January 2008 - Posts

• Get a Web based Windows Live Messenger application on your blog or website

  Author: Tobias Zimmergren Url: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/zimmer Short post! I just bumped into this feature of the Windows Live Messenger application which enables you to actually add a web-based messenger to your site or blog. Check out http://settings.messenger.live.com/applications/websettings.aspx to create one for yourself.   First off, click the little green MSN-guy (it's green if the person is online)   You'll get some dialogs asking you for either your Live Passport or if you'd like to be anonymous and then you need to enter a verification code. After that, you'll see the dialog below in a browser window, being able to chat with the person. If I'm online, you can try it out! Posted Jan 13 2008, 07:55 PM by Tobias Zimmergren with 4 comment(s)

• MOSS 2007: Creating a custom AJAX UserControl that will query the SharePoint Search Query Object Model to perform searches

  Author: Tobias Zimmergren Url: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/zimmer If you've read my last two blogposts you already know how to configure ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX for your SharePoint Server and how do deploy a UserControl that uses AJAX functionality on you SharePoint Server. You can find my previous articles here: MOSS 2007- Add support for AJAX in your SharePoint installation MOSS 2007 - Using AJAX UserControls in SharePoint This blogpost shows a simple implementation of a UserControl that uses the Object Model to query the search service using a keyword and then using an UpdatePanel in AJAX to present the result to the user without any page reloads. Let's create an AJAX based UserControl which purpose will be to search using the Search Query Object Model Copy the nessecary assemblies to your local bin folder (I'm deploying locally to the WebApplication on port 80) To make this work (in this case, since I'm deploying to the UserControls folder with inline code, not calling any own assemblies) you need to copy the two .dll files to your /bin folder of the WebApplication where you want to deploy this UserControl. Copy C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ISAPI\Microsoft.Office.Server.dll Copy C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ISAPI\Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.dll Paste the two files to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin\ (Note: It can be any other port other than 80 if you're deploying to another WebApplication) The reason that we copy these files to our deployment target's /bin is simply that I'm deploying locally to that WebApplication and some of the namespaces and classes that we need to use in order to be able to query the Search Object Model are availible in those assemblies. There's better ways to accomplish this, but to keep it simple I'm going with this approach. Create the custom AJAX UserControl that will query the SharePoint Search Query Object Model For simplicity, I'll reference all the servercode inside the <script> block and not using a code-behind assembly. Launch Visual Studio 2005 (or whatever version you're running) Create a new file based on the "Web User Control" template, name it as you please Add the following tags just below the Control directive: <%@ Register Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI" TagPrefix="asp" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.Office.Server" %> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Query" %> <%@ Register Assembly="AjaxControlToolkit" Namespace="AjaxControlToolkit" TagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" %> It could look something like this: Just below all the references you just added, add the following code: <script runat="server"> </script> Add the following code right below the references you just added. This code is simply to give us a simple user interface for the