Microsoft SharePoint 2007 – Renaming a MOSS Server

This is the N-the time I’ve had to rename a SharePoint server, and every time I keep on forgetting the exact steps… so these are notes for the (Technical) me.

1. Change each alternate access mapping for MOSS 2007/WSSv3 deployment in Central Admin reflecting new server name
2. Register the change with SharePoint, using:
   
   stsadm -o renameserver -newservername <newname> -oldservername <oldname>
   
   
3. Rename server in Windows
4. Restart server
5. Post restart, update SharePoint farm credentials using:
   
   stsadm -o updatefarmcredentials -userlogin <domain\domainuser> -password <password>
   
   
6. Run an iisreset
7. Check the accounts used in application pools within IIS, update to reflect new machine name accounts
8. Rebuild the search index (remove and recreate)
9. Operation Complete!

Source: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/mirjam/archive/2007/08/06/renaming-a-moss-server.aspx (Thank you Mirjam)

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 – An iPhone Client to view SP Content?

SharePoint comes standard with the support for mobile browsing – and if you’ve used it, you would have to say it does the job. But what if you now you feel like bringing surfacing the information on an iPhone (Besides browsing SharePoint sites directly from Safari)? The product would no doubt be a very attractive app for use on the go.

So recently, I stumbled across quiet an interesting product ‘iShare’ from Spyk software: A SharePoint Client App for the iPhone.

The iShare app allows users to login using Windows Authentication or SharePoint Forms Authentication and view, search and create content within a SharePoint Site. There is a list of files which this little app can open:

Adobe Acrobat (.pdf)

Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)

Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt, .pptx)

Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xslx)

Images (.jpeg, .jpg, .tiff, .gif)

Web pages (.html, .htm, .aspx)

Text Files (.txt)

Contacts (.vcf)

Now, I do not have an iPhone neither have I used this application – so I cannot comment on the product… so give it a shot and leave a comment :) Apparently you can get it on the iPhone Apps Store.

http://www.spyk.com/Products/iShare/Pages/iShare.aspx

Here are some screenshots from the iShare site:

Microsoft SharePoint - Version numbers

It's been the Nth time I've had to checkup the version of SharePoint that is installed on a Farm - and I am now finally keeping this here for my own notes.

All these times I've been hitting back on a very nice post by Penny Coventry that contains a list of SharePoint Patches and respective version numbers:
http://www.mindsharpblogs.com/penny/articles/481.aspx

The easiest ways I use to check version numbers are:
1. In Central Admin, Site Actions > Site settings:



OR

2. In IIS, right click on the web application and select properties > 'HTTP Headers' tab, under Custom HTTP Headers section:

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - Understanding performance considerations in SharePoint OM

A colleague, Fernando Felman has highlighted a very useful and interesting blog spot by Andreas Grabner that walks-thru scenarios and looks into the performance of SharePoint when under various SharePoint object model calls.

Though quite a few points in the post are obvious to the developer, I still think it is worth a good read :)

The article:
SharePoint Object Model Performance Considerations
http://www.infoq.com/articles/SharePoint-Andreas-Grabner

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - SharePoint Lookup Field Relinker Utility

I've had a dig into my code stash, and found that I actually have a tool to help reassociate SharePoint lookup fields to lists. You'd only every really need to reassociate if the list referenced by the lookup field has an altered GUID. The GUID of a list would change if it has been deleted, or if you migrate a list from one environment to another.

I'm quiet flat out atm, so I'll post some more information in the next week or so with instructions on how to use this tool.

Background
This tool was used as part of a migration plan across servers using site backup and restore. The restored site ended up with lists that had lookups that did not associate with the appropriate columns. This is because the ID of the list in the new environment is different after a restore. Therefore the stored lookup field definition will no long be validly pointing to the correct ID of the list column that it was associated with - hence the need for this tool to reassociate such lookup fields with the relevant list columns that it references from.

Hopefully this little tool could help save alot of pain in migrating lookup fields in lists.

Some notes on the utility:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This tool was developed to reassociate or fix SharePoint lookup fields to lists in a site.

This tool is able to:
1. Relink lookup fields
2. Relink multiple lookup fields from an XML definition (Bulk tasks)
3. View Field Schema

This tool is useful in the following scenarios:
1. A list a lookup field is pointing to has been deleted and needs to be linked to a different field in a different list
2. A site backup is made and is restored in a different environment - The lookup fields will no longer link to
the field even thought the appropriate lists may be created. This tool will help relink the fields

Requirements for this tool to run:
1. Must login as Site Administrator - as the code will delete the lookup field and recreate it (Did not use RunWithElevatedPrivileges() for security purposes.)
2. Tool must be run on a WSS v3.0 or MOSS 2007 Server directly
3. Sorry, this tool has only been tested on an English environment - but theoretically should still work
with other localisations of SharePoint instances.

