Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Hide View All Site Content and Recycle Bin in Quick Launch

Today while working on a ticket the User wanted to Hide the “View All Site Content” and “Recycle Bin” link from left hand navigation of sharepoint site.

Go to the page where you want to hide these links

1. Site Settings > Edit Page
2. Add a Content Editor Web Part anywhere in the page.
3. Open tool pane of Content Editor Web Part by clicking “Modify Shared Web Part” option from top right drop down of web part.
4. Click on “Source Editor” button inside tool-pane and in “Text Entry” window paste the following lines.

<style>
.ms-recyclebin {
display:none;
}
</style>
<style>
.ms-quicklaunchheader{
display:none;
}
</style>

5. Click Save
6. Expand Layout section inside toolpane.
7. Check the Hidden checkbox and click OK

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Cannot open the Document Library in explorer View

This is something tricky . I came across a user who was not able to switch to explorer view .

Gets an error -  "Please wait while Explorer View is loaded. If Explorer View does not appear, your browser may not support it".

I checked and confirmed that the site was added to the trusted sites .Did a reset of IE to the factory settings .
The Machine that i was facing a problem with was Windows 2003 With IE 8 However got to know that it also an issue when the machine has XP with SP3with IE8

Resolution - You need to start the Web Client service

1. Go to START > RUN
2. Type services.msc
3. Locate the Web Client service
4. Go to  the properties and make sure startup is set to Automatic.
5. If the service is already stopped, you'll have to START the service after setting to Automatic.

Certifications For Sharepoint server

* What are the certifications to be completed to become a SharePoint Admin ?

Check The Below Table according to Your Expertise.


The Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) certification highlights your area of expertise and helps validate that you have the knowledge and skills required to deploy and administer an enterprise SharePoint Server environment.

MCTS for SharePoint Server

Help validate your in-depth technical knowledge of and skill in using the features and functionality of key technology areas in Microsoft SharePoint Server. To earn this certification, you must pass one exam


Your profileCertificationExam number
Developer who works with Microsoft SharePoint 2010 to build web portals and integrate business applicationsMCTS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Application Development
IT professional who configures and deploys Microsoft SharePoint 2010MCTS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring
Developer who works with Office SharePoint Server 2007 to build web portals and integrate business applicationsMCTS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Application DevelopmentExam 70-542
IT professional who configures and deploys Office SharePoint Server 2007MCTS: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, ConfigurationExam 70-630




Understanding My Sharepoint Sites

=> I researched on the net and did not find a perfect Answer to this . I got to know that this is a Automated process But how does it work ?  Why does it not work for some users And they keep Opening Tickets

=> Being a Farm admin why don't I see all the sites in the My SharePoint sites

=> This was very confusing so i wanted to do some more research on this . After Researching what I got to know is the Membership information comes from the profile import/crawl and the "My SharePoint Sites" gets updated on the client PC on a daily basis.

=> It happens that's some users don't see all the sites listed under My SharePoint sites even if they are a part of the site.

=> Add to My links is not connected to My SharePoint sites it will add a link in the Drop down below My SharePoint Sites . This is the First thing all the users often try .

=> So after Going through some documentation this is what i got to know

=> For the users that are not experiencing the membership features of MOSS 2007 (for e.g My SharePoint Sites, etc), they were listed in the Owners group on the SharePoint site.

=> The membership functionality strictly works for the users listed explicitly in the Members group of the SharePoint site.

=> Now It Does make sense and is much Transparent. The only thing we have to do now is insure the owner of the site is also a member of each site collection in order for them to take advantage of the membership features .

=> As long as your site collections all reside under the same SSP your My Site belongs to, the membership functionality will work across the board. This is a tried and tested in my Environment

Note : Your memberships will be updated on the next index crawl cycle

***** How to Show sub-sites Under My SharePoint Sites ?******

Answer = You will have to explicitly add the user to the members group of all the subsites as well.

=> When we Create a sub-site it automatically creates 3 new groups for that subsite. By default it puts the site creator in the Owners and the Members group.

=> So it Doesn't Mean That if you are a owner you need not be a member of that site .If you remove yourself from the members group will not allow the site to be captured in the membership system

Friday, June 15, 2012

How to Deploy a Sandbox Solution in Sharepoint 2010

Even a Site collection administrators can deploy a Sandboxed solution in the site collection
To install a sandboxed solution
1.       Got to Site Actions, and then select Site Settings.
2.       On the Site Settings page, click Solutions under the Galleries heading.
3.       On the Solutions tab of the Server ribbon, click Upload Solution.
4.       In the Upload Solution dialog box, click Browse, and browse to the sandboxed solution package (.wsp file). Click Open.


