Bend Sharepoint without bending the rules

About “CreatedModifiedInfo” web control in SharePoint

syed.er — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 16:54:49 GMT

In SharePoint custom web application development sometimes we required to fetch the "CreatedBy" and "ModifiedBy" information and show it in the custom page we develops. Instead of writing a SharePoint object model code to fetch the value of "CreatedBy" and "ModifiedBy" information we can make use of an OOB web control which fetches the CreatedBy and ModifiedBy information. We can include this web control in the custom page to show the CreatedBy and ModifiedBy information. In Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls you can find a control called "CreatedModifiedInfo". This control is used in the various list form template in defaulttemplates.ascx. This control can be used in the custom web pages where you would like to render the "CreatedBy" and "ModifiedBy" information. This is a template control and the template controls for this web control is available in the "DefaultTemplates.ascx" with the ID "CreatedModifiedInfo" and it if versioning is enabled then it takes the "CreatedModifiedVersionInfo" rendering template from defaulttemplates.ascx.

So in the custom web pages where you would like to render the "CreatedBy" and "ModifiedBy" information then you just need to render the "Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.CreatedModifiedInfo" web control in the custom web page rather than fetching these information using object model.

BDC Connection and Mappings for Profile Import

syed.er — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:23:52 GMT

Recently I worked with a customer in which we have worked with them on a 1:MANY mapping for a BDC profile to map the columns from data base to a Multi value BDC profile property. I have given them a brief explanation about BDC profile import and their connections. It might be useful for your self-development on BDC profile import if you are interested.

Importing User Profiles : Master Connection and Secondary Connection

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 can import a list of domain users from the Active Directory directory service, LDAP server, or the Business Data Catalog. In addition, you can write code against the Office SharePoint Server 2007 object model to import information from other directory services or applications. You can schedule regular imports to the user profile store, and these can be incremental or full. Office SharePoint Server 2007 treats Active Directory and LDAP directories as master connections for importing user information; that is, it can use them as a source to create user profiles. This implies that if a user is missing from the master connection, Office SharePoint Server 2007 assumes the user is no longer in the organization and removes the user from the user profiles database.

On the other hand, Office SharePoint Server 2007 treats the Business Data Catalog data sources only as a supplementary data source, meaning that it uses the data only to provide additional user information not available in the master connection. It does not rely on the Business Data Catalog data sources for the master user list.

So whenever you start a Full/Incremental Import, MOSS first checks the MASTER CONNECTION and imports the user profile directory service to SSP. Then checks for any secondary connection (BDC Connection) and then imports the additional information from supplementary data source like external database or web service. Now with this introduction we can understand that BDC import connection can be only treated as secondary connection and will import the additional data from external data sources to SSP. So it’s clear from the description that BDC is just going to bring some data related to the user profile from external data source. So after the successful fetching of data from external data source BDC connection should be aware of mapping the data to a property of respective profiles. BDC connection uses two different mapping methods to import the additional information from external data source to SSP user profile. They are :

1. 1:1 Mapping

2. 1:Many Mapping.

1:1 Mapping

================

So far we understand that when Full/Incremental import start MOSS is going to execute the Master connection and will import the user profiles to SSP and then MOSS will execute BDC connection which will fetch the additional data from external data source and going to map the data with the user profile (Which has been already existing in SSP now as the master connection has been already executed)exists in the SSP. Now with this understanding, we can easily ask a question to ourselves that on what basis BDC connection is going to fetch the data from external data source and going to map it to the user profile property in SSP… and the answer is that when BDC connection is executed it will send a select query to the external data source to fetch a single Row based on a primary key and the primary key value will be one of the property of user profile which will be sent from SSP (This has been implemented by “Specific Finder” method instance of the respective entity in the application definition file. This is the reason behind having the “Specific Finder” method instance for 1:1 mapping). We need to map the required column of the row fetched from external data source to another user profile property. Thus the user profile property in SSP will be populated with additional data from external data source through BDC connection.

1. First step is to create a BDC import connection of type 1:1 mapping. So here, 1:1 mapping means ONE of the user profile property in SSP will be mapped with a column of external data source. While creating the BDC connection along with 1:1 mapping you need to select the “Property” which will be sending the unique identifier value to external data source from SSP to fetch the single record. When the BDC connection is executed, the user profile property of profiles in the SSP are going to get populated with the column coming from external data source. (In the example shown below “Emp Id” is the property value send to external data source from SSP)

2. As the BDC connection is going to fetch data from external data source the user profile in SSP should already have a property in which the data coming from external data source will be populated. So first, you need to create a user profile property of type to exactly match with the return type which BDC connection is going to fetch from external data source. While creating the user profile property you need to select the BDC connection which will provide you the detail of the returned columns. You need to select a column which you would like to map with the user profile property. (In the below sample, we have a custom property called “EmpName” created and it has been mapped to the column “EmpName” in the external data source through the BDC connection created in the step 1)

3. With all the above steps done, when the BDC connection is executed during the Full/Incremental Import SSP sends the profile property value to SSP (it’s done by “Specific Finder” method instance in the application definition file through a “Select” command with a “Where” clause) and fetches a single record from external data source and based on the mapping done for the custom profile property it populates the column. BDC connection executes this “Specific Finder” method instance for every user profile in SSP and thus populates ONE property of SSP with ONE column value fetched from external data source.

1: Many Mapping

===================

Now again with the understanding of BDC connection execution, If the requirement is to fetch MORE THAN ONE ROW from external data source and to map a specific column of those ROWS to a SINGLE user profile property in SSP then we need to stick with 1: MANY mapping. Where 1:MANY mapping means that fetching MANY (multiple) records from external data source and map it with ONE property of user profile in SSP. When I say multiple records it doesn’t mean that multiple column from external data source, It’s the same column of external data source from multiple records. For example, In your requirement, You have a multiple rows for a single user in external data source and you would like to map a column values of those rows to a single user profile property in SSP. So for these kind of multi value mapping requirements we need to implement 1:MANY mapping. 1:MANY mapping will be implemented through “Finder” method instance which just sends the “Select” query and fetches every records from the external datasource. So in 1:MANY mapping case, SSP is not going to send any value to external data source as we need to fetch every records from external data source. Once every record from external data source are fetched and reaches SSP, now it’s the turn of SSP to apply a filter a based on a column existing in the return records. This will be implemented through the “Filter Descriptor” of method instance which will filter the records based on the column value specified in its attributes. The “Filter Descriptor” cannot implement the filtering based on the column of type “INTEGER”, so if your column in the external data source which is referred for the filtering is of “Integer” type then an exception occurs and you can find a clear entry in ULS logs with verbose enabled. So the mandatory thing here is that if you are going to implement 1:MANY mapping for multi value mapping then you should your external data source such as the column based on which you are going to implement the filter descriptor should not be an “INTEGER” type. In the same way, The application definition file should also have the precise “Type Descriptor”. So if you design the external datasource as mentioned above then the BDC editor tool will take care of the precise “Type Descriptor” entry in the application definition file. (When you select the “Finder” method instance in BDC editor tool, the intelligence of BDC editor tool knows that “Finder” method instance is going to fetch more than one records (All the records from table) so the type descriptor should be “DataReader” )

1. First step is to create a BDC import connection of type 1:MANY mapping. So here, 1:MANY mapping means that fetching MANY (multiple) records from external data source and map it with ONE property of user profile in SSP. While creating the BDC connection along with 1:MANY mapping you need to select the “Filer Descriptor” based on which the filtering will be implemented in SSP. In 1:MANY mapping, SSP receives all the records and applies the filer descriptor which has been selected during the creation of 1:MANY mapping and maps the columns values of the filtered records to the custom user profile property.

2. As the BDC connection is going to fetch data from external data source the user profile in SSP should already have a property in which the data coming from external data source will be populated. So first, you need to create a MULTI VALUE user profile property of type to exactly match with the return type which BDC connection is going to fetch from external data source. While creating the user profile property you need to select the BDC connection which will provide you the detail of the returned columns. You need to select a column which you would like to map with the user profile property.

3. With all the above steps done, when the BDC connection is executed during the Full/Incremental Import SSP fetches every record from external data source using “Finder” method instance in the application definition file through a “Select” command. Once all the records are fetched then the “Filter Descriptor” is applied to the records based on the column specified (Gentle remainder again, The column shouldn’t be a type of Integer) in the filter descriptor definition. The mapped column value of filtered records will be populated to the custom MULTI value user profile property.

How to create a custom view page with custom web part in the list definition , Bend it !!

syed.er — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:48:00 GMT

The view pages for the list are created based on the “ViewPage.aspx” in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\Pages. The ViewPage.aspx inserts the DataFormWebpart to display the items in the View. Now What if you have a custom web part in which you want to display the items in the view and wants to insert the custom web part to the view page of all the view created for the list.

