SharePoint Web Application Port Number

Not sure which port you should not use?
Check out IANA http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

Event ID: 6398 6482 7076 SharePoint memory is corrupt.

Event ID: 6398 6482 7076
Attempted to read or write protected memory. This is often an indication that other memory is corrupt.


I read a lot of posts saying this was caused by SharePoint and fixed with SP1, and/or an issues with .net 2.0 fixed with .net 2.1. Both are incorrect for my scenario; my servers were completely up to date and all of a sudden I started getting these errors.
I also read that restarting the Services Timer would resolve the issue. All of these are incorrect. The issue is caused by IIS (Adsiis.dll & Wadsiis.dll) and >2 AD users trying to access the same process. None of my dev machines have exhibited these errors because none use AD accounts.


Fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/946517/en-us

Programmatically creating a Rich Text Field in a SharePoint List

Sounds easy enough, but it wasn't immediately obvious.



The below creates a list, adds a Rich Text field with full HTML and adds it to the default view.

27   SPWeb oWeb = null;

28   oWeb = oSite.RootWeb;

29   Guid gList;

30   SPList oList = null;

31   gList = oWeb.Lists.Add("My List", "Some description", SPListTemplateType.GenericList);

32   oWeb.Update();

33   oList = oWeb.Lists[gList];

34   SPFieldMultiLineText oFldBody = (SPFieldMultiLineText)oList.Fields[oList.Fields.Add("Body", SPFieldType.Note, true)];

35   oFldBody.Description = "Replaceable Parameters: {password}, {userid}, {usergroups}, {usersite}, {siteadmin}";

36   oFldBody.RichText = true;

37   oFldBody.RichTextMode = SPRichTextMode.FullHtml;

38   oFldBody.Update();

39   oList.Update();

40 

41   SPView oView = oList.DefaultView;

42   SPViewFieldCollection oViewFields = oView.ViewFields;

43   oViewFields.Add(oFldBody);

44   oView.Update();

SharePoint Copy list item to multiple sites - Feature

There doesn't seem to be any OOTB solution to copy list items to > 1 other site... so I wrote a quick aspx page and added it to a feature/solution which I would like to share with you.



The APX page just loops through the Web collection and checks for the list and if it's available enables a checkbox so you can copy the item.


The feature adds a context menu to a list item with a link to the page.


There's nothing compiled so it's easy to edit (just open the solution file).



Feature link: Download

To Do: Optimize sorting DataView/DataTable, add Doc Library support, add a FeatureActivated/Deactivated to add ASPX page to sitemap, add option to create list if it doesn't exist and change to a dll/code behind.


Keywords: SPGridView, SPList, SPListItem, Copy, Add, Deploy, Feature, context menu.


Notes: I haven't tested this in a production environment

Screenshots:

Filtering SharePoint List Libraries with Web Part Filters

Sometimes you need to filter data (ListViews/DataViews/Other web parts) based on some criteria be it the persons name, their email, a specific date range or from a parameter.

Microsoft provide a number of these Web Parts called filters. The problem is they only provide these in the Enterpri$e ver$ion.


So I made my own and I'm sharing them with you....

ray1.net Web Part Filters feature is comprised of 6 web parts.

1. ray1.net Content Connector. This is a simple Literal Control that renders the value of a connection, or the text you specify. You can use it with, say the UserFilter and render some text that says "Welcome to my site UserFilter value!"
   


2. ray1.net Filter Web Part: Current Page. This web part provides a filter connection that send information about the current page. The page needs to be in a list. You can use this to filter content based on who created the page or the file size or the modified date.
   
   


3. ray1.net Filter Web Part: Date. This web part provides a filter connection that sends information about a selected date or date range. Say you had a DataView web part that sent a parameter to an SQL stored procedure.
   
   


4. ray1.net Filter Web Part: QueryString. This filter accepts a QueryString parameter and connects to another web part. Pretty simple really, name the filter the same as the querystring parameter and your done.
   


5. ray1.net Filter Web Part: User Name. This web part provides a User Name connection filter. This web part makes this feature incompatible with WSS v3, as I use the "Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager" class.
   
   


6. ray1.net Filter Web Part: Web ID. This web part provides a filter connection that sends the Web ID. Another simple one, but useful... Say you have a bunch of sites using the same template and you wanted to filter an SQL query.
   

All the filters accept multiple connections, and this is what they look like in edit mode.





This is what they look like normally





Download link: ray1.net Web Part Filters

To do: I could add a Text Filter and maybe change the Content Connector to accept n number of connections.



Keywords: Filter, web part, listview, SPSlicerBaseWebPart, ToolPart, IWebPartField, GetConnectionInterface, Connection Consumer Provider

Report Server - SharePoint: IReportViewerMessages or could not be found

If you have Report Server running in a virtual directory under a SharePoint web app.



Error: The type Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.Analytics.UI.ReportViewerMessages, Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c does not implement IReportViewerMessages or could not be found.



Cause: Look in your SharePoint web.config file you'll see
<add key="ReportViewerMessages" value="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.Analytics.UI.ReportViewerMessages, Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />.



Fix: I looked at the Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.Analytics Namespace and couldn't find a UI.ReportViewerMessages, so I just removed it from the web.config and I haven't experienced any issues.

