Duplicate Entries in ViewLsts.aspx SharePoint

SharePoint allows you to create custom list definitions and deploy them as Features.  Here are a couple of blog entries that talk about the steps you will need to take to create a custom list definition

http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2009/02/08/A-Quicker-Way-to-Create-Custom-SharePoint-List-Templates.aspx

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/441252/in-sharepoint-what-is-the-easiest-way-to-create-a-custom-list-schema-xml-file

However when following these instructions, I noticed that my custom lists were appearing twice in the ViewLsts.aspx page

 

After hours of debugging I found the cause of this issue.  In your list definition file, confirm that you have only one view with the “DEFAULTVIEW=TRUE” attribute set.  If you have multiple views with this attribute set, you will see an entry in the ViewLsts.aspx page for each view that you have specified as the Default.

Removing this attribute and re-activating the feature helped fix this issue

Governance – A Key Requirement for SharePoint 2010

Imagine an IT organization where there are no rules or policies to control a user’s access to resources. Imagine users storing unlimited personal data on their corporate Storage Area Networks (SANs). Imagine searching for a HR policy and retrieving five different documents describing the same policy. Now, imagine your collaboration software platform is SharePoint and that you are responsible for leading the IT organization. What would be the first thing you do? How about setting policies and procedures? If you do, you have begun the journey towards successful SharePoint Governance.

Typically, there are several myths associated with SharePoint Governance, among them being:

· Myth#1 – Governance is only for the largest organizations

· Myth#2 – Governance is a waste of time and is just a user’s manual

· Myth#3 – Our users are not going to figure out these complex functionalities; hence we don’t need Governance or policies

· Myth#4 – Governance will restrict our users and hinder user adoption

All of the myths listed above are far from the truth. The idea that Governance is suited only for large organizations probably arose from a traditional view of IT Governance where there was minimal end-user content generation and large monolithic software systems. With SharePoint 2010, end-users can create and manage content without significant IT involvement. Therefore, Governance is a key requirement – even for medium-sized implementations. A well-governed SharePoint implementation provides an operational framework for the portal and increases user adoption by removing inconsistencies and environment barriers. Governance plans are developed collaboratively with IT & business stakeholders. These plans describe operational policies and procedures and are not just user manuals. A good Governance plan enables the organization to achieve its short-term and long-term objectives with SharePoint.

In this whitepaper, we will explore the various reasons for the emergence of Governance as a critical requirement for organizations implementing SharePoint 2010. We will also identify the key business and IT challenges around SharePoint Governance and analyze the new features in 2010 that will impact an organization’s Governance plan.

Click here to download this whitepaper

Business Continuity Planning Whitepaper

If you had asked people to name some business buzzwords, Business Continuity Planning (BCP) would have rated as high as synergy, empowerment and paradigm shift on September 10^th, 2001. The attack on the Twin towers and the subsequent destruction elevated Business Continuity Planning from a business buzzword to a pressing necessity overnight. TowerGroup, a research and advisory firm estimated the cost to replace technology after the September 11 attacks at $3.2 billion which included hardware, software and services¹. Due to such high costs of recovery after a disaster, about one in five organizations never recover from a disaster and go out of business. Most businesses consider only natural disasters and terrorism as threats and dismiss them as highly improbable. On the contrary, surveys conducted by Forrester² indicated that power failures, IT hardware failures and network failures account for 42%, 31% and 21% of business disruptions respectively. Terrorism was responsible only for 4% of disruptions and tornadoes and earthquakes came much lower on the list at 2% and 1% respectively.

Almost all businesses maintain some form of documentation in file systems, on network shares or on in a document management repository like SharePoint. SharePoint’s strengths in document management and collaboration make it an ideal platform for sharing disaster recovery documents, emergency procedures and disseminating critical information throughout the organization. With an increasing number of users depending on SharePoint for performing their day to day jobs, business continuity planning for SharePoint becomes critical.

In this whitepaper, we will explore the challenges and the steps to plan for business continuity for SharePoint. We will also explore some software solutions available from Microsoft that will help recover your SharePoint environment in case of a disaster.

Click here to download this whitepaper

SharePoint Capacity Planning Whitepaper

Recent Forrester research studies have indicated that 61%of all organizations are considering or are currently implementing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) for their enterprise portal needs. Coupled with the fact that almost 40% of IT projects fail for one reason or another, a strong foundation for your portal initiative is important to ensure a successful implementation.

In most organizations, SharePoint is a mission critical application responsible for driving business productivity; therefore, it is important to make certain that the operating environment can scale with the business while matching user expectations. A successful SharePoint implementation will need to answer the following questions:

• What is the minimum amount of hardware needed to deploy SharePoint?
• Will my SharePoint environment scale to support the business requirements?
• What is the optimum server topology to support my user base?
• What are the licensing options?
• What are the usage metrics that will require the business to add additional hardware?

Capacity Planning targeted to your specific environment provides answers to these questions and helps in determining the environment needed for your SharePoint implementation. In this white paper, we will explore the various considerations for performing a Capacity Planning exercise and identify the components needed to determine your optimal infrastructure.

Click here to download the whitepaper

Retrieving Items from a SharePoint List with subfolders using CAML Filtering

When you run a CAML query to retrieve items from a SharePoint list, make sure that your CAML query tag does not include the <Query></Query> tags.  When you include this tag, the filters are disregarded and you will retrieve the entire list

e.g.

A caml query like this

<Query>

<Where>

<Eq>

<FieldRef Name=’Title’>

<Value Type=’Text>Title.xml</Value>

</Query>

Will not retrieve the list item.

Remove the <Query></Query> tags and you should be able to retrieve the results according to the filter specified.

Here is a sample

Empty SharePoint’s Recycle Bin

If you have a lot of items in your SharePoint recycle bin, it will be a pain to select items and delete them page by page.

Here is a cool trick to empty the recycle bin without paging through them

http://itfootprint.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/empty-sharepoint-user-recycle-bin/

Office 2010 Integration with SharePoint 2010 compared with Office 2007

Based on my recent work with SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010, here is a list of my observations of the differences between the two versions of Office when integrating with SharePoint 2010.

Click here to download a PDF version of this comparison

Some enterprises may decide to rollout SharePoint 2010 without upgrading Office. In this case, here are the features that you will miss out on!. This is not a comprehensive nor the official list and is based on my initial experiences. Please post in the comments if you have additional features or if some of these work in 2010

Legend –

– Fully Available

– Unavailable

– Partially Available

Word

Feature	Word 2007	Word 2010
Save to SharePoint
View and Manage Versions
View/Manage/Start Workflows
View and Manage Workflow Tasks
Co-Authoring of the same document simultaneously
Set Managed Metadata Properties
One click document synchronization with the server
Social Integration with Notes and Tags
Office BackStage

PowerPoint

Feature	PowerPoint 2007	PowerPoint 2010
Save to SharePoint
View and Manage Versions
View/Manage/Start Workflows
View and Manage Workflow Tasks
Co-Authoring of the same document simultaneously
Set Managed Metadata Properties
One click document synchronization with the server
Social Integration with Notes and Tags
Office BackStage
Slideshow Broadcasting from Powerpoint through PowerPoint web app
Edit Video and Pictures within the document
Screen Capture Tools

SharePoint Designer

SharePoint Designer 2010 is required to edit SharePoint 2010 sites. It is not backward compatible with MOSS 2007 either.

Outlook

Feature	Outlook 2007	Outlook 2010
Social connector to LinkedIn
Take SharePoint lists offline
Overlay Calendars
Plug-ins to connect to SharePoint social features

Visio

Feature	Visio 2007	Visio 2010
Save to SharePoint
View and Manage Versions
View/Manage/Start Workflows
View and Manage Workflow Tasks
Publish to Visio Web Services from the client
Build Workflows for SharePoint
Import Visio Workflows to SharePoint Designer 2010
Office Backstage

Excel

Feature	Excel 2007	Excel 2010
Save to SharePoint
View and Manage Versions
View/Manage/Start Workflows
View and Manage Workflow Tasks
Co-Authoring of the same document simultaneously
Set Managed Metadata Properties
One click document synchronization with the server
Office BackStage
Improved Publishing to Excel Web Access
Excel SparkLines
Excel data slicers

InfoPath 2010

InfoPath 2010 is needed for customizing the display forms in SharePoint. Forms can be filled in but will not support the features like BCS metadata controls and people selected controls.

 

Windows SharePoint Timer service is not started

When you are trying to install a solution package built using the SharePoint installer from CodePlex, you may run into an issue during the install where you get an error message “Windows SharePoint Timer Service is not started”.

The installer is unable to verify the status of the timer service and hence throws this message.  To remedy, start the install using the application pool account or a farm admin account and the installer would continue its process

Creating a Custom Theme for SharePoint 2010 using PowerPoint

One of the neat little features in SharePoint 2010 is the ability to leverage your organization’s PowerPoint slide to create the look and feel for your SharePoint sites

With MOSS 2007, you had to adhere to a Corporate Style Guide and design your CSS themes manually. 

With 2010 you can leverage any existing Marketing Collateral that you might have and import those styles into SharePoint.

Here is a default SharePoint 2010 site

If you are using PowerPoint 2010, open up any PowerPoint slide and goto the BackStage and click Save As and choose “Office Theme” as your File Type Option.  Give an appropriate name for your theme, since your users will be using this name to identify the theme within the theme gallery

Now that you have saved your theme, Goto Site Settings and goto the Themes gallery and upload your newly created Office Theme

Your custom theme should now be available for your sites.

SharePoint 2010 Public beta is now available

SharePoint Server 2010 Public Beta is now available for download here