Sunday, December 29, 2013

How to change site logo in SharePoint 2013?

In this post we will discuss how we can change site logo in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- How to change the favicon in SharePoint 2013 site?

- Create Apps using Office 365 development tools Napa

- Create SharePoint 2013 Web Application

Follow below steps to change the logo in the SharePoint 2013 site:

From the Settings Icon click on Site Settings as shown in the fig below:


Then from the Site Settings page, Go to the Look and Feel section. Then click on Title, description and logo link as shown in the fig below:

This will open the dialog box to change the logo. In SharePoint 2013, there are 3 options to upload a logo. "FROM COMPUTER" will allow you to browse the logo from you computer. But it will put the logo in the Site Assets document library.

"FROM SHAREPOINT" allows you to browser from one of the Libraries.

Apart from this you can also directly paste your logo URL. check fig below for the 3 options.

After this click on OK, you logo will appear in the site.


Tuesday, December 24, 2013

5 Pillars of SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about five pillars of SharePoint 2013. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Share with everyone new feature in SharePoint 2013

- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

- Create an application page in SharePoint 2013

The five pillars are Share, Organize, Discover, Build & Manage.


1- Share:
SharePoint 2013 has lots of improvements towards social features, like Newsfeed which allows to view and post updated like twitter. Also new feature such as follow documents, sites or people.

SharePoint 2013 introduces community site, which allows to build rich discussion environment which has common features like ratings, search etc.

Now in SharePoint 2013 you can embed video from external sources such as Youtube.

2- Organize:
Organize is another pillar of SharePoint 2013. SharePoint 2013 provides enhancement towards document libraries. Like in SharePoint 2013 you can drag and drop files to the SharePoint library and you can sync using SkyDrive Pro.

Also there are few enhancements towards SharePoint list. Like in Task list timeline provides visual representation of the task.

3- Discover:
Search has been enhanced for better results. Enhancement towards navigation, also now you can search with multiple repositories in the same search query. Also now you can search people based on their expertise.

4- Build:
In this area there are lots of enhancements provided by Microsoft. There are lots of enhancements towards workflow, new workflow architecture and also better experience towards designing workflows.

SharePoint provided Apps which are very much useful. SharePoint 2013 provides a new application model that supports the development, installation, management, and use of apps.

5- Manage:
In SharePoint 2013, Security, site management and site upgrade has lots of enhancement. Also SharePoint 2013 eDiscovery feature has been very popular.


Friday, December 20, 2013

What is SharePoint Online?

In this post we will discuss what is SharePoint Online. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- The tagging service is currently unavailable error in SharePoint 2013

- Hide search box in home page in SharePoint 2013

- New actions in SharePoint designer 2013 workflow: Call Web Service Action and Start workflow action

- SharePoint Online is a web-based service that is hosted outside your organization in the cloud, instead of residing on a server in your organization, or on-premises. And since it is in the cloud, IT infrastructure resides outside your office premises and the infrastructure is maintained by a third party.

- SharePoint Online is a cloud service that you can use to access information and to interact with your team from anywhere and from many types of devices.

- Previously to use SharePoint, we need to install SharePoint software in our organization, But now since cloud services are subscription based we do not need to install SharePoint on our premises.

- Microsoft provides cloud based service through Microsoft Office 365 and SharePoint Online is a part of Microsoft Office 365 that also includes Microsoft Exchange Online for the web-hosted mail service, and Microsoft Lync Online for web-based conferencing.

- Microsoft provides various subscription options also, like you can saw Limits of SharePoint online in Office 365 Small Business plan and Limits for SharePoint Online for Office 365 Midsize Business Plan.

- But based on your requirement you can go for on-premises SharePoint deployment, or a cloud SharePoint Online solution, or a hybrid environment. The hybrid solution combines an on-premises SharePoint deployment with a SharePoint Online cloud solution and delivers a consistent user experience across a combined environment.

- If you are ready now, then you can check this article to know how to create site in SharePoint Online.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Download language packs for SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss where to download language packs for SharePoint 2013, both for SharePoint server 2013 and SharePoint foundation 2013.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:
- Share with everyone new feature in SharePoint 2013

- New for visual webpart for SharePoint 2013 and Visual Studio 2012

- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

Language Packs for SharePoint Server 2013:
You can download Language Packs for SharePoint Server 2013 from this URL.

Before downloading you can select the proper language (from the dropdown list) for which you want to download like below:


Language Packs for SharePoint Foundation 2013:
You can download Language Packs for SharePoint Foundation 2013 from this URL.

Before downloading you can select the proper language (from the dropdown list) for which you want to download like below:


Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Create SharePoint 2013 Web Application

In this post we will discuss how to create SharePoint 2013 web application through Central Administration.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Hide Quick Launch in SharePoint 2013

- What happen when you press F5 in Visual Studio in SharePoint 2013

- New actions in SharePoint designer 2013 workflow: Call Web Service Action and Start workflow action

Creation of web application in SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 is almost same. Follow below steps:


Before that make sure you have farm level administration as well as you are a member of the local administrator group.

- Open SharePoint 2013 administration, then click on Application Management.

- Then this will open the Application Management page, there under Web Applications click on Manage web applications as shown in the fig below:


- This will open the Manage web application page, there click on New as shown in the fig below:


- The above step will open the "Create New Web Application" dialog box which is similar to SharePoint 2010.

- In that page, Select whether you want to create a new IIS web site or not, then in the Security Configuration section, you can select whether you want to allow anonymous access or not, whether you want to use SSL or not.

