What I Learned this Week by Becky Isserman

So I decided it was time to take a few minutes this week and discuss what I learned this week.  This moral is not really something new it's more a reiteration.  I hate third party features with little to no documentation.  I like developing my own products and knowing what I am doing.  I was working with some big name third party feature and I felt like an idiot.  First off I had to contact them to get an older version of the product.  Some guy with a name like Frankenstein's henchman contacted me.  If that wasn't enough it took until the beginning of this week to receive any type of response.  It was creepy.  Just when I was about to write Mr. Henchmen, I receive and e-mail with the link to the proper trial version of the product.  At that point I opened up my VPC and installed the product.  I noticed that there was no developer documentation or SDK for the product.  I read all 40 pages of the user guide and it was all tailored towards the end user.  I am thinking I need to create a Site Column, so how do I even fathom doing such a thing?  I sat for about two to three hours and studied the site columns, content types, and list fields. I realized it was a special field type.  So I slapped that into my site columns feature and added a reference in my content type feature. 

Now I was at the most painful part of my day, trying to figure out what control they were using to pull the information from this feature into an Edit Form.  That's when I realized there were exactly four assemblies installed in the folder I needed.  I had no idea which assembly held the right information.  So I'm thinking it's about time to download Reflector or gain a sixth sense of telepathy like Jean Grey or Charles Xavier.  I started opening up assemblies like there was no other and couldn't find a single control that dealt with the feature.  I imed this dude from work and he pulls open the 12 hive and looks into the field types.  He finds the control and assembly in about thirty minutes.  I look in my folder and that assembly is not sitting inside the folder.  I open up the GAC and it looks like the installer shoved it into right place.  At that point I realize let's crack open the CAB file...(Seriously guys who uses a CAB file anymore?  Aren't the cool kids using WSP files nowadays?)  So guess what I find inside is the exact assembly I want to reference, so I extract it and in VS 2008 look around for the field type.  A bit later I end up finding the exact field type I want to reference.  Tomorrow I will be adding this field type to my edit form web part. 

So the moral of this story guys...I hate third party tools that do not contain any documentation.  So I'm going to ask you guys to do me a favor.  Please if you are going to sell a product write at least some form of developer documentation or at least make your stuff obvious.  If you are installing a bunch of items with the assembly, then you may want to consider installing all the dll files in a common folder so developers can find them and reference them.  As I said before, I am not nor do I wish to be Jean Grey or Charles Xavier (maybe Gambit, Rogue, or Spiderman).  I know it's hard to document items, but if you're going to sell something it looks really bad on your company without any type of documentation.  Anyway that is my rant and I am sure someone is laughing at me and my blog post.  I hope that you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!  I am signing out for the week.  Going home to the rents back in St. Louis and then coming back on Friday so I can go shopping and see Twilight yet again.  I am not taking a computer with me, but you all know I am an IPhone/Internet Junkie who will crack and touch a computer or use her IPhone on Twitter way too much.  Anyway catch you all later:)

posted @ Wednesday, November 26, 2008 12:11 AM | Feedback (1) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

SharePoint Saturday Call for Speakers and Attendees

There will be an all day SharePoint Event called SharePoint Saturday on Saturday, January 10th from 8 am to 6:30 pm at the ATC in Virginia Beach.  If you wish to volunteer as a speaker or just want to sign up to attend the event go to http://www.sharepointsaturday.org.  I'm already signed up to present on Cheap and Easy Wildcard Search.  As most SharePoint Nation! Events it should be awesome.  According to the site if you attend you have the chance to win a Zune or a Mindsharp Training Course.  So as my usual shpeal goes...SIGN UP...DO EET...You know you want to...

posted @ Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:51 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Kansas City Day of Dot Net: Changing my Presentation

I know a few people were looking for a SharePoint Development 101 Presentation, so I am changing from my Cheap and Easy Wildcard Search Presentation.  I am going to start with a user control and then head towards feature and webpart development.  I will also talk about some tools and how to get started with SharePoint Development.  That way the people in Kansas City interested in getting started with SharePoint get a little bit of an idea where to start.  If you guys are interested in my Wildcard Search Presentation I might do it at Office Geeks later on this year.

posted @ Tuesday, November 25, 2008 11:42 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Silverlight and SharePoint: Getting Started

So people are always asking me how do I get Silverlight to work in SharePoint?  Then Paul Galvin and some other people told me why not post the steps.  So here is what you want to do:

