SPCustomContextMenu

Hi Guys!

Recently I have got some free time, so I thought of utilizing that time as technically, so I have designed and developed a reusable component for SharePoint list and library, this component will be very useful when you customizing context menu of list , document library and developing workflows

I have seen so many people using below code for customizing SharePoint list context menus. But just think about maintenance

function Custom_AddListMenuItems(m, ctx)
{
Return true;
}

If any changes come in future we need edit the page and modify the javascript and once again we need test that functionality, here we are wasting our valuable time

SPCustomContextMenu

So I have created a feature which will read the xml file and convert into custom context menu the main advantage of this is whenever you change xml file the changes will be automatically reflected in to your custom context menu

This will be very useful when you developing workflows because based on the status of workflow the context menu will change, the administrator will have full control on this no developer interaction

The XML schema looks like this

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<nodes>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>open</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Assign issue</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>assigned</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>In Progress</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Paused</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Set In Progress</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>in progress</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Paused</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Resolved</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>resolved</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Re-Opened</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Closed</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>re-opened</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Assign issue</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>
<node>
<sourcefield>
<fieldname>status</fieldname>
<ifeq>paused</ifeq>
</sourcefield>
<destfield>
<shownode>
<Name>Set in progress</Name>
<ImageUrl>/SiteCollectionImages/ppubicon.gif</ImageUrl>
<ActionLink>/Pages/TestPage.aspx</ActionLink>
</shownode>
</destfield>
</node>

</nodes>

Here the <sourcefield> tag talks about workflow status and <destfield> talks about what to display in custom context menu

I have a issue tracking list as shown in fig

After installing and activating the feature the issue tracking list looks like below see it displays custom context menu based on status of workflow

Using this feature you can modify your custom context menu in minutes

Please mail me for source code raja.mandalapu@gmail.com

Happy coding...

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Long time back I have posted an article on creating page layouts using SharePoint user interface and designer, now I am going to explain how to create page layouts using features

In this article, I am going to use WSPBuilder for building and deploying SharePoint solution, the main advantage of WSPBuilder is no need of creating manifest.xml , DDf file and cab file, the WSPBuilder will take care of creating all these things, so this will simplify our process
First, I am going to explain what are the entire things do we need for building SharePoint page layouts using features

Site Columns

A site column is a reusable column definition, or template, that you can assign to multiple lists across multiple SharePoint sites. These columns are directly mapped to table columns in SharePoint database

Her e I have created three columns Activity Name, Activity ID, Activity Image,

While creating site columns please make sure that each column have its own unique ID
You can get Unique ID using GUID tool

VS2008->Tools->Create GUID->Registry Format->Copy

Type="Text"
Name="ActivityName"
DisplayName="Activity Name"
StaticName="Activity Name"
Hidden="FALSE"
Required="FALSE"
Group="Activity Columns"
Sealed="FALSE" />
Type="Text"
Name="Activity ID"
DisplayName="Activity ID"
StaticName="Activity ID"
Hidden="FALSE"
Group="Activity Columns"
Required="FALSE"
Sealed="FALSE" />
Type="Image"
Name="Activity Image"
DisplayName="Activity Image"
StaticName="Activity Image"
Hidden="FALSE"
Group="Activity Columns"
Required="FALSE"
Sealed="FALSE" />

Site Content Type

Suppose if you want to manage your organization information in meaning full way across site collection then you can go for Site content types

A content type is a reusable collection of settings you want to apply to a certain category of content. Content types enable you to manage the metadata and behaviors of a document or item type in a centralized, reusable way

Here I have created activity content type that tells to the client that this content type belongs to only activity information

Every content type has FieldRef properties, these properties have a reference to site columns ID’s, that means this field(Site Column)and FieldRef both are pointing to same reference, so whenever we update site column’s that will automatically reflect in content type columns also
See below code all FieldRef Id’s are pointing to sit columns ID’s, if you want you can override some of the properties name, description etc…

Using below code we have created a content type, this is simple content type, it does not do anything so, we have to attach this to base page content type using Content type ID

The content type ID is the combination of base page ID and custom GUID which are separated by 00

Please refer MSDN link for more info on content type id http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543822.aspx

Name="ActivityContentType"
Group="Demo"
Description="Demo Content Type"
Version="0">

Layout page

I suggest you guys create layout page using SharePoint designer and copy into your feature folder, so that you will not face any kind of problems and your work will be smooth

Below page is the which I have created using SharePoint designer

All the SharePoint controls of this layout page have a reference to site columns using Fieldname property, the Fieldname is the name of the site column