The solution package is now in the site collection's solution gallery, but it is not yet deployed.
5.       In the Activate Solution dialog box, click Activate to activate the solution

How to Block / Unblock a Sandbox solution in the farm ? - Sharepoint 2010

At times there might be a need to block or unblock the sandboxed solution
In the Central Administration ( You must be a member of the Farm Administrators group )
ð  Navigate to System Settings. in the Farm Management section,
ð  Click Manage user solutions.
ð  On the Sandboxed Solution Management page in the Solution Restrictions section
In the File box, either type the full path of the file that contains the solution to block or use the Browse button to browse for the file to block.
You can also type a message in the Message box. This message will be displayed when a user tries to use the solution.
ð  Click Block. The solution is added to the list in the Blocked Solutions box.
ð  Click OK
And you are Done the Solution is blocked

To unblock the Solution you need to navigate to

On the System Settings page in the Farm Management section  click Manage user solutions.
On the Sandboxed Solution Management page, in the Solution Restrictions section, in the Blocked Solutions box, select the solution to unblock, and then click Remove.Click OK.
And the solution is unblocked

Enabling a sandbox solution in the farm - Sharepoint 2010

How to enable a sandbox solution in the farm ?
You must be a member of the Farm Administrators group . Now in the central administration in the => System settings => click on Manage services on server
In the server select the server on which you want to enable sandboxed solutions
You will see the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service click start
If you have a server farm you need to start the service on each server on which you want to enable sandboxed solutions .
You can also enable sandboxed solutions by using Windows PowerShell
Open the SharePoint  Powershell command window and type the command given below
Start-Service -Name SPUserCodeV4

If you have a server farm you need to start the service on each server on which you want to enable sandboxed solutions

Sandbox solution - Sharepoint 2010

First let’s see what is a Solution?
Solution is a reusable package which contains features, site definitions, and other functionality. it can be deployed on the server farm globally or on a particular web application .

Now what is a Sandbox?
Sandbox is a restricted execution environment that enables programs to access only certain resources. Which also helps in keeping the production environment isolated from the problems that occur in the sandbox?

Solutions that you deploy in a sandbox are known as sandboxed solutions. They cannot use certain computer or network resources and cannot access content outside the site collection they are deployed in
Sandboxed solutions can be deployed by a site collection administrator or, in certain situations, by a user who has the Full Control permission level at the root of the site collection you need not be a Farm administrator for the same.
Only a farm administrator can promote a sandboxed solution to run directly on the farm, outside the sandboxed environment.

When should we use sandboxed solutions?
ð  When an organization wants to run code for employees on a production SharePoint Server site, and that code has not been rigorously reviewed and tested.

ð  When the farm admin wants a site collection admin upload and run custom code.
Advantages of using sandboxed solutions -
  • Sandboxed solutions can be added to a production SharePoint Server environment without any risk.
  • Site collection administrators can deploy sandboxed solutions.
  • Scalability and flexibility are increased because sandboxes run in a separate process
SPUCWorkerprocess.exe - Sandbox Worker process service is a Separate Service Application that actually executes Sandbox code. This service application should be started in every farm for using Sandbox solutions
SPUCWorkerprocessproxy.exe - Sandbox Worker process proxy works as a proxy for Worker process. It takes care of Sandbox code execution and can also serve to other farms if configured. It helps the site administrator for load balancing
SPUCHostservice.exe - Sandbox User Code Service takes care of user code in Sandbox. This service can be started in the farm s for using Sandbox solutions
You need not modify anything or recompile anything if you want to move the solution to the Production Environment  

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Manage Item scheduling not available - Sharepoint 2010

Resolution

If you are not able to see the Manage item scheduling  feature

that means you don't have the Publishing feature Enabled on the site

To enable the publishing feature you need to activate it on the site collection first
Site Actions  =>  Site settings => site collection features


and then in the site feature from


An there you go you will have the option available .

Sharepoint 2010 - Item Scheduling

Item Scheduling - Wow i liked this feature

I am not sure if everybody is aware of this new feature in SharePoint 2010

* What is Item Scheduling
Ans : Item scheduling is a feature which helps to publish a document/page for a specified period. This feature is available out-of-the-box for publishing sites for the Pages library. It can also be implemented in a Team Site for custom document libraries.

Prerequisites for Item scheduling 

* You need to Enable content approval on the library
* You need to enable Versioning on the Document Library both for Major and Minor versions. 
* And the Most Important thing you need to have the publishing feature enabled on the site . 



You have this feature enabled on the document library . now after selecting the document you get an option that says Item Scheduling . In which you can specify the Date and time when you want to display the document to the Users and also the End date when you want to stop displaying the document to the Users .