1. Get Visual Studio 2008 and download SP1 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=FBEE1648-7106-44A7-9649-6D9F6D58056E&displaylang=en.  The installer may stick at one part and may take an hour or two, so make sure you leave tons of time to spare.
2. Get the Microsoft Silverlight Tools for Visual Studio 2008 with SP1 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=c22d6a7b-546f-4407-8ef6-d60c8ee221ed&displaylang=en.
3. Get Expression Blend 2.0 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5FF08106-B9F4-43CD-ABAD-4CC9D9C208D7&displaylang=en. 
4. Download Expression Blend SP1 from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=EB9B5C48-BA2B-4C39-A1C3-135C60BBBE66&displaylang=en.
5. Create a new Silverlight Application using the Silverlight Application Template in Visual Studio 2008 and Expression Blend 2.0

SharePoint specific instructions:

1. Create a new  Virtual Directory on your SharePoint Application in IIS (c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\webappfolder\) called ClientBin.  Make sure the directory has Read and Run Permissions.  This directory is where you will put all your compiled Silverlight files (XAP files).
2. Check the MIME Types in IIS to see if .XAP and .XAML are included (this is added in Server 2008 automagically, but not necessarily in Server 2003).  If these entries are not included add them by using the new button and type in Extension: XAML MIME Type:application/xaml+xml and for the second entry Extension: XAP MIME Type:application/x-silverlight-app.  Adding these extensions as MIME Types makes them trusted extensions.
3. Add the System.Web.Silverlight.dll to the Global Assembly Cache (click on Start and then Run and type in Assembly and hit Enter, you can drag the assembly into this window). 
   Note: Once you install the Silverlight Extensions for Visutal Studio this should be in the c:\program files directory under the SDK.
4. Add a Safe Control to your Web .Config File by navigating to the IIS folder for your SharePoint Application (c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\virtualdirectories\webappfolder\).  Open the file in NotePad or another editing program and look for the <SafeControls> Tag.  Add this tag at the end of the entries:
   <SafeControl Assembly="System.Web.Silverlight, Version=2.0.5.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI.SilverlightControls" TypeName="*" Safe="True" />
5. Copy your XAP File into the ClientBin Directory you created above.
6. Create a SharePoint Webpart and add a reference to System.Web.UI.SilverlightControls and add a using statement.  You should be able to create a new control and reference it in the CreateChildControls like such:
   public Silverlight MySilverlightControl;
   protected override void CreateChildControls()
   {
          MySilverlightControl = new Silverlight();
          MySilverlightControl.ID = "slControl";
          MySilverlightControl.Source = "/ClientBin/MyXAPFile.xap";
          this.Controls.add(MySilverlightControl);
   }

These are pretty much all the steps you need to follow to use a Silverlight Control in a webpart.  You need to also remember that you cannot directly reference the SharePoint Object Model in a Silverlight Control.  You can use the SharePoint Webservices or create your own webservice.  Silverlight renders like a client side javascript application and does not work like an ASP .Net Application.  It is more of a presentation layer than a data layer.  If anyone has any comments, questions, or concerns let me know.

posted @ Thursday, November 20, 2008 2:57 PM | Feedback (3) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Interesting SharePoint Fact for the Week...

posted @ Sunday, November 16, 2008 9:48 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Raleigh Code Camp and Chicago Layover

posted @ Friday, November 14, 2008 5:54 AM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Stepping Back

I'm taking two steps back and one step forward.  As some of you know I had a not so great last week due to taking on way too much in life.  This past year has been my let's get active and out of the house year.  It ended up becoming the "Becky Cannot Say No" year.  I am one of those people who has a philosophy that involves giving yourself at least 1 hour to do something absolutely brainless per day.  For me if I don't get that one hour I start to have issues in my life.  So from last week on I am giving myself 1-2 hours at the mall down the street to listen to my music on my IPhone and just chill out for a bit.  Look at Hot Topic or something.  Maybe I'll go read my Asimov Short Stories Book.  I guess the moral of this entire story is that you should not assume you can do everything at once.  Pick the things that you want to do the most and do them.  Also, don't try to do everything at once too, because it will end badly.  Anyway, this probably won't affect my blog in any way shape or form, but it is definitely going to affect my community life.  I gave away the monthly newsletter to someone who I can trust for the Office Geeks.  I am going to focus on making sure the speakers and sponsors are available.  I am also going to try and promote the Office Geeks more.  Also, someone hosted the meeting for me last week, which was awesome (thanks Brian).  With Brian and Yair it's a lot easier to just ease off some of the work.  That means I can focus on my comic and my speaking and helping out with events.  Things I've been meaning to do, but haven't really done.  Right now I am helping out with the KC Day of Dot Net, which is the first code camp I will attend in Kansas City.  I am really excited for the upcoming year.  I am making myself a promise to visit Europe next summer if I can swing it.  I have wanted to do this for 8 years.  I need to just go out and do it.  This was a lovely rant.  I hope that you guys enjoyed it.  I'll catch you all sooner or later.

