Bharat Reddy Basani

BreakRoleInheritance in SharePoint:

2012-02-09T21:22:00.003-06:00

If we want to unique permissions to SharePoint objects (Lists, document libraries, folders etc..) we use BreakRoleInheritance. It takes a Boolean parameter which is either true or false.
BreakRoleInheritance(true) - means copy all the permissions from the parent and then maintain its own unique permissions for all the future changes on that object.
BreakRoleInheritance(false) - means do not copy any permissions from the parent and maintain its own unique permissions for all the future changes on the object.
For some reason BreakRoleInheritance(false) was not working and was throwing an error. I am not the only person to complain about this, but the same with many developers on the Google. Below is the final code which worked for me.

//Code to fix BreakRoleInheritance(false) issues
//with BreakRoleInheritance(true) permissions are inherited and then removed one by one.
//It is responsible for locking Permissions table for long time and potentially resulting
//into the deadlock
oWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
SPFolder oPermissionFolder = oList.RootFolder.SubFolders.Add(FolderName);
oPermissionFolder.Item.BreakRoleInheritance(false);
oFolderItem = oPermissionFolder.Item;
oFolderItem["Title"] = false.ToString() + ";1";

if(!oWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates)
oWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;

int raCount = oFolderItem.RoleAssignments.Count;
for (int i = raCount - 1; i >= 0; i--)
{
oFolderItem.RoleAssignments.Remove(i);
}

//oFolderItem.Update();
oFolderItem.SystemUpdate();

Override SharePoint SaveButton to function as Save As Draft button:

2012-02-09T20:51:00.008-06:00

There was a requirement for an application to save a list item as draft and then submit the list item as final once all the required information is available. SharePoint save button can be overridden to start a custom workflow if required. Remember save as draft and save Buttons are different.

<%@ Register TagPrefix="WebControl" Assembly="XXXXXX, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=c2b3ca69d93d7c67" namespace="XXXXXX"%>

In the custom list form
<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">
<Template_RightButtons>
<WebControl:SubmitButton ID="SubmitButton1" Text="Submit" WorkflowKey="Server Request" runat="server" />
<WebControl:SaveDraftButton ID="SaveDraftButton1" text="Save Draft" runat="server"/>
<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>
</Template_RightButtons>
</wssuc:ToolBar>

Code for Save as Draft button:
namespace XXXXXXX
{
[SharePointPermission(SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand, ObjectModel = true), AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.InheritanceDemand, Level = AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal), SharePointPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, ObjectModel = true), AspNetHostingPermission(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, Level = AspNetHostingPermissionLevel.Minimal)]
public class SaveDraftButton : SaveButton
{
protected override bool SaveItem()
{
bool setPermissions = ListItem.Name == null;
bool success = base.SaveItem();
if (setPermissions)
{
EventMethods.SetItemInitialPermissions(ListItem);
}
return success;
}

[SharePointPermission(SecurityAction.Demand, ObjectModel = true)]
protected override bool OnBubbleEvent(object source, EventArgs e)
{
bool flag;
string redirectUrl;
base.OnBubbleEvent(source, e);
flag = this.SaveItem();
redirectUrl = base.RedirectUrl;
SPUtility.Redirect(redirectUrl, SPRedirectFlags.UseSource, this.Context);
return flag;
}
}
}

Upload files to SharePoint 2007 from Network Share

2011-03-27T21:12:00.003-05:00

To upload files to SharePoint document library from a network share we need to create a SharePoint timer job. I was written a SharePoint timer job which iterates through all the folders of the network share and uploads all the files present in the folders to a SharePoint document library. For your convenience of debugging I will be posting a console application code below. Once you feel everything is working as expected please convert it to a SharePoint timer Job.
namespace CopyDocumentsFromSharedFolderToSharePoint {
class Program
{
const string NetworkPath = "\\\\ServerName\\Reports";
const string SharePointPath = "http://SiteAddress/sites/Reports/Staging Reports/TEST/";
const double maxFileSize = 52428800;//50MB in Bytes 50*1024*1024
static void Main(string[] args)
{
ProcessFolder(NetworkPath);
Console.ReadKey();
}
private static void ProcessFolder(string startingPath)
{
int iterator = 0;
List<string> dirList = new List<string>();
dirList.Add(startingPath);
string parentFolder = startingPath;
// Every new folder found is added to the list to be searched. Continue until we have
// found, and reported on, every folder
while (iterator < dirList.Count)
{
parentFolder = dirList[iterator]; // Each FileTreeEntry wants to know who its parent is
try
{
foreach (string dir in Directory.GetDirectories(dirList[iterator]))
{
dirList.Add(dir);
}
foreach (string filename in Directory.GetFiles(dirList[iterator]))
{
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(filename);
int returnCode = validateFileUploadToSharePoint(file);
if (returnCode == 0)
{
UploadFileToSharePoint(filename, (SharePointPath + file.Name));
}
Console.WriteLine(file.Name);
}
}
// There are two *acceptable* exceptions that we may see, but should not consider fatal
catch (UnauthorizedAccessException ex1)
{
}
catch (PathTooLongException ex2)
{
}
catch (DirectoryNotFoundException ex3)
{
}
catch (Exception ex4)
{
}
iterator++;
}
}
private static int validateFileUploadToSharePoint(FileInfo file)
{
//ensure folder path exists
//Check if file size exceeds 50MB
if (file.Length > maxFileSize)
{
//file length is greater then 50MB
return 2;
}
return 0;
}
protected static void UploadFileToSharePoint(string UploadedFilePath,string SharePointPath)
{
WebResponse response = null;
try
{
// Create a PUT Web request to upload the file.
WebRequest request = WebRequest.Create(SharePointPath);
request.Credentials = CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;
request.Method = "PUT";
// Allocate a 1 KB buffer to transfer the file contents.
// You can adjust the buffer size as needed, depending on
// the number and size of files being uploaded.
byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
// Write the contents of the local file to the
// request stream.
using (Stream stream = request.GetRequestStream())
using (FileStream fsWorkbook = File.Open(UploadedFilePath,FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read))
{
int i = fsWorkbook.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
while (i > 0)
{
stream.Write(buffer, 0, i);
i = fsWorkbook.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
}
}
// Make the PUT request.
response = request.GetResponse();
File.Delete(UploadedFilePath);
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw ex;
}
finally
{
response.Close();
}
}
}
}
References:
http://www.scottleckie.com/2009/07/iterating-through-a-bunch-of-folders-and-files/
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/erikaehrli/archive/2009/06/30/how-to-upload-files-to-sharepoint-server-2007-from-asp-net-web-applications.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd902097.aspx

Best Object Model Coding Practices for SharePoint 2007

2011-03-27T21:02:00.004-05:00

I was working on performance tuning a SharePoint 2007 application and these are the common bad coding practices which developers make unintentionally.
Never Use SPList.Items.GetItemById(ID):
Refer this link for further details
http://www.3guysonsharepoint.com/?p=197
SPWeb.EnsureUser Vs. SpWeb.AllUsers:
The best way to check if the user exists / have access to the site / web is this way.
SPWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
SPUser user = webInUserContext.EnsureUser("ad\\C001234");
SPWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
Don't forget to use AllowUnsafeUpdates if the logged in user only has read/contribute permissions, otherwise you will get "Access Denied". It is not necessary to use AllowUnsafeUpdates if you are running code with elevated privileges or impersonation.
http://blog.qumsieh.ca/2008/06/26/spweb-siteusers-vs-spweb-users/
This is not a good way.
SPUser user = webInUserContext.AllUsers["ad\\C001234"];
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK
SPWeb.AllUsers – Gets the collection of user objects that represents all users who are either members of the site or who have browsed to the site as authenticated members of a domain group in the site.
SPWeb.SiteUsers – Gets the collection of all users that belong to the site collection.
SPWeb.Users – Gets the collection of user objects that are explicitly assigned permissions on the Web site.
SPWeb.EnsureUser - Checks whether the specified login name belongs to a valid user of the website, and if the login name does not already exist, adds it to the website.
Best way of Accessing SharePoint Groups:
I think this is the best way of accessing SharePoint groups if we know the name of the group.
SPGroupCollection groupColl = newWeb.SiteGroups.GetCollection(new String[] { "Readers", "Contributers" });
This one gets SharePoint groups only which you want where as below one gets all the SharePoint Groups
SPGroupCollection groupColl = newWeb.SiteGroups;
Efficient way of adding list item to SharePoint list:
Refer the link below
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687949(office.12).aspx
public static class Extensions
{ /*efficient way of adding list item to SharePoint list
* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb687949(office.12).aspx */
public static SPListItem AddItem(this SPList list)
{
const string EmptyQuery = "0";
SPQuery q = new SPQuery { Query = EmptyQuery };
return list.GetItems(q).Add();
}
}
Usage…
SPListItem item = list.AddItem();
List item query elapsed time:
I got this message in the SharePoint ULS log.
01/21/2011 10:30:02.00 w3wp.exe (0x1320) 0x1944 Windows SharePoint Services Database 8sli Monitorable List item query elapsed time: 4508 milliseconds, Additional data (if available): Query HRESULT: 0 List internal name, flags, and URL: {A134D627-5580-49FD-883C-9D1325CE6CD3}, flags=0x0000000020801088, URL="http://SiteURL/Lists/Tickets/AllItems.aspx" Query XML: "<Query><OrderBy><FieldRef Name="Modified" Ascending="FALSE"/></OrderBy></Query>" SQL Query: " SELECT TOP 101 t1.[Type] AS …….
I was wondering what this message in the SharePoint ULS log means, finally figured out that this message is logged whenever we try to load a SharePoint List View which has large number of rows and which does not use default view sorting order (List Item ID)
I our case our SharePoint List had 1,000,00 rows in it and the AllItems View is being sorted by Last modified descending.
Select Distinct or Unique values from SharePoint List column:
Refer the link below
http://blog.visualstudioteamsystem.com/post.aspx?item=33
if (web.ServerRelativeUrl == "/")
{
ticketsList = (SPList)web.GetList(ticketsListURL);
}
else
{

