Some XML functions can be very useful in InfoPath, especially if you are an InfoPath developer. For example, suppose you are using data validation in your InfoPath form and you want the users to enter a value in one of the text boxes on your form. Of course, you can use the built-in data validation functions, for example, "If field is blank then show error alert" but users can dodge you by entering a space in the text box. In this case, InfoPath won't generate any error and will accept the value entered by the user. How can handle this situation? The answer is XML functions. You can use normalize-space() function. Right click the control and select "Data Validation". In the drop down, select "The expression" and in the text box enter normalize-space(.)="". In the screen tip, enter "Please enter valid value" and click Ok. InfoPath will now show an error if users try to enter an invalid value like a whitespace. Similarly, you can use other XML functions in your code or to validate data using the built-in data validation. More functions can be found on the following page. The page has the list of functions and examples to show how each function works:

-SSA

It seems straight forward. Isn't it? but it may not be as simple and straight forward for the newbies as it seems at first. A colleague and a  friend of mine recently was struggling with the same issue and he learnt the lesson after spending considerable amount of time experimenting with different solutions. You get a security exception when you write your own component to be used in a report in reporting services. My friend is working on a SharePoint project that involves reporting services. He created a report that used a custom built component. The code used SharePoint object model. He tried to use Elevated privileges but even that didn't work because the error is thrown on the line that has the elevated priviliges code. He even tried the code access security, that didn't work. The following KB article has information about this problem:

 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/842419/ (How to grant permissions to a custom assembly that is referenced in a report in Reporting Services)

Use following code to get rid of the security exception:

SharePointPermission perm = new SharePointPermission(PermissionState.Unrestricted);
perm.Assert();

//Code using SharePoint object model here!!

perm.Deny();

Include following DLL in the references before you use the above code:

Microsoft.SharePoint.Security.DLL

This DLL will be found in the 12 hive. Exact location is as following:

System Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\ISAPI\

Add following namespaces at the top:

using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Security;
using System.Security.Permissions;

That's it. Your component will now work fine.

Returned from the summit on friday night but my body was so sour that I spent whole saturday sleeping, relaxing, and watching TV. This was my first summit experience and undoubtedly it was the best experience I have had in recent times. This was the first time I met SharePoint MVPs in person. I have uploaded some pictures that I took during the summit, here are the URLs:

http://picasaweb.google.com/saifullah.shafiq/Paintball2008
http://picasaweb.google.com/saifullah.shafiq/PartyWithPalermo
http://picasaweb.google.com/saifullah.shafiq/MvpAttendeeParty
http://picasaweb.google.com/saifullah.shafiq/ProductGroupDinner
http://picasaweb.google.com/saifullah.shafiq/PaintballLunch

The sessions were very informative and I got chance to spend some quality time with the other MVPs during the events like Paintball, Attendee party, PG dinner, etc. I also got chance to meet with MVPs from around the world. All in all, it was an excellent experience and I really enjoyed the visit and I hope to visit the summit again next year which is expected to start on March 1st, 2009. Those of you interested in finding out how we SharePoint MVPs had fun at the summit may want to read the following blog post:

SharePoint MVPs know how to have fun .. and give constructive product feedback

-Saif

My MVP award has been renewed for another year. I am very happy and very excited because I have lots of interesting plans this year. I would like to thank all my well wishers and readers who read my blog and articles and send positive feedback and comments. Thank you!

 -SSA

External Collaboration Toolkit for SharePoint has been released and can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/collabkit. The toolkit runs on MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0.

You can read about the SharePoint Capacity Planner Tool on the following page:

 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb961988.aspx

You can download the tool from the same page or download it directly from the following page:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DBEE0227-D4F7-48F8-85F0-E71493B2FD87&displaylang=en

You can download the System Center Capacity Planner 2007 from the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/sccp/default.mspx

The direct link to download the System Center Capacity Planner 2007 is as follows:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E754F35D-59DB-4BC4-8386-E83E66A16FAD&displaylang=en

-SSA

Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007 Step by Step is now available in the market. The book targets the Information workers. Introduction of the book can be read on the author's (Penny Coventry) blog:

http://mindsharpblogs.com/penny/archive/2008/01/20/4184.aspx

Microsoft site also has some details on the book:

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/12083.aspx

I will post a review of this book as soon as i get a copy.