You can also remove the setting from your ReportServer web.config's just add:

<appSettings>
 <remove key="ReportViewerMessages" />

</appSettings>

Report Server Error: The request failed with HTTP status 400: Bad Request

This also applies to the error message: Microsoft.ReportingServices.UI.Global+RSWebServiceWrapper+CantCommunicateWithReportServerException: The report server is not responding. Verify that the report server is running and can be accessed from this computer.

This took me a little while to figure out, but my initial suspicion was that it was related to the fact I was using it in a Host Header site, ei: I had changed lmhosts or I had multiple web sites using port 80.

Cause:

Report server uses the machine name when setting the config files, but when it tries to reference the url it can't be found because it's in another web site.
In my case the server was called MOSSDEV, and the report server virtual directories were in a web site called premisys.

Fix:

1. Open "RSWebApplication.config" in the "Report Manager Virtual Directory".
   Right click the virtual directory icon in inetmgr, choose open.
   Default is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\ReportManager


2. Enter the full Report Server URL in the <ReportServerUrl> node.
   Eg:
   <ReportServerUrl>http://premisys/ReportServer</ReportServerUrl>
   


3. Delete the <ReportServerVirtualDirectory> value but not the node.
   


4. Open "rsreportserver.config" in the "Report Server Virtual Directory".
   Default is: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.3\Reporting Services\ReportServer
5. Change the <urlroot>http://<servername>/ReportServer</urlroot>
   to match your URL.

Customizing the sharepoint search control

There are a couple ways of doing this.

1. Modify ..\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\ContentLightup\Controls\searchArea.xml


2. Modify ..\12\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES\searcharea.ascx


3. Create a new feature and control


4. Create a new feature that changes parameters for "SmallSearchInputBox"

I believe option 4 to be the best as it uses Microsoft.SharePoint.PortalWebControls.SearchBoxEx class and you don't need to create a new control.

There are a large number of properties you can use to customize the control and you should find the one you're looking for
microsoft.sharepoint.portal.webcontrols.searchboxex_properties.


So how do we customize it?
Create a new feature.

1. Create a new directory anywhere eg: C:\RPSearchFeature


2. Create a new manifest.xml in C:\RPSearchFeature with the following:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <Solution
   xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" 
    SolutionId="GENERATE_A_GUID" 
    ResetWebServer="True" 
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <FeatureManifests>
     <FeatureManifest Location="PortalSearch\feature.xml" />
    </FeatureManifests>
   </Solution>
   

   
   


3. Create "C:\RPSearchFeature\PortalSearch\feature.xml" with:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <Feature  Id="7095f774-1efa-4879-b074-ff211f5559c7"
             Title="Small Portal Search"
             Description="Smaller search bar without scopes"
             Version="12.0.0.0"
             Hidden="FALSE"
             Scope="Web"
             DefaultResourceFile="core"
             xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
     <ElementManifests>
       <ElementManifest Location="elements.xml"/>    
     </ElementManifests>
   </Feature>
   

   
   


4. Create "C:\RPSearchFeature\PortalSearch\elements.xml" with:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
   <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <Control
     Id="SmallSearchInputBox"
     Sequence="25"
     ControlClass="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.SearchBoxEx" 
     ControlAssembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c">
     <Property Name="SearchResultPageURL">/search/results.aspx</Property>
     <Property Name="FrameType">None</Property>
     <Property Name="DropDownMode">HideDD_NoScope</Property>
     <Property Name="TextBoxWidth">140</Property>
     <Property Name="ShowAdvancedSearch">false</Property>
    </Control>
   </Elements>

   
   


5. 
   Wrap the feature up in to a solution "SearchFeature.wsp" with cabpack
   


6. 
   Deploy the solution.
   


7. 
   Enable the feature (Scope is web, but you can change it to site if that suits you).
   

The instruction that will enable these parameters over the default is the sequence number. The default sequence is 99, so anything below 99 will load first. The parameters I'm using set the "SearchResultPageURL", hide the scope drop down and remove the advance search link.

Application Event Log: Unable to connect publishing custom string handler for output caching.

After adding the Reports Services virtual directories to a sharepoint site/web application you see the below in the event log.


Event Type: Error

Event Source: Office SharePoint Server

Event Category: Publishing Cache

Event ID: 5785

Date: 21/05/2008

Time: 3:01:52 PM

User: N/A

Computer:

Description:

Unable to connect publishing custom string handler for output caching. IIS Instance Id is '1957155781', Url is 'http://localhost/ReportServer/ReportService2005.asmx'.



For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Cause: microsoft.sharepoint.publishing.publishinghttpmodule is trying to cache an unmanaged path.

Fix: Remove this httpmodule from the ./ReportServer virtual directory web.config.

Steps:

1. Open the web.config file (D:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\Reporting Services\ReportServer\web.config)
   


2. Locate the <httpModules> node, if it's not there create it below the <httpHandlers> node.


3. Add the following <remove name="PublishingHttpModule" />.

Everytime you call a report or the reportserver URL/web service SharePoint tries to turn caching on and it's not a managed path it throws an error, so we need to remove the module in the reportserver.

