MS to pull the plug on InfoPath

Alright, guess my post's topic says it all. So, it's true, loud and clear, Microsoft is going to discontinue InfoPath from the next release of SharePoint. MS did launch the InfoPath 2013 along with the suite of other products on SharePoint 2013 and they will support the product for the next 10 years i.e., 2023.

Want to read more on this, click here: http://blogs.office.com/2014/01/31/update-on-infopath-and-sharepoint-forms/

 

Can't get SPContext inside Event Receiver

Just recently came to know about this, thought I might share my learning. It is basically by design that you cannot get the SPContext inside the event handlers. This might leave you wondering then how should you proceed? 

Well, you can of course use event properties passed as argument to the handler to get reference to current web, site, or the list item, etc.

Example below:

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{ 
SPWeb web = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWeb;
//Some code with web 
}

How to hide the quick launch and left panel in SharePoint

While working on a recent assignment for creating a custom master page, the left side quick launch area needed to be hidden. So, I put the below statement in my masterpage's associated  CSS file to override the coreV4.css default behavior:

.s4-ca{

margin-left:0px;

}

Saved my css changes in the SharePoint Designer and checked my changes, while it looked fine on the IE 8+, on Mozilla browser, my page content was coming out / exceeding the right boundary as I was making a centered masterpage.

I used Mozilla's Toggle Tools under developer tools menu and found that the left panel was still occupying space on left and making the page content shift to the right. To fix the space occupied by the left panel, I put the below statement in the custom CSS and it did the trick on Mozilla. Do not forget to save the changes to the CSS after you have made the modifications and then refresh the page. 

#s4-leftpanel{

width:0px!important;

}

You can even try 

#s4-leftpanel{

width:display:none;

}

Add Custom CSS to your SharePoint MasterPage

As often it happens, we have to customize the look-n-feel of the v4.master to achieve the styles as expected by customer. At this point, we end up designing a custom CSS and then associate it within the MasterPage. The steps for doing that are explained below:

• Use an SP2010 control called cssregistration and add a line below the existing csslink:
• Existing line: runat="server" Version="4" />
• Now, add the above mentioned control by putting the line: ="server" name="/Style%20Library/Scripts/style.css" After="coreV4.css" />

What this does is basically it tells the SharePoint to load your custom CSS after the load of the default Corev4.css. This way your styles will supersede the default styles.

Fix the Max Controls Issue in SharePoint

While working with SharePoint MasterPages, sometimes, you might see this peculiar issue, "This page allows a limit of 200 controls, and that limit has been exceeded" and ponder over what could have caused it.

The real source for this exception to be thrown is in the web.config file,

MaxControls

="200" CallStack="true" DirectFileDependencies="10" TotalFileDependencies="50" AllowPageLevelTrace="false" />

So, this is about the limit that Microsoft has typically placed in a SharePoint Web Application's web.config, the SafeMode section has a MaxControls attribute that's set to 200 by default.

Going past this threshold limit may cause stability issues for the page. This could have been caused accidentally while you were adding some custom controls on the Masterpage.

To fix this, do not try to edit the web.config Max Controls setting to a higher number as that is not recommended although for smaller enterprises it might be permissible. However, at large corporations, this would not be allowed by their IT department.

Rather, you should take out a few controls from the MasterPage by editing it in the SharePoint Designer (SPD) and do an IISReset, your page starts working again. This should save your day again.. :)

Steps to consume Aspose Cells license in Code

Recently, I got the chance to use Aspose.Cells in one of my project. Once, you have procured the Product license key which is typically in a .txt file, you can register the license in 4 simple steps:

1. Get rid of any reference to the evaluation period version of the DLL (if used) from your solution
2. Add a folder in the VS2010 Solution and just add a folder and place the required license file (Aspose.Cells.Lic)
3. Make the client license as a part of the VS2010 solution by going to the license property in Visual Studio and choosing In the Properties dialog box, locate the Build Action property. By default, this property is set to Content. Click the property and change the Build Action property to Embedded Resource
4. Before starting the use of the available tool in the visual studio webpart, you need to write the below code atleast once in the code and refer to the correct DLL. 
5. This method can be called on the Page_Load of the Visual Webpart code behind (.cs) file. For more details, use the below mentioned URL to the Aspose team: 
6. http://www.aspose.com/docs/display/cellsnet/Licensing

7. //Instantiate the License class
   Aspose.Cells.License license = new Aspose.Cells.License();
   
   //Pass only the name of the license file embedded in the assembly
   license.SetLicense("Aspose.Cells.lic");

MCTS Finally - End of issues with MCP ID

Long time ago..actually 2 years back, during TechEd 2009, I knew I was on my way to becoming a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) as I had cleared the required certifications-

1. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Configuring (70-630) &
2. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Application Development (70-542)

However, as it happens, the person who was filling-in data on the computer for my certification accidentally created another MCP ID rather than continuing with my previous ID. I was unaware of this during and even after the exam for a long time.

When I realized this, I lost all the joy of clearing my 3rd MS certification and I let it be then. Also, I dumbly provided my then organization email address which was later discontinued by Windows Live services.

Fortunately, today things had to take a different turn, when I saw from one of my colleague the UX for the new MCP site. I decided I got to fix this stuff and earn my MCTS badge. So I looked up the Microsoft site and found the helpline numbers here:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/help/service-asia-pacific.aspx#tab2 (for India)

The helpdesk executive was patient and she understood my issue. She was able to rectify my problem by keeping my older MCP ID and merging the result from the newer one to this. She was polite to update all contact details and replaced my old organization ID.

Voila, there I have it now.. :)

I really hope this helps someone who might have faced a similar issue with MCP ID.