Showing posts with label SharePoint Online. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SharePoint Online. Show all posts

May 18, 2017

Site Mailbox is removed from SharePoint Online


I tried to create a Site Mailbox this morning, in SharePoint Online and came to know this feature is no longer supported in SharePoint Online.
 

Tried to understand it in detail and following are the updates:
  1. Microsoft is notifying Office 365 customers that access to Site Mailboxes is being removed from SharePoint Online, and no more Site Mailboxes can be created from March 2017 onward.
  2. Site Mailboxes originally appeared as a feature of Exchange Server 2013. Site Mailboxes appended together an Exchange mailbox with a SharePoint site to allow users to collect email conversations in a single location, as well as access shared documents from both Outlook and SharePoint.
  3. If you are using Site Mailboxes, then you have got some migration work to look forward to. Otherwise, if you are looking for “email-centric collaboration”, Office 365 Groups are the way to go (Reference: Microsoft Community Groups).

May 5, 2017

Slide Library in SharePoint Online

When you try to migrate from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint Online (Office 365), Slide Library template is not listed as app in the Create App section.
You can still get it with a direct URL. I would not depend on it being there forever as the Slide Library is officially not in SharePoint 2013, but for now you can create one.
The direct URL to create the old Slide Library:
http://yourserver/sites/yoursite/_layouts/15/slnew.aspx?FeatureId={0be49fe9-9bc9-409d-abf9-702753bd878d}&ListTemplate=2100


Update 22/05/2017:
Even though above solution works as expected in SharePoint 2013 & SP Online it is advisable not to use since Microsoft may remove this feature in future.

Jan 18, 2017

Enable "Open with Explorer" Option In SharePoint Online Document Libraries In Microsoft Edge Browser

Happy New Year 2017 to all readers and wish you all success in this year 😃😃😃

I was asked by my colleague who is from different Technology stream about “Open with Explorer” option disabled in SharePoint Online document libraries in Microsoft Edge browser.
Microsoft Edge browser has a new look and feel than other IE versions and obviously it is going to take a while for all end users to get used to / to know the various options in it.I tried checking the permissions of the user and he has admin permissions but still the user couldn’t open the library with explorer option as shown below:
As usual searched for various articles and understood about the features of Microsoft Edge browser.Read this KB article about Microsoft Edge and SharePoint behavior:

Solution:
Navigate to the edge browser -> click on Open with Internet Explorer as shown below:

Now, the SharePoint site should open in the IE 11 (latest version before Microsoft Edge is released).As expected, in IE 11, Open with Explorer option is enabled and everything works perfectly as shown below:
If you want to sync, click on Sync and it will open the One Drive -> Sign in -> Sync the data.

Hope this helps you!
Please share your valuable comments which will help me write more and share this post using the social buttons below.

Oct 17, 2016

Accessing Radio Buttons using JQuery in SharePoint Online

I couldn't find anything obvious for accessing SharePoint Radio Buttons so chucked this together, hopefully useful for someone else :)
Note: The below code/solution is applicable to accessing radio button in a custom SharePoint List forms. To know how to create a custom form in SharePoint Online, read this article 
Accessing Radio Button control in SharePoint is little tricky than accessing the radio buttons in HTML. The reason being, radio buttons are rendered as a table instead of a single control as shown below (radio button and it's preview in developer tools - Chrome):

So, each radio button is rendered inside SPAN tag in a table. To access the normal SharePoint controls, we will use either ID or title property but for Radio Buttons it is little complicated.
1. The actual radio button control is in "input" tag 
2. The values (Example here: Yes, No) are inside "label" tag 
3. But each control (Yes & No) are represented by ID which is generated by SharePoint 
4. If you keenly look at the ID, there is "ff41" which is the ID of the control generated randomly by SharePoint.

