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Adnan Ahmed (عدنان) is a Senior MS Solutions Consultant in PM Centrix (http://www.pmcentrix.com), the IT Consulting Company in Ireland and has involved with many large enterprises to help them realise real benefits from adopting Enterprise Project Management and integration with SharePoint platform. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS) for SharePoint 2007 & 2003, Project Server 2007, MCSD.NET
Blog for SharePoint: http://www.mossgurus.com/adnan
 
EPM 2007

 

MCTS MOSS 2007

     
Content Deployment Error “Failed to read package file”.

When you run the incremental content deployment, you get the following exception during import operation.

Failed to read package file. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.Uncompress(SPRequest request) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.SPImport.Run() *** Inner exception: Failure writing to target file at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.ExtractFilesFromCabinet(String bstrTempDirectory, String bstrCabFileLocation) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.<>c__DisplayClass2.<Uncompress>b__0() at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.CodeToRunElevatedWrapper(Object state) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c__DisplayClass4.<RunWithElevatedPrivileges>b__2() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Deployment.ImportDataFileManager.Uncompress(SPRequest request)

Reason: Insufficient disk space in the content deployment temporary location path on the destination server farm.

How to fix this problem: Delete files from the Content deployment temporary location and start the incremental crawl again. The problem will be resolved.

The Cab files are not always deleted and remain in the Content Deployment Folder location e.g. C:\Windows\ContentDeploymet\. To permanently resolve this issue, you must delete these temporary files by creating a scheduled job. Files older than 1 or 2 days can safely be deleted.

How to Increase default 16MB File Size for SharePoint 2007 Search Indexing

You get an error message in the SharePoint 2007 Search Crawl Log that "The file reached the maximum download limit. Check that the full text of the document can be meaningfully crawled."

 

Resolution: This error occurred when SharePoint 2007 Search tries to Index a file larger than 16MB (default) size. By default, SharePoint Server 2007 can crawl and filter a file with a size of up to 16 MB. After this limit is reached, SharePoint adds a warning entry in the SharePoint gatherer log. In order to increase the default limit, you must add a new entry MaxDownloadSize in the windows registry.

Follow the steps below to add new entry in the windows registry:

Ø  Open Registry Editor (RegEdit.Exe)

Ø  Locate the following Key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\12.0\Search\Global\Gathering Manager

Ø  Right Click “Gathering Manager” à New à DWORD Value. Name it MaxDownloadSize. Double-click, change the value to Decimal, and type the maximum size (in MB) for files that the gatherer downloads.

Ø  RESET the index.

Ø  Start Full Crawl.

 

 

How to Configure Treasure (Synonymous) In MOSS 2007

The concept of treasures in SharePoint world is not new. It was also used in SharePoint 2003. Treasures are like synonymous or similar words that you specify in SharePoint for keywords search.

 

The thesaurus permits you to type a phrase in a search query and to receive results for words that are related to the phrase that you typed. For Example, If user search for word "House", so you also would like to search for "Home", "Flat", "Apartment" etc. The concept of SharePoint Treasures is different than SharePoint Best Bets keywords. In SharePoint Best Bets keyword search, the result returned will be shown in the Best Bets web Part, so Best bets do not influence the ranking of Search Result. The down side in this approach is that you have to manage Best Bets URLs as time goes. So, if you add new page in the web site and you would like to show this page in the Best Bets Web Part, then you have to manually add this new URL in the Site Collection.

 

In the case of Treasures, you don't need to make any change in the configuration and new pages will automatically take effect immediately. You have to update the treasures from time to time, if you want to add more synonymous.

 

Follow the steps below to configure Treasures in SharePoint 2007:

 

1.    Find the SSP ADMIN Site GUID

  • Save the following commands in MS Notepad file as .VBS extension and run. It will display the SSP Admin Site GUID. Make note of GUID Information.