ticketsList = (SPList)web.GetList(string.Concat(web.ServerRelativeUrl, ticketsListURL));
}
SPField field = ticketsList.Fields.GetFieldByInternalName("CreatedByHistorical");
object[,] values;
uint numberValues = ticketsList.GetDistinctFieldValues(field, out values);
for (int i = 0; i < numberValues; i++)
dropDownListEnterers.Items.Add(values.GetValue(0, i).ToString());

Locks / Critical Sections in Multi – WFE Environment

2011-01-12T19:27:00.002-06:00

While we are dealing Deadlocks in SharePoint 2007 case which I have blogged here
http://bharatreddybasani.blogspot.com/2010/10/deadlocks-in-sharepoint-2007_29.html
with Microsoft, One of the Microsoft representative made this statement regarding placing Locks / Critical sections in multi-WFE environments.
In multi-WFE env, this lock may not work properly, because the objLock is different instance on each WFE.
I was surprised to learn about it. I do not have a solid proof to prove the above statement. To eliminate transactions being deadlocked in multi - Web front end environments, this was the workaround given by Microsoft representative. Below statement is in the context of SharePoint.

Another portion of the workaround that you may not be familiar with is to add a property key/value pair in the SPWeb object so that the values can be queried from all servers. It is actually quite easy to use it and you can see it from here. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spweb.allproperties.aspx. On another note, you do not have to use the SPWeb property bag to store the value. You can also use a SharePoint list at the root site level to contain both the flag and URLs mentioned in the steps below. Or you can also use a custom DB to store those. All in all, there are several options for storing these values, you can choose the one that fits your need the best.

Deadlocks in SharePoint 2007

2010-10-29T21:37:00.003-05:00

One of our custom developed SharePoint application contains code for creating SharePoint sites from a template (stp file) and assigning custom permissions to the created site, lists and document libraries inside that site. Since we have very heavy volume of users using this custom developed SharePoint application, we ran in to deadlock issues on the SharePoint database server, whenever multiple sites are being created at the same time and permissions are being assigned on sites, Lists and document libraries. The following deadlock messages appear on the SharePoint logs whenever multiple users create sites at the same time in the fraction of seconds. Sometimes application fails at the time of site creations and sometimes at the time of assigning permissions.

Execution process goes as follows: Sites are created on the fly through code and permission's are only assigned to the current logged in user, so that current logged in user can carry out his process of uploading documents. A background thread is created to assign permission's to rest of the users for the created site.

Error Message in the front end:

The URL "/sites/1234abcd" is invalid. It may refer to a nonexisting file or folder, or refer to a valid file or folder that is not in the current web.

Notes: In this case site is half created and the site collection under which this half created site is present is not accessible. If we try to login in to site collection it will crash and display one of these messages.

Value does not fall in the expected range.

Template Selection – on the user interface

Group not found.

Deadlock error In the ULS Log:

Unexpected query execution failure, error code 1205. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below. "Transaction (Process ID 110) was deadlocked on lock resources with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim. Rerun the transaction." Query text (if available): "{?=call proc_CreateWeb(?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?,?)}"

Error Message in the front end:

Operation aborted (Exception from HRESULT: 0x8000404 (E_ABORT))

Notes: in this case site gets creates successfully but permissions are not properly assigned on the lists and document libraries.

Deadlock error In the ULS Log:

Unexpected query execution failure, error code 1205. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below. "Transaction (Process ID 111) was deadlocked on lock resources with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim. Rerun the transaction." Query text (if available): "{?=call proc_SecAddPrincipalToRole(?,?,?,?,?,?)}"

We are working with Microsoft to resolve this issue. I am eagerly waiting to hear the resolution from Microsoft.

Update: (01/11/2011) We were able to reproduce this deadlocks on the Microsoft development environment. Microsoft did not accept that this is a defect in the SharePoint 2007. The contact person, whom we dealt with, told us that they have no right to accept that it is a defect in SharePoint 2007, he only told that he could take this behavior to the notice of SharePoint product group and it is up to the product group to decide if this is the defect with SharePoint 2007. After a while he came back to us, telling that SharePoint product group is not ready to release a hot fix for this issue since SharePoint 2010 is already released. They also told that if they have to release a hot fix it is going to be a major change in the SharePoint 2007 and would not like to take this up at this point since it could affect other parts of SharePoint 2007 which are working well.

They also told that we had this deadlock problem since we are putting lot of stress on SharePoint API. BreakRoleInheritance is a very heavy operation and since we are breaking inheritance, assigning custom permissions a lot on multiple objects on our site creation process we are getting this problem. These deadlocks are being caused on SQL server database and not in C# code. As per my analysis this is a problem in the way stored procedures are written in SQL server database and not something which is caused by putting lot of stress on SharePoint API. So as a final result to resolve this problem, they have proposed a couple of workarounds which did not eliminate deadlocks completely. So we had to change the design of the application to eliminate deadlocks up to some extent.

We and Microsoft had also done the same test on SharePoint 2010 and found that this problem had been eliminated to great extent in SharePoint 2010. Below is the email from Microsoft representative.

I have just finished porting the sample code from MOSS2007 to SPS2010 and finished the testing. I tested with 6 concurrent site creation requests each 0.5 seconds apart. Where it failed in my MOSS2007 environment under those test conditions, it finished successfully on my SPS2010 environment. I took a brief look at the user assignments at the newly created sites and the document libraries and all the user permissions are assigned. I have also found that there were some updates made to the stored procedures from MOSS2007 to SPS2010 targeted to improve performance of the stored procedures. Although I did not see any changes that were made specifically to address the deadlock issues around breakroleinheritance, my test results and findings for updates to the SPs is showing a very positive conclusion that the deadlock issue you are seeing in MOSS2007 has been largely alleviated in SPS2010.

Despite my conclusions above, I would still advise you to perform more extensive stress testing if you should decide to migrate to SPS2010 to resolve this deadlock behavior.

Background:
Microsoft had already released a hot fix for this issue, but it doesn’t really help. Below is the link to it.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932056

Using SharePoint Custom Application pages as SharePoint List Forms

2010-10-29T21:26:00.002-05:00

I was surprised to know that I can develop a SharePoint custom application page that can be used as one of the SharePoint list forms (NewForm.aspx, EditForm.aspx and DispForm.aspx). This can be done by writing a custom list definition. The code snippet is as follows.

<FormUrls
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms/url">
<Display>_layouts/ProjectName/Ticket List Forms/TicketsDisplayForm.aspx </Display>

<Edit>_layouts/ProjectName/Ticket List Forms/TicketsEditForm.aspx</Edit>

<New>_layouts/ProjectName/Ticket List Forms/TicketsNewForm.aspx</New>

</FormUrls>

</XmlDocument>

</XmlDocuments>

Where TicketsDisplayForm.aspx, TicketsEditForm.aspx and TicketsNewForm.aspx are SharePoint custom application pages deployed to layouts folder.

If we place this snippet in the list definition,and when we click on "New Item" button on the list it will open SharePoint custom application page "TicketsDisplayForm.aspx". In this case we have to handle all the operations like inserting list items in to the list by ourself. You might me wondering why I have to do this? I had to do this since everyone on this list has read-only permission and List item insertion is done by using impersination. We have to take this route since the system is designed to work on role based.