Now, open the designer, add an ID to the TD of the Radio button so that we can query it easily using JSOM as shown below:

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//Radio button change event
$("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']").change(function(){
     // do something
});

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//Clear the values of radio button - reset the values of radio button
$("td[id='tdApproved'] input[name*='ff4']")[0].checked = false;
$("td[id='tdApproved'] input[name*='ff4']")[1].checked = false;

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//Checking the value of radio button
if($("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']:checked +  label").text() != 'Yes'){
    // do something
} 

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//Focus Radio button 1st element in control
$("td[id='tdApproved'] input:radio[name*='ff4']:eq(0)").focus();

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//Align all Radio Buttons in the page horizontally
function HorizontalAlignChoices() {
    var objSpans = $(".ms-RadioText");
    objSpans.each(function () {
        if ($(this).is("span")) {
            $(this).closest("tr").css({ "float": "left" });
        }
    });
}

*** "tdApproved" is the ID of the SharePoint Radio Button Control, "ff4" is the unique ID of the SharePoint Control in your List form. Change this ID according to your form to get the exact result.
Please share your valuable comments which will make me write more and also share this post using the below social buttons to others. 
Happy Share(ing)Point!   

Update: 21/06/2017
Read this article, to know how to access Checkbox in SharePoint using JQuery ðŸ˜Ž

Oct 13, 2016

Get Current Logged in User & Manager using REST API in SharePoint Online

Scenario: 
Environment: SharePoint Online 
Approach:      Populating Current logged in user in People Picker. Also populating user's Manager automatically using REST API and SP Services.
Solution:
1. Create an SharePoint custom list "Learning" (in my case).
2. Create two columns with the following names and data types shown below:
         Internal Name                      Title                                                   Type
CurrentLoggedinUser           Current Logged in User Person or Group (People Only)
Manager                              Manager Person or Group (People Only
3. When you try adding a new item in the list, it should look like:
Here the two people pickers are SP 2013 people picker type where it will show the matching users while typing few words automatically.
4. Now open the list in SharePoint Designer, Create a New Custom Form and make it as default as shown below in the screenshots:

Open the new custom form in Advanced Mode, where you can edit the List Form. Try viewing the page by clicking F5 or Preview in Browser icon in top left corner in the designer.
5. You can see the difference in People Picker. When you create a custom list form, the default forms are automatically changed to SharePoint old type. (for more details read this blog).
6. Now add the ID for both fields as shown below. Also, add the reference the JQuery in the form 
7. Now add the ID's for the two people picker values so that it will be useful for querying the SharePoint controls as shown below
 8. Add a JS file ("Learning.js") in the Site Assets Library and refer it in the new form. Add the below code in the newly created "Learning.js" file.

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$(document).ready(function() {
 var userAccountName= $().SPServices.SPGetCurrentUser();
 //Set current logged in user and manager name in people picker
 LoadPeoplePickerDetails();
 //Show the form fields on document.ready()
 $("#onetIDListForm").show();
});
 
/****************** All function defintions starts here********************************/
//Function to set people picker values
function LoadPeoplePickerDetails()
{
 var url=_spPageContextInfo.webAbsoluteUrl + "/_api/SP.UserProfiles.PeopleManager/GetMyProperties"
 getReqData(url,function(data){    
 try 
 {
         //Get properties from user profile Json response  
         var userDisplayName = data.d.DisplayName;
         var AccountName = data.d.AccountName;
         $("#tdCurrentUser [id$='upLevelDiv']").html(AccountName);
         $("#tdCurrentUser [id$='checkNames']").click();
         var Manager = data.d.ExtendedManagers.results;
         $("#tdManager [id$='upLevelDiv']").html(Manager[Manager.length-1]);
         $("#tdManager [id$='checkNames']").click();             
 }
 catch(err){
   
  }               
     },
     function(data){
       //alert("some error occured in getting current User info");
     });
}

function getReqData(reqUrl,success, failure) {
 $.ajax({
  url: reqUrl, 
  method: "GET",
  headers: { "Accept": "application/json; odata=verbose" },
  success: function (data) {
   success(data);
  },
  error: function (data) {
   failure(data);
  }
 });
}
9. Save the JS and the custom new form as well.
10. Now, try adding a new item. The current logged in user and the current logged in user's manager name will be automatically set in the people picker as shown below.