-SSA

People have already started blogging about the workflow creation with VS 2008. Here are a couple of cool links that show how to create sequential workflows using VS 2008:

SharePoint Workflow Feature in VS 2008

Screencast:

How to Video: Building a basic Approval Workflow with SharePoint (MOSS 2007) and Visual Studio

Webcast:

Advanced SharePoint Document Workflow with Visual Studio 2008

Also, do read the following good article about VS 2008 written by Dino Esposito:

Inside Visual Studio 2008

-SSA

If this error occurs when you try to submit the form, then there can be two reasons for this. The data connection name is not correct or the URL used in the data connection is not correct. Sometimes, it is hard to pin point the problem because the URL will not be accepted if it has a problem, no matter how minor. An extra space, an illegal character, etc are the problems that are hard to locate and are the source of this error. This usually occurs when you try to submit the form programmatically because directly publishing the form to the SharePoint allows you to select the site and library so there is no chance of entering a malformed URL but when you submit the form programmatically using a data connection, you have to provide the URL manually. The details of the error are as follows:

------------------

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

---------------------------

Code to submit form programmatically:

"Mainsubmit" is the data connection name. If there is a spelling mistake in this name, you will get the error. If there is a spelling mistake in the URL used in this connection, again there will be an error. You need to be extra careful when publishing the form. It is hard to notice the problem because the form publishes OK with out any problems and you only get the error when you run the form from SharePoint.

Working with Business Data Column

Business Data field type is a new type that enables users to add data from business applications registered in the Business Data Catalog to SharePoint lists and libraries. In the last two articles we saw how to create definition files using Business Data Catalog Definition Editor tool and how to import that definition file into SharePoint. Now we will see how one can make use of the BDC data in a SharePoint list. Following MSDN article has the details on how to add a Business Data column to a list:

How To: Add a Business Data Column To a List

Adding a Business Data column to a list is a straight forward process but the definition file created by the Definition Editor tool has to be modified before it could be used in SharePoint. If you use the definition file generated by default by the Definition Editor and try to use the Business Data column, all you get is an error message. This is what you see when you try to access data in a Business Data column:

Figure 1: Without a filter, BDC data can not be accessed

Using Business Data Catalog Definition Editor

Importing BDC Data into SharePoint

1. You can select a specific record to be shown when adding the Business Data column. By default, all records are shown to the user, user can select one of them to be displayed in the Business Data column. You can also define a filter to filter the records before selecting any one record. I would like to show you how a filter can be added to the application. Filter is useful if your table contains lots of records and it becomes easier to select a record from the filtered set of data. To add a filter, open the definition file in Business Data Catalog Definition Editor by importing it into the Editor. There will be two methods in the file created by default. One will be Find_Artist (where Artist is the table name and the method names in your file will be according to the table names imported from your database) and the other will be FindAll_Artist. Underneath the method name, Right-click "Filters" and select "Add Filter". Give a reasonable name to the filter.

2. Remove "FindAll_Artist" method.

3. Add a new instance and name it "Find_Artists_Instance". Change "MethodInstanceType" to "Finder". This method is required. Web Part will not display filter unless this method is added to the definition. The other instance has "SpecificFinder" type.

4. Execute the "Find_Artists_Instance". Provide a value in the filter box and click the "Execute" button. You should see the result against the value entered in the filter box.

5. We still need to make some changes in the definition file before it can be used in the SharePoint. Export the definition file and open it in XML editor.

6. Add following lines after the <Entity> tag:

 <Properties>

<Property Name="Artist" Type="System.String">Artist</Property>

</Properties>

7. Locate the <FilterDescriptor> tag and add following lines between the <FilterDescriptor>  and </FilterDescriptor> tags:

 <Properties>

<Property Name="UsedForDisambiguation" Type="System.Boolean">true</Property>

</Properties>

8. Locate the following lines in the file:

<Parameter Direction="In" Name="@Artist">
<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.System, mscorlib, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" IdentifierName="Artist" Name="Artist" />

This is the input parameter definition. Change the closing tag "/>" to ">" and then add following lines after it:

So, the final input parameter definition will look like the following:

<Parameter Direction="In" Name="@Artist">
<TypeDescriptor TypeName="System.String" IdentifierName="Artist" AssociatedFilter="Artist" Name="Artist" >