JavaScript for disabling menu options under SharePoint List Actions menu

2010-10-29T21:19:00.002-05:00

Below JavaScript can be used to disable menu options under SharePoint List Actions menu.

function GetElementByText(tagName, title)

{

var a = document.getElementsByTagName(tagName);

for (var i=0; i < a.length; i++)

{

if (a.item(i).text)

{

if (a.item(i).text == title)

{

return a.item(i);

}

return null;

}

function hideMenuItems()

{

/*var o = GetElementByText("ie:menuitem","New Item");

if (o)

{

o.disabled = true;

}*/

var o = GetElementByText("ie:menuitem","Edit in Datasheet");

if (o)

{

o.disabled = true;

}

var o = GetElementByText("ie:menuitem","View RSS Feed");

if (o)

{

o.disabled = true;

}

var o = GetElementByText("ie:menuitem","Alert Me");

if (o)

{

o.disabled = true;

}

_spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames.push("hideMenuItems");

</script>

Overriding SharePoint List Item Delete Functionality

2010-09-11T19:13:00.004-05:00

There was a requirement which says

There are two types of users for this list Owners and Contributors/members SharePoint groups.
Contributors SharePoint group should not have delete permissions for deleting list items permanently
Contributors should be able to perform soft delete on the list items i.e marking an item as deleted and hiding that item from the users
Contributors should be able to perform soft delete only on the items which are created today. They should not be able to delete items which are created in the past.

To implement the above requirement we need to create a special permission set by excluding the delete items and delete versions permissions. Now apply this permission set to the desired SharePoint group in which we are going to place all the contributors. All the users in this SharePoint group do not have permission to delete SharePoint List items. For detailed step-by-step procedure for implementing this can be found here

To perform soft delete on the SharePoint list items we are going to override Display Form of SharePoint list and place a Delete button beside close button as shown below.

To override the SharePoint Display Form follow the below steps:

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder
Override the "OnClick" event of Asp.net Button Class
Register this template in the SharePoint custom list definition schema

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder:

All the SharePoint list forms (NewForm.aspx, EditForm.aspx, DisplayForm.aspx) uses rendering template called "ListForm" which is present in the file "DefaultTemplates.ascx" in the following path.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\DefaultTemplates.ascx

This is the code which I am referring to

<SharePoint:RenderingTemplate ID="ListForm" runat="server">

<SharePoint:InformationBar runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:NextPageButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

<SharePoint:FormToolBar runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ChangeContentType runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FolderFormFields runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ApprovalStatus runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FormComponent TemplateName="AttachmentRows" runat="server"/>

</TABLE>

<tr>

<SharePoint:ItemHiddenVersion runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ParentInformationField runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:InitContentType runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbl" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:CreatedModifiedInfo runat="server"/>

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</td></tr></TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SharePoint:AttachmentUpload runat="server"/>

</Template>

</SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>

If we look more closely into the above code we see the outline structure of the list form which includes Toolbar, Save Button, Cancel Button Attachments etc.. So how are the actual list data columns being generated? They get generated on the fly based in the columns in the list by one more rendering template called "ListFieldIterator" with this code of line

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

Since we should not modify the out of box template we should create a new rendering template an user control (.ascx) file and place it in the control templates folder. Let's name the user control as "FaxLogDisplayFormTemplate.ascx". Below is the code that should be present in the FaxLogDisplayFormTemplate.ascx user control.

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" %>

<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SPHttpUtility" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBar" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBar.ascx"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBarButton" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBarButton.ascx" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="FaxLogDeleteButton" Namespace="FaxLog" Assembly="FaxLog, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=53432c81e5329871"%>

<sharepoint:renderingtemplate id="FaxLogDisplayForm" runat="server">

<SharePoint:InformationBar runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:NextPageButton runat="server"/>

<FaxLogDeleteButton:FaxLogDeleteButton
class="ms-ButtonHeightWidth" ID="ButtonDeleteTop" Text="Delete" OnClientClick="return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete?')" ToolTip="ButtonDeleteTop" runat="server" />

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

<SharePoint:FormToolBar runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ChangeContentType runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FolderFormFields runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ApprovalStatus runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FormComponent TemplateName="AttachmentRows" runat="server"/>

</TABLE>

<SharePoint:ItemHiddenVersion runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ParentInformationField runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:InitContentType runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbl" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:CreatedModifiedInfo runat="server"/>

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<FaxLogDeleteButton:FaxLogDeleteButton class="ms-ButtonHeightWidth" ID="ButtonDeleteBottom" Text="Delete" OnClientClick="return confirm('Are you sure you want to delete?')" ToolTip="ButtonDeleteBottom" runat="server" />

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</td></tr></TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SharePoint:AttachmentUpload runat="server"/>

</Template>

</sharepoint:renderingtemplate>

If we observed the above highlighted code we have placed the custom delete button which we have developed beside the actual SharePoint close Button. Below shows the Delete Button code

Override the "OnClick" event of Asp.net Button Class:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;

namespace FaxLog

{
public class FaxLogDeleteButton : Button

{
protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)

{
string todaysDateTemp = DateTime.Today.GetDateTimeFormats()[66];
string todaysDate = todaysDateTemp.Substring(0, todaysDateTemp.ToString().IndexOf(' ')).ToString();
SPList list = SPContext.Current.List;
string redirectURL = list.DefaultViewUrl;
int id = SPContext.Current.ItemId;
SPListItem item = SPContext.Current.ListItem;
string createdDateTemp = Convert.ToDateTime(item["Created"].ToString()).GetDateTimeFormats()[66];
string createdDate = createdDateTemp.Substring(0, createdDateTemp.ToString().IndexOf(' ')).ToString();
if (createdDate == todaysDate)

{
using (SPWeb web = SPControl.GetContextSite(Context).OpenWeb())

{

web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;

item["Delete Flag"] = "1";

item.Update();

web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;

}

}
this.Context.Response.Redirect(redirectURL);

}

Register this template in the SharePoint custom list definition schema:

Now once we complete our development we need to register this custom rendering template which we have developed in our custom list definition as follows

<FormTemplates xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms"> <New>FaxLogNewForm</New>

<Display>FaxLogDisplayForm</Display>

</FormTemplates>

</XmlDocument>

</XmlDocuments>
So the final folder structure looks like this…

Security Trimming of Static Links on SharePoint Quick Launch

2010-08-31T18:03:00.003-05:00

SharePoint Out Of Box features which comes with team site/Blank site does not provide security trimming of static links on quick launch bar, Whereas this feature is present for all publishing sites. To implement this feature for Team/Blank sites I have decided to write a web part for quick launch bar which reads xml form the custom property of the web part and renders the links. XML contains the required security trimming of static links. Once this web part is ready I would disable the quick launch bar in the master page through SharePoint designer and place this web part there. I am cashing this XML since the operation to convert an XML to dataset is costly.

XML:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Home>

</Menu>

</Menu>

</Menu>

</Menu>

</Menu>

</Home>

Web Part Code:

public class SampleQuickLaunch : WebPart

{

#region Variable Decleration
private Utility _oUtility;
private string quickLaunchXML = string.Empty;
private DataSet quickLaunchDS;
private DataView dvSubHeading;

#endregion

#region Constants
const string administratorsSPGroupName = "Administrators";
const string approversSPGroupName = "Approvers";
const string enterersSPGroupName = "Enterers";
const string receiversSPGroupName = "Receivers";

#endregion

[WebBrowsable(true),
WebDisplayName("Quick Launch XML"),
WebDescription("Enter Quick Launch XML"),
Personalizable(PersonalizationScope.Shared)]
public string QuickLaunchXML

{
get { return this.quickLaunchXML; }
set { this.quickLaunchXML = value; }

}
protected override void RenderContents(System.Web.UI.HtmlTextWriter output)

{
this.EnsureChildControls();
base.RenderContents(output);
try

{
string role = string.Empty;
string workflowApprovalSteps = string.Empty;
SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;

createUtilityObject();
string administratorsBranchSPGroupName = web.Title + " " + administratorsSPGroupName;
string enterersBranchSPGroupName = web.Title + " " + enterersSPGroupName;
string approversBranchSPGroupName = web.Title + " " + approversSPGroupName;
string currentUserLoginName = web.CurrentUser.LoginName;
if (_oUtility.IsUserInSharePointGroup(web, administratorsBranchSPGroupName,currentUserLoginName))

{//user will get Admin menu

role = "Administrators";

}
else if (_oUtility.IsUserInSharePointGroup(web, approversBranchSPGroupName, currentUserLoginName))

{//user will get Approver menu

role = "Approvers";

}
else if (_oUtility.IsUserInSharePointGroup(web, enterersBranchSPGroupName, currentUserLoginName))

{//user will get enterer menu

role = "Enterers";

}
else if (_oUtility.IsUserInSharePointGroup(web, receiversSPGroupName, currentUserLoginName))

{//user will get receiver menu

role = "Receivers";

}
if (HttpContext.Current.Cache["Menu"] == null)

{
if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(this.QuickLaunchXML))

{

quickLaunchDS = ConvertXMLToDataSet(this.QuickLaunchXML);
/*XML for the quick launch menu is getting cached. So this is the same XML which will be used for all the branchs in ProjectName.

