Highlight SharePoint List rows conditionally

Hi All,here is some JQuery Stuff that will help you to highlight rows of SharePoint List items based on some condition.

<script type="text/javascript">
if(typeof jQuery=="undefined"){
var jQPath="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.1/";
document.write("<script src='",jQPath,"jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'><\/script>");
}
</script>
<script>

$(document).ready(function(){

$Text = $("td .ms-vb2:contains('Sales')");

$Text.parent().css("background-color", "green");

$Text =$("td .ms-vb2:contains('Account')");

$Text.parent().css("background-color", "orange");

});

</script>

above JQuery code will highlight if Column has 'Sales' then row will highlight with color green.if column has value Account then it will highlight with orange color.

Look at second Post http://www.sharepointkings.com/2009/04/sharepoint-calculated-column-and-jquery.html

Create Custom Web Part in SharePoint

Hello Everyone !

Are you new to SharePoint development? Do you want to see how to create a custom web part?

Let me explain you from basic. Although there are many ways to create a web part but lets look at one way.

Following steps are involved in the creation of a custom web part:
1. Creation of Web Part project.
2. Creation of controls used in the web part.
3. Loading the control as web part.
4. Deploying the web part code in the SharePoint site.
5. Adding the web part on the site page.

Let’s understand each step with the help of an example.

Step 1: Open Visual Studio and create a new blank solution as shown in figure. 1.

Figure.1
Step 2: Add a new project of type web application under the newly created solution as shown in the figure.2 below.

Figure.2

Delete the existing class from it. Add a new web user control in this project and give some appropriate name to it as shown in figure. 3

Figure .3
Code snippet for the user control and its code behind is given below:



using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Configuration;
using System.Data;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Security;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Linq;

namespace MyWebControls
{
public partial class MyUserControl : System.Web.UI.UserControl
{
protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

}

protected void MyButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Response.Write("Good Morning " + txtUserName.Text);
}
}
}

Step 3: Create a new project under the solution of type class library as shown in figure.4 below.

Figure. 4

Delete the default class and add a new class as shown in the figure.5

Figure .5

Add Reference of Windows SharePoint Services to this project as shown in the figure. 6 below.

Figure.6

Code snippet is shown below:
Generate a new GUID.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

namespace MyWebPart
{
[Guid("52D7FA40-EF93-45ad-806E-9B77C782A93B")]
[System.Security.Permissions.PermissionSet(System.Security.Permissions.SecurityAction.Assert, Unrestricted = true)]
public class MyWebPartClass : System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart
{
public MyWebPartClass()
{

this.ExportMode = WebPartExportMode.All;
}

string virtualpath = @"~/UserControls/MyUserControl.ascx";
protected override void CreateChildControls()
{
MyWebControls.MyUserControl objMyUserControl = (MyWebControls.MyUserControl)Page.LoadControl(virtualpath);
this.Controls.Add(objMyUserControl);
}

}
}

Step 4: Go to the properties of the web part project and select the build output path to the bin folder of the web application virtual directory. Before compiling add reference of the web part control project to it.

Add a safe control entry (below the safe control entries which are already present) to the web.config file of the web application which is present inside the virtual directory.

Change the trust level to Full as shown below.

Step 5:
Add Control to site:

Create a new folder within the virtual directory of the web application to store the user control. Give it a name such as UserControls.

Now go to Site Settings and click web parts as shown in the figure below

Figure.7
Click on New Web parts. Select the web part we deployed and click populate gallery.

Figure.8

Go to the page on which you want to add the web part. Click the site settings àEdit Page as shown in the figure. 9 below.

Figure.9

Select the web part from the list of web parts. That’s it your web part is ready to play its role.

Figure.10



Figure.11

I hope this post will help many developers. If you still need more clarification please write to us at

sharepointkings@gmail.com
We will be happy to help you as always.

Understanding Workflow Tracking Service - Part 1

Hi All,

I have been working with workflows for many months and I love to explore each and every thing with respect to workflow. I learn about different activities and different ways to create the workflows and much more other stuff that can be done in workflow. One of the good stuff to do with workflow is services. Services can be attached to the workflow runtime.