Set objGatherAdmin = WScript.CreateObject("oSearch.GatherMgr.1")

For Each objApplication in objGatherAdmin.GatherApplications

      WScript.echo "SSP: " & objApplication.DisplayName & " Application GUID: " & objApplication.Name

Next

2.    Locate Tsneu.xml FILE

The thesaurus files contain inactive sample content. The neutral Tsneu.xml thesaurus file is applied to queries that do not have a thesaurus file that is associated with the query language. The neutral thesaurus file is always applied to queries, even when there is a specific thesaurus file that is associated with the query language. So, we will only update the Tsenu.xml file for Treasures to work in SharePoint 2007 environment.

      Thesaurus files for SharePoint Server 2007 are located to the following folder:

Drive:\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Applications\[SSP Admin Site GUID]\Config\tsneu.xml

Note: Always look for drive where you have configured SharePoint 2007 Indexing. So, if SharePoint 2007 Indexing is configured on S:\Search\ drive, then the complete path will be as follows:

S:\Search\Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\12.0\Data\Applications\[SSP Admin Site GUID]\Config\tsneu.xml

3.    Update Tsneu.xml file

Thesaurus files contain two types of thesaurus entries. These types are replacement sets and expansion sets. Thesaurus files also permit you to configure the word weighting and word stemming options in a replacement set or an expansion set. More details can be found at Microsoft KB 837847 article

§   Open the Tsneu.xml file in Notepad.

§   Remove the following comment lines that appear at the beginning and the end of the file:

<!---Commented out--->

§   Add the treasures or synonymous inside an <expansion> tag. In the expansion tag, you specify one or more substitutions that are enclosed by a <sub> tag. For the example that is described earlier, add the following lines:

<expansion>

 <sub> House</sub>

<sub> Home</sub>

<sub> Apartment</sub>

 <sub>Flat </sub>

 <expansion>

§   Save the XML file. Must save the file in Unicode format.

4.    Re-start the SharePoint Search Service

Run the following command on command line:

NET Stop oSearch

NET Start oSearch

 

Things to Remember:

Ø  You do not need to run Full Crawl or do IISRESET or Reset the Index in order for Treasure to work

Ø  Expansion Tag in the Tsneu.XML must not be repeated. Treasures will stop working immediately. An error is also logged in the Event Viewer.

For Example, following <expansion> tags will generate error:

<expansion>

                <sub>Allowance</sub>

                <sub>Increase</sub>

</expansion>

<expansion>

                <sub>Income</sub>

                <sub>Profit</sub>

</expansion>

<expansion>

                <sub>Allowance</sub>

                <sub>Increase</sub>

</expansion>

 

<expansion>

                <sub>Guarantee</sub>

                <sub> Agreement</sub>

</expansion>

Ø  The value of <Sub> tag must not be repeated in any other <expansion> tag entries. For example, the following statement will also generate error in the event viewer.

<expansion>

                <sub>Allowance</sub>

                <sub>Increase</sub>

</expansion>

<expansion>

                <sub>Asset Register</sub>

                <sub>Allowance</sub>

                <sub>Assets Register</sub>

</expansion>

Ø  When you try to open the Tsneu.xml file in Internet Explorer or any other XML Editor, you get the following error:

Error opening input file: 'tsSchema.xml'. Incorrect definition for the root element in schema. Error processing resource '...

Ignore this error as this XML validation will not affect treasure to work properly.

Ø   When you open the txneu.xml in Notepad, Make sure to save this file as Unicode.

Important Resources:

Ø  http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;837847

Ø  http://jopx.blogspot.com/2004/11/sharepoint-multilinguage-features.html

Ø  http://www.jjfblog.com/2007/10/adventures-in-office-sharepoint-2007.html

Ø  http://blogs.officezealot.com/mauro/archive/2008/07/24/21123.aspx

Ø  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sharepointsearch/thread/e8fd629e-89b9-43e1-83d8-6870795b4ac6/

 

Software Plus Services Blueprint for SharePoint
At the Sharepoint Conference 2008, Bill Gates announced the Silverlight Blueprint for Sharepoint. The full Software Plus Services Blueprint will be available for download via codeplex and via the S+S Blueprints Manager in the near future. Visit http://www.ssblueprints.net/sharepoint to download the samples and screencasts.
 