posted @ Monday, November 10, 2008 5:57 PM | Feedback (1) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Cheap and Easy Wildcard Search

So I came up with a new presentation based on something I did at Terracon with wildcard search using Patrick Tisseghem's Book on Search.  I am going to walk attendees through some basic SharePoint Search Functionality and talk a little about what is missing in the out of the box web parts.  Then I am going to show attendees what they can do using the Query Object Model, some ASP .Net Controls, and a GridView to add some more search functionality.  Here is a list of the dates and events that I will be giving this talk:

• Raleigh Code Camp, Saturday, November 15th
• Kansas City Day of Dot Net, Saturday, December 6th
• St. Louis Day of Dot Net, Saturday, December 13th
• Jacksonville Office Geeks, Thursday, February 19th

If anyone is interested in this talk I will be posting the slides to my Sky Drive, so that I can appease the CodePlex Monkeys.  I would prefer not to pollute there environment.  If anyone is interested in having me talk at there user group or event just e-mail me.  If I can swing it I can usually afford to travel if I can't get someone to pay for me.  If you are in a warm city during the winter and want me to come out that is definitely a bonus.  Enough pimpage I'll catch you guys later.

posted @ Monday, November 10, 2008 5:46 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Interesting SharePoint Fact for Last Week

So I promised you guys one interesting fact based on my dev experiences every week.  I failed last week due to a ton of junk going on.  Here it is:

1. Open up an "EditForm.aspx" in SharePoint Designer
2. Go to the Insert menu and click on the SharePoint Section and you will see Insert Custom List Form Field
   At this point you want to choose the list you are working with in the drop down and make sure the radio button for Edit Form is selected
3. Switch to Split and highlight part of the form tables, notice you can see the CSS Items

This view is really good if you want to see what CSS classes are used for labels, controls, and columns in an edit form.  Since you can't use the InputFormControl or InputFormSection in a web part this may help you out if you want to derive from these classes in the RenderContents method without creating your own style sheet.  Isn't that really neat?  I will try and post another interesting fact later on this week before Sunday hits.  For now catch you guys later.

posted @ Monday, November 10, 2008 5:40 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

Kansas City Day of Dot Net

posted @ Friday, November 07, 2008 10:27 AM | Feedback (2) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

The SharePoint Community Rocks

I know this week is going to be crazy, so I just wanted to post a blog saying...

The SharePoint Community Rocks!

I figure if you get depressed or something happens just read those three words and remember you are part of the awesomeness of the community.  No matter what happens in life we are all SharePoint People and contribute to the community in our own way.  Each of you is awesome.  Peace out guys:)

posted @ Sunday, November 02, 2008 7:26 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]

No matter what a Developer tells you, you cannot declare a site column lookup field without the list guid...

I wrote a couple features with some list definitions, site columns, and a content type with a feature receiver.  It was the first real feature that I ever wrote.  I built a presentation on features, but that was all research and books.  I did the presentation once, but I never really knew much about features.  This time around I did not use STSDev or VSEWSS.  I knew what the DDF file was and the Manifest.xml from my SPS 2003 days, but was very rusty.  I think that this week definitely helped me with my shortcomings.  I am definitely not using VSEWSS again, but I may use STSDev in future. 

So anyway off my crazy tangents and onto the real stuff...I was working with Lookup fields in site columns and attempting to bind them to a content type.  When I activated the feature I would see a memory error message like Hresult...I thought to myself why would I get an Hresult error and I realized some address did not exist properly.  If you remember anything about pointers you immediately realize what is going on when you see a memory issue.  I tried to bind the site column manually to a list and I saw a very similar memory error.  Then I did some research in the different ways to declare a site column in a feature.  One way states that the List property can be set to "lists/listname"...I don't know where that information is coming from...It does not work.  It does not matter if the list exists before the site column feature is activated it will not work.  DO NOT use that method...The only method that works involves setting the List property to the List GUID.  The only way you can get this guid is when you create the list.  If you are declaring a list in a feature it changes every time the list is created and the feature is activated.  So honestly if you want to declare the list, then paste in the guid into the feature you can.  As development best practices go you want to create a solution that can be reused.  So I would not recommend this method.  I would recommend using a feature receiver and creating the site columns on activation.  It is really simple and I will post the code next week.  For now you guys will have to take my advice as the one useful item for this week.

So remember kids don't try this at home unless you are running a science experiment...Clients will not like activating a feature with a huge memory error on the screen:)  Have a good weekend all...If anyone will be at Raleigh Code Camp on the 15th see you there guys.

posted @ Saturday, November 01, 2008 8:40 PM | Feedback (0) | Filed Under [ MOSS ]