K2 The form template cannot be opened in the InfoPath designer, because InfoPath is not installed on the machine
By peter.stilgoe
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
Does K2 Blackpoint (or Blackpearl) work in a HTTPS / SSL environment?
By peter.stilgoe
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 – Gemini BI
By peter.stilgoe
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:
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
How to auto populate InfoPath forms using the people picker
By peter.stilgoe
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:
K2 Blackpoint: Troubleshooting & error logs
By peter.stilgoe
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:
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
Known Issues With K2 Blackpoint
By peter.stilgoe
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.
K2 Process / Workflow Automation – Questions to ask
By peter.stilgoe
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?
K2 deployment error: The partner transaction manager has disabled its support for remote/network transactions
By peter.stilgoe
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
Deploying K2 process: Error occurred adding the feature to the farm Server was unable to process request. —> Access denied.
By peter.stilgoe
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.
K2 – “Insufficient SQL database permissions for user in database ‘SharePoint_Config’ on SQL Server instance ‘WSS1′.
By peter.stilgoe
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.
Save to sql server failed no description found
By peter.stilgoe
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.
How to add extra fields to your CQWP that dont display as standard
By peter.stilgoe
1) Export your Content Query Web part to your desktop
2) Open it with Notepad and look for the following line of code:
3) Change this line to the following, and replace the portion MYINTERNALCOUMNNAME with the internal column name for your column
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: helping figure out your ‘best fit’ site taxonomy
By peter.stilgoe
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
Exporting a Sharepoint List into XML
By peter.stilgoe
This easiest way is to use the URL below & insert your list GUID
http://servername/site/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=Display&List=*YOURUNIQUELISTID*&XMLDATA=TRUE
To get the GUID of the list you need to go into the list & click ‘Settings’ -> ‘List Settings’. Now if you look at your URL you will see something like:
/_layouts/listedit.aspx?List=%7B7B476F98%2D1075%2D4A6D%2D8F63%2D4C754B3F41FC%7D
The URL is encoded so you will need to replace “%7B” with “{” and “%7D” with “}” and “%2D” with “-” so the end result would look something like: {7B476F98-1075-4A6D-8F63-4C754B3F41FC}
Records Management v Document Management
By peter.stilgoe
Records Management:
- Management of the record is more important than the content of the record
- The record never changes (although its properties might)
- Records require access controls, lots of them
Document Management/Collaboration:
- Without content there is no document
- The document changes a lot, that’s the whole point of collaboration
- Access controls restrict and impede collaboration, the fewer there are the better
One of the better ways of implementing Jquery in your Sharepoint environment
By peter.stilgoe
1. Open up SharePoint Portal and click on Site Actions -> Site Settings -> All Site Settings option
2. Under “Site Administration“group option, Click on “Content and Structure” link
3. From top menu Click “New” List option to create a list of type “Document Library”.
4. Let’s Configure document library further…. Let’s name it as “JavaLib”
[ Note: The name of the document library could be any name you like, I like the name JavaLib as we will use this library to organize all JavaScript’s related resources]
5. (Best Practices) Now, We can configure the JavaLib with additional columns, Versioning and Security so that it can return us a favors like versioning and auto advancing to new versions (if needed).
5.1. Add a column “Script Version” as Single Line of Text to JavaLib
Having “Script version” column becomes very informative when one has lots of developers.
5.2. Configure versioning with 10 Major & 10 Minor Versions
Versioning will allow you to rollback to previous version if there is a bug/known defects without having all other pages needing a modification.
5.3. Set Library security as Read Only to Everyone and Contribute to DevGroup
Limiting who can upload new items (scripts) will help establish controlled processes and release changes using major versions.
6. Let’s download most current JQuery version 1.3.2 from http://jqueryjs.googlecode.com/files/jquery-1.3.2.min.js to the desktop
7. Now, Let’s upload jquery.1.3.2.min.js file from our desktop to our JavaLib library.
Note: After uploading the file, Please make sure you change the Name from Jquery-1.3.2.min.js to Jquery and Title as Jquery-1.3.2.min.js and Script version as 1.3.2. This will help us in future if other revisions are available then you do not have to update all webparts with new framework urls.