The document would be published as a Major version for the Users in the List view  

Understanding why we need Versioning and Content approval

 When you upload the document in the library ,The first thing that happens is it will be added as a minor version (0.1).
 Once the user wants to display the document in the library to all users, They sent a request for the document to be published. This will trigger a workflow for approval to the members of the SharePoint Approval group.
Till that time the document is marked as Pending. 

When a Approver approves the document The minor version will be changed to a major version (1.0) and the status will be marked as approved.

Now if Managing Item Scheduling is enabled

If The document Scheduling Start Date is not Immediate and current date and time has not reached the specified date and time. The status will be marked as Scheduled and the version number will remain as minor (0.1). The Document will not be Displayed to the users in the list

The timer job that Runs at the back on the server is Scheduled Approval which Looks for content that is scheduled for approval and moves it to the next stage in the process.it runs every 1 minute by default. 

It automatically switches the Status to Approved and sets version to major and the Document is displayed to the user.

If there is a specified Scheduling End Date then once the current date and time is greater, the status is marked as Scheduled and the version number is set back to highest minor release version of the previous major release.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Sharepoint 2010 - Ratings

How to enable Rating in SharePoint 2010 ?
ð    I have a list named Ratings List

ð   To enable the Ratings Feature got to the list select List from the Tools Tab and navigate to List Settings.




ð  Under General Settings select Rating Settings .


ð  Under Rating Settings section select Yes for Allow items in this list to be rated?


ð  You will see a new column added to the list  Rating (0-5) .

ð  Add some items in the list . In the List you see the Average rating of all the Users .


ð  When a User Hovers over the star Ratings it will ask to rate the document or the items. You can select the rating .
Note : We can also enable Ratings on the Document Libraries
ð  Once the User has given the rating it stores it in a database .

ð  Every user can provide their own ratings and average will be displayed when the user views the list.

The Service Application that helps this Feature is User Profile Service Application .

The timer Job that runs on the server is Social Rating Synchronization Job which calculates the average of ratings.


ð   This job executes every 1 hour by default.
ð  If required can be manually run the Job From the

Central Administration -> Monitoring -> Timer Jobs -> Review Job Definitions -> User Profile Service Application – Social Rating Synchronization Job -> Run Now or we can also change the Recurring Schedule 



Once the timer job is successful the ratings will be shown in Blue color . If you want to know the rating you have provided you can hover the mouse over and you will get to know your ratings in Yellow.

FAQ :

What is a user wants to change his rating ?
Ans: The user can change the rating . his previous rating will be discarded and Rating will be stored in the database .

Friday, June 8, 2012

Error Message when a user tries to set up Alerts

Today one of my user was getting an error when she was trying to setup alerts for her self

Error : "The following users do not have e-mail addresses specified: . Alerts have been created successfully but these users will not receive e-mail notifications until valid e-mail addresses have been provided Set my e-mail address"

Troubleshooting -

We checked the users email address on the my site and found it is reflecting in the profile .
However still we get the error message

we then checked for the permissions the user has

she had all the permissions in the world

Full control , design , read , contribute :)

removed the user permissions from that site and readded her with full control .

The issue was resolved the user was able to setup alerts .

The issue seems to Occur when the user has been added to the site before the email address was created .

Sharepoint 2010 - Site Prompts for credentials when opened in explorer view

Came accross an issue wherein the user is working on Sharepoint Server 2010, Ad Domain users . When the user tries to browse the site it works fine without prompting for any credentials . However when they are on a Document Library and change the view to Explorer . They are prompted for login . if the user types the credentials it goes through ( Until they reboot the machine )

OS - Windows 7 , Vista

To resolve this issue ;

First check your Internet explorer settings .

Check whether the site is added to the trusted file location .

check whether the option Automatic logon using the current name and passowrd is selected . and then proceed .

You can download the hot fix from : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943280

Note This problem does not occur on a Windows XP-based computer

The fix is included in Windows 7. To fix the issue, you only need to create the registry item below

If Basic authentication or Digest authentication is implemented in the network, hotfix 943280 cannot change this behavior. This behavior is by design in Basic authentication mode and in Digest authentication mode.

IIS does not support Windows authentication over the Internet. Therefore, this hotfix applies only to the Intranet scenarios.
You have to restart the computer after you apply this

After you apply this hotfix, you have to create a registry entry. To do this, follow these steps:
  1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
  2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters
  3. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value.
  4. Type AuthForwardServerList, and then press ENTER.
  5. On the Edit menu, click Modify.
  6. In the Value data box, type the URL of the server that hosts the Web share, and then click OK.

