Unique solution to reduce licencing costs for Power Apps for Guest users when using SharePoint for storage

I have a fairly unique situation where I have a user base of a company employees using a Canvas App to work with SharePoint list data. This data is used to generate word documents. This 4 minute video provides the overview of the setup i used:

O365 SharePoint ADFS AAD Authentication in Pictures

SharePoint on-prem. using Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 

Also see: Azure B2C SaaS Authentication

SharePoint Online Property Bag SPWeb Properties are not indexed by default

Problem:  Moving an on-prem SharePoint solution to SPO, I realised that SPO does not automatically index property bag values.

Initial Hypothesis:  The Search schema looks correct and automatically created the correct Managed Properties.  Asked our Microsoft representative and they sent us a link to enable property bag values in the search index.

Resolution: Be aware that you need to do some Powershell commands on your tenant and site collections when using SharePoint Online to make property bag settings appear in the search results.

More Info:
https://blog.kloud.com.au/2018/04/26/how-to-make-property-bag-values-indexed-and-searchable-in-sharepoint-online/

SharePoint Framework Notes

As the SPFx is progressing and changing rapidly, I shall try to update this page as time goes by.  I have been dabbling with the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) for a few months and went to a day workshop with Andrew Connell (AC) on SPFX as the SharePoint Conference 2018 North America on 20 May 2018.  I would definitely recommend attending Andrew Connell training (I have gone to a lot of workshops and presentations over the years and he is excellent) I am not an expert but these notes are my summary of items to be aware of.

Last Updated:15 June 2018

• To use the SPFx on-prem. with SP2016, you need to have feature pack 2.  SP2016 only for SPFx web parts does not do    SP2019 will be behind SP365 but it shall have all the updates circ May 2018 when it is released circa Sept-Oct 2018. 
• Safer to user SPFx on modern pages rather than classic SP pages.
• Development can be done on any laptop with any editor.
• Either build Web Parts in the local or O365 (/_layouts/15/workbench.aspx) Workbench.

• What you need is 1. Node.js, 2. npm, 3. Yeoman, 4. GULP, 5. Webpack (used to check and load dependency JS modules).  AC suggests for simplicity install and forget about: Node.js, Yeoman, Gulp and webpack.  You'll use them but you don't really need to understand them.
• Language-wise, use JavaScript or you can use TypeScript which obviously converts down into normal JS but makes it easier to program (e.g. type ahead/intelisense).
• Use NVM (allows for multiple versions of Node.js; you may have clients of different versions and NVM allows you to have multiple Node.js versions on a machine) and use the LTS (Long-term support) versions: v8.11.2 or v8.9.4
• Install the following pre-reqs using npm:  yomen, gulp and the MSfx template for yeomen scaffolding namely @microsoft/sharepoint…
• VS code makes a good editor, I think Mark Rackly has built a VS template that will do all the scaffolding instead of using yeoman.

SPFx Eqivalancy Comparison:

SPFx Tool	C# WSP Tool	Desc
Node.js	.NET	Used to run npm and compile the SP package (*.sppkg) using gulp and webpack.  Runs a local server to use the tooling
npm	Nuget	Download 3rd party packages/frameworks e.g. jQuery or Angular
yeoman	Visual Studio	Generates basic SPFx web part files, same as a template built using VSIX in VS.  Ensure you have all the basic parts to build a SPFx web part
gulp	MSBuild or F5	Builds the package
webpack	NA	checks dependant files are included in the package.  AC explained it as shaking the tree (removes unnecessary js libraries and ensure libraries are included)

SP2016 on-prem. Dev vs No FTC Sp2016 on-prem. vs SPO SPFx

• WSP
• Timer
• Custom Service Apps
• Event Handlers

References:
https://www.voitanos.io/

Background:
Node.js - Allows you to create a web server and compile JS on the server-side.  It's 2 main functions to use in SP are: 1) Need it for local development workbench and 2) Node.js has npm (package manager) built in, you need node.js that uses npm and webpack to uses gulp to build packages (like we did with MSBuild for WSP's).
webpack - build tool that manages code.  Manages styles and JS files.