In the Authentication Type, Select which type of Authentication you want.

In the Sign in Page URL, you can select whether you want to use the default sign in page or you want a Custom Sign in Page.

Then give the Public URL, and it is better to create a new Application Pool. Then it will ask you a Service account credentials.

After that give the Database server details, like server name, database name and better to chose Windows Authentication mode.

Then Click on OK.

This will create the new web application.


Monday, December 9, 2013

What happen when you press F5 in Visual Studio in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss what will happen when you press F5 while developing an App in SharePoint 2013 using Visual Studio 2012.
Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Apps packaging in SharePoint 2013

- Create Apps using Office 365 development tools Napa

- Hide search box in home page in SharePoint 2013

F5 key debugging also is there in visual studio for SharePoint 2013. When you press F5 by default Visual Studio uses IIS Express as the localhost for debugging sessions.


To debug the app for SharePoint, you need to be connected to SharePoint Developer Site and allow the application to be trusted if needed.

Below are the steps performed by Visual Studio when you press F5 (followed from Professional sharepoint 2013 development book)

1. It builds the Web Application Project if needed.

2. It changes the URLs in the AppManifest.xml and other project fi les.

3. It packages only the SharePoint-specifi c artifacts into the Open Package Convention (OPC).

4. It uninstalls the SharePoint App.

5. It installs the SharePoint App (OPC) using the life cycle API.

6. It updates the Hosts fi le if Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) is not used.

7. It launches the Web Application Project in IIS or IIS Express if there is one.

8. It updates the web.confi g with the correct client ID.

9. If the LaunchUrl in the App manifest is set to a site page in the App Project, then launch the
browser to the LaunchUrl. If not, Visual Studio just launches the All apps page.

10. Visual Studio attaches the script debugger or Silverlight debugger.

You can also check What exactly happens when we do F5 in Visual Studio 2010 in SharePoint 2010?

Hope it will be helpful !


Saturday, December 7, 2013

Create Apps using Office 365 development tools Napa

Now you can create office apps using Napa. Napa is an Office 365 development tools to build apps for office or SharePoint directly out of a browser window.
You can also check out some SharePoint 2013 articles:

- Audio and Video content type in SharePoint 2013

- Enable Sign in as Different User Option in SharePoint 2013

- Image Rendition feature in SharePoint 2013

You do not need to install any other tools like visual studio. Only thing required is you should have an Office 365 account and a supported browser.

You can Sign up for an office 365 developer site and then then you can install Napa office development tools on your developer site. And that is required to create apps for office documents, mail items or SharePoint.

Napa, an Office 365 Development Tools gives you with a page to manage your projects. And you can use this page to create a mail app, content app, task pane app, or SharePoint app project as well as rename and delete projects.  You can also open any project in Visual Studio if you decide that you want to leverage features such as advanced debugging or the ability to use a web project as part of your app for Office or SharePoint.

Napa also provides a very good feature name as Share Project  through which you can share your apps with someone else. The Share Project feature creates a copy of the app project and provides you with a public link that you can give to anyone to enable them to view the copy of the app project.

You can see how to?
- Create your first mail app for Outlook by using "Napa" Office 365 Development Tools

- Create your first content app for Excel by using "Napa" Office 365 Development Tools

- Create your first task pane app by using "Napa" Office 365 Development Tools

- Create a basic app for SharePoint by using "Napa" Office 365 Development Tools


Thursday, November 28, 2013

Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEndpointAddressNotFoundException error in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to resolve Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEndpointAddressNotFoundException error which comes in SharePoint 2013.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Default permission levels in SharePoint 2013

Update website properties in SharePoint 2013 client object model

- OAuth in SharePoint 2013

The full error message which comes usually is:

Error encountered in background cache check Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEndpointAddressNotFoundException: There are no addresses available for this application.

Solution:
Make sure Managed Metadata Web Service is started.

To check this, go to Central Administration  -> System Settings -> Manage Services On Server.

Then check whether Managed Metadata Web Service is started or is stopped. If it is Stopped, then start the service, the error will not come.


The tool was unable to install Application Server Role, Web Server (IIS) Role error while installing SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about the error The tool was unable to install Application Server Role, Web Server (IIS) Role, which usually comes when you try to install SharePoint 2013 on Server 2012.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Create custom page layout in SharePoint 2013

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

- Advantages of SharePoint 2013 Apps

For this error you can try various solutions : (Note I never tried)

- Try to run the command: C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regii -enable -i

Sometime after running this command, the error will not come.

- You can try to set the local policy by following this article.

- Try to install Asp.Net 4.5 in IIS 8, sometimes the framework resolves the issue.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

The tagging service is currently unavailable error in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to resolve "The tagging service is currently unavailable" error in SharePoint 2013.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- New actions in SharePoint designer 2013 workflow: Call Web Service Action and Start workflow action

- SharePoint 2013 Developer Site Template

- SharePoint 2013 interview questions and answers

To resolve this issue go to the Managed Metadata Service Application and then check the option as "This service application is the default storage location for keywords."

Now you should be able to use tagging service.


Sunday, November 10, 2013

Hide search box in home page in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about how we can hide the search box in SharePoint 2013 in the home page. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Advantages of Apps in SharePoint 2013

- Disable mobile page redirection for SharePoint 2013

- Different authentication types supported in SharePoint 2013

We can simply hide the search box from the home page by using  css.

For this edit the page and put a content editor web part. And can write the below css code in the content editor web part html source code.

<style type="text/css">
#titleAreaBox #SearchBox {display: none !important;}
</style>

After this save and publish the page, the search box will become hide.


