Kathy Hughes, MVP

SharePoint event with Joel Oleson Sydney and Melbourne in AUS

Kathy Hughes — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:25:00 GMT

Quest are hosting a SharePoint event in both Sydney (7th July) and Melbourne (9th July).

I'll be doing a session on e-mail integration, management and storage in SharePoint - MOSS has mail! I'll be walking through the various options for routing e-mail to and sending e-mail from SharePoint, and pros and cons around using each one. As part of the overall equation, I'll be discussing the effectiveness of leveraging Exchange 2007 managed folders.

It's a free event. To register go to: http://australia.quest.com/events/listdetails.aspx?ContentID=9780

Sydney, 7th July 8am-1pm

Joel Oleson - 10 Steps to Successful SharePoint Deployment and Preparing to Upgrade to SharePoint 2010 Today

Kathy Hughes - E-mail integration, storage and management in SharePoint

Adam Cogan (TBC)

John Ackery - Quest talk and demos

Melbourne, 9th July 8am-1pm

Joel Oleson - 10 Steps to Successful SharePoint Deployment and Preparing to Upgrade to SharePoint 2010 Today

Elaine van Bergen - Configure, Customise, Code

Ed Richard - SharePoint and Office 2007, a Powerful Tag Team

John Ackery - Quest talk and demos

Submit this Form InfoPath

Kathy Hughes — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:39:00 GMT

Forms play a powerful part in a SharePoint implementation for obvious reasons. But which form solution is best for you - the OOB forms, InfoPath, customized .net Web forms or dataView/form Web part? It depends on a number of considerations, including requirements, server/infrastructure, licensing options, scalability and, importantly, education around what's available and what each option can do. For example, I get "oh, we knew about InfoPath but we didn't know it could do X,Y and Z". And it's rare that I come across an implementation that doesn't require some degree of form customization or an extension to or 'fix' of an earlier customization. I still think InfoPath is underutilized in a number of deployments I come across, largely from lack of knowledge about the product and its capabilities.

InfoPath's not something I work frequently with, but over the past few months I've accumulated a list of common questions I've received while working with customers on InfoPath slash SharePoint integration. I've added them to this post along with some publicly available reference points for others who might also be considering deploying InfoPath as part of their SharePoint deployment or revamping their existing deployment.

Remember, design - design - design for your InfoPath deployment. For example, you don't want users to have to manually enter their name and details when completing form/s especially where the form is deployed as part of an intranet. And it's not just about the design and business logic you build into the form itself but also about what you intend to do with the data once users start populating forms, especially in the case of SharePoint. For instance, how many form templates do you intend publishing to SharePoint and how are you going to manage those templates? What about the security model for completed forms in SharePoint, do you want other users to have the ability to see what data others are submitting - think web service, events and/or workflows on the destination library to reroute forms to a secure location. What information do you want to capture from the form - think about search and metadata, and surfacing relevant data from submitted forms, i.e. management overview, etc.

My recent presentation on InfoPath - "SharePoint Effectively Design Series: The Power of Forms in SharePoint" - can be found in the download section of this blog.

Commonly asked Questions about InfoPath | SharePoint integration

Q/ How do I move my form's data connection/s between development and production?

The most common way to do this is to modify the form's XML file directly - see http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2006/11/01/relinking-forms-and-form-templates.aspx

And if you're unsure how to access the form's XML file, you'll need to access the InfoPath File menu while in design mode and select Save As Source Files...

Q/ How can I use user roles and views in browser-based forms?

By default, browser-based forms don't support user roles or views. However, there are a few ideas floating around. I haven't tried this myself, but there's a related blog post here - http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-emulate-user-roles-in-infopath.html.

Q/ I have another database I'm currently using to submit part of the information I'm looking at including in my InfoPath form. Should I continue to enter that data separately to that database or include it in the form? I want to be able to create trends around the choices the user enters.

I'd include it as part of the form, i.e. fields within the form. This way, you can then promote those fields as columns when you publish the form to SharePoint and surface that information which you can then include in SharePoint search and subsequent KPI's or other custom Web parts.