11. It is basically, on document.ready(), REST API call is made and it populates the data on the form load.

Note: 
1. The people picker for Manager field is loaded after getting the value from current logged in user field. Hence if you have to change the user, the manager value is set during document.ready(). If you want to change the user and set the manager field, then write a method for setting value of manger and call it on value set in first people picker
2. I have implemented only in  Custom New Form only.

For ease of use, I have shared the js and the List Template. Please use this link to download.

In the above tutorial, you have learned how to create a Custom Form in SharePoint Online, make REST API calls and also set the values to the People Picker in the list form.

Please share your valuable comments which will make me write more and also share this post using the below social buttons to others. Happy Share(ing)Point!    

Oct 10, 2016

Deploying List Workflow in SharePoint Online

Recently, I had a query from one of my readers about migrating the Workflows from development to production and the environment is SharePoint Online.
Scenario:
Suppose that you have created a List Workflow in development site in SP Online and now it is ready to move to Production in SP Online, you can follow the following steps to deploy the workflow. This method is easy, cheaper since no third party tool (licensing cost) is used for migration/deployment.
Solution:
1. Take the backup of SP list with or with out content (depending upon the requirement). List backup will be in .stp format.
2. Download the List Template from List Templates (Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> List Templates).
3. Upload the List Template in the PROD site in the same path (Site Settings -> Web Designer Galleries -> List Templates).
4. Create a new app from "Add an App" and create the list with the same Internal Name (impt: the internal name of the list created in the PROD should be the same as DEV environment)
5. Open the DEV site SP designer, point to the List Workflow -> Click save as template from ribbon (in Manage section) - This will save your WF as web part solution (.wsp) in the Site Assets Library. 
6. Download the WSP and upload it to the PROD site solutions: Site Settings ->  Web Designer Galleries -> Solutions -> Upload & Activate the solution
7. Now navigate to the Site Settings -> Site Actions -> Manage Site Features -> Activate the workflow (it should be in the name Workflow Template "name of the workflow" from web template "name of the site")
Note: If you do not the create the list with the same internal name in the PROD, you will get an error while activating the feature.
8. Now, navigate to the list -> list settings -> workflow settings -> you should see the Workflow associated with the list already. If you face any issues, remove the associated workflow, add it again either from SP designer or from SharePoint UI itself.
Hope this helps you in deploying the workflow from development site to production site in SharePoint Online.
If this useful to you, share this post using the buttons below / share your comments which will make me write more!  ðŸ˜Š

Aug 16, 2015

Power BI in SharePoint Online

I am very excited after Microsoft released Power BI GA (general availability) at the end of July. It comes with list of impressive new features which is explained in detail in this MSDN article.
I want my blog readers to know what is Power BI and how it can be used with SharePoint Online to leverage the BI capabilities of SharePoint. Let's learn the basics in this article.
Articles in SharePoint Business Intelligence (BI) Series:
Power BI in SharePoint Online
Creating reports using OData Feed in Power BI
Power View report in SharePoint
Display Power BI reports in SharePoint Online
Microsoft came with a new tool for BI for the following reasons:
  1. Use the known tool  - Excel
  2. Discover More  - Power Query
  3. Analyze More – Power Pivot
  4. Visualize  - Power View / Power Map
  5. Combine with Office 365 – share with any one
  6. Power BI sites – collaborate and share the data sets with your team
  7. Dive into Q & A – ask a question and get answers visually
  8. Stay Connected – Mobile Apps
  9. Schedule data refresh and create security settings easily
So what is Power BI?
  1. Cloud based service works with excel to provide users a complete self-service BI solution
  2. Available in SharePoint & Excel 2013 Online (available only in E3 / E4 subscription)
  3. With Power BI, you can easily deploy a cloud based BI environment for users to share insights, collaborate and access reports from anywhere on any device
  4. With Power BI for Office 365, you can easily setup an online gallery for users to share insights
  5. Mobile apps available in Apple store, Windows store & Google play store
How does Power BI differ from SharePoint BI?
 