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

New actions in SharePoint designer 2013 workflow: Call Web Service Action and Start workflow action

In this post we will discuss about new action in SharePoint designer 2013 workflow know as "Call Web Service" action and "Start workflow" action. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Removed features in SharePoint 2013

- SharePoint 2013 Boundaries and Limits

- Script editor web part in SharePoint 2013

Call Web Service Action:
Sharepoint designer has added number of new workflow actions. One among that is "Call
Web Service Action". This action enables designers to call REST services and OData web services. This action will make an HTTP web service call and return the data in the JSON format.

This action could be used to call any website that exposes web-based APIs.

This action is available when you select the SharePoint 2013 workflows and can be added to the design surface using the new Shapes or the Actions drop down.

Start workflow action:
The Start Workflow Action has been added to allow SharePoint 2013 workflows to start SharePoint 2010 workflows direction from the workflow.

This can be added directly from the shapes or workflow action menu. Once configured the existing sharepoint 2010 workflows are ready to use again without any modification.


Tuesday, November 5, 2013

SharePoint 2013 workflow platform

In this post we will discuss about workflow platform in sharepoint 2013. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Site Policies in SharePoint 2013

- Change favicon in SharePoint 2013

- Features removed in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 designer has now improved feature towards building workflow, packaging and installing workflow to sharepoint sites.
Two types of workflow platforms are available in SharePoint Designer:
- SharePoint 2010 workflow
- SharePoint 2013 workflow

The workflow enhancements in SharePoint Design 2010 and the SharePoint 2010 workflow framework still work in SharePoint Designer 2013.

Now when you will try to create a new workflow, it will ask you the platform type: SharePoint 2010 workflow or sharepoint 2013 workflow.

The new SharePoint 2013 workflow platform type is built using Windows Azure Workflow services. So if you are creating sharepoint 2013 workflow, then the site which is connected in SharePoint Designer must have Windows Azure Workflow services installed. If you are using Microsoft office 365, then no need to install Windows Azure Workflow, it comes by default.

Looping is now possible with SharePoint 2013 designer workflow, in SharePoint 2010 Looping was achived through Visual Studio workflow only.

New shapes and control of workflow is provided with the Windows Azure Workflows. These new shapes available in SharePoint Designer are Stages, Loops, and Steps. These new shapes enable branching and looping logic that was provided by the new SharePoint 2013 workflows. You can drag and drop new shapes to the designer surface.

Now the visual designer has same rich representation as Visio with a graphical design surface and sets of shapes for use on the designer surface. To get the built-in functionality of Visual Designer, Visio 2013 should be installed on the same machine as SharePoint Designer. The text based designer view also exists there and you can switch at any time if you want and vice versa. The changes that are made in the text-based designer are translated into the visual designer and vice versa.

The new Copy and Paste feature of SharePoint 2013 Workflow, helps to reuse some of the conditions or actions that had already been configured. But it has no Control+Z option to undo the last command, so we need to be a bit careful while using the copy paste feature.

A new variable name as Dictionary type has been in introduced in SharePoint 2013 workflows to pass data around a workflow. A Dictionary type has a collection of Name/Value pairs.


Monday, November 4, 2013

Disable mobile page redirection for SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how we can disable mobile page redirection for SharePoint 2013. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Difference between Apps and Solutions in SharePoint 2013

- Features removed in SharePoint 2013

- Audio and Video content type in SharePoint 2013

If you want to check how to disable Mobile access in SharePoint 2010 click here.

In SharePoint 2013, when ever a request comes from a mobile devices then it will automatically redirect to a different page (mblwp.aspx). The page is presented in _layouts\Mobile\mblwp.aspx.

If you want to disable the redirection then we need to modify in the web.config file.

First Open web.config file of the SharePoint web application and inside <system.web> write below lines of code:

<browserCaps>
<result type="System.Web.Mobile.MobileCapabilities, System.Web.Mobile, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"/>
<filter>isMobileDevice=false</filter>
</browserCaps>

Now automatic mobile redirection will be disabled.


Friday, November 1, 2013

Change favicon in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about how to change favicon in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check out my previous posts on:
- Add a Geolocation column to a list programmatically in SharePoint 2013

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

- Add site column to a content type in SharePoint 2013
Favicon is an ico files, which appears in the browser. The name is preferred as favicon.ico. By default SharePoint 2013 favicon appears like below:

The default location for this file in SharePoint 2013 is C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\IMAGES.

You can directly replace the default file with your own new file or you can also put this through SharePoint designer.

Open SharePoint designer 2013 -> All Files -> images folder and then you can import the files to the images folder.

Now you can open the master page, Check out the master page. Right click on the master page and then click "Edit file in advanced mode".

Then search for <SharePoint:SPShortcutIcon runat="server" IconUrl="/_layouts/15/images/favicon.ico?rev=23" /> and replace with the below

<SharePoint:SPShortcutIcon runat="server" IconUrl="/_layouts/15/images/newfavicon.ico" />

Now save and publish the master page.

Now the new favicon will appear in the browser. If it did not appear (due to cache), clear the browser cache and reload the page again.


Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Change local debugging URL in visual studio 2012 for SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how we can change the local debugging URL in visual studio 2012 for SharePoint 2013. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Create Site in SharePoint Online

- Get website title using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013


If you are developing any SharePoint 2013 solution using Visual Studio 2012, then it will ask you to enter the local debugging URL in SharePoint Customization Wizard.

