of mine recently was struggling with the same issue and he learnt the lesson after spending considerable amount of time experimenting with different solutions. You get a security exception when you write your own component to be used in a report in reporting services. My friend is working on a SharePoint project that involves reporting services. He created a report that used a custom built component. The code used SharePoint object model. He tried to use Elevated privileges but even that didn't work because the error is thrown on the line that has the elevated priviliges code. He even tried the code access security, that didn't work. The following KB article has information about this problem:

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842419/ (How to grant permissions to a custom assembly that is referenced in a report in Reporting Services)

Use following code to get rid of the security exception:

SharePointPermission perm = new SharePointPermission(PermissionState.Unrestricted);
perm.Assert();

//Code using SharePoint object model here!!

perm.Deny();

Include following DLL in the references before you use the above code:

Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.DLL

This DLL will be found in the 12 hive. Exact location is as following:

System Drive:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedWeb Server Extensions12ISAPI

Add following namespaces at the top:

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Security;
using System.Security.Permissions;

That's it. Your component will now work fine.

Creating SharePoint List Views Programmatically

Learn how to create SharePoint list views programmatically.

http://walisystems.com/articles/SPS/dynamic_views/dynamicviews.htm

Validating contact selector control programmatically

How to know if contact selector is empty?

XpathNavigator selector = this.CreateNavigator().SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:contactselector", this.NamespaceManager);

if (selector.SelectChildren(XPathNodeType.Element).Count == 0)
{
this.Errors.Add(selector, "Error","Selector is empty");

}

How to raise error if user has selected more than one person in the selector?

if (selector.SelectChildren(XPathNodeType.Element).Count > 1)
{
this.Errors.Add(selector, "Error","Please select one user");

}

How to tell if user hasn't selected a valid person?

  selector = selector.SelectSingleNode("my:Person", this.NamespaceManager);

XPathNavigator displayname = this.CreateNavigator().SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:contactselector/my:Person/my:DisplayName", this.NamespaceManager);
string strDisplayName = displayname.value.toString();

XPathNavigator accountid = this.CreateNavigator().SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:contactselector/my:Person/my:AccountId", this.NamespaceManager);
string strAccountid = accountid.value.toString();

XPathNavigator accounttype = this.CreateNavigator().SelectSingleNode("/my:myFields/my:contactselector/my:Person/my:AccountType", this.NamespaceManager);
string strAccountType = accounttype.value.toString();

                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(strDisplayName)) ||
                        string.IsNullOrEmpty(strAccountId)) ||
                        string.IsNullOrEmpty(strAccountType))
                    {
                         this.Errors.Add(selector,"Error","Please select valid user");
                    }

Note: This was off the top of my head, you may find minor mistakes in XPaths or spellings.