Following are the steps to achieve this requirement. So…. Get ready to bend the SharePoint without bending the rules J

1. Copy the OOB “ViewPage.aspx” and place it in the same folder as “CustomViewPage.aspx”

2. Create the custom web part which shows the items of the view with your custom approach.

3. Create a feature to provision the “CustomViewpage.aspx” along with your custom web part.

4. Create a custom list definition. In the schema.xml file of the definition for all the views mention the “SetupPath” to refer your “CustomViewPage.aspx”. With this step all the views mentioned in the list definition will use the “CustomViewPage.aspx” to create the view pages and as well all the views which you create after the creation of the list will use the “customViewPage.aspx” as the base page to create the view pages.

Step 1:

Just copy the OOB “ViewPage.aspx” and place it in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\Pages folder as “CustomViewPage.aspx”

Step 2:

Create the custom web part which shows the items of the view with your custom approach. Basically use the GetViewfromUrl(“Lists/<Listname>/<View_Name.aspx>”) method to get the view and then retrieve the items in the web part. The code snippet for the custom web part looks like follows :

SPList list = SPContext.Current.List;

String strViewName = <get the current view name from the URL>

SPView view = SPContext.Current.Web.GetViewFromUrl("Lists/list/ "+strViewName);

SPListItemCollection listItems = list.GetItems(view);

.
.

After getting the list items then do your custom approach of displaying the items.

Build the web part DLL and place it in the GAC.

Step 3:

Create a feature to provision the “CustomViewPage.aspx” along with your custom web part. By activating this feature the “Customviewpage.aspx” will be embedded with your custom web part. The elements manifest file content looks like follows :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<![CDATA[

<Assembly>CustomWebpartforView, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=e3483ddc8b0d437a</Assembly>

<TypeName> CustomWebpartforView.MyCustomview</TypeName>

<Title>Custom Web part for View</Title>

</WebPart>

]]>

</AllUsersWebPart>

</File>

</Module>

</Elements>

Step 4:

Now the base custom view page is available along with the web part. Now how to integrate the custom view page with the list definition. Create a custom List definition and for all the views defined in the schema mention the “SetupPath” to use the “CustomViewPage.aspx”. Now the custom view page will be used as the base view page for all the views defined in the list definition and as well the views created later also will be using the “CustomViewpage.aspx” as the base page. The sample snippet for declaring the views inside the schema.xml is as follows :

Install and activate the feature of your custom list definition.

Now with all these steps, when you create a list based on this custom list definition then all the views created will be using the “CustomViewPage.aspx” to create the view pages and your custom web part will be rendered instead of the OOB dataformwebpart. The views which you will be creating after the creation of the List (Through UI, Through Object Model) will also use the “CustomViewpage.aspx” as the base page to create view pages.

Happy Customizing J

Word macros in the custom template for the document library disappears once document saved - SPS 2003 / MOSS

syed.er — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:45:00 GMT

I have came across an interesting integration of Smart Documents with the SharePoint Document libraries through the custom template. I thought of sharing this with you guys. As long as you are using the OOB template.docx then we never worried about the document templates and its behavior but when we are using the custom templates with Macros on it then you will be encountering the issue on synchronizing the template with the client.

Whenever you add any custom Macros in the custom template of the document library then its mandatory to add two more default macros which are documented in the following article

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb421314(office.11).aspx . But this article has a missing part which I covered in this post.

I have given the issue description and the resolution below and it applies for both SPS 2003 and MOSS and just the difference lies in the Office version.

Problem Description

=================

When you create a document based on the custom template (with Macros in it) in your SharePoint document library, the macros in the document are disappears when you checked out and saved the document.

Root Cause

=========

The Reason for this behavior is that the document is referring the document template in the temporary internet files and the macros are no longer exists in those template.

Creating Custom template for WSS 2.0 Document Library

==========================================

When you open a document template from a Windows SharePoint Services document library, Word downloads a temporary copy of the template to the Temporary Internet Files folder on the local computer. After you close the document, Word deletes the local copy of the template. However, the document continues to reference the local file instead of the template located on the server. When we are creating custom template for SharePoint document library, we need to make sure that every time the user creates or opens the document ,the template from the server is update with the local template.

To achieve this, we need to create a XML expansion pack and make the document template as part of the XML expansion pack. Whenever the user creates or opens the document he will be asking to install the XML expansion pack and he will be downloading the document template from the server to user’s local machine.

Steps to create the XML expansion pack

============================

1. The XML expansion pack consist the following files:

a. A XML schema file

b. A manifest file with information about the XML schema and the custom template

2. Creating Schema for XML expansion pack:

-------------------------------------------------------

The following code shows the structure for schema file for XML expansion pack. Create this file and save it as schema.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<?mso-solutionextension URI="BarbiTest" manifestPath="http://sigr2-16a:6000/BarbiTest/Forms/manifest.xml"?>

<xs:schema targetNamespace="BarbiTest" xmlns:xs="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"></xs:schema>

Note : Change the manifest path to your sharepoint site. The “URI” and the “targetnamespace” must be the same (Case sensitive ).

3. Creating Manifest file for XML expansion pack:

------------------------------------------------------------

The following code shows the structure for manifest file for XML expansion pack. Create this file and save it as manifest.xml

<uri>BarbiTest</uri>

<?mso-solutionextension URI="BarbiTest" manifestPath="http://sigr2-16a:6000/BarbiTest/Forms/manifest.xml"?> // missing part in the article

<solutionID>testSolution</solutionID>

<type>other</type>

<alias lcid="*">Template</alias>

<file>

<type>template</type>

<filePath>http://sigr2-16a:6000/Barbitest/Forms/custom.dot</filePath> (change the path to your sharepoint site)

</file>

</solution>

<solutionID>testSolution-Schema</solutionID>

<type>schema</type>

<alias lcid="*">Template</alias>

<file>

<type>schema</type>

<filePath>http://sigr2-16a:6000/Barbitest/Forms/schema.xml</filePath> (change the path to your sharepoint site)

</file>

</solution>

Note : Make sure that the URI and the namespace name are same as the schema.xml file created above

4. Code Signing the XML expansion pack manifest file:

-----------------------------------------------------------------

It is mandatory to code sign the XML expansion pack manifest file. The code signing tool for XML expansion pack comes with the Smart Document SDK. Download the smart document SDK from the following location http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=24A557F7-EB06-4A2C-8F6C-2767B174126F&displaylang=en

The tool XMLSign.exe will be installed in the following path C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 2003 Developer Resources\Microsoft Office 2003 Smart Document SDK\Tools. We need to create a digital certificate to sign the manifest.xml file using this tool. After creating the digital certificate, Use the XMLSign tool through command prompt to code sign the manifest.xml file.

The following is the command for signing. Xmlsign –cn <digital certificate name> <the manifest file with path>

Steps to create custom document template

=================================

1. Create a word document and save it as document template (.dot)

2. Add the following two macros to the template. These macros will make sure that the document refers the local template downloaded by the XML expansion pack and not from the temporary internet file folder.

Private Sub Document_New()

' Temporarily unlink this file from the template.

ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = ""

' Then update the template (the UpdateTemplate function is a separate function).

UpdateTemplate

End Sub

Private Sub Document_Open()

' Do nothing if the solution author opens the template directly.

If (InStr(1, ActiveDocument.FullName, ".dot", vbTextCompare) = 0) Then

' Temporarily unlink this file from the template.

ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = ""

' Update template.

UpdateTemplate

End If

End Sub

Sub UpdateTemplate()

' If the user has not downloaded the XML expansion pack at least once,

' this will fail; On Error Resume Next allows the code to continue.

On Error Resume Next

Dim strTemplatePath As String

' Get file name for local template - to do this, we need this path:

' %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Schemas\

' <namespace>\<solutionId>\< templateFilename >.

' IMPORTANT: You need to specify the <namespace>, <solutionId>,

' and < templateFilename > for your custom template.

strTemplatePath = Environ("USERPROFILE") & _

"\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Schemas\" & _

"BarbiTest" & "\" & _

"TestSolution" & "\" & _

"custom.dot"

' Re-link document to local template.

ActiveDocument.AttachedTemplate = strTemplatePath

End Sub

Place the Schema.xml , manifest.xml (code signed) and the custom template (with two important macros) to the Forms directory of your SharePoint document library.

Attaching the XML expansion pack with the Custom template

================================================

1. Open the custom document template from the forms directory and go to toolsàTemplates and Add ins

2. Select the XML Schema tab

3. Add the schema.xml file from the Forms directory of SharePoint document library

4. Select the XML expansion pack tab

5. Add the manifest.xml from the Forms directory of SharePoint document library

6. Make sure that all the schemas attached have been checked

7. After attaching the schemas, go to toolsàOptions

8. Select the security tab and select digital signature

9. Select the Digital certificate which we created earlier and signed the template ( It is mandatory to digitally sign the template so that it will automatically run the Document_New and Document_Open Macros)

With these steps your custom template become Smart Document. When user creates a new document they will be asked to install the XML expansion pack , because the custom template is the part of the XML expansion pack. When the user installs the XML expansion pack the document template is downloaded from the server and installed in the user’s machine. Then every time when he opens the document the template will be referred from the following path C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Schemas\<Namespace>\<solutionId> and not from the internet files folder. This makes the Macros alive even after the document is checked out and saved.