If you want to change that after creation time, then follow below steps:

- Open Properties window, Either you can go View -> Properties Window or you can Right click on the Project and Select Properties Window as shown in the fig below:


- Then in the Properties window, Change Site URL Property to the new URL what ever you want to give.

Next time when you will debug or deploy, the New URL will be hit.


Different authentication types supported in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about different authentication types supported in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- SharePoint 2013 deployment Scenarious

- Create an Application Page in SharePoint 2013 using Visual Studio 2012

- What's new for mobile devices in SharePoint 2013 ?
SharePoint 2013 supports 4 types of authentication:

- Anonymous authentication
- Windows authentication
- Forms-based authentication
- SAML token-based authentication

Anonymous authentication:
In Anonymous authentication type users can access SharePoint content without validating their credentials. Anonymous authentication is disabled by default.

You can use Anonymous authentication if sharepoint content does not require security and is available for all users like any public Internet website.

Windows authentication:
Here in windows authentication, a Windows domain environment uses to validate the credentials like AD DS. This is used by both claims-based authentication and classic mode and it also includes:
- NTLM
- NTLM
- Digest
- Basic

Forms-based authentication:
Forms-based authentication is a claims-based identity management system that is based on ASP.NET membership and role provider authentication. Forms-based authentication can be used against credentials that are stored in an authentication provider like:
- AD DS
- SQL Server database
- Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) data store such as Novell eDirectory, Novell Directory Services (NDS), or Sun ONE

Forms-based authentication validates users based on credentials that users type in a logon form. Unauthenticated requests are redirected to a logon page, where a user must provide valid credentials and submit the form. The system issues a cookie for authenticated requests that contains a key for reestablishing the identity for subsequent requests.

SAML token-based authentication:
SAML token-based authentication in SharePoint 2013 uses the SAML 1.1 protocol and the WS-Federation Passive Requestor Profile (WS-F PRP). If you use Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0, you have a SAML token-based authentication environment.

The authentication providers for SAML token-based authentication may be:
- Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and AD DS in Windows Server 2008
- All editions of SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008
- Custom attribute stores

you can get some more information here.


Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Create an Application Page in SharePoint 2013 using Visual Studio 2012

In this post we will discuss how to create an application page in SharePoint 2010 using Visual Studio 2012. If you want to check how to create an application page using visual studio 2010 in sharepoint 2010, then you can see this article.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 for SharePoint 2013

- What's new in Developer dashboard in SharePoint 2013?

- Friendly URL in SharePoint 2013

You can get more information on application pages as well as you can check what is the difference between site pages and application pages.

First open Visual Studio 2012, then from the left side select Office/SharePoint -> SharePoint Solutions and there select SharePoint 2013 - Empty Project as shown in the fig below:


Then in the SharePoint Customization wizard, give the local site for debugging as well as chose Deploy as a farm solution. There are certain limitations in Sandboxed Solution.

- Then right click on the project -> Add New Item and then from the Add New Item dialog box, chose Application Pages (Farm Solutions only) template.

- Then you can put some controls to the application page, as well as you can write some code for that.

- Now Build and Deploy the project, If it is deployed successfully, then we can browse the application page. In SharePoint 2013, application pages deployed to C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS folder location.

- We can browse the page like below:
http://SiteURL/_layouts/Project-Name/Name-of-Application-Page.aspx


Monday, October 28, 2013

Hide ribbon in InfoPath form in SharePoint 2013

Here we will see how we can hide ribbon in infopath 2013 in sharepoint 2013. Also you can check out my previous posts on:
- Zip code validation in InfoPath 2010

- SharePoint Server 2013 databases

- Default permission levels in SharePoint 2013

Open infopath 2013 form, Go to File and then click on Advanced form options as shown in the fig below:



This will open the Form Options dialogbox. In the Form Options dialog box, see the Web Browser category. There uncheck "Show InfoPath command in Ribbon or toolbar". Then click on OK as shown in the figure below this will hide the Ribbon in the infopath form.


Sunday, October 27, 2013

Share with everyone new feature in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about "Share with everyone" feature in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check out my previous post:

- Image Rendition feature in SharePoint 2013

- Advantages of Apps in SharePoint 2013

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

Share with everyone is a new feature like microblog sites like twitter. You can start a conversation with people by posting to the public newsfeed. People who are following you can see the post. And any one who see the post can reply to the post also.

Apart from text you can also post links, videos, documents, pictures etc.


To start with:

Click on the Newsfeed at the top of the page, Then click on Share with everyone textbox and type the text and then click on Post.

If you want to reply then you can click on the reply button and then reply to the conversion. You can not reply to other replies.

But there are also some conversations which are "locked" and do not allow additional replies.


SharePoint Server 2013 databases

In this post we will discuss about SharePoint server 2013 databases in SharePoint 2013 deployments. In my last post we discussed about various databases which are presented in both SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013 deployments.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Change default error and successful message in infopath 2013

- HTML Field Security option in SharePoint 2013

- Difference between Apps and Solutions in SharePoint 2013

- SharePoint User Profile service application databases:

The User Profile service has three databases that support SharePoint Server 2013.
1- Profile: It stores and manages users and associated information.

Default Database Name: User Profile Service Application_ProfileDB_<GUID>

2- Synchronization: This stores configuration and staging data for use when profile data is being synchronized with directory services such as Active Directory.

Default Database Name: User Profile Service Application_SyncDB_<GUID>

3- Social Tagging: The Social Tagging database stores social tags and notes created by users, alongside their respective URLs.

Default Database Name: User Profile Service Application_SocialDB_<GUID>


- Word Automation Services service application database:

This database stores information about pending and completed document conversions and updates.

