Ah another weekend is upon us…

And I’m well equipped for this weekend, I’ve got two fun activities to do:

1. Go camp out in http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointgeneral/ and ambush people asking simple SharePoint questions – going to aim for two badges – don’t really know how long that will take.
2. Peter Gfader introduced me to http://projecteuler.net/ I’m up to question 3 and decided to solve them using a combination of FireFox + FireBug Console and JavaScript (ECMAScript)

serverfault.com hasn't launched and I hate it already

http://serverfault.com/ launched, and I hate it already.

edit: SF.com is Open to Public, so this should have read: serverfault.com hasn't launched yet and I hate it already

It’s basically http://stackoverflow.com/ for sys admins.  Great in concept, and probably a well-requested idea by SOers to keep SO pure… 

But then you’ve got guys like me.  I’m not a pure developer.  I’m a knowledge sponge.

I want to know everything to do with SharePoint, because I know there’s a lot that I don’t know, so anything new to read is awesome.

And now, I’ve got one extra place I have to check.

• StackOverflow search RSS
• SharePointMVPs twitter
• MS SP General Forums RSS
• Various MVP blogs
• SP Team Blog
• don’t want ServerFault.com

So…

SharePoint Configuration – SF.com
SharePoint Application Development – SO.com

And possibly the worse part of it is that I now have 2 reputations to grind – this is just like another WOW reputation grind.

FAIL FAIL FAIL!

Already, people are asking:

http://serverfault.com/questions/7384/site-collections-in-sharepoint-2007-how-many-and-why

Great questions, but I hate having to check two places.  Why couldn’t they just stick a tag on SO just baffles me…

Who came up with this stupid idea anyway!

What’s next?

http://ArchitectureInstability.com for architects?

Anyway, if you are a sys admin and never wants to see a line of .NET code, feel free to head over and never see SO again – but as for me…

</3 ServerFault.com

SharePoint: MOSS SP2 Major Bug

The SharePoint Team blog announced a major bug with SharePoint MOSS SP2:

This is funny, but extremely serious and important.

During the installation of SP2, a product expiration date is improperly activated. This means SharePoint will expire as though it was a trial installation 180 days after SP2 is deployed. The activation of the expiration date will not affect the normal function of SharePoint up until the expiration date passes. Furthermore, product expiration 180 days after SP2 installation will not affect customer’s data, configuration or application code but will render SharePoint inaccessible for end-users.

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/21/attention-important-information-on-service-pack-2.aspx

• Does not affect data
• But it will silently deactivate after 180 days
• Users can come to work without warning and SharePoint will be unavailable.
• If you are installing SP2 - apply hot-fix from MSDN immediately afterwards.
  • Download here http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971620
  • You will need your product-ID

Get the word out.

SharePoint – InfoPath /cache clearall

So continuing my InfoPath self education.

1. I publish a new version of the InfoPath form to the Forms Library
2. I then create a new form based on this template
3. In Browser – I see the new form
4. In InfoPath – I see the old form

So it appears that InfoPath is caching the older version of my template and using that.

• I clear the internet temporary files - didn't do it

A quick search lead me to this explanation: http://blogs.msdn.com/michael_yeager/archive/2008/07/09/infopath-cache.aspx

And sure enough,

start –> run –> InfoPath /cache clearall

Indeed clears out my cache, and now when I create a new form from SharePoint it is using the latest template

What befuddles me is that Michael Yeager says that InfoPath should be checking the version automatically so I don’t understand why it wasn’t doing that.

Here’s another more user-friendly way of removing a form from cache

File –> Fill out a form…

You can also "Get update of this form" from this dialog.

SharePoint – InfoPath / Forms Library missing

Testing InfoPath, I try to do the simplest thing – publishing an InfoPath form to a SharePoint as a template, and allowing it to create a new library based on this template - I got this error:

The following computer running windows SharePoint Services does not contain the required InfoPath form template:
http://vm-spdev-xxxx/
A generic form template will be used instead

Warning: This is very bad

You should not continue – because if you do…

1. InfoPath will create a new Document Library instead of a Forms Library and deploy the InfoPath file as a template in this document library. 
2. It will appear as if everything’s working – you can do New –> InfoPath Form (as a document), fill it out and save it back to the list.
3. And when you want to update the template it will complain that the default document isn’t based on a Form template.
   
   InfoPath failed to publish because the default content type in the document library is not based on the Form content type
4. You got confused – you went to check the Library and sure enough it says the default content type is a Document
5. You add a Form content type, and switch it over as the default content type… only to discover SharePoint now publishes two different sets of columns in this list – one set for Forms, another set for Documents.
6. And it doesn’t appear as if the second publish worked…  I think this may be a different problem – because if I view as web page I see the new updated template

Instead, back out right now – delete that list in SharePoint and start over…  By the way… where’s – hmm where’s my Forms Library?

Went to site settings and activated:

• Site Collection Features –> Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Site Collection features
• Site Features –> Office SharePoint Server Enterprise Site features

No good, still no forms library.

More stumbling around, finally figured it out – I need to activate:

• Site Features –> Team Collaboration Lists

Personally I didn’t think this was obvious – but I did know Forms Library is part of WSS…  so may be it made some sense.

Now go back to InfoPath again and try to publish.

SharePoint – how do you stay on top of all this stuff?

SharePoint is a big product – and getting bigger.