{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1} Local Activation SharePoint

Event Type: Error

Event Source: DCOM

Event Category: None

Event ID: 10016

Date: 27/04/2008

Time: 9:35:28 AM

User: VMDomain\SPConfigAcct

Computer: VMDEV

Description:

The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1}
to the user VMDomain\SPConfigAcct SID (S-1-5-21-2183741768-1351022156-4028051374-1111). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.




The event kind of tells you how to fix it: "This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool".
But first we need to figure out what 61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1 is;
Win + R > regedit > search = IIS WAMREG admin Service

1. Win + R C:\WINDOWS\system32\Com\comexp.msc


2. Expand Component Services > Computers > My Comp > DCOM Config


3. Right Click IIS WAMREG admin Service


4. Select Properties > Security


5. Launch and Activation Permissions "Customize" > Edit


6. You need to grant the "user" rights.


7. My user is a SharePoint Config account and as such belongs to the IIS_WPG group, but is also the sole member of WSS_RESTRICTED_WPG group so using the safest security I'm going to use WSS_RESTRICTED_WPG until more errors appear.
   
   Because it's not going to need to lauch or activate remotely I just need to enable "Local".

SharePoint Calculated Fields Use Excel Formulas.

I was recently tasked with resolving a date issue for a Global Portal. People outside the US were complaining about the date format (MM/DD/YYYY)... I've long been a proponent of ISO dates (YYYY-MM-DD) and 28 day months... OK maybe 28 day months wouldn't be so fun for savants to calculate.
Anyway the solution was obviously to include the month name. My first reaction was to change FLDTYPES.xml, then to create a custom field type, and finally it soon became obvious a calculated field should do the trick.

So I searched a minute for a formula to render the date with the month name in the middle... I didn't find any so I created it.
It is a piece of cake to do it in VB and C#, but what does a calculated field provide? As it turns out quite a lot. Everybody knows your classic [Today], LTrim, etc... but what I didn't know it that it supports a lot of Excel functions (not the VBA ones).

Before we get to the list of functions, here's how to write the month name formula:
=TEXT([DateField],"dd") &"/"& TEXT([DateField],"mmm") &"/"& TEXT([DateField],"yyyy")
or
=DAY([DateField]) &"/"& TEXT([DateField],"mmm") &"/"& YEAR([DateField])

or better
=IF(NOT(ISBLANK([DateField])),DAY([DateField])&" "&TEXT([DateField],"mmm")&" "&YEAR([DateField]),"")
Now here's probably what your here for, a list of SharePoint Calculated Field/Column functions:
source (http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP100791861033.aspx)

• Date and time functions

• Information functions

• Logical functions

• Math and trigonometry functions

• Statistical functions

• Text functions

Date and time functions

Function	Description
DATE	Returns the serial number of a particular date
DATEVALUE	Converts a date in the form of text to a serial number
DAY	Converts a serial number to a day of the month
DAYS360	Calculates the number of days between two dates based on a 360-day year
EDATE	Returns the serial number of the date that is the indicated number of months before or after the start date
EOMONTH	Returns the serial number of the last day of the month before or after a specified number of months
HOUR	Converts a serial number to an hour
MINUTE	Converts a serial number to a minute
MONTH	Converts a serial number to a month
NETWORKDAYS	Returns the number of whole workdays between two dates
NOW	Returns the serial number of the current date and time
SECOND	Converts a serial number to a second
TIME	Returns the serial number of a particular time
TIMEVALUE	Converts a time in the form of text to a serial number
TODAY	Returns the serial number of today's date
WEEKDAY	Converts a serial number to a day of the week
WEEKNUM	Converts a serial number to a number representing where the week falls numerically with a year
WORKDAY	Returns the serial number of the date before or after a specified number of workdays
YEAR	Converts a serial number to a year
YEARFRAC	Returns the year fraction representing the number of whole days between start_date and end_date

Information functions

Function	Description
CELL	Returns information about the formatting, location, or contents of a cell
ERROR.TYPE	Returns a number corresponding to an error type
INFO	Returns information about the current operating environment
ISBLANK	Returns TRUE if the value is blank
ISERR	Returns TRUE if the value is any error value except #N/A
ISERROR	Returns TRUE if the value is any error value
ISEVEN	Returns TRUE if the number is even
ISLOGICAL	Returns TRUE if the value is a logical value
ISNA	Returns TRUE if the value is the #N/A error value
ISNONTEXT	Returns TRUE if the value is not text
ISNUMBER	Returns TRUE if the value is a number
ISODD	Returns TRUE if the number is odd
ISREF	Returns TRUE if the value is a reference
ISTEXT	Returns TRUE if the value is text
N	Returns a value converted to a number
NA	Returns the error value #N/A
TYPE	Returns a number indicating the data type of a value

Logical functions

Function	Description
AND	Returns TRUE if all of its arguments are TRUE
FALSE	Returns the logical value FALSE
IF	Specifies a logical test to perform
IFERROR	Returns a value you specify if a formula evaluates to an error; otherwise, returns the result of the formula
NOT	Reverses the logic of its argument
OR	Returns TRUE if any argument is TRUE
TRUE	Returns the logical value TRUE