Default Database Name: WordAutomationServices_<GUID>

- Managed Metadata Service service application database:

The Managed Metadata service application database stores managed metadata and syndicated content types.

Default Database Name: Managed Metadata Service Application_Metadata_<GUID>

- SharePoint Translation Services service application database:

The Machine Translation Services stores information about pending and completed batch document translations with file extensions that are enabled.

Default Database Name: SharePoint Translation Services_<GUID>

- Project Server service application database:

Project Server database contains data about All Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) data, Time tracking and Timesheet data and Aggregated SharePoint project site data.

Default Database Name: ProjectWebApp

- PerformancePoint Services service application database

The PerformancePoint Services database stores temporary objects and persisted user comments and settings.

Default Database Name: PerformancePoint Service _<GUID>

- State Service service application database

It stores temporary state information for InfoPath Forms Services, Exchange Server, the chart Web Part, and Visio Services.

Default Database Name: SessionStateService_<GUID>

More information you can get in technet article.


Friday, October 25, 2013

SharePoint 2013 service application databases

In this post we will discuss about various service application databases available in SharePoint 2013.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Configure Following settings in SharePoint 2013

- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

- App parts in SharePoint 2013

The below are the databases which are presented both in SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013 deployments.
- App Management database

App Management database stores the app licenses and permissions that are downloaded from the SharePoint Store or App Catalog, and is used by App Management Service application.

Default Database Name: AppManagement

- Business Data Connectivity database

The Business Data Connectivity service application database stores external content types and related objects.

Default Database Name: Bdc_Service_DB_<GUID>

- Search service application databases

The Search service application has four databases that support SharePoint 2013.

1- Search Administration: The Search Administration database hosts the Search service application configuration and access control list (ACL) for the crawl component.

Default Database Name: Search_Service_Application_DB_<GUID>

2- Analytics Reporting: The Analytics Reporting database stores the results for usage analysis reports and extracts information from the Link database when needed.

Default Database Name: Search_Service_Application_AnalyticsReportingStoreDB_<GUID>

3- Crawl: The Crawl database stores the state of the crawled data and the crawl history.

Default Database Name: Search_Service_Application_CrawlStoreDB_<GUID>

4- Link: The Link database stores the information that is extracted by the content processing component and the click through information.

Default Database Name: Search_Service_Application_LinkStoreDB_<GUID>

- Secure Store Service database

The Secure Store Service application database stores and maps credentials, such as account names and passwords.

Default Database Name: Secure_Store_Service_DB_<GUID>

- Usage and Health Data Collection database

Usage and Health Data Collection database stores health monitoring and usage data temporarily, and can be used for reporting and diagnostics and is used by Usage and Health Data Collection service application.

Default Database Name: SharePoint_Logging

- Subscription Settings database

It stores features and settings for hosted customers.

Default Database Name: SettingsServiceDB

There are other databases which are specific to SharePoint server 2013, we will discuss in other article.


Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Sharepoint 2013 object model code sample download

Here is a good link to download code samples for SharePoint 2013 object model.

The code sample includes:
- demonstrate apps for SharePoint
- BCS
- user experience design
- metadata management
- workflows
- mobile application development
- REST
- other areas of SharePoint development.
The code sample are in C#.Net in Visual Studio 2012.

You can download SharePoint 2013 object model from this link.

Also you can check out some articles on:

- Follow or UnFollow people by using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Update website properties in SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Create SharePoint website using SharePoint 2013 client object model


Different database in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about different database in SharePoint 2013 deployments. Also you can check out some articles on:

- Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

- Steps to create a task list in SharePoint 2013

- Follow or UnFollow people by using SharePoint 2013 client object model

There are 3 types of databases installed when you deploy SharePoint 2013 and they are: Configuration database, Central Administration Content and Content database.

Configuration database:

The configuration database contains data about:

- SharePoint databases

- Internet Information Services (IIS) web sites

- Web applications

- Trusted solutions

- Web Part packages

- Site templates

- Web applications

Also it contains information about default quota settings and blocked file types etc.

The default database name when it is installed with the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard is: SharePoint_Config


Central Administration content database:

Central Administration content database stores all configuration data for the Central Administration site collection.

The default database name prefix when it is installed by using the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard is SharePoint_Admin_Content.

Content databases:

Content databases store all content for a site collection. This includes site documents or files in document libraries, list data, Web Part properties, audit logs, and sandboxed solutions, in addition to user names and rights.

All of the files that are stored for a specific site collection are located in one content database on only one server. A content database can be associated with more than one site collection.

The default database name when installed by using the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard is WSS_Content. Followed from technet article.


Friday, October 18, 2013

Sharepoint Designer cannot display this item error after migrating from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013

Here we will discuss how to resolve SharePoint 2013 designer error which comes once you migrate from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013.

The error message ususally comes as: Sharepoint Designer cannot display this item. This error comes if you try to open and modify a workflow.

This error usually comes if you have SharePoint designer 2010 before installing SharePoint designer 2013.

So the solution (not sure correct or not but works for me) is to delete the cache for SharePoint designer. So open the below directory and delete the contents.

C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SharePoint Designer\ProxyAssemblyCache

After this hope the error will not come to you.

You can also check out my previous posts on:

- Create update Delete list item using SharePoint 2013 object model

- Hosting options in SharePoint 2013

- Image Rendition feature in SharePoint 2013


Default permission levels in SharePoint 2013

Like in SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013 also provides some default permission levels. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

- Populate profile properties in infopath in SharePoint 2010

SharePoint 2013 includes seven permission levels:

- View Only: It enables users to view application pages.