Every workflow has instance and there is always a workflow runtime which handles this workflow. There are many services available that can be attached to the workflow runtime.

Here is a list of services that can be added to the workflow runtime.

(1) Workflow Persistence service
(2) Workflow Queuing service
(3) Workflow runtime service
(4) Workflow scheduler service
(5) Workflow Tracking service
(6) Workflow Transaction service

Here we are going to go with Workflow Tracking service. In this article we are going to cover the understanding on tracking service of workflow.

Read Understanding Workflow Tracking Service - Part 2
for further reading.

Workflow has one primary service which is SqlTrackingService. There are two additional services are also available which are ConsoleTracking as well as SimpleFileTrackingService. But we are going to discuss SqlTrackingService.

First let me give you a highlight on this tracking. When your workflow gets started, an instance of it gets created and starts running. This instance then fires several events internally when activities get executed. If you want to capture all these details, you can do it with the help of tracking service. You can track other things also like your own custom tracking. Let’s say at the end of every activity or in between any activity you would like to make a cross mark saying that this and this part of activities have completed executing. Something like this is possible with the tracking service.

If you want to track your custom data, you will have to prepare Tracking profile which is nothing but an XML which shows that what data to capture and what not to capture.

So Bottom line is to track the actions taking place in workflow and actions that you want to track on your own can be achieved easily through tracking service. All you need to have is SqlServer and Tracking service to attach to workflow runtime.

All this information is stored in database. So once we have data in database, then it becomes easy to have query on them and to generate reports from them.

One big advantage of querying this tracking data is WF also comes with SQLTrackingQuery class built in with it. So just play with an object of this class and have some fun getting the answers of your query. So even no need to write specific SELECT Commands for this.

Built in tracking is actually divided in three parts.

(1) Activity tracking

Activity tracking allows you to track activity related events like activity cancellation, activity execution, and unhandled exceptions in activity etc. ActivityTrackingpoint and ActivityTrackingLocation object allows you to track all these.

(2) Workflow Tracking

Workflow Tracking allows you to track workflow related events like workflow starting, workflow stopping and workflow terminated etc.

(3) User Tracking

User related all custom tracking that you would like to capture. Because user tracking is workflow to workflow specific.

If you closely look at this concept, this is very similar to tracing in ASP.NET where you have different severity levels and based on that what all information you want to capture can be traced at any point of time.

To really analyze data captured by service, WF also comes with the Tool called WorkflowMonitor. This is useful to see the execution of workflow as GUI. Where you come to know what all activities are done for specific instance and what all activities are pending to execute.

We will have a real fun in executing this service and then analyze the data captured by tracking service and using the Workflow Monitoring tool.

I will continue this article and in part 2 we will explore the tracking service practically.

Iterate SharePoint list items using SharePoint web service

Hi all,
here is some chunks of that will help you out to iterate list item in SharePoint list using SharePoint web service. to parse all list items you should know XmlNameSpace from result xml schema,but here in this case I have remove that XmlNameSpace using Regx.so it is easy to iterate result xml schema.

Following example will fetch all list items from SharePoint list and show all title to console.

for better result copy the code and paste it in your console application add necessary assemblies,
include SharePoint list.asmx webrefrence name this reference as "ListService".

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
//List service proxy
using SharePointKingsDemo.ListService;
using System.Net;
using System.Xml;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using System.Xml.XPath;

namespace SharePointKingsDemo
{
///

/// Created By:Jayesh Prajapati.
/// Purpose:how to use SharePoint web service.,how to iterate each row in SharePoint list.
/// iterate each SharePoint list item without xmlname space.
/// This demo will work on .NET framework 3.5
///

class Program
{
//find replace xmlnamespace..
private static readonly Regex StripXmlnsRegex =
new Regex(@"(xmlns:?[^=]*=[""][^""]*[""])",
RegexOptions.IgnoreCase RegexOptions.Multiline RegexOptions.Compiled RegexOptions.CultureInvariant);

