MOSS: The importance of the Template Name attribute

Our client decided to change the name of their MOSS solution towards the end of our project, so I had the fun task of renaming visible instances of the old product name.

A relatively brief find and replace session later, I was trying to redeploy our site when I encountered the error

Failed to instantiate file "default.master" from module "DefaultMasterPage": Source path "default.master" not found. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId)

at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId)

As Bjarne L. Gram discovered, this was due to the fact that I had changed the name of my Template tag in the Webtemp***.xml file, so that it was no longer matching the folder name in {12-hive}\SiteTemplates.

Thanks to Bjarne for pointing this out; I added a comment to the MSDN documentation.

MOSS: Debugging

The debugging process in MOSS is challenging, to say the least, especially if your "development" mostly consists of modifying CAML in XML files.

Some tips:

• Switch off Custom Errors and Enable Callstack; especially helpful if you are doing a lot of coding against the API
• Minimize the number of changes between each deployment and test - SharePoint loves to throw "unknown error"s for the seemingly most minor issue, especially in ONET and Schema files, and tracking down just which change caused the issue is not easy
• Recycle the app pool instead of doing an IISReset
• Minimize the number of tedious manual actions for deployments of your changes by creating batch files to copy and paste files, etc.  Learn which files can be simply copied to the 12-hive to affect a change, and which require GACing, instantiation of new MOSS objects, etc.
• Use the IE Developer Toolbar to make sense of the client-side code (html, IDs, styles, classes, JS, etc)
• Check the log files at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\LOGS.  These files may or may not be helpful.
• Create your own logging/trace mechanism for your code to supplement the SharePoint logs.

MOSS: Site Column: LinkedTitleDocNoMenu

MOSS 2007 (and I believe SharePoint 2003 as well) has a number of built-in site columns for linking to the item or document in a list/document library, while displaying either the Name or the Title, with or without the Edit context menu.

Unfortunately, the exact combination that I needed is not provided: Display the Title field of a DocumentLibrary item, with a link to the document (not item property page), and do not display the context menu.

The CAML I came up with is listed below for future reference - it borrows heavily from LinkedFileNameNoMenu:

<Field ID="{4EB765CD-0750-46fc-9058-CFBAC553F82F}"
    Name="LinkTitleDocNoMenu"
    SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3"
    StaticName="LinkTitleDocNoMenu"
    Group="AIS"
    ReadOnly="TRUE"
    Type="Computed"
    DisplayName="$Resources:core,Title;"
    DisplayNameSrcField="Title"
    Filterable="FALSE"
    AuthoringInfo="$Resources:core,linked_to_document;">
  <FieldRefs>
    <FieldRef ID="{fa564e0f-0c70-4ab9-b863-0177e6ddd247}" Name="Title"/>
    <FieldRef ID="{687c7f94-686a-42d3-9b67-2782eac4b4f8}" Name="FileLeafRef"/>
    <FieldRef ID="{30bb605f-5bae-48fe-b4e3-1f81d9772af9}" Name="FSObjType"/>
    <FieldRef ID="{94f89715-e097-4e8b-ba79-ea02aa8b7adb}" Name="FileRef"/>
    <FieldRef ID="{39360f11-34cf-4356-9945-25c44e68dade}" Name="File_x0020_Type"/>
    <FieldRef ID="{03e45e84-1992-4d42-9116-26f756012634}" Name="ContentTypeId"/>
  </FieldRefs>
  <DisplayPattern>
    <IfEqual>
      <Expr1>
        <LookupColumn Name="FSObjType"/>
      </Expr1>
      <Expr2>1</Expr2>
      <Then>
        <FieldSwitch>
          <Expr>
            <GetVar Name="RecursiveView"/>
          </Expr>
          <Case Value="1">
            <LookupColumn Name="FileLeafRef" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/>
          </Case>
          <Default>
            <SetVar Name="UnencodedFilterLink">
              <SetVar Name="RootFolder">
                <HTML>/</HTML>
                <LookupColumn Name="FileRef"/>
              </SetVar>
              <SetVar Name="FolderCTID">
                <FieldSwitch>
                  <Expr>
                    <ListProperty Select="EnableContentTypes"/>
                  </Expr>
                  <Case Value="1">
                    <Column Name="ContentTypeId"/>
                  </Case>
                </FieldSwitch>
              </SetVar>
              <FilterLink Default="" Paged="FALSE"/>
            </SetVar>
            <HTML><![CDATA[<A onfocus="OnLink(this)"  HREF="]]></HTML>
            <GetVar Name="UnencodedFilterLink" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/>
            <HTML><![CDATA[" onclick="javascript:EnterFolder(']]></HTML>
            <ScriptQuote NotAddingQuote="TRUE">
              <GetVar Name="UnencodedFilterLink"/>
            </ScriptQuote>
            <HTML><![CDATA[');javascript:return false;">]]></HTML>
            <Column Name="Title" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/>
            <HTML><![CDATA[</A>]]></HTML>
          </Default>
        </FieldSwitch>
      </Then>
      <Else>
        <HTML><![CDATA[<A onfocus="OnLink(this)" HREF="]]></HTML>
        <Field Name="EncodedAbsUrl"/>
        <HTML><![CDATA[" onclick="DispDocItemEx(this,']]></HTML>
        <ServerProperty Select="HtmlTransform"/>
        <HTML><![CDATA[',']]></HTML>
        <ServerProperty Select="HtmlTrAcceptType">
          <Column Name="File_x0020_Type"/>
        </ServerProperty>
        <HTML><![CDATA[',']]></HTML>
        <ServerProperty Select="HtmlTrHandleUrl">
          <Column Name="File_x0020_Type"/>
        </ServerProperty>
        <HTML><![CDATA[',']]></HTML>
        <ServerProperty Select="HtmlTrProgId">
          <Column Name="File_x0020_Type"/>
        </ServerProperty>
        <HTML><![CDATA[')">]]></HTML>
        <Column Name="Title" HTMLEncode="TRUE"/>
        <HTML><![CDATA[</A>]]></HTML>
        <IfNew>
          <HTML><![CDATA[<IMG SRC="/_layouts/[%=System.Threading.Thread.CurrentThread.CurrentUICulture.LCID%]/images/new.gif" alt="]]></HTML>
          <HTML>$Resources:core,new_gif_alttext</HTML>
          <HTML><![CDATA[">]]></HTML>
        </IfNew>
      </Else>
    </IfEqual>
  </DisplayPattern>
</Field>

