Jun 4, 2012

The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct

June 04, 2012 Marudu No comments

This is one of the common issues in the Microsoft Search Server 2008. In the Search Server logs in the Search Server Administration, the following errors are logged:

The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct

Also the search is not showing the results of some office documents which are having embedded links in it.

Solution:

Installing the Microsoft Office 2010 Filter Packs will fix this problem. This package will add the DLL’s to the machine.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17062

Usage of this Package:

IFilters are components that allow search services to index content of specific file types, letting you search for content in those files. They are intended for use with Microsoft Search Services (SharePoint, SQL, Exchange, and Windows Search).

Happy Sharing!

Creating and Deploying Custom Web Part in SharePoint

June 04, 2012 Marudu 6 comments

In this article, we will learn how to create a Custom Web Part in SharePoint using Visual Studio.

After reading this article, you will learn the following:

Ø Creating custom web part using visual studio

Ø How to use Labels, Rich text box and Buttons (with events) and validation

controls in the custom web part?

Ø How to validate the fields in custom web part in SharePoint?

Ø How to deploy the web part in SharePoint site?

Scenario:

Suppose that in a SharePoint page, you want the users to comment about the page or send some feedback, and then you can use this web part.

Solution:

It is created the following solution using Visual Studio 2005.

Steps:

1. Open the Visual Studio -> Click File -> New project -> Select Visual C# from Project types -> SharePoint -> web Part (Use this link for downloading the Visual Studio Extensions for SharePoint for creating SharePoint solutions in the Visual Studio 2005)

2. Once created, delete the web part present in the solution named webpart1. Now click on the Project Solution -> Add -> New Item -> SharePoint -> Web Part -> Give the name as CommentWebPart -> Click Add to create a web part file in the project solution

3. Now, we will create controls and add in the web part. See the following code which is used for creating this web part.

Program.cs:

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Web.UI;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

namespace CommentWebPart
{
    [Guid("745a216c-1126-4000-a189-02ebc60d7e67")]
    public class CommentWebPart : System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart
    {
        TextBox txtContactName;
        TextBox txtEmailAddress;
        InputFormTextBox txtBox;
        Button btnSubmit;
        Button btnCancel;
        Label lblSpace;

                                     
        public CommentWebPart()
        {
            
        }

        protected override void CreateChildControls()
        {
            try
            {
                base.CreateChildControls();

                Table t;
                TableRow tr;
                TableCell tc;

                // Creating a table to add the controls in it
                t = new Table();

                // Label for contact name
                tr = new TableRow();
                tc = new TableCell();
                tc.Style["padding-top"] = "5px";
                tc.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
                Label lblConatctName = new Label();
                lblConatctName.Text = "Conact Name";
                tc.Controls.Add(lblConatctName);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);


                // Text box for contact name
                tc = new TableCell();
                tc.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
                txtContactName = new TextBox();
                txtContactName.ID = "txtContactName";
                txtContactName.Width = Unit.Pixel(250);
                tc.Controls.Add(txtContactName);

                /* Creating required field validator for Contact Name. 
                * If the value is empty, then should throw error on clicking button Submit*/

                RequiredFieldValidator objName = new RequiredFieldValidator();
                objName.ControlToValidate = "txtContactName";
                objName.ErrorMessage = "Conatct Name cannot be empty";
                tc.Controls.Add(objName);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                t.Controls.Add(tr);
                
                // Label for email id
                tr = new TableRow();
                tc = new TableCell();
                tc.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
                Label lblEmailId = new Label();
                lblEmailId.Text = "Email ID";
                tc.Controls.Add(lblEmailId);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                // Text box for email id
                tc = new TableCell();
                tc.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
                txtEmailAddress = new TextBox();
                txtEmailAddress.ID = "txtEmailAddress";
                txtEmailAddress.Width = Unit.Pixel(250);
                tc.Controls.Add(txtEmailAddress);

                /* Creating required field validator for Email ID. 
                * If the value is empty, then should throw error on clicking button Submit*/

                RequiredFieldValidator objEmailID = new RequiredFieldValidator();
                objEmailID.ControlToValidate = "txtEmailAddress";
                objEmailID.ErrorMessage = "Email Id cannot be left empty";
                tc.Controls.Add(objEmailID);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                /* Creating Regular Expression validator for Email ID. 
                * If the value is empty or not in a regular Email ID format,
                * then should throw error on clicking button Submit*/

