Adjusting the DisplaySize of your Fields

Via [Bil Simser]

Yesterday I mentioned I would post an entry on YAUSF (Yet-Another-Undocumented-SharePoint-Feature) however I think this one will be around to stay.

When you create a list you can specify the maximum length on Text fields. This is great and will provide a warning message to the user if they enter text that exceeds this

Read it here

CAML Query Builder V2

U2U has released a new version of their CAML Query Builder, that wonderful which let you build and test your CAML queries, in this version U2U enriched it with these new features (as listed in Patrick Tisseghem’s Blog:

You can now choose whether you work in object model or in Web services mode. It means that you now can use the app on the SharePoint machine itself and on a client accessing the SharePoint content via the Web services.

When working with the object model, you can only query for content. If you opt for Web services mode, you can query but also now update content in a SharePoint list using CAML.

You now also have the possibility to make use of parameters and give these parameters a value at runtime when using the CAML Server Helper to execute the saved CAML query string.

Read more about this tool here
download it from here

CAML & Dates Question

As usual Patrick shares with us very useful information, today he point out to us a question regarding CAML queries and date fields., and here below the question and the answer,
Thank you patrick for this.

The past days I received some questions regarding CAML and the use of dates in it. Being awfully busy myself, I delegated it to our CAML girl :). It costs me a couple of beers, but it is worth it. She promply answered the questions, so let me share one of them with everybody.

Question:

A question, I would like to run a CAML query where a WSS column as datetime has to be compared to the present time.
My CAML knowledge is very poor. I exepected to be able to do this but it doesn’t work :
<Where>
<Gt>
<FieldRef Name="EventDate" />
<Value Type="DateTime"><ows:Today/></Value>
</Gt>
</Where>

When I validate this CAML query (as a CAML filter for the BlueDoglimited Syndication Generator), I receive this error message : ‘ows’ is an undeclared namespace
Can you help ? Would it be possible to introduce something like Today – 5 (days ?)

Answer from our CAML girl:

x will not work. You have to enter CAML dates in the following format: yyyy-mm-ddThh:mm:ss.
 
So, you’re query in the CAML Builder should look like the following:
<Where>
<Gt>
<FieldRef Name="EventDate" />
<Value Type="DateTime">2005-5-27</Value>
</Gt>
</Where>

I know, this way your date is static and I suppose you want it dynamic. If you build your CAML query dynamically in code, you can use functions like SPUtility.CreateISO8601DateTimeFromSystemDateTime(DateTime.Today). This will convert your date from a DateTime value into a CAML Date format, which is the ISO8601 format.

Sharepoint Customization step by step tutorial

Via [Greg Hughes]

Shane has started a weblog covering how to customize a SharePoint web site to create a site that provides some form of content management, etc. The first few posts are up, and it looks like it will be a detailed, step-by-step tutorial for people who want to learn something about SharePoint customization.

Microsoft KB: Supported and unsupported scenarios for working with custom site definitions

Well, I’m so late in pointing out this KB, but this article deserve reading for all who works with sharepoint customizations.

This article contains information about custom site definitions in Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and custom area definitions in Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003. This article lists scenarios that are supported and scenarios that are not supported when you customize site definitions and area definitions.

Read it here

Visual Studio.NET “Hawaii”

Via [Patrick Tisseghem]

While we are still trying to get all the details of the new beta version of Visual Studio.NET ("Whidbey"), the guys in Redmond are already two versions ahead. After Whidbey we will have Orcas and then Hawaii. Both, Orcas and Hawaii will be very Longhorn-specific and give developers the necessary work environment for building a whole new generation of applications. Read on here.

Sharepoint Technical project Site

Via [Bob Mixon]

I have created a multi-page technical project site and saved it as a template for others to use. It includes a lot of features, such as risk management as outlined in the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). You can find the article and down load here.

Sharepoint document mover (Error Message)

Serge and Jim, both dropped me a comments regarding an error message they get when try to run the documents mover utility.

The first few lines of the error states that Microsoft.Sharepoint.dll assembly if not found, this utility is based on Microsoft sharepoint object model, so you should run the utility on the same sharepoint server machine.

I hope this solves your problem, and if you have other problems i’ll be pleased to help

 

asp.net Development Helper

Via [Arno Nel]

Thanks to Nikhil from the asp.net team for this one. You can view trace and viewstate info. Get the binaries here

 

Thank you Arno for pointing out this nice tool

Sharepoint Search API resources

Useful resources regarding sharepoint search API via [Eli Robillard]

 

 

It’s a common scenario to want to use the great Search and Index engines from SharePoint Portal server in other .NET applications, or to customise results for a particular purpose. Some of these are pretty hard to find, so I thought I’d organize them in one place.

 

Microsoft® SharePoint™ Portal Server: Advanced Technologies for Information Search and Retrieval

http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint/server/techinfo/administration/search.asp

 

SharePoint 2003 Object Models and Search

http://www.sharepointcustomization.com/resources/whitepapers/SPS2003%20Object%20Models%20and%20Search.pdf

 

Using SharePoint search in an ASP.NET application with noise filtering

http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archive/2004/07/15/405.aspx

 

Using SharePoint Portal Server to Index Your Custom Application

http://www.devx.com/dotnet/Article/27998?trk=DXRSS_DOTNET

 

Integrating Microsoft SharePoint Portal Search into Microsoft Content Management Server 2002

http://msdn.microsoft.com/archive/default.asp?url=/archive/en-us/dnarmscms/html/mcmssrch.asp