<DefaultValues>

<DefaultValue MethodInstanceName="Find_Artist_Instance" Type="System.String">%</DefaultValue>
<DefaultValue MethodInstanceName="Find_Artists_Instance" Type="System.String">%</DefaultValue>

</DefaultValues>
</TypeDescriptor>
</Parameter>

You will notice some more changes in the file but that are not required. For example, you can add following lines to each fields' typedescriptor definition:

<LocalizedDisplayNames>

<LocalizedDisplayName LCID="1033">Your field name here</LocalizedDisplayName>

</LocalizedDisplayNames>

<Properties>

<Property Name="DisplayByDefault" Type="System.Boolean">true</Property>

</Properties>

That's it. Now the next step is to import the definition file into SharePoint and use the data in the Business Data column. Click here to view the completed definition file. You can also download the completed definition file from here.

To see how to import the definition file into SharePoint, read this article. After importing the file into SharePoint, follow the steps listed below to add a Business Data column in a library.

1. Go to the SharePoint library where you would like to add the Business Data column.

2. Select "Create Column" from the "Settings" menu.

3. Enter a name for the column in the "Column name" and select "Business data" as the column type.

4. Click the browse button.

5. Select the BDC application from the list. If there are more than one applications on your server, the list will display all of them. Select your file and click Ok.

6. Select the field to be displayed from the drop down that contains all the fields from the BDC. Click OK to add the field.

7. If there is no record in the library, add a new record. If it's a document library, the Word application will allow you to select a value in the Business Data column (shown in the Information panel). If there is already a record available in the library, edit its properties.

8. Click the browse button. Enter a valid value in the filter box and click Find. Select the record returned and click OK. Click Ok again to go back to the library.

9. Select "View Profile" from the Business Data column. The profile page will show you the complete details of the record.

As I also mentioned in my previous article, BDC Meta Man is a lot easier to use and it generates a "ready to use" definition file. You don't have to make any manual changes yourself. If you are an absolute beginner, I would suggest take a look at the BDC Meta Man first. The biggest advantage of Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor tool is that it's free and it has all the features required to generate a definition file that can be tweaked and used by the developers. Beginners will have some difficulty in acquiring the art of "definition file generation" using this tool.  

Importing BDC Data into SharePoint

Level: Beginner 

As compared to the first part, this article is short and contains information on how to import the definition file into the SharePoint.

1. Go to SharePoint Central Administration and open SSP defined for the site where you want to display BDC data.

2. Click "Import application definition" (Business Data Catalog section).

3. Click "Browse" and select the definition file. Click "Import" button. Do not change other options on this page. File Type should be "Model".

4. Now go to your SharePoint site. Select "Edit Page" from "Site Actions".

5. Click "Add a Web Part"  in the zone of your choice.

6. Select "Business Data List" web part from the list of available web parts. If this web part is not available, then you will have to add it first to the list. Select "Site Settings" from "Site Actions". Go to Top level site settings if this is not your top level site.  Select "Web parts" from "Galleries" section. Click "New". Select "BusinessDataListWebPart" (See File Name column in the list) and click "Populate Gallery". Now go back to the site. Select "Edit Page" from "Site Actions". Click "Add a Web Part" in the zone of your choice.

7. Select "Business Data List" from the list of web parts and click "Add".

8. The web part would have been added. Click the "Open the tool pane" link in the web part.

Figure 3: Select Business Data Type

9. Click the browse button and select the BDC Type. Click "Ok".

10. The BDC web part will display the data retrieved from the database. See following figure to see how the data looks like.

Figure 4: BDC data in web part

We did not define the filter in the definition otherwise you can use the filter option to see specific records. Still you have an option to filter the records using the SharePoint filtering. To apply filtering to the view, do the following:

11. Modify the web part settings (Select "Modify Shared Web Part" from the web part menu).

12. Click "Edit View" inside the web part.

13. You can define a filter in the "Filter" section. For example, you can define a filter with following options:

This will filter the records. You can define more than 1 filter to display more than 1 record in the web part. Click the "Add" link in the "Filter" section to add more filters. I will try to cover the "Filters in the definition file" in the next article.