//to find and replace short XmlNameSpace like z:,rs: from xmlresponse by GetListItems method
private static readonly Regex removeShortNameSpace = new Regex
(@"(?<lessthan><)(?<closetag>[/])?(?<shortname>\w+:)\s*", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase RegexOptions.Multiline RegexOptions.Compiled RegexOptions.CultureInvariant);


static void Main(string[] args)
{
//list webservice proxy instance..
ListService.Lists listService = new Lists();
CredentialCache credential = new CredentialCache();
//credentials username,password,domain..
NetworkCredential networkCredential = new NetworkCredential("username", "password","domain");
credential.Add(new Uri("http://localhost"),"NTLM",networkCredential);
listService.Credentials = credential;
listService.Url = "http://localhost/_vti_bin/lists.asmx";

//xmldocument to create necessary nodes for getalllistitems method..
XmlDocument xdoc =new XmlDocument();
XmlNode queryNode =xdoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"Query","");

//get all list items whose id is greater than zero i.e all list item..
string strQuery = @"<Where><Gt><FieldRef Name='ID'/><Value Type='Counter'>0</Value></Gt></Where>";
queryNode.InnerXml=strQuery;
XmlNode viewNode = xdoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"ViewFields","");
string strViewFields = "<FieldRef Name=\"ID\" /><FieldRef Name=\"Title\" />";
viewNode.InnerXml=strViewFields;
XmlNode nodeQueryOption = xdoc.CreateNode(XmlNodeType.Element,"QueryOptions","");
nodeQueryOption.InnerXml="<IncludeMandatoryColumns>FALSE</IncludeMandatoryColumns><DateInUtc>TRUE</DateInUtc>";
string rowlimit = "100";
string webid = "";

//get items from test sharepoint list..
XmlNode result = listService.GetListItems("test","", queryNode, viewNode, rowlimit, nodeQueryOption, webid);

//remove namespace xmlnls from result xml..
string xmlResponse = StripXmlnsRegex.Replace(result.InnerXml, "");

//find and replace short XmlNameSpace like z:,rs: from responce with space..
xmlResponse = removeShortNameSpace.Replace(xmlResponse, delegate(Match m)
{
Group closetag = m.Groups["closetag"];
if (closetag.Length !=0)
{
return "</";
}
else
{
return "<";
}

});

//load xml from removed XmlNameSpace and short name of XmlNameSpace..
XDocument xmlDoc = new XDocument();
xmlDoc = XDocument.Parse(xmlResponse);

//iterate each row in sharepoint list.
//in result xml each row is in element "row"
var Items = from item in xmlDoc.XPathSelectElements("//row")
select new
{
//get Title Field of SharePoint list...
Title = Convert.ToString(item.Attribute("ows_Title").Value)
};
//display each item in title field in console..
Array.ForEach(Items.ToArray(), item => Console.WriteLine(item.Title));
Console.ReadLine();


}
}
}

give your comments on this post, for alternate approch to parse web service response using xpath see following article..

http://www.sharepointkings.com/2008/11/how-to-iterate-sharepoint-list-fields.html

How to deploy a workflow in moss

Hi All,

Deploying a workflow is one of the major concerns when you develop the workflow because developing the software or anything is only half job done. The other half is deploying the code and software that you have developed.

so here we look forward on how to deploy a workflow in moss.

I will give you here the brief idea about how exactly we can proceed to have a structure of workflow and finally what files are needed for workflow to deploy.

Here keep in mind that I am talking about the workflows developed using the Visual Studio. we are not talking about workflow designed by the Sharepoint Designer.

To start with, you should have a workflow dedicated project in which your entire workflow will reside.

Give name of the Project and then Create Folder Structure inside it just like shown below.



The above should be the structure where you can have your feature Files and related ASPX files if any like association and initiation pages for the workflow.

Now double click the workflow.xml and right click and select insert snippet and then Windows Sharepoint Service Workflow> and then workflow.XML Which will give you the complete XML which you are required to use.





Snippets give you the clear idea about the replacement of tokens that we have to make. So all the green tokens need to be replaced by appropriate values.

Replace Name with the name of the Workflow that you want to give.

ID must be unique GUID. Generate it from Visual Studio Tools>Create GUID option

Tokens are self explanatory. So replace it accordingly.

Same way, use the Insert snippet and this time select feature.xml



Replace the Unique GUID and other tokens.

