Hiding Default Title Column in a list in SharePoint

In this article, we will know about a small tip, How to hide the default title column which is created by default whenever a list is created in a SharePoint list.

Steps:

1. Whenever a list is created, you will see a default column “Title” in the list.

2. In Some cases, we do not need this and needs that to be hidden.

3. Go to Settings -> List Settings -> Advanced Settings (General Settings) -> Change Allow Management of Content Types to YES

4. Now List Settings page -> Click on ITEMS

You will see the list of columns in the list. Now we want to hide the Title Column and hence click on the Title column

There will be option for permanently hiding the column. Select the option “Hidden will not appear in forms” and click OK. 

5. We have hid the column in the form but it will appear in the VIEW. So, we have to hide the column in the view. Click on the View in the List.

In the Columns Deselect the Title and click OK.

6. When you click on New for adding a new item in the list, then you will not see the Title column in the form or when you view the list, you will not see the Title column in the view.

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Internal Column Name in SharePoint List

In this article, we will know how to find the Internal Column Name in a SharePoint list.

Steps:

1. Suppose that we have created a list with a column named “Continent” as shown below:

2. Go to Settings-> List Settings -> Click on the Column listed in the Lists to which you have to find the Internal Name

3. You will be navigated to the Title Edit page which is shown below:

4. Now copy the Browser URL (in my case is something is shown below):

http://sitename/_layouts/FldEdit.aspx?List=%7BE62DB5A7%2D12D4%2D474B%2D8EB8%2DF71DE8A86723%7D&Field=Continent

The Bolded letter is the Internal Name of the Column (In my case Continent is the internal column name for the column Continent)

Note: 
If the column name contains spaces then the Internal Name will contain some other characters. Be careful while taking handling this:

Ex: http://SiteName/_layouts/FldEdit.aspx?List=%7B2EB82952%2D9C0B%2D4650%2DB5E9%2D22788822B1AA%7D&Field=Arrived%5Fx0020%5Fon

Here in this name %5F is a '_'

So the Internal Name would be Arrived_x0020_on. Here the Column name is Arrived On but the Internal Name is different and hence beware of this!

5. You can find the internal name using code also.

Ex: string internalName = item.Fields["Field Display Name"].InternalName;

Here in the below link you will see a list of Content types in SharePoint and the Internal Name for it:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/michael_yeager/archive/2008/11/03/reference-list-for-internal-field-names.aspx

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

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Remove Blogger Attribution Widget in Blog

Sometimes, you would like to have your custom attribution in your blog. Here is the article to change the default blogger attribution.

Steps:

1. Go to Design -> you will see the default attribution in the blog as shown below:

2. By default, you do not have option to remove this widget like other widgets provided by blogger.

                                        

3. Now go to Design -> Edit HTML -> Check the Expand Widgets Templates option -> Click Ctrl + F to find the following word – Attribution

4. You will find that the widget is locked by the option “locked = True” as shown below:

5. Change the option to False and save the HTML.

6. Now edit the Attribution widget, you will find the remove option is enabled 

and now it is easy to remove the widget and you can insert your custom widget or any text box with your custom words in it.

A sample shown in our blog is as follows:

Happy Blogging!

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Error: Your Search cannot be complete because of service error

In this article, we will know a solution for the Search Server Issue in the SharePoint portal.

The Search server was working as expected and the results are shown properly. But suddenly the Search is not showing the results and it is showing the following error:

Your Search cannot be complete because of service error. Try you search again or contact your administrator for more information.

When I check the event viewer, following are the log description:

Event ID: 10040 & 10041
The last query machine has been taken out of rotation.  Check previous event logs to determine cause.  Propagation may be necessary.

Event ID: 10038
Not enough storage is available to complete this operation

Solution:

Initially the following were following steps are performed but no results from the search:

 Ø  Restarting the Index Service

   Ø  Resetting the content index

 Ø  Restarting the application pool

 Ø  Restarting the SSP

   Finally, the following actions are performed.

 Ø  Restarting the index server manually

 Ø  Then, restarted the Index Content

 Ø  Finally, resetting the crawler and a complete crawling is run

  This helped in fixing this issue and the search is showing the results as expected.

  Happy Sharing!