8. Now we have JQuery available in our environment, with correct control security & versioning in place.
Thanks to Hemendra Patel over @ http://hemsoft.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-look-at-jquery-sharepoint.html
Create a survey that can be filled out by all anonymous users, but they cannot see each others entries
By peter.stilgoe
Once youve created your survey:
Set advanced settings
On this screen, we set ‘Read Access’ to ‘All Responses’, ‘Edit Access’ to ‘Only their own’ and ‘Allow items from this survey to appear in search results’ to ‘No’. Setting read access to ‘All Responses’ seems a bit weird. After all, you will normally not want your anonymous users to see the responses of all other users. We will change this back later, but for some reason, it is necessary to select this option here.
Set Permissions
Next we go to the permissions screen:
The survey by default inherits the permissions from the site, but for anonymous surveys this will not do. By selecting ‘Edit Permissions’ from the ‘Actions’ menu, you can specify specific permissions for this survey.
The Setting menu has now appeared and from it, we choose ‘Anonymous Access’.
In this screen, make sure that the check boxes for ‘Add’ and ‘View’ are selected.
Set advanced settings again
If this is alright, we can go back to the ‘Advanced settings’ screen to set Read Access back to ‘Only their own’.
There, you’re set. The survey can be filled out by all anonymous users, but they cannot see each others entries. The information entered in these forms will be stored in the survey’s library and you can inspect each entry or view aggregated graphs of all entries. So what happened here? We first set the ‘Read Access’ to ‘All Responses’, because only then can we set the Anonymous Access settings (all check boxes will be greyed out otherwise). But after setting the permissions, we can safely turn access to all responses off again. This procedure is a bit odd, but it works.
NOTE: This solution does not work if your survey includes branching logic.
http://www.getsharepoint.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=17
Import data from CSV and SQL to a SharePoint list
By peter.stilgoe
This SharePoint feature allows you to quickly import data from a CSV file or a SQL stored procedure to any custom SharePoint list.
Once you have added the solution to your farm and activated it on your site collection an additional menu option will be available on the Action menu of each custom list that will take you to the import CSV or SQL page.
Simply select which option you want – either import from a CSV file or import from a SQL stored procedure. Next, browse to the CSV file or enter the SQL connection and name of the stored procedure and hit the Import button.
There is a check box option to delete all items from the list before doing the import which is not selected by default.
NHS Guidance: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Information Architecture
By peter.stilgoe
This guidance helps healthcare organisations apply a chosen information architecture or taxonomy within a 2007 Office system environment. Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 Information Architecture describes how to plan and design an information architecture and provides step-by-step instructions showing how to configure Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 with these settings.
This guidance is suitable for use by healthcare organisations that currently:
- Have content stored in local drives and file shares
- Archive records manually
- Have a basic Web server with Web master-controlled publishing
- Have not yet deployed Office SharePoint Server 2007, or have recently deployed Office SharePoint Server 2007 and wish to plan a portal structure and information architecture
Solution Accelerator – Scorecards
This solution accelerator acts as a template for configuring a management dashboard to track organisational metrics. It contains four example dashboards ranging from a primary care practice to a healthcare organisation’s CEO dashboard with metrics based on the healthcare targets for 2008. The solution accelerator also includes online guidance explaining how to customise a dashboard for a healthcare organisation’s needs.
This solution accelerator is suitable for use by healthcare organisations that currently use :
- Static paper-based documents to track performance with manually-entered performance metrics
- Static, decentralized, and highly-IT dependent reports
- Standalone spreadsheet-based analysis
Increase your search relevancy by removing views & other irrelevant results from your Sharepoint search
By peter.stilgoe
By deafult Sharepoint search results will include ‘noise’ pages in the search results, such as views, all forms etc etc. If you dont want these to appear in your search results, which most people wont you can exlude them by creating exlude rules in the SSP.
1) Navigate to the SSP.
2) Click search settings under Search.
3) Click Crawl Rules.
Some common noise pages you may wish to include:
*://*webfldr.aspx – This will exclude all explorer view pages if you choice it as a exclude rule.
*://*mod-view.aspx* – This will exclude the Moderation view page if you choice it as a exclude rule.
*://*my-sub.aspx* – This will exclude the page with your items if you choice it as a exlude rule.
*://*allitems.aspx* – This will exclude the allitems page from the search results if you choice it as a exclude rule.
*://*allforms.aspx* – This will exclude the all forms page from the search results if you choice it as a exclude rule.
*://*/lists/* – This will exclude the list from the search results if you choice it as a exclude rule.
*://*DispForm.aspx* – This will exclude the list display form from the search results if you choice it as a exclude rule.
Now run a full crawl & youre done.
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February 5th, 2010