Math and trigonometry functions

Function	Description
ABS	Returns the absolute value of a number
ACOS	Returns the arccosine of a number
ACOSH	Returns the inverse hyperbolic cosine of a number
ASIN	Returns the arcsine of a number
ASINH	Returns the inverse hyperbolic sine of a number
ATAN	Returns the arctangent of a number
ATAN2	Returns the arctangent from x- and y-coordinates
ATANH	Returns the inverse hyperbolic tangent of a number
CEILING	Rounds a number to the nearest integer or to the nearest multiple of significance
COMBIN	Returns the number of combinations for a given number of objects
COS	Returns the cosine of a number
COSH	Returns the hyperbolic cosine of a number
DEGREES	Converts radians to degrees
EVEN	Rounds a number up to the nearest even integer
EXP	Returns e raised to the power of a given number
FACT	Returns the factorial of a number
FACTDOUBLE	Returns the double factorial of a number
FLOOR	Rounds a number down, toward zero
GCD	Returns the greatest common divisor
INT	Rounds a number down to the nearest integer
LCM	Returns the least common multiple
LN	Returns the natural logarithm of a number
LOG	Returns the logarithm of a number to a specified base
LOG10	Returns the base-10 logarithm of a number
MDETERM	Returns the matrix determinant of an array
MINVERSE	Returns the matrix inverse of an array
MMULT	Returns the matrix product of two arrays
MOD	Returns the remainder from division
MROUND	Returns a number rounded to the desired multiple
MULTINOMIAL	Returns the multinomial of a set of numbers
ODD	Rounds a number up to the nearest odd integer
PI	Returns the value of pi
POWER	Returns the result of a number raised to a power
PRODUCT	Multiplies its arguments
QUOTIENT	Returns the integer portion of a division
RADIANS	Converts degrees to radians
ROMAN	Converts an arabic numeral to roman, as text
ROUND	Rounds a number to a specified number of digits
ROUNDDOWN	Rounds a number down, toward zero
ROUNDUP	Rounds a number up, away from zero
SERIESSUM	Returns the sum of a power series based on the formula
SIGN	Returns the sign of a number
SIN	Returns the sine of the given angle
SINH	Returns the hyperbolic sine of a number
SQRT	Returns a positive square root
SQRTPI	Returns the square root of (number * pi)
SUBTOTAL	Returns a subtotal in a list or database
SUM	Adds its arguments
SUMIF	Adds the cells specified by a given criteria
SUMIFS	Adds the cells in a range that meet multiple criteria
SUMPRODUCT	Returns the sum of the products of corresponding array components
SUMSQ	Returns the sum of the squares of the arguments
SUMX2MY2	Returns the sum of the difference of squares of corresponding values in two arrays
SUMX2PY2	Returns the sum of the sum of squares of corresponding values in two arrays
SUMXMY2	Returns the sum of squares of differences of corresponding values in two arrays
TAN	Returns the tangent of a number
TANH	Returns the hyperbolic tangent of a number
TRUNC	Truncates a number to an integer