* if you want to use a different XML for each branch please prefix the xml with the branch name and then cache it.*/
HttpContext.Current.Cache.Add("Menu", quickLaunchDS, null, DateTime.MaxValue,
TimeSpan.FromMinutes(20), System.Web.Caching.CacheItemPriority.Normal, null);

}

}
else

{

quickLaunchDS = (DataSet)HttpContext.Current.Cache["Menu"];

}
if (role != "Receivers")

{
using (SPWeb myWeb = SPControl.GetContextSite(Context).OpenWeb())

{

workflowApprovalSteps = _oUtility.getNumberOfWorkflowSteps(myWeb);

}

}
if (quickLaunchDS != null && quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows.Count > 0)

{
string strRootURL = web.Url;

output.RenderBeginTag("div class=ms-quicklaunchouter");

output.RenderBeginTag("div class=ms-quicklaunch style=\"width:100%; border: none;\"");

output.RenderBeginTag("table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 class=ms-quicklaunch width=100%");

output.RenderBeginTag("tr");

output.RenderBeginTag("td class=ms-quicklaunchheader style=\"border: none;\"");

output.RenderBeginTag("a class=ms-navitem style=\"border-style:none;font-size:1em;font-family:Tahoma;\" href=" + strRootURL + "/_layouts/viewlsts.aspx");

output.Write("View All Site Content");

output.RenderEndTag();//anchor

output.RenderEndTag();//td

output.RenderEndTag();//tr
for (int i = 0; i < quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows.Count; i++)

{
if (quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows[i][3].ToString().Contains(role))

{
//Menu heading

output.RenderBeginTag("tr");

output.RenderBeginTag("td");

output.RenderBeginTag("table class=ms-navheader cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=100%");

output.RenderBeginTag("tr");

output.RenderBeginTag("td style=width:100%;");
string strTD = "a class=ms-navheader style=\"border-style:none;font-size:1em;font-family:Tahoma;\" href=";

output.RenderBeginTag(strTD + strRootURL + System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows[i][2].ToString()));

output.RenderBeginTag("b");

output.Write(quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows[i][1]);

output.RenderEndTag();//bold

output.RenderEndTag();//anchor tag

output.RenderEndTag();//td

output.RenderEndTag();//tr

output.RenderEndTag();//table

output.RenderEndTag();//td

output.RenderEndTag();//tr
string headingKey = quickLaunchDS.Tables[0].Rows[i][0].ToString();

dvSubHeading = quickLaunchDS.Tables[1].DefaultView;

dvSubHeading.RowFilter = "Menu_Id = '" + headingKey + "'";
//Sub Menu
if (dvSubHeading.Count > 0)

{
for (int x = 0; x < dvSubHeading.Count; x++)

{
if (dvSubHeading[x][2].ToString().Contains(role))

{
if (dvSubHeading[x][0].ToString() == "1st Approval" && workflowApprovalSteps == "1")

{
//do not add 1st approval link

}
else

{

output.RenderBeginTag("tr");

output.RenderBeginTag("td style=\"width:100%;border-style:none;border-width:0px;\"");

output.RenderBeginTag("table class=ms-navitem width=100% border=0 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0");

output.RenderBeginTag("tr");

output.RenderBeginTag("td style=\"width:100%;border-style:none;border-width:0px;\"");

output.RenderBeginTag("a class=ms-navitem style=\"border-style:none;font-size:1em;\" href=" + strRootURL + System.Web.HttpUtility.UrlPathEncode(dvSubHeading[x][1].ToString()));

output.Write(dvSubHeading[x][0].ToString());

output.RenderEndTag();//anchor

output.RenderEndTag();//td

output.RenderEndTag();//tr

output.RenderEndTag();//table

output.RenderEndTag();//td

output.RenderEndTag();//tr

}

output.RenderEndTag();//table

output.RenderEndTag();//div

}

}
catch (System.Exception ex)

{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);

}
finally

{

}

#region Methods
private DataSet ConvertXMLToDataSet(string xmlData)

{
StringReader stream = null;
XmlTextReader reader = null;
try

{
DataSet xmlDS = new DataSet();

stream = new StringReader(xmlData);
// Load the XmlTextReader from the stream

reader = new XmlTextReader(stream);
//this is costly operation... chk for alternative.

xmlDS.ReadXml(reader);
return xmlDS;

}
catch (System.Exception ex)

{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);

}
finally

{
if (reader != null) reader.Close();

}

}// Use this function to get XML string from a dataset
private void createUtilityObject()

{
if (_oUtility == null)

{

_oUtility = new Utility();

}

public bool IsUserInSharePointGroup(SPWeb currentWeb, string groupName, string username)

{
bool reachedMax = false;
bool userIsInGroup = false;
// return false if there are invalid inputs
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(username) String.IsNullOrEmpty(groupName))
return false;
// The Run with elevated privileges needs read permission
// on active directory and the ability to run directory code.
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate

{
// Get the Site Collection
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(currentWeb.Site.ID))

{
// Get the web
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())

{
// Find the group
SPGroup group = site.RootWeb.SiteGroups[groupName];
string upperCaseUserName = username.ToUpper();
// Get ad users in the groups. Since MOSS does not support nested groups
// this will always be a collection of AD users and groups
foreach (SPUser user in group.Users)

{
// Check if this is a Group
if (!user.IsDomainGroup)

{
// Verify if the user name matches the user name in group
if (user.LoginName.ToUpper().Equals(upperCaseUserName))

{
// if a match is confirmed, return from the method.
// There is no need to continue

userIsInGroup = true;
break;

}

}
else

{
// If the AD entitiy is a User Group, then check for users in that group
if (IsUserInADGroup(web, user.LoginName, username, out reachedMax))

{

userIsInGroup = true;
break;

}

});
return userIsInGroup;

}

#endregion

}

Handle Active Directory Users in SharePoint

2010-07-17T13:42:00.003-05:00

I had a situation in my project where I have to read active directory users from an active directory group placed inside a SharePoint group. I got this article from code project to implement the same.

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/Sharepoint__User.aspx

Above article checks if the user exists in active directory. I have modified the above method to read users from an active directory group placed inside a SharePoint group.

public DataTable getUsersListFromSPGroup(SPWeb currentWeb, string groupName)
{
bool reachedMax = false;
DataTable dtUsers = new DataTable();
dtUsers.Columns.Add("UserName");
dtUsers.Columns.Add("LoginName");

// The Run with elevated privileges needs read permission
// on active directory and the ability to run directory code.
// We are using RunWithElevatedPrivileges instead of impersonation since we have to access Active Directory
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate
{
// Get the Site Collection
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(currentWeb.Site.ID))
{
// Get the web
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
// Find the group
SPGroup group = site.RootWeb.SiteGroups[groupName];

// Get ad users in the groups. Since MOSS does not support nested groups
// this will always be a collection of AD users and groups
foreach (SPUser user in group.Users)
{
// Check if this is a Group
if (!user.IsDomainGroup)
{
if (user.Name.ToUpper() != "SYSTEM ACCOUNT")
{
DataRow userRow = dtUsers.NewRow();
userRow["UserName"] = user.Name;
userRow["LoginName"] = user.LoginName;
dtUsers.Rows.Add(userRow);
}
}
else
{
// If the AD entitiy is a User Group, then check for users in that group
// SPUtility call to get principals in the group
SPPrincipalInfo[] principals = SPUtility.GetPrincipalsInGroup(web, user.LoginName, 500, out reachedMax);
// If no principals found then indicate the same
if (principals != null && principals.Length != 0)
{
// Loop through principals
foreach (SPPrincipalInfo principal in principals)
{
//TODO: Determine which principal.PrincipalType to ignore
// Check if the principal is a valid user and if so check to see if it is
//the one we are looking for
//SPPrincipalType is USER and ignoring All, DistributionList, None, SecurityGroup, SharePointGroup
if (!principal.IsSharePointGroup && principal.PrincipalType == SPPrincipalType.User && principal.DisplayName.ToUpper() != "SYSTEM ACCOUNT")
{
DataRow userRow = dtUsers.NewRow();
userRow["UserName"] = principal.DisplayName;
userRow["LoginName"] = principal.LoginName;
dtUsers.Rows.Add(userRow);
}

