mostly about sharepoint

Backup and Restore Site Collections in SharePoint 2010

2011-07-01T21:40:00.000-07:00

Backup-SPSite http://SP –Path C:\Backup\siteCollection.bak

Restore-SPSite http://SP –Path C:\Backup\siteCollection.bak

Use SharePoint BLOB Caching to increase performance

2011-06-28T03:00:00.000-07:00

BLOB caching, or disk-based caching, is an out of the box (OOTB) caching mechanism that is built into the MOSS 2007 and SharePoint Server 2010 platforms. It is commonly used to speed-up access to large and relatively static resources that are stored in content databases, such as images, videos, javascript files, and more. Performance improvements are gained by storing these assets on web front-ends (WFEs) once they’ve been requested by a client. This allows SharePoint to serve subsequent requests for such assets directly from WFEs instead of round-tripping to the content database each time a request for such an asset is received. For most SharePoint sites, this type of caching can significantly lighten the load on your SQL Servers and back-end network.

BLOB Caching is controlled through the web.config file for each of the IIS web sites that is associated with a Web application, and it is not enabled by default. Enabling BLOB caching is as simple as setting the enabled attribute to true in the web.config element as shown below.

<BlobCache location=”C:\blobCache” path=”\.(gif|jpg|png|css|js)$” maxSize=”10” enabled=”true” />

SharePoint FxCop Rules

2011-06-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

http://sovfxcoprules.codeplex.com/

SP0001 - Dispose created SPSite or SPWeb objects
SP0002 - Dispose SPWeb returned from a method
SP0003 - Do not dispose SPSite.RootWeb and SPWeb.ParentWeb properties
SP0004 - Dispose SPSite returned from the SPSiteCollection.Add method
SP0005 - Dispose SPSite returned from the SPSiteCollection index operator
SP0006 - Dispose SPWeb returned from the SPSite.AllWebs.Add method
SP0007 - Dispose SPWeb returned from the SPSite.AllWebs index operator
SP0009 - Dispose SPWeb returned from the SPWeb.Webs.Add method
SP0010 - Dispose SPWeb returned from the SPWeb.Webs index operator
SP0011 - Dispose SPWeb returned from the Area.Web property
SP0012 - Dispose the SPLimitedWebPartManager.Web property
SP0013 - Do not dispose SPList.ParentWeb when using the SPList.BreakRoleInheritance method
SP0014 - Close PublishingWeb returned from the PublishingWeb.GetPublishingWebs index operator
SP0015 - Do not dispose SPSite and SPWeb returned from the GetContextSite and GetContextWeb methods
SP0017 - Do not dispose SPSite and SPWeb returned from the SPFeature.Parent property
SP0018 - Close PublishingWeb returned from the PublishingWeb.GetVariation method
SP0019 - Dispose SPSite returned from the UserProfiles.PersonalSite property
SP0008 - Do not dispose SPSite.RootWeb when using SPSite.LockIssue, SPSite.Owner or SPSite.SecondaryContact properties
SP0016 - Do not dispose SPSite and SPWeb returned from the SPContext.Current.Site, SPContext.Site, SPContext.Current.Web and SPContext.Web properties

Adding List Items using PowerShell

2011-06-23T02:46:00.000-07:00

SharePoint 2010 offers over 500 new cmdlets that we can use to automate the SharePoint 2010 environment through Windows PowerShell. The cmdlets go as deep as SPWeb, everything beyond SPWeb requires additional scripting, such as adding fields, views and items. Here’s an example showing how to add an item to the Announcements list in SharePoint 2010:

$spWeb = Get-SPWeb -identity http://SP
$spList = $spWeb.GetList(“Lists/Announcements")
$newItem = $spList.AddItem()
$newItem["Title"] = "My First Announcement"
$newItem["Body"] = "

PowerShell Magic

"
$newItem["Expires"] = "5/5/2010"
$newItem.Update()
$spWeb.Dispose()
In the example we use the Get-SPWeb cmdlet to bind to a specific site. Next we use the GetList() method to retrieve a list. The method accepts a lists relative URL as input. We then use the AddItem() method to create a new item in SharePoint 2010. Finally we use the Dispose() method on the SPWeb object to make sure that the object is disposed of correctly.