                RegularExpressionValidator objEmail = new RegularExpressionValidator();
                objEmail.ControlToValidate = "txtEmailAddress";
                objEmail.ErrorMessage = "Email Id is not in the correct format";
                objEmail.Display = ValidatorDisplay.Dynamic;
                objEmail.ValidationExpression = @"^([0-9a-zA-Z]([-.\w]*[0-9a-zA-Z])*@([0-9a-zA-Z][-\w]*[0-9a-zA-
                Z]\.)+[a-zA-Z]{2,9})$";
                tc.Controls.Add(objEmail);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                t.Controls.Add(tr);

                // Label for text box
                tr = new TableRow();
                tc = new TableCell();
                tc.VerticalAlign = VerticalAlign.Top;
                Label lblComments = new Label();
                lblComments.Text = "Comments";
                tc.Controls.Add(lblComments);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);
                               
                            
                // Creating a rich text box for comments
                tc=new TableCell();
                tc.VerticalAlign=VerticalAlign.Top;
                txtBox=new InputFormTextBox();
                txtBox.ID="txtBox";
                txtBox.RichText = true;
                txtBox.RichTextMode=SPRichTextMode.FullHtml;
                txtBox.TextMode=TextBoxMode.MultiLine;
                txtBox.Rows=10;
                txtBox.Width=Unit.Percentage(100);
                txtBox.Height = Unit.Percentage(30);
                tc.Controls.Add(txtBox);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                t.Controls.Add(tr);

                // Creating empty cell for spacing
                tr = new TableRow();
                tc = new TableCell();
                lblSpace = new Label();
                lblSpace.Text = "   ";
                tc.Controls.Add(lblSpace);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                tc = new TableCell();

                // Creating button submit event
                btnSubmit = new Button();
                btnSubmit.ID = "btnSubmit";
                btnSubmit.Text = "Submit";
                btnSubmit.Click +=new EventHandler(btnSubmit_Click);
                tc.Controls.Add(btnSubmit);
                
                // Creating button cancel event
                btnCancel = new Button();
                btnCancel.ID = "btnCancel";
                btnCancel.Text = "Cancel";
                btnCancel.Click +=new EventHandler(btnCancel_Click);
                
                lblSpace = new Label();
                lblSpace.Text = "   ";
                tc.Controls.Add(lblSpace);
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);
                tc.Controls.Add(btnCancel);
                
                tr.Controls.Add(tc);

                t.Controls.Add(tr);

                this.Controls.Add(t);

            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                string err = "Error Occured while loading the web part" + ex.Message;
            }
      }

        protected void btnSubmit_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            try
            {
                // Creating the EMail message 
                System.Text.StringBuilder txtMessage = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
                txtMessage.Append("Contact Name: ");
                txtMessage.AppendLine(txtContactName.Text);
                txtMessage.Append("Email Address: ");
                txtMessage.AppendLine(txtEmailAddress.Text);
                txtMessage.AppendLine();
                txtMessage.AppendLine("Comment:");
                txtMessage.AppendLine(txtBox.Text);

                // Creating the Email subject message
                System.Text.StringBuilder txtsubject = new System.Text.StringBuilder();
                txtsubject.Append("Comment from");
                txtsubject.Append(txtContactName.Text);

                // Cerating the message header
                System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary txtmessageHeader = new
                System.Collections.Specialized.StringDictionary();
                
                // To whom the mail should be sent
                txtmessageHeader.Add("to", "MAIL ID OF THE USER TO WHOM THE COMMENT HAS TO BE SENT");

                // From whom the comment is being sent
                txtmessageHeader.Add("from", txtEmailAddress.Text);
                txtmessageHeader.Add("subject", txtsubject.ToString());
                txtmessageHeader.Add("content-type", "text/RichText");

                // Send the email with the comment from the user
                Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SPUtility.SendEmail(SPContext.Current.Web, txtmessageHeader,               
                txtMessage.ToString());

                // Clear the fields after sending the mail
                txtContactName.Text = "";
                txtEmailAddress.Text = "";
                txtBox.Text = "";
                
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                string str= "Unable to send mail:" + ex.Message;
            }
        }

        protected void btnCancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Clear the fields on clicking cancel
            txtContactName.Text = "";
            txtEmailAddress.Text = "";
            txtBox.Text = "";
        }

   }
}

4. Build the web part and check for errors.

5. Now, to deploy the solution Right Click on the project solution -> Select Deploy to add the solutions in the Solution Gallery.

6. Now the solution will be present in the Solution Gallery (Central Administration-> Operations -> Solution Management) in the SharePoint site and we have to add it to our site.

7. Go to the SharePoint site -> Site Actions -> Site Settings -> galleries -> web parts

8. Now, Click on New -> You will see the list of deployed web parts and click on Comment Web part and then Click Populate Gallery

9. Now the web part is available in the SharePoint site but we have to add Safe control entry in the web.config of the site. Add the following in the web.config in the SAFE CONTROLS tag section

10. Now you can add the created custom web part in your SharePoint site. This will look as follows:

According to the required field validation, if the name and email id is field is left empty then the following screen should be seen:

If the Email ID is given in the wrong format then according to the regular expression validation, the following screen should be seen:

If the input fields are correctly given, then you will be able to submit the

comment to the described mail ID in the code as shown below:

HAPPY SHARING J

Also, to know about the Basics of Visual Web Part read this article.

To know about Creating and Deploying a Visual Web Part using Visual Studio 2010 read this article.

Please free to share your thoughts and share this post if this helps you!

Error: The language-neutral solution package was not found.

May 23, 2012 Marudu No comments

While using Visual Studio, you may get the following error

“The language-neutral solution package was not found.”

Solution:

There are three ways you can fix this problem:

1. This may be caused due to the CACHING issue in the Visual Studio and hence restarting the Visual Studio will help you in fixing the issue.

2. Sometimes the solution you are trying to update will not get updated properly. Hence delete the following folders (By navigating to In Visual Studio -> Right click on project in Solution Explorer window -> Select Open folder in Windows Explorer) bin, obj and package.

After deleting these folders, rebuild and deploy the solution which will work out.

3. Or finally, you can retract the solution from the Central Admin (in case of SharePoint related issues) and then uninstall the solution dll from the assembly folder. Then try to deploy the solution.

Please free to comment and share this post, if this helps you!

Chart Controls in ASP.Net

May 16, 2012 Marudu 1 comment

I was looking at creating chart controls for implementing in the .Net web applications. I didn’t like to use the 3^rd party tools or any freeware tools. Well, while browsing found a cool feature provided by MICROSOFT for the same.

In this article, we will have a look at the CHART CONTROLS in .Net applications.

Pre-requisites
Ø Visual Studio 2008 SP1, Link to download
Ø .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, Link to download
Ø Microsoft Chart Controls, Link to download
Ø Visual Studio 2008 Add-on for the Chart Controls, Link to download
Ø Documentations by Microsoft, Link to download
Ø Web and Windows Application Samples, Link to download

Types of Charts
Ø Area Charts
Ø Bar column Charts
Ø Circular Charts
Ø Combination Charts
Ø Data Distribution Charts
Ø Error Bar
Ø Financial Charts
Ø Line Charts
Ø Pie Doughnut Charts
Ø Point Charts
Ø Price Range Financial Charts
Ø Pyramid Funnel Charts
Ø Range Charts

Examples

The examples provided by Microsoft are very clear and easy. Hence you can download and try the samples. Also, the control is easy to use, just drag and drop the control and start using it.

Namespace

The namespace which we use here is System.Web.UI.DataVisualization.Charting.

More about Chart Controls
Ø This control is not available for Visual Studio 2005.
Ø It is available as a native component in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 SP1. First you have to install the Chart Controls provided by Microsoft and then the add-ons for using the control.
Ø But in Visual Studio 2010, it is present as inbuilt component. We can just use it!

More Useful Reference Links

Installing and using Chart Controls in Visual Studio 2010, here.

Using Chart Controls in Visual Studio 2005, here.

Happy Sharing!

Windows System Shows Blank Screen after logging in

May 16, 2012 Marudu 2 comments

Scenario:

I have faced many situations like after logging into the Windows Operating system machine (Especially Windows 7 and Windows Server which I have faced); it takes more hours showing a BLANK SCREEN without showing the desktop. It wasted my time more. So I was searching for a solution which would help in fixing the issue.

Solution:

1. Press CTRL + ALT + DEL

2. Select Start Task Manager from the list

3. In the Task Manager Select -> File -> New Task (New Task (Run...)) – I have Win 7 as shown below:

4. Type “Explorer” in the text box and click OK.

5. Now, you will see the explorer opening suddenly and also your desktop is ready to use.

Hope this helps some one’s time. Happy Sharing!

Change the Color of a Column in a List in SharePoint

May 14, 2012 Marudu 18 comments

In this article, we will know how to change the color of a column based upon the values in the column. It is something like “Color Indicator” in SharePoint.

Scenario:

We have a custom list used for Project Tracking. In the list, we have column named STATUS for tracking the project.

Whenever an item in the list is updated with the status in the column, then the background color of the status column should automatically change depending upon the status. Hence it gives a better UI for tracking the status.
Solution:

1. Create a custom list named “Project Tracking System” with the columns such as “Title”, “Description” and Status with the data type as shown below:

Columns with the data types to be created:

2. Now, we will insert 4-5 items in the list created.

In the above list, we can see that the status column is updated, but it would be good when we have background color of the each status separately. It is gives easy tracking to the users.

3. We can achieve this through JAVA SCRIPT

4. Add a Content Editor Web part below the list as shown below:

5. Now in the content editor web part, add the below java script code (Open the tool pane->Source Editor->Place the Java Script->Click Ok) and save the page.
Add the below code in the script JavaScript tag

var colorCode = document.getElementsByTagName("td")// finding all the TD tags
var i=0; 
for (i=0;i
{
if (colorCode[i].className=="ms-vb2")  
{ 
if (colorCode[i].innerHTML=="Not Started")//finding the word to which the color has to be set
{ 
colorCode[i].style.backgroundColor='lightblue'; // setting the color depending upon the value
colorCode[i].style.color='Black'; // setting the color of the words inside the content                                     
} 
if (colorCode[i].innerHTML=="Started")  
{ 
colorCode[i].style.backgroundColor='Brown';
colorCode[i].style.color='Black';
} 
if (colorCode[i].innerHTML=="In Progress")  
{ 
colorCode[i].style.backgroundColor='Orange';
colorCode[i].style.color='Black'; 
} 
if (colorCode[i].innerHTML=="Completed")  
{ 
colorCode[i].style.backgroundColor='green';
colorCode[i].style.color='Black'; 
} 
if (colorCode[i].innerHTML=="Deffered")  
{ 
colorCode[i].style.backgroundColor='Red'; 
colorCode[i].style.color='Black'; 
} 
} 
}

6. Now, you can see the status column background is changed depending upon the status inserted for each item as shown below:

It gives good interface to the users and also we can categorize the status easily.

Please free to comment and share the post, if it helps you!

Remote Blob Storage (RBS) in SharePoint 2010

May 10, 2012 Marudu No comments

In this article, we will know about a new feature in SharePoint 2010 which allows the remote storage in SharePoint.

What is Remote BLOB Storage?
Ø BLOB – Binary Large Object

Ø Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) is a library API set that is incorporated as an add-on feature pack for Microsoft SQL Server.

Ø It can be run on servers with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 Express. To run RBS on a remote server, you must be running SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise edition.

Ø RBS is not supported for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

Ø In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, RBS can be used for content databases only.

Why RBS?

It provides the following benefits:

Ø BLOB data can be stored on less expensive storage devices that are configured to handle simple storage.

Ø The administration of the BLOB storage is controlled by a system that is designed specifically to work with BLOB data.

Ø Database server resources are freed for database operations.

When to Go for RBS?

Ø Large Database of Mostly Binary Data

Ø Digital Asset Management Databases

Ø When Storage Tiers Need to be Implemented

Ø When Storage Needs to be Optimized

You can expect to benefit from RBS in the following cases:

Ø The content databases are larger than 500 gigabytes (GB).

Ø The BLOB data files are larger than 256 kilobytes (KB).

Ø The BLOB data files are at least 80 KB and the database server is a performance bottleneck. Then, RBS reduces the both the I/O and processing load on the database server.

RBS Advantages over EBS (External Blob Storage)

Hope this explains about the basics of RBS in SharePoint 2010.

I came across a good article explaining about Configuring Remote Blob Storage for SharePoint 2010. Here is the link.

Happy Sharing!

CAML Query to Get Data from SharePoint List

May 09, 2012 Marudu 3 comments

To know about the Basics of the CAML query read this article.

To know about using CAML query builder to create CAML queries, read this article.

In this article, we will learn how to use CAML query in Microsoft Visual Studio

Scenario:

I have a custom list named “Product List” with the columns named Title, Price, Quantity and Is Available.

I want to retrieve the products with price greater than 1000 and lesser than 10000. Then I have to order the results depending upon the quantity in descending order.

Using the CAML query builder, I have created a CAML query for the above scenario and the query is as follows:

Implementing CAML Query in Microsoft Visual Studio

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

namespace UsingCAMLQuery
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string camlQuery = @"100010000";
            try
            {
                using (SPSite objSite = new SPSite("sitename"))
                {
                    using (SPWeb objWeb = objSite.OpenWeb())
                    {
                        // Building a query
                        SPQuery query=new SPQuery();
                        query.Query=camlQuery;
                     
                        // Retrieving the data from the List
                        SPList objList=objWeb.Lists["Product List"];
                        SPListItemCollection items= objList.GetItems(query);

                        // Prinitng the header
                        Console.WriteLine("{0,-25} {1,-20} {2,-15} {3}", "Title", "Price", "Qunatity", "Is Available");

                        foreach (SPListItem objListItem in items)
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("{0,-25} {1,-20} {2,-25} {3}", objListItem["Title"], objListItem["Price"], 
                                                                             objListItem["Quantity"], objListItem["Is Available"]);
                        }

                    }
                    Console.ReadLine(); 
                }
 
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine("Error Occured:", ex.Message);
            }
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

The full solution can be downloaded from the following link.
Please free to comment and share this post if it helps you!

The list cannot be displayed in datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons in SharePoint

May 09, 2012 Marudu No comments

I was easily changing my list view by edit in data sheet view and in standard view.

After sometime, when I tried to edit a SharePoint list in DATASHEET view, I got the following error which doesn't allow me to view the list in the datasheet view and shown up a error as shown below:

Solution:

Clearly, the problem is due to some DLL's in the MS office is creating this problem.

Hence, either of the following solutions will help you to fix this error:

Microsoft Office diagnostics

Run the Microsoft office diagnostics tool by navigating to the following location:

Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office Tools -> Microsoft Office Diagnostics

This will repair the office setup installed in the machine. you may see the following screens running once started

Once completed, you will see the following screen:

Installing Office2007 SharePoint Components

I read a wonderful article for this and the link is

http://neganov.blogspot.com/2009/11/cannot-edit-sharepoint-2007-list-in.html

Either of the above solutions will help you in fixing this issue.

Hope this saves some one’s time. Happy Sharing!

Using CAML Query Builder for SharePoint

May 09, 2012 Marudu No comments

To know about the Basics of the CAML query read this article.

Download Link

Use the following link to download the CAML Query builder.

http://www.u2u.be/res/Tools/files/CamlBuilderSetupv4.0.0.0.zip
Update: CAML query builder for 2007, 2010, 2013 and SP Online link

How to use CAML Query Builder to create a query

Following are the steps for using the CAML query builder to create a CAML query

1. Open the CAML query builder. Type the URL to connect to the SharePoint site and check Credentials of the current user to login

2. Once clicked connect, you will see the following window SharePoint site with all the lists and libraries in the site in a tree view structure which is shown below:

3. Now we will create a new query on a list named “Product List” as shown below:

4. We will start creating a new query which is as follows:

5. You will find the query being created depending upon your selection from the list

6. Clicking on Execute, you will see the query being executed and the result is being displayed in the result tab as shown below:

The Query created is:

<Query>

<Where>

<Gt>

</Gt>

</Where>

</OrderBy>

</Query>

Hence, CAML Query Builder allows us to create the queries very easily so that it can be used in the SharePoint programming.

Now, we will have a question, how to use this query in the Visual Studio to retrieve the data from a list.

To know how to use CAML query in Visual Studio programming, read this article.

Explore Microsoft 365

Jun 4, 2012

The filtering process could not be initialized. Verify that the file extension is a known type and is correct

Creating and Deploying Custom Web Part in SharePoint

May 23, 2012

Error: The language-neutral solution package was not found.

May 16, 2012

Chart Controls in ASP.Net

Windows System Shows Blank Screen after logging in

May 14, 2012

Change the Color of a Column in a List in SharePoint

May 10, 2012

Remote Blob Storage (RBS) in SharePoint 2010

May 9, 2012

CAML Query to Get Data from SharePoint List

The list cannot be displayed in datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons in SharePoint

Using CAML Query Builder for SharePoint

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