}
}

}
}
}
}

});
return dtUsers;
}

And this from the above article.
public bool IsUserInSharePointGroup(SPWeb currentWeb, string groupName, string username)
{
bool reachedMax = false;
bool userIsInGroup = false;
// return false if there are invalid inputs
if (String.IsNullOrEmpty(username) String.IsNullOrEmpty(groupName))
return false;
// The Run with elevated privileges needs read permission
// on active directory and the ability to run directory code.
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate
{
try
{
// Get the Site Collection
using (SPSite site = new SPSite(currentWeb.Site.ID))
{
// Get the web
using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
{
// Find the group
SPGroup group = site.RootWeb.SiteGroups[groupName];
string upperCaseUserName = username.ToUpper();
// Get ad users in the groups. Since MOSS does not support nested groups
// this will always be a collection of AD users and groups
foreach (SPUser user in group.Users)
{
// Check if this is a Group
if (!user.IsDomainGroup)
{
// Verify if the user name matches the user name in group
if (user.LoginName.ToUpper().Equals(upperCaseUserName))
{
// if a match is confirmed, return from the method.
// There is no need to continue
userIsInGroup = true;
break;
}
}
else
{
// If the AD entitiy is a User Group, then check for users in that group
if (IsUserInADGroup(web, user.LoginName, username, out reachedMax))
{
userIsInGroup = true;
break;
}
}
}
}
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//Trace error
}
});
return userIsInGroup;
}

private static bool IsUserInADGroup(SPWeb web, string groupName, string username, out bool reachedMax)
{
// SPUtility call to get principals in the group
SPPrincipalInfo[] principals = SPUtility.GetPrincipalsInGroup(web, groupName, 500, out reachedMax);
// If no principals found then indicate the same
if (principals == null principals.Length == 0)
{
return false;
}
else
{
// Loop through principals
string upperCaseUserName = username.ToUpper();
foreach (SPPrincipalInfo principal in principals)
{
//TODO: Determine which principal.PrincipalType to ignore
// Check if the principal is a valid user
// and if so check to see if it is
//the one we are looking for
if (!principal.IsSharePointGroup && principal.PrincipalType
!= SPPrincipalType.SecurityGroup &&
principal.DisplayName.ToUpper() != "SYSTEM ACCOUNT")
{
// Check if the user matches the user we are looking for
if (principal.LoginName.ToUpper() == upperCaseUserName)
{
return true;
}
}
// If Principal is a Security Group (AD Group) then recurse through it
else if (principal.PrincipalType == SPPrincipalType.SecurityGroup)
{
// Check for users in the security groups
if (IsUserInADGroup(web, principal.LoginName, username, out reachedMax))
{
return true;
}
}
}
return false;
}
}

Object model code for SharePoint List forms

2010-06-24T20:38:00.003-05:00

If we ever need to customize SharePoint list forms which a different look and feel then, this can be done with SharePoint designer. But if we have a custom functionality requires us to write SharePoint object model code? Yes, writing SharePoint object model code for List forms is possible in SharePoint. Let's look into it.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\DefaultTemplates.ascx

This is the code which I am referring to

<SharePoint:RenderingTemplate ID="ListForm" runat="server">

<SharePoint:InformationBar runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" "
runat="server">

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:NextPageButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

<SharePoint:FormToolBar runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ChangeContentType runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FolderFormFields runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ApprovalStatus runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FormComponent TemplateName="AttachmentRows" runat="server"/>

</TABLE>

<tr>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

<tr>

<SharePoint:ItemHiddenVersion runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ParentInformationField runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:InitContentType runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbl" RightButtonSeparator=" "
runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:CreatedModifiedInfo runat="server"/>

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</td>

</tr>

</TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SharePoint:AttachmentUpload runat="server"/>

</Template>

</SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

Now let's assume that you want to completely customize the list form with custom functionality. To do that we have to follow the below steps

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder

Design a usercontrol as per the requirement and write object model code to achieve the required operation

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder:

Since we should not modify the out of box template we should create a new rendering template an user control (.ascx) file and place it in the control templates folder. Lets name the user control as "CaymanTicketsNewForm.ascx". Below is the code that should be present in the CaymanTicketsNewForm.ascx user control.

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" %>

<%@ Assembly
Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SPHttpUtility" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBar" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBar.ascx"

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBarButton" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBarButton.ascx" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="CaymanTicketsNewForm" TagName="CaymanTicketsNewFormFields"
Src="~/_controltemplates/Cayman/CaymanTicketsNewForm.ascx" %>

<sharepoint:renderingtemplate id="CaymanTicketsNewForm" runat="server">

<CaymanTicketsNewForm:CaymanTicketsNewFormFields runat="server"/>

</Template>

</sharepoint:renderingtemplate>

Design a usercontrol as per the requirement and write object model code to achieve the required operation:

The above code references a file called "CaymanTicketsNewForm.ascx" which contains the actual design and implementation of the custom list form requirement.Shown below is the code sample which is present in the file "CaymanTicketsNewForm.ascx"

<%@ Control Language="C#" Inherits="Btmu.Cayman.TicketsNewForm,Btmu.Cayman,Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cc3c6db4e0e41def" AutoEventWireup="true" EnableViewState="true" %>

<%@ Assembly
Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c"
Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" %>

.ms-input

{

width: 100px;

}

.tableStyle1

{

background-color: #FFF2E6;

border:solid 1px #CD5C5E;

}

.tableStyle2

{

background-color: #F2FFF2;

border:solid 1px #008080;

}

</style>

<asp:Panel ID="panelCustomerSelection" runat="server">
<div style="padding-left: 10px;">
<sharepoint:scriptlink id="ScriptLink1" language="javascript" name="Cayman/Cayman.js" runat="server" />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%;">
<tr>
<td style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold">
<asp:Label ID="labelTransactionMessage" Text="" runat="server" ForeColor="Red"
Visible="false"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 20px;">
<asp:Label ID="labelTransactionDate" Text="" runat="server" Visible="false"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 30px;">
<asp:Label ID="labelNextTransaction" Text="Next Transaction:" runat="server"

Font-Underline="true" Visible="false"></asp:Label>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 20px;">

Select Customer for the form
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-top: 10px; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold">
<asp:Label ID="labelPrintDate" Text="" runat="server"></asp:Label>
<div style='width: 100%; border-top-color: Gray; border-top-width: 2px; border-top-style: double;

height: 1px; margin-top: 7px'>
</div>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-top: 20px; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold">

Customer Name<br />
<asp:DropDownList ID="dropDownListCustomerName" runat="server" AutoPostBack="false"
ToolTip="Customer Name">
</asp:DropDownList>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-top: 20px">
<asp:Button ID="buttonProcess" runat="server" Text="Process" OnClientClick="return processValidate()" />
</td>
</tr>
</table>
</div>

</asp:Panel>

_spBodyOnLoadFunctionNames.push("fillDefaultValuesForTickets");

</script>

And the Code file…

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Text;

using System.Web;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls;

using System.Web.UI.HtmlControls;

using System.Data;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.Diagnostics;

namespace Btmu.Cayman

{
public class TicketsNewForm : UserControl

{

#region Variable Decleration
//Variables declaration which includes control names in the .ascx page template
protected Label labelPrintDate;
protected Label labelTransactionMessage;
protected Label labelTransactionDate;
protected Label labelNextTransaction;
protected DropDownList dropDownListCustomerName;
protected Button buttonProcess;
protected Panel panelCustomerSelection;
private Utility _oUtility;

#endregion

#region Constants
const string customersListURL = "/Lists/Customers";
const string portfolioListURL = "/Lists/Portfolio";
const string typeListURL = "/Lists/Type";
const string currencyListURL = "/Lists/Currency";
const string ticketsListURL = "/Lists/Tickets";
const string transactionNumberColumnName = "TransactionNumber";

#endregion
/// </summary>
/// <param name="e"></param>
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)

{
try

{
if (!Page.IsPostBack)

{

labelPrintDate.Text = "Print Date: "+DateTime.Today.ToShortDateString();

createUtilityObject();
//Load Customer Names
DataTable dtCustomerNames = null;
string query = "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='ActiveProfile' /><Value Type='Choice'>Active</Value></Eq></Where><OrderBy><FieldRef Name='Title' Ascending='True' /></OrderBy>";
string viewFields = "ID,Title";
using (SPWeb web = SPControl.GetContextSite(Context).OpenWeb())

{

dtCustomerNames = _oUtility.getListItemsDataTable(web, customersListURL, query, 0, viewFields);

}
if (dtCustomerNames != null && dtCustomerNames.DefaultView.Count > 0)

{

dropDownListCustomerName.DataValueField = "ID";

dropDownListCustomerName.DataTextField = "Title";

dropDownListCustomerName.DataSource = dtCustomerNames;

dropDownListCustomerName.DataBind();

dropDownListCustomerName.Items.Insert(0, new
ListItem("-Select-", "0"));