Statistical functions

Function	Description
AVEDEV	Returns the average of the absolute deviations of data points from their mean
AVERAGE	Returns the average of its arguments
AVERAGEA	Returns the average of its arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values
AVERAGEIF	Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all the cells in a range that meet a given criteria
AVERAGEIFS	Returns the average (arithmetic mean) of all cells that meet multiple criteria.
BETADIST	Returns the beta cumulative distribution function
BETAINV	Returns the inverse of the cumulative distribution function for a specified beta distribution
BINOMDIST	Returns the individual term binomial distribution probability
CHIDIST	Returns the one-tailed probability of the chi-squared distribution
CHIINV	Returns the inverse of the one-tailed probability of the chi-squared distribution
CHITEST	Returns the test for independence
CONFIDENCE	Returns the confidence interval for a population mean
CORREL	Returns the correlation coefficient between two data sets
COUNT	Counts how many numbers are in the list of arguments
COUNTA	Counts how many values are in the list of arguments
COUNTBLANK	Counts the number of blank cells within a range
COUNTIF	Counts the number of cells within a range that meet the given criteria
COUNTIFS	Counts the number of cells within a range that meet multiple criteria
COVAR	Returns covariance, the average of the products of paired deviations
CRITBINOM	Returns the smallest value for which the cumulative binomial distribution is less than or equal to a criterion value
DEVSQ	Returns the sum of squares of deviations
EXPONDIST	Returns the exponential distribution
FDIST	Returns the F probability distribution
FINV	Returns the inverse of the F probability distribution
FISHER	Returns the Fisher transformation
FISHERINV	Returns the inverse of the Fisher transformation
FORECAST	Returns a value along a linear trend
FREQUENCY	Returns a frequency distribution as a vertical array
FTEST	Returns the result of an F-test
GAMMADIST	Returns the gamma distribution
GAMMAINV	Returns the inverse of the gamma cumulative distribution
GAMMALN	Returns the natural logarithm of the gamma function, Γ(x)
GEOMEAN	Returns the geometric mean
GROWTH	Returns values along an exponential trend
HARMEAN	Returns the harmonic mean
HYPGEOMDIST	Returns the hypergeometric distribution
INTERCEPT	Returns the intercept of the linear regression line
KURT	Returns the kurtosis of a data set
LARGE	Returns the k-th largest value in a data set
LINEST	Returns the parameters of a linear trend
LOGEST	Returns the parameters of an exponential trend
LOGINV	Returns the inverse of the lognormal distribution
LOGNORMDIST	Returns the cumulative lognormal distribution
MAX	Returns the maximum value in a list of arguments
MAXA	Returns the maximum value in a list of arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values
MEDIAN	Returns the median of the given numbers
MIN	Returns the minimum value in a list of arguments
MINA	Returns the smallest value in a list of arguments, including numbers, text, and logical values
MODE	Returns the most common value in a data set
NEGBINOMDIST	Returns the negative binomial distribution
NORMDIST	Returns the normal cumulative distribution
NORMINV	Returns the inverse of the normal cumulative distribution
NORMSDIST	Returns the standard normal cumulative distribution
NORMSINV	Returns the inverse of the standard normal cumulative distribution
PEARSON	Returns the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient
PERCENTILE	Returns the k-th percentile of values in a range
PERCENTRANK	Returns the percentage rank of a value in a data set
PERMUT	Returns the number of permutations for a given number of objects
POISSON	Returns the Poisson distribution
PROB	Returns the probability that values in a range are between two limits
QUARTILE	Returns the quartile of a data set
RANK	Returns the rank of a number in a list of numbers
RSQ	Returns the square of the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient
SKEW	Returns the skewness of a distribution
SLOPE	Returns the slope of the linear regression line
SMALL	Returns the k-th smallest value in a data set
STANDARDIZE	Returns a normalized value
STDEV	Estimates standard deviation based on a sample
STDEVA	Estimates standard deviation based on a sample, including numbers, text, and logical values
STDEVP	Calculates standard deviation based on the entire population
STDEVPA	Calculates standard deviation based on the entire population, including numbers, text, and logical values
STEYX	Returns the standard error of the predicted y-value for each x in the regression
TDIST	Returns the Student's t-distribution
TINV	Returns the inverse of the Student's t-distribution
TREND	Returns values along a linear trend
TRIMMEAN	Returns the mean of the interior of a data set
TTEST	Returns the probability associated with a Student's t-test
VAR	Estimates variance based on a sample
VARA	Estimates variance based on a sample, including numbers, text, and logical values
VARP	Calculates variance based on the entire population
VARPA	Calculates variance based on the entire population, including numbers, text, and logical values
WEIBULL	Returns the Weibull distribution
ZTEST	Returns the one-tailed probability-value of a z-test

Text functions

Function	Description
ASC	Changes full-width (double-byte) English letters or katakana within a character string to half-width (single-byte) characters
CHAR	Returns the character specified by the code number
CLEAN	Removes all nonprintable characters from text
CODE	Returns a numeric code for the first character in a text string
CONCATENATE	Joins several text items into one text item
DOLLAR	Converts a number to text, using the $ (dollar) currency format
EXACT	Checks to see if two text values are identical
FIND, FINDB	Finds one text value within another (case-sensitive)
FIXED	Formats a number as text with a fixed number of decimals
JIS	Changes half-width (single-byte) English letters or katakana within a character string to full-width (double-byte) characters
LEFT, LEFTB	Returns the leftmost characters from a text value
LEN, LENB	Returns the number of characters in a text string
LOWER	Converts text to lowercase
MID, MIDB	Returns a specific number of characters from a text string starting at the position you specify
PHONETIC	Extracts the phonetic (furigana) characters from a text string
PROPER	Capitalizes the first letter in each word of a text value
REPLACE, REPLACEB	Replaces characters within text
REPT	Repeats text a given number of times
RIGHT, RIGHTB	Returns the rightmost characters from a text value
SEARCH, SEARCHB	Finds one text value within another (not case-sensitive)
T	Converts its arguments to text
TEXT	Formats a number and converts it to text
TRIM	Removes spaces from text
UPPER	Converts text to uppercase
VALUE	Converts a text argument to a number

AJAX, Web Services, WSDL and SharePoint

You may at some stage have to work for a client who's very particular about security, what web parts can be used and even whether sharepoint designer can be used.

Recently I had the opportunity to work for one such client who wanted considerable customization, but without the use of SPD, creating a custom web part was out of the question, the sharepoint servers were on another continent, and I was given contribute permissions one a subsite. Like I've said many times before I hate telling somebody something can't be done.

The customizations involved cross site permissions checking, aggregating, site meta data displaying and performing actions on new/edit forms for particular content types. The only option I could think of was talking to sharepoint's web services with IE's XMLHttpRequest object.

Some people think that AJAX is some fancy new'ish library that enables you to do clientside post backs; well it is and it isn't... it's been around since the turn of the millennium and most of the AJAX tool kits/libraries have a lot fluff for browser compatibility, and if your not working in an environment where you need to support multiple browsers I wouldn't bother with any pre-packaged library/toolkit.


All you need is to instantiate an HttpRequest object, IE7 and FF have it built in so you can call methods without creating the ActiveXObject.



So how is it done?

1.- Assign a variable to the Request object

2.- Open a connection to the web service

3.- Post some data to the service



4.- Capture the reply




5.- Do some formatting







That simple, but there's more to it...

The web service is going to expect the post in some form, so most have a WSDL (Web Service Definition Language) you can query to build your post. SharePoints web services lay it all out for you to just cut & paste pretty much.