user to perform the search from: <asp:UpdateProgress ID="UpdateProgress1" runat="server" AssociatedUpdatePanelID="UpdatePanel1">     <ProgressTemplate>         <img src="http://zimmergren/hostedImages/ajax-loader.gif" alt="Searching..." style="border: 0px none #fff;"/>     </ProgressTemplate> </asp:UpdateProgress> <asp:UpdatePanel ID="UpdatePanel1" runat="server">     <ContentTemplate>         Enter a keyword to search for<br />         <asp:TextBox ID="tbSearchString" runat="server" Width="230px"/><br />         <asp:Button ID="btnSearch" runat="server" Text="Search" OnClick="btnSearch_Click" />         <asp:Literal ID="literalSearchResults" runat="server" />     </ContentTemplate> </asp:UpdatePanel> It could look something like this: Insert this code inside the <script>-tag you created earlier: protected void btnSearch_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {     // Job insurance, to pause and show that the UpdateProgress works     System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(2000);     try     {         string startTable = "<table style=\"width: 100%;\">";         string endTable = "</table>";         string searchResultItem =         "<tr>" +             "<td><a href=\"{0}\">{1}</a></td>" +         "</tr>" +         "<tr>" +             "<td>" +                 "<em>{2}</em>" +             "</td>" +         "</tr>" +         "<tr>" +             "<td>Site: {3}</td>" +         "</tr>" +         "<tr>" +             "<td style=\"padding-bottom: 10px;\">Author: {4}, Item Size: {5}</td>" +         "</tr>";         string outputResults = startTable;         ServerContext context = ServerContext.GetContext("SharedServices1");         KeywordQuery keywordQuery = new KeywordQuery(context);         keywordQuery.ResultTypes = ResultType.RelevantResults;         keywordQuery.EnableStemming = true;         keywordQuery.TrimDuplicates = true;         keywordQuery.QueryText = tbSearchString.Text;         ResultTableCollection results = keywordQuery.Execute();         ResultTable resultTable = results[ResultType.RelevantResults];         if (resultTable.RowCount == 0)         {             literalSearchResults.Text = "Sorry, your search didn't return any results";         }         else         {             while (resultTable.Read())             {                 outputResults += string.Format(searchResultItem,                     resultTable.GetString(5),                     resultTable.GetString(2),                     resultTable.GetString(6),                     resultTable.GetString(8),                     resultTable.GetString(3),                     resultTable.GetString(4));             }         }         outputResults += endTable;         literalSearchResults.Text = outputResults;     }     catch (Exception ex)     {         literalSearchResults.Text = ex.Message;     } } Instead of going all crazy about how the code actually works with the Search Query Object Model, I'm just pasting the code here for you to try and will explain the Search Query Object Model in another article. Deploy the UserControl Copy or Save the UserControl to the following location: C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\UserControls\ and you're all set. If you've configured AJAX and installed the SmartPart you should be all set and be able to use it. See this short post on using the SmartPart if you don't know already. Final Result This is what it looks like when you hit the button (the red image spins around for 2 seconds (see the code, Thread.Sleep(2000)) to show how it will look if it's a heavy query and needs some loading time. This is what the result will look like, note that everything is done within an UpdatePanel and we do not experience the page to reload, or any visual postbacks. Download the UserControl here Posted Jan 13 2008, 12:10 AM by Tobias Zimmergren with 11 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007, Search, Custom Search, AJAX, SmartPart, Search Query Object Model