Q/ How can I make an existing populated field read-only?

This is something you really want to consider doing where you don't want other users modifying existing data within a form. For example, where a form is submitted for a workflow, etc., and you may choose to make some fields or the entire form ready-only. Another typical example I've encountered is where I've pulled a user's details from Active Directory and dynamically populated the fields on the form with that user's info. I don't then want to have that those fields updated (overwritten or clobbered) with details of the next user who opens the same form.

The best way OOB to achieve this is to use conditional formatting to make the fields read-only if field X, Y and/or Z is populated. For example, add a condition to a field so that if the field is not blank then make it read only or trigger a read-only condition based on the value of another field within the form.

Q/ How can I remove the validation dialog from online forms (this dialog often causes usability issues when it conceals underlying fields on the form)?

The only way I know of to do this is to modify the core.js file on the SharePoint Web front-end server. There's a related post on how to do this - http://sharepointfeaturesandfailures.blogspot.com/2008/03/turn-off-hover-over-screen-tips-on.html.

Q/ How do I dynamically populate my form template with user information, e.g. username, user e-mail, based on the logged on user?

Adding the current logged in user's information to a form is good design sense and is commonplace in intranet scenarios. Unfortunately, there's no direct way to add user information to a form other than an OOB function called "userName" which will fetch the current logged in user's name and populate the bound field on a form. But this then doesn't go automatically fetch the remainder of the user info, such as Manager, phone, etc.

userName function

The "userName" function can be called by adding an Action to a text box field:

Double click the text box and click Rules

In the Rules dialog, click Add then Add Action

From the Action drop-down, select Set a field's value

Then set the Field to the text box field to which you want to display the username

Next, click the fx symbol to the right of the Value field and in the Insert Formula dialog click the Insert Function... button

In the Insert Function dialog, under Functions, locate and select userName, then click OK

Back in the Insert Formula dialog you should see userName() in the Formula section

For further details, see http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2006/05/26/608092.aspx - check out the last comment on that post which refers to having the userName value change each time the form is opened yet the guy asking the question wants to save the original name entered in the form. This is something you might want to do in the case of including an historical record of who's opened the form or a welcome dialog.

More commonly used methods

For more robust user detail populations, two other options are available. One option is to pull user information directly from Active Directory. The other is to leverage the SharePoint profile service.

Ben Walters recently posted a demo on how to access user profile from Active Directory and embed that profile information into an InfoPath form, which leverages the LDAP webservice available from CodePlex:

http://msmvps.com/blogs/benwalters/archive/2009/04/21/accessing-active-directory-from-an-infopath-form.aspx

Here are a couple of posts relating to receiving user information from the SharePoint web services:

http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2007/03/07/get-the-user-profile-through-moss-web-services.aspx

http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/itaysk/archive/2007/04/05/InfoPath-_2D00_-Get-the-current-user-without-writing-code.aspx

My preference if integrating InfoPath with SharePoint is to leverage the SharePoint profile web service.

Q/ I want my form to be embedded (open and ready for data entry) within a Web page rather than users having to click the 'New' button from the toolbar within the Forms library. How can I do this?

One option is to use the XML Form View Web part. There's a related post available here - http://sharepointfeaturesandfailures.blogspot.com/2008/03/turn-off-hover-over-screen-tips-on.html.

Q/ If I add an attachment control to my form, can I have any subsequent form attachments exposed as one of the columns in my SharePoint Forms library?

Not OOB, i.e. if you attempt to promote a column based on the attachment type you'll get a base64Binary error dialog. This is because the base64 data type isn't supported as a promoted field column in SharePoint. We had the same issue back in InfoPath 2003 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

Here are a couple of posts with suggestions on how to achieve this (I haven't tried either of these and I'm not sure if they are specific to a client side or Forms Services solution):

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointinfopath/thread/f2b78cee-4a47-4d05-b3af-60b376718717

http://www.bizsupportonline.net/blog/2009/02/submit-file-attached-infopath-form-as-attachment-sharepoint-list-item/

Q/ I know I can submit an entire form back to my SharePoint Forms library using a custom submit button, but what about submitting the data from a form to a SharePoint list?

