I know there are many readers of this blog that live outside of the United States, but please bear with me as I address two bills before the U.S. Congress that will have global impact.
Instead of addressing the actual bills and the general impact they would have on the internet (you can find information in various other places), I want to look at this issue from the prospective of a technology professional who implements, uses, and blogs about Microsoft technology, including SharePoint.
Imagine a scenario where Microsoft (or any other software company) releases a software product that I then begin to implement. But, as I start to use the product, I find flaws or bugs (some like to call them “features”) in the software that I want to blog about. I want others who run into the same issues to know they are not alone and possibly have a fix.
This scenario happens hundreds (if not thousands) of times a day in this country. However, if companies have the right given to them to sue anyone that they feel is infringing on their product, any technology blogger’s site can be brought down. This is how it could work: you blog about a flaw and the software provider decides they don’t like your post. Well, you used screenshots of their product and gave detailed descriptions of how their product worked, so you have used their intellectual property (supposedly). But wait, I am a blogger, so I am a member of the press and protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Not you are not.
So, you are being sued (along with your ISP and website hosting provider). Can you afford to pay an attorney to fight a large software company? What about your ISP or your website host? What if your website is being hosted by the same software company that is now suing you? Exactly, your site goes away. Oh, and don’t even think about transferring your website outside of this country to protect it, they want to block DNS requests if an IP owner feels the site has infringing content(some DNS provisions in SOPA have been taken out….for now.)
This is why any of us who work in technology every day and give helpful advice (I hope this site is helpful!) should stand up and contact our representatives in Congress and tell them SOPA and PIPA are bad for all of us!
Friday
Renaming a document – ”The Specified name is already in use”
A SharePoint document library in some ways acts similar to a folder when storing documents on your local computer. For example, you can’t have two documents with the same name within a document library (or folder, if you are using folders). If you try to rename a document and give it the same name as another document in the library, you will be given this wonderful error (in SharePoint 2007):
[Server Error in ‘/’ Application. The specified name is already in use. A document cannot have the same name as another document or folder in this library or folder. Click your browser’s Back button, and type a new name.]
This makes perfect sense, unless the “existing file” really isn’t there. I recently ran into an issue where a user tried multiple times to upload a document (PEBKAC) and finally, they received the error that they couldn’t add the document with the current name because it already existed. Somehow, the document they were uploading and checking-in was removed from the database, but SharePoint thought it was still there. So, they couldn’t upload a document or rename a document with that same name.
When I tried to upload a document to the library, I received the error below that says the document (which wasn’t really there) was checked-out to the user that was uploading the document from before.
[Error. The {filename} is checked out or locked for editing by {username}]
Again, since the document really wasn’t there, it was a bit frustrating, but this last error did give me insight into how to resolve the issue. The fix in this case was simple enough. After opening the document library’s settings, I opened the Manage checked out files page (selected from the Permissions and Management column).
Since SharePoint did believe the document was still there, I am given the wonderful opportunity to “Take Ownership” of the checked-out document.
After selecting the checkbox next to the document and clicking the Take Ownership of Selection button, the document was then checked-out to me. I then was able to upload a document with the same name (the library had versioning turned on, so I selected for it to add another version).
[Server Error in ‘/’ Application. The specified name is already in use. A document cannot have the same name as another document or folder in this library or folder. Click your browser’s Back button, and type a new name.]
This makes perfect sense, unless the “existing file” really isn’t there. I recently ran into an issue where a user tried multiple times to upload a document (PEBKAC) and finally, they received the error that they couldn’t add the document with the current name because it already existed. Somehow, the document they were uploading and checking-in was removed from the database, but SharePoint thought it was still there. So, they couldn’t upload a document or rename a document with that same name.
When I tried to upload a document to the library, I received the error below that says the document (which wasn’t really there) was checked-out to the user that was uploading the document from before.
[Error. The {filename} is checked out or locked for editing by {username}]
Again, since the document really wasn’t there, it was a bit frustrating, but this last error did give me insight into how to resolve the issue. The fix in this case was simple enough. After opening the document library’s settings, I opened the Manage checked out files page (selected from the Permissions and Management column).
Since SharePoint did believe the document was still there, I am given the wonderful opportunity to “Take Ownership” of the checked-out document.
After selecting the checkbox next to the document and clicking the Take Ownership of Selection button, the document was then checked-out to me. I then was able to upload a document with the same name (the library had versioning turned on, so I selected for it to add another version).
Thursday
Error Connecting to Database Server
I recently setup yet another SharePoint farm (this time using virtual machines) and ran into a problem that happens all too often.
The scenario is this: I setup MS SQL server in preparation for getting SharePoint installed on a separate server. After setting up your service accounts in Active Directory and installing MS SQL on Server1, I set off installing SharePoint on Server2. When I got to the screen in the Specify Configuration Database Settings within the SharePoint configuration wizard, I received the following error:
Knowing the database ‘master’ did exist, I setout to solve the “current user does not have permission” issue. I opened the SQL Management Studio and checked to make sure my account had permission to connect.
I checked the permissions for the service account and everything looked good. So, what’s going on?!?
Since I don’t follow a setup script anymore (I have done this hundreds of times, so I know what I am doing, right?), I had forgotten one step. MS SQL listens for incoming traffic on port 1433. When setting up your SQL server, you have to make sure you create a firewall rule to allow that incoming port. This is elementary and I should have remembered this step, but no one is perfect, right?
So, I opened Windows Firewall (if you are using a different firewall product, the steps should be similar).
I selected Inbound Rules in the left window and then chose New Rule… from the Actions menu on the right.
Select Port for the type of rule you want to create, click Next, and then type in 1433 in the port field.
Click Next and then select to Allow the connection. Go through the rest of the wizard by clicking Next and filling in the appropriate content.
The scenario is this: I setup MS SQL server in preparation for getting SharePoint installed on a separate server. After setting up your service accounts in Active Directory and installing MS SQL on Server1, I set off installing SharePoint on Server2. When I got to the screen in the Specify Configuration Database Settings within the SharePoint configuration wizard, I received the following error:
Cannot connect to database master at SQL server at ServerName. The database might not exist, or the current user does not have permission to connect to it.
Knowing the database ‘master’ did exist, I setout to solve the “current user does not have permission” issue. I opened the SQL Management Studio and checked to make sure my account had permission to connect.
I checked the permissions for the service account and everything looked good. So, what’s going on?!?
Since I don’t follow a setup script anymore (I have done this hundreds of times, so I know what I am doing, right?), I had forgotten one step. MS SQL listens for incoming traffic on port 1433. When setting up your SQL server, you have to make sure you create a firewall rule to allow that incoming port. This is elementary and I should have remembered this step, but no one is perfect, right?
So, I opened Windows Firewall (if you are using a different firewall product, the steps should be similar).
I selected Inbound Rules in the left window and then chose New Rule… from the Actions menu on the right.
Select Port for the type of rule you want to create, click Next, and then type in 1433 in the port field.
Click Next and then select to Allow the connection. Go through the rest of the wizard by clicking Next and filling in the appropriate content.
Again, this is not rocket science, but I hope this information can be helpful to the next person who forgets the important step of allowing inbound connections to their SQL server!
Custom Filter on a Data View Web Part (series part 3)
Data Views can be a very powerful tool when using SharePoint Designer 2007 in designing pages in your WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 environments (the same is true for SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint 2010).
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
The expression is pretty involved, but I cheated a little by using the Filter Criteria option. The expression I started off with was Modified Is Greater or Equal To [Current Date], as shown below.
I then selected the Advanced button (shown on the picture above) and I was presented with the advanced expression being used by the builder. I added “- 30” without the quotes to the expression.
The whole expression ended up being the one shown below:
[number(translate(substring-before(@Modified,'T'),'-','')) >= number(translate(substring-before($Today,'T'),'-','')) -30]
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
| Document Icon | Name | Title | Modified Date |
- The Document Icon must display the file-specific icon, but the hyperlink must point to the file. [Go here to find out how I accomplished displaying the icon]
- The Name field should display the document’s name, but without the file extension [Go here to find out how I accomplished displaying the name without the extension]
- Only the last 30 days of modified files should be displayed.
The expression is pretty involved, but I cheated a little by using the Filter Criteria option. The expression I started off with was Modified Is Greater or Equal To [Current Date], as shown below.
I then selected the Advanced button (shown on the picture above) and I was presented with the advanced expression being used by the builder. I added “- 30” without the quotes to the expression.
The whole expression ended up being the one shown below:
[number(translate(substring-before(@Modified,'T'),'-','')) >= number(translate(substring-before($Today,'T'),'-','')) -30]
Custom Column Data Display Names Using a Data View Web Part (series part 2)
Data Views can be a very powerful tool when using SharePoint Designer 2007 in designing pages in your WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 environments (the same is true for SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint 2010).
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
To remove the extension from the display, I built the display value using two different expressions, as shown below:
substring-before(string(@FileLeafRef), ‘.’)
Working from the inside out, ‘string’ converts the filename variable into a string so the next expression can work with the value. ‘Substring-before’ accepts two variables: the data value and what character to look at for stopping (which is the period ‘.’).
So, the full URL looks like: <a href=”{@FileRef}”><xsl:value-of select=”substring-before(string(@FileLeafRef), ‘.’)” /></a>
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
| Document Icon | Name | Title | Modified Date |
- The Document Icon must display the file-specific icon, but the hyperlink must point to the file. [Go here to find out how I accomplished displaying the icon]
- The Name field should display the document’s name, but without the file extension
- Only the last 30 days of modified files should be displayed. [Go here to find out how I accomplished the filter]
To remove the extension from the display, I built the display value using two different expressions, as shown below:
substring-before(string(@FileLeafRef), ‘.’)
Working from the inside out, ‘string’ converts the filename variable into a string so the next expression can work with the value. ‘Substring-before’ accepts two variables: the data value and what character to look at for stopping (which is the period ‘.’).
So, the full URL looks like: <a href=”{@FileRef}”><xsl:value-of select=”substring-before(string(@FileLeafRef), ‘.’)” /></a>
Custom Document Icon Using a Data View Web Part (series part 1)
Data Views can be a very powerful tool when using SharePoint Designer 2007 in designing pages in your WSS 3.0 and MOSS 2007 environments (the same is true for SharePoint Designer 2010 and SharePoint 2010).
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
To point the DocIcon (which has a value of ‘PDF’, since all my documents were PDFs) link to the correct picture, I pointed to a pdf picture (pdf.gif) on my site. You could do this several ways, but I just put a PDF icon in a ‘system’ document library on my site. I also wanted to make my solution work if it was later decided to add documents to the displayed libraries that were a different type other than PDF.
So, in the hyperlink, I used the @DocIcon field in the src value:
src=”/site/system/{@DocIcon}.gif width =”17” height=”17”
A couple things to note about the link above: 1) it assumes all the images will be gifs and will reside in the same document library and 2) the images are all shown with 17 pixel width and height.
So, the full URL looks like: <a href=”{@FileRef}”><img border=”0” src=”/site/system/{@DocIcon}.gif width =”17” height=”17” /></a>
One of the requirements for my project is to display documents from two different SharePoint Document Libraries in one view and have the documents displayed in a specific way. The content is to be displayed in the table view as follows:
| Document Icon | Name | Title | Modified Date |
- The Document Icon must display the file-specific icon, but the hyperlink must point to the file.
- The Name field should display the document’s name, but without the file extension [Go here to find out how I accomplished displaying the name without the extension]
- Only the last 30 days of modified files should be displayed. [Go here to find out how I accomplished the filter]
To point the DocIcon (which has a value of ‘PDF’, since all my documents were PDFs) link to the correct picture, I pointed to a pdf picture (pdf.gif) on my site. You could do this several ways, but I just put a PDF icon in a ‘system’ document library on my site. I also wanted to make my solution work if it was later decided to add documents to the displayed libraries that were a different type other than PDF.
So, in the hyperlink, I used the @DocIcon field in the src value:
src=”/site/system/{@DocIcon}.gif width =”17” height=”17”
A couple things to note about the link above: 1) it assumes all the images will be gifs and will reside in the same document library and 2) the images are all shown with 17 pixel width and height.
So, the full URL looks like: <a href=”{@FileRef}”><img border=”0” src=”/site/system/{@DocIcon}.gif width =”17” height=”17” /></a>
Tuesday
SharePoint Datasheet View and Office 2010 64-bit
If you have installed the 64-bit new version of Microsoft Office, Office 2010, then you will most likely see the following message when trying to edit a SharePoint list using the Edit in datasheet function:
The list cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons:
- A datasheet component compatible with Windows SharePoint Services is not installed.
- Your Web browser does not support ActiveX controls
- Support for AxtiveX controls is disabled
- A datasheet component compatible with Windows SharePoint Services is not installed.
- Your Web browser does not support ActiveX controls
- Support for AxtiveX controls is disabled
The issue revolves around the fact that 64-bit versions of Office 2010 do not ship with the 32-bit Activex control that would make the datasheet option work with Internet Explorer.
There are ways to make this work, and the usual suggestion is to find a copy of an Office 2007 product and either install it (such as SharePoint Designer 2007) or just choose to install the Windows SharePoint Services components of the product. This works, but I don't really want to go to that much trouble.
Another solution, and the one that I employed, is to install the 2007 Office System Driver: Data Connectivity Components. After installing the Components, go back to the menu and the datasheet option will work great.
Monday
Intermittent forbidden errors (403)
After applying a new master page and related theme components, we have been receiving reports that users were being presented with 403 ‘forbidden’ errors when trying to load our intranet site. After refreshing the screen four (4) times, the page would finally load.
I checked the web server’s Application log and found that every time a user received a 403 error, there was an “Information” Web Event message logged with a source of ASP.NET and an ID of ID 1314. The body of the event included, among other information:
Event code: 4011
Event message: An unhandled access exception has occurred.
After doing research and knowing this was most likely a security issue, I came around to fixing permissions on the Bin and _app_bin folders for the IIS virtual server that was hosting my SharePoint Web Application. I added the server’s local group “users” (which includes the domain group users) to both folders with READ permissions.
After an application pool restart, there have been no more reports of 403 errors and not a single 1314 report has been shown in the Application log.
Wednesday
Cannot Connect to the Meeting: Live Meeting
Today I experienced some issues with Office Communicator 2007 R2 and Live Meeting 2007. First, Communicator was complaining about not being able to update the address book. Then, when I tried to start a meeting using Live Meeting (via the Meet Now function), I received the following error:
When I looked to find some hints to the "Live Meeting cannot connect to the meeting." message online, all the posts were pointing to issues with trying to connect to an external meeting. I was trying to connect to my internal Office Communications Server.
I next tried to do a nslookup on the FQDN for the server and I received a reply message that it was a non-existing domain! Well, there's your problem!
I took a look in DNS and the SIP entries for the service were all in tact, but the A record for the server in the Forward Lookup Zone was missing! I do not know why/how it was removed, but I quickly added it back and now all is well with OCS.
When I looked to find some hints to the "Live Meeting cannot connect to the meeting." message online, all the posts were pointing to issues with trying to connect to an external meeting. I was trying to connect to my internal Office Communications Server.
I next tried to do a nslookup on the FQDN for the server and I received a reply message that it was a non-existing domain! Well, there's your problem!
I took a look in DNS and the SIP entries for the service were all in tact, but the A record for the server in the Forward Lookup Zone was missing! I do not know why/how it was removed, but I quickly added it back and now all is well with OCS.
Thursday
Access Denied Message When Trying to Edit Properties of a List or Library Item
I created a new Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web Application a few months back and moved our existing sites around to create a new structure in the new Web Application. I did this to move all the project sites under one 'roof' and get things more organized. At the time, we were a little behind the curve on patching SharePoint. We were on version 12.0.0.6327, which is SP1 plus the August 2008 Cumulative update.
When new sites were created though, users were unable to edit the properties of anything they added to the site, whether a document or list item. As the SharePoint farm administrator, I received the Access Denied message as well when trying to edit the properties. The Access Denied message was also received when attempts were made to edit the properties of items within newly created Lists or Libraries on existing sites. Items could be added and deleted, but not edited.
While doing some research (see Technet Forums and Odole blog), I ran across several sites saying this was a known issue that is fixed in the February 2009 Cumulative update (for MOSS and WSS 3.0). I was told by Microsoft support after contacting them (see below) that the root cause is ACL corruption when the sites are moved.
After installing Service Pack 2 (for MOSS and WSS 3.0), and the latest Cumulative update (February 2010), the issue was not resolved for existing sites; but I expected this behavior. I contacted Microsoft support to obtain an executable (not publically available) that would fix the existing sites. After running the executable, the existing sites were all fixed and when I created a new site, it did not have the issue.
A screenshot of the fix program in action: 
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