So here are the total files that are required for workflow to deploy:

(1) Your workflow code assembly
(2) Feature file
(3) Custom Forms if needed
(4) Workflow file which is also called workflow definition file.

Folder under feature and folder under layouts will have the same name.

Copy those folders and paste them in respective 12 hive folder. Give your assembly strong name and build your project. Place assembly in GAC.

Now your feature is ready for deployment.

Install the feature and activate that feature, so if your feature is installed at site level, you will find it at site collection administration or else you will find in the site administration under specific web. And if the feature is activated, you will find the workflow in Workflow Settings under document library and list.

Web Part Error : Cannot deserialize the Web Part

Hi Guys,

                Facing another web part error ? Wondering what to do when you receive the error Cannot deserialize the web part every where on the page ?

 I have faced a similar situation and have found a solution for it. Solution is very simple ....

I am assuming that your wss is running under the Network Service Credentials. If that is the case and you have just restarted the server machine and started getting this error then follow these steps............

1. Go to the windows directory and find the TEMP folder e.g c:\windows\TEMP.

Right click the TEMP folder and select the security tab. 

2. Click the add button for adding a new user. write the name network service and press check names. Give Read/Write rights and press OK.

3. Go to the location c:\windows\system32\Logfiles folder and follow the instructions given in step 2.

That's it. Refresh the page and the error is gone !!

If it is still troubling you . Write to us at sharepointkings@gmail.com with a screenshot of the error page (if possible). We will feel happy to help you as always.

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 7

Hi All,

Here i am back with yet another article on BDC series.

suggest to go and read below articles on BDC before proceeding here.

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 1

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 2

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 3

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 4

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 5

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 6

Ok, let’s continue our series of BDC as part 7.

Till now what we are doing was all without writing any code. Now let’s write a code. We may require this if we are not using the BDC Web parts to display the data from BDC Definition. It is like fetching record with the help of ADO.NET and displaying on grid or using the way you like.

So let’s get started.

Here we are going to design a console application to understand each class that is required to connect and methods that are required to access different entities for any application definition.

First I would like to list down the assemblies that we are going to use in this applications.

using Microsoft.Office.Server;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Infrastructure;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.MetadataModel;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Runtime;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.SystemSpecific.Db;

First, we will go forward to using the SSP in which our Definition resides. (Our XML that we imported).

Then you have to set the SSP for using in the application.

string strSSPName = "{ssp_name}";

SqlSessionProvider.Instance().SetSharedResourceProviderToUse(strSSPName);

Then, you need to get the Line of Business objects. Get all definitions in that SSP.

NamedLobSystemDictionary objLOBSysDictionary = ApplicationRegistry.GetLobSystems();

Here what I am doing is making the conditions because I have three definition installed in my machine and I want to give you an example of entities and methods I have all these ready in one of my definitions so I am making conditions. You can write code in your own way.

Ok, now what we will do is we will loop through every BDC Definition and print its name in console.

foreach (LobSystem objLOBSys in objLOBSysDictionary.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Name of your BDC Application is : " + objLOBSys.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}

NamedDataClassDictionary objNamedClasses = objLOBSys.GetDataClasses();

Now take out the name of the entities.

foreach (DataClass objClass in objNamedClasses.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Entities: " + objClass.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}

Now I am making condition of my own application, you can use your defined application. If you have used the XML that we have discussed so far in previous articles of BDC series, then this approach will be fine for you.

I will take out the Author class and get its methods defined in that.

if (objLOBSys.Name == "Authors")
{
DataClass clsAuthors = objNamedClasses["Author"];

NamedMethodDictionary objMethods = clsAuthors.GetMethods();
foreach (Method objMethod in objMethods.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Method: " + objMethod.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}
}
NamedLobSystemInstanceDictionary objInstances = objLOBSys.GetLobSystemInstances();

As we have defined single instance as AuthorTraders, we will get the one single value for this.

foreach (LobSystemInstance objInstance in objInstances.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Instance: " + objInstance.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}

Now, let’s get the Author entity.

Entity authorEntity = objInstance.GetEntities()["Author"];

FilterCollection filterColl = authorEntity.GetFinderFilters();

Filter Collection will get all the filters applied on it.

Because we have City as filter so let’s pass it as a parameter.