SharePoint Tooling 2018

On a development/local machine, I have complied this list of tools that I'm likely to use but it completely depends on the development project, approach, and technologies used.  This post lists tools I commonly use as of March 2018:

SharePoint Tools:

1. SharePoint Inspect
2. SharePoint Designer
3. Visual Studio 2017
4. SharePoint Search Query Tool (CodePlex now PnP)
5. SharePoint Manager
6. CAML Builder

Developer Tools:

1. NodeJS
2. NPM
3. Yeoman, 
4. GULP
5. Webpack

Design Tools:

1. Balsamiq (My favourite) - Screens and interaction flow
2. Updated 2019/12/01 - visual-paradigm.com online drawing tool
3. Axure - Prototyping
4. Figma
5. Microsoft Blend - Screens and interaction flow
6. Visio - Architecture
7. MS Access to ERD design

Other Tools:

1. Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code
2. SnagIT - Basic video recording with audio and annotate screenshots.
3. Office & OneNote
4. NotePad++, add the compare dll plugin
5. Grammarly
6. Slack or Teams
7. Yopmail or mailinator - useful for creating accounts for testing (beware these can be a security risk as anyone can guess you temporary emails) they are deleted after a few days.
8. BrowserStack

Networking:

1. Wireshark
2. Fiddler
3. DeveloperTool IE & Chrome
4. Burp
5. Telnet
6. Postman

Source Control:

1. TFS
2. TFS online
3. GIT

Integrating Skype into a SPA in SharePoint

SPA are pretty common and recently on a project I had a request to show contacts with a SPA hosted on SharePoint.  Here is code that shall show Skype presence to the user.

Note: Works on IE, requires the user to be logged into Skype and have the Skype client.

<!DOCTYPE html>

<html dir="ltr" lang="en-US">

<head>

    <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=10" />

    <title> Presence with Skype </title>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/_layouts/15/1033/styles/Themable/corev15.css" />

    <script type="text/javascript" src="/_layouts/15/init.js"></script>

    <script type="text/javascript" src="/_layouts/15/1033/strings.js"></script>

    <script type="text/javascript" src="/_layouts/15/core.js"></script>

</head>

<body>

    <script type="text/javascript">

        var g_presenceEnabled = true;

    </script>

    <div>

        ​ <span class="ms-verticalAlignTop ms-noWrap ms-displayInlineBlock">

            <span class="ms-imnSpan">

                <a class="ms-imnlink ms-spimn-presenceLink" aria-hidden="true" onclick="IMNImageOnClick(event);return false;" href="#">

                    <span class="ms-spimn-presenceWrapper ms-imnImg ms-spimn-imgSize-10x10">

                        <img name="imnmark" class="ms-spimn-img ms-spimn-presence-online-10x10x32" id="imn_1,type=smtp" alt="Offline" src="/_layouts/15/images/spimn.png" sip="pb@radimaging.co.uk" showofflinepawn="1" />

                    </span>

                </a>

            </span>

            <span class="ms-noWrap ms-imnSpan">

                Paul beck

            </span>

        </span>

    </div>

</body>

</html>

Custom User Actions: Injecting JavaScript

Problem: Changing Master pages is not good for support and can cause your applications to break when updates are done.

Possible Resolution:  Inject JavaScript to perform custom logic and branding using Custom User Actions.  This allows you to inject JavaScript at the appropriate level and not change any OOTB pages or user controls.  Custom User actions can be applied at 3 levels in a Site collection namely at:

1. Site Collection Level (always fired),
2. SPWeb Level or at the
3. List (Document library) level.

More Information:
Tool to try and add Custom User Action looks useful:
https://spusercustomactionmanageronline.codeplex.com/
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/pnp_articles/customize-your-sharepoint-site-ui-by-using-javascript

Common KQL Search Helper

Overview: I am forever forgetting the intricacies of using search and this post is a short note for common searches I use.  Ensure the search is working against "Everything":

Find items under a specific url (Path)
path:https://www.radimaging.com/sites/*

To only see team site (webtemplate)
webtemplate:STS

To see Content Types e.g. task list items
spcontenttype:Task

Example used in a search box for using a wildcard on the title
ClientSector:Finance AND Title:*Paul*

You can use the query approach for any Managed property to refine your search.  Example:
http://radimaging.net/sites/healthcare/_api/search/query?querytext='ClientSector:Finance*'&startrow=2&rowlimit=500

ClientSector is a Managed Property (property bag) at the root site collection level of each site collection.
startrow is telling my query to skip the first 2 results
rowlimit is telling the search to return up to 500 results (max is 500, default is 50 if not specified).