Hope this helps someone in future J

"Standard View, with Expanded Recurring Events" is missing in the custom calendar created from the custom calendar list definition. Bend it through custom ToolBar !!

syed.er — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:35:00 GMT

I have came across another interesting issue with the custom calendar list definition last week.

As the SharePoint doesn’t consider your custom list definition as the “Events” type it doesn’t give you the option to create “Standard View, with Expanded Recurring Events" while creating the view for your custom calendar.

Again the SharePoint renders the option to create view based on the “List Type” and it renders the “Standard View, with Expanded Recurring Events" if the List template type is “106” but the template type of your list definition will be unique and not the “106” so the calendar created from your custom calendar list definition will not provide the option to create “Standard View, with Expanded Recurring Events".

This restriction is done in the “ViewType.aspx” application page under the layouts folder and you need to make changes in such a way that your custom calendar list type should be taken into consideration to render the option to create view with recurring events. Following is the content of the “ViewType.aspx” page and the changes to render the view for your custom list template is highlighted. Actually the view types are beautifully rendered in the OOB based on the list template type. The custom calendar list definition will be treated as a custom list and not as a calendar list so we need to make changes in several places as shown below : Replace the Feature GUID with the GUID of your Custom calendar list definition feature.

(Note : I have used the “TemplateFeatureID” property and rendering the view for the my custom calendar list template also. I am looking for some optimized way to achieve this. Because now you need to add one entry for every custom calendar list template you have)

<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"%> <%@ Page Language="C#" Inherits="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.ViewTypesPage" MasterPageFile="~/_layouts/application.master" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>

<%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register Tagprefix="wssawc" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register Tagprefix="Meetings" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Meetings" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

SPSite spServer;

SPWeb spWeb;

SPList spList;

bool fHideStandardViewOption;

bool fHideGridViewOption;

bool fHideCalendarViewOption;

bool fHideRecursiveViewOption;

bool fHideDiscussionViewsOption;

bool fHideRichDbViewOption;

bool fHideGanttViewOption;

bool fHideCalendarViewForNonCalendarOption;

bool fColumnPosition;

string RecursiveViewTypeText;

string RecursiveViewTypeDescription;

string urlViewNew;

protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)

{

base.OnLoad(e);

spWeb = SPControl.GetContextWeb(Context);

Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.ListPageBase.ThrowIfNoListQueryString();

spList = spWeb.Lists.GetList(new Guid(Request.QueryString.GetValues("List")[0]), true);

PageTarget = spList;

urlViewNew = "ViewNew.aspx?List=" +

SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(Request.QueryString["List"]);

string sourceParameter = Request.QueryString["Source"];

if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(sourceParameter))

{

urlViewNew += "&Source=" +

SPHttpUtility.HtmlUrlAttributeEncode(

SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(sourceParameter));

}

fHideGridViewOption = ListViewWebPart.RestrictedTemplateType(spList)

|| !spList.DoesUserHavePermissions(SPBasePermissions.UseClientIntegration);

fHideStandardViewOption = (spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.DiscussionBoard ||

spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.Events);

fHideDiscussionViewsOption = (spList.BaseTemplate != SPListTemplateType.DiscussionBoard);

fHideCalendarViewOption = (spList.BaseTemplate != SPListTemplateType.Events);

fHideCalendarViewForNonCalendarOption = (spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.UserInformation);

fHideRichDbViewOption = (spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.UserInformation)

|| !spList.DoesUserHavePermissions(SPBasePermissions.UseClientIntegration);

fHideGanttViewOption = (spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.UserInformation);

fColumnPosition=true;

}

private void FlipColumn()

{

if (fColumnPosition)

Response.Write("</table></td><td width=50%><table>");

else

Response.Write("</table></td></tr><tr><td wdith=50%><table>");

fColumnPosition = (fColumnPosition) ? false : true;

}

</script>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageTitle" runat="server">

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_pagetitle%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server">

var navBarHelpOverrideKey = "SelectViewType";

</script>

var _spUseDefaultFocus = true;

function _spBodyOnLoad()

{

if (browseris.ie5up && browseris.win32)

{

try

{

var ExpDatabase = null;

var url = location.href;

ExpDatabase = new ActiveXObject("SharePoint.ExportDatabase");

if (ExpDatabase && ExpDatabase.IsDBProgramInstalled())

{

idAccViewRow.style.display = "inline";

idAccViewTitle.innerText = ExpDatabase.LinkTitle;

idAccViewCmt.innerText = ExpDatabase.LinkDescription;

if (url.toLowerCase().substr(0, 8) != 'https://')

{

document.all.idAccViewImg.src = ExpDatabase.LinkImageSrc;

}

document.all.idAccViewImg.alt = ExpDatabase.LinkDescription;

ExpDatabase = null;

return;

}

catch(e)

{}

}

</script>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea" runat="server">

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_pagetitle%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>: <A ID="viewedit1" HREF=<%SPHttpUtility.AddQuote(SPHttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(spList.DefaultViewUrl,true),Response.Output);%>><%SPHttpUtility.HtmlEncode(spList.Title,Response.Output);%></A>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageImage" runat="server"/>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderPageDescription" runat="server">

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_pagedescription%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</asp:Content>

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server">

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_chooseformat%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</H3>

</td></tr>

</table>

</td></tr>

</table>

<table>

<tr>

<table>

if (!fHideStandardViewOption && spList.TemplateFeatureId != new Guid("FA77E3F5-6223-4de1-B25E-64659533F87A"))

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType2%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType1%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType2%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

FlipColumn();

}

if (!fHideDiscussionViewsOption)

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=3' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_subjectviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=3' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_subjectview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_subjectviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=1' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_threadedviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=1' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_threadedview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_threadedviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=2' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_flatviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=2' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_flatview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_flatviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

FlipColumn();

}

if (!fHideCalendarViewOption || spList.TemplateFeatureId == new Guid("FA77E3F5-6223-4de1-B25E-64659533F87A"))

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=1' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType2%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=1' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType1%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType2%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&RecurrenceRowset=True&BaseViewID=3' ID='onetCategoryHTMLimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_recviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&RecurrenceRowset=True&BaseViewID=3' ID='onetCategoryHTML'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType7%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_recviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Calendar=True&BaseViewID=2' ID='onetCategoryCalendarimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/calview.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Calendar=True&BaseViewID=2' ID='onetCategoryCalendar'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

}

if (!fHideGridViewOption)

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Grid=True' ID='onetCategoryGirdimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt= "<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_datasheetviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/grid.gif" />

</a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Grid=True' ID='onetCategoryGrid'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_datasheetview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_datasheetviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

}

if (!fHideStandardViewOption && !fHideCalendarViewForNonCalendarOption && spList.TemplateFeatureId != new Guid("FA77E3F5-6223-4de1-B25E-64659533F87A"))

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Calendar=True' ID='onetCategoryCalendarimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calviewdesc%>" src="/_layouts/images/calview.gif">

</img></a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Calendar=True' ID='onetCategoryCalendar'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_calviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<!--<tr><td valign=top width="1%">

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&RecurrenceRowset=True&BaseViewID=3' ID='A1' tabindex=-1>

<img id="Img1" runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_recviewdesc%>" src="http://blogs.msdn.com/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" mce_src="http://blogs.msdn.com/_layouts/images/ituser.gif" />

</a>

</td><td> </td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&RecurrenceRowset=True&BaseViewID=3' ID='A2'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral ID="EncodedLiteral1" runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_idViewType7%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral ID="EncodedLiteral2" runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_recviewdesc%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>-->

<% FlipColumn(); %>

}

if (!fHideGanttViewOption)

{

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Gantt=True' ID='onetCategoryGanttimg' tabindex=-1>

<img runat="server" border="0" alt="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_ganttviewdescription%>" src="/_layouts/images/ganttview.gif">

</img></a>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&Gantt=True' ID='onetCategoryGantt'>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_ganttview%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</a><br>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_ganttviewdescription%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

<br> 

</td></tr>

<% FlipColumn(); %>

}

if (!fHideRichDbViewOption && spList.DefaultView != null)

{

<A HREF="javascript:" onclick= <% SPHttpUtility.NoEncode("\"javaScript:ExportToDatabase('" + SPHttpUtility.EcmaScriptStringLiteralEncode(spWeb.Url) + "/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll', '" + spList.ID.ToString("B").ToUpperInvariant() + "', '" + spList.DefaultView.ID.ToString("B").ToUpperInvariant() + "', 'true');javascript:return false;\"",Response.Output); %> tabindex=-1>

</img></A>

</td><td width="4px"><IMG SRC="/_layouts/images/blank.gif" width=4 height=1 alt=""></td></tr>

