SharePoint - The object has been updated by another user since it was last fetched - while updating Site Columns

This is the second time I've been bitten by this error.

Exception:

The object has been updated by another user since it was last fetched

And both times I had forgotten why, and then panicked, then searched online, found articles talking about this, and figured it all out, only to recall in the last minute...

Hey, wait a minute, this happened before.

The story begins as soon as you are trying to update your site columns.  Either via the web UI, or via code, or via PowerShell.  And then you hit this error.

The cause:

This is most likely because you've created the site column using an invalid Schema XML, in particular, you've embedded the version field in the <Field> definition.

<Field Type="Text" DisplayName="OrganisationName" Required="FALSE" EnforceUniqueValues="FALSE" Indexed="FALSE" MaxLength="255" ID="{guid-xxx}" StaticName="OrganisationName" Name="OrganisationName" Version="1" ></Field>

The Version attribute could have got in via a number of means, but most likely you exported the existing Schema from somewhere and it got embedded.

My explanation:

When you update a site column, SharePoint expects that the version number of this site column object increments after the update.  But because you are updating the site column via Schema and forcing the version to be fixed all the time, that number doesn't increment.  SharePoint now thinks there's something really wrong.

The Fix:

Remove the Version attribute from the Field definition, and then redeploy that definition to the server.

<Field Type="Text" DisplayName="OrganisationName" Required="FALSE" EnforceUniqueValues="FALSE" Indexed="FALSE" MaxLength="255" ID="{guid-xxx}" StaticName="OrganisationName" Name="OrganisationName" ></Field>

SharePoint Saturday Melbourne 2012

I had a great time in Melbourne and presented my session on Building Custom REST services and consuming them with jQuery AJAX.  Thank you for attending my session and listen to me ranting for an hour.

As promised, there are a number of links:

• The demo solution https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30fe4b030eeeef0a174/1316868647487/SPGSvcWp.zip 
• The powerpoint https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30fe4b030eeeef0a175/1344213437847/SharePoint+REST+and+jQuery6.pptx

There are a few things I missed:

On 2007, you can't easily deploy WCF or REST services to a 2007 installation.  But you can still use Javascript to talk to SharePoint 2007's built in WCF services.  Check:

• http://spservices.codeplex.com

For 2013, the WCF/REST solutions work fine.  I had a quick test and took some screenshots.

• /blog/2012/7/30/sp2013-custom-services-deploys-and-runs-on-v15.html

For DataService (ADO.NET / exposing Entity Framework via REST service), see the last feature in the demo project.

Drop me a comment if you want to ask me about anything specific and I'd love to geek out!

T: @johnnliu

E: john.liu at sharepointgurus.net

SP2013 Custom services deploys and runs on v15

I fired up my SP2013 VM to do some simple tests tonight, I wanted to know if the REST services that I've built and demo'ed for SharePoint 2010 would run in SP2013.  Technically, they should.

So I deployed:

• stsadm -o addsolution -filename .\SPGSvcWp.wsp
• stsadm -o deploysolution -name SPGSvcWp.wsp -local -allowgacdeployment -allcontenturls

The files are copied to the services OK.

Deployed to ISAPI folder (_vti_bin)

DataService

REST service

SOAP service

Activate the features for the webpart:

Add the Web Part to the page:

The javascript needs a small modification - since the page in 2013 is loaded asynchronously.  But once I've re-attached the click event, the REST service itself works fine and returns the properties of the selected item.

The SharePoint Pinterest-style Image Library

A picture is worth a thousand words.

In the latest version of spaspa.codeplex.com, I created a separate Knockout Template and bind the Images library (BaseTemplateID 851) to it.  Then I inserted a simple jQuery Plugin Wookmark https://github.com/GBKS/Wookmark-jQuery

The end result is that when we have pictures, they are displayed in an awesome layout.

As an added bonus, I'm calculating the thumbnail image from SharePoint, so instead of rendering:

http://spg-dev-jl/PublishingImages/wallpaper_08.jpg

Original: 78K

I'm rendering

http://spg-dev-jl/PublishingImages/_w/wallpaper_08_jpg.jpg

Thumbnail image generated by SharePoint.  Which is a far smaller file - 16k.

Next update, I'll try to resolve those pesky SharePoint users and get the correct user name and picture.  So we don't have Mr. Bill Gates staring back at us! ;-)

SharePoint Saturday Adelaide update

Hope you enjoyed the session and all the wonderful sessions through out the day.

I hope I've also given you plenty of ideas on how you can mix and match a really rich set of the latest technology in your SharePoint environment. 

A summary link of all my related talks on REST, services and JavaScript technologies like jQuery and Knockout are on /rest/

A direct link to the solution that I used for the demo is at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30ee4b030eeeef09b23/1316868647487/SPGSvcWp.zip

The PowerPoint presentation is at: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5527bff2e4b0b430660b0d10/5527c30de4b030eeeef09715/5527c30ee4b030eeeef09b24/1335084544036/SharePoint+REST+and+jQuery5.pptx

Drop me a question if you want to ask me anything specific related to these topics and I'm more than willing to geek out!  Hope to see you guys again soon.

You can find me via

T: @johnnliu
E: john.liu at sharepointgurus.net

Or grab a business card from me throughout the day!