My time break for SharePoint

My 3º time as SharePoint MVP

2012-01-01T21:00:00.001Z

For the third time was nominated SharePoint MVP and i want to thank you all, Blog readers, twitter, Microsoft Forums and all the other Web 2.0 tools used to read about what i write.
I want to wish you a very nice year of 2012 and I want to send to my country "Portugal" a word of hope never give up like our Grandparents never give up, even if you are out of Portugal as me, remember we always survive and resolve all the problems with big difficulties. Portugal always incentivated the MacGyver culture but that is not enough in a Global economy, we need training, learn new approachs and Vision for the future and really hope all the emigrated with degrees and High Education can use what they learn to increase their quality of life and also improve their home country, this is my expectations for a greater future and believe in theirself in this 2012.

Have a nice 2012 for ALL with a lot of SharePoint.

Thank you for all your support. :)

Activate Publishing Pages Button in SharePoint Designer 2010

2011-12-21T16:05:00.001Z

The idea for this article came from one friend that asked me how we can create Publishing Pages using SharePoint Designer 2010, the main reason why he ask me this question was because he didn't find the Button for new Page that exist in SharePoint Designer 2007.

My answer was, why you don't add the button "Page" from SharePoint Designer 2007 in the Ribbon?

Since he didn't know how to do that, i will give this example on how you can customize the Ribbon in SharePoint Designer 2010.

Requisite:

To create Publishing Page you need to have Features Publishing activated.

If you try to create a new Page or file you don't have the option in the Ribbons to create a Publishing Page.

To customize your Ribbon you need to access the option "More Commands".

In the SharePoint Designer Options select the option "Customize Ribbon" and create a new group for this example i have created the following group "New Page with Publishing > Page" and add the Command "Page..." as represented in the image below.

When you access to SharePoint designer 2010 Ribbon will have a new option call "New Page with Publishing" and with option Page..

When you click in option "Page" the old New Page Form from SharePoint 2007 will appear, and you can chose the tab "SharePoint Content > SharePoint Publishing"

From there you can customize you Publishing Layout Page and add the Content Type field associated to Publishing.

After you create this Page Layout you are able to use as Page Template in your SharePoint Site.

Very easy to create and ready to use.

Hope you like,

Client Object Model with SilverLight

2011-11-29T11:28:00.001Z

This is a very old article about SharePoint 2010 i have made in Portuguese for a IT Portuguese Magazine "Portugal a Programar", this article is for beginners and show you how you can use the Client Object Model with SilverLight.This article have references to MSDN articles that you can explore and understand how you can use the Client Object Model.
Hope you like this article....
For the Portuguese version of this article can be saw here.

Introduction

SharePoint has been a worldwide success in its adoption as a tool of corporate Portals and Collaboration, this article is perspective view your demo as a development tool for enterprise solutions.

In this article I will also give attention to one of the new services offered by SharePoint 2010 which is the Client for Silverlight Object Model, with the creation of a project and call methods to demonstrate their ability to access existing content in SharePoint sites.

Solution

The SharePoint platform is an integrated set of resources that can help improve organizational effectiveness by providing comprehensive content management and enterprise search, accelerating shared business processes, and facilitating information sharing for better business insight.

The services offered range from Content Management, Document Management, Business Intelligence, Communities, Platform Integration external to Microsoft through the BCS (Business Connectivity Services), Workflows, Web Office app (Integration of Microsoft Office tools in Web format), SharePoint Designer 2010 , Project Management, Research Services Portal and external content, with different types of authentication using federations and other services. Finally a fairly comprehensive platform.

During the past years the platform has grown to the level of service and level of importance in business institutions, making a decisive bets more than Microsoft, with its implementation and integration of all its products on this platform, becoming the operating system in the companies.

One of its advantages is the ability to integrate the various Microsoft technologies and the ability of external integration platforms such as SAP, Oracle and others, to make a point of information sharing only the company, and built a Web platform that makes it very affordable to reach.

In the next table are the services that are available for SharePoint 2010.

