Mart Muller_s Sharepoint Weblog

"No more manually creating the manifest.xml file.
No more manually specifying the DDF file.
No more using the makecab.exe application."

Carsten Keutmann has created a SharePoint Solution (WSP) creation tool to generate solutions automatically. The tool can be downloaded on codeplex here.

"The idea for this tool was that the Solution file (WSP) is simply just a packed that transport files from development into SharePoint. Therefore I was able to build a folder structure that matches the SharePoint folder structure (%Program Files%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12) and put my features and other stuff in there and then run a program that traverse the folder structure to build my manifest.xml and WSP file automatically. This saves me a lot of work and time creating the manifest.xml and the WSP file."

Microsoft published a technical whitepaper about the lessons learned upgrading/deploying MOSS 2007 at Microsoft itself. In this situation, the environment is huge, but this document will give you several point to take into consideration.

Microsoft IT recommends the following best practices for deployment of an Office SharePoint Server 2007 solution within an enterprise. In some cases, deploying the solution without following these suggestions is possible, but this may result in unnecessary expense or effort.

Best practices for initial activities are as follows:

• Perform a thorough audit of all products and platforms that the upgrade may affect, including Windows Server, SQL Server, IIS, Windows SharePoint Services, and prior versions of SharePoint Products and Technologies, in addition to portals, sites, and content.
• Optimize and clean up current environments. These activities include:
• Merging and splitting databases to optimize sizes.
• Balancing content loads among databases.
• Consolidating server farms where possible.
• Make sure that level settings are consistent across the environment to be upgraded.
• Identify and install missing language packs. Doing so during the upgrade itself is inefficient and can cause problems.
• Document initial activities and discoveries made during the process, creating a reference in case personnel need to look back during the upgrade to see what actions were performed and to help make future upgrades easier.

Best practices for the schedule part of planning are as follows:

• Schedule and analyze prescans by using the prescan tool (Prescan.exe) at least two days before each upgrade.
• Leave space on the schedule to catch up after unexpected events. Upgrading is a complex process with a big impact on the business. It should be completed efficiently but not rushed.
• Upgrades can fail for a variety of reasons. Have a contingency plan in place in case minor or major roadblocks occur.
• Schedule database upgrades based on free space.
• Determine the priority of exceptions and to what degree they will be allowed to affect the schedule. Communicate this information to affected users.
• Frequently update the calendar and provide it to all teams involved.
• Schedule, perform, and confirm backups before performing upgrades. Ensure that backups and upgrades are not scheduled to run at the same time, because this will cause upgrade failure.
• Schedule time and resources for testing and previews of the new functionality.
• In performing a database attach, the number of sites is the most important factor in how long the upgrade will take. If many sites exist on a farm, schedule upgrades based on the number of sites. If there are fewer sites (as may be the case with team and portal sites), schedule them based on the quantity of data.

Best practices for the communication part of planning are as follows:

• Before upgrading, communicate that sites cannot be accessed or reverted during the upgrade.
• Define the upgrade process thoroughly before sending communications about the schedule and process. Not doing so will confuse end users and may encourage them to think the schedule is negotiable.
• Avoid committing to specific dates where possible.
• Use images in communications to explain the upgrade process to non-technical personnel.
• Send notifications to site owners and administrators often—before, during, and after the upgrade.
• Finishing the upgrade is not the end of the upgrade process. Define, convey, and implement a post-upgrade communication plan.
• Define the support process for exceptions and escalations. If some technical issues are not supported, make sure that users know beforehand.

Best practices for the planning process are as follows:

• Training is key to getting the most benefits from Office SharePoint Server 2007, even if users are familiar with Windows SharePoint Services 2003 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Plan to invest time, resources, and money in training users.
• Determine whether to reset pages to site definitions (reghost) or leave customizations intact during the upgrade.

Best practices for the upgrade process are as follows:

• Perform a dry run whenever feasible. Identifying and fixing problems beforehand will increase the likelihood of maintaining the schedule after the upgrade begins.
• Do not avoid testing because of limited hardware resources. Use virtual machines for testing if excess hardware capacity is not available.
• Data requirements usually grow during an upgrade; exceeding the capacity of a database will cause the upgrade to fail. Increase the target databases to appropriate sizes before the upgrade process and set databases, temporary databases, and log files to autogrow.
• Watch for upgrade problems caused by full-text search. Moving the SQL Server database to a different server or disabling full-text search on the SQL Server computer can mitigate the impact.
• Maintain a list of which sites have been upgraded.
• Move exception sites to a new content database via the Stsadm.exe command-line tool so that they do not interfere with the general upgrade process and schedule.
• Shut down and restart (bounce) SQL Server computers between SQL Server instances.
• It is difficult to complete tasks correctly the first time no matter how carefully custom templates, definitions, and Web Parts are configured before the upgrade. If performing a gradual upgrade or database attach, maintain a copy of the previous environment to allow for rollbacks if necessary.
• Do not finalize the upgrade until you are sure the upgrade is finished. Finalizing the upgrade removes the connection to the previous version and deletes any temporary data, and it is irreversible.
• Allow only one administrator at a time to make changes to the configuration database.

Best practices for validation are as follows:

• Document the entire process in as much detail as possible. This will enable personnel to track problems back to their sources and will make future upgrades easier.
• Develop custom user guides to help users understand the specifics of your Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment.
• Lock previous site versions after the upgrade to prevent users from making updates to old sites. This not only prevents general confusion, but also helps avoid a situation in which misapplied updates are lost when old versions are taken offline.

Check out the complete document here.

Adam Buenz has been working on a very cool authentication method for SharePoint: BioPoint - The Biometrics for SharePoint! Although I"m not sure in how many scenario"s this authentication method will be used, I really like the approach of this very cool project.