The web service is also going to send back the data in some form, usually XML. You can use javascript to interpret the XML string, but all browsers come with an XML parser. So you load the XML from the web service in to an XML DOM object, and now you can loop through, and extract the data. Look here for available methods: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms757828(VS.85).aspx

You're probably here because you want code. Here's fireWS.zip a web page you can run on your local machine that will query the WSDL, or you can put the source in a content query web part and run it from any page in SharePoint. Looking at its source should give you a good idea of how to query the WSDL, loop through nodes and construct the XML post.

Below the break down of the page and bear in mind that this is a demo and the code can be refactored... Originally it was a Javascript class, so all you would do was call new fireWS(constuc webservice), but I've split it out to individual functions and used global variables instead of properties.




Start off by creating a couple of global variables to share among the functions:

var sXmlDomVer='MSXML2.DOMDocument.3.0',oWsdlXml, oSoapXml, oSoapBody, oSoapOp;

The below instantiates a request object, and takes the web service url and the xml string to post. If you want to support other browsers add some checks here.

function fireWS(sWSUrl, sXml){
 var oXmlHttp=false;
 if(!oXmlHttp && typeof XMLHttpRequest!='undefined') {
  try {oXmlHttp = new XMLHttpRequest();}
  catch(e){oXmlHttp=false;}
 }
 if(!oXmlHttp && window.createRequest) {
  try {oXmlHttp = window.createRequest();} 
  catch(e){oXmlHttp=false;}
 }
 if(!oXmlHttp){
  try{oXmlHttp = window.createRequest();} 
  catch(e){oXmlHttp = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP');}
 }
 if(!oXmlHttp){alert('Sorry, you\'re browser doesn\'t support this control')}
 if(!sXml){method='GET'}
 else{method='POST'}
 oXmlHttp.open(method, sWSUrl, false); 
 oXmlHttp.setRequestHeader('Content-Type','text/xml; charset=utf-8');
 oXmlHttp.send(sXml);
 document.getElementById('headers').innerText = oXmlHttp.statusText +' '+ oXmlHttp.getAllResponseHeaders();
 if (oXmlHttp.readyState==4){
  return oXmlHttp.responseText;
 }
}

This function parses an XML string and returns an XMLDOM object. If you want to support other browsers add some checks here.

function xmlParse(str){
 oXmlDom = new ActiveXObject(sXmlDomVer)
 oXmlDom.async = false;
 oXmlDom.loadXML(str); 
 if (oXmlDom.parseError.errorCode != 0){
    var myErr = oXmlDom.parseError;
    if(document.getElementById('debug').checked){alert('Error parsing xml ' + myErr.reason +'\n\n'+ str)}
 }
 return oXmlDom;
}

This function is used to search for a paraticular node.

function getMyNode(obj, nodeName, attribute, attributeVal){
 try{objXml = obj.getElementsByTagName(nodeName);}
 catch(e){}
 if(objXml.length == 0){objXml = obj.getElementsByTagName(nodeName.substring(nodeName.indexOf(':')+1,nodeName.length));}
 if(objXml.length == 0){return false}
 if(attribute != null && objXml){
  for(var i=0; i<objXml.length; i++){if(objXml[i].getAttribute(attribute) == attributeVal){return objXml[i];}}
  return false;
 }
 return objXml;
}

This function is used to add a node to another node. Looks like I wanted to be able to define the position to add it in, then I changed my mind.

function addMyNode(oSoap, type, nodeName, parentNode, v, ns){
 var newNode = oSoap.createNode(type, nodeName, ns);
 try{
  switch(type){
   case 1:
    if(v){newNode.text = v};
    return parentNode.appendChild(newNode);
   case 2:    
    if(v){newNode.text = v};
    return parentNode.attributes.setNamedItem(newNode);
   default:
    return parentNode.appendChild(newNode);
  }
 }
 catch(e){
  if(document.getElementById('debug').checked){alert('Error creating node "'+ nodeName +'"\ntype '+ type +'\nv '+ v +'\n\n'+ e.description)}
 }
}

This removes childnodes so you can run a new query.

function removeChildNodes(oXml){
 for(var i=0;i<oXml.childNodes.length;i++){
  oXml.removeChild(oXml.childNodes.item(i));
 }
}

This is for adding table rows to the SOAP properties table.

function renderPropsTbl(sProp,oProp){
 if(document.getElementById('tblConnProps')!=null){
  var oTbl = document.getElementById('tblConnProps');  
 }
 else{
  var oTbl = document.createElement('table'); 
  oTbl.id = 'tblConnProps';
  document.getElementById('divConnProps').appendChild(oTbl);
 }
 var newRow = oTbl.insertRow(oTbl.rows.length);
        newRow.id = newRow.uniqueID;     
 var newCell;
        newCell = newRow.insertCell(0);
        newCell.id = newCell.uniqueID;
        newCell.innerText = sProp;
        newCell = newRow.insertCell(1);
        newCell.id = newCell.uniqueID;
  newCell.appendChild(oProp);
}

This is for removing table rows from the SOAP properties table.

function removePropsTbl(iTR){
 var tblConnProps = document.getElementById('tblConnProps');
 for(var i=tblConnProps.rows.length-1;i>=iTR; i--){tblConnProps.deleteRow(i);}
}

