Connect.Collaborate.SharePoint
Nov
28
Since my last post I have been trying to resolve a search error which was stopping the index from being updated.
It was one of those helpful 0x80020009 errors. After 2 nights of no progress in getting search to index new content I though I would just create a new SSP and start again. Only problem was that every time I tried to create a new SSP, the admin site not render properly and any link requiring javascript would not work (almost everything).
To cut a long story short, it was a bug in an HTTP Module that was part of the CKS:EBE. Don't ask me why this module was loaded in the web.config file of the SSP site collection when the feature was not active on that site, but I'm glad I check this file line for line with a VPC image.
Now I just have to configure all my search settings (property mappings, crawling rule exclusions for all the template sites, scopes) again and add the PDC definitions for the My Site templates.
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Nov
24
I just created 2 new pages.
  1. MindManager integration with SharePoint
    I really want a copy of this software. Trying to create a dynamically updating site directory Map Part so that the home page of each site could show a nice visual MindMap of the sub sites. I have seen people create these manually and then save as an image map but that would take a lot to maintain.
  2. Screen cast of the SLK SharePoint Training preview
    I've been experiencing some performance issues with the live demo so thought I would provide this flash demo which also lets you see some of the admin screens.
  3. 99 Internet sites hosted on SharePoint! There must be more I dont know about...

I've also been on a mission to get rid of all the Windows Application event log errors on my server. I had an error in the HR Manager My Site demo BDC definition which was causing most of the errors which is now fixed (logon as vs\demouser with password Templates). Now there is just the odd Site Analytics timer job error that I thought I had fixed (several times now).

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Nov
22

This is such a good read. Getting the (Share)Point About Document Formats http://lwn.net/Articles/258232/

The assumption that only open source can be used if you want open standards must be just a bigot thing. Most MS people and products are fully behind open standards.

I don't know why they claim that SharePoint is a closed repository. It is based on Web-DAV and SOAP. Any operating system using any programming language can get the files and metadata into and out of SharePoint with ease (o.k. Kerberos auth can be tricky, even for an MS developer but it is a standard also). I have even worked with customers who are 100% Java, using SharePoint as the unstructured repository because it's open standards were easy to interoperate with.

Would Alfresco + Jboss Portal + Red Hat Linux + JasperSoft really be a better solution than SharePoint? Maybe for the hoards of open source consultants required to get it going, and when it breaks, who you going to point the finger at?

Anyway, I'm glad comments are disabled on blog ;-)

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Nov
21

Seems to be my week for education. I just came across this cool example...

Top-Down or Bottom-Up? Designing and Redesigning a Digital Campus Somewhere in Between

Three years ago, INHOLLAND university launched a learning scenario that required the latest in electronic communication and collaboration tools. The new digital campus that was built is being redesigned now using Windows Vista and SharePoint 2007. What did we learn during the past three years, and what do we hope to achieve now?

Article http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EDU07256A.pdf

PPT http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EDU07256B.pdf

One cool thing I noticed that most corporate customers have not deployed, Single Internet sign on for web applications. You can see the logon screen here http://insite.inholland.nl/

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Nov
20

I've been working on an Education related SharePoint solution and came across this  Contoso University

It is a sample site using Windows Live Messenger IM Control and Silverlight to display multiple videos coming from Silverlight Streaming on Windows Live.

This is the kind of front end I would like to see on SharePoint!

You can see this running live at http://contosouniversity.mslivelabs.com and download from http://www.codeplex.com/wlquickapps

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Nov
16

As a short term solution I had to purchase 2 used disks off TradeMe. This should keep the server going a bit longer until I can find a way of getting a new server.

The current 36G drive, apart from being full, was badly fragmented. After moving some temporary, IIS log and SPSearc index files over to the new disk, I had enough free space to start a defragmentation.

The defrag is still running and I still have to move the content DB's to the new disk. It seems like the server is already more responsive.

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Nov
15

I used to live in a 3rd world sub-division (previous blog)

Not any more

Good on ya Telecom(I guess they had to do something given that 20 houses a year are being built around us)

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Nov
10

Try this URL

http://www.wssdemo.com/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?dialogview=FileSave&FileDialogFilterValue=*.doc&location=Shared%20Documents

It is what generates the Office "Save As" file dialog content. Users just have to click on the document icon to open it, no other links on the page. This page would be easy to host inside another web application as an iFrame.

Try changing the Filter Value to .xls or removing it all together.

Hmm, a JSON equivalent of this would e cool.

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Nov
10

If none of those acronyms mean anything to you, move along.

If you are thinking of deploying the Community Kit for SharePoint 2.0 Enhanced Blog Edition (CKS:EBE) beta, be warned that it will block SharePoint Designer (SPD) from editing Web Part pages.

Vincent Rothwell is one of the project developers and reports that he has fixed the problem but we will have to wait until the next release.

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Nov
9

I have a strange problem on WSSDemo.com which is preventing SharePoint Designer from creating or editing any page that references a master page (at least that is what I think the problem is).

I just had to create something (I like to do something new every day) so I had to resort to using the browser to satisfy my creative juices.

My preference for web parts is in the following order (from most to least favourite):

  1. Data View (or form)
  2. Content Editor
  3. Page Viewer

There is a new Presence API for Windows Live Messenger that allows you to host a chat session in your web application.
Details here http://www.viawindowslive.com/Articles/Messenger/MessengerIMControlPresence.aspx

So I added it to my details page http://www.wssdemo.com/Pages/aboutian.aspx via the Page Viewer web part (just to show that it's good for something;-)

Catch me if you can ;-)

And the prise goes to sharepointbuzz.com owner (who also has added this feature on his home page)

Visitor says:

Just wanted to say, love your site

Visitor says:

keep up the good work

IM on IM - If the answer is SharePoint, you are asking the right question says:

Thanks, did you get me via my details web page?

Visitor says:

Yes.

Visitor says:

Chat window is pretty cool.

IM on IM - If the answer is SharePoint, you are asking the right question says:

Cool, you are the first one, wish I had something to give away

Visitor says:

Thats' quite alright. Its an honour being the first one

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