PowerShell commands for SharePoint 2010

2011-06-23T02:33:00.000-07:00

>Get-Command -Noun SPSite
You can get the all PowerShell commands:

>Get-Help Get-SPSite
You can get the Name, Syntax, Description, Related Links, Remarks

To Retrieve content database for a specific site collection:
>Get-SPContentDatabase -Site http://SPServer01

Results:

ID :96dfa345-43df-3edg-bbc6-1l4e8ee105le
Name :WSS_content
Web Application :SPWeb Application Name=Sharepoint - 80
Server :SPServer01
CurrentSiteCount :2

To retrieve the content database for a specific Web Application:
>Get-SPContentDatabase -WebApplication "Sharepoint - 80"
Results:
ID :96dfa345-43df-3edg-bbc6-1l4e8ee105le
Name :WSS_content
Web Application :SPWeb Application Name=Sharepoint - 80
Server :SPServer01
CurrentSiteCount :2

Developer Dashboard in SharePoint 2010

2011-06-23T02:10:00.001-07:00

DD will obviously not give you all answers you need to solve performance/page load issues (for instance you might have to talk to your SQL guru to optimize T-SQL queries or C# developer to optimize their webpart algorithm or tell your end user that they have put too many webparts on a page). In the end it will make the life of any user and a lot easier to understand page load in SharePoint 2010 and hence Project Server 2010.

Script to turn on/off DD (not do not turn it ON in your production server since it will activate it for all pages for all users in your farm!) (copy and paste in a file and save with .BAT extension then execute in your farm):

echo off

@SET UTILS_ROOT=C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN

@echo ENABLE Developer Dashboard
@echo ================================================================

"%UTILS_ROOT%\stsadm" -o setproperty -pn developer-dashboard -pv ondemand

@echo DISABLE Developer Dashboard
@echo ================================================================

REM "%UTILS_ROOT%\stsadm" -o setproperty -pn developer-dashboard -pv off

PAUSE

AJAX References

2011-06-22T04:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.msjoe.com/videos/microsoft-ajax/

ASP.NET 2.0 Ajax Extensions 1.0
Installed under C:\Program Files\Microsoft ASP.NET
In Visual Studio, create an ASP.NET AJAX Enabled Website (from a template)
Every page has an instance of the ScriptManager
Partial Page Update Pattern
UpdatePanel Control - server side control that enables us to place fires an event for the server to update the contents of the panel

<updatepanel></updatepanel>

<contenttemplate> ...some controls here...> </contenttemplate>

<triggers>
<asyncpostbacktrigger controlid="control to listen to" eventname="click">
</asyncpostbacktrigger>
</triggers>

ASP.NET Notes

Date.Now

JQuery Resources

2011-06-22T01:17:00.000-07:00

JQuery QuickSearch Plugin
http://www.msjoe.com/2011/06/filtering-an-asp-net-gridview-control-with-jquery/

Other Articles
http://www.msjoe.com/category/jquery/

CSS Reference

2011-06-01T06:54:00.001-07:00

http://htmlhelp.com/reference/css/structure.html

Use Cascading Style Sheets for Web Page Layout?