• MOSS 2007: Using AJAX UserControls in SharePoint

  Author: Tobias Zimmergren Url: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/zimmer This post merely shows you how you can use the AJAX functionality in SharePoint by using UserControls. What we need to be able to follow the steps in this article Have installed ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 Extensions (Download here) Configured web.config to enable AJAX support (See my previous post here) Have the SmartPart installed and deployed (See the SmartPart project site for more information, installation & deployment instructions etc) In the following sections I will describe how you an use the SmartPart by Jan Tielens to host your custom usercontrols in SharePoint. The SmartPart is widely used by a number of people. However, there's also the approach of writing your own wrapper if you want full control of your usercontrol wrapper. Liam Cleary has blogged about doing so here. If you've checked the aforementioned requirements, let's get started First off, we'll install the AJAX Control Toolkit Add the AJAX Control Toolkit to your SharePoint Server Download the AJAX Control Toolkit from here and extract all the files into any folder. Search for the AjaxControlToolkit.dll file and make sure you copy it to the same webapplication's /bin directory as you configured for AJAX use. This means that you simply copy the AjaxControlToolkit.dll file to e.g. C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\bin if that's the webapplication you've configured AJAX for. It might look something like this: We're ready for some development, create a new project Launch Visual Studio Create a new Web Site with ASP.NET AJAX Support Note: The only reason that I create an entire Web Site project is so I can test my UserControls and debug easily on my own development machine before I actually deploy them. Create a new Web User Control by adding a new .ascx file to your project (I usually delete the .cs file and the reference to the CodeBehind for easy deployment if there's no sensitive code in order to limit the UserControl to one file with embedded code) It could now look something like this Add the AJAX Control Toolkit to your Visual Studio toolbox Right click in the Toolbox and choose "Add Tab" and choose a name for the new section. (My choice was "AJAX Control Toolkit") Right click inside the newly created tab, and click "Choose Items..." Press "Browse" and navigate to your AjaxControlToolkit.dll which you've got somewhere on your machine by now and then click "Open" You now have a Toolbox filled with the AJAX Control Toolkit controls to use within your project. Add a reference to the AJAX Control Toolkit in your UserControl Switch to designview of your UserControl Dragging any chosen AJAX Control or Control Extender onto the UserControl will automatically add the reference to the correct Namespace for AJAX in your UserControl. You might want to change the TagName to something more useful than cc1 as it's named automatically.   Create a simple Hello World UserControl Drop a TextBox in the UserControl Drop a "CalendarExtender" in the UserControl - It's found in the AJAX Control Toolkit toolbox  Set the CalendarExtender's TargetControlID property to the ID of the TextBox control. The code might look something like this: <%@ Control Language="C#" AutoEventWireup="true" %> <%@ Register Assembly="AjaxControlToolkit"              Namespace="AjaxControlToolkit"              TagPrefix="ajaxToolkit" %> <script runat="server">     // If there were any server side code, it would go here since I don't use a code behind or pre-compiled assembly to host the code </script> Pick a date by clicking in the textbox!<br /> <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"/> <ajaxToolkit:CalendarExtender ID="CalendarExtender1" runat="server" TargetControlID="TextBox1" /> The UserControl might look something like this when you add it to a page and run: If you're happy with this very simple Hello World UserControl which uses the AJAX Control Toolkit to extend a Calendar popup, move on to the next section :) Deploy the UserControl to SharePoint Copy your newly created UserControl (in my case, it's called ZimmerAJAX.ascx) Paste the UserControl to C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\UserControls (assuming you're deploying on the standard port 80 site) Note: The UserControls directory might not exist at this point, then you'll have to create it manually. The reason that this folder needs to exist is that the SmartPart which will host our UserControl is looking for controls placed inside that folder, unless you're creating your own UserControl Wrapper WebPart, as Liam Cleary explains here When you've copied the file to the UserControls directory, the SmartPart will automatically be able to find it. Add the SmartPart to your site Navigate to the site where you want to host your UserControl Click "Site Actions" - "Edit Page" Click on one of the Web Part placeholders ("Add a Web Part") Look for the SmartPart and add it to your page. Note: If you havn't added a ScriptManager to either the Masterpage or the default.aspx page, you'll need to use the SmartPart with AJAX instead. In my case I've already configured my masterpage to include a ScriptManager. Configure the SmartPart to use your AJAX-based UserControl Click on "Edit" - "Modify Shared Web Part" Choose your UserControl from the DropDown at the top of the settings, and click Ok or Apply to apply your changes! Click "Exit Edit Mode" to exit the edit mode of the page, and view your UserControl   That's a wrap! Now your AJAX-enabled UserControl is hosted within a wrapper webpart (SmartPart) and have full AJAX Extensions support. Thanks for tuning in. See you soon! Cheers! Posted Jan 10 2008, 03:33 PM by Tobias Zimmergren with 13 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007, AJAX, UserControls, SmartPart