People have wondered – how do you stay on top of all the new developments?

This is one trick I’ve found via Twitter – works relatively well.

1. You will of course need a twitter account
2. Go to the twitter search page and look for users.  Find “sharepoint”
   http://twitter.com/search/users?q=sharepoint&category=people&source=find_on_twitter
3. You will see a bunch that comes up on top – sorted by # of followers:
   • sharepointbuzz is crazy – as far as I can tell – this re-twits anything anyone says about #sharepoint (that’s useful).  I followed for a bit and decided that was too much reading.
   • SharePointMVPs is a good one – basically this one twits whenever one of the SharePoint MVPs writes a new blog (or white paper) – HIGHLY recommended
   • SharePoint is the MS official one – not necessary if you are already following the SharePoint team blog RSS
4. Read twitter on the go – in your iPhone or BlackBerry or Windows Mobile
5. If you see a topic that’s interesting, flag it with “favourites”
6. Review your twitter favourites a couple times a week.

Bingo!

Stay on top of all the up to date #SharePoint news

Anyone has a good tip about how to catch up on the old stuff between 2007 – 2009 let me know…

SharePoint – thoughts on sharepoint.microsoft.com

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com had a face lift.  I decided to go have a quick look and make some comments.

Nice bits

• The site looks cleaner
• It is running on SharePoint
• Sign-in is tied with Windows Live (passport)

Horrible bits

• View Source was horrifying – I had hoped it may be running on SharePoint 2010 – but it looks like it’s still MOSS 2007
  • Big viewstate
  • Big initialize data for SilverLight
  • These are all things I’d hope to see disappear when we finally see SharePoint 2010…  I guess I’ll have to keep waiting.

Awesome

• Great HTML comment in the footer of the page:

<!---

Developed by Celina Moser Baginski

For questions and/or comments, please email me at

celina_baginski@consejoinc.com

--->

• Given that this is on every page – I assume it’s on the master
• I can’t fine Celina Moser Baginski when I went to browse around http://www.consejoinc.com/ though.  Makes me wonder – if you don’t talk about your employees on your company’s own site, why would you let them put their email addresses directly into the master page of your client’s site?

SharePoint – Microsoft Certified Masters, and why I should care

A couple of weeks ago, the first batch of MCM: SharePoint were announced.

Curiously, I went to see what it takes to be a SharePoint master.

Initially, I had assumed that it was just going to be a higher level of certification after you’ve completed the 4x MSTS: SharePoint certificates.

First reaction was: woah US$18,000?  Hmm… sounds a bit crazy.

Realizing that it is a 3 weeks training course made the money side more acceptable.

Seriously, if a company will send their top SharePoint architect on a 3 week full time training, US$18,000 – this must be some serious crack.

But then starting to read about what they say after completing the training

http://www.harbar.net/archive/2009/05/07/reality-check-microsoft-certified-master-for-sharepoint-2007.aspx

It begins to dawn on me that this is not your average level yet-another-certification.

It is a massive amount of work, time, effort.  In fact I would argue that the money aspect quickly went out the window with the shear amount of work that’s required to actually make it, and pass it at the end.  If you can take that much time off from client work to get through the course, by all means go for it!

Here are more materials.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/master/Sharepoint/default.mspx

So finally, what does this all mean for me?

For now, as a personal goal - I’ve decided to chew through the pre-reading list.

http://www.dynamicevents.com/MCM/MCMSharePointPre-Reads.pdf

They even provided a nice checkbox column for me to tick them off as I go…  nice!

I think if I can get through these 81 documents before SharePoint 2010 comes out it’d be awesome!

Migrating from Windows Live Spaces to SquareSpace - outline

This is going to be a series of blogs, and hopefully release source code for getting your blog out of Windows Live Spaces.  I want to split this into two major sections, and then have a few trailing articles discussing the differences and things as I encounter them.

First Half: Export your blog data out of Windows Live Spaces

• No export option
• MetaBlogAPI – documented on MSDN
• Export to some sort of format: XML?  MoveableType?
• Cleaning the data
• Exporting comments?

Second Half: Import your blog data into SquareSpace

• Using a format that SquareSpace understands
• Unhappiness with documentation – regarding DYI imports
• Imported Blogs go under a new journal
• Migrating content between journals

Extended Time:

• Release code
• Gotchas
• Data cleaning
• Pictures

SharePoint: Groove assimilated by the Borg (aka SharePoint)

Prepare to be assimilated by the Borg.

http://blogs.msdn.com/groove_development_team/archive/2009/05/13/makeover-for-groove-sharepoint-workspace-2010.aspx

...Groove is getting a new name as of the coming release of Office 2010. Please welcome SharePoint Workspace 2010!

The name makeover is in concert with the direction the product is going. SharePoint Workspace will provide easy access to SharePoint content (or content from any server that implements the publicly documented protocols) in an effort to provide a seamless online/offline experience.

Groove SharePoint Workspace and OneNote will appear in Office 2010 Professional Plus (yes that’s the name... it’s a bit ridiculous).

Regardless, Groove has always been a pretty niche product – people that have used it liked it. Other people didn’t understand what it did. Now that it gets this re-branding I think there will be a lot more interest in this product and the offline capabilities. Good move on MS.

My colleague Marlon always complains to me that he can’t get his docs from SharePoint when we put our SharePoint on maintenance...  I’m sure he’ll be happier now.

jliu