}

panelTicketsForm.Visible = false;

}

}
catch (System.Exception ex)

{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);

}

#region Event Handlers
/// <summary>
/// lists all the eventhandlesr
/// </summary>
/// <param name="e"></param>
protected override void OnInit(EventArgs e)

{

buttonProcess.Click += new EventHandler(buttonProcess_Click);

}
protected void buttonProcess_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{
try

{

}
catch (System.Exception ex)

{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);

}

#endregion

#region Methods
private void createUtilityObject()

{
if (_oUtility == null)

{

_oUtility = new Utility();

}

#endregion

}

Register this template in the SharePoint custom list definition schema:

Now once we complete our development we need to register this custom rendering template which we have developed in our custom list definition as follows

</FieldRefs>

<Display>CaymanTicketsDisplayForm</Display>
<Edit>CaymanTicketsEditForm</Edit>

<New>CaymanTicketsNewForm</New>

</FormTemplates>

</XmlDocument>

</XmlDocuments>

</ContentType>

So the final folder structure looks like this…

Override SharePoint Save Button to Provide Custom Functionality

2010-06-24T20:04:00.004-05:00

Let's assume a business scenario that we want to redirect the user to "DisplayForm.aspx" instead of "allItems.aspx" once the user clicks on the SharePoint "NewForm.aspx" save button or if we want to kickoff a Nintex custom workflow. This can as well with the help of the SharePoint Designer, but the client, I work for does not want to use SharePoint Designer. In the case we had to go for SharePoint object model coding.

To override the SharePoint Save button follow the below steps:

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder

Override the "SaveButton" Class which is present in Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls

Create new rendering template and please it in the ControlTemplates folder:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\DefaultTemplates.ascx

This is the code which I am referring to

<SharePoint:RenderingTemplate ID="ListForm" runat="server">

<SharePoint:InformationBar runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" " runat="server">

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:NextPageButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

<SharePoint:FormToolBar runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ChangeContentType runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FolderFormFields runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ApprovalStatus runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FormComponent TemplateName="AttachmentRows" runat="server"/>

</TABLE>

<tr>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

<tr>

<SharePoint:ItemHiddenVersion runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ParentInformationField runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:InitContentType runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbl" RightButtonSeparator=" "
runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:CreatedModifiedInfo runat="server"/>

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:SaveButton runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</td>

</tr>

</TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SharePoint:AttachmentUpload runat="server"/>

</Template>

</SharePoint:RenderingTemplate>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

Since we should not modify the out of box template we should create a new rendering template an user control (.ascx) file and place it in the control templates folder. Let's name the user control as "BtmuMTDFaxLogNewFormTemplate.ascx". Below is the code that should be present in the BtmuMTDFaxLogNewFormTemplate.ascx user control.

<%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="false" %>

<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SharePoint" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="SPHttpUtility" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBar" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBar.ascx"
%>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="ToolBarButton" Src="~/_controltemplates/ToolBarButton.ascx" %>

<%@ Register TagPrefix="MTDFaxLogSaveButton" Namespace="Btmu.MTDFaxLog"
Assembly="Btmu.MTDFaxLog, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=53432c81e5329871"%>

<sharepoint:renderingtemplate id="MTDFaxLogNewForm" runat="server">

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbltop" RightButtonSeparator=" "
runat="server">

<Template_RightButtons>

<SharePoint:NextPageButton runat="server"/> <MTDFaxLogSaveButton:FaxLogSaveButton runat="server" />

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

<SharePoint:FormToolBar runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ChangeContentType runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FolderFormFields runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ListFieldIterator runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ApprovalStatus runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:FormComponent TemplateName="AttachmentRows" runat="server"/>

</TABLE>

<tr>

</td>

</tr>

</table>

<tr>

<SharePoint:ItemHiddenVersion runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:ParentInformationField runat="server"/>

<SharePoint:InitContentType runat="server"/>

<wssuc:ToolBar CssClass="ms-formtoolbar" id="toolBarTbl" RightButtonSeparator=" "
runat="server">

<Template_Buttons>

<SharePoint:CreatedModifiedInfo runat="server"/>

</Template_Buttons>

<Template_RightButtons>

<MTDFaxLogSaveButton:FaxLogSaveButton runat="server" />

<SharePoint:GoBackButton runat="server"/>

</Template_RightButtons>

</wssuc:ToolBar>

</td>

</tr>

</TABLE>

</SPAN>

<SharePoint:AttachmentUpload runat="server"/>

</Template>

</sharepoint:renderingtemplate>

If we observed the above highlited code we removed the actual SharePoint Sabe Button and replaced it with our own webcontrol which we have developed. Below shows the Save Button overriding code

Override the "SaveButton" Class which is present in Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls:

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;

namespace Btmu.MTDFaxLog

{
public class FaxLogSaveButton : SaveButton

{
protected override bool SaveItem()

{
bool success = base.SaveItem();
//Dont forget to remove the source querystring parameter from the NewForm.aspx URL, otherwise this setting will not work.

RedirectUrl = String.Concat(List.ParentWeb.ServerRelativeUrl, "/", List.Forms[PAGETYPE.PAGE_DISPLAYFORM].Url, @"?ID=", ListItem.ID, @"&Source=", ListItem.ParentList.DefaultViewUrl);
return success;

}

Register this template in the SharePoint custom list definition schema:

Now once we complete our development we need to register this custom rendering template which we have developed in our custom list definition as follows

<New>MTDFaxLogNewForm</New>

</FormTemplates>

</XmlDocument>

</XmlDocuments>

So the final folder structure looks like this…

Batch Updating SharePoint List Items

2010-04-20T19:19:00.002-05:00

I have got a situation where I have to update a set of list items in a single transaction. I thought I would loop through the list item collection and do it, but I was hesitant to do this since I would degrade the server performance if there are more than 2000 items, as we all know looping through 2000 list items affects SharePoint server performance. Suddenly an idea came to my mind, thinking that if SQL update command updates multiple why shouldn't CAML does that. So started searching a Google search and here are some good articles which describes about Batch Updating SharePoint List Items.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc404818.aspx

http://dotnetstep.blogspot.com/2009/01/batch-update-in-sharepoint.html

http://blog.dynatrace.com/2009/01/20/sharepoint-using-batch-updates-to-speed-up-performance/

And here is my version of implementation…

// Set up the variables to be used.

StringBuilder methodBuilder = new StringBuilder();

string batch = string.Empty;

//DateTime currentDate = DateTime.Now;

//string formattedDate = SPUtility.CreateISO8601DateTimeFromSystemDateTime(currentDate);

string batchFormat = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?>" +
"<ows:Batch OnError=\"Continue\">{0}</ows:Batch>";

string methodFormat = "<Method ID=\"{0}\">" +
"<SetList>{1}</SetList>" +
"<SetVar Name=\"Cmd\">Save</SetVar>" +
"<SetVar Name=\"ID\">{2}</SetVar>" +
"<SetVar Name=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office#Delete Flag\">{3}</SetVar>" +
"</Method>";

string selectedDate = cutOffDate.SelectedDate.GetDateTimeFormats()[66];

SPList faxLogList = null;

using (SPWeb web = SPControl.GetContextSite(Context).OpenWeb())

{

// Get the list containing the items to update.

if (web.ServerRelativeUrl == "/")

{

faxLogList = (SPList)web.GetList(faxLogListURL);

}
else

{

faxLogList = (SPList)web.GetList(web.ServerRelativeUrl + faxLogListURL);

}
string faxLogListGuid = faxLogList.ID.ToString();
// Query to get the unprocessed items.
SPQuery query = new
SPQuery();

query.RowLimit = 1900;
//query.ViewAttributes = "Scope='Recursive'";

createUtilityObject();

query.ViewFields = _oUtility.BuildViewFieldsXml("ID");

query.Query = "<Where><And><Lt><FieldRef Name='Date' /><Value IncludeTimeValue='False' Type='DateTime'>" + selectedDate + "</Value></Lt><Eq><FieldRef Name='Delete Flag' /><Value Type='Number'>0</Value></Eq></And></Where>";
do

{
SPListItemCollection unprocessedItems = faxLogList.GetItems(query);
// Build the CAML update commands.
for (int i = 0; i < unprocessedItems.Count; i++)

{

int itemID = unprocessedItems[i].ID;

methodBuilder.AppendFormat(methodFormat, itemID, faxLogListGuid, itemID, 1);

}
// Put the pieces together.

batch = string.Format(batchFormat, methodBuilder.ToString());
// Process the batch of commands.
string batchReturn = web.ProcessBatchData(batch);
if (messageFalg == 0 && unprocessedItems.Count > 0)

{

messageFalg = 1;

}

query.ListItemCollectionPosition = unprocessedItems.ListItemCollectionPosition;

} while (query.ListItemCollectionPosition != null);

}

public string BuildViewFieldsXml(string viewFields)

{

const string TEMPLATE = @"<FieldRef Name='{0:S}'/>";
string[] fieldNames = viewFields.Split(',');
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
foreach (string fieldName in fieldNames)

{

sb.AppendFormat(TEMPLATE, fieldName);

}
return sb.ToString();

}

Take care that the "query.RowLimit = 1900;" for fetching list items is less than 2000 items.