With the release of SharePoint 2010 were provided multiple new services such as LINQ, new APIs for data access (using the Client Object Model), using REST - ADO.NET Data Services and using Ajax with webParts Asynchronous processes (without use of postback pages) and other new services.
SharePoint 2010 features three new Client API's to interact with content from SharePoint sites:

From applications. Net "never less than 3.5 Framework";
From Silverlight applications "never less than 2.0 Silverlight"
From ECMAScript or JavaScript, Jscript

Client Object Model Architecture

These new Client Object Model API provides an object-oriented system to interact with SharePoint data remotely, which is very easy to use because its nomenclature is rather like the SharePoint Object Model Server.

To demonstrate how to access the API Objects on the next table shows the different API's for various platforms and similarly the use of the Object Model.

Example
In this example, I will create a small project in Visual Studio 2010, with an application in Silverlight 4, using the SharePoint API and integrating SharePoint 2010.

To support our SharePoint solution I created a list called "General" with a set of test data.

Create a new project with Visual Studio 2010 Template in "Silverlight" and select the option to join a new Web site with the Silverlight version 4:

To make calls to the SharePoint content through the API in Silverlight, you must add references to the DLL's that are in the installation folder of the SharePoint 2010 (Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Silverlight and Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Silverlight.Runtime ), typically in C: \ Program Files \ Common Files \ Microsoft Shared \ Web Server Extensions \ 14 \ TEMPLATE \ LAYOUTS \ ClientBin.

Microsoft has released a package with the DLLs in SharePoint. NET Client Object Model, which can be downloaded to the client and their distribution.
SharePoint Server 2010 Client Object Model Redistributable
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=b4579045-b183-4ed4-bf61-dc2f0deabe47
Using Visual Studio 2010 there is the possibility of integrating Microsoft Expression Blend 4 with our applications developed in Silverlight.

After we made our customization we can return to our solution in Visual Studio 2010 and start creating our methods to return the contents of the Site. For this I created two methods, a return to the list of our SharePoint site and another to return the contents of a list in a Datagrid.
Method 1:
Returns the name of the list on the SharePoint site using the Client Object Mode. We used a lambda expression to return the lists and the associated title.

private void LoadLists()
{
ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContext(“http: //[Site]“);
oWebsite = clientContext.Web;
collList = oWebsite.Lists;
clientContext.Load(oWebsite,
website => website.Title);

//Lambda expression para retornar as Listas
listInfo = clientContext.LoadQuery(
collList.Include(
list => list.Title,
list => list.Fields.Include(
field => field.Title).Where( 
field => field.Required == true 
&& field.Hidden != true )));
clientContext.ExecuteQueryAsync(onQuerySucceeded, onQueryFailed);
}



 


private void onQuerySucceeded( object sender, ClientRequestSucceededEventArgs args)
{ 
UpdateUIMethod updateUI = DisplayInfo;  
this .Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(updateUI);
}

private void onQueryFailed( object sender, ClientRequestFailedEventArgs args)
{ 
MessageBox.Show( "Request failed. " + args.Message + "\n" + args.StackTrace);
}

private void DisplayInfo()
{ 
collList = oWebsite.Lists; 
listBox1.ItemsSource = listInfo; 
listBox1.DisplayMemberPath = { 
collList = oWebsite.Lists; 
listBox1.ItemsSource = listInfo; 
listBox1.DisplayMemberPath = "Title" ;
}
private delegate void UpdateUIMethod(); 




Example: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee538971.aspx

Method 2: 


Returns data in the List "General" to a DataGrid using CAML to make filters to return the contents:



private void LoadGrid()
{
      //Context of the SharePoint Site
      var context = new ClientContext( " http:// [Site]" );
      context.Load(context.Web);
      //return Object List“Geral”
      List projects = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle( "Geral" );
      context.Load(projects);
      //CAML Query to filter values from the list
     CamlQuery camlQuery = new CamlQuery();
     camlQuery.ViewXml = "<View><Query><Where><Geq><FieldRef Name='ID'/>" +
        "<Value Type='Number'>0</Value></Geq></Where></Query><RowLimit>100</RowLimit></View>" ;
      _projectItems = projects.GetItems(camlQuery);
      context.Load(_projectItems);
      context.ExecuteQueryAsync(OnRequestSucceeded, null );
}