YMMV, no support is offered...

SQL: Efficiently Get Table Row Count

A quick and efficient way to get the row count of a table is to query the system table sysindexes

In order to get the rows of a single table called MyTable you can use the following SQL:

SELECT rows FROM sysindexes WHERE indid < 2 AND ID = OBJECT_ID('MyTable')

In order to get the rows of all tables, you can use this:

SELECT so.name, si.rows
FROM sysindexes si 
       INNER JOIN sysobjects so on si.id = so.id
WHERE si.indid < 2 
       AND so.xtype = 'U'
ORDER BY so.name

SQL: Compare values or rows

In SQL, if you need to check if two values (or rows) are different, the BINARY_CHECKSUM function is very useful and fast:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/tsqlref/ts_ba-bz_1mi1.asp

SQL: Does the object exist?

If you need to check if an object exists in the database, rather than querying an obscure system table, you can use the OBJECT_ID function.

If you want to verify that the table FooBar exists in the YadiYada database, simply write the following IF statement:

IF OBJECT_ID('YadiYada..FooBar') IS NOT NULL
BEGIN
--FooBar exists so you can use it here
--...
END

DDF Command and Variable Syntax

DDF files as used in SharePoint to create Solution (WSP) files are an anachronistic throwback to an ancient Microsoft technology: CAB files.  Since CAB files predate the era of blogging, it is not particularly straightforward to find documentation on DDF files.

Unless you actually read the documentation provided by Microsoft, that is...  Relevant excerpts from the MakeCab.doc included in the Microsoft Cabinet Software Development Kit are included below:

"4.2.2. Command Summary

"The following table provides a summary of the MakeCAB Directive File syntax. Directives begin with a period (“.”), followed by a command name, and possibly by blank delimited arguments. Note that a File Copy command is distinguished from a File Reference command by the setting of the GenerateInf variable.  

Command Syntax	Description
;	Comment (anywhere on a DDF line)
src [dest] [/inf=yes|no] [/unique=yes|no] [/x=y ...]	File Copy command
dest  [/x=y ...]	File Reference command
.Define variable=[value]	Define variable to be equal to value (see .Option Explicit)
.Delete variable	Delete a variable definition
.Dump	Display all variable definitions
.InfBegin Disk | Cabinet | Folder	Copy lines to specified INF file section
.InfEnd	End an .InfBegin section
.InfWrite string	Write “string” to file section of INF file
.InfWriteCabinet string	Write “string” to cabinet section of INF file
.InfWriteDisk string	Write “string” to disk section of INF file
.New Disk | Cabinet | Folder	Start a new Disk, Cabinet, or Folder
.Option Explicit	Require .Define first time for user-defined variables
.Set variable=[value]	Set variable to be equal to value
%variable%	Substitute value of variable
<blank line>	Blank lines are ignored