- Limited Access: It enables users to access shared resources and a specific asset. Limited Access cannot be edited or deleted.

- Read: It enables users to view pages and list items, and to download documents.

- Contribute: Contribute enables users to manage personal views, edit items and user information, delete versions in existing lists and document libraries, and add, remove, and update personal Web Parts.

- Edit: It enables users to manage lists.

- Design: Design permission level enables users to view, add, update, delete, approve, and customize items or pages in the website.

- Full Control: It enables users to have full control of the website.

Apart from this SharePoint 2013 also provides some permission levels to templates other than team site template. These are below:

- Restricted Read: This permission level is only for Publishing sites only. It enables View pages and documents.

- Approve: This permission level is only for Publishing sites only. It enables Edit and approve pages, list items, and documents.

- Manage Hierarchy: This permission level is only for Publishing sites only. Create sites; edit pages, list items, and documents, and change site permissions.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 for SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about how to install office developer tools for visual studio 2012. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

- Content by Search (CBS) Web Part in SharePoint 2013

- Create update Delete list item using SharePoint 2013 object model

By default in Visual Studio 2012, the templates required for SharePoint 2013 will not come like template to develop Apps in SharePoint 2013, Apps for Office 2013, SharePoint-2013 Empty Project etc.

So for this we need to install office developer tools for Visual Studio 2012. You can download from this link and then install.

If error comes then try to install multiple times (this worked for me), once installation completes then templates will come like below:




Monday, October 14, 2013

Create new task in task list in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to create a new task in SharePoint 2013 task list. Also you can check my previous posts on:

- Add user to SharePoint security group using SharePoint client object model

- Create SharePoint website using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Get current user email by using SharePoint 2013 object model

To create a new task to a task list open the task list and click on new task link and this will open the New task page.

In this page:
- Enter the Task Name
- Start Date
- Due Date
- Assigned To
- % Complete
- Description
- Predesessors
- Priority
-Task Status etc.
Fill all the details above and click on Save.

A new task will be get created.


Steps to create a task list in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to create a task list in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check some SharePoint 2013 articles like:
- Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

- Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

- Build hyperlink inside email in SharePoint 2010 designer workflow

Task list is very useful for the collaboration feature.

First Open your SharePoint 2013 site. If you are new to SharePoint 2013, then you can see this article on how to create a site collection in SharePoint 2013.

Then from the Quick Launch bar, Click on Site Contents.

This will open the Site Contents page which usually contains the lists, libraries and other apps.

In this page click on add an app icon and this will open the apps page.

There select the Tasks app as shown in the figure below:


This will ask you to put a name for the Tasks and click on Create.

It will now create the Tasks list.


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Timeline web part in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to add timeline web part into a SharePoint page in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check:
- Create custom page layout in SharePoint 2013

- Get UserProfile using SharePoint 2013 object model

- SharePoint 2013 Workflow Installation and Configuration

Timeline webpart is a new web part added into SharePoint 2013. The Timeline web part provides the timeline without the Summary or Quick Edit links. The Timeline web part provides the ability to move the layout of the tasks.

To add a timeline web pat to a page follow below steps:

- Edit the SharePoint page and then from the Ribbon click on Insert Tab and from there click on Web Part icon.

- This will open the webpart categories page, where it will show list of webparts. From there select the "Content Rollup" category. In this category select "Timeline" web part and then click on Add as shown in the fig below.


- This will add the timeline web part to the page successfully.

- Then we need to give a datasource to the timeline web part. The data source can come from other site collections also. This data source url is nothing but a task list url.

- To give the datasource url, edit the timeline web part and then in the Data Source section, give the data source url in the Select the data source to connect to the timeline. Here we need to select the task list url.

- It will look like below:


Friday, October 4, 2013

Different search syntax supported by SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about various search syntax supported by SharePoint 2013 for building search queries. Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Installing or Uninstalling Features in SharePoint 2013

- Retrieve all SharePoint list in SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Create visual webpart in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 supports 2 types of languages syntax to build search queries:

- Keyword Query Language (KQL)

- FAST Query Language (FQL)

Keyword Query Language (KQL):
- This is the default language to build search queries.

- By using KQL, you specify the search terms or property restrictions that are passed
to the SharePoint search service. For more information you can check here.

- Also you can check some enhancements in Keyword Query Language.

FAST Query Language (FQL):

- FQL is a structured query language that supports advanced query operators.

- You can use FQL when you want to create complex queries that you want to pass programmatically to the SharePoint search service.

- FQL isn't intended to be exposed to end users, and is disabled by default.

For more information you can check here.


Saturday, September 21, 2013

Configure Allow users to browser-enable form templates in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss about how to Configure Allow users to browser-enable form templates in SharePoint 2013 through SharePoint central administration, as well as how we can enable using PowerShell.
Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Change default error and successful message in infopath 2013

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

- Enable Disable developer dashboard in SharePoint 2013

Through SharePoint 2013 central administration we can configure "Allow users to browser-enable form templates".

Follow below steps:

- Open SharePoint 2013 Central Administration, then go to General Application Settings.

- For there select Configure general application and feature settings.

- Then in the General Application Settings Click on Configure InfoPath Forms Services.

- In Configure InfoPath Forms Services page, "User Browser-enabled Form Templates" section, Check on "Render form templates that are browser-enabled by users" check box and click on "Ok" button.