2011-05-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

Table-Based Approach
DIV Approach

Reference: http://www.asp.net/general/videos/how-do-i-use-cascading-style-sheets-for-web-page-layout

ASP.NET Localization

2011-05-28T09:27:00.000-07:00

Resource File particular to a page such as Default.aspx.resx within App_LocalResources

Label1.Text = "Hello"

Another Resource File Default.aspx.fr.resx (French)

Label1.Text = "Bonjour"

control property meta:resourceKey="Button1"
page declaration Culture="auto:en-US" UICulture="auto"
Internet Options : New Languages
App_GlobalResources
Properties > Expression then indicate ClassKey and ResourceKey
System.Threading
System.Globalization

Reference: http://www.asp.net/general/videos/how-do-i-create-a-multi-lingual-site-with-localization

ASP.NET Interview Questions

2011-05-20T05:50:00.000-07:00

What is an interface and what is an abstract class? Please, expand by examples of using both. Explain why.
What is serialization, how it works in .NET?
What should one do to make class serializable?
What exactly is being serialized when you perform serialization?
Tell me about the methods you have used to perform serialization.
Did you work with XML and XSL Transformations?
What methods and what for did you use to work with XML?
What is the purpose of reserved word “using” in C#?
How does output caching work in ASP.NET?
What is connection pooling and how do you make your application use it?
What are different methods of session maintenance in ASP.NET?
What is Viewstate?
Can any object be stored in a Viewstate?
What should you do to store an object in a Viewstate?
Explain how Viewstate is being formed and how it’s stored on client.
Explain control life cycle, mind event order.
What do you know about ADO.NET’s objects and methods?
Explain DataSet.AcceptChanges and DataAdapter.Update methods.
Assume you want to update a record in the database using ADO.NET. What necessary steps you should perform to accomplish this?
How to retreive the value of last identity has been updated in a database (SQL Server)?

.NET Classes and Namespaces

2011-05-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

StringWriter
HTMLTextWriter

System.Collections
System.Security
System.Configuration

LINQ to SQL Sample

2011-03-22T02:54:00.001-07:00

DataClassesDataContext dataContext = new DataClassesDataContext();

DataTable dtEmployees = new DataTable();

var employees = from empTable in dataContext.Employees
select empTable;
foreach (Employee empRecord in employees)
{
Response.Write(empRecord.LoginID + "
");
}

dtEmployees = (DataTable)employees;
dgEmployeesList.DataSource = dtEmployees;
dgEmployeesList.DataBind();

Stored Procedure Sample

2011-03-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

set ANSI_NULLS ON

set QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
go

ALTER PROCEDURE [HumanResources].[uspUpdateEmployeeHireInfo]
@EmployeeID [int],
@Title [nvarchar](50),
@HireDate [datetime],
@RateChangeDate [datetime],
@Rate [money],
@PayFrequency [tinyint],
@CurrentFlag [dbo].[Flag]
WITH EXECUTE AS CALLER
AS

BEGIN

SET NOCOUNT ON;

BEGIN TRY

BEGIN TRANSACTION;
UPDATE [HumanResources].[Employee]
SET [Title] = @Title
,[HireDate] = @HireDate
,[CurrentFlag] = @CurrentFlag
WHERE [EmployeeID] = @EmployeeID;

INSERT INTO [HumanResources].[EmployeePayHistory]
([EmployeeID]
,[RateChangeDate]
,[Rate]
,[PayFrequency])
VALUES (@EmployeeID, @RateChangeDate, @Rate, @PayFrequency);

COMMIT TRANSACTION;

END TRY

BEGIN CATCH
-- Rollback any active or uncommittable transactions before
-- inserting information in the ErrorLog

IF @@TRANCOUNT > 0
BEGIN
ROLLBACK TRANSACTION;
END

EXECUTE [dbo].[uspLogError];

END CATCH;

END;

Clearing the Cache in SharePoint

2010-10-26T03:34:00.001-07:00

In case you encounter the Update Conflict Error:

1. Stopping wss timer job, Saving Copy of the cache.ini file from C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\application data\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config folder. Clearing all the .xml files from the location except cache.ini but Edit the cache.ini to have value 1. Starting the timer job

2. Rerun the Sharepoint technology wizard on the server.

3. If all above doesnt work, you may run the configuration wizard. select the option to disconnect the server from server farm and revert back again at next step (so you actually do not disconnect). Selected the option as not to disconnect from server farm and ran the wizard successfully.