<%@ Page language="C#" Inherits="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.PublishingLayoutPage,Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing,Version=12.0.0.0,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" meta:webpartpageexpansion="full" meta:progid="SharePoint.WebPartPage.Document" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePointWebControls" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingWebControls" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingNavigation" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>

ProvisionedFiles.xml

I am using module element for deploying our page in master page gallery

Feature.xml

Title="PageLayoutDemo"
Description="Description for PageLayoutDemo"
Version="12.0.0.0"
Hidden="FALSE"
Scope="Site"
DefaultResourceFile="core"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">










So, we have created all necessary files which are required to create pagelayout, now we have to deploy all these files using features

I am using WSPBuilder for deploying all these files, I have posted an article on WSPBuilder please check it, if you need more info

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Using ApplicationDefinitionDesigner to create ADF files

In recent article I have explained some free tools which will make SharePoint development faster

Now, I am going to explain one more tool called ApplicationDefinitionDesigner. This tool will help you to generate ADF file without breaking your head

Business Data Catalogue

Actually the Business Data Catalogue will help you to integrate business data from back end servers such as SAP, Oracle etc… to the SharePoint environment without writing single line of code, for successful implementation of this we need to have an ADF file

Now, I am going to explain how easily we can generate ADF file using this tool

Go to -> Start -> Programs -> ADF -> Click on Connect to Database
It will open a new window with Connection Type and Connection String

Choose type of connection then enter connection string in connectionstring text box
Then Click on Connect

Now, you can see new window with Add Table tab and Add View tab as shown in fig

Then expand Add table tab and drag and drop whatever table you want, here I drag and dropped product table because I like products

Then uncheck unwanted cloumns and click on ok button

Congrats, u have successfully created ADF file using ADF tool

Now, I am going to show you how to test that ADF file

Just right click on method instance name as shown in fig and click on Execute button, it will open new window then enter ProductID and click on Execute button

Finally the results data grid will populate with output

Now, I am going to step into little complex things that is creating filter using ADF tool here I am going to add new filter called color

Expand Entities - > Methods -> Click on method name and edit the sqlquery as shown in fig

Next, right on Filters link and click add filter, it will add new filter and go to the properties box and change the name to Color

Next, Go to parameters link and click on add parameter and then go to properties box and change Name to @Color and right click on @Color and select “Add Root level Element” and then go to properties box and change Name to Color and then the important step is change “FilterDescriptor “ to Color

Once Again you have successfully created ADF file

Next step testing that ADF file

Right click on method name and click on execute, it will open new window, enter ID and Color Values and click on Execute

Hey, What happened to my ADF file why it is not executing I followed all the steps correctly but why that error is coming???

The answer is i have done a mistake at parameters declaration as shown in fig

So now I am going to change that using notepad

Just export this ADF file to desktop and find that element and move it to top

The problem is that the return parameter should be a last parameter

Now execute method it will work properly

Then export this to central administration and use it in your site collection Business data list webpart

Happy Coding…

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Creating New Page Layouts

Usually sharepoint page layouts will work out in most of the requirements but what you will do if it does not meet your requirements you will have to create your own page layouts for use on the site

Creating page layout is accomplished in five steps

1. Define Site Columns
2. Define site Content Type
3. Create Page layout
4. Edit Page Layout
5. Publish and Approve Page Layout

I am going to create a new page layout called Activity page for demo, the main job of this is just to collect activity information from the administrator when it is in Edit mode and it displays data to the end user when it is in publishing mode

First i am going to define site columns these columns are directly mapped to the layout field controls on page

Define Site Columns

Site column is nothing but a reusable column that you can use in mulitple lists across multiple sites

Creating Site Column

1. Open SharePoint Site
2. Got to Site Actions
3. Site Settings
4. Galleries
5. Site Columns
6. Create
7. Enter the Activity Name under Column name textbox
8. Select type of column
9. Create new group called Activity group
10 . Select yes for require that this column contains information
11. i have taken default values for remining two which are Maximum number of charactersa and default value
12. click Ok

Repeat same steps for creating remaining site columns which are listed below

Activity Image - select type to image
Activity Description - select type to multiplie lines
Activity Workflow - select ype to image
Trainings - select type to single text

I hope that you are succesfully created remaining sitecoulmns our next step is creating Site Content Type

