Author Archives: Ameet Phadnis

After a long time I am blogging about something new. I have started playing around with developing Apps for SharePoint in SharePoint 2013 and already ran into few issues. As developers or IT professionals we hate to read. We just get Visual Studio, SharePoint and just start with creating new app. But did not read the basic document before setting up my environment. So I got some weird errors while trying to deploy the app.

In short, before you even setup anything please read this article – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fp179923.aspx 

But I was receiving error on the final step for Set-SPAppSiteSubscriptionName -Name “apps”.

The error was Set-SPAppSiteSubscriptionName : There are no addresses available for this application.

This error was due to to their was no app domain URL entry for apps.ameettest.local was missing.

I opened the host file and added 127.0.0.1 apps.ameettest.local and then I was able to run the above command.

Ok now to the next problem 🙂

If you have used the Central Administration to add the User Profile Properties you are aware that it can be frustrating with the wait time on adding a single property. That led me to a research on how can we add User Profile Properties through PowerShell. That landed me to this blog – http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/SP2010-PowerShell-to-0fda04f7

It worked for me for single property but most of our clients do have multiple properties and that does come from separate connections including External Content Types. So, I did modify the above script and created a csv file of all the available properties that I needed to track. The CSV file has the following properties –

1. PropertyName – This field is used for the Internal Name of the User Profile.
2. DisplayName – This field is used for the Display Name property of the User Profile Property.
3. Privacy – The allowed values are – Public, Contacts, Organization, Manager, Private and NotSet
4. Privacy Policy – The allowed values are – Mandatory, OptIn, OptOut and Disabled
5. Type – The data type of the property.
6. Length – In case of string, enter this value or enter 0
7. ConnectionName – The Synchronization connection name.
8. AttributeName – The attribute from the synchronization that you would like to map to.
9. IsMultivalued – Whether this property will hold multiple values.

My CSV file example looks as –

PropertyName,DisplayName,Privacy,PrivacyPolicy,Type,Length,ConnectionName,AttributeName,IsMultivalued
testskills,Test Skills,Public,Disabled,string,200,EmployeeSkills,Skill,true
testskills1,Test Skills1,Public,Disabled,string,200,EmployeeSkills,Skill,true

EmployeeSkills is the BCS connection that pulls in skills from our database.

The PowerShell script mentioned in the above blog was not working for me. So, I made a few changes. This script accepts two parameters –

Parameter 1 – The csv file path and name

Parameter 2 – The Site URL.

The main thing I added was the IsMultivalued property and also the check to see if the type is string then assign the length. The entire selection is within a foreach loop that goes through each line to pull the property information.

param($Parm1, $Parm2)
#Load SharePoint User Profile assemblies
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“Microsoft.Office.Server”)
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles”)
$userProps = Import-Csv $Parm1
 

 
#Get UserProfileManager
$mySiteUrl = $Parm2
$site = Get-SPSite $mySiteUrl
$context = Get-SPServiceContext $site
$upConfigManager = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileConfigManager($context)
$profilePropertyManager = $upConfigManager.ProfilePropertyManager
$coreprofilePropertyManager = $profilePropertyManager.GetCoreProperties()
$userProfileTypeProperties = $profilePropertyManager.GetProfileTypeProperties([Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileType]::User)
$userProfileSubTypeManager = [Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileSubTypeManager]::Get($context)
$userProfile = $userProfileSubTypeManager.GetProfileSubtype([Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileSubtypeManager]::GetDefaultProfileName([Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileType]::User))
$userProfileProperties = $userProfile.Properties 

Foreach ($userProp in $userProps)
{
#Set Custom Property values
$PropertyName = $userProp.PropertyName
$PropertyDisplayName = $userProp.DisplayName
$Privacy= $userProp.Privacy
$PrivacyPolicy = $userProp.PrivacyPolicy
$coreProperty = $coreprofilePropertyManager.Create($false)
$coreProperty.Name = $PropertyName
$coreProperty.DisplayName = $PropertyDisplayName
$coreProperty.Type = $userProp.Type