Where to download:
http://www.codeplex.com/SPLookupLinker

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - New SharePoint SDK

In the most recent MSDN flash are the following updates to take note of - some new SharePoint SDK releases:

Download the SharePoint Server 2007 SDK (Aug 08 1.4 Refresh)
The August 2008 update of the SharePoint Server 2007 SDK contains documentation for new and improved features in the Infrastructure Update for Microsoft Office Servers and new conceptual, procedural, and reference information. You can also view the August update online.

Download the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK (Aug 08 1.4 Refresh)
See the latest additions to the Windows SharePoint Services SDK. Find conceptual overviews, programming tasks, and references for Windows SharePoint Services. View the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK online.

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - WSS and MOSS VPCs

I just discovered Microsoft provides VPC's for SharePoint evaluation. If you are a little lazy and don't already have a VPC, these maybe a good starting point:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 VHD (24 July 2007):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=67f93dcb-ada8-4db5-a47b-df17e14b2c74&DisplayLang=en

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 Developer Evaluation VPC Image (3 July 2008):
http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1BEEAC6F-2EA1-4769-9948-74A74BD604FA&displaylang=en

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - Changing service accounts and service account passwords in SharePoint

I was trying to change passwords for my VPC and I stumbled across these very nice articles.

This Microsoft KB talks about changing the service account/service account password for WSSv3 and MOSS2007:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934838

Joel Oleson's article talks about some additional tips including updating Search Service credentials:
http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2006/08/22/712945.aspx

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - Including/Excluding a list in the Search Index

Have the search results in your WSS/MOSS environment been ugly with all that list data? Did you want the content source to include content excluding list data?

In SharePoint, the content in each list can be configured to be included or excluded from being indexed in search crawls.

Through the SharePoint UI, this option is called "Allow items from this list to appear in search results?" and is located in the Advanced List Settings:



Through the SharePoint API, this option is exposed as a property called "NoCrawl" (for the list named "Hidden From Search List"):


SPSite site = new SPSite("http://siteurl");
SPWeb web = site.RootWeb;
SPList list = web.Lists["Hidden From Search List"];
list.NoCrawl = false;
list.Update();


After this property has been updated, the next time SharePoint Search crawls, it would skip indexing the list with a NoCrawl value of false.

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - Sample Event Handler to set Permissions

I recently had to dig up something I learnt in the past so, here it is - a good example posted by Ishai Sagi to show a great example for:

• Getting a list item in the event handler
• Impersonating another user totally (without using RunWithElevatedPrivilages)
• Changing permissions for an item
• Creating a new permission role in a web site
• Checking if a role exists or not

http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/2007/03/sample-event-handler-to-set-permissions.html

Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 - Saving a Site as a Site Template

There's a page in SharePoint that allows you to save a Site directly as a Site Template to the Site Templates Gallery. The URL is http://(sharepoint site)/_layouts/savetmpl.aspx

Apparently, there is no link in the settings page to this url in SharePoint.

With this, you can customise a site, and then save it as a template for future use. This serves as an alternative to using the stsadm backup and restore command.

Here's a screenshot of what the page looks like.

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - SharePoint Branding Tool v1.7.0 (Custom tool for themes, masterpages, site logos...)

This is an update for this article.

I've been quiet busy recently but I was still able to squeeze some time into improving this tool. I can't think of anymore to improve on without over-doing it. That being said, feel free to send me a post on my blog for suggestions. I hope it will be a useful tool.

You can get the tool at codeplex

http://www.codeplex.com/BrandingTool.

Here is the readme:

SharePoint Branding Tool v1.7.0 Released

This tool can be used apply the following actions for multiple Site Collections, and Child Sites:

-modify Themes,
-modify MasterUrl (Master Page),
-modify CustomMasterUrl (System Master Page),
-modify SiteLogoUrl (Site Logo),
-modify SiteLogoDescription (Site Logo Alternative Text),
-modify AlternateCssUrl (Custom CSS Style Sheet)
-view various properties of sites and themes at a glance

Selection of sites can be filtered by the Site Template used.

In this version I have made the following enhancements from feedback:
-UI Improvement: Less intrusive messages
-UI Improvements: Status Strip for operation reporting, etc
-Different SharePoint language version support (Dynamic install path support - for Spanish support)
-Improved error message reporting
-Improved operation reporting
-Configuration file support


And here are some screen shots of the new app:






Remember the tool not only does the job using the SharePoint Object Model, but it also allows you to do it through the SharePoint UI:


You can get the tool at codeplex

http://www.codeplex.com/BrandingTool.

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - Stsadm extensions

"The branding tool is out. What next? How about an stsadm tool for themes?"