Similar querying can be done using the search results page in the browser:
https://radimaging.net/Pages/results.aspx#k=ClientSector%3AFinance*#s=105
Client Sector MP search equivalant in the browser
s = startrow

It is a good idea to have a query tool (SharePoint Search Query Tool V2.7) to help build up queries and validate query logic.  I have built consoles to do this in CSOM in the past or used PowerShell with CSOM which is pretty good.
https://github.com/SharePoint/PnP-Tools/tree/master/Solutions/SharePoint.Search.QueryTool (PNP Tools GitHub)  as of 10 Dec 2018 version 2.8.2 is the latest version.

Examples:
querytext='SharePoi*'
querytext='ManagedPropertyCreated:Test*'&startrow=10&rowlimit=500&sortlist='created:descending'&clienttype='ContentSearchRegular'


Read More:
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/office/Query-SharePoint-2013-373ff97a
http://nikcharlebois.com/get-search-results-in-sharepoint-2013-using-powershell/

Term store mussings with iFrames

Problem: I have a SharePoint site (ClientOrders i.e. https://orders.radimaging.com/sites/client1) being iFramed in another SharePoint site (Portal i.e. https://portal.radimaging.com/), to iframe in the ClientOrders site collection.

I want to iframe in the list within the Portal page, show the list for my customers orders and allow the user to select a different term set when editing the order metadata i.e. Language.

Initial Hypothesis:  In the site Order Site Collection, I need to allow the site to be iFramed, I do this by suppressing the iFrame HTTP header that stops sub domain iFrame using the server control: AllowFraming.  See this post for details.  Once the pages on the Order site collection can be iFramed, I use a Page Viewer Web Part in the Portal site collection on a page and now I can see my Orders inside the Portal SharePoint site collection.  All is good up to this point.

The user edits the order item metadata and when the reach the language they with to change from English to Spanish.  The user clieck on the select termset icon (two tickets) and the popup (webTaggingDialog.aspx) fails to load with the Security exception.  This aspx page uses it's own master page on the 15 hive than can be updated (watch out for CU's overriding the change).  The information below highlights the change should you be prepared to change system hive files:

When adding term set meta data to a SharePoint list item, the SharePoint use a Root hive/15 hive file, WebTaggingDialog.aspx:
/_layouts/15/WebTaggingDialog.aspx?Field=Content%20Language&IsDlg=1

Resolution: In my case, I need to allow the Order Site Collection page to be iFramed so I had to go to the WFE's and change the hive (as this is a share system page), I changed the master page to suppress the SameOrigin HTTP response (using theAllowWebFraming server control).  I added the X-Framing-Options header back with the SameOrigin and allowfrom https://order.radimaging.com using IIS.  So just plain horrible.  The WebTaggingDialog.asp does not use the site collection master page.  I amend the dialog.master file.  the page now opens but it does not load the treeview control used to display the term set data e.g. Language

Problem: Now the problem is that the WebTaggingDialog is not loading the treeview control to display the term set.

Initial Hypothesis: JS lazy loading issue or it is using the iFrame parent page (Portal) rather then (the calling page) to build up the display.

Workaround:  I don't want to mess with the root hive dialog.master or webTaggingDialog.aspx as these are system pages and I need to write custom JavaScript and inject it to make the tree control work.  I simply uses JavaScript to hide the term store popup page (I never open the webTaggingDialod.aspx).

In the end, I disabled the Term set picker control by hiding the icon (2 tickets image shown above) and type ahead works for selecting content types and I do not offer the WebTaggingDialog.aspx.

Posts on the iFraming issue Series:
IE11 not saving field data iframe Issue
Term Store/MMS musing when using iFrames (This post)
Displaying SharePoinnt Site Pages in iFrames 

Empty Developer Dashboard in SP2013

Problem: No data is showing up on the developer dashboard in SharePoint 2013.