This for finding the bindings in the WSDL, I should really figure out an intelligent way of finding out the namspac, but instead I just use wsdl.

function getWdslBinding(url){
 var oProps = document.getElementById('divConnProps');
  oProps.innerHTML = ''; 
 oWsdlXml = xmlParse(fireWS(url +'?WSDL'));  
 var oWsdlBindings = getMyNode(oWsdlXml, 'wsdl:binding');
 if(oWsdlBindings){
  var oBindings = document.createElement('select');
   oBindings.id = 'selBinding';
   oBindings.attachEvent('onchange',getWdslOperations);   
  for(var i=0; i<oWsdlBindings.length; i++){    
   if(oWsdlBindings[i].attributes.length > 0){
    var newopt = document.createElement('option');
     newopt.value = oWsdlBindings[i].getAttribute('name');
     newopt.text = oWsdlBindings[i].getAttribute('name');
     oBindings.options.add(newopt);
   }
  }
  renderPropsTbl('Binding Port:',oBindings);
  getWdslOperations();
 } 
}

This needs a bit of work but it finds the operations for the selected binding, and it sorts the operations for aestetics.

function getWdslOperations(){
 try{removePropsTbl(1)}
 catch(e){}
 var oWsdlOps = getMyNode(oWsdlXml,'wsdl:binding','name',document.getElementById('selBinding').value);
 if(getMyNode(oWsdlOps,'soap12')){sSoapVer = 'soap12';sSoapNS = 'http://www.w3.org/2003/05/soap-envelope';}
 else{sSoapVer = 'soap';sSoapNS = 'http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/soap/envelope/';} 
 oSoapXml = xmlParse('<' + sSoapVer +':Envelope xmlns:'+ sSoapVer +'="'+ sSoapNS +'"/>');
 oSoapBody = addMyNode(oSoapXml, 1, sSoapVer +':Body', oSoapXml.documentElement, '', sSoapNS);
 oWsdlOps = getMyNode(oWsdlOps,'wsdl:operation'); 
 if(oWsdlOps){
  var oOps = document.createElement('select');
   oOps.id = 'selOps';
   oOps.attachEvent('onchange',getWdslOpElements);      
  arrWsdlOps = new Array();
  for(var i=0; i<oWsdlOps.length; i++){
   if(oWsdlOps[i].attributes.length > 0){
    arrWsdlOps.push(oWsdlOps[i].getAttribute('name'));
   }
  }
  arrWsdlOps.sort();
  for(var i=0; i<arrWsdlOps.length; i++){
   var newopt = document.createElement('option');
    newopt.value = arrWsdlOps[i]; newopt.text = arrWsdlOps[i];
    oOps.options.add(newopt);
  }  
  renderPropsTbl('Operation:',oOps);
  getWdslOpElements();
 }
}

This gets the elements for an operations and adds an input fields.

function getWdslOpElements(){
 try{
  removePropsTbl(2);
  document.getElementById('result').innerText = '';  
  oSoapBody.removeChild(oSoapOp);  
 }
 catch(e){}
 var sOp = document.getElementById('selOps').value;
 oWsdlOpElem = getMyNode(oWsdlXml,'s:element','name',sOp);
 oSoapOp = addMyNode(oSoapXml, 1, sOp, oSoapBody, '', oWsdlXml.documentElement.getAttribute('targetNamespace'));
 if(oWsdlOpElem.hasChildNodes()){  
  oWsdlOpParams = getMyNode(oWsdlOpElem,'s:element');  
  for(var i=0; i<oWsdlOpParams.length; i++){
   if(oWsdlOpParams[i].attributes.length > 0){ 
    var sOpParamType = oWsdlOpParams[i].getAttribute('type'), sOpParamName = oWsdlOpParams[i].getAttribute('name'), iInputType;
    if(oWsdlOpParams[i].hasChildNodes()){iInputType = 1;}
    else{
     if(sOpParamType.indexOf('tns:')>-1){
      var oTNSOpParams = getMyNode(oWsdlXml, 's:simpleType', 'name', sOpParamType.replace('tns:',''));
      if(oTNSOpParams){
       oTNSOpParams = getMyNode(oTNSOpParams, 's:enumeration');      
       iInputType = 2;
      }
      else{iInputType = 1;}
     }
     else{iInputType = 0;}
    }    
    switch(iInputType){
     case 1:
      var oOpPN = document.createElement('textarea');
       oOpPN.cols = 60;oOpPN.rows = 3;
       sOpParamType = 'XML Schema';
      break;
     case 2:
      var oOpPN = document.createElement('select');
      for(var iT=0; iT<oTNSOpParams.length; iT++){
       if(oTNSOpParams[iT].attributes.length > 0){
        var newopt = document.createElement('option');
         newopt.value = oTNSOpParams[iT].getAttribute('value');
         newopt.text = oTNSOpParams[iT].getAttribute('value');
         oOpPN.options.add(newopt);
       }
      }
      break;
     default:
      var oOpPN = document.createElement('input');
      oOpPN.size = 80;
    }    
    oOpPN.id = 'soapp'+ sOpParamName;
    renderPropsTbl(sOpParamName +' ('+ sOpParamType +'):',oOpPN);
    var oOpParam = addMyNode(oSoapXml, 1, sOpParamName, oSoapOp, '',oWsdlXml.documentElement.getAttribute('targetNamespace'));
   }
  }
  renderPropsTbl('',document.createElement('<INPUT TYPE="Button" NAME="buildSoap" VALUE="Fire Soap" onclick="buildSoap();" class="btn">'));
 }
}