Also you can do this using PowerShell:

Run the below command in PowerShell:

Set-SPInfoPathFormsService -AllowUserFormBrowserRendering $true


InfoPath forms cannot be filled out in browser because state service connection is not configured error in SharePoint 2013

In this post we will discuss how to resolve the infopath 2013 error which comes when state service is not activated. Without state service the infopath will not open. To activate the service follow below steps:

- Open SharePoint central administration and then Launch Farm Configuration Wizard.

Then in the next step click on the Start the Wizard and this will open the list of the services page in the next page.

Then from the list, Select "State Service" check box. Then click on OK. It will activate the state service.

Also you can check out my previous posts on:

- Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

- Installing or Uninstalling Features in SharePoint 2013

- Update website properties in SharePoint 2013 client object model


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Add user to SharePoint security group using SharePoint client object model

In this post we will discuss how to add a user to a SharePoint security group using SharePoint client object model. Also you can check out my previous posts on:
- Add user to SharePoint group using SharePoint web service

- Submit data from Infopath form to SharePoint list using SharePoint object model

- Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

To work with SharePoint 2013 client object model, we need to give reference to the below dlls:
- Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll

- Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll

These dlls are located in %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\15\ISAPI.

Below is the full code to add user to SharePoint security group using SharePoint client object model

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;

ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContex("http://SiteURL");

web = clientContext.Web;
         
GroupCollection collGroup = web.SiteGroups;

Group oGroup = collGroup.GetById(5);        

UserCreationInformation userCreationInfo = new UserCreationInformation();

userCreationInfo.Email = "contact@onlysharepoint2013.com";

userCreationInfo.LoginName = @"DomainName\UserName";

userCreationInfo.Title = "Display Name";

User oUser = oGroup.Users.Add(userCreationInfo);

clientContext.ExecuteQuery(); 


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Keyword Query Language (KQL) enhancement in SharePoint 2013

Here we will see about enhancement in Keyword Query Language (KQL) in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check:
- New feature in SharePoint 2013 event receivers

- Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 now does not support FullTextSqlQuery. Also Microsoft advised not to use FAST Query Language (FQL), but still it is there in SharePoint 2013.
Microsoft now advised to use Keyword Query Language (KQL) and syntax to build their queries against a search engine.

Here are some queries and there result:

Onlysharepoint2013: This will return items containing Onlysharepoint or Onlysharepoint2013.

Onlysharepoint2013 Enjoysharepoint: This will return items containing Onlysharepoint2013 and Enjoysharepoint.

Onlysharepoint2013 OR Enjoysharepoint: This will return items containing Onlysharepoint2013 OR Enjoysharepoint.

"Onlysharepoint2013 Enjoysharepoint": This will return items containing exact phrase "Onlysharepoint2013 Enjoysharepoint".

Firstname:B : This will return all people whose Firstname starts with B.

Title:Onlysharepoint2013 IsDocument:1 - Returns all documents with "Onlysharepoint2013" in the title.

Author:Onlysharepoint2013 IsDocument:1 - Returns all documents authored by "Onlysharepoint2013".

Onlysharepoint2013 FileExtension:pdf - Returns PDF documents containing "Onlysharepoint2013".


Friday, September 6, 2013

Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search

Here we will see about Continuous Crawl in SharePoint 2013 search which is newly introduced in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check out some posts on:

- Create list using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- New master pages in SharePoint 2013

- OAuth in SharePoint 2013

In SharePoint 2010 there were 2 types of crawling: 1- Full Crawl 2- Incremental Crawl.

Full crawl focuses on almost everything about the content, whereas incremental crawls focus on picking up the changes in content or pushing the updated ACLs down to the affected items within the index.

Microsoft introduced a new type of crawl known as Continuous crawl.

To provide maximum freshness, continuous crawls focus on smaller changes and use the change logs to pick up those changes faster and in more efficient ways. Continuous crawls overlap each other, which means one continuous crawl doesn't hold up the other one in picking up the changes.

Continuous crawl can't be paused or stopped, only option is to disable it.


Result source in SharePoint 2013 search

We will discuss about Result Source in SharePoint 2013 search. Also you can check some posts on:

- Site Policies in SharePoint 2013

- Create update Delete list item using SharePoint 2013 object model

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

Result source is the new name for scopes and federated locations. Compared to SharePoint 2010, there are some changes in SharePoint 2013 result source.

Few Changes are:

- Result sources can be accessed from the search service application and in Search Settings at each site.

- In SharePoint 2010, FAST has been removed as an information protocol. There are 2 new protocols introduced.

1- Exchange SharePoint: Select Exchange protocol for results from Exchange.
2- Remote SharePoint: Select Remote SharePoint for results from a search service application hosted in a separate farm.

- Search Scope Rules has been removed, rather Now you can can specify a filter that will be applied to your queries using new Query Transformation settings. There is also a nice query builder that enables you to build your query transformations using a designer and sort and see the returned results in real time.

- The term scope is no longer used in SharePoint 2013 search and has been removed from the search UI.


Thursday, September 5, 2013

Design Manager in SharePoint 2013

Here we will discuss about Design Manager in SharePoint 2013 designer. Also you can check some posts on:

- Create SharePoint website using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Advantages of SharePoint 2013 Apps

- Three tiers architecture in SharePoint 2013

SharePoint 2013 introduced a new feature called as Design Manager which helps customers customize SharePoint sites in a wizard-like approach.

Developers work with a designer or a design agency to brand SharePoint. First, the developer
receives the non-SharePoint branding assets (HTML, CSS, images etc) from the design agency. The design agency can create these files using any web design tool such as Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression. The developer uploads the received files to SharePoint. Then, with a behind the scenes automatic process, SharePoint-specific assets (*.master & *.aspx) are generated. This process repeats until the branding task is complete. Then the developer exports the branding assets and creates a package (*.wsp) to deploy the custom brand to the production farm.


Content by Search (CBS) Web Part in SharePoint 2013

Here we will check about Content by Search (CBS) Web Part in SharePoint 2013. Also check out my previous posts on:

- Retrieve selected properties of website using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Workflow activity in SharePoint 2013

- Hover panel in SharePoint 2013 search results

Content by Search (CBS) Web Part enables users to aggregate content directly from the search index. CBS is not constrained to one site collection. It's based on search, so it must to go beyond the site collection boundary. The query results in CBS may not be up to date.

CBS renders only major versions and cannot query content from site collections marked to be excluded from the search.

A query in CBS can be configured to aggregate content based on values on the page or within the URL.

CBS returns the results in raw XML format. Results can be styled using snippets of HTML and JavaScript instead of XSLT. These snippets are referred to as display templates in SharePoint 2013 and are stored in the Master Page gallery.


Installing or Uninstalling Features in SharePoint 2013

Here we will see Installing or Uninstalling Features in SharePoint. Also check out some posts on:

- Managed Meta Data in SharePoint 2013

- Get current user email by using SharePoint 2013 object model

- Change default error and successful message in infopath 2013

Run below command using PowerShell:

- Install-SPFeature FeatureFolderName

This will install the feature but we need to activate before using this.

To activate a feature, run the below Windows PowerShell command

Enable-SPFeature FeatureFolderName -Url http://URLOfSite

To uninstall a Feature, run the below Windows PowerShell command

Uninstall-SPFeature FeatureFolderName

To deactivate a feature, run the below Windows PowerShell command

Disable-SPFeature FeatureFolderName -Url http://URLOfSite


Managed Meta Data in SharePoint 2013

Here we will read about Managed Meta Data in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check:

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

- Create custom page layout in SharePoint 2013

- CAML designer for SharePoint 2013

There is not much changes in managed meta data in SharePoint 2013 compared to SharePoint 2010.

Like SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013 managed meta-data groups can be local or global. A global group is the one that can be used by any site collection connected to the same instance of the MMS application. A local group is one that although stored in the MMS application database is only available to a specific site collection.

In SharePoint 2010, users could reuse terms in the term hierarchy. After these terms were reused,
they could be updated and deleted in both the source and the referenced term sets. But in SharePoint 2013 introduced a new operation for terms: term pinning. A pinned term is just like a
reused term except it is read-only and cannot be modified (updated or deleted) in the referenced
term sets.

SharePoint 2013 now includes the ability to work with custom properties in terms and term sets through the browser, and CSOM APIs are added for remote clients. Custom properties are either shared or local.

Custom properties are either shared or local. Those available in all reused and pinned instances of the term are called shared custom properties. Local properties are only accessible for the term within the source term sets.


Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Site Policies in SharePoint 2013

Here we will check about Site policies feature in SharePoint 2013. Also you can check:

- Retrieve all SharePoint list in SharePoint 2013 client object model

- Advantages of SharePoint 2013 Apps

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

Through Site Policies you can control the life cycle of a SharePoint site. Suppose your requirement is that you want a site should automatically delete after 6 months of date of creation. Or you want it should start a workflow automatically and then it should delete the site.  In this type of schenarious site policies will be helpful.

In SharePoint 2010, you could create only policies attached to content types or at the site collection level. But in SharePoint 2013, an new link on the name of Site Policies is available under Site Collection Administration in Site settings page.

Site policy has various option like:
- Do not close or delete the site automatically
- Delete the site automatically.
- Close the site automatically and delete the site automatically
- Run a workflow to close the site, and delete the site automatically


Friday, August 30, 2013

Create update Delete list item using SharePoint 2013 object model

Here we will see how we can create a list item using SharePoint 2013 client object model. Also you can check:

- Create list using SharePoint 2013 client object model

- More ways to share documents or sites in SharePoint 2013

- SharePoint 2013 Developer Site Template

Here is the full code:
ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://SiteURL");

List myList = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("MyCustomList");

ListItem newItem = myList.Items.Add();

newItem["Title"] = "My First Item";

newItem["Description"] = "My First item Desciption";

newItem.Update();

context.ExecuteQuery();

The above client object model code will add one item to MyCustomList.

Update a list item:

ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://SiteURL");

List myList = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("MyCustomList");

ListItem listItem = myList.Items.GetById(1);

listItem["Title"] = "This is the new title";

listItem["Description"] = "This is the new description";

listItem.Update();

context.ExecuteQuery();

Here it will update the item whose ID=1.

Delete list item:

ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://SiteURL");

List myList = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("MyCustomList");

ListItem listItem = myList.Items.GetById(1);

listItem.DeleteObject();

context.ExecuteQuery();

This will delete the item whose ID = 1.


Retrieve all SharePoint list in SharePoint 2013 client object model

Here we will retrieve all SharePoint list's using SharePoint 2013 client object model. Also check:

- Update website properties in SharePoint 2013 client object model

- New Feature in SharePoint 2013:Spelling Correction

- Create workflow using SharePoint designer 2013 in SharePoint 2013

Below is the full code:

ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://SiteURL");

Web web = context.Web;

context.Load(web.Lists, lists => lists.Include(list => list.Title));

context.ExecuteQuery();

foreach (List list in web.Lists)
{
    lblSites.Text = lblSites.Text + ",  " + list.Title;
}

This will return all the SharePoint lists.


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