#region Methods

private void OnRequestSucceeded(Object sender, ClientRequestSucceededEventArgs args)
{
            Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(BindData);
}

private void BindData()
{
            //User List "Geral" as List
             var list = new List<Geral>();
            foreach (var li in _projectItems)
            {
                        list.Add( new Geral
                       {
                         Title = li[ "Title" ].ToString(),
                         Nome = li[ "Nome" ].ToString(),
                         Activo = Convert.ToBoolean(li[ "Activo" ].ToString())
                       });
             }
            //Add List info into Datagrid
            dataGrid1.ItemsSource = list;
}

In the following example was created in a short form for the Silverlight list "Advertising." This list is a set of reference articles to the site and this method shows how one can create a simple form, without the need for customization of pages aspx.Foram added to the Tab "form" of Silverlight 3 fields Fill in our article, as the URL of the site where it is intended, title and body.

Method 3:
This method will create a new entry in the List of SharePoint a new ad.



if (!TxtTitle.Text.Equals( "" ))
{
           ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContext(TxtUrl.Text);
           Web oWebsite = clientContext.Web;
 
           ListCollection collList = oWebsite.Lists;
 
           oList = clientContext.Web.Lists.GetByTitle( "Anuncios" );
           ListItem oListItem = oList.AddItem( new ListItemCreationInformation());
           oListItem[ "Title" ] = TxtTitle.Text;
           oListItem[ "Body" ] = TxtBody.Text;
           oListItem.Update();
           clientContext.Load(oList,list => list.Title);
           clientContext.ExecuteQueryAsync(onQueryInsertSucceeded, onQueryInsertFailed);
}
else
{ MessageBox.Show( "Empty!!" ); }

With the creation of two small examples we can create our solution "AccessData.XAP."

SharePoint Silverlight Web Part

SharePoint provides tools to integrate the project developed in Silverlight and add in our SharePoint sites in a very simple way.
The first step is to add our Silverlight project in this case "AccessData.XAP" and add to our site in SharePoint and can be a Folder, or even a Document Library in the directory or folder "Hive" where SharePoint is installed in server. In this case I created a Folder within the site in SharePoint. These folders are not visible to end users, provided that the file is not deleted accidentally.

Once added to our solution in Silverlight, accessing our website and added in a default SharePoint Web Part that is "Silverlight Web Part." One of the parameters that is required is the path where you will find our solution in Silverlight.

Once everything is correctly added, will be made available on our website our solution for Silverlight within SharePoint WebPart in being able to work and interact with the content of the Site where you are.

When we are working on Web application environment Fiddler is an essential tool for capturing and validating the traffic on our Web when our Silverligth project is working we can find the transactions through the Client OM, and we find a call to the WCF Web Service "client.svc" and an XML Web Service for communication and transaction operations.

There's another way you can interact with data in SharePoint with Silverlight through the "REST" in WCF with all its potential but that is another article...

References

Using the Silverlight Object Model
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee538971.aspx
Using the SharePoint Server 2010 Managed Client Object Model
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee857094.aspx
Using the SharePoint Server 2010 Managed Client Object Model with the Open XML SDK 2.0
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee956524.aspx
SharePoint 2010 SDK
SharePoint 2010 Reference: Software Development Kit
4 Create a Silverlight Web Part for SharePoint 2010
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff956224.aspx

Create Reports with SharePoint 2010 and Reporting Services

2011-11-18T08:10:00.001Z

For some years have to support SharePoint Solution and operational work and had to work with different types of Managers.
Why some managers have the idea that one person can do everything about SharePoint (since Administration, Develop, Customization, Branding, Documentation, BI, Migration, Upgrades, Consulting, Search Server, Configuring Hardware, Maintain SQL Servers, Reporting, Auditing, Web Services, Support Clients, Maintain Desktops, Consulting, Infopath, Office, Project, Visio, Workflows, Powershell Scripting , AD configuration, Windows Servers, Architecture and Microsoft CRM and speak multiple languages "Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, now i am learning German...") and this continue for some years and i do all that at same time "a true Fireman (I always think this is the wrong approach on SharePoint but from some years to now everything is going on right track :) )...whatever type of Company from Small <10 to Big ones >100.000 users , but i have to admit with all this i have learned a lot of IT and SharePoint and meet a lot of fantastic people.
In resume, i understand a lot of the pain from SharePoint Consultants and their day by day work and this article is for you, who need to work with this tool and show how you can use the SharePoint and Reporting Services Integrated service to have some BI in your company.