This post and comments - http://www.infopathdev.com/blogs/matt/archive/2006/02/02/Add-SharePoint-List-Items-with-InfoPath.aspx - provides a good overview on submitting InfoPath data to SharePoint via the SharePoint list web service (lists.asmx).

Q/ How can I dynamically populate other fields on my forms based on the value selected from my SharePoint (receive) data connection?

This is pretty straight forward. All you need to do is set up your receive data connection to the desired SharePoint list on your field (for example, using a drop-down list control) and then set up a rule (on the same field) for each value within the field so that when a value is selected, other fields are populated with values according to the selection in the first field.

For example, if current field is equal to "value", add action to set field X's value to "value".

Q/ When I add my receive data connection to my list box controls, I get an annoying blank line inserted at the very top of the box. How can I remove that line?

You can do this by directly modifying the form's view xsl file and removing the </option> tag.

InfoPath Resources

There are a lot of resources available, but here are a few links to help:

MSDN InfoPath labs - http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/archive/2007/03/09/infopath-2007-training-labs.aspx

Microsoft InfoPath blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/infopath/

InfoPath Dev blog - http://www.infopathdev.com/

InfoPath Development Center - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/aa905434.aspx

MSDN InfoPath Forms Services forums - http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointinfopath/threads

SharePoint SP2 Hotfix now available

Kathy Hughes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:20:00 GMT

See details on the Microsoft SharePoint Team blog post - http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/06/25/service-pack-2-update.aspx -

The update can be applied before or after Service Pack 2 installation. If the update is applied prior to installing Service Pack 2 it will prevent the expiration date from being improperly activated during installation of Service Pack 2, if it is applied after Service Pack 2 it will remove the expiration date incorrectly set during installation of Service Pack 2...

and the related KB article -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971620

"When you install the 2007 Microsoft office servers Service Pack 2, the product expiration date is activated incorrectly"

Is this a virtualization which I see before me?

Kathy Hughes — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:33:00 GMT

Pondering SharePoint vNext environment and virtualization choices. Are you into virtualization yet? Well if you're not and you're in, or planning to be in, SharePoint development now and moving forward then plan on it. With so many different client and server scenarios, it's impossible not to virtualize.

Here's a link to Microsoft's non-Microsoft virtualization partners - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944987, which include:

Cisco Systems, Inc.
Citrix Systems, Inc.
Novell, Inc.
Oracle, USA Inc.
Sun Microsystems
Unisys Corp.
Virtual Iron Software
VMware, Inc.

Up until now I've been using a mixture of Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, Virtual Server and Windows 2008 HyperV, and VMWare workstation. But I'm now evaluating 'bare metal' options including Citrix XenServer (FREE) and VMWare ESX.

If you're working in SharePoint development, test, design, admin, etc etc., you'll possibly need to factor in SQL 2000 SP2 through SQL 2008, Windows 2003 RC2 32bit / 64bit through Windows Server 2008, and several different clients in 32bit and 64bit - XP, Vista and Windows 7. Remember, you need to ensure that whatever virtualization platform you choose to go with will be compatible with your client/server scenarios. For example, if you look at the supported virualization options for SQL server - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956893 - you'll see Hyper-V mentioned but also configurations supported through the 'Server Virtualization Validation Program'. This doesn't mean to say that SQL won't run on your existing choice but it won't necessarily be supported if something goes wrong. This is especially important if you are contemplating on running some or all your servers in virtualization in production.

Remember if you're contemplating moving into SharePoint Server 2010 development, etc., don't forget to check out the preliminary system requirements http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2009/05/11/announcing-sharepoint-server-2010-preliminary-system-requirements.aspx.

If you're in Sydney, keep an eye on the upcoming Windows user group schedule - Craig, Nicholas and I are planning a virtualization smackdown - http://windowsusergroup.com/. We'll be sure to post results from the presentation.

TechEd Australia 2009, Office and SharePoint

Kathy Hughes — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:56:00 GMT

TechEd Australia this year will be held 8-11 September up on the Gold Coast (Queensland) - http://www.msteched.com/australia/Public/default.aspx. This year's event will include approx 12 Office tracks, several of which will include SharePoint Server 2007 and related products.