See available Silverlight Blueprint Web Parts for SharePoint
 
Software Plus Services Blueprint for SharePoint
Test SharePoint Site for Broken Links

Scan broken links functionality in MOSS 2007 can only scan the broken links for sites created under site directry.

Fast Link Checker (http://www.webtweaktools.net/products.html), 3rd party windows based application is an excellent tool to scan the web site and locate broken links and provides a detailed report about all found broken links. It works like a robot of a search engine (Googlebot, MSNBot, WISENutbot, Alexa, etc.).

 

You specify the file to start checking from and Fast Link Checker goes through all pages this file has links to until it checks all links on the site. If Fast Link Checker finds a broken link, it shows its position in the document, the cause why it does not work and a hint how it can be fixed.

 

Fast Link Checker has a flexible management system and can check links to documents, images, scripts and other files. You can check links either only on one page or restrict the level of subdirectories. Fast Link Checker can check links in files available via the HTTP, HTTPS, FTP or FILE protocols and ignores all Gopher, News and mailto: links. It supports HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS proxy servers. Fast Link Checker allows you to generate and save reports. It implements a multithreaded algorithm allowing it to download and check several pages at a time, which considerably increases the performance.

SharePartXXL Newsletter module for Microsoft SharePoint

SharePartXXL Newsletter 3rd party Web Part for Microsoft SharePoint (http://www.sharepartxxl.com/products/newsletter/default.aspx) is an excellent Newsletter module to provide subscription based newsletter. Important features of SharePartXXL Newsletter web part are as follows:

 

  • Dynamic generation of subscription forms (profiles) based on extendable SharePoint lists / views.
  • Data types in columns as well as attributes (“entry required”) are implemented automatically.
  • Prefilled fields in case of logged in user (e.g. name, e-mail, and Active Directory support).
  • Grouped lists of newsletter types can be provided (e.g. for different countries)
  • Double-Opt-In procedure for subscription tracking (confirmation email)
  • Dispatch of template based, personalized newsletters according to subscription.
  • Support of newsletters in HTML and text formats
  • WYSIWYG editing of HTML content
  • Dispatch status for every newsletter
  • Implementation as SharePoint Feature with installation and activation.
  • Automatic generation and validation of required lists
  • Uses SharePoint rights management and settings
  • User-defined placeholders can be defined by columns in a SharePoint list and can be used in the newsletter (body + subject) in the following form [column name].
  • User interface supports multiple languages; German and English are automatically recognized and correspondingly indicated due to the current SharePoint settings. Resource data for other languages can be added by the user when required.
  • Dispatch of newsletters is carried out by a SMTP service with low priority in the background.
  • Preview function and test dispatch of newsletters to marked subscribers possible
  • Support of Sending and Subscription Logging

See screen shot of SharePartXXL web part.

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You must try this tool, If you are looking for Newsletter subscription or Mailinglist management tool that can be used on WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 technology.

 

Why Should you upgrade existing WSS 2.0 Farm to WSS 3.0

 

Design features and customisation can still be achieved by using WSS 2.0 with some difficulty, but I should say it’s not the only reason to upgrade. The technical reasons to upgrade your farm are also very important to understand and their implications on your existing infrastructure. In this post, I have tried to summarise the reasons, why should you upgrade your existing WSS 2.0 Infrastructure to WSS 3.0.

§   Microsoft mainstream support for WSS 2.0 will retire on 08/07//2008. But extended support will be available till 09/07/2013.

(http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=7022)

So from 08th July, 2008 following support options will not be available from Microsoft Support in the absence on Mainstream support.

o    Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims)

o    Incident support (no-charge incident support, paid incident support, support charged on an hourly basis, support for warranty claims)

o    The ability to request non-security hot fixes

§   3rd Party Web Parts are mostly available on WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007.