    Note You can also type a list of URLs in the Value data box. For more information, see the "Sample URL list" section in this article.
  7. Exit Registry Editor.
Note You have to restart the WebClient service after you modify the registry.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Adding a Hit counter Webpart in Sharepoint 2010

As I was working On hit counter for Sharepoint 2007 I also wanted to check if there is anything available for Sharepoiunt 2010 .

And Yes There is a Webpart available on Codeplex which works without any issues .

Before adding the webpart to the page. First create a Custom List, name it as Statistics also create three columns in Statistics list as below:

1.Url    -                    Multiple lines of text
2.Date -                    Single line of text
3.Username -            Single line of text

Give the Contribute – Can view, add, update, and delete permissions for the Visitor and Viewers for the Statistics list, so that visitor/viewers visits also recorded in the list.

To give permissions

1.Go to Statistics list, Settings > List Settings
2.Under Permissions and Management click on Permissions for this list
3.Select Visitors checkbox then click on Actions > Edit User Permissions then select Contribute – Can view, add, update, and delete
4.Click Ok

To know the hit count for all pages in site, you have to place the webpart in master page, so that the webpart code runs on every page where the visitor go and makes the unique entry in Statistics list

Download the Web part from the Below Link
http://hitcounter.codeplex.com/releases/view/35682

After You download the Solution Add the Solution to the Farm using the stsadm command

stsadm -o addsolution -filename HitCounter.wsp

to better understand

stsadm -o addsolution
   -filename <solution file name>
   [-lcid] <language>

Then go to the SharePoint Central Admin => Operations > Solution Management to deploy the solution.
After that go to the Site Collection Features where the solution is deployed and activate the feature HitCounter. Now, the Hit Counter web Part will be available for the users.

You can also deploy the solution using the Command prompt

 stsadm -o deploysolution -filename HitCounter.wsp

Syntax

stsadm -o deploysolution
   -name <solution name>
   [-url] <virtual server URL>
   [-allcontenturls]
   [-time] <time to deploy>
   [-immediate]
   [-local]
   [-allowgacdeployment]
   [-allowcaspolicies]
   [-lcid] <language>
   [-force]

 

Adding a hit counter in Sharepoint 2007 using SharePoint Designer 2007

Today One of my client wanted to add a Hit counter on his page . I informed him about the Site usage Report . However he wanted something that is visible to the users as well .

After a Some Research found that we can add a Hit counter Using Sharepoint Designer 2007 .

* Open The Designer and open teh web page .
* Click the New Document button on the toolbar.
* In Page view at the bottom of the document window, click Design.
* Put the insertion point where you want to create the hit counter.
* On the Insert menu, click Web Component.
* Under Component type, click Hit Counter.
* Under Choose a counter style, double-click a hit counter style, and then click Finish.
To set the counter to a specific number, click to select the Reset counter to check box, and then type the number.

To display a fixed number of digits in the hit counter, click to select the Fixed number of digits check box, and then type the number.

For example, to display the hit counter as "00#" instead of as a single or double digit, click to select the Fixed number of digits check box, and then type 3.

Click OK.

To use the hit counter on the page
1.Put the insertion point before the hit counter object on the page.
2.Type You are visitor followed by a space

For reference : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/825532

Friday, June 1, 2012

Try Office 365 for free for 30 days

For Those who want to understand and Learn SharePoint 2010 .

Explore features, set up user accounts, and test drive Office 365. 


For our education customers:
At this time there is no specific Office 365 for education trial, try Plan E3 for an experience similar to Office 365 for education.

Office 365 FAQ

 


 

SharePoint Variations – The complete Guide

What is an Upgrade ? Difference between an Upgrade and Migration

Upgrade is a process in which the existing product is added with Patches or service packs . This changes the Version of the Product . Typically upgrades are done to remove bugs from the Product to add features to the existing product so that users feel comfortable to have that product and utilise it to the fullest .

The Upgrade or patch will first check if you have the product installed on the machine and only then proceed with the installation .

for example Upgrade would be from Moss 2007 Sp1 to Sp2

Now Lets Understand Migration .

Migration is the process of replicating applications from one product in another product

Like Sharepoint 2007 to Sharepoint 2010 .

it can also be Moss sites Migrating to the Websphere environment or visa versa .

For an Migration you need not have the base product installed on the machine . it would be a fresh product installation on which migration has to be done .


Note - I have tried my best to explain the above topic . just incase if you feel something is missing or any corrections has to be done . Feel free to get in touch with me it would be much appreciated .

Users cannot see the checked out files in the folder/ library

I Came across a Issue today wherein the user opened a ticket for the below issue Issue : Users cannot see the checked out files in the fo...