Correcting SharePoint Lookup Columns

2010-03-22T20:36:00.002-05:00

As we all know we can provision a custom lookup field using CAML by using the below code

<Field ID="{105620F4-9485-4e57-8184-902E604C3C78}"

Type="Lookup"
Name="CustomerName"
StaticName="Customer Name"
DisplayName="Customer Name"
Required="TRUE"
List="{64DFEC00-AD66-4F5F-AA1F-C2E78CE6680C}"
ShowField="Title"
Group="MTD Fax Log custom Fields"
PrependId="TRUE">
</Field>

If we observe the above code more closely, there is a property called "List" like this
List="{64DFEC00-AD66-4F5F-AA1F-C2E78CE6680C}"

The GUID which is present in the list property is the SharePoint Lookup list GUID. Many say that there is no need to give the GUID of the SharePoint lookup list, instead it can be used like this

List="Lists/Customers"

But that did not really work for me. Many say that before creating a sharePoint lookup field with a lookup list, that lookup list should actually exist. I have even tried this way, But I was unsucessful. As per me, I would say that SharePoint is not that intelligent to figureout if the lookup list actually exist then automatically set "List" property to that list, otherwise don't provision this lookup column and report error. It should be capable of doing this atleast in the future versions.

Now, how did I resolve this issue then? My problem is slightly different. As we all know that site columns always exists in the site collection level, then is it mandatory for the lookup list to exist at the site collection level? I want this sharepoint lookup column which is present at the site collection level to use a SharePoint lookup list which is present in one of the subsites in that site collection? Is it really possible? Yes it is possible.

Solution is that we

Deploy SharePoint custom Lookup field and related content type which uses this site column, as one feature at the site collection level, with a dummy list GUID.
Then we create another feature at the sub site level, in which there is a list definition which uses the site content type with the SharePoint custom Lookup site column in that, as another feature.

So when we activate the second feature then the pre-requisite is that the first feature at the site collection level should be already activated. So how do I check this before activating my sub site feature?

Check this post for more details.

If the parent site feature is successfully active, then while activating the sub site feature I will execute SharePoint object model code in the "Feature handler's Feature activated method" to correct the SharePoint custom lookup column List GUID like this.

class FeatureReceiver : SPFeatureReceiver

{
const string customersListURL = "/Lists/Customers";
const string customersLookupColumnGUID = "105620F4-9485-4e57-8184-902E604C3C78";
const string customersListTitle = "Customers";
const string customersListDescription = "List to hold Customer details";
const string customersListTemplateName = "Customers Profile Custom List";
const string parentFeatureID = "07FAC810-B8B7-4501-B905-372236479BA5";
Guid childFeatureID = new Guid("2f53989d-5799-4f65-bce8-0e1e7c1ae6c4");

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
SPSite site = web.Site;
SPWeb siteRootWeb = web.Site.RootWeb;
siteRootWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
try
{
//Check for parent feature(Content Types and custom Fields) activeness
if (checkForParentFeatureActive(site, parentFeatureID))
{
// get a reference to the "Customers" list
SPList customersList = null;
if (checkIfListExist(web.Lists, customersListTitle))
{
if (web.ServerRelativeUrl == "/")
{
customersList = (SPList)web.GetList(customersListURL);
}
else
{
customersList = (SPList)web.GetList(web.ServerRelativeUrl + customersListURL);
}
}
// if the "Customers" list exists
if (customersList != null)
{
//correct customers Lookup Column
ChangeSiteColumnList(siteRootWeb, web, new Guid(customersLookupColumnGUID), customersList.ID);

}
else
{
//Create customer list if it does not exist
Guid guid;

guid = CreateListFromTemplate(web, customersListTitle, customersListTemplateName, customersListDescription);
customersList = web.Lists[guid];
customersList.OnQuickLaunch = true;
customersList.Update();
//correct customers Lookup Column
ChangeSiteColumnList(siteRootWeb, web, new Guid(customersLookupColumnGUID), guid);
}
}
else
{
/*deactivate the current feature and throw a error message to the user saying that
he has to activate the parent feature before activating this feature*/
web.Features.Remove(childFeatureID, true);
SPUtility.TransferToErrorPage("Please activate the parent feature(MTD Fax Log Content Types) on the site collection before activating this feature.");
}
}
catch (System.Threading.ThreadAbortException ex)
{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
web.Update();
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
siteRootWeb.Update();
siteRootWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
siteRootWeb.Dispose();
site.Dispose();
}
}

private bool ChangeSiteColumnList(SPWeb rootWeb, SPWeb web, Guid siteColumnGuid, Guid lookupListGuid)
{
if (!(rootWeb.Fields[siteColumnGuid] is SPFieldLookup))
return false;
// cast lookup field
SPFieldLookup field = (SPFieldLookup)rootWeb.Fields[siteColumnGuid];
// change field lookup list id
field.SchemaXml = field.SchemaXml.Replace(field.LookupList.ToString(), lookupListGuid.ToString());
// reload field (a msdn article says you need to reload the column after changing the SchemaXml
field = (SPFieldLookup)rootWeb.Fields[siteColumnGuid];
//we need to change the "field.WebID" to the web which contains the lookup lists.
//Otherwise SharePoint tries to find the list on the current web which results in empty lists and
//"List not Found Errors" in the SharePoint log if you use this lookup columns in any subsite.
//if lookup list is in the subsite and site column is in the site collection then "web.ID" is the lookup list subsite id.
field.LookupWebId = web.ID;
field.Update();
return true;
}

private Guid CreateListFromTemplate(SPWeb web, string listTitle, string listTemplateName, string listDescription)
{
// read list template
SPListTemplate listTemplate = web.ListTemplates[listTemplateName];
// create list
return web.Lists.Add(listTitle, listDescription, listTemplate);
}

private bool checkIfListExist(SPListCollection ListCollection, string ListName)
{
bool flag = false;
foreach (SPList list in ListCollection)
{
if (list.Title.Equals(ListName))
{
flag = true;
break;
}
}
return flag;
}
//"Site" is the Root site collection
//"FeatureID" is the parent feature at the sitecollection level
private bool checkForParentFeatureActive(SPSite site, string featureID)
{
//This feature collection contains only features that are active.
SPFeatureCollection featureCollection = site.Features;
foreach (SPFeature feature in featureCollection)

{
if (feature.DefinitionId.ToString().ToLower() == featureID.ToLower())
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}
Note: Most of the help for Correcting has been copied from this article.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms196289.aspx

Feature Activation Dependency – Activating multiple features using single feature

2010-03-22T19:48:00.002-05:00

Feature activation dependency means activating multiple hidden features internally on activating a single visible feature. There are some rules to be followed for feature activation dependency

There should be a single visible feature, and a set of hidden features. On activating this visible feature should activate all the hidden features.

All the features should be scoped at the same level i.e either to "Web,
Site, Web Application or Farm" level.

You might ask me when we will use this Feature activation dependency.

Let's consider a scenario. Let's assume we have created couple of SharePoint List Definitions and we want to please them in a single SharePoint solution and active them in a single feature as shown below.

As we can see from the above there are four "SharePoint Custom list definitions" and a single feature which provisions all these Custom List Definitions.