After a search on google, it seems Gary Lapointe has beat me to it:
http://stsadm.blogspot.com/2008/01/apply-theme.html

He's created a very useful list of stsadm extended commands found here.
(http://stsadm.blogspot.com/2007/08/stsadm-commands_09.html)

The source code can be downloaded here:
http://www.thelapointes.com/blog/stsadm.zip

The installation file can be downloaded here:
http://www.thelapointes.com/blog/Lapointe.SharePoint.STSADM.Commands.wsp

Here's a listing of the additional commands:

1. createquotatemplate


2. editquotatemplate


3. setmastersitedirectory


4. setallowaccesstoonlinegallery


5. disableuserpermissionforwebapp


6. enableuserpermissionforwebapp


7. setselfservicesitecreation


8. connecttoportalsite


9. setsitegeneralsettings


10. setuserprofiledefaultaccessaccount


11. setuserprofileimportschedule


12. gen2003to2007profilepropertymap


13. migrate2003profilesto2007


14. setpictureurlnewpath


15. setsitenamingformat (use mysitesettings instead)


16. enuminstalledsitetemplates


17. enumavailablesitetemplates


18. addavailablesitetemplate


19. removeavailablesitetemplate


20. enumnavigation


21. addnavigationnode


22. setnavigationnodes


23. copynavigation


24. enumfeatures


25. copycontenttypes


26. enumavailablepagelayouts


27. fixpublishingpagespagelayouturl


28. repairsitecollectionimportedfromsubsite


29. convertsubsitetositecollection


30. setsitedirectoryscanviewurls


31. enumtimerjobdefinitions


32. exportlist


33. importlist


34. copylist


35. getlistschemaxml


36. enumunghostedfiles


37. reghostfile


38. deletelistfield


39. moveweb


40. managecontentdbsettings


41. addsiteadmin


42. deleteweb2


43. mysitesettings


44. upgrade2


45. enumpagewebparts


46. movewebpart


47. setwebpartstate


48. retargetcontentquerywebpart


49. replacefieldvalues


50. applyupgradeareaurlmappings


51. publishitems


52. setlocalsitedirectory


53. import2


54. setsearchcenter


55. replacewebpartcontent


56. enumeffectivebaseperms


57. createwebapp


58. deletewebapp


59. exportlistitem


60. importlistitem


61. copylistitem


62. deletelistitem


63. setnavigationsettings


64. enumprofileprivacypolicies


65. setprofileprivacypolicy


66. enumprofileproperties


67. editprofileproperty


68. exportlistfield


69. importlistfield


70. updatelistfield


71. deletelist


72. copylistsecurity


73. updatelistview


74. setsspacl


75. createsearchscope


76. updatesearchscope


77. addsearchrule


78. setauditsettings


79. setusageanalysis


80. adduser2


81. adduserpolicyforwebapp


82. addlistitem


83. exportlistitem2


84. movesite


85. applytheme


86. retargetgroupedlistingswebpart


87. sitewelcomepage


88. enumwelcomepages


89. createcontentdb


90. createsiteindb


91. exportcontenttypes


92. exportsitecolumns


93. importsitecolumns


94. setanonymousaccess

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - SharePoint Branding Tool v1.6.0 (Custom tool for themes, masterpages, site logos...)

This is an update for this article.

I spent a few more hours trying to update the user interface and to make the tool a little easier to use.

Update 1: New options
The interface is more refined and has shortcuts to open the site directly from a context menu. New items in the "File" menu for easy access to SharePoint Theme files and folders.


Update 2: More Information at a glance
I've added an extra DataGrid View to show properties of the selected site or selected theme. This version also shows the theme preview.


Update 3: Easier to use interface
I've reduced the pop-ups and tried to bring is all together in the one window.


Enjoy!

You can get the latest (v1.6.3) SharePoint Branding Tool here:
http://www.codeplex.com/BrandingTool

Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Call-Outs in CRM to create new SharePoint Sites

This article was kept in my draft stash for quite some time now, and I found it really useful and relevant to another post, which I published not long ago.

This article is a technical tutorial on developing call-outs for Microsoft CRM to create new SharePoint sites. Call-outs are custom "logic" that is executed as a result of a CRM workflow reponse.

The article is listed below:
The purpose of the integration is to create collaboration sites on SharePoint 2007 as new accounts or opportunities are created in Microsoft CRM
http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/MOSS_2007-CRM_Integration.asp

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - SharePoint Configured as a CRM Tool (DIY tutorial)

This is an interesting flash movie that teaches on how to customise a SharePoint Site as a CRM application.
http://www.sharepointhosting.com/tutorials/sharepoint-sales-crm/sharepoint-sales-crm.html

Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Third Party Tool to extend Document Management capabilities of CRM using SharePoint

In a previous post, I've discussed about hosting a SharePoint Site as a tab within an iframe in a CRM entity UI. Many people are not developers, and so would need to rely on third party products. KWizCom have always been creating some very good SharePoint add-on products and this time they've created something for just that purpose I mentioned. They created a product which they call the "CRM Connector to SharePoint".