http://blogs.technet.com/corybu/archive/2007/05/31/sharepoint-orphans-explained.aspx

MOSS 2007 Backup & Restoration

2010-10-25T22:57:00.001-07:00

Back up a farm by using SQL Server tools (Office SharePoint Server 2007)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263069(v=office.12).aspx

Restore a farm by using SQL Server tools (Office SharePoint Server 2007)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262197(v=office.12).aspx

SharePoint Patterns & Practices

2010-07-20T20:47:00.001-07:00

The download includes patterns & practices for both SharePoint 2007 and 2010, applicable for implementing content-driven or event-driven SharePoint applications as well as integrating line of business applications.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd203468.aspx

Must read.

Notes on Workflows

2010-06-10T19:43:00.000-07:00

TaskName_MethodInvoking
Listen Activity

OnWorkflowItemChanged
OnWorkflowItemDeleted

WorkflowProperties.Item("Name").String

SharePoint Version

2010-06-09T02:43:00.000-07:00

From the Site Settings Page

Go to Site Actions > Site Settings

From the Central Administration Page

Go to SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration
Operations > Servers in Farm

2010-06-03T00:53:00.000-07:00

Publishing an InfoPath Form w/ Custom Code
1. Tools > Form Options > Set Upgrading to Do Nothing
2. File > Publish > To a SharePoint Server with or without InfoPath Forms Services
3. Choose to publish an Administrator-approved form template

VSTA

2010-05-18T02:06:00.001-07:00

InfoPath forms with custom-code will require an add-in called VSTA (Visual Studio Tools for Application). VSTA can be added through the MS Office Enterprise instance (Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Change).

Creating, Modifying SharePoint Views Programmatically

2010-03-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

Creating a New View
String[] colArray = new String[] { "Column1", "Column2", "Column3” };
StringCollection colCollection = new StringCollection();
colCollection.AddRange(colArray);
String viewQry = “Your CAML Query Here’;
SPView newView = YourList.Views.Add(“View Title”, colCollection, viewQry, 100, true, false);

Note: 100 is the item limit, true is allow paging and false is to set as the default view

Adding Fields to an Existing View
SPList oList = oWebsite.Lists["List_Name"];

SPView oView = oList.Views["All Items"];
SPViewFieldCollection collViewFields = oView.ViewFields;
collViewFields.Add("Created");
oView.Update();

Adding a "Group By" to the View
String query = "";
view.Query += query;
view.Update

String Manipulations in ASP.NET

2010-03-23T18:31:00.001-07:00

Find String within string
This code shows how to search within a string for a sub string and either returns an index position of the start or a -1 which indicates the string has not been found.

string MainString = "String Manipulation";
string SearchString = "pul";
int FirstChr = MainString.IndexOf(SearchString);

Strip specified number of characters from string
This example show how you can strip a number of characters from a specified starting point within the string. The first number is the starting point in the string and the second is the amount of chrs to strip.

string MainString = "S1111tring Manipulation";
string NewString = MainString.Remove(1,4);

Creating Lookup, Multi-Value Fields in SharePoint

2010-03-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

Because lookup fields are not included when you save a list as template in SharePoint, you might need to create custom code to programmatically add these fields to a list during site provisioning. Here's how:

SPSite site = new SPSite (siteURL);
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();
SPList departmentList = web.Lists["Department"];
SPList employeeList = web.Lists["Employees"];
employeeList.Fields.AddLookup("Department", departmentList.ID, false);

Lookup field in this case is the Department field which was added to the Employee list. Afterwards, you may set this field as a multi-value field:

SPFieldLookup categoryField = (SPFieldLookup)eLibrary.Fields[fldName];
categoryField.AllowMultipleValues = true;
categoryField.Update();

Reading XML Documents

2010-03-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument();
doc.Load(Server.MapPath("Setup.xml"));
XmlNode root = doc.DocumentElement;
string url = root.SelectSingleNode("url").ChildNodes[0].Value;