</table>

</td>

</A><br>

<br> 

</td></tr>

}

</table>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_startfromexisting%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</H3>

</td></tr>

</table>

foreach (SPView view in spList.Views)

{

if (view.Hidden || view.EditorModified || view.ReadOnlyView || String.IsNullOrEmpty(view.Title))

continue;

<tr>

</td>

</td>

</tr>

}

</table>

<br>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<SPView> uninstantiatedViews = GetUncustomizedViewsWhichAreNotInstantiated(spList);

if (uninstantiatedViews.Count > 0)

{

<SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewtype_startfromtemplate%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/>

</td></tr>

</table>

System.Collections.Generic.ICollection<SPView> uncustomizedViews = GetUncustomizedViews(spList);

foreach (SPView view in uninstantiatedViews)

{

<tr>

</td>

<a href='<%SPHttpUtility.NoEncode(urlViewNew, Response.Output);%>&BaseViewID=<%SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(view.BaseViewID, Response.Output);%>'> <% SPHttpUtility.HtmlEncode(view.Title,Response.Output); %> </a>

</td>

</tr>

}

</table>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

}

</asp:Content>

Save the changes and you can find that the standard view with recurring events option is rendered in your custom calendar created from the custom calendar list definition. So bending the SharePoint without bending the rules starts here J … Yes you cannot make changes to the OOB “ViewType.aspx” page directly as it is not supported…

So take a copy of the OOB “ViewType.aspx” page and make the above shown changes and save it in the same “Layouts” folder say as “CustomViewType.aspx” page. Koool !! We have successfully created the “CustomviewType.aspx” page… But creating the view in the SharePoint calendars will not navigate you to the “CustomViewType.aspx” and by default they will navigate you to OOB “ViewType.aspx” page.

Following are three places where you need to do customization so that you can use the “CustomViewType.aspx” to create the view for the calendar created from your custom calendar list definition:

1. “Create View” menu item of the “Settings Menu” in the calendar toolbar.

2. “Create View” menu item of the “ListView Selector” in the calendar toolbar.

3. “Create View” link of the “ListEdit.aspx” application page. We cannot make changes to the OOB “ListEdit.aspx” page so take a copy of the “ListEdit.aspx” and make the changes to navigate to the “CustomViewType.aspx” page and save it as say “CustomListEdit.aspx” page. So again the customization lies in customizing the “List Settings” menu item in the Settings Menu to navigate to the “CustomListEdit.aspx” page.

Customizing the “Settings Menu” in the calendar View toolbar to change the Navigation of “Create View” and “List Settings” menu item :

1. To change the Navigate URL of the “Create View” menu item of the “Settings Menu” we need to override the “SetMenuItemProperties” method of the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.SettingsMenu Type. Create your own “SettingsMenu” web control and override the “SetMenuItemProperties” as shown below. The below highlighted snippets shows the changes to navigate to the custom page for “Create View” and “List Settings” menu item.

public class SettingsMenuCalendar:SettingsMenu

{

protected override void SetMenuItemProperties()

{

string str;

base.MenuTemplateControl.LargeIconMode = true;

// SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(base.RenderContext.RootFolderUrl);

string str2 = "&Source=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(SPHttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(SPUtility.GetFullUrl(this.Web.Site, HttpContext.Current.Request.RawUrl), true));

MenuItemTemplate menuItem = base.GetMenuItem("AddColumn");

if (menuItem != null)

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "fldNew.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B")) + str2;

menuItem.ClientOnClickNavigateUrl = str;

}

menuItem = base.GetMenuItem("AddQuestions");

if (menuItem != null)

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "qstNew.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B")) + str2;

menuItem.ClientOnClickNavigateUrl = str;

}

menuItem = base.GetMenuItem("AddView");

if (menuItem != null)

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "CustomViewType.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B")) + str2;

menuItem.ClientOnClickNavigateUrl = str;

}

menuItem = base.GetMenuItem("ListSettings");

if (menuItem != null)

{

if (this.List.BaseType != SPBaseType.Survey)

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "Customlistedit.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B"));

}

else

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "survedit.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B"));

}

menuItem.ClientOnClickNavigateUrl = str;

menuItem.Text = SPUtility.FormatStringWithListType(SPResource.GetString("ToolBarMenuItemSettings", new object[0]), this.List, false);

if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(menuItem.Description))

{

menuItem.Description = SPUtility.FormatStringWithListType(SPResource.GetString("ToolBarMenuItemSettingsDescription", new object[0]), this.List, true);

}

base.MenuControl.ID = "ListSettingsMenu";

base.MenuControl.UseShortId = true;

}

// WebLayoutsPath is used in the above method to get the site relative “Layouts” path correctly

internal string WebLayoutsPath

{

get

{

string parentWebUrl = this.List.ParentWebUrl;

if (!parentWebUrl.EndsWith("/"))

{

parentWebUrl = parentWebUrl + "/";

}

return (parentWebUrl + "_layouts/");

}

2. Build the DLL. We will see later that how we can render the custom “SettingsMenu” web control instead of OOB control to the calendar list toolbar.

Customizing the “ListView Selector” in the calendar view toolbar:

1. To change the Navigate URL of the “Create View” menu item of the “ListView Selector Menu” we need to override the “DefaultTemplateName” property of the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.ListViewSelector Type. Create your own “ListViewSelector” web control and override the “DefaultTemplateName” as shown below.

public class CustomListViewSelector : ListViewSelector

{

protected override string DefaultTemplateName

{

get

{

return "CustomViewSelector";

}

2. The above mentioned code just changes the name of the rendering template name but the control which renders the View Selector in the toolbar is the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.ViewSelectorMenu. We need to override the “SetMenuItemProperties” method of the “ViewSelectorMenu” type as shown below to change the navigation of “Create view” menu item.

public class CustomViewSelectormenu : ViewSelectorMenu

{

protected override void SetMenuItemProperties()

{

//base.SetMenuItemProperties();

string str;

base.MenuTemplateControl.LargeIconMode = true;

// SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(base.RenderContext.RootFolderUrl);

string str2 = "&Source=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(SPHttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(SPUtility.GetFullUrl(this.Web.Site, HttpContext.Current.Request.RawUrl), true));

MenuItemTemplate menuItem = base.GetMenuItem("CreateView");

if (menuItem != null)

{

str = WebLayoutsPath + "CustomViewType.aspx?List=" + SPHttpUtility.UrlKeyValueEncode(this.List.ID.ToString("B")) + str2;

menuItem.ClientOnClickNavigateUrl = str;

}

internal string WebLayoutsPath

{

get

{

string parentWebUrl = this.List.ParentWebUrl;

if (!parentWebUrl.EndsWith("/"))

{

parentWebUrl = parentWebUrl + "/";

}

return (parentWebUrl + "_layouts/");

}

3. Build the DLL and place it in the GAC. You can keep all the above shown classes in the same project or in different, for example here I have written all the classes in the same assembly.

Now we will have a look on how to render the custom web controls which we created instead of the OOB web controls to the Custom calendar list template.

Creating Custom “defaulttemplates.ascx” to render the Custom SettingsMenu and the ViewSelectorMenu

1. Create a user control in the Control Templates folder and add the custom rendering template to render your custom control as follows. You can take a look on this blog post on customizing the List Toolbar template:

a. In the custom defaulttemplates.ascx control add all the reference to the required DLL’s including your custom DLL created for the custom “SettingsMenu” and the custom “ViewSelectorMenu”

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" %>

<%@Assembly Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"%>

<%@Register TagPrefix="CustomSettingsMenu" Assembly="CustomSettingsMenu, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=031d0c8d7c05496f" namespace="CustomSettingsMenu"%>

<%@Register TagPrefix="SPHttpUtility" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities"%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBar" src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBar.ascx" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBarButton" src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBarButton.ascx" %>

b. The Following rendering template is to render the “CustomViewSelector” template which holds the Custom “ViewSelectorMenu”.

<SharePoint:RenderingTemplate ID="CustomViewSelector" runat="server">

<tr>

<td nowrap class="ms-listheaderlabel"><SharePoint:EncodedLiteral ID="EncodedLiteral1" runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,view_selector_view%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/> </td>

<CustomSettingsMenu:CustomViewSelectorMenu MenuAlignment="Right" AlignToParent="true" runat="server" id="ViewSelectorMenu1" />

</td>

</tr>

</table>

</Template>

</SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>

c. The following rendering template is to render the Custom “SettingsMenu” and the Custom “ListViewSelector” toolbar. This template will be used by the each views of the custom calendar list definition to render the toolbar.