"Because this is the only device I have available, what will be introduced during the duration of this post should work with anything that adheres to the Precise BioMatch™ criterion. The same paradigm could be applied to other Biometrics, but the Precise Biometrics was the only API that was applicable to my current experiment."

Read the complete "how to" article here.

There is a lot going on about Popfly lately. Popfly is an easy way to build and share mashups, gadgets, Web pages, and applications. Mike Gannotti has posted a really cool article about the integration between Popfly and SharePoint:

"With the ability to create rich mashups of information for display in a web page, Popfly presents a great opportunity for SharePoint users to create new exciting data presentations within SharePoint. When looking at possible synergies and points of integration between the two there are two primary areas of focus. These are; Popfly consumption and display of SharePoint driven content, as well as SharePoint consumption and display of Popfly delivered content. In this write-up I will walk you through both of these approaches with the hope that it will prepare you to begin creating your own dynamic renderings of Popfly coupled with SharePoint on the Internet."

Check it out here

For download at the Microsoft site:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a business productivity server that brings information management and access, collaboration, and people-driven processes into the familiar environment where people do their work every day. People benefit from the familiarity and consistency of a single environment for all their information and collaboration tasks that is easy to learn, use, and personalize. IT has a single platform and well-integrated set of technologies to manage and lower user support requirements.

Your business can rapidly customize and extend the deployment of SharePoint Products and Technologies—Office SharePoint Server 2007, Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services, and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007—by using powerful out-of-the-box integration to extend current investments. Or your business can choose from a wide ecosystem of Microsoft partners to develop innovative enterprise applications quickly and at lower cost. With SharePoint Products and Technologies, your organizations can more easily leverage their knowledge capital of enterprise data, human expertise, process knowledge, and content to operate with greater agility in a dynamic and complex world.

Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites are custom templates designed for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and the My Site functionality and tailored to address the unique needs and requirements of specific roles within an organization. The templates extend the standard My Site functionality, providing a personal portal and dashboard with data relevant to your job role and displaying information in a way that is familiar, easy, and built around the way people in the company work.
This package includes the following Role-Based Templates for SharePoint My Sites:

• Administrative Assistant
• Controller-Financial Analyst
• Customer Service Manager
• HR Manager
• IT Manager
• Marketing Manager
• Sales Account Manager

Download here

We"ve experienced some annoying bugs with workflows since the RTM version of MOSS. After spending a lot of time trying to fix them or make workarounds, Lucy, our workflow girl, has been busy solving them. With success! After her first post about a delay activity (which can be downloaded here), she solved one of the bugs we"ve been facing for a long time now.

"A few months ago I was experiencing a rather annoying bug, a ‘Server Error in "/" Application’ when using my custom workflow on a publishing pages document library in MOSS 2007. The issue was: If my custom workflow is applied to a publishingpage, when the user enters the document library and selects ‘Edit Properties’ or opens the page for editing the server error pasted below occured. When check out is disabled on the document library the error does not occur when editing properties, However the user still cannot edit the page through ‘Edit Page’. The user can check in and check out the page without any problems."

"After discussing the issue with Microsoft and placing a call, yesterday the final answer came through in the form of a hotfix, related to KB Article Number 933819. The knowledgebase Article seems to be taken offline but yes! It is the answer. I applied the hotfix to my server and instantly the error has disappeared. My workflow is working beautifully now.

So, if you are experiencing the same bug, give Microsoft Support a call and mention KB 933819."

Check out the whole article here

Upgrading to MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 can cause a lot of problems. Before doing so, it is a good thing to determine where issues can occur and how to fix them. A new tool from Microsoft can help you with this, the Upgrade Pre-scan Tool.

"Before you can upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you must run the Prescan.exe utility against your existing Web sites. This pre-upgrade scan tool scans your sites and reports issues, allowing you to fix any errors before you perform an upgrade. If you have not successfully run this tool and you attempt to upgrade your environment, when you attempt to run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration wizard, the wizard will exit and prompt you to run the tool. We highly recommend that the server administrator run the pre-upgrade scan tool before the upgrade and resolve any problems that can be resolved before scheduling the upgrade."

Download the documentation and the application here.

Using formula"s in non-Engligh SharePoint versions can be a real pain. The functions used are translated so they are "understandable" by the users. In Dutch, for example, functions like ‘IF’ or ‘Today’ should be translated to ‘ALS’ or ‘Vandaag’. Some examples:

• English: =IF(AND([Column 1]>[Column 2];[Column 1]<[Column 3]);"OK";"Not OK")
• Dutch: =ALS(EN([Kolom 1]>[Kolom 2];[Kolom 1]<[Kolom 3]);"OK";"Niet OK")
• German: =WENN(UND([Spalte 1]>[Spalte 2];[Spalte 1]<[Spalte 3]);"OK";"Nicht OK")

Documentation is quite hard to find, but available on the Office sites in your language. Before you spend hours on trail and error, check out these examples:

• Dutch: http://office.microsoft.com/nl-nl/sharepointserver/HA101054791043.aspx?pid=CH101760291043#2
• German: http://office.microsoft.com/de-de/sharepointserver/HA101054791031.aspx?pid=CH101760291031

For other languages, take a deep search in the Office online site.

June the 13th and 14th, Tam Tam will be at the Dutch Developers Days in Amsterdam RAI. You can visit us at the TT stand (look for the Tam Tam T-shirts!) for a chat with me or one of my colleagues or to get more information about Tam Tam and the solutions we build.

Check out  the sessions here. You can register here for the event or visit the MS site for more information.

See you there!