FYI Neither K2 Blackpoint or K2 Blackpearl support SSO, they only support Windows authentication. K2 Connect (SAP) makes use of SSO in some aspects.

If you are trying to use in an SSO environment you will see errors similar to:

Unable to cast object of type ‘System.Web.Security.SingleSignOn.SingleSignOnIdentity’ to type ‘System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity’

K2 blackpearl®, K2 blackpoint® and K2 connect® 4.5 Release Candidates now available!

K2 blackpearl, K2 blackpoint and K2 connect have moved into a new era with the introduction of K2 4.5 – the next generation of K2 products!

This release focuses on greater stability and better performance. K2 4.5 still has all the great functionality you’re accustomed to plus great additional features, such as Inline Functions, an updated designer for SharePoint, support for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, memory and performance enhancements, SSL support, a better installation experience, and more.

K2 blackpearl 4.5 and K2 blackpoint 4.5 are now built from a single codebase, which means that all performance and resource-utilization enhancements will be available to all K2 customers. K2 connect has been updated so that it can leverage these enhancements, as well.

K2 4.5 is the fifth minor installment of K2 blackpearl following RTM, SP1, 0803 and 0807. Because K2 blackpearl and K2 blackpoint are now based on the same core components, we’ve decided to bring the product names into sync.

What’s new in the 4.5 releases of K2 blackpearl and K2 blackpoint
• K2 Designer for SharePoint
• K2 Studio
• Improved design and developer experience
• Enhanced end-user experience
• Optimized infrastructure
• Simplified installation experience

1.New support for:
Windows Server 2008, including R2
SQL Server 2008
Visual Studio 2008

2.Non- AD Installation

3.SSL Support

4.Inline Functions

5.Reports
New filters and parameters
Using SmartObject direct execution functionality

6.Performance enhancements to SmartObjects and the K2 Workflow Server

7.In MOSS/WSS K2 configuration Features are deployed as solutions

8.K2 Designer for SharePoint enhancements include:
Inline Functions
SmartObject Filters
Custom Work Item Notification
Process Data Fields
New Wizards

9.Internationalization of the codebase

10.Numerous documentation updates

11.Inclusion of all Updates

Visit www.k2.com for more information

I had a problem where external users, in this case hotmail addresses werent recieving Sharepoint Notifications. I was scratching my head but the solution was a simple one, as they normally are….

If you are going to let users outside of your domain receive outgoing email from SharePoint, you may need to enter their domains as valid in SMTP. To do this go to your SMTP server under IIS and right click on Domains. Choose New Domain, and Remote. Add the domain of your users’ email address. If it is going to be a mixed bag, you may need to add several remote domains such as *.com, *.net, *.org, *.co.uk etc etc

If you get the following error Method ‘post’ of object ‘IOWSPostData’ failed, you can fix it by doing the below:

Do a search on you C: drive for a file named: EXPTOOWS.XLA

Open it and Enable Macros

Select the Developer tab and the Visual Bacis or press ALT+11. Same result. You are ready to alter the file.

Search for:

lVer = Application.SharePointVersion(URL)

Add a new line just below:

lVer = 2

Save and exit.

Now try the import again & it should work.

NOTE: this is a problem with excel as opposed to Sharepoint so this would need to be done on all workstations requiring the ability to import Excel 2007 spreadsheets as custom lists.

For anyone else having this issue it looks like this is an issue with the beta version of Sharepoint 2010 as when using service accounts it appears that the user profile sync just sticks on ‘Starting’ & never actually starts.

To get it started add your service account as a local admin & reboot & you should find it starts OK.

Good job its a beta in a test environment!

CAUSE:
This is a default behavior seen in SharePoint that anonymous users do not get search results. Security trimming prevents anonymous users from seeing items in search by default.

RESOLUTION:
Enable “Always index all ASPX pages on this site” on the site collection.

Perform the following steps:
• Open the SharePoint Site
• Click on Site Actions, Site Settings and Modify Site Settings
• Click on Search Visibility
• Select the option that says “Always index all ASPX pages on this site”
• Perform a full crawl again
• Log into the site anonymously and perform search and you should get search results now

If you have enabled anonymous access on your Sharepoint farm and you still get prompted for a login when trying to access a list, it is most likely that your list exists in a ‘Publishing Site’.