  Please free to share your comments and share this post if it helps you.

  Always your comments help me to write more!

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The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled.

Problem:

This is the error you find in the Microsoft Search Server logs when the size of the file being uploaded is greater than 50 MB. This is because the default size is 50 MB for crawling. Hence when the size of the file being uploaded exceeds the allowable limit then the crawler will not be able to crawl the file and throws this error. In this article, we will see how to fix this issue.

The error log screen is shown below:

Solution:

To allow the files that is larger in size and to be crawled and fully indexed we have to add the MaxDownloadSize dword value to the 50 MB or more.

Go to Run -> Type regedit  -> Navigate to the following path and change the value.

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\12.0\Search\Global\Gathering Manager"

Change the following value "MaxDownloadSize"=dword:00000032

 Note: Hexadecimal 32 = Decimal 50.

Try restarting the index server and now initiate a full crawl then the files of large size will be shown in the Search Results.

Referred Links:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepointsearch/thread/170bb0a3-1367-46d8-a4d9-36fca2457f69

This helped in fixing this issue and the search is showing the results as expected.

Happy Sharing!

Please free to share your comments and share this post if it helps you.

Always your comments help me to write more!

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What is SharePoint?

Let us also start the Microsoft SharePoint and Microsoft Dot Net tutorials in this blog which will help us in attending the interviews.

• In simple words, it is Business Collaboration Software developed by Microsoft.
• It is a Web based application allows the people in an organization to collaborate or work together more efficiently.
• In an organization the information (Documents, files, information, etc.) may be scattered and by using the SharePoint we can easily collaborate and work with the others data easily – Information Centrally stored. Hence the time is less which increases efficiency.

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Install and Configure E Mail Server in Windows Server 2003

In this article, we will see how to Install, Configure and use the Mail Server in Windows Server 2003.

Steps for Installing Mail Server:

1. You can install the Email Server by using Add or Remove Windows Components or Manage Your Server. Go to start Manage Your Server by clicking Start-> Programs->Administrative Tools->Manage Your Server.

2. This will open the Configure Your Server Wizard as shown below

Read the instructions properly and check all the steps in the pop up window are completed in the server.

3. Now Click Next button. The wizard will now check the network settings. Now Click on add the Mail Server (POP3, SMTP) from the list of options available. 

4. Click on Next and you will now specify the type of authentication and type the email domain name. In this tutorial we will use Windows Authentication, and I have used testdomain.com

 5. Now Click on Next. First it will ask for the confirmation for the selected roles and then installation will start, and will also start the Windows Components Wizard as shown below

When you get prompted to insert your Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive, insert the Win Server 2003 CD in order to complete the installation.

After inserting the CD or locating the I386 Files in a folder, the configuration wizard will complete the installation as shown below:

We have now successfully installed the mail server.

Steps for Configuring Mail Server:

We have installed the Mail Server and next are configuring the mail server for sending mails which includes creating mail boxes in the mail server.

1. Click Start -> Run and type p3server.msc. This will open up the POP3 Service.

2. Here we will configure the mails server. Now Click on ComputerName in the left pane and Click on Server Properties in the right pane as shown below:

Here you can configure the properties of the Mail Server.

3. While Installing the mail server, we have created the domain (here testdomain.com). If you need to create a new domain, then you can click on New Domain in the Right Pane and create it.

4. Click on the created domain (testdomain.com) in the left pane and Click Add Mailbox in the right pane.

Give the Mailbox Name and password to create a new mail box.

Click On OK, so that the mail box is created.

5. In the mailbox list, you can see the newly created mailbox listed in it.

In the same way any number of users and mailbox can be added.

Hope this helps you!

Please free to comment and share this post if it helps you. 

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The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled

Scenario:

When the users are trying to upload large size files in the portal, they are getting the following error and they are unable to upload large size files to the SharePoint site.

 The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled

Also, the Search results are not showing some of the files in the search results.

Solution:

I read an interesting post which helps in fixing this issue. Below is the link.

http://www.imason.com/imason_Blogs/b/suleman_ibrahim/archive/2009/05/25/uploading-and-indexing-large-files-in-a-moss-site.aspx

Happy Sharing!

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

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!

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Creating and Deploying Custom Web Part in SharePoint

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!

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