<SharePoint:RenderingTemplate ID="CalendarViewToolbar" runat="server">

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-menutoolbar" EnableViewState="false" id="toolBarTbl" ButtonSeparator="<img src='/_layouts/images/blank.gif' alt=''>" RightButtonSeparator="  " runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:NewMenu ID="NewMenu1" AccessKey="<%$Resources:wss,tb_NewMenu_AK%>" runat="server" />

<SharePoint:ActionsMenu ID="ActionsMenu1" AccessKey="<%$Resources:wss,tb_ActionsMenu_AK%>" runat="server" TemplateName="ToolbarActionsMenu" />

<CustomSettingsMenu:SettingsMenuCalendar ID="SettingsMenu1" AccessKey="<%$Resources:wss,tb_SettingsMenu_AK%>" runat="server" />

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:PagingButton ID="PagingButton1" runat="server"/>

<CustomSettingsMenu:CustomListViewSelector ID="ListViewSelector1" runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</Template>

</SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>

d. The final step is to change the “Schema.xml” of the custom calendar list definition to use the above mentioned “CalendarViewToolbar” template to render the view toolbar. Open the schema.xml file of the custom calendar list definition and set the “ToolbarTemplate” property of every view as shown below. Following is the example snippet for the “All Events” view make this change to every view in the schema.

That’s all …… with all these changes you have successfully implemented the Standard view with Recurring events to your custom calendar list definition in the supported way by overriding the “SettingsMenu” and the “ViewSelectorMenu” in the supported way. I have attached all the required files and the DLL’s required to implement this requirement.

After all the changes in place make sure that you do an IISRESET J

Happy Customizing

SPSearch.asmx doesn’t return results when integrated with Search server 2008

syed.er — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:21:46 GMT

Last week I came across a very weird issue that the client application for Search using the SPSearch.asmx web service is not returning any result in WSS 3.0 environment. I investigated the client application and the Query Packet built within it and for my bad everything is perfect and I couldn’t find any breakthrough or the root cause which is causing it. The OOB search is working fine and giving me the result. During the investigation I had the turning point in this mystery story and the truth is that the WSS 3.0 environment is integrated with the “Search Server 2008”… ALAS !!!

WSS 3.0 only installation has the “SPSearch.asmx” Web Service to use the Search and query against the Windows SharePoint Search Service Engine.

But When the Search Server 2008 is integrated with the WSS 3.0 then the WSS 3.0 will start using the Enterprise Office Search Service and all the DLL’s and the services related to it will be available with the WSS 3.0 Environment. As well the “Search.asmx” web service is also installed which uses the Enterprise Office Search Service.

When you develop client application is such a environment (WSS 3.0 integrated with the Search Server 2008) for the Search please make sure that you are adding reference to the “Search.asmx” Web Service and not to the “SPSearch.asmx” Web service. I just changed the reference to the "Search.asmx" and hurray the search started returing the results.

If you use the “SPSearch.asmx” web service by just remembering the WSS 3.0 environment then you will not get any results returned as the WSS 3.0 environment integrated with the Search Server 2008 will be using the “Enterprise Office Search Service”.

So if you have a standalone WSS 3.0 installation then you need to use the “SPSearch.asmx” web service for querying in the client application ( As well the “Search.asmx” will not be available with the Standalone WSS 3.0 installation). If you have the search server 2008 configured with the WSS 3.0 then you need to work with the “Search.asmx” web service for querying in the client application.

Hope this helps someone to come out of this frustration quicker than me J

How to hide the new menu folder option from document library by default to all the document library instances

syed.er — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 13:35:59 GMT

One of our customer came with a requirement of hiding the new menu folder option from the document library instances by default.

This can be done through UI as well but customer don't want to do this manually through UI. By default folder creation is enabled in UI.

The New folder button appears because of "Folder" Content type (0X0120) associated with the document library definition and as well the "FolderCreation" attribute is set to TRUE by default in the document library definition.

If we create a new custom document library definition and set the "FolderCreation" attribute to False in the schema for the "List" element then we can hide the "New Folder" creation in the document libraries. Create a custom document library definition by copying the OOB document library definition and set the "FolderCreation" attribute to False in the schema for the "List" element. This will completely hide the New Folder option under New menu and as well you can check in the UI that "Folder" creation is set to "No" by default.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

</ContentTypeRef>

</ContentTypes

Install and activate the custom document library definition and create a new document library instance from the custom document library definition. Now you can find that the document library instances created from the custom document library definition are not having the “New Folder” option under the New menu in the toolbar. If you browse to the document library setting you can find that the folder creation option is set to false by default and if required you can enable it by changing the settings.

Note : Don't remove the folder content type from the document library definition or don't set the "FolderCreation" attribute in the "ListTemplate" element in the element manifest. Because it completely removes the folder creation and folder content type from the doc lib definition which can cause some problem in future. Its always better to override this property directly in the schema rather than in the definition so that we can keep the folder feature and just hide it.

Cannot Convert Type Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.CSSRegistration to System.Web.UI.IAttributeAccessor – Beware of this in custom master page for custom publishing site definition

syed.er — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:28:31 GMT

I went through an interesting case last week. One of my customer is trying to create a Custom publishing Definition and wants to integrate the definition with his custom Master page. He has created the custom master page by copying the blueband.master and heavily customized it through the SharePoint designer to enrich the look and feel. Ok, the custom master page is done and ready to provision to the master page gallery. A feature has been created to provision the master page file to the master page gallery and successfully installed.

Following is the snippet of feature.xml and the elements.xml file which is not only picture perfect they are absolutely fine J

<Feature Id="EC3777F3-49C1-4e5e-A86E-9ED13DA6DC2A"

Title="SamplePublishing Custom Master Page"

Scope="Web"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" >

</ElementManifests>

</Feature>

Elements.xml :

</File>

</Module>

</Elements>

A custom publishing Site definition was created with all the required publishing features and along with the above mention feature so that the feature stapling will provision the custom master page to the master page gallery. The MasterUrl (For System Pages) and the CustomMasterURL (For Site pages) properties are properly mentioned in the Onet.xml file.

Following is the snippet of Onet.xml and the WebTemp.xml file :

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

</NavBar>

</NavBars>

</ListTemplates>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplateFiles>

</DocumentTemplate>

</DocumentTemplates>

</BaseTypes>

<Lists>

</Lists>

</SiteFeatures>

</Feature>

</Properties>

</Feature>

</Properties>

</Feature>

</Feature>

</WebFeatures>

</Modules>

</Configuration>

</Configurations>

</File>

</Module>

</Modules>

</Project>

WebTempCustom.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

</Template>

</Templates>

The custom publishing site definition is created successfully. Browsed to the central admin and found the custom publishing site definition. Created a top level site collection successfully using the custom publishing site definition. So far so good !!!!

Now browed to the site which was created using the custom publishing site definition and it blown with the following error message in the home page :

“An error occurred during the process of <custom master page name>.Error Message : CS0030 Cannot convert type Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.CSSRegistration to System.Web.UI.IAttributeAccessor.”

What went wrong when everything is perfect ? Does the custom master page get corrupt ? No, If I upload the document manually to the master page gallery and switch the site to use the custom master page then there are no issues and the master page applied successfully to the site. It tells me that the custom master page is not corrupted.

Does the file provisioning is wrong ? Not at all, the master page is available in the master page gallery ( I verified this by changing the system master page to OOB master page and browsed to the master page gallery)

Does the publishing site definition is wrong ? No, It’s perfect and the site was created successfully but unable to browse to the home page and it throws this weird type casting error.

Just gone mad for an hour !!!

Investigated the custom master page and found lot of “_designer” variables which have been added through the SPD. If I remove this variables then the master page applied successfully and the site is alive.

To test further, In the onet.xml file I changed the masterURL to use the OOB blueband.master for the system pages. Created a site collection again and the same issue. But now able to browse to the master page gallery as the system master page is OOB blueband.master. From continuous testing found that if I just edit the master page property from the master page gallery and save it without any updates then everything is working fine. Don’t know how the type casting error disappeared after the update !!

Decided to stick with this workaround and update the custom master page programmatically through the feature receiver. Made the changes to the feature.xml to the file provisioning feature as follows :

<Feature Id="EC3777F3-49C1-4e5e-A86E-9ED13DA6DC2A"

Title="SamplePublishing Custom Master Page"

Scope="Web"

ReceiverAssembly="MasterPageFeature,Version=1.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=e2e43c90c0b598db"

ReceiverClass="MasterPageFeature.SetMasterPageNow"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" >

<Property Key="Name"

Value="agent1.master" />

</Properties>

</ElementManifests>

</Feature>

Created a DLL for the feature receiver and deployed it in the GAC. The feature activated code is as follows :

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)

{

// throw new Exception("The method or operation is not implemented.");

SPWeb oWeb = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent;

oWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;

SPFeatureProperty oPropertyName= properties.Feature.Properties["Name"];

SPList oList = oWeb.Lists["Master Page Gallery"];

foreach (SPListItem oItem in oList.Items)

{

if (oItem["Name"].ToString().Trim().ToLower() == oPropertyName.Value.Trim().ToLower())

{

oItem.File.CheckOut();

oItem.Update();

oItem.File.CheckIn("Check in");

oItem.File.Publish("Published");

oItem.File.Approve("Approved");

}

oWeb.Update();

oWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;

}

Now everything is fine, Feature activated through feature stapling, Custom master page updated, Custom master page is applied successfully whenever you creates the site using the custom publishing site definition. Hope this blog walks you through the custom publishing site definition with custom master page and as well with the weird error my customer encountered.