I've been asked several times if this year's event will include SharePoint Server 2010 sessions, it will not. This year's Office tracks will be focused around Office 2007. Alistair Speirs details tracks here http://blogs.msdn.com/alspeirs/archive/2009/05/07/guidance-for-potential-office-system-track-speakers-at-tech-ed-australia.aspx if you're planning on submitting sessions. Andrew Coates also outlines sessions here - http://blogs.msdn.com/acoat/archive/2009/05/06/tech-ed-australia-and-new-zealand-call-for-content.aspx. If you're planning on still submitting sessions or changing an existing session get in quick and sign up here http://www.msteched.com/Australia/cft/default.aspx. There are some great sessions planned around SharePoint (naturally :-). Also, there'll be lots of Windows 7 sessions.

SharePoint Server 2010 sessions are planned for the SharePoint Conference in Vegas October 19-22 - http://www.mssharepointconference.com/Pages/default.aspx.

You can sign up for the Office 2010 beta bits here - https://microsoft.crgevents.com/Office2010TheMovie/Content/Default.aspx . Remember, those bits will not include SharePoint Server 2010 or server bits.

Two great new user groups in Sydney - Silverlight and Windows

Kathy Hughes — Sun, 31 May 2009 19:21:00 GMT

If you're in Sydney or planning a trip to Sydney (Australia), then check out the new Silverlight Designer and Developer Network group, which meets on (approx) the first Tuesday of each month at Microsoft. See the site for further info - http://www.sddn.org.au/. Next meeting, June 2nd, starting at 6:30pm - browser features in Silverlight 3 and LOB apps in Silverlight.

Also, don't forget there's also a new Windows user group, also held at Microsoft - check out http://windowsusergroup.com/ for schedule and upcoming presentations - expect to see lot around Windows7. Next meeting June 10th starting at 6pm.

SharePoint Service Pack 2 Important Information

Kathy Hughes — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:57:00 GMT

If you've installed SharePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 2, or are planning on doing so, then you must read the following announcement posted on the Microsoft SharePoint Team Blog site today:

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

...

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.

We are working to release a hotfix to automatically fix this issue. A manual work-around is currently available and involves customers re-entering their Product ID number (PID) on the Convert License Type page in Central Administration. For more information and detailed steps please read this KB article. (The KB link is not currently active, it will be available within the next 48hrs)

.....

Blog moved

Kathy Hughes — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:25:00 GMT

My blog has a refurbished home, thanks to Todd and others. For now, I've added pointers to my old blog posts - see "Old Blog Links" on the left-hand side of my main blog page at http://SharePoint.mindsharpblogs.com/Kathy/default.aspx. I've also added a couple of the more popular downloads from last year to the Downloads section, including Business Intelligence and E-mail integration presentations.

Stay tuned - an exciting year ahead!

Presenting at Sydney Business and Technology User Group (SBTUG)

Kathy Hughes — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:34:00 GMT

Presentation available: http://sharepoint.mindsharpblogs.com/Kathy/Downloads/SharePointForManagers_quickwins.pdf

When: Wed 28 January 2009

Time: 6pm (until approx 8:30pm)
Where: Microsoft, North Ryde
Contact: Craig Bailey : 0413 489 388
Cost: $5 (to cover pizza)
More details: www.sbtug.com

About our sessions:

SharePoint for Managers : Kathy Hughes

Kathy will be presenting an overview of the business benefits of Microsoft SharePoint. Come along with your questions about how to best use SharePoint in your business.

Learn from Kathy’s extensive experience implementing SharePoint in a range of companies, what works best, what to look out for, and how to get user buy-in.

Windows 7 Overview + Multi-touch + Microsoft Surface: Craig Bailey

Craig will be giving a quick overview of Windows 7, and then giving a practical demonstration with the HP TouchSmart, showing how multi-touch works and how touch on the screen can be used in business. He’ll also be showing the Microsoft Surface emulator and demoing a few educational applications, to give an idea of what can be achieved.