Using Business Data Catalog Definition Editor

Business Data Catalog is a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server feature that allows users to access external data from within SharePoint. SharePoint, as we know, is an excellent collaboration portal that can be used to create robust collaboration applications using Office products. Good thing about the new SharePoint portal is that it also allows you to create applications that involve non-MS products and allows you to create these applications as easily as one would create applications involving MS products. With BDC (Business Data Catalog) users can access data from applications like SAP, Oracle, MySQL, etc with ease. People who have been using SharePoint Server 2007 may also have worked with BDC before. BDC is not new but Business Data Catalog Definition Editor tool is a new edition. If you are entirely new and have never heard about the BDC before, then go through the following article, it will give you an overview of what BDC is and what it does.

Business Data Catalog Overview

In this article, I will show you how you can use the new Business Data Catalog Definition Editor to create definition files that are required to connect SharePoint with external applications, also known as Line Of Business (LOB) applications. BDC definition editor tool is available in the latest SharePoint SDK that you can download from the following location:

Download SharePoint SDK

After installing the SDK on your machine, you can install the BDC tool by running the setup.exe from the following location:

 LocalDrive:\Program Files\2007 Office System Developer Resources\Tools\BDC Definition Editor

Once installed, you can use the tool to create the definition files. This tool allows you to use the following connection types:

1. SqlServer
2. Oracle
3. Oledb
4. Odbc

Because this is an introductory level article, we will use an Access database to create a definition file and using that file, we will display Access data in a SharePoint list (This will be demonstrated in the second part of this article). By the way, working with Access database is more tricky than working with the SQL database. Importing an SQL database table in to the Business Data Catalog Definition Editor is easy and straight forward but importing a table from an Access database requires some extra steps.

1. Create a DSN for your Access database. Go to Start > All Programs > Administrative Tools and select "Data Sources (ODBC)".

Figure 1: Add DSN

2. Select "System DSN" tab and click "Add" button.

Figure 2: Select Access driver from the list

3. Select "Microsoft Access Driver [*.mdb]" from the list of drivers. Remember, this is the driver for the Access 2003 database. If you want to connect to a Access 2007 database, then select "Microsoft Access Driver [*.mdb, *.accdb]" from the list. Click "Finish".

4. Enter "Data Source Name" and "Description" and click "Select" to select the database. Select your database and click "OK".

5. Now your DSN is ready.  Open "Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor" from the Programs Menu.

Figure 3: Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor

6. Click "Add LOB System".

7. Click "Connect to Database".

8. Select "Odbc" from the "Connection Type" drop down.

Figure 4: Select a connection type

9. In the "Connection String" box, write "DSN=YourDSNname" and click "Connect".

10. Click "Add Table" button from the right side bar.

11. All the tables in your database will be displayed. Select the table from which you want to get the data. Drag and drop that table into the main design area.

12. Click "OK". Enter a name for the LOB System and click "OK".

BDC Definition Editor will create an LOB System for you. If there was no primary key defined in the table that you used, then the editor will generate an LOB system but that will be of no use to you because the method required to get data from the database will not be created and you will have to create it manually but then what's the point in using the Definition Editor tool if you'd to create the method yourself. Definition file is nothing but an XML file that you can also create manually using any editor including Notepad. This is a complicated file and takes time to create if created manually. The Definition Editor tool gives you an advantage that you can execute the method and check if everything is working OK before you export the settings to an XML file. So to save the time and the effort, I would suggest that you create a primary key in the table but I know, in real world situation, that might not be possible for you to do as you might be working on a client's application. Of course, changing the client's database without his permission could  be a problem or he may not allow you to do so. In that case, you will be left with two options. Either to edit the definition file manually and add the required settings or continue using the Definition Editor tool to add the missing methods. Well, let's complete this example first and then I will show you how to add the missing methods using the Definition Editor tool. For now, I am assuming that your table contained the primary key.

Definition Editor will generate two methods for you. One method will return records against a value entered in the input parameter. If you look at the Figure 6 above, you will see a method "Find_Table1" where "Table1" is the name of the table. This method has two types of parameters. @ID is the input parameter and  @Table1 is the output parameter. This output  parameter consists of a "DataRecord" (Type: System.Data.IDataReader). Editor will also generate an instance that you can run and test the output. There will be another method created by the Editor, Figure 6 also shows "FindAll_Table1" method. This method returns all the records and does not take an input parameter. A separate instance is created for this method. Go ahead and test any of the instances created by the Editor. For example, let's test the "Find_Table1_Instance". Right click the instance name and select "Execute". This will open a new interface, you will be required to enter a value for the identifier "ID". Enter a value that you know exists in the database and click the "Execute" button. If that ID existed in the database, a relevant record will be returned. Go ahead and click the "Execute" button. What happened? Did it return the record? No? Instead you get an error message. See Figure 7 below.