WSS v3 Custom Web Parts

2010-03-07T22:42:00.000-08:00

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb530302.aspx
Creating a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Web Part Using Visual Studio 2005 Extensions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973249.aspx
Web Part Class: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.web.ui.webcontrols.webparts.webpart.aspx

Custom Field Types in SharePoint

2010-03-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

Minimum requriements:

A field type definition. This field type definition is an XML file that contains the information that Windows SharePoint Services needs to correctly render the field, including its column header, on list view pages (such as AllItems.aspx). It is typically also used to render the field on the view list item page (DispForm.aspx) and sometimes it is used to render the field on the New or Edit (list item) pages. It can also declare and define special variable properties of the field type whose values will be set whenever a column is created based on the field type. Most importantly, it contains information about the assembly that includes the compiled field type.

A field class. This is a class whose instances can represent particular fields that are based on your custom field type. This class must inherit from SPField or one of the classes in Windows SharePoint Services that derive from it. The class is compiled into a strong-named assembly and you deploy it to the global assembly cache. In the context of a list view, an SPField object represents a column and its properties, such as whether it can be sorted. In the context of the Display, New, and Edit modes, an SPField object represents a particular field of a list item — a cell in the table that constitutes the list — and the value of that cell in the content database.

A rendering control class. This is a class that can be used, in conjunction with a rendering template (see below), to render your fields in New mode or Edit mode, or, less commonly, in Display mode. This class must inherit from BaseFieldControl or one of the classes in Windows SharePoint Services that derive from it. This class is compiled into the same assembly as the field class.

A rendering template. The rendering template is defined in an .ascx file located in C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\ControlTemplates.

An editing control for the variable properties of the field type. All field types require a name, a data type, a description, and other common properties; but many field types also have properties that are relevant only to fields of that particular type. These variable properties are set by users in the UI when they create a new column that is based on the field type. Usually, an element in the field type definition (see above) determines how these property setting controls are rendered. But sometimes a special editing control is required. Such a control is defined in an .ascx file that usually has a code-behind file that contains its logic. Creating a special editing control is recommended if you need to perform custom functions, such as complicated computational logic, looking up values from data sources, or custom data validation of the values that a user might choose when configuring a new column.

Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms446361.aspx

Event Handler Explorer

2010-03-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

Determine whether an event-handler has been successfully attached to your lists or document libraries:
http://didierdanse.net/blogs/dev_en/archive/2009/02/28/sharepoint-how-to-debug-event-handlers.aspx

Signing an Assembly in .NET

2010-03-03T22:27:00.000-08:00

Here are steps in order to sign an assembly using Visual Studio and be able to deploy that to the GAC:

Open the Project within Solution Explorer
Right-Click and Select Properties
Switch to the "Signing" tab
Select the option to "Sign the Assembly"

Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector

2010-03-03T21:12:00.000-08:00

The.NET Reflector is a class browser and decompiler that can examine an assembly and show you just about all of its secrets. The .NET Framework introduced reflection which can be used to examine any .NET-based code, whether it is a single class or an entire assembly. Reflection can also be used to retrieve information about the various classes, methods, and properties included in a particular assembly. Using .NET Reflector, you can browse the classes and methods of an assembly, you can examine the Microsoft intermediate language (MSIL) generated by these classes and methods, and you can decompile the classes and methods and see the equivalent in C# or Visual Basic® .NET.

You may download here.