This is because by default all publishing sites have a feature called ‘ViewFormPagesLockdown’ activated. This basically provides extra security for internet facing Sharepoint sites by stopping anonymous users viewing pages like AllItems.aspx etc.

If you want anonymous users to be able to view such pages you need to disable ‘ViewFormPagesLockdown’

1 Remove all anonymous access from the site.
2 Deactivate the ViewFormPagesLockdown Feature
3 Make sure that the list inherits its permissions from its parent.
4 Do an IISreset and close all browsers.
5 Wait 60 seconds or so for everything to start backup
6 Turn anonymous access on at the site level
7 Close the browser.
8 Browse to the website as anonymous user.
9 Click on a navigation link to browse to the list in question
10 You should now be able to browse list items as an anonymous user.

Activate Feature:

stsadm -o activatefeature -url -filename ViewFormPagesLockDown\feature.xml

De-Activate Feature:

stsadm -o deactivatefeature -url -filename ViewFormPagesLockDown\feature.xml

Go to “Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\InfoPath.exe” in your registry (if infopath.exe does not exist create it), there you will see a “Path” value if you do not then create a new string value with the the name “Path” and in the “Value Data” portion add the path to the infopath exe folder, for example, “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\

Also in the ‘Default’ string add the path with the actual filename ie. “C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\infopath.exe”

Now close K2 designer & reopen, you will now be able to edit Infopath forms from within K2

Well I read numerous posts etc but nothing definitive, after speaking to K2 basically there are ’some’ issues running K2 Blackpoint in a HTTPS environment however full SSL support will be introduced in 4.5 release for both K2 Blackpoint & K2 Blackpearl. A formal release date has not been set but they are looking at the end of Q1 2010.

Hope this helps anybody looking into this & hopefully not long to wait !

PowerPivot gives users the power to create compelling self-service BI solutions, facilitates sharing and collaboration on user-generated BI solutions in a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 environment, and enables IT organizations to increase operational efficiencies through Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2-based management tools.

If you dont have your own test server you can use the virtual lab here:

http://www.powerpivot.com/

If your running Sharepoint 2010 Beta 2 be sure to check out the Powerpivot for Sharepoint solution

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee210682(SQL.105).aspx

Step 1:Add the Contact Selector control to InfoPath – this only has to be done once within InfoPath, then it will be available for future forms.
1. From the Controls task pane, click on “Add or Remove Custom Controls…” then click Add.
2. Select “ActiveX Control” then click Next.
3. Locate “Contact Selector” in the list, select it, then click Next.
4. Ensure “Don’t install a .cab file” is selected, click Next.
5. Set the Binding Property to “Value”, click Next.
6. In the drop-down menu for field or group type, select “Field or Group (any data type)” then click Finish.
7. Click Close, click OK.

Step 2: Add a data connection – this must be done for each new form created.
There is some preliminary work here, first you have to create an XML file and save it. Open notepad and paste: <Context siteUrl="http://<your site url>“/>. Save the file as Context.xml. This same file can be used each time you create a new data connection of this type.

1. In InfoPath click Tools>Data Connections, then click the Add button.
2. Select “Create a ne connection to:” and “Receive data”, click Next.
3. Select “XML Document” and click Next.
4. Browse to the Context.xml file you created in notepad, click Next.
5. “Include the data as a resource file in the form template or template part” should be selected, click Next.
6. Leave the connection named “Context” and automatically retrieve the data when the form is opened, click Finish.

Step 3: Add the control to the form.
1. Drag and drop the control to the desired location on the form.
2. Go to the Data Source task panel.
3. Modify the data source so that the group that is created by the new control is exactly like the data source pictured. The “Person” group is a repeating group, the field names are case sensitive and must be exactly as shown below.

The control on the form that can be used to lookup users in Active Directory. Which is pretty nice if the DisplayName and Account ID are all the information that is needed. Here’s how to get more:

Step 4: Add your rules.

1. While in the Data Source task pane, create a field in the main data source (but not in your Contact Selector group) and name it something meaningful. I use HiddenAccountName to keep it distinct from the field in the Contact Selector group.
2. Click the drop-down menu on your data field in the data source, click “Properties”, then click the function button to set the default data.
3. Click “Insert Field or Group…”
4. Select the AccountId field from your contact selector group, then click OK on each window until the Field or Group Properties is showing(2 times).