Requisites:

Depending of your existing IT Architecture you can have multiple ways of install Reporting Services with SharePoint Integration, what i recommend is create and evaluate how important the BI solution will be for the company and what are the existing resources you have a system where your BI will live, this is one of the most important steps to have a reliable environmental and delegate task to different divisions .

Install Reporting Services in your SQL Server 2008 R2 Instance
Integrate Reporting Services for SharePoint 2010 Integration using "Reporting Service configuration"
http://www.bybugday.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=43
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/88285/Integrating-Sharepoint-2010-and-SQL-Reporting-Serv
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/integration-of-sharepoint-2010-and-ssrs.aspx

Configuring Reporting Services for SharePoint 2010 Integration
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb326356.aspx

Some of the SharePoint 2010 Configurations have installed Kerberos and extended Farm with complex physical Architecture with different Servers and Front webs need to makes delegation accounts access between the BI environment.
When you are configuring Reporting Services With SharePoint 2010 with Kerberos, this document will help:

Configuring Kerberos Authentication for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=23176

After you have installed the Reporting Services Integrated with your SharePoint 2010 and in the Central Administration of SharePoint will need to have the Url of the Reporting Reporting Service with the correct Type of Account and activate the features in the Site Collections, here a example:

General Application Setting with Reporting Services install in Central Administration Page:

Configuration of the Reporting Service:

Report Server url with SharePoint where you can access your Reports
Authentication mode (Windows Authentication/Trusted Account"SQL account")
The option Activate Reporting Services feature will activate the features in all Site collection or selected Site Collections.

Access to the SharePoint Site Collection Settings you will use for your BI solutions and access in the Site Collection Features and validate if the Feature is activated.

After we have all the configuration working you can create a Document Library, this folder can be use to store your Reports and Data Sources.

Here are some tools used for this examples:

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint® Technologies 2010

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=622

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint® Technologies 2010

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=28132

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=6116

Create Shared Report Data Source in SharePoint 2010

After we create the Document Library where will be stored the Reports we need to change the Type of Document Library and add Content Types associated to this Type of Report for this you will need to change the Content Type Managements, Access to Document Library Ribbon "Library > Library Settings > Advanced Settings"

After we activate the managements of the Content Types, need to be added at the Document Library Settings, for this Task you need to access "Document Library > Settings > Add Content Type"

You will get a windows where you can add the content Type associated to report Server, will help your create your Reports and your Data Source.

If you return to your Document Library and select to create a new Document you will get 3 new Content types associated to Reporting Services and to Build your reports

If you select the Content Type "Report Data Source" you will create a connection to your external Data. This Data Source will be used to call the data for your DataSets in your Reports.

After you select the Data Source Type you will need to add the Connection String to your Custom Database using a Windows Authentication.
If you want to validate your Connection string you can use the but "Test Connection" and verify the output from the connection.

Kerberos authentication
If you are using Kerberos authentication with "Windows Authentication" Method you will get issues with the user permission method because the way Kerberos and Reporting Services is configured in SharePoint 2010 for this credentials works you will need to make some changes in your authentication Method,

Change to "Stored Credential", this account will be use to access the SQL Server, i can recommend check the option "Use as Windows Credentials" you can need this parameter when you are make a query, for example:
Your name is MyDomain\Peter and want to filter all boxes associate to him
Example:
SQL: Select Boxes from Building where BoxAssociate = 'MyDomain\Peter'

If you don't have the option checked you will get something like this,
SQL: Select Boxes from Building where BoxAssociate = 'MyDomain\Alage'
Of course this is not the expected result....

Create a Report using Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0

With the Data Source created we can start create our Report, for that you can open Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Report Builder 3.0 and add new clean Report.

On the Left side of your Report you will have the parameters used in the Report to call the Data,
To use the Shared Data source you will need to access Folder "Data Sources" and select "Add Data Source"

A new windows will popup and there you have 2 ways of making your connection, the Shared Connection created in your SharePoint Site or a connection embedded in the Report, since we already create the connection in the SharePoint Site we need to make the link to that connection.

To call this external connection we need to select the option "Browse" and access to SharePoint Site and Document Library where the Connection is stored.