Chapter 2: MOSS Search

2010-01-31T17:52:00.000-08:00

Schema
.AllManagedProperties
.QueryCrawledProperties

ManagedProperty
.GetMappings()

Mapping
.CrawledPropertyName

schema.AllManagedProperties.Create(name, type);

MappingCollection

CrawledProperty
mappings.Add(new Mapping(crawledprop.Propset, crawledprop.Name, crawledprop.VariantType, managedprop.PID));

managedproperty.SetMappings(mappings);

Customizing the Search Center

Lite - does not require Publishing Feature
IIS Web Application is associated to an SSP
With Tabs - fully customizable

Page layouts - Search Page (Search Box WP), Search Results Page, Advanced Search Page (Advanced Search Box WP), People Search Results Page
Tabs - All Sites, People; are items stored in two lists

Search Box WP - has a Scopes Dropdown
Search Summary WP - corrects the Spelling
Search Core Results WP - stemming is disabled by default. Example: buy matches buying, bought. Noise word query is enabled by default. Example: the, a, an. Can be configured to have a fixed keyword query. Has a Selected Columns property that you can add/remove from.

Sample Stored Procedure, Query for SSRS

2010-01-25T18:51:00.000-08:00

CREATE PROCEDURE prCustomerOrders
@startDate DATETIME, @endDate DATETIME
AS
SELECT
c.CustomerID, c.CompanyName,
c.City, c.ContactName,
o.OrderID, o.OrderDate,
od.UnitPrice, od.Quantity,
od.UnitPrice * od.Quantity AS ExtendedPrice
FROM
Customers c
INNER JOIN
Orders o ON c.CustomerID = o.CustomerID
INNER JOIN
[Order Details] od ON o.OrderID = od.OrderID
WHERE
o.OrderDate BETWEEN @startDate AND @endDate
ORDER BY
c.CompanyName, o.OrderDate

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

SELECT
S.OrderDate, DATENAME(weekday, S.OrderDate) as Weekday,

S.SalesOrderNumber, S.TotalDue, C.FirstName, C.LastName
FROM
HumanResources.Employee E
INNER JOIN
Person.Contact C ON E.ContactID = C.ContactID
INNER JOIN
Sales.SalesOrderHeader S ON E.EmployeeID = S.SalesPersonID
WHERE
(S.OrderDate BETWEEN (@StartDate) AND (@EndDate) AND
S.SalesPersonID IN (@SalesPersonID))

Finding the Id (Guid) for a SharePoint List

2010-01-14T18:15:00.000-08:00

From Nick Grattan:
There are times when you need to find the Id (a Guid) of a list – for example, when setting the Task list to be used with SharePoint Designer Workflows (see my blog post here). Here’s a simple way of doing this:

•Navigate to the SharePoint list using the browser.
•Select the Settings + List Settings menu command.
•Copy the Url from the browser address bar into Notepad. It will look something like:

http://moss2007/ProjectX/_layouts/listedit.aspx?List=%7B26534EF9%2DAB3A%2D46E0%2DAE56%2DEFF168BE562F%7D

•Delete everying before and including “List=”.
•Change “%7B” to “{”
•Change all “%2D” to “-“
•Chnage “%7D” to “}”

You are now left with the Id: {26534EF9-AB3A-46E0-AE56-EFF168BE562F}

From Ken Pespisa:
A (slightly) easier way if you have MOSS 2007 is to go to the List or Library settings as described above, then right-click on the “Audience targeting settings” or “Information management policy settings” links and choose Copy Shortcut.

You can then paste the URL and there’s no need to decode the GUID. For some reason these links aren’t URL encoded.

Source: http://nickgrattan.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/finding-the-id-guid-for-a-sharepoint-list/

How to Activate the Report Server Feature

2010-01-12T18:07:00.000-08:00

Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
Click Site Actions.
Click Site Settings.
Click Site Collection Features.
Find Report Server Integration Feature in the list.
Click Activate.