(filterColl[0] as WildcardFilter).Value = "Oakland";
IEntityInstanceEnumerator authorEnum =

authorEntity.FindFiltered(filterColl, objInstance);
while (authorEnum.MoveNext())
{
DataTable dt =

(authorEnum.Current as DbEntityInstance).EntityAsDataTable;

PrintOnConsole(dt.Rows[0]);

}

private static void PrintOnConsole(DataRow objDR)
{
foreach (DataColumn objColumn in objDR.Table.Columns)
{
Console.Write(objDR[objColumn] + "\t" );
}

Console.Write(Environment.NewLine);
}

Here is the Full Code after explaining all functionality.

namespace BDCConsoleApplication
{
public class Program
{
static void Main(string[] args)
{
string strSSPName = "MATS SSP";

SqlSessionProvider.Instance().SetSharedResourceProviderToUse(strSSPName);

NamedLobSystemDictionary objLOBSysDictionary = ApplicationRegistry.GetLobSystems();

///This Makes the Loop of All Definition installed
///at Farm level that will come as Application Name in objLOBSys.Name

foreach (LobSystem objLOBSys in objLOBSysDictionary.Values)
{

if (objLOBSys.Name == "Authors")
{
Console.WriteLine("________________________________________________________" + Environment.NewLine);
}

Console.WriteLine("Name of your BDC Application is : " + objLOBSys.Name + Environment.NewLine);

///Get data classes method will give us all entities in that application

NamedDataClassDictionary objNamedClasses = objLOBSys.GetDataClasses();

foreach (DataClass objClass in objNamedClasses.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Entities: " + objClass.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}


if (objLOBSys.Name == "Authors")
{

DataClass clsAuthors = objNamedClasses["Author"];

NamedMethodDictionary objMethods = clsAuthors.GetMethods();

foreach (Method objMethod in objMethods.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Method: " + objMethod.Name + Environment.NewLine);
}

NamedLobSystemInstanceDictionary objInstances = objLOBSys.GetLobSystemInstances();

foreach (LobSystemInstance objInstance in objInstances.Values)
{
Console.WriteLine("Instance: " + objInstance.Name + Environment.NewLine);

Entity authorEntity = objInstance.GetEntities()["Author"];

FilterCollection filterColl = authorEntity.GetFinderFilters();

(filterColl[0] as WildcardFilter).Value = "Oakland";

IEntityInstanceEnumerator authorEnum =

authorEntity.FindFiltered(filterColl, objInstance);

while (authorEnum.MoveNext())
{
DataTable dt =

(authorEnum.Current as DbEntityInstance).EntityAsDataTable;

PrintOnConsole(dt.Rows[0]);

}
}
}
}

Console.ReadLine();

}

///

/// Prints the Record on Cosole Screen
///

///
private static void PrintOnConsole(DataRow objDR)
{
foreach (DataColumn objColumn in objDR.Table.Columns)
{
Console.Write(objDR[objColumn] + "\t" );
}

Console.Write(Environment.NewLine);
}

}

See, we wrote a code without using traditional ADO.Net Approach. This is the other way to get the data from BDC. The power here is that you can actually treat XML as a connection bridge for the database and code and then have flexibility to use it in your own way.

I will continue our series of BDC in my next article.

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 6

Hi All,

I am back with the series of BDC.

I suggest to go and read below articles on BDC before proceeding here.

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 1

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 2

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 3

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 4

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 5

and later

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 7

Let's continue the series and start our part 6.

Ok, in this article we are going to discuss about the relations between the tables. We have relations in our table with primary key and foreign key concept in database. Here relationship in terms of BDC web parts with the keys.

So let’s jump in to practical to understand it better.

We will use the Same XML that we used in previous part 5. Always remember to keep using latest XML that we keep modify in each part one by one.

Before proceeding further we will change our XML now to include au_id primary key in this XML. So that we can use it for relation with other tables through XML as well.

We will take authors and titleauthors. Which authors has written what titles and royaltyper column from it. It is enough to see the scenario in action although may not sound logical.

Ok, you need to add one more Entity Type in our XML in <Entities> Tab.