That single feature definition code actually looks like this…
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Feature Id="2f53989d-5799-4f65-bce8-0e1e7c1ae6c4"
Title="Fax Log"
Description="Description for Fax Log"
Version="12.0.0.0"
Hidden="FALSE"
Scope="Web"
DefaultResourceFile="core"
ImageUrl="GenericFeature.gif"
ReceiverAssembly="FaxLog, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=53432c81e5329871"
ReceiverClass="FaxLog.FeatureReceiver"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<ActivationDependencies>

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="5E134998-AA1B-44bb-A553-6F9B75DC5AB1" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="01238751-CD20-4edf-9833-80C610850DA5" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="C2306EDC-338B-4073-807B-6132512FA9CA" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="B35CE3FE-B4FB-4a66-B817-5C418FAA0682" />
</ActivationDependencies>
</Feature>
Even Microsoft does same thing for creating all the lists, while provisioning a SharePoint site. See the feature code for team site provisioning.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Feature Id="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-7EA5C011ABE5" Title="$Resources:core,teamcollabFeatureTitle;" Description="$Resources:core,teamcollabFeatureDesc;" ImageUrl="WssTeamCollaborationFeature.gif" ImageUrlAltText="" Scope="Web" DefaultResourceFile="core" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<ActivationDependencies>
<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-D1CE-42de-9C63-A44004CE0104" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-7E6D-4186-9BA8-C047AC750105" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-DE22-43B2-A848-C05709900100" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-F381-423D-B9D1-DA7A54C50110" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-6A49-43FA-B535-D15C05500108" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-E717-4E80-AA17-D0C71B360101" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-EC85-4903-972D-EBE475780106" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-513D-4CA0-96C2-6A47775C0119" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-3A1D-41D3-A0EE-651D11570120" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-5932-4F9C-AD71-1557E5751100" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-2062-426C-90BF-714C59600103" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-F600-43F6-A895-40C0DE7B0117" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-52D4-45B3-B544-B1C71B620109" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-EB8A-40B1-80C7-506BE7590102" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-A83E-497E-9BA0-7A5C597D0107" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-C796-4402-9F2F-0EB9A6E71B18" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-2D77-4A75-9FCA-76516689E21A" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140" />

<ActivationDependency FeatureId="00BFEA71-1E1D-4562-B56A-F05371BB0115" />

</ActivationDependencies>
</Feature>

Check dependent (Parent) features for activation before activating child feature

2010-03-11T19:05:00.002-06:00

One of the beautiful features that Microsoft provides is dependent (Parent) feature activation before activating its related sub features. For example if we try to activate "Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure" feature at the sub site level, before activating it at the parent site collection, it will redirect us to an application page under layouts "_layouts/ReqFeatures.aspx" saying that "One or more features must be turned on before this feature can be activated". This feature is very useful. Let me brief you how we can use this feature.

I was developing a highly customized SharePoint application for one of my clients where I got a situation like this. I was developing couple of "List definitions with Look up fields" which are to be deployed in one of the sub sites under a site collection. As we all know "List Definitions" only accept site columns and content types, I had to create Site Columns, Content Types that uses this site columns, for List definitions. Now the actual problem comes with the deployment. Problem is that "Site Columns and Content types" features should only be scoped at the "Site" i.e site collection level when we create them through feature, so I am forced to deploy them at the site collection level. I don't want List definitions to be deployed at the site collection level, since if we activate the feature on the site collection level, these list definitions are going to appear on all sub sites, which is not suggestible. So I thought I will deploy "Site Columns and Content types" scoped at site collection level and the "List definitions" scoped at the sub site level. What happens if the user activates sub site i.e "List Definitions" feature before activating required site collection i.e "Site columns and Content Types" feature

I was thinking of how to solve this problem then suddenly "Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure" stuff flashed my mind. How did Microsoft implement this? I thought I can control the sub site feature activation in the "Feature activated" feature receiver of the sub site, but by the time we get the control in the feature activated, feature receiver our sub site feature is already active. Then I was thinking why Microsoft didn't provide "Feature Activating" feature receiver. Finally here is the solution, to overcome this situation, in the feature activated feature receiver we will have to manually check if the required site collection features i.e "Site Columns and Content Types" is already activated, if it is activated then allow then allow this sub site feature to be activated successfully, otherwise deactivate this sub site feature and redirect the user to the error page with a message like "Please activate the parent feature(Site Columns and Content Type) on the site collection before activating this feature".

Now to check if the required feature is active on the site collection level I have written the following method.

//"Site" is the Root site collection

//"FeatureID" is the parent feature at the sitecollection level

private bool checkForParentFeatureActive(SPSite site, string featureID)

{
//This feature collection contains only features that are active. SPFeatureCollection featureCollection = site.Features;

foreach (SPFeature feature in featureCollection)
{
if (feature.DefinitionId.ToString().ToLower() == featureID.ToLower())
{
return true;
}
}
return false;
}

We should keep in mind that below statement returns only features that are active on the site collection level.

SPFeatureCollection featureCollection = site.Features;

Below is the call to that method in the feature activated code

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)

{

SPWeb web = SPContext.Current.Web;
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
SPSite site = web.Site;
try
{
//Check for parent feature(Content Types and custom Fields) activeness
if (checkForParentFeatureActive(site, parentFeatureID))
{
//do the necessary action if the parent feature is active.
}
else
{
/*deactivate the current feature and throw a error message to the user saying that he has to activate the parent feature before activating this feature*/

web.Features.Remove(childFeatureID, true);
SPUtility.TransferToErrorPage("Please activate the parent feature(Site Columns and Content Type) on the site collection before activating this feature.");
}
}
catch (System.Threading.ThreadAbortException ex)
{

PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
}
catch (System.Exception ex)
{
PortalLog.LogString(ex.StackTrace);
throw new SPException(ex.Message);
}
finally
{
web.Update();
web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
site.Dispose();
}

In the above code snippet, following code deactivates our sub site feature i.e the current feature

web.Features.Remove(childFeatureID, true);

and then redirect the user to the error page displaying a message.

Show attachments on SharePoint Discussion board Flat/Threaded views

2010-03-08T18:48:00.012-06:00

As we all know, default OOB SharePoint Discussion Boards does not show attachments on Flat/Threaded views. If the user wants to view the attachments he had to click on "View Properties" and then view the attachments which is very inconvenient for the user. Moreover the attachment icon beside "View Properties" link is very small, hard to notice and is not linked to attachment. Due to this problem many of my business users were missing the attachments which are attached with the discussion. Due to this problem I had to find a way to show attachments within the Flat/Threaded views along with the content like this.

I started thinking for a way to implement it. Searched Google but couldn't find any solutions and finally one good idea flashed in my mind, i.e why shouldn't I try with jQuery I thought. Started looking into jQuery to implement it and finally here is the solution below.

Add “Edit Item” link or remove “View Properties” link on SharePoint Discussion board Flat/Threaded views

2010-02-22T18:44:00.009-06:00

One of my clients had a requirement to add "Edit Item" link on SharePoint Discussion Board Flat/Threaded View like this…

I had searched a lot on the Google to find an answer, but wasn't able to find one. Finally I had decided to dig through SharePoint file system and find how it works.

As we all know all the lists in SharePoint are features so I went in to this location "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\DiscussionsList\Discuss" to open the schema.xml file for Discussion boards. I went through all the code but was not able to exactly find where this "View Properties" link is getting generated. After spending lot of time swimming through the code finally I got a code block which generates "View Properties" link. The code which generates "View Properties" is the field with the name "StatusBar" as shown below.

Now in the "StatusBar" you have something called "DisplayPattern" which contains the code for displaying "View Properties". So I have decided to add "Edit Item" link before "View Properties" link.

Below is the code to add "Edit Item" link before "View Properties"

I you want to remove "View Properties" link then simply comment the code highlighted in blue.

Note: Making Changes to the Schema file of Discussion Board will affect all the lists of type Discussion Board across the SharePoint farm. So I suggest to create a Custom Discussion Board list definition and implement in that.

You can also add "Edit Item" link like below, without modifying the SharePoint Custom Discussion Board list definition using jQuery Like this…

<script type="text/javascript" src="../../Shared Documents/jquery-1.4.2.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(document).ready(function(){
//debugger;
//To display edit link after reply
$("a:contains('Reply')").each(function(index) {
//debugger;
var dispFormID = $(this).closest('td').siblings().find("a:contains('View Properties')")[0].search;
dispFormID = dispFormID.substring(0,(dispFormID.indexOf('&', 0)+1));
var itemID = dispFormID.substring((dispFormID.indexOf('=', 0)+1),(dispFormID.length)-1);
var parentID = "&DiscussionParentID="+itemID;
var editformWithID = "EditForm.aspx"+dispFormID;
var editLink = $(this).closest('td')[0].outerHTML;
editLink = replaceAll(editLink,"reply.gif", "edititem.gif");
editLink = replaceAll(editLink,"Reply", "Edit");
editLink = ReplaceAll(editLink,"&ContentTypeId=0x0107", "");
editLink = ReplaceAll(editLink,"NewForm.aspx?", editformWithID);
editLink = ReplaceAll(editLink,parentID, "");
editLink = "<td class=ms-separator><img src='/_layouts/images/blank.gif' alt=''></td>"+editLink;
$(this).closest('td').parent().append($(editLink));
});
});

function replaceAll(txt, replace, with_this)
{
return txt.replace(new RegExp(replace, 'g'),with_this);
}

function ReplaceAll(Source,stringToFind,stringToReplace)
{
var temp = Source;
var index = temp.indexOf(stringToFind);
while(index != -1){
temp = temp.replace(stringToFind,stringToReplace);
index = temp.indexOf(stringToFind);
}
return temp;
}
</script>