So, If you encountered this weird error message ever in the custom master page just look for the “_designer” variables if they exists then update the master page through feature receiver after provisioning.

Good experience with master pages !!!

Cannot Store the WebPart Pages in the document libraries created from the custom document library definition in WSS 3.0. Now Bend It !!

syed.er — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 05:21:53 GMT

Creating custom document library definition has been a common task in SharePoint 2007 development to implement the custom requirement with the definition. I came up with an interesting issue with the custom document library definition last week with one of my customer.

When we create web part pages in the WSS 3.0 SharePoint Site the document libraries created from the custom document library definitions are not available to store the Web part pages. The “spcf.aspx” application page is used to create the web part pages and the following code in the Inline coding restricts the document libraries of custom document library definition to be listed in the dropdown list of this page.

if ((spList.BaseType == SPBaseType.DocumentLibrary) &&

(spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.DocumentLibrary || spList.BaseTemplate == SPListTemplateType.PictureLibrary)

The highlighted code only displays the document library of template type “101” and “109” which are the OOB template type of document library and the picture library respectively. The restriction is understandable that the other lists like Task, Announcements etc should not be listed in this page to store the web part pages. But the restriction based on the template type creates an issue with the custom document library definition whose template type will be unique and those libraries created from this custom definition will not be available in the “Spcf.aspx” page and you cannot store your web part pages in the document library created from the custom document library definition. It’s the same problem with when you are creating basic pages in the “bpcf.aspx” page.

If you remove the above mentioned highlighted code restriction in the “spcf.aspx” page then the document libraries created from the custom document library definition will be available to store the web part pages. Just making this change will resolve the issue but not in a supported way as we all know that making changes to the OOB files are not supported because they are owned by MICROSOFT…

It’s a by design behavior but needs a resolution and in the supported way is a quite tough ask !!

Following are the steps involved in customizing the “Spcf.aspx” in the supported way to fix this issue.

1. Copy the “Spcf.aspx” page and place it in the same layouts folder. Make the changes in the inline code and save it. Ok, Custom “Spcf.aspx” is ready but how to navigate to the custom spcf.aspx page for creating the web part pages. So the link for creating the web part page is available in the “Create.aspx” under the layouts, we need to change the navigate URL of this link in the create.aspx page to navigate to the custom spcf.aspx page. But making changes to the OOB page is not supported so we need to create a custom “Create.aspx” page with this change in the Navigation URL of the web part page creation link.

2. Copy the “Create.aspx” page and place it in the same layouts folder. Following is the code snippet which renders the link for the web part page creation which navigates to the “Spcf.aspx” page change the ‘href’ property to navigate to the custom “Spcf.aspx” page and save the custom “Create.aspx” page.

<a id="onetidWebPartPage" href="spcf.aspx" target="_self"><SharePoint:EncodedLiteral runat="server" text="<%$Resources:wss,viewlsts_wp_page_title%>" EncodeMethod='HtmlEncode'/></a>

</td>

Note: The same kind of change can be done for the “bpcf.aspx” and all the following customization will suit for it as well

3. Now we need to customize the SiteAction Menu to navigate to the Custom “Create.aspx” page. The “SiteAction” Menu is a SharePoint Web control rendered through the Master Page. So open the custom master page and find the following entry and change the NaviGateURL property of the “Create” Menu Item template.

<SharePoint:SiteActions runat="server" AccessKey="<%$Resources:wss,tb_SiteActions_AK%>" id="SiteActionsMenuMain"

PrefixHtml="<div><div>"

SuffixHtml="</div></div>"

MenuNotVisibleHtml="&nbsp;"

<SharePoint:FeatureMenuTemplate runat="server"

FeatureScope="Site"

Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu"

GroupId="SiteActions"

UseShortId="true"

<SharePoint:MenuItemTemplate runat="server" id="MenuItem_Create"

Text="<%$Resources:wss,viewlsts_pagetitle_create%>"

Description="<%$Resources:wss,siteactions_createdescription%>"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/Actionscreate.gif"

MenuGroupId="100"

Sequence="100"

UseShortId="true"

ClientOnClickNavigateUrl="~site/_layouts/Customcreate.aspx"

PermissionsString="ManageLists, ManageSubwebs"

PermissionMode="Any" />

<SharePoint:MenuItemTemplate runat="server" id="MenuItem_EditPage"

Text="<%$Resources:wss,siteactions_editpage%>"

Description="<%$Resources:wss,siteactions_editpagedescription%>"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/ActionsEditPage.gif"

MenuGroupId="100"

Sequence="200"

ClientOnClickNavigateUrl="javascript:MSOLayout_ChangeLayoutMode(false);"

<SharePoint:MenuItemTemplate runat="server" id="MenuItem_Settings"

Text="<%$Resources:wss,settings_pagetitle%>"

Description="<%$Resources:wss,siteactions_sitesettingsdescription%>"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/ActionsSettings.gif"

MenuGroupId="100"

Sequence="300"

UseShortId="true"

ClientOnClickNavigateUrl="~site/_layouts/settings.aspx"

PermissionsString="EnumeratePermissions,ManageWeb,ManageSubwebs,AddAndCustomizePages,ApplyThemeAndBorder,ManageAlerts,ManageLists,ViewUsageData"

PermissionMode="Any" />

</SharePoint:FeatureMenuTemplate>

4. Now the custom master page will render you the site actions with the “Create” option which will navigate you to custom create page and from there you can navigate to the custom spcf.aspx page to create the web part pages.

5. So far so good… But the master page rendered from the site definition will apply it only to the Site Pages and the System pages not to the application pages (Layouts pages) because the application pages uses the application.master page. So when you are in any application pages then the Site Action will navigate you to OOB create.aspx page as we did not make changes to the application.master page. Again we cannot modify the application.master page directly… So start customizing the application.master page J

6. Copy the OOB application.master page from the Layouts folder and place it there with some custom name, say customapplication.master. When I started investigating to change the Site Action control rendering in the Application.master page I didn’t find it because the Site Action control is not rendered directly in the application.master page… The whole top navigation of the Application.Master page is rendered through the “topnavbar.ascx” user control from the control templates folder.

You can find the following snippet in the application.master page which renders the top navigation

<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTopNavBar" runat="server">

<wssuc:TopNavBar id="IdTopNavBar" runat="server" ShouldUseExtra="true"/> // choose wssuc is the TagPrefix included in the top of the application.master page

</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

</TD>

7. So we need to customize the “TopNavBar.ascx” user control in the supported way again… Copy the “TopNav.ascx” and paste in under the Control Templates folder with some custom name, say “CustomTopNavbar.ascx”. Find the “SiteActions” web control in this user control and change the NaviGateURL property of the Create menu item template.

8. Now open the CustomApplication.master page and add the TagPrefix for the “CustomTopNavBar.ascx” control as follows

<%@ Register TagPrefix="Customwssuc" TagName="CustomTopNavBar" src="~/_controltemplates/CustomTopNavBar.ascx" %>

Render the customTopNavBar as follows

<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTopNavBar" runat="server">

<Customwssuc:CustomTopNavBar id="IdTopNavBar" runat="server" ShouldUseExtra="true"/>

</asp:ContentPlaceHolder>

</TD>

9. Save the “Customapplication.master”. Now how to switch the Layouts pages to use the Customapplication.master instead of the OOB application.master page.

10. There are properties available in the SPWeb type to switch the Master page of the Site pages and the system pages : They are “MasterURL” for system pages and the “CustomMasterURL” for site pages. But there is no property available to set the master page of application pages and it has been hard coded to use the application.master page in all the application pages.

11. To set the customapplication.master page to the application pages you can create a custom HTTPModule and can replace the master page of the application pages as follows.

public class MasterPageModuleHandler:IHttpModule

{

public void Init(HttpApplication context)

{

context.PreRequestHandlerExecute += new EventHandler(context_PreRequestHandlerExecute);

}

void context_PreRequestHandlerExecute(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

Page page = HttpContext.Current.CurrentHandler as Page;

if (page != null)

{

page.PreInit += new EventHandler(page_PreInit);

}

void page_PreInit(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

Page page = sender as Page;

if (page != null)

{

// Is there a master page defined

if (page.MasterPageFile != null)

{

// only change the application.master files as those are the offenders

if (page.MasterPageFile.Contains("application.master"))

{

page.MasterPageFile = "/_Layouts/Customapplication.master";

}

public void Dispose()

{

}

12. Compile and place the DLL in the GAC and add the config entries for the custom HTTPModule.

13. If anyone find other way to switch the application.master page for the application then please let me know …

Oops !!! Done…. Now you can create web part pages and can store the pages in the custom document library.