<Entity EstimatedInstanceCount="20" Name="Title">

<Identifiers>

<Identifier Name="title_id" TypeName="System.String"/>

</Identifiers>

</Entity>


Now that once we have added this.

Go inside <Entity EstimatedInstanceCount="100" Name="Author">, we have <Methods> tab, go inside that and paste this code.

<Method Name="GetTitlesForAuthors">

<Properties>

<Property Name="RdbCommandText" Type="System.String">Select au_id, title_id, royaltyper From titleauthor Where au_id=@au_id</Property>

<Property Name="RdbCommandType" Type="System.String">Text</Property>

</Properties>

<Parameters>

<Parameter Direction="In" Name="@au_id">

<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.String" IdentifierName="au_id" Name="au_id"/>

</Parameter>

<Parameter Direction="Return" Name="Titles">
<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.Data.IDataReader, System.Data, Version=2.0.3600.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" IsCollection="true" Name="SalesOrderDataReader">

<TypeDescriptors>

<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.Data.IDataRecord, System.Data, Version=2.0.3600.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" Name="SalesOrderDataRecord">

<TypeDescriptors>

<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.String" IdentifierEntityName="Title" IdentifierName="title_id" Name="title_id">

<LocalizedDisplayNames>

<LocalizedDisplayName LCID="1033">title_id</LocalizedDisplayName>

</LocalizedDisplayNames>

</TypeDescriptor>


<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.Int32" Name="royaltyper">

<LocalizedDisplayNames>

<LocalizedDisplayName LCID="1033">royaltyper</LocalizedDisplayName>

</LocalizedDisplayNames>

</TypeDescriptor>

</TypeDescriptors>

</TypeDescriptor>

</TypeDescriptors>

</TypeDescriptor>

</Parameter >

</Parameters>

</Method >

Also add the association right after </Entities>


<Associations>

<Association AssociationMethodEntityName="Author" AssociationMethodName="GetTitlesForAuthors" AssociationMethodReturnParameterName="Titles" Name="AuthorToTitle" IsCached="true">

<SourceEntity Name="Author" />

<DestinationEntity Name="Title" />

</Association>

</Associations>

As you come to know here, what we did is we have used au_id as input paramter to the new destination, that is titleauthor table.

We want to display title_id and royaltyper columns in that new webpart which soon we are going to use on our page for the relation.

And finally then we have made the association between two entities for having parent child relationship.

Ok, now let’s go ahead and add one more web part on the page.

Edit the page, and add a web part named “Business Data Related List”.



Now modify the newly added web part and select AuthorTraders in Type selector. The moment you do this, we can come to know the relationship that we defined automatically selected in relationship dropdown in terms of AuthorToTitle.



Once, you have that webpart on your page, next step is to connect that web part with the parent one. So go ahead to the Author List web part, the main parent web part and connect it with the TitleList.



And see the magic. Select au_id from parent list and see both web parts will give you the result.



I will continue the series further for more detailing on BDC.

Enterprise Custom Fields with project server (PWA) Part-1

Hi guys,

With the request from the users we are here with another post for Enterprise Custom fields with project server (PWA).

We will go step by step to understand how custom field works in PWA or project server.

What is Enterprise Custom Fields?

In simple word Enterprise Custom Fields are useful for storing some extra value or parameter regarding the project.

That value can be useful for reporting or some kind of bifurcation or filtration or to indicating some value which is related to project for business but not in technical term.

You can say it’s a tag that we can give to any project.

How to Use Enterprise Custom Fields?

Let’s have an example:
You are using project server as a repository to monitor all your projects in your organization.

Now suppose you have multiple clients and you are using only one instance of PWA or project server (and you should).
So in this scenario your may have multiple project from multiple clients in same place now how to bifurcate which project is form which client.

At this moment you can use Enterprise custom Fields to store client name and use this as a filtration. This is the simplest example so that everyone can understand what is the use of this Custom Fields.

But in the real scenario this fields can be use in many-many other ways.

Types OF Use Enterprise Custom Fields

You can create Custom Fields against each project, against each Resource or against each task.
So you can create Custom Field by project, Custom Field by Resource, Custom Field by task.

How PWA or Project Server Works with Use Enterprise Custom Fields?