• MOSS 2007: Add support for AJAX in your SharePoint installation

  Author: Tobias Zimmergren Url: http://www.sharepointblogs.com/zimmer In this very short and straight-on post I'll just mention how you can configure your SharePoint installation to enable support for ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 since a lot of people have been asking me about it. Before we make any changes in the web.config we need the following: A backup of the web.config file (important, because if something goes wrong you might need to revert to the old one) SharePoint (WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007) ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 Extensions Be in the mood for some copy/pasting the following 5 minutes Copy/Paste time Locate your default web.config file (usually here: "C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\web.config"). Edit the webc.config file according to this scenario: Locate the <configSection> element and add the following code inside it:   <sectionGroup name="system.web.extensions"   type="System.Web.Configuration.SystemWebExtensionsSectionGroup,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">   <sectionGroup name="scripting"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingSectionGroup,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35">   <section name="scriptResourceHandler"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingScriptResourceHandlerSection,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"   allowDefinition="MachineToApplication"/>   <sectionGroup name="webServices"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingWebServicesSectionGroup,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"> <section name="jsonSerialization"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingJsonSerializationSection,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"   allowDefinition="Everywhere" />   <section name="profileService"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingProfileServiceSection,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"   allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />   <section name="authenticationService"   type="System.Web.Configuration.ScriptingAuthenticationServiceSection,   System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral,   PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" requirePermission="false"   allowDefinition="MachineToApplication" />   </sectionGroup>   </sectionGroup>   </sectionGroup> Within the <system.web> element, locate the <pages> element and insert the following snippet: <controls>   <add tagPrefix="asp" namespace="System.Web.UI"   assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,   Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> </controls> EDIT: Thanks to Hardik Bhilota for pointing out that I was missing a comma after the version number. Cheers Within the <assemblies> element, insert the following snippet: <add assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> Within the <httpHandlers> element, insert the following snippet: <add verb="*" path="*.asmx" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> <add verb="*" path="*_AppService.axd" validate="false" type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> <add verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" validate="false"/> Within the <httpModules> element, add the following snippet: <add name="ScriptModule" type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule, System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/> And since we need to ensure that the assembly is trusted, locate the <SafeControls> element ad add the following snippet: <SafeControl Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" Namespace="System.Web.UI" TypeName="*" Safe="True" /> Within the <configuration> element, add the following snippet: <system.web.extensions>   <scripting>     <webServices>     <!-- Uncomment this line to enable the authentication     service. Include requireSSL="true" if appropriate. -->     <!--       <authenticationService enabled="true"       requireSSL = "true|false"/>     -->     <!-- Uncomment these lines to enable the profile service.     To allow profile properties to be retrieved and modified in     ASP.NET AJAX applications, you need to add each property     name to the readAccessProperties and writeAccessProperties     attributes. -->     <!--       <profileService enabled="true"       readAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2"       writeAccessProperties="propertyname1,propertyname2" />     -->     </webServices>     <!--     <scriptResourceHandler enableCompression="true"     enableCaching="true" />     -->   </scripting> </system.web.extensions> <system.webServer>   <validation validateIntegratedModeConfiguration="false"/>   <modules>     <add name="ScriptModule" preCondition="integratedMode"     type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptModule,     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,     Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>   </modules>   <handlers>     <remove name="WebServiceHandlerFactory-Integrated" />     <add name="ScriptHandlerFactory" verb="*" path="*.asmx"     preCondition="integratedMode"     type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,     Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>     <add name="ScriptHandlerFactoryAppServices" verb="*"     path="*_AppService.axd" preCondition="integratedMode"     type="System.Web.Script.Services.ScriptHandlerFactory,     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,     Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>     <add name="ScriptResource" preCondition="integratedMode"     verb="GET,HEAD" path="ScriptResource.axd"     type="System.Web.Handlers.ScriptResourceHandler,     System.Web.Extensions, Version=1.0.61025.0,     Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35"/>   </handlers> </system.webServer> You're all set Save your web.config file, restart IIS (iisreset.exe for convenience) and enjoy your ASP.NET 2.0 AJAX 1.0 support in SharePoint. This isn't a big deal to accomplish, so that's all you get from this blogpost. In the next blogpost I'll talk about how you can easily create a UserControl, hosted with the SmartPart, with support for AJAX. Posted Jan 04 2008, 03:07 PM by Tobias Zimmergren with 32 comment(s) Filed under: MOSS 2007, WSS 3.0, AJAX