#Check if the Type is string then assign the length.
if ($userProp.Type -eq ‘string’)
{
$coreProperty.Length = $userProp.Length
}

if ($userProp.IsMultivalued -eq ‘true’)
{
$coreProperty.IsMultivalued = $true
}
$foundProperty = $coreprofilePropertyManager.GetPropertyByName($userProp.PropertyName)

#if the property is found then we delete that property.
if ($foundProperty -ne $null)
{

#Uncomment the code to delete the property.
#$coreprofilePropertyManager.RemovePropertyByName($userProp.PropertyName)
}
$coreprofilePropertyManager.Add($coreProperty)
$profileTypeProperty = $userProfileTypeProperties.Create($coreProperty)
#Show on the Edit Details page
$profileTypeProperty.IsVisibleOnEditor = $true
 
#Show in the profile properties section of the user’s profile page
$profileTypeProperty.IsVisibleOnViewer = $true
 
#Show updates to the property in newsfeed
$profileTypeProperty.IsEventLog = $true
 
$userProfileTypeProperties.Add($profileTypeProperty)
$profileSubTypeProperty = $userProfileProperties.Create($profileTypeProperty)
$profileSubTypeProperty.DefaultPrivacy =[Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.Privacy]::$Privacy
$profileSubTypeProperty.PrivacyPolicy = [Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.PrivacyPolicy]::$PrivacyPolicy
$userProfileProperties.Add($profileSubTypeProperty)
 
#Add New Mapping for synchronization user profile data
#SharePoint Synchronization connection
$connectionName =$userProp.ConnectionName
 
#Attribute name in Connection Source

$attributeName =$userProp.AttributeName
 
$synchConnection = $upConfigManager.ConnectionManager[$connectionName]
$synchConnection.PropertyMapping.AddNewMapping([Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.ProfileType]::User,$PropertyName,$attributeName)

}

You can use this code at your own risk 🙂

Good luck with PowerShell Scripting.

I have been asked this often – “Our company takes employee photos and we store it on a network folder. We would like to use the company photos instead of users uploading their own photos?”

Background:

The way SharePoint user profiles image work is –

• All the images are stored on http://<MySiteURL>/User%20Photos/Forms
• For each user profile there are three sizes for the images. When you upload an image SharePoint converts those to three different sizes and stores it in the above image library.

After googling I found lot of code that would upload the images to the above mentioned library but there was lot of code that would also convert the images into the different sizes and store it. Initially I was inclined towards trying the above route but soon I realized that the client for whom I was working was storing the images with employeeID.jpg format. Most of the code I found online was talking about network name. So, I would have to first compare the employee ID get the image convert it to SharePoint understandable size and then upload it to the library. I had to get this done in 2 hours. So, I started looking for how can I just point the pictureURL property for the User Profile to point to the network drive and just be done with it.

So, there were two options –

1. Write C# code to populate the pictureURL property. But this would mean I would have to create a setup application and then install it on the server. Didn’t like the option…
2. Somehow work with PowerShell Script. Did more googling and found the various pieces of the puzzle and brought it together. Following is the solution whch works great for our client.

Solution:

The solution assumes you have already created the User Profile connection with AD. If you are using the EmployeeID as your identifier for your user profile images then make sure you create User Profile property for employeeID and map it to the AD employeeID field. You also need to setup the MySites web application and the url stuff.

Once your user profile is setup and the import is performed. You have to make sure that you have given full control of User Profile Service Application to the user that would be running the PowerShell Script. In order to do that follow these steps –

• Go to Central Administration.
• Click on Application Management.
• Click on Manage Service Applications.
• Select the User PRofile Service Application. Do not click on the Service Application link.
• Click on Permissions on the Service Applications Ribbon.
• If the user you are using to run the PowerShell Script is not in this list then add it and give it full control.