You will find Enterprise Custom Fields in
Server Settings -> Enterprise Custom Field Definition.

Over there you will find some of the predefined Custom Fields.

This place is the repository of custom fields like master location of custom fields.
First you have to create new custom field over here just like entering in master (one time job).

Then that custom field will be available to that entity (project, resource or task).
For an example if you create a custom field with entity project then that custom field available in each project.

You can field that custom field available to each project.
Please check graphical representation for understanding.

Most of the functional points are covered regarding Enterprise Custom Field.

We will come soon with implementation of Custom Field programmatically.

Mean while if you have any doubt then please feel free to comment over here.

Access denied or Cannot complete this action error message when you try to connect to a Windows SharePoint Services Web site

Hi All,

            One of the most common error message encountered while working with SharePoint Site is access denied or cannot complete this action. Have you ever wondered what is the reason behind this??

Let me tell you.. First have a look at this Microsoft Support Article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823278

In addition to this i sometimes got this error message in the event viewer log as well. I developed a custom web part and deployed its dll's in the bin folder of the site. When i tried to add the webpart on a web part page i got the access denied error message. Somehow i could not figure out why i am getting the error message even though i am the administrator of the site and machine.

Then i studied the error message in detail. It was mentioned that error message is getting generated because the account under which the service is running is not having permission to access the bin folder of the site.

Then i simply went to the virtual directory folder of the site and clicked on the properties of the bin folder(Right Click --> Properties). I selected the security tab and found out that the account under which the wss services were running (Network Service Account) was not present at all.

I added the network service account and gave appropriate rights and that's it !!! Webpart started working....

I hope this blog post will reduce your headache to a cetain extent. 

Still if you are facing problems like this and couldn't find solution contact sharepointkings@gmail.com and we will help you out.

How to add a new list item to SharePoint using the List Item web service

How to add a new list item to SharePoint using the List Item web service ?

Problem Statement:
I want to add data into the "SalesReport" List on a sharepoint Site.

Solution:



Right click on the references folder and then ‘Add Web Reference…”.
WebService Reference: http:///_vti_bin/Lists.asmx

Type in the url to sites webservice you wish to call in the next box,
give it an appropriate name (we have given it as SharePointkingsWebService ) and click ok.

Create a method and place the below code.

try
{

SharePointkingsWebService.Lists list = new SharePointkingsWebService.Lists();
list.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
list.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("SharePointkings", "Password", "SharePointkings");
XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
XmlElement batch_element = doc.CreateElement("Batch");
string item = "" + "New" + "This is a test by Sharepoint Team" + "";
batch_element.InnerXml = item;
list.UpdateListItems("SalesReport", batch_element);

return true;
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
return false;
}

....And the job is done!!!

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 5

Hi All,

I suggest to go and read below articles on BDC before proceeding here.

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 1

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 2

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 3

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 4

Also

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 6

Business Data Catalog (BDC) Part - 7

Ok, let’s continue the series of BDC.

Now we have the complete XML and example in our hand, we can play with it. Search is something very important nowadays.

Here we are going to integrate the search in our BDC Example. Let’s directly play with it to see it in action.

Open the XML, locate to the in the XML. You must find it almost at the end of the XML.

So after that , write down the following Tags.

<Actions>
<Action Name="Seach in Windows Live!" Position="1" IsOpenedInNewWindow="true"
Url="http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q={0}" ImageUrl="">
<ActionParameters>
<ActionParameter Name="au_fname" Index="0" />
</ActionParameters>
</Action>
</Actions>

This will add one more option in toolbar of the detailed view profile page. Let’s add one more Action in the toolbar. We used this query string because if you search in Live., you should know that this is the query string that is used for search in Live.

Add this tag inside <Actions></Actions> tag only. That means we will have two actions. Let’s this action search it from Google. So we use its Query string and pass our parameter.

<Action Name="Seach in Google!" Position="2" IsOpenedInNewWindow="true"
Url="http://www.google.com/search?q={0}" ImageUrl="">
<ActionParameters>
<ActionParameter Name="au_fname" Index="0" />
</ActionParameters>
</Action>


Perform the same steps again to import the Application Definition XML File from central administrator and from your SSP.

Check out the actions now.