Figure 7: Error connecting to Access Database

The error is: "The  LobSystemInstance Property 'AuthenticationMode' has a value that requires 'Trusted_Connection' in the connection string"

This is because the application fails to connect with the Access database. It seems to be a bug in the Definition Editor. The solution is that one has to edit the definition file manually and make some changes. We can make those changes through the UI too but UI does not retain the changes so we have to manually edit the definition file.  So first thing you got to do is export the settings to a definition file. Click the main node (LOB System) in the tree and then click "Export" from the menu. Provide a name for the definition file and save it. Open the saved file in any XML compliant editor. You can even open it in Notepad. Locate the following line:

<Property Name="rdbconnection Dsn" Type="System.String">YOUR DSN NAME WILL BE HERE</Property>

Figure 8: Change the DSN property

Replace this line with the following line:

<Property Name="rdbconnection data source" Type="System.String">"Driver={Microsoft Access Driver
(*.mdb)};DSN=YOUR DSN NAME WILL BE HERE;Uid=;Pwd=;Trusted_Connection=True;"</Property>

Save the file and go back to the Definition Editor tool. Don't forget to change the DSN name before saving the file. Click "Import" to import the definition file back in the tool. Now, select the method instance and select "Execute" from the context menu. Enter an ID and click the "Execute" button. You will get the result this time. You can also test the other method, the one that does not take any input parameters, and see if it returned all the records.

The next step is to import the definition file in the SharePoint. That will be the next article. It will show you how to import the definition file into the SharePoint and how to display the BDC data in a SharePoint list.

Read Next Article: Importing BDC Data into SharePoint

Microsoft Business Data Catalog Definition Editor is a great tool that has made creating application definition file very easy. This tool is available in the latest SharePoint Server 2007 SDK. After installing the SDK, you can install this tool by running setup.exe from the following folder on your server:

LocalDrive:\Program Files\2007 Office System Developer Resources\Tools\BDC Definition Editor

I notice there are some issues with this first release of the tool. Of course, it works fine with the SQL server but if you try other DBs, especially through the use of DSNs, it breaks. Following are two instances when it broke while I was trying to add a new LOB system.

Example 1:

1. Click "Add LOB System".
2. Click "Connect to Database"
3. Select "Oledb" from the connection type
4. Add following connection string:

Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Contacts.accdb;Persist Security Info=False;

5. Click "Connect"
6. Click "Add Table" and select (drag and drop) a table from the list of available tables.
7. Click OK and it will give you an error. Click the debug button and select the debugger of your choice. I selected Visual Studio and it gave me the following error message:

Figure 1: KeyNotFoundException: The given key was not present in the dictionary

Example 2:

1. Create a new DSN using "Microsoft Text Driver (*.txt;*.csv)". While creating the DSN, select a directory that contains the .txt or .csv files.
2. Open BDC Definition Editor tool and click "Add LOB System".
3. Click "Connect to Database"
4. Select "ODBC" from the connection type
5. In the connection string box, add the name of the DSN that you created. For example, dsn=dsnText where "dsnText" is the name of the DSN.
6. Click "Connect"
7. Click "Add Table". You will be shown list of files. Select a file without any spaces in the name. Things work without any problem. Now select a file that has spaces in its name and try to add it to the main area. You will get an error:

"Could not process table "filename".Make sure you have select rights on the Table/View".

Click OK and an empty table will be added. Try to delete this empty table and you will get another error. See screenshot of the error below:

Figure 2: Object reference not set to an instance of an object

These are some minor issues that I am sure will be resolved in future releases. Overall , it's an excellent tool.

-SSA

Version 1

Version 2

I have made some changes in the previous version and now users can also upload the original files along with the converted text files into the SharePoint.

Click here to download this tool.

For your convenience, you can create two different views in SharePoint library to show image and text files separately. For example, if the source image files are of GIF type, then you can create a view with the following filter settings:

You can make this view the default view and it will only show the image files. Similarly, create another view that will only show the text files. 

What to expect next? Capability to extract metadata from the converted text files and uploading the original image files along with the extracted meta data. This will allow users to upload only the image files without the need to upload the text files. The common words extracted from the converted text files will be uploaded as metadata. This will allow user