Once the above steps are done now you can use the following PowerShell Script to point the PictureURL to the appropriate location –

#Get the My Site URL Replace the <MySites URL with your url
$siteUrl = “”

#Get the Site Context
$site = Get-SPSite $siteUrl
$servcontext = Get-SPServiceContext $site

#Initiate the Profile Manager and get the user profiles
$profileManager = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($servcontext)
$profiles = $profileManager.GetEnumerator()

#The property names for picture url and employeeid.
$pictureURLAttribute = “PictureURL”
$employeeIDAttribute = “EmployeeId”

# Loop through all user profiles.
foreach ($uProfile in $profiles)
{
# Make sure there is some value in the employee ID property
if ($uProfile[$employeeIDAttribute] -ne ”)
{
 #Get the EmployeeID for the employee.
 $EmployeeID = $uProfile[$employeeIDAttribute].toString()
 #Format the Picture url. Since this example is for network folders the format starts with \\ Replace the
 $netPictureURL = “\\<network folder>\$EmployeeID.jpg”
 
 #Change the Picture URL information and then commit the record.
 $uProfile[$pictureURLAttribute].Value = $netPictureURL
 $uProfile.Commit()

 }

}

Run the above PowerShell script and all your user profiles will point to the network drive for employee photo.

But if you try to search the results you will still not see the photos on the Search results. Even after running the incremental crawl does not help on the Search Results. Here is the reason why it does not work. If you look at the Search results XSLT code, it actually blocks files that start with \\ or file: or //. You need to modify the XSLT to allow the image files that start with \\ or file:. In order to do that follow these steps –

• Go to peopleresults.aspx page and edit it.
• Edit the People core search results web part.
• Expand Display properties.
• Uncheck the Use Location Visualization checkbox.
• Click on XSL Editor button.
• Search for GetPicUrl. The code should be as follows –

<xsl:template name=”GetPicUrl”>
  <xsl:param name=”PicUrl”/>
  <xsl:param name=”PlaceHolderUrl”/> 
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test=”string-length($PicUrl) < 1 or starts-with($PicUrl, ‘file:’) or starts-with($PicUrl, ‘\\’) or starts-with($PicUrl, ‘//’)”>
      <xsl:value-of select=”$PlaceHolderUrl”/>
    xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <xsl:value-of select=”$PicUrl”/>
    xsl:otherwise>
  xsl:choose>
xsl:template>

• Note that the PicUrl is being checked for blank or if it starts with file: or \\ or //. If any of these conditions are true then it displays the default picture if it is false then it actually displays the pictureURL. . Remove all the starts-with code and now the images are visible in the search results page. Your code should now look like –

<xsl:template name=”GetPicUrl”>
  <xsl:param name=”PicUrl”/>
  <xsl:param name=”PlaceHolderUrl”/> 
  <xsl:choose>
    <xsl:when test=”string-length($PicUrl) < 1″>
      <xsl:value-of select=”$PlaceHolderUrl”/>
    xsl:when>
    <xsl:otherwise>
      <xsl:value-of select=”$PicUrl”/>
    xsl:otherwise>
  xsl:choose>
xsl:template>

• Just in case anyone is wondering how does this template get call. Search for pictureURL. You will get the code which calls this template and passes the pictureURL managed property as parameter.

The above step should assist you with your company policies of using the company photos for user profiles and not the employee uploaded photos.

Happy SharePoint Searching. Use the above code at your own risk 🙂

The answer is simple it is CAB format.

Recently, I was faced with a situation where I had a old SharePoint list template from WSS 3 and that would not import in SharePoint 2010. The solution was simple. Here is what I did –

• Renamed the .stp file to .cab.
• Extracted the manifest.xml
• Changed the element ProductVersion from 3 to 4.
• Repackaged the file to CAB file. You can create .ddf file and then use the makecab command. Check this link on how to package a web part. Same concept can be used for packaging the .stp file.
• Rename the .cab to .stp file and import it. AND now you can create a list based on this template.

Similarly, if you are on a computer without InfoPath installed and would like to look at the schema used. Just rename the file to .cab and extract the files. You will notice that .xsn file is made up of multiple files. You can open the template.xml file to find out how your xml could be stored. It also has all the xsd and image files that are included in your InfoPath form.

Good luck with your development on SharePoint.

Problem: On the Search results page you have the Search Action Links to display the sort options. Whenever you click on the field to sort on it gives you a Javascript.

Resolution: Make sure your Search box is on the Search Results page.

If you have customized Master Page make sure that you are displaying the Search box. Even if it is hidden you will get the Javascript error. If it is deleted please insert the web part back on the page.