§   Cost associated with re-branding and customization,

§   Cost associated with re-development/re-configuration of developed web parts, if any in the future

§   Cannot use 40 Fantastic Application Templates released by Microsoft

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/sharepoint/bb407286.aspx

§   Following the new improved features in WSS 3.0 are the compelling reasons to move to WSS 3.0

o    Document Metadata and Content Types

§   Content types enable documents with different metadata attributes to be stored in the same library

o    Tree View and Breadcrumb Controls for easy Navigation

o    Authentication Providers Such as Forms Authentication, Microsoft Passport etc

o    RSS Feeds List

o    Mobile Access

o    Alerts and Subscription(PUSH and PULL Model):

o    Two-stage recycle bin

o    Folder and item-level access control

o     Versioning Control of Documents

o    Master pages

§   Page layout and style elements are now stored in master page definitions. Each site has a master page gallery that the site owner can use to customize the look of all the pages on the site.

o    Workflow: WSS 3.0 provides functionality to create workflows using SharePoint Designer, Microsoft Visual Studio and associate with list/document library.

o    Quick launch and top navigation bar can be customized from browser.

 

Further information can be found from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointtechnology/FX101862291033.aspx?ofcresset=1

§   Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express:

Microsoft has released an enterprise search solution, which provides an efficient way to access unstructured data, structured information, and expertise. It helps keep sensitive information secure, is easy to set up, administer, and manage, and leaves room for scalability. This tool can only be used with WSS 3.0 with SP1. Search center Express manage content sources, search scopes, authoritative sources, key words, best bets and relevance tuning settings.

URL: http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/serverproducts/searchserverexpress/default.aspx

 

Microsoft SharePoint Briefing in Dublin, Ireland
Microsoft is organising "SharePoint Briefing in Dublin, Ireland" on 24th April, 2008.
During the partner sessions, HiSoftware’s President & CEO Kurt A. Mueffelmann will discuss the company’s joint development efforts with Microsoft to create a more accessible and compliant SharePoint offering through the Accessibility Kit for SharePoint and Compliance Sheriff for SharePoint.
 
If you lived in Ireland then you should attend this event to explore the options available to make your ECM 2007 web site accessible. Mostly government organisations are interested in WC3 AA standard compliant sites, so HiSoft AKS acessibility is a tremendous tool to start with. It provides you basic infrastructure so you can develop Controlled adapters on top of the AKS provided framework.
 
See you all in this Event.
 
Interoperability between ProClarity products and Microsoft SharePoint products.
The combination of ProClarity Server configuration and desired WSS/SharePoint version are summarised in the table below.
 

Combination

Supported ProClarity for SharePoint Portal Server Web part

PAS 6.2 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003

The earlier version of the ProClarity for SharePoint Portal Server Web part

PAS 6.3 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003

ProClarity for SharePoint Portal Server Web part version 6.2

PAS 6.3 and SharePoint Server 2007

ProClarity for SharePoint Portal Server Web part version 6.3

PAS 6.2 and SharePoint Server 2007

The ProClarity for SharePoint Portal Server Web part is not supported. Instead, use the SharePoint page viewer Web part.

If both ProClarity 6.3 and WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007 are installed on the same computer, then we must not create SharePoint Site on “Default Web Site: Port 80”. SharePoint Sites can still use Port 80 with any other web site name. See Support URLs from Microsoft.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937771/en-us?spid=11373&sid=312
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=934074
 

Project Professional 2007 crashes when try to save Project on Project Server 2007
This is a common problem notified by our clients that some of the users are facing this issue. When they try to save a project from MS Project Professional 2007, Project Professional crashes and Project Manager cannot open the same the project in editable mode again. Inspite of forcing the project to Checked In back to the server, Queue job fails to complete its operation. As a result, user cannot work on the project.
 
One of my colleague Liam McCambride, found a solution to this problem. This problem occured, when you use graphical indicator in the project plan. This is a bug in the Project Professional 2007 and hopefully will be resolved in the next service pack :(
The only solution for this issue is to create a new project in the project without any graphical indicator column and use it for saving a project to the server. You can still use a view with graphical indicator for viewing a project plan.
 
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 Disclaimer

The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's in anyway, or my blog host, Project Server Gurus

 My Articles

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  How to configure SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to search contents of list attachments
  Useful SQL Queries to Analyze and Monitor SharePoint Portal Solutions Usage
  Dynamic HTML Page creation & Search through Free Text and Meta Tags of HTML by Using Index Server
  Encrypt Password Field in SQL Server, Registry Information & Query String

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