1. Open SharePoint Site
2. Got to Site Actions
3. Site Settings
4. Galleries
5. Site Content Types
6. Create

Please have a look into screenshot for remainig steps

Our next step is to create new Page Layout

1. Open SharePoint Site
2. Got to Site Actions
3. Site Settings
4. Galleries
5. Master pages and page layouts
6. Create



Follow the screen shot for remaining steps






Next, we have to edit the page layout using sharepoint designer



Go to Start -> Programs -> Microsoft Office -> Microsoft Office SharePoint Desinger2007 -> File -> Open Site... -> Enter site url


You can see checked-out activity page under master page gallery refer below screen shot






You can see all site coumns under Content Fields Section just drag and drop Activity Name ,Activity Descrption, Activity Workflow, activty Image and Trainings on to activity page

Next, just right click on activity page and click on check-in and select publish a major version

Next, click on yes

After clicking yes you will be automatically redirected to Master Page Gallery there you can find all pending files to approve

For approvning these files you should have a approvel permissons then right click on activity page and click on Approve/Reject link

It will open a new page with approved, rejected and pending options just click approved radio button and give proper comments and clikc on ok

We are successfully created new page layout our next step is to create a new page using this page layout

Site Actions -> Create Page

Now you can see "Activity page layout" under layout drop down list. Fill Title and URL name textboxes and click on create button you will get a new page with place holders just populate with data and click on publish button

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I found something that when i bind SPGridView using SharePoint object model.
The strange thing is that if I use this code everything works fine

SPDataSource dataSource = GetTravelExpenses();
string sCommand = @"<Query><Where>
<Eq>
<FieldRef Name='Travel_x0020_Request' />
<Value Type='Lookup'>" + ddlTravelRequest.SelectedItem.Text + "</Value> </Eq> </Where></Query>";
dataSource.SelectCommand = sCommand;
spGrid.DataSource = dataSource;
spGrid.DataBind();

But when I use this code the CAML query is failing to get data from Travel Request List

SPDataSource dataSource = GetTravelExpenses();
string sCommand = @"<Where>
<Eq>
<FieldRef Name='Travel_x0020_Request' />
<Value Type='Lookup'>" + ddlTravelRequest.SelectedItem.Text + "</Value> </Eq> </Where>";
dataSource.SelectCommand = sCommand;
spGrid.DataSource = dataSource;
spGrid.DataBind();

I found the reason that the <Query></Query> element is missing in the second scenario finally I decided to check this with SPQuery i was shocked that everything works fine

SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
query.Query = @"<Where>
<Eq>
<FieldRef Name='Travel_x0020_Request' />
<Value Type='Lookup'>" + ddlTravelRequest.SelectedItem.Text + "</Value> </Eq> </Where>";

My question is why SPDataSource.SelectCommand is failing to get data from Travel Request List when i use CAML query without <Query></Query> element

If anybody knows answer please…………. share with me…

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Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

Microsoft is going to release Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to get more knowledge on this click here

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IE Crashes when ever my client check-out a file from document library

Today morning my client has come up with a problem that when he tries to check-out or check-in a document from a document library, he was getting strange error message, the IE was not able to open Word document, that too it was coming only for few employees

After seeing end user environment details i find out that they have installed offcie2003 along with office 2007 on same computer

Usually this problem occurs when you install one or more 2007 Office system programs on the computer along with office2003.

Microsoft provides Hot-fix for this problem you can download it using this link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/938888

After installing this hot-fix everything works fine

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SharePoint Media Streaming WebPart

Recently I have implemented media streaming web part (YouTube technology) for one of my client, I would like to share this with you guys

This I have developed for one of my client so, I am not going to share code with you guys.

Media streaming web part uses windows media server for playing media files because It is especially useful for streaming large amounts of data over busy, congested networks and low-bandwidth connections. Streaming uses bandwidth more efficiently than downloading because it sends data over the network only at the speed that is necessary for the client to render it correctly. This helps prevent the network from becoming overloaded and helps maintain system reliability.

If you want to know more about windows media server please refer this article http://learn.iis.net/page.aspx/454/windows-media-server-or-web-server/

I have created two features one is for Media template another one is media steaming webpart.

Media Template

This is just list definition for storing media files

Media steaming web part

The job of this is to read file from windows media server and play it on windows media player

Steps

First install media features and activate it

Go to Site Actions -> Site Settings-> under Site Administration -> Site libraries and lists -> Create new content - > select Media Library template ->Give the name of template and click create

Just upload media files in to media library the Mediamanager class will take care of rest

Then go to media home page and add media streaming webpart, it will automatically plays media file using streaming technique

Mail me if anybody wants get more knowledge on this.

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