5. Click the Rules and Merge tab, click Add.
6. Don’t set any conditions, this rule always applies, click Add Action.
7. Select “Set a field’s value” from the drop down.
8. Click the data source button next to the “Field” field.
9. Select the data source you wish to use for the lookup in the drop-down menu. *Be sure you don’t re-use the connection for the current user data if you have one in this form.
10. Expand the query fields and sub-groups, then select “Account Name”, click OK.

11. Click the function button next to the “Value” field, then click Insert Field or Group.
12. Select the current field you created in step 1 above, click OK until all windows are closed (3 times).
13. In the data source pane, use the drop-down menu to select the data source that you will use to look up another user’s profile information.
14. Expand the query fields and all sub groups until the field AccountName is visible. Click the drop-down menu on the AccountName field, then click properties.
15. Click on the Rules and Merge tab, then click Add.
16. Do not set any conditions, this rule will always apply. Click Add Action.
17. Select “Query using a data connection” from the drop-down menu.
18. Select the data connection you wish to use for the lookup from the drop-down menu (it should be the same as the data source listed in the task pane), then click OK.
19. Click Add Action.
20. Select “Set a field’s value” from the drop-down.
21. Click on the data source button next to the “Field” field.
22. Ensure you change the data source to “Main” and select the field you wish to auto-populate, then click OK.
23. Select the function button next to the “Value” field, then click Insert Field or Group.
24. Expand the data fields group and all sub-groups, select “Value”, click Filter Data, then click Add.
25. Where the “Value” field is defaulted, click the drop-down and select “Select a field or group…”
26. Select the “Name” field under “Property Values”, click OK.
27. In the third field, click the drop-down and select “Type Text”.
28. Type the property from the user profile that you wish to enter in the field, then click OK until you are back to the “Rule” window (5 times).

Repeat steps 19 through 28 for all fields that you wish to have auto-populate with the other user’s data. It is important that “Query using a data connection” remain the first action. If it is not the first action, highlight that action and move it up until it is the first.

29. Click OK on all windows until you are back to your form.

Now you have a contact selector that allows a user to look up another user in AD and have their profile properties auto-populate fields on the form.

Source: http://www.pointgowin.com

Troubleshooting anything to do with K2 Blackpoint the 1st port of call is going through your error logs:

All logging configuration (excluding SmartObject logging) is done through the following file:

C:\Program Files\K2 blackpearl\Host Server\Bin\HostServerLogging.config

When you open the file in notepad, or any other text editor, you will see a section that looks like the following:

<br /> <ApplicationLevelLogSettings><br /> <ApplicationLevelLogSetting Scope="Default"><br /> <LogLocationSettings><br /> <LogLocation Name="ConsoleExtension" Active="True" LogLevel="Info" /><br /> <LogLocation Name="FileExtension" Active="False" LogLevel="All" /><br /> <LogLocation Name="EventLogExtension" Active="False" LogLevel="Debug" /><br /> <LogLocation Name="ArchiveExtension" Active="False" LogLevel="Debug" /><br /> <LogLocation Name="MSMQExtension" Active="False" LogLevel="Debug" /><br /> </LogLocationSettings><br /> </ApplicationLevelLogSetting><br /> </ApplicationLevelLogSettings><br />

This section is where you can configure the various logging destinations as well as the verbosity. The default settings have only the Console destination active but you can turn on the other destinations by changing the Active property from False to True. The LogLevel property specifies the verbosity. The options are, from most verbose to least verbose, All, Debug, Info, and Error. My preference in a development environment is typically for Debug or Info as they give you enough information to be useful but not too much that you get lost. Error will only show you the errors which can be nice however usually some context is helpful. In a production environment however any log level above Error for any destination is probably overkill unless you are actively troubleshooting.

I also preference File logging as this creates a transmittable text file in the C:\Program Files\K2 blackpoint\Host Server\Bin\ directory.

Here is a brief description of the various logging destinations:

•ConsoleExtension – directs messages to the server console window. In a production environment where you are running as a service and have no need for the console output I recommend turning the console extension off as it will improve performance slightly.

•FileExtension – allows you to direct logging to text files. The App settings section in the config file even allows you to specify max file size or file durations.