After we select the file a link to the connection will be made, validate testing the connection and return to you Report.

Create DataSet

After we add the Shared Data Source to out Report, we need to create the Datasets, this block of data will be use to be display in the Report using Multiple controls like Matrix or Tables...
Here a example of the controls we can use:

In this example i am using the Matrix to create a Dataset using the wizard of the control.

After we select the Data source, we need to create the query that will be associate to your Dataset and will be displayed in the control Matrix.

After select the option "Query Designer" the connection to your SQL Server will be made and you can select the fields you want to display in your Matrix

After select the fields we can organize wish field will be displayed and grouped.

The Wizard also give the opportunity to define the layout and the way the field are organize in the Control

After the wizard finish you are able to see the Matrix control in your Report Layout a new DataSet appears in the left Menu.

You can execute the report and visualize how the report is displayed to final User.

Configure Expand and collapse

The expand and collapse option in Tables are very important when you want to display large quantity of data and this data is grouped, In the reporting you can define wish groups can be collapsed or expand to organize the way the user will se the data on the first time the report is executed.
For this example i select that all values from Group "TeamColor" have to be expanded, for this i select the cel "TeamColor" and change the properties "InitialToggleState" for False to change the "Collapse" image to "Expanded" image.

Then in the Row Groups Options i have selected the groups "Details" and in the option "Visibility" change from hide to Show.

After this change i have execute the report and all the values are expanded to the final user.

Connect Data Source to SharePoint List

The SQL Server 2008 R2 Report builder give you the opportunity to create external Connection to SharePoint Lists, for this example i use a embedded connection and select connection type "Microsoft SharePoint List".

After select the Type, the Connection String is the SharePoint Site where is stored the Lists.

There you can select the List and check the fields you want to display and filter.

After the query is made you can validate the query and close the Dataset associated SharePoint List Connection

You can now create you Table with data from SharePoint List.

After you add the Table and data you can execute the report and the SharePoint List Data will be display in the Report.

Redirects to Report and SubReport with Parameters between reports

Report Builder give you the ability to create and navigation between reports, this is very important when you define different type of Reports and create a type of Navigation.

For this example was define for one Cell, to create a Action that will redirect to other Report, to create this type of Action access to the TextBox and right Click in the Properties from there you can choose "Action" and select "Go to Report" from there you can define wish Parameters will want to transfer for the second Report.

After you define the parameter from the first report and his navigation to the second Report, We need to configure the Second report to receive the parameter.

Received Parameter Report

This new Report will have a Text Box that will receive the Parameter from the first Report and Display in the new one.
For this example we create Parameter @Club in the new Report, for that we need to go for the Left Menu Folder and select "Add Parameter".
There you can multiple option on how the parameter can be, since this is a received Report,
To receive the parameter from the first report the name of the Parameter have to be exactly the same as the first Report.

The new Parameter will appear in the Left menu and you will cann associate to the Text Box control or other or use for formulas.

When you execute the First Report and you click in the cell with the Navigation you will redirect to the second Report and the Parameter @Club is displayed.

How to use formulas

One of the great features of creating Report is the ability to use formulas or conditions
For this example was created a Text Box where will be define some Formulas...

The expression will give the ability to create formulas and data from Dataset to response client requirements and filters.
By default Reporting Services already brings some useful item with information that can help you define your Report and how your Report will be displayed like in the Built-in Fields.

For me the IIF conditions is one of the most used because with this formula we can define a lot of the Business requirements when you collect the Data and need to prepare how the data will be display to the Client..
Example of IIF Condition:
=IIF(2<3, "True","Return to School...")
The Output will be"True"

Example Multiples IIF Conditons:
=IIF(2<3, IIF(2>3, "True","Return to School..."),"Return to School...")
The Output will be "Return to School..."

Manage Images in reports

In the Left menu of you Report you will have a folder call "Images".
The report builder give you the chance to add Images in you report, there is 3 way to add your Image:
(Don't use big images can have impact in the report if is displayed multiple times in the reports)

External - You need to define a URL for the image.
Embedded - You add the image directly in the report
Database - You can call binary data from SQL and display in your reports.

Add Report Viewer Web Part in SharePoint Page

After all the reports are created and add in the Document Library we can start to manage and display in our SharePoint Pages, the first this we need to do is access to a SharePoint Page, Edit the Page, and insert the Web Part "SQL Server Reporting", this Web Part will be use to display out reports in our SharePoint Page.

After we add the Web Part we need to add the Report we want to display in the SharePoint Page for this we select the Document Library where are stored all the Report.

Navigate to the folder where is stored the reports add select the report you want to display.

After you select the Reports the Report will be displayed in the SharePoint Page....

Subscribe Report

One great feature that comes with Reporting Services is the ability to create Subscription of Reports and manage Shared Report to different Groups or users.
For this feature to be activated recommend configure in Reporting Services the mail SMTP to be able the send email to the users and create task associated to this service.

The subscription option can be accessible in the Web Part for the Reporting Service "Actions > Subscribe", or accessing in the "Site Actions > Site Settings"

This option will give you different options and Types of Reports you can use to store the report associated for the schedule Reports.

The subscribe option also give you the ability to configure and schedule Tasks for the reports.

Reporting Services SQL Server 2008 R2 is a very good and flexible tool for reporting , now i am exploring how the new SQL Server 2012 will work with SharePoint 2010, i hope create a new article about SQL 2012 and the new capabilities for SharePoint 2010.

If you want to have more details about BI, Reports with SharePoint 2010 this Microsoft Link can help:
"Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Business Intelligence Insights Training Downloads"
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26944

Hope you like this article....

Kind regards

Create Custom Site Collection Web Service

2011-10-28T14:20:00.000+01:00

Some time ago i needed to access to "Site Collection" information by Web Services. This type of Service is not able by SharePoint, not because is hard, but maybe for Security and Performance issues,
I was making some investigation about the content of different SharePoint Site Collections and didn't have access to Central Administration for the API for that i try to use this Web Service to return some information that, since i am not able to use Out of the Box Web Services to response this requirement...

PS: Be careful with SharePoint Service Pack and CU and Security update that can change the API permission and block access to Site Collection content. Use by your own risk.

Requisites:
Validate if the user you will use to call all Site Collection have access to you Web Application with Read Permission,
For this, you can access you Central Administration
Central Administration > Application Management > Manage Web Applications > Select Web Application > Click on Ribbon "User Policy"

Validate if the account you will use have Full read Permission to access the Site Collection Content.

Create the Web Service

You can create your own Custom Web Services following the MSDN Article:

Walkthrough: Creating a Custom ASP.NET Web Service SharePoint 2010

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms464040.aspx

For this example i create a VS2010 Studio Project and add a Custom Web Service to return some Site collection properties, this Web Service will be mapped to be deployed in the Folder "ISAPI" you can find in the SharePoint installation folder "14"

Here example code to call the Site collections:

                SPWebApplication webApp = SPContext.Current.Site.WebApplication;
                SPSiteCollection siteCollections = webApp.Sites;

                foreach (SPSite siteCollection in siteCollections)
                {

try
{

//Return Some Site Collection Properties...

                    }
                    finally
                    {
                        if (siteCollection != null)
                            siteCollection.Dispose();
                    }

}

To deploy this solution in your SharePoint Farm you can use the PowerShell commands in "SharePoint 2010 Management Shell"

Add-SPSolution -LiteralPath <SolutionPath>/WebServiceSiteCollections.wsp

Install-SPSolution -Identity WebServiceSiteCollections.wsp -GACDeployment

Test the Web Service with SharePoint Designer

To validate if the Custom Web Service is accessing without problem you can make the call with "http:/[Site]/_vti_bin/CustomSiteCollection.asmx"

One simple way to test this Custom Web Service, can be using SharePoint Designer 2010 and add a Data View Web Part to a SharePoint Page.

The first task is create a Data Source to our custom Web Service and select the Method List Site Collections.

This Data Source will be stored in the Data Sources List on the Left.

After you create your Data Source you can use in your SharePoint Page to display the Data associated, for this you can Edit a aspx page example:"Home.aspx" access to a Web Part Zone and select on Ribbon "Insert > DataVew > CustomSiteCollection".

A new View call "Data Source Details" will appear in the right with the SOAP Field of the Web Service, you can select the field to Display and create a DataView of the Content.

After you change the Layout of your xslt in the Data View and save the page, preview you SharePoint Page and view you content displayed.

If you are having issues accessing validate the permission requisites

Custom Site Collection Web Service Solution Link,

WebServiceSiteCollections.wsp

Hope you like...

SharePoint 2007, Wss3 and SP Designer SP3 have been released

2011-10-26T07:56:00.002+01:00

After a long waiting Microsoft have been released the Service Pack 3 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and SharePoint 2007 Office Server SP3.
This also include SharePoint Designer SP3

You can download and see all the information about this Service Pack in the following Links:

Description of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP3 and of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Language Pack SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2526305

Description of the 2007 Office Servers SP3 and of the 2007 Office Servers Language Pack SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2526299

Description of Office SharePoint Designer 2007 SP3 and of Office SharePoint Designer Language Pack 2007 SP3
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2526089

SP3 Warnings:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/stefan_gossner/archive/2011/10/29/be-careful-when-planning-to-install-moss-2007-october-2011-cu-and-service-pack-3.aspx

October 2011 CU for SharePoint 2007 has been re-released
http://blogs.technet.com/b/stefan_gossner/archive/2011/11/08/october-2011-cu-for-sharepoint-2007-has-been-re-released.aspx

How to get SharePoint Home Page URL without SharePoint API

2011-10-20T13:45:00.000+01:00

This is a hint on how you can use .Net to get SharePoint Home Pages using .Net Code.

I was making a application to return all Sites and Sub-Site and the question came to my mind "What is the HomePage url for each Site?"

Scenario:

You don't have access to Server SharePoint API and you need to get the Home Page for each SharePoint Site.

When you list the Site Collection or Sub Sites on the SharePoint Site "can be using Out of the Box Web Services Webs.asmx" you will have something like this:

http://[site]
http://[site]/Sites/example1
http://[site]/Sites/example2
http://[site]/Sites/example3

But you don't have the Home Page url associated for each sub Site or Site Collection,

For example if you use a normal SharePoint 2010 template the default page is

http://[site]/SitePages/home.aspx

SharePoint 2007 Template was:

http://[site]/default.aspx

If you use Publishing Template you will have something like this

http://[site]/Pages/default.aspx

One way to manage the Home Page for each site is using SharePoint Designer 2010.

Since we cannot assume the same default homepage and Hard code url is not a good Solution we can use the .NET Framework to get the HomePage associate for each Site...

Example with code:

HttpWebRequest httpWebrequest;
HttpWebResponse httpWebresponse;

//Create a request for the SharePoint Site
httpWebrequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create("url site example, https://example/sites/example1");

//Associate the correct Credential to you SharePoint Site

CustomCredential.Add(new Uri("url site example, https://example/sites/example1"), "NTLM", new NetworkCredential("UserLogin", "Password", "Domain"));

//or you can assume the current local Credential to authenticate
CustomCredential.Add(new Uri("url site example, https://example/sites/example1"), "NTLM", System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials);

//If you don't have the credentials you will get error 401

// Assume the credentials to you request

httpWebrequest.Credentials = CustomCredential;

httpWebresponse = (HttpWebResponse)httpWebrequest.GetResponse();

//Get the Homepage associate to "https://example/sites/example1"
String HomePage = httpWebresponse.ResponseUri.AbsoluteUri.ToString();
httpWebresponse.Close();

//Popup a message with the HomePage url
MessageBox.Show(HomePage);

For this example i create a application to list all Site Collection and Sub-Site and popup the HomePage of each one.

Hope you like... :)

Add Multiple Browsers Preview in SharePoint Designer 2010

2011-10-15T15:52:00.001+01:00

When we are creating SharePoint Site with custom Branding that have a lot of JavaScript and CSS there are a lot of validation we need to do for each Browser, one of the requirement from Company's is validate list of Browsers, what is normal when we create SharePoint sites for Internet.
The problem of having multiples Browser each of them have different protocols and different ways each Browser manipulate the same Html...
SharePoint Designer have a option to preview your SharePoint Page, but by default is associate to Internet Explorer but you have the ability to associate the multiple Browser to preview the page in a very way.
To add new Browser in your "Preview in Browser" option you will need to select "Ribbon > Preview in Browser > Edit Browser List".

To add a new Browser reference you need to select option "add" and "Name" and "Command" associate to your Browser.

Here some references i use do add some Browsers:

Chrome Browser

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe

FireFox Browser

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

After made the reference to each Browser .exe you can use the Option on SharePoint Designer "Ribbon > Preview in Browser" and select the Browser you want to display the SharePoint Page you change and evaluate the behavior.

Below you have a link from Microsoft about the Browse support SharePoint Sites:

Plan browser support (SharePoint Server 2010)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx

Hope you like :)

Retention Policy Document Library (Beginner)

2011-10-13T15:12:00.003+01:00

One of the good features we can use with SharePoint is the Retention Policy associated with Content Types and Documents types

Simple Example:
Company ABC have a Library with a lot of photos of the employes, this folder was grounding bigger every day to manage this folder the Company define a Policy that each picture with more then 1 Months need to be deleted.

Microsoft SharePoint Out of the Box already bring a tool to manage this type of Policy, in this case, you need to go into "Pictures Library Settings" and "Information Management Policy Settings"
from there you need to select what content type you need to manage the Policy in this case "Picture"

When we select the option "Enable Retention" a new option will appear to manage the retention policy.

From here you can define the Events and Actions that will be associated to your policy,
In this case you need to define the "Time Period" to 1 Month and associate a Action, for this case i don't select "Move to Recycling Bin". Why? If you move pictures to Recycling bin and if you have Site Quota very low, that can have impacts and block you site when you reach the Site storage Limit, for this i choose "Permanently Delete". and is done... very easy and you can also create custom Workflow to create alerts for Reporting reason and also use the record management for repository... Retention Policy is very usefull very cool feature, you will like.... :)

If you want to create custom Retention Actions you can have this example from Microsoft
Example:
"Creating a Custom Expiration Formula Based on Metadata in SharePoint Server 2007"
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc453774%28v=office.12%29.aspx
and from "Yaroslav Pentsarskyy"
http://www.sharemuch.com/2011/01/10/creation-custom-retention-policies-for-sharepoint-2010-libraries/

Hope you like :)

uCertify Exams PreKit evaluation

2011-10-11T02:02:00.001+01:00

Some time ago uCertify, a certified company to prepare IT person for exams from different company's like "Microsoft, Oracle....", they invite me to review their product to prepare for SharePoint 2010 exams, in this Case for Microsoft Exam 70-668 PRO: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator.

I have to admit, i didn't have a lot of time to review their product until last weekend.
I was surprised with the quality of their product and how they prepare the training and provide the information.

I found it very intuitive to manage the different exams with the uCertify application.
The application have a lot of features to help you prepare for the exam, will a lot of Articles an tips to help.
The ability to create your own exams with a lot of possible question, a lot of them.... helps the user to create different type of exams and area knowledge about SharePoint 2010, this is really good...
When you are making the different test you have a real simulation of the exam with the time consumed and review associated to each question.
You can also give the feedback of each question or ask for help for other users (Collaboration)... "that i never see before" :)
Each exam is stored that will be use later for review and statistics, this make the user easy access for review and correction their exams.
There is a step by step for each question and answer associated with description, this will help you understand where was your mistake and how you can correct.

There is one thing that bored me, the questions... But i have to be fair, i already made a lot of exams on Microsoft and the questions are very hard to understand without a context, that's always confuse me, but the most interesting the Ucertify, following the same type of question as Microsoft, that is very good with this exams you can always have a picture what type of questions you can find on Microsoft Exams.

As final result is a good and useful training tool to prepare for the Microsoft SharePoint exams.
Remember there is a lot of previous study and uCertify provides a lot of content to prepare for exams and questions about SharePoint 2010 Administration you just didn't know...

http://www.ucertify.com/

Windows Powershell Builder for SharePoint 2010 and Office 365

2011-10-10T07:50:00.000+01:00

Microsoft launched one Internet tool to help SharePoint IT/Dev to help create their Powershell Scripts using Silverlight Application, this tool can be found in this Link: Windows Powershell Builder for SharePoint 2010

You can see the manual here:
Windows PowerShell Command Builder Getting Started Guide

Another useful tool provided by Microsoft will help a SharePoint IT and Developer to send their application and manage the SharePoint sites.

That is great :)