Feature
Power BI
SharePoint BI
Content Viewing
It displays all document libraries with a preview to reports / dashboards
It displays only pivot gallery document library
Natural Language
Q & A provides the end user to search for data with your questions and it displays the results in visualization
No such option available
Workbook as a data source
Power BI the data model and the reports (created with Excel pivot tables + charts, or Power View for Excel) everything must be contained within a single .xlsx file
In SharePoint, we can upload a Power Pivot model to the Power Pivot Gallery and other reports can connect to it using a URL-based connection string. This works for Power View for SharePoint, Reporting Services, PerformancePoint, and Excel
Data Refresh Option
It is simpler for end users to manage the data refresh
Lot of options available for data refresh and it’s controlled by Admin
Data Management Gateway
It is a hybrid environment (partially cloud based and partially on premises)
No data management gateway available
Data rendering option
HTML 5 (hence cross platform support)
Silverlight for data preview
Maximum workbook size
Max is 250MB
2 GB
Security
Sign in with Organization ID (O365 ID)
AD security mechanism
Enterprise Search for data
Search query is the important feature and it can search public and data within organization
N/A
Mobile Application
Available in Microsoft, Apple and Google Play store
N/A
            
Where can I download the Power BI and related products?
  1. Sign up for Power BI
  2. Power BI for desktop
  3. Power BI Analysis Services Connector
  4. Power BI Business Gateway
  5. Power BI Apps for mobile (apps for Apple, Microsoft and Android mobile)
  6. Power BI pricing
Hope this article, gives an idea of Power BI and how it differs from SharePoint BI. I will explain about connecting data from different data sources, creating dashboards, reports, etc. with Power BI in the coming articles.
Hope this helps you! Please share you comments since it helps me write more. Also, share this post to your friends via the networks below.  

Jul 19, 2015

Create Business Intelligence Center in Office 365

Recently, Microsoft has updated Power BI features in SharePoint online. It has enhanced the Business Intelligence features a lot and I am sure self-service BI is the ultimate goal for Microsoft:) In this article, we will learn how to create Business Intelligence Center in Office 365.
To get  Microsoft Office 365 trail with Business Intelligence Center (this feature is not available in all the versions of the O 365), you need to sign up using the E3 license. This includes the advanced features in it.
Office 365 Enterprise E3 
Once you sign up, navigate to Office 365 admin center -> Admin -> SharePoint -> It will open the SharePoint administration

Click Site Collections -> New -> Private Site Collection -> Give the Title and Web Site Address -> Template Selection -> Enterprise tab -> Business Intelligence Center ->  Enter the site collection Admin and click OK to create it.

You will see the new BI site collection as shown below:
Soon, will post about creating dashboards and reports in SharePoint 2013. Happy Learning!
Please share this post if this helps you!

Jul 13, 2015

SharePoint 2013 / Office 365

I wanted to try some proof of concepts using SharePoint 2013 and been looking for various easy options to get the SP 2013.
Hence I wanted to list the easy ways to get SharePoint 2013 for the readers. Below is the list:

Office 365 Trial :

https://products.office.com/en-us/business/compare-office-365-for-business-plans

On-Premises Deployment:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/evaluate-sharepoint-server-2013

Windows Azure:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/pricing/free-trial/?CR_CC=200256621&WT.mc_id=A24158309 

SharePoint Online:

https://products.office.com/en-us/SharePoint/compare-sharepoint-plans?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=08d4bcac-2e4e-4269-9981-1deb00da1ad9

SharePoint Rackspace:

http://sharepoint.rackspace.com/free-sharepoint-2013#chat 

Cloud Share:

http://www.cloudshare.com/cloudshare-template-library

This are the some of the easier ways to get the trial versions for SharePoint 2013. Please share this post if this is helpful. Happy Sharing!