The only thing which is left out is when you click on Create from the “View All site Contents” page ( Viewlsts.aspx) you will be navigated to the OOB create.aspx page… Hope you can find the supported customization for this with the given tips J

How to By-pass the OOB Login.aspx page of a FBA site when logging in from External Site with right Credentials

syed.er — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 03:30:48 GMT

In the absence of valid cookie the users are redirected to the Login page in the FBA site. If you want to bypass the login page and want to validate the user before the successful login then we need to validate the user in the OnLoad event of login page and need to redirect to the home page of the site. To validate the user we need to call the “ValidateUser” method of the current membership provider of the FBA configuration. As we cannot modify the OOB login page, we need to create a custom login page and validate and redirect the user in the OnLoad event.

1. To achieve this requirement we need to create a custom login page for the FBA site. We need to mention this custom login page as the LoginUrl in the web.config

2. In the OnLoad() event of the custom login page we need to validate the user.

3. To validate the user we need to use the ValidateUser() method of the membership API. It will call the “ValidateUser()” method of the current membership provider configured in the web.config.

4. We need to use the Post method cross page submission from the external login page to pass the credentials to the custom login page of FBA site.

Following is the code snippet of the custom login page OnLoad Event

protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)

{

if (Request.QueryString["externalCMS"] != null)

{

if (Request.Form["t1"] != null && Request.Form["t2"] != null)

{

string strUserId = Request.Form["t1"].ToString(); // Username passed from the external login page through post method

string strPwd = Request.Form["t2"].ToString(); // Password passed from the external login page through post method

if (Membership.ValidateUser(strUserId, strPwd))

{

FormsAuthentication.RedirectFromLoginPage(strUserId, false);

}

else

{

Response.Redirect("http://localhost/cmslogin.asp?error=invalidecredentials");

}

Deploying the Browser enabled InfoPath Form template through feature

syed.er — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:45:24 GMT

Few weeks back worked on an interesting case on which the customer is trying to Deploy an InfoPath form template to the SharePoint form library through feature and encounters an issue that he was unable to open the template in the Browser even after making sure that the template is browser enabled and the form library setting is changed to open the template in the Browser. We dig into this and found an interesting OOB Receiver Class which we can make use of it.

Customer has created a browser enabled InfoPath Form template and following are the scenario where it works and fails :

1. If customer directly publish the InfoPath form template from InfoPath client as a template for the SharePoint form library then they are able to open the template in the browser from the SharePoint Form library.

2. If customer directly publish the InfoPath form template from InfoPath client as a content type to the SharePoint then later if they associate the content type to the form library then it works.

3. If customer publish the InfoPath form template from InfoPath client to the Network location and uploads it to the central administration site then if he do an admin deployment from Central Admin to the SharePoint site collection (as a content type to the OOB “Form templates” library) then it works.

4. If customer publish the InfoPath form template from client to the Network location and provisions it through feature then they are unable to open the InfoPath form server template in Browser from the Form Library and it always opens the Form in the InfoPath client application.

During the investigation of the feature found that customer has a feature activated event in which he reads the XSN forms from the feature folder in the form of binary data and adding the form as a file to the “Forms” sub folder of the form library. Then through the “DocumentTemplate” property of the form library customer is setting the uploaded XSN form as the template to the form library. When he activates this feature the custom Form Server templates are set as the default template to create InfoPath forms in the form library. Customer have already Changed the Form Library settings to open the template in browser rather than the client application. But when he try to create new InfoPath form in the form library it opens the custom form server templates in the InfoPath Client application instead of opening it in the browser.

The only vast difference we see here is the way InfoPath server template has been added to the “Form” sub folder of the form library. When we read the Form server templates as binary and adds it as a file to the “Forms” sub folder of the Form library then actually the form server is not published (Not Registered and Activated) to the Site collection. We need to adapt the mechanism which InfoPath application implements while publishing form server templates to the Form Library of SharePoint site collection. We need to adapt the mechanism which InfoPath application implements while publishing form server templates to the Form Library of SharePoint site collection. I.e. We need to use the FormsService API to publish the Browser enabled Form template to the form library (Note : We can make use of the FormsServices.asmx OOB web service to do the same)

The FormsService class in the Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.dll has the methods and properties to publish (Register and Activate) form server template to the document library level or to the Site collection level as a content type.

So the conclusion is that we need to use the FormsService API to publish the Browser enabled form template to the form library instead of just reading it as a binary and adding it as a file to the Forms sub folder of the form Library.

When decided to replace the feature activated code to use the FormsServices API to Publish the Form template realized that we have an OOB feature receiver assembly called “Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.Administration.XsnFeatureReceiver” which uses the FormsServices API to publish the InfoPath template to the form Library through feature. (luckily found :) Ref : http://blah.winsmarts.com/2008-8-Deploying_InfoPath_2007_Forms_to_Forms_Server_-and-ndash_Properly.aspx).

OOB feature receiver Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.Administration.XsnFeatureReceiver class in Microsoft.Office.InfoPath.Server.dll which can be used to provision the form server template as a template to the Specific library or as a content type (I.e. Placing the template under “Forms Templates” library) to the specific site collection. If a custom feature has Form Server templates to deploy then you need to add this feature receiver DLL as receiver assembly so that the form server templates gets deployed properly with the XSN schema.

Custom Publishing Site definition is unavailable to create sub sites under publishing portal site collection

syed.er — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:52:09 GMT

Have you ever wondered that why only the “Publishing Site with workflow” definition is available to create a sub site under the publishing portal site collection. In nutshell we know that the site definition which has the “VisibiltyfeatureDependency” for the publishing infrastructure feature ( Feature Id - F6924D36-2FA8-4f0b-B16D-06B7250180FA) will be available only if the publishing infrastructure is activated. Fair enough, but why the other site definitions like STS #0, STS #1 … etc are not available which don’t have any feature dependency for the visibility. See the screenshot below, only the “Publishing Site with workflow” definition is available to create the sub site when the top level site collection is created from the “Publishing Portal” :

1. Not all the site definitions will be available to create sub site. The definitions which has the “SubWebOnly” attribute enabled will be available. But why the site definitions which don’t have any restriction for visibility are not available while creating the sub site.

2. What if you created a custom publishing site definition to create ONLY the sub site under the publishing portal collection ? You can see in the above screen shot that except the “Publishing Site with workflow” site definition none of the other site definitions are available to create the sub site.

Following is the webtemp entry for the custom publishing site definition I created . You can see that I have the “VisibilityFeatureDependency” set to the publishing infrastructure feature and the “SubWebOnly” is set to “TRUE”. But still the custom publishing site definition is unavailable to create the sub site under the publishing portal site collection in which the publishing infrastructure feature is already stapled.

<Configuration ID="0"

Title="FHLB Publishing Site"

DisplayCategory="Custom Publishing"

Hidden="FALSE"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/FHLBPublishing/Preview.png"

VisibilityFeatureDependency="F6924D36-2FA8-4f0b-B16D-06B7250180FA" SubWebOnly="TRUE" RootWebOnly="false" />

<Configuration ID="1"

Title="FHLB Publishing Portal"

DisplayCategory="Publishing"

Hidden="TRUE"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/images/PublishingMinimal/Preview.png"

ProvisionAssembly="FHLBMinPubSiteDef, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=44b8eff5c4cf5544"

ProvisionClass="FHLBMinPubSiteDef.ProvisioningEngine"

ProvisionData="SiteTemplates\\FHLBPublishing\\XML\\PortalConfig.xml"

RootWebOnly="false"

SubWebOnly="false" />

<Configuration ID="2"

Title="FHLB Publishing Site with FHLB Serial Workflow"

Hidden="FALSE"

ImageUrl="/_layouts/1033/images/PublishingSite.gif"

Description="A FHLB site for publishing Web pages on a schedule by using approval workflows. It includes document and image libraries for storing Web publishing assets. By default, only sites with this template can be created under this site."

SubWebOnly="TRUE"

DisplayCategory="Publishing"

VisibilityFeatureDependency="978B4991-5233-4208-B348-A5C8FBD30E81"

</Template>

</Templates>

Another interesting thing is if I create “Team Site” and activate the “Publishing infrastructure feature” then it behaves differently. You can see in the following screenshot that my custom publishing site definition is available to create the sub site and note that all other site definitions (STS #0, STS #1 .. etc) also available as they don’t have any dependency for visibility.

While digging into deep found the following behavior of SharePoint. When the “Publishing Infrastructure” enabled it gives another feature of selecting the template to be available to create the sub site. You can find this feature called “Page layouts and site templates” in the “Site Settings” page under the “Look and Feel” group.

It actually gives you the option of selecting the templates to avail while creating a sub site. In the team site when the publishing infrastructure is activated then this option is set to “Sub sites can use any site template” (See below screenshot) so all the templates are available to create the sub site when they don’t have any visibility feature dependency.

But when it comes to the portal created from the publishing portal definition where the publishing infrastructure is already stapled then the story is different. Here only the “Publishing Site with workflow” definition is selected to create the sub site by default. So you need to select the definition in this page which you want to be avail to create the sub site.