•EventLogExtension – allows you to direct logging to the Windows Event Log. I typically recommend setting this to Error so that you don’t bloat your event log with standard info or debug messages.

•ArchiveExtension – allows you to use a SQL database as a repository for logging information. This is handy when you have a load balanced environment and don’t want to have to check each server’s log files individually. You can have all the servers in the NLB logging to the same database.

•MSMQExtension – allows you to log messages to the Microsoft Message Queuing system which other applications or services could monitor.

Once you have made the changes you want in the config file save your changes (you might also want to create a backup of this file just in case) and then restart the K2 blackpoint service. The new logging changes will now be in effect.

You may be overwhelmed the first time you open a text log file as there is a lot of information that is captured and browsing the log file in notepad can be daunting. What you will notice however is that the log file is comma delimited meaning that you can easily open this file in a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel. This gives you a way to do filtering as well as play with column width to enhance readability.

If you need more information on the logging framework there is an article here: http://kb.k2workflow.com/articles/kb000309.aspx

Source: k2underground.com

1.To enable the K2 Web Designer on sub sites, please refer to the K2 blackpoint Documentation under K2 Web Designer for SharePoint > K2 Web Designer Administration Settings. Following the Getting Started Steps located in K2 Studio will enable the feature on a site collection and top level lists or libraries. To enable the K2 Web Designer on sub sites, you need to activate the Site Feature, which is documented in the product documentation.

2.After installing K2 blackpoint 0902 (4.9040.1.0) or (4.9040.2.0) the SOURCECODE data source in Visual Studio required for designing custom reports is missing. To resolve this issue follow the workaround described in KB000411 – Known Issue: Custom Reporting Services component not visible.

3.In the K2 blackpoint documentation in the topic Start Here… > Planning the environment > Requirements > Software by Role > Prerequisites for the SharePoint Server role it states that Microsoft Windows 2008 / Microsoft Windows 2008 Service Pack 1 is supported as an operating system. This is incorrect only Windows 2003 Server with SP2 (Standard or Enterprise) or Windows 2003 Server R2 with SP2 (Standard or Enterprise) is currently supported. This issue is only present in K2 blackpoint 0902 (4.9040.1.0)

4.When selecting columns on the Process Settings screen in the K2 Web Designer for SharePoint the columns cannot contain special characters such as < > &

5.When deploying a K2 Web Designer process the user will receive an error stating that the feature could not be added to the farm. This error is known to surface when the web app pool account of the SharePoint Web Application used to deploy the process is not a SharePoint Farm Administrator.

Resolution: The SharePoint App Pool account must be added manually as a SharePoint Farm Administrator.

6.The environment settings are correctly saved at installation, however, the K2 Studio Option does not read the saved environment setting and defaults to the local machine name. If OK is selected then the incorrect value will be saved. Workaround: Change the Server value in the Connection settings screen before clicking OK.

7.The column headers of the users and their respective actions do not display on the Delegation page. This error occurs if one user is added to the delegates list (e.g., if a new user is added to a list that previously did not have any delegates), then the headers do not display for the new user. However, as soon as a second delegate user is added, the column headers appear and display correctly. This error does not occur if delegates had been previously added to the worklist item.

PROCESS QUESTIONS

1. Does the process require reporting, auditing, compliance or version control?

2. Can the process be mapped? Or has the process been mapped and optimized already?

3. Is this process in operation today, electronically, in paper or otherwise?

4. If the business process is new to the business, have the necessary participants of the process been informed and involved in the change management and business improvement exercise?

5. Do you have a paper forms and folders that are passed around?

6. Is this process time sensitive? Are there service level agreements? Do you need escalation points when specific time limits are reached based on your SLAs?

7. Do you have a business process that requires more than one type of review or decision at the same time?

8. Does the process share information with any other process?

9. Does the process run for a long time?

PEOPLE QUESTIONS

1. Will tasks need to be performed on behalf of another person?

2. Will the process involve the participation of the entire organization?

3. Are the process participants geographically dispersed?

4. Does the process need to escalate if someone fails to action it?

5. Do multiple people need to review and sign this off?

6. Are external parties involved in the process, for example regulatory agencies, customers and partners?

7. Is it important to notify users of process status?

8. Is overall process visibility important, for example for employees, managers, executives or auditors?

9. Do you need visibility into your process, like who is doing what and how long does tasks take to complete?

When deploying a new K2 workflow / process you get an error message containing:

The partner transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions

First check on the application server(s):

1. Go to “Administrative Tools > Services”
2. Turn on the “Distribute Transaction Coordinator” Service if it is not running

If you still get the error:

First verify the “Distribute Transaction Coordinator” Service is
running on both database server and application servers

1. Go to “Administrative Tools > Services”
2. Turn on the “Distribute Transaction Coordinator” Service if it is not running

If it is running and its not running on the same server as the SQL Server:

1. Go to “Administrative Tools > Component Services”

2. On the left navigation tree, go to “Component Services > Computers
> My Computer” (you may need to double click and wait as some nodes
need time to expand)

3. Right click on “My Computer”, select “Properties”

4. Select “MSDTC” tab

5. Click “Security Configuration”

6. Make sure you check “Network DTC Access”, “Allow Remote Client”,
“Allow Inbound/Outbound”, “Enable TIP” (Some option may not be
necessary, have a try to get your configuration)

7. The service will restart

8. YOU MAY NEED TO REBOOT YOUR SERVER IF IT STILL DOESN’T WORK

On the application server(s) use the same above procedure to open the
“Security Configuration” setting, make sure you check “Network DTC
Access”, “Allow Inbound/Outbound” option, restart service and computer
if necessary.

On you SQL server service manager, click “Service” dropdown, select
“Distribute Transaction Coordinator”, it should be also running on
your server computer

When deploying a K2 process you get the following error:

Task Error: System.Exception: Error occurred adding the feature to the farm. —> System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException: Server was unable to process request. —> Access denied.
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.ReadResponse(SoapClientMessage message, WebResponse response, Stream responseStream, Boolean asyncCall)
at System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapHttpClientProtocol.Invoke(String methodName, Object[] parameters)

This is normally a permission problem & you should check the following & make any changes that are required:

1) Check that the MOSS app pool account has Site Collection and Farm Admin Rights and is also a local administrator.

2)Check that the MOSS app pool account is given dbo permission on the SP Admin Config database.

3)Check that the MOSS app pool account is granted modify permissions: [Program Files]\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\Template\Features\ and \12\ISAPI folders.

4) Make sure the MOSS app pool account is given K2 export rights.

5) Make sure the “K2 Workflow Integration Content Types” in Central Admin > K2 for SharePoint has been activated.

You may also need to to do an iisreset.

If all of the above are present you should be able to publish your workflow without experiencing the above error.

If your seeing the below error in your event viewer:

Error:
“Insufficient SQL database permissions for user in database ‘SharePoint_Config’ on SQL Server instance ‘WSS1′. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.

EXECUTE permission denied on object ‘proc_putObject’, database ‘SharePoint_Config’, schema ‘dbo’.”

Solution:
The K2 Server account must be part of the Site Collection Admin Group in MOSS.

When trying to create an SISS package in sql server managament studio using the export wizard you get the following error message at the last stage:

“Save to sql server failed no description found”

To fix this you need to reregister the following DDL’s

Regsvr32 msxml3.dll
Regsvr32 msxml6.dll

Now when you try & save you SISS package it should go through with no problems.

1) Export your Content Query Web part to your desktop

2) Open it with Notepad and look for the following line of code:
<property name="AdditionalFilterFields" type="string" null="true" />

3) Change this line to the following, and replace the portion MYINTERNALCOUMNNAME with the internal column name for your column

<property name="AdditionalFilterFields" type="string">MYINTERNALCOUMNNAME</property>

4) Save your file

5) Import the web part

- Edit page
- Add Web Parts
- Switch to advanced
- Switch from browse to import
- Browse to your file and upload you file

Now when you go to apply a filter, you will see your custom column.

Card sorting is a technique that many information architects (and related professionals.) use as an input to the structure of a site or product. With so many of us using the technique, why would we need to write an article on it?

While card sorting is described in a few texts and a number of sites, most descriptions are brief. There is not a definitive article that describes the technique and its variants and explains the issues to watch out for. Given the number of questions posted to discussion groups, and discussions we have had at conferences, we thought it was time to get all of the issues in one place.

This article provides a detailed description of the basic technique, with some focus on using the technique for more complex sites. This article does not cover some issues such as the use of online tools, which will be covered in a future article.

Read more…….

http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide