May 16, 2012

Windows System Shows Blank Screen after logging in

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!

May 14, 2012

Change the Color of a Column in a List in SharePoint

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
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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!

May 10, 2012

Remote Blob Storage (RBS) in SharePoint 2010

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?
     Ã˜  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!

May 9, 2012

CAML Query to Get Data from SharePoint List

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:
<Query><Where><And><Gt><FieldRef Name="Price" /><Value Type="Number">1000</Value></Gt><Leq><FieldRef Name="Price" /><Value Type="Number">10000</Value></Leq></And></Where><OrderBy><FieldRef Name="Price" Ascending="False" /></OrderBy></Query>

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

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
Either of the above solutions will help you in fixing this issue.
Hope this saves some one’s time. Happy Sharing!