MOSS+SSRS Related Topics

2010-01-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

To debug during the setup of "Reporting Services Add-In for Sharepoint: There is a setup log file in the %temp% folder for the user (under Local Settings folder) who is installing the Reporting Services Add-in. The file name is RS_SP_.log
If the "Reporting Services" feature do not show up within Central Administration, it is because the feature failed to activate within the Site Collection during setup. You must run the "Add-In" with the same user account you used to install MOSS 2007.
If the Report Server feature is not fully installed within a site collection, execute the following command: stsadm -o activatefeature -name ReportServer -url http://siteCollectionURL
After applying SP2, under "Database Setup" when you try to create a new database: you may encounter an error that says the DB cannot be found. When you check within the SQL Server, you will observe that the Database has been created. This means, there's nothing wrong with permissions... the "update" scripts failed due to a BUG. What I did is to name the Report Server DBs without appending the "ReportServer" name. After doing so, the DB Setup completed without problems.

Old Name: MOSSDEVReportserver
New Name: MOSSDEV

What to customize per report: Query Parameters or Filters, Number Format, Sorting, Header/Footer, Totals

Filters vs. Parameters
Reporting Services has several methods for dynamically filtering report contents, including the following:
Query parameters filter data at the source as it is retrieved.

Report filters, applied to a dataset or data region, limit the data that is displayed from a generated report.

Using filters retrieves all data, but only data that is relevant to the user is displayed. This may be less efficient on an individual report basis than filtering at the source. However, it lets you retrieve the data once from the source and store in it a snapshot to serve many different user communities. On the other hand, when using query parameters, you must revisit the data source for each new value of the query parameters. Filters enable you to use execution snapshots and still get full parameterization.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc966445.aspx

Resources:
SSRS 2005 Installation
SSRS 2005 Creation of Reports Tutorial
SSRS 2005 Troubleshooting

Scheduling Custom Timer Jobs

2009-06-16T01:31:00.000-07:00

For scheduling daily, use code like this:

SPDailySchedule dailySchedule = new SPDailySchedule();
dailySchedule.BeginHour = 0;
dailySchedule.BeginMinute = 0;
dailySchedule.BeginSecond = 0;
dailySchedule.EndHour = 23;
dailySchedule.EndMinute = 59;
dailySchedule.EndSecond = 59;

job.Schedule = dailySchedule;

That tells SharePoint to run the job any time between 00:00:00 (12:00
AM) and 23:59:59 (11:59 PM) each day. You can make this window shorter
if you need to schedule it during off-peak hours.

You can also run the job hourly using this code:

SPHourlySchedule hourlySchedule = new SPHourlySchedule();
hourlySchedule.BeginMinute = 0;
hourlySchedule.EndMinute = 59;

job.Schedule = hourlySchedule;

Or every X number of minutes using this code:

SPMinuteSchedule minuteSchedule = new SPMinuteSchedule();
minuteSchedule.BeginSecond = 0;
minuteSchedule.EndSecond = 59;
minuteSchedule.Interval = X;

job.Schedule = minuteSchedule;

The Interval is only available on the SPMinuteSchedule class. Setting
it to 15 will run the job every 15 minutes for example.

Clinic 5045: Inside Look at Developing with WSS 3.0

2009-06-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Was able to find time today to complete this free online self-paced course offered by Microsoft and was able to get a certificate for it. I thought that was pretty cool :) Course details and notes taken from the course can be found below:

Clinic 5045: Inside Look at Developing with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0

In this 2-hour premium clinic you will learn about the rich capabilities that Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 offers to developers. The clinic will focus on Architecture and List Management, Building and Extending Windows SharePoint Sites, and Packaging and Deploying Windows SharePoint services solutions.Having this knowledge will enable you to determine how to incorporate Windows SharePoint Services into your workspace solution development. Additionally, it will enable you to consider deployment options for your SharePoint solutions.

Objectives
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Describe Site and Workspace management and Document storage.
- Describe Integration with ASP.NET and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.
- Describe Sites, Lists, Content Types and Collaborative features.
- Describe Programming with WSS and using the WSS Event model.
- Describe the Property Bag and Change Log.
- Describe SharePoint Pages, Master Pages and Content Pages.
- Describe Custom Views and Templates.
- SharePoint Designer
- Describe Web parts and Workflow support.
- Describe the Administrative object model.
- Describe how to create deployable Windows SharePoint Services-based solutions.
- Describe the Feature framework.
- Describe the Solution deloyment model.