Not sure how the sort by is tied with Search Box web part. 🙂

Issue:
You try to add SharePoint WebControl to your custom web part. You don’t seem to see the web part under the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls Namespace.
The issue is that the WebControls do not work on Sandbox Solutions.

Resolution:
Follow these steps the change your existing project to turn the project off as Sandbox solution –
1. Click on the project and check the properties window or press F4.
2. On Properties you will change the value of Sandboxed Solution property to False.

Once the above changes are done now you can use the SharePoint Web Controls on your web part.

Happy Coding….

Following steps explains how you can change the tabs order on the Search Center in SharePoint 2010.

Here is how my Search Center displays. It has All Sites and Directory.

Click on Site Actions-> View All Site Content

Click on Tabs in Search Pages

The Tabs in Search Pages list displays as follows

Click on List Ribbon

Click on List Settings

Click the url at the top and change listedit.aspx to reorder.aspx

I moved directory to order 1.

Click Ok.

The list will show it based on the position you set. But on the Search Center it will not show the right order. It will still display as –

Go back to the Tabs in Search Pages by Click Site Actions->View All Site Content and click on Tabs in Search Pages. Edit the Directory Item and just click on Save. Your screen should display as –

If you are interested in the Search Center displaying the Directory Search by default, you can change the welcome page as follows –
Click on Site Actions -> Site Settings

Click on Welcome Page

Click on Browse button

Click on People page and click ok.
Click Ok on the Welcome Page.
Now the Search Center will display the Directory Tab by default.

I have been working with a client on getting their Document Library working through their mapped drives. We had some interesting issues with this implementation.

Issue # 1: Whenever the client clicked on Open in Windows Explorer through the SharePoint site it used to take too much time to open up the popup window and display the files. This is not related to IE 8. This is a general issue.

Solution: Follow these steps –

• Click on Tools -> Internet Options
• Click on Connections Tab.
• Click on Lan Settings button.
• Uncheck Automatically Detect Settings.

The reason for slowness is explained in this nice blog http://blog.logicworm.com/2011/04/25/open-with-windows-explorer-in-sharepoint-fix-slow-webdav-performance-on-windows-7/

Issue # 2: On some computers the Open in Windows Explorer works and on some of them it does not. You will be prompted around 3 times to enter your credentials. After that you will see an error “Your client does not support opening this list with Windows Explorer.”

Workaround: (I am not going to call this as a solution)

After researching more it was found that if you restarted the webclient service then this would work fine.

If you restarted the machine then this would work fine too.

This was only having issues when you are logging off the machine.

We saw some forum answers which we tried but it would work for some time and then would not work again. One of the forums it was suggested by Microsoft to do the following –

Go to regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters\FileAttributesLimitInBytes

Change the value from 1000000 to 100000000.

For some users it seemed that this solution worked. But for some users it would not work for this client. After some more research and the pattern in the way they were logging off we found out that they were never closing the IE browser while they were on the SharePoint site or when they were in Windows Explorer or on their mapped drive.

So, we recommended them to close their browser and the Windows explorer and then log off and to our surprise the Windows explorer started working again.

Based on numerous forums it was pointed out that this is not a SharePoint issue but an IE 8 issue. That makes me think that looks like when we logoff with IE still running it does not disconnect the session with the SharePoint web application and hence the next time you try to login it was generating the error.

Interesting the above works in IE7.

I hope this resolves some of the frustration SharePoint guys are having.

If you are interested in getting the XML part for the Search results paste the following code in XSL Editor under Display Properties.

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<xsl:stylesheet version=”1.0″ xmlns:xsl=”http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform“>
<xsl:output method=”xml” version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″ indent=”yes”/>
<xsl:template match=”/”>
<xmp><xsl:copy-of select=”*”/></xmp>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet>

This will give you the search results in XML string.

This video demo presentation covers –
1. Exporting SharePoint Designer Workflow to Visio.
2. Adding flow to the workflow.
3. Exporting workflow from visio to SharePoint Designer.
4. Adding logic on SharePoint Designer and deploying the workflow to SharePoint.

Visit the following youtube link …