This loops through the form and builds the SOAP post.

function buildSoap(){
 var soapFlds = document.getElementById('tblConnProps').getElementsByTagName('*');
 for(var i=0;i<soapFlds.length;i++){
  if(soapFlds[i].value != '' && soapFlds[i].id.indexOf('soapp')>-1){
   if(soapFlds[i].type == 'textarea'){
    try{
     var oFldXml = xmlParse(soapFlds[i].value);
      oFldXml.namespaceURI = oOpParam.namespaceURI;
     var oOpParam = oSoapOp.selectSingleNode(soapFlds[i].id.replace('soapp',''));
      removeChildNodes(oOpParam);
      oOpParam.appendChild(oFldXml.documentElement);
    }
    catch(e){
     try{
      var oOpParam = oSoapOp.selectSingleNode(soapFlds[i].id.replace('soapp',''));
      var oXmlDom = new ActiveXObject(sXmlDomVer)
       oXmlDom.async = false;
       oXmlDom.loadXML('<'+ soapFlds[i].id.replace('soapp','') +' xmlns="'+ oOpParam.namespaceURI +'">'+ soapFlds[i].value +'</'+ soapFlds[i].id.replace('soapp','') +'>');
      oSoapOp.replaceChild(oXmlDom.documentElement, oOpParam);      
     }
     catch(e){alert('Error in buildSoap(): '+ e.description);}
    }
   }
   else{
    try{
     var oOpParam = oSoapOp.selectSingleNode(soapFlds[i].id.replace('soapp',''));
     oOpParam.text = soapFlds[i].value;
    }
    catch(e){}
   }
  }
 } 
 fireSoap(oSoapXml.xml,document.getElementById('result'))
}

The rest just renders the output.

function fireSoap(soap, oResDisp){
 var sUrl = document.getElementById('url').value + document.getElementById('asmx').options[document.getElementById('asmx').selectedIndex].text;
 var sRtnXml = fireWS(sUrl, soap);
 document.getElementById('soap').innerText = oSoapXml.xml.replace(/></gi,'>\n<');;
 //document.getElementById('soap').parentElement.style.display = 'block';
 getMethodXml(sUrl);
 if(sRtnXml.indexOf('z:row')>-1){
  var row = xmlParse(sRtnXml).getElementsByTagName('z:row');
  var sAtt = '<table border="1">';
  if(row[0].attributes.length > 0){
   sAtt += '<tr>';
   for(var i=0; i < row[0].attributes.length; i++){sAtt += '<th>'+ row[0].attributes[i].name +'</th>';}
   sAtt += '</tr>';
  }
  for(var i=0; i<row.length; i++){   
   if(row[i].attributes.length > 0){
    sAtt += '<tr>';
    for(var ii=0; ii < row[i].attributes.length; ii++){sAtt += '<td>'+ row[i].attributes[ii].value +'</td>';}
    sAtt += '</tr>';
   }
  }
  sAtt += '</table>'; 
  oResDisp.innerHTML =  sAtt;
 }
 oResDisp.innerText = sRtnXml.replace(/></gi,'>\n<');oResDisp.parentElement.style.display = 'block';
}

Once you start playing around with this you'll soon realize it's power and flexibility, and you could even save yourself the effort of registering more dll's on your server. The holly grail would be to create Http End Points for all your SQL data.

If "Web page security validation" is enable you will not be able to do any add/edit/delete actions, so you're limited to listing. This is also the case with serverside web service calls unless you explicitly "allowunsafeupdates".

This will only work if you download the html file (fireWS.zip) and run it locally with reduced permissions OR reduce your internet zone IE permissions and run it online fireWS.htm.

Usage Example:

1. Enter service URL: http://tb.ohchr.org/
2. Choose web service eg: /_vti_bin/Lists.asmx
3. Operation: GetListCollection
4. Fire Soap
5. You should now see the reply...

Now you have the list GUIDs so you can do some more stuff.

Like:

1. Operation: GetList
2. listName: {17B611E5-4BF5-48C0-8926-E614A8126197}
3. Fire Soap

Cool, we've got all the field names.

Let's try a list query...

1. Operation: GetListItems
2. listName: {17B611E5-4BF5-48C0-8926-E614A8126197}
3. query: <Query><Where><Contains><FieldRef Name="ConventionCode" /><Value Type="Text">C</Value></Contains></Where></Query>
4. viewFields: <ViewFields><FieldRef Name="ID" /><FieldRef Name="Title" /><FieldRef Name="ConventionCode" /><FieldRef Name="ConventionOrder" /><FieldRef Name="Convention" /><FieldRef Name="Author" /></ViewFields>
5. rowLimit: 7
6. Fire Soap

As you can see it's a easy... I haven't tried all the web services as this is just a curiosity for me.

Web services: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms445292.aspx