For notes taken, you may go here.

For details on how to enroll in this clinic, please refer to an earlier post entitled, "myrampup.com".

myrampup.com

2009-05-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

from lurking within one of the blogs i have recently started to follow, i discovered this online university offering some free courses, sometimes also known as "clinics", about the many development tools, programming languages, databases, operating systems, collaboration tools and presentation frameworks Microsoft has made available to the IT world. all you need is a Windows Live ID in order to sign-up.

courses im enrolled in

most courses come with a price tag ranging from $30 to around $200, but some fortunately, are being offered for FREE. i signed up to a few which i thought would be beneficial to what i am trying to do: gain more knowledge about the MOSS 2007 platform which means understanding also the frameworks from which it was built upon (ASP.NET 2.0 and WSS 3.0) and the database system it uses for storing user content and application pages, the same system it relies upon in displaying more intelligent reports to the audience (MS SQL Server).

the online classroom

im currently taking "Clinic 5045: Inside Look at Developing with Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0" and so far, im happy. i love that the content loads fast and are 80% narrated and that tool demos are available. the self-test makes the learning process exciting as well. i love that they are broken down into short-term, 2 to 6 hour courses making the completion of the course not too impossible. i love that the text can be copied from the transcripts. i love that the course teaches me the fundamentals and have an easy to follow format. i love that you can receive graduation awards upon course completion in the form of discounts on other e-learning courses and training kits. i love that its free!

U2U for me

2009-05-21T02:43:00.001-07:00

CAML (Collaborative Application Markup Language) is an XML-based query language that helps you in querying, building and customizing Web sites based on Windows SharePoint Services. i have used CAML in the past to add filters to my sharepoint views. today i have learned that it can be used together with SPQuery to for querying and updating lists via the SharePoint web service Lists.asmx.

CAML seems easy to learn at first, but when you work with real data and are presented with different data types having various inherent properties, the work becomes difficult. fortunately, CAML builders are available. the one i use mostly for my work is U2U CAML Query Builder.

U2U has helped me come up with nested filters having a slightly complex "where" clause (an AND and an OR). it has also helped me come up with a query that tells sharepoint to retrieve data where in "Assigned User = [Me]". lastly, it has helped me determine how the "approval status" column (used when content moderation is enabled) can be filtered. here's a sample query U2U has come up with in one of my programs:

referring to the above screenshot of U2U's UI, you can use U2U to build complex where clause by following these steps:

Select the field for which you want to add a second where condition. Click the Where checkbox. Immediately a combobox appears where you can select “And” or “Or”. Fill out or select a value and click the > button. Notice that a Where node is added to the CAML query.

Let me know if this helps!

Hashtables in a Flash

2009-05-21T02:02:00.000-07:00

This is purely ASP.NET, but when creating custom MOSS features, this is something I have used more than a few times in order to temporarily store a subset of data coming from Sharepoint lists. Dont forget to add a reference to the System.Collections namespace beforehand.

There's nothing special about this article, just a quick reference for me.

Create a Hashtable
C#:
Hashtable objHash = new Hashtable();

VB:
Dim objHash As New Hashtable()

Add some data in it
C#:
objHash.Add("FirstName", "Asif");
objHash.Add("LastName", "Malik");
objHash.Add("Number", 1);

VB:
Dim objHash As New Hashtable()
objHash.Add("FirstName", "Asif")
objHash.Add("LastName", "Malik")
objHash.Add("Number", 1)

Search for a specific key:
C#
if (objHash.ContainsKey("FirstName"))
{
   Console.WriteLine("Key is present");
}

Loop through the items:
C#:
foreach (DictionaryEntry entry in estformsHashTable)
{
   if (entry.Value.ToString()=="")
   {
      //do something here
   }
}

VB:
Dim objEntry As DictionaryEntry
For Each objEntry In objHash
   'Do something here
Next