Once you added the definition here then the selected templates will be available to create the sub site in the site creation page.

If you are creating custom site definitions to create the sub site then make sure that this setting is done so that they can get their site definition to create sub sites under collaboration portal / publishing portal collection using their custom site definition.

Populating the BDC Field of a SPListItem from client application

syed.er — Thu, 28 May 2009 03:33:59 GMT

Recently I worked on a issue where our customer wants to create a list item from the client machine and wants to populate the BDC column of the List item. I believe we encounter this requirement very rarely and I have come up with some findings and as well some troubleshooting steps in this case. I have given the notes for all the issues I encountered.

Let’s first discuss what are the thoughts initially strikes us on this requirement.

1. We can make use of the OOB Lists.asmx web service to add an item to the list.

2. If we simply send the BDC field value like other column value then the item will be added but the field is not populated. It’s expected as the BDC field is going to Speak with the SharePoint through the Application definition file and it needs to be worked out with the Application registry API.

Note : While populating the BDC field we need to target the Identifier column of the Entity selected for the BDC field. Whenever you add any field from the Entity to show in the BDC column of the List the identifier column will be available as a hidden field. So using Application registry API’s we need to populate the BDC column through this field and not directly with the BDC column name. We can see more about this in the following code snippet.

3. As customer’s requirement is to populate the BDC field while creating list item from the client I just digged into the other OOB Office web services and found BDCFieldsResolver.asmx OOB web service which resolves the BDC Identifier column and gives it’s encoded value to populate.

4. But unfortunately the BDCFieldsResolver.asmx web service is giving the wrong encoded value of the identifier column. I found it wrong by comparing with the value given by the application registry API. When we use the Application registry API then the encoded value of the BDC column starts with “__bk….” But the “Resolve” method of BDCFiledsResolver.asmx web service is giving the encoded value starting with “__bg…” . Even hard coding the Encoded value of identifier column did not help in this case.

5. So the work around is to create a custom web service implementing the Application registry API to populate the BDC field and consume it in the client application.

Now let us have a deeper look on the application registry API : I have imported given the sample with the AdventureWorks ADF which gets the BDC data from the adventureworks database and sample shows the Product table used as the “Entity”

1. Set the SSP you are going to use

SqlSessionProvider.Instance().SetSharedResourceProviderToUse("SharedServices1");// set the SSP name where you have imported the ADF

2. Get the LOB system instance

NamedLobSystemInstanceDictionary sysInstances = ApplicationRegistry.GetLobSystemInstances();

LobSystemInstance AdvWorksIns = sysInstances["AdventureWorksSampleInstance"]; // Get the LOB instance where your entity is residing

3. Get the Entity which you selected for the BDC field

Entity prodEntity = AdvWorksIns.GetEntities()["Product"]; // Mention the Entity name

4. Once you got the entity then to get the data (Rows) of the entity you need to get the IEntityInstanceEnumerator to enumerate through each Entity instance. There are several ways to get the IEntityInstanceEnumerator

a. Entity enumeration using direct method execution against entities

b. Entity Enumeration using finder filters

In this sample we are using the Entity Enumeration using finder filters

FilterCollection iFilter = prodEntity.GetFinderFilters();

IEntityInstanceEnumerator Enum = prodEntity.FindFiltered(iFilter, AdvWorksIns);

5. Now we got the IEntityInstanceEnumerator and we are set to enumerate the entity instance. The following snippet shows that how you need to get the required encoded identifier field value. Point to remember here is that we should not target the BDC column name in the index of the SPListItem, we should populate the Internal field name of the Identifier column. In this sample the identifier column of the Product entity is “ProductID” and the internal name of the Identifier column in “Product_ID”

SPSite oSite = new SPSite(oSiteURL);

SPWeb oWeb = oSite.OpenWeb();

SPList oList = oWeb.Lists[oListName];

while (Enum.MoveNext())

{

IEntityInstance IEntInst = Enum.Current; // Get the current Entity instance

SPListItem Item = oList.Items.Add();

if (Enum.Current["ProductID"].ToString() == oBDCValue) // Check the Identifier column value with the value you want to populate

{

Item["Product_ID"] = EntityInstanceIdEncoder.EncodeEntityInstanceId(new object[] { Enum.Current["ProductID"].ToString() });

// a very important factor that mention the identifier columns internal name to populate the BDC field. Need to encode it as shown in this line. Here ["Product_ID"] is not the BDC column name it is the Internal identifier column name

Item["Title"] = oItemtitle;

Item.Update();

}

6. To test this first run this code in the server side and check whether the item is added successfully and the BDC field is populated. The following screenshot shows you that how the List item looks after adding the list item and populating the BDC field in this way. The Populated BDC field will show blank as we just targeted the hidden Identifier column Just do an Refresh of the BDC field so that it will get the BDC content from the database and will update the BDC field. (While refreshing it will send the Identifier column value which we populated to get the BDC data to display)

Note : The BDC column name is “BDCField” but the field we are populating is “Product_ID” which is the hidden Identifier column.

7. Following is the screenshot after refreshing the BDC field, Here I have populated the BDC field with ProductID = 2.

Note : Refreshing the BDC field will throw an error if the Identifier column type descriptor has been described as any other type than “System.String”. So whenever you populate the BDC field with Object model make sure that the Type of the Identifier column has been described as String in the application definition file.

8. Now create all the above steps as a web method in your custom web service and deploy it. When you are implementing this in the web service you need to remove the SqlSessionProvider.Instance().SetSharedResourceProviderToUse("SharedServices1") method call else it will throw an error stating that Cannot override the Shared Resource Provider context obtained from the Office Server. This API can be used only when an Office Server context is either internally unavailable or defined. Following is the final code snippet of the web method in the custom web service.

using Microsoft.Office.Server;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.MetadataModel;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Runtime;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.SystemSpecific;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Infrastructure;

[WebMethod]

public string AddItem(string oSiteURL,string oListName, string oBDCValue, string oItemtitle) // this method expects the Site URL, List Name, BDC(Identifier) field value, title of the item

{

try

{

NamedLobSystemInstanceDictionary sysInstances = ApplicationRegistry.GetLobSystemInstances();

LobSystemInstance AdvWorksIns = sysInstances["AdventureWorksSampleInstance"]; // Mention the LOB instance name where the entity resides

//Console.WriteLine("Getting an entity object and displaying its ID...");

Entity prodEntity = AdvWorksIns.GetEntities()["Product"]; // Mention the Entity name

FilterCollection iFilter = prodEntity.GetFinderFilters();

IEntityInstanceEnumerator Enum = prodEntity.FindFiltered(iFilter, AdvWorksIns);

SPSite oSite = new SPSite(oSiteURL);

SPWeb oWeb = oSite.OpenWeb();

SPList oList = oWeb.Lists[oListName];

while (Enum.MoveNext())

{

IEntityInstance IEntInst = Enum.Current;

SPListItem Item = oList.Items.Add();

if (Enum.Current["ProductID"].ToString() == oBDCValue)

{

Item["Product_ID"] = EntityInstanceIdEncoder.EncodeEntityInstanceId(new object[] { Enum.Current["ProductID"].ToString() }); // a very important factor that mention the identifier columns internal name to populate the BDC field. Need to encode it as shown in this line. In the enumerator we are going to populate only the value sent from the client application.

Item["Title"] = oItemtitle;

Item.Update();

}

return "True";

}

catch (Exception Ex)

{

return Ex.Message;

}

9. Consume this web service in your client application and you can add the List along with populating the BDC field.

Hope this helps in working with Object model related BDC issues.

Some Facts and Fallacies about Windows SharePoint Search Service - WSS 3.0

syed.er — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:36:00 GMT

Recently during a troubleshooting of a WSS 3.0 Search issue I came to know some interesting things about WSS 3.0 windows SharePoint search service and thought of sharing the same with you.

When we start the Windows SharePoint Search service in WSS 3.0 a Search DB is created and we need to schedule the Indexing service during the configuration of Windows SharePoint search service. Unlike the Office enterprise search service in MOSS the WSS 3.0 search service doesn’t have the UI to start the full crawl or the incremental crawl. Based on the scheduled indexing service the crawl happens in WSS 3.0.

Sometimes during our troubleshooting in WSS 3.0 search we might need to trigger the crawl explicitly and don’t want to wait until the crawl happens with respect to the scheduled time set during the configuration. We wonder that how to start the crawl explicitly in WSS 3.0 , even there is no GUI option in WSS 3.0 search but we have a stsadm command to start the crawl in WSS 3.0. Following is the stsadm command to start the windows SharePoint search service crawl explicitly in WSS 3.0

stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart

The fallacy here about the Windows SharePoint search service is that the stsadm command says that it’s a full crawl but it triggers only the Incremental crawl. In WSS 3.0 we cannot reset the crawled content and do the full crawl again. Because the full crawl happens only once when we configure the Windows SharePoint search service and creates the search database. If we stop and start the Windows SharePoint search service then we need to create a new search database and the existing search database cannot be used.