"4.2.3. Variable Summary

Standard Variables	Description
Cabinet=ON | OFF	Turns Cabinet Mode on or off
CabinetFileCountThreshold=count	Threshold count of files per Cabinet
CabinetNamen=filename	Cabinet file name for cabinet number n
CabinetNameTemplate=template	Cabinet file name template; * is replaced by Cabinet number
ChecksumWidth=1 | 2 | ... | 8	Max low-order hex digits displayed by INF csum parameter
ClusterSize=bytesPerCluster	Cluster size on diskette (default is 512 bytes)
Compress=ON | OFF	Turns compression on or off
CompressedFileExtensionChar=char	Last character of the file extension for compressed files
CompressionType=MSZIP	Compression engine
DestinationDir=path	Default path for destination files (stored in cabinet file)
DiskDirectoryn=directory	Output directory name for disk n
DiskDirectoryTemplate=template	Output directory name template; * is replaced by disk number
DiskLabeln=label	Printed disk label name for disk n
DiskLabelTemplate=template	Printed disk label name template; * is replaced by disk number
DoNotCopyFiles= ON | OFF	Controls whether files are actually copied (ACME ADMIN.INF)
FolderFileCountThreshold=count	Threshold count of files per Folder
FolderSizeThreshold=size	Threshold folder size for current folder
GenerateInf=ON | OFF	Control Unified vs. Relation INF generation mode
InfXxx=string	Set default value for INF Parameter Xxx
InfCabinetHeader[n]=string	INF cabinet section header text
InfCabinetLineFormat[n]=format string	INF cabinet section detail line format
InfCommentString=string	INF comment string
InfDateFormat=yyyy-mm-dd | mm/dd/yy	INF date format
InfDiskHeader[n]=string	INF disk section header text
InfDiskLineFormat[n]=format string	INF disk section detail line format
InfFileHeader[n]=string	INF file section header text
InfFileLineFormat[n]=format string	INF file section detail line format
InfFileName=filename	Name of INF file
InfFooter[n]=string	INF footer text
InfHeader[n]=string	INF header text
InfSectionOrder=[D | C | F]*	INF section order (disk, cabinet, file)
MaxCabinetSize=size	Maximum cabinet file size for current cabinet
MaxDiskFileCount=count	Maximum count of files per Disk
MaxDiskSize[n]=size	Maximum disk size
MaxErrors=count	Maximum errors allowed before pass 1 terminates
ReservePerCabinetSize=size	Base amount of space to reserve for FCRESERVE data
ReservePerDataBlockSize=size	Amount of space to reserve in each data block
ReservePerFolderSize=size	Amount of additional space in FCRESERVE for each folder
RptFileName=filename	Name of RPT file
SourceDir=path	Default path for source files
UniqueFiles=ON | OFF	Control whether duplicate desintation file names are allowed

Details of selected commands and variables:

.Define variable=[value]

Define variable to be equal to value.

To use variable, surround it with percent signs (%) -- %variable%.

Using an undefined variable is an error, and will cause MakeCAB to stop before pass 2.

value may include references to other variables.

Leading and trailing blanks in value are discarded.

Blanks may be enclose in quote (“) or apostrophe (‘) marks.

Explicit percent signs (%), quotes (“), or apostrophes (‘) must be specified twice.

NOTE: If .Option Explicit is specified, then you must first use .Define to define any user-defined variables before you can use .Set to modify them. For standard MakeCAB variables, .Define is not permitted, and only .Set may be used on. If .Option Explicit is not specified, then .Define is equivalent to .Set.

.Set variable=value

Set variable to be equal to value.

To use variable, surround it with percent signs (%) -- %variable%.

Using an undefined variable is an error, and will cause MakeCAB to stop before pass 2.

value may include references to other variables.

value may be empty, in which case variable is set to the empty string.

Leading and trailing blanks in value are discarded.

Blanks may be enclose in quote (“) or apostrophe (‘) marks.

Explicit percent signs (%), quotes (“), or apostrophes (‘) must be specified twice.

NOTE: If .Option Explicit is specified, then you must first use .Define to define any user-defined variables before you can use .Set to modify them. For standard MakeCAB variables, .Define is not permitted, and only .Set may be used on.

DestinationDir=path

Path prefix to store in cabinet file for each file in the cabinet.

Default: .Set DestinationDir= ; Default is no path prefix

path is concatenated with a path separator (“\”) and the target file name on File Copy Commands to produce the file name that is stored in cabinet file. EXTRACT.EXE will use this file name as the default name when the file is extracted.

SourceDir=path

The default path used to locate source files specified in File Copy Commands.

Default: .Set SourceDir= ; Default is to look in the current directory

path is concatenated with a path separator (“\”) and the source file name on the File Copy Command to produce the file name used to find the source file.

If path is empty, then the source file name specified on the File Copy Command is not modified.

UniqueFiles=ON | OFF

Controls whether destination file names in a layout must be unique..

Default: .Set UniqueFiles="ON" ; File names must be unique

If UniqueFiles is ON, MakeCAB checks that all destination file names (names stored on disks or in cabinets) are unique, and generates an error (during pass 1) if they are not. ON is the default, since using the same filename twice usually means that the same file was accidentaly included twice, and this would be a waste of disk space.

If UniqueFiles is OFF, MakeCAB permits duplicate destination file names.

The /UNIQUE parameter may be specified on individual File Copy commands to override the value of UniqueFiles.

Links for 2007-06-30 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-06-30 [del.icio.us]

• VIDEO: Scale-model R/C off-roading - Autoblog

Link - Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:00:00 GMT - Feed (1 subs)

---

Sent using R|mail.