This product not only places a SharePoint site into an entity, but it also creates a new SharePoint site for every entity you create (for the more technical, it comes with a call-out/plug-in for CRM). It supports MOSS 2007, SPS 2003, WSSv3 and WSSv2.

For more information, see the following extract from http://www.kwizcom.com/ProductPage.asp?ProductID=186&ProductSubNodeID=192:

KWizCom CRM Connecor to SharePoint, now supports MOSS 2007 - enables users to better manage documents linked to any CRM entity (Account, Lead, Product etc.).
These document management capabilities are based on Microsoft SharePoint Services, and provide CRM users with the ability to:

• Create document libraries and folders
• Link documents to any CRM entity
• Search for documents from within MS CRM interface
• Expose documents to users who are NOT CRM users
  (and do not have CRM client license)
• Enables sharing applications beyond a single team-site scope

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 - SharePoint Configured as a CRM Tool?

When SharePoint was first released I recall having a conversation with a fellow colleague about the possibility of customising SharePoint as a CRM application.

A company called "BPA" did exactly just that, and named the product "Easy CRM SharePoint" (Easy CRM software solution for Microsoft SharePoint). They have flash demonstrations for this CRM application, and it proves to be very interesting indeed! Click on this link to see it: http://software.crm-sharepoint.com/default.aspx.

So how did they do it? Does it integrate core CRM functionality into Outlook? Would it be better than Microsoft CRM 3.0 itself? Well, having a bit of a look into it, it appears they've used a series of lists, calendars and custom web parts to contribute to CRM functionality. They've even got lists of reports, offline access, an Outlook connector (to attach emails to items) and more. However, as compared to Microsoft CRM 3.0, it does seem like a little child, but I'll leave that to you to judge.

Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Integrating the CRM UI into SharePoint (Page Links)

CRM UI in SharePoint? Easy as 123!
I've been thinking of ways to directly integrate the CRM interface into another web application or web page, such as SharePoint. As a result, I've compiled a list of CRM links for various datagrids used for showing sets of records from CRM. These URL's can be embeded into a SharePoint 2007 page using either a "Site Aggregator" or "Page Viewer" Web Part.



If the page was to be embedded into an iframe within a web page, it is important to note that Internet Explorer may restrict access to it for security purposes. These security settings, however, can be disabled/enabled within Internet Explorer. Otherise a simple frame could be used.

Almost anything can be displayed using these URLs giving the situation satisfies the following:
1) The user account used to log into the client machine has the permissions to access Microsoft CRM records.
2) Integrated Security is enabled, so that credentials are passed
3) The user has access to a particular entity

And finally... the list of links for Microsoft CRM 3.0:

DataGrid Lists
Accounts - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1
Contacts - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=2
Opportunities - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=3
Leads - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=4
Marketing List - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=4300
Reports - http://crm/CRMReports/home_reports.aspx
Activities - http://crm/workplace/home_activities.aspx
Calendar - http://crm/workplace/home_calendar.aspx
Articles - http://crm/workplace/home_answers.aspx
Queues - http://crm/workplace/home_workplace.aspx
Competitors - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=123
Products - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1024
Sales Literature - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1038
Quotes - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1084
Orders - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1088
Invoices - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1090
Quick Campaigns - http://crm/MA/home_minicamps.aspx
Campaigns - http://crm/MA/home_camps.aspx
Cases - http://crm/CS/home_cases.aspx
Contracts - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=1010
Services - http://crm/_root/homepage.aspx?etc=4001

Miscellaneous
Advanced Find - http://crm/AdvancedFind/AdvFind.aspx
CRM Help - http://crm/help/default.aspx

For convenience during customisation, I've also posted the following links for settings and customisations in the following article:
http://sharepointsix.blogspot.com/2007/06/ms-crm-30-crm-settings-pages.html

Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Useful SharePoint Integration Links

The following are links from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 site, which contain tutorials and elements useful for integrating Microsoft CRM data/functionality into SharePoint. Have fun!

* The List Web Part for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 (Installed on any SharePoint Web Part Page)
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using/deploy/crmwebpart.mspx#EWB

* Create a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 dashboard with SharePoint Portal Server
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/using/deploy/integratesharept.mspx

* Displaying Microsoft CRM Business Data in SharePoint Web Parts
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms913709.aspx

* Display a SharePoint document library in a Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 form
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms913709.aspx