Initial Hypothesis:  My initial thoughts where around the SSL cert issue on the VM or potentially Fiddler causing the dev dashboard to be empty.  after looking at the ULS a good developer could see the Usage and Health Data Collection Service Application was not working.

http://www.wictorwilen.se/sharepoint-2013-developer-dashboard-shows-no-data-issue

Resolution: Once the Usage SSA was configured, the dashboard started working.

Switching version settings in a document library

Overview:  I got asked a question on Document libraries which is rather obvious but I needed to check this out.  If a Document Library is set to use "Major and Minor Versions" what happens to the minor versions when you set it to only use "Major Versions".  And the answer is... Nothing.  The historic versions work as they previously did (while under the minor and major verions), when the documents are edited they will automatically now only use major versions in SharePoint.

 

SP2010 lists vs DB tables

Overview:  When developing using the SP2010 Server Object Model you don't have to store data in SharePoint lists, especially considering the BCS in SP2010.  This presentation video was part of a session present on data access options for Sharepoint 2010 in April 2011. It specifically looks are comparing database table vs SharePoint lists to help me decide which option to use. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecYVdR3a1g

Presenting in Johannesburg on 4 April 2011

I'm presenting on Monday the 4th of  April at Corlett Drive for SharePoint 2010 Johannesburg Knowledge Group at 18:00 in the evening so if you are in the area, it will be good to see you. 

Event book and details: http://sp2010jbg.eventbrite.com/
Session summarys
Session 1
Presentation - Overview of data access in SharePoint. What are your options? Is SharePoint storage always the answer? What is LINQ to SharePoint? What is LINQ to SharePoint not good at? The 8 caveats to LINQ to SharePoint.
Session 2
Demonstrate LINQ to SharePoint 2010. Using Visual Studio creating a visual web part to perform CRUD operations on SharePoint lists.

Reference Material:
Project to create Lookup lists

How is SharePoint selling - a consultancy services roadmap

Overview: SharePoint is being taken up very quickly but it's a difficult market to measure.  A figure I heard at a conference a few months ago is that for every $1 spent on licencing generates $6 in consultancy.  I don't know this ratio was determined but if the number of licences being sold is on the up, it follows there will be a great deal of consulting services needed.

Most organisations I have dealt with use SharePoint to a very limited extent.  It has a lot more to offer than clients are taking up.  Intranets, file server replacement and collaboration are the main impetus for using SharePoint.  My feeling especially with SharePoint 2010 will be a shift toward better integration and using SP as a development platform.  Office 365 plays into this consultancy business also.  The main issue will be with setup/on site installations taking a hit however there still will be a need on site installations but more companies will choose SharePoint as a service and this is only a positive that results in more people taking to the product.

The companies affected will be the hosting companies as they will loose a lot of there sales, Azure will also affect them.  They have been loyal customers of MS for years and unless they change their offering to be more consultancy service based they will take a huge hit.

Anyway some quotes to show how SharePoint is selling:

"SharePoint licenses have surpassed the 100-million mark and more than 17,000 customers use SharePoint." Microsoft Technet 9 Feb 2011.

"Microsoft’s fastest selling server based product" is a phrase often banded about not sure what this metric is but it sounds good.

References:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/office_sustained_engineering/archive/2011/02/09/1office-2010-and-sharepoint-2010-momentum-amp-service-pack-1-update.aspx

Microsoft Certified Professional Developer

I have been working on 2 CodePlex projects over the Christmas break.  I have been meaning to do the SharePoint 2010 exams for the last 6 months but with project deadlines this is the 1st chance I have really had.  I managed to pass the 70-573 & 70-576 this week.  They were actually quiet fun especially the 70-576 exam that was far more challenging.

I found the 70-573 (Application developer) exam much easier as the answers are more cut and dry whereas the architecture exam is fluffy in that multiple answers would work and I tend to lean towards the areas I would use to implement a solution, my method may not be optimal so i think i got stuck there a bit.  I found some of the terminology/wording confusing but overall they are good examinations of SharePoint knowledge.

Blog post after the 70-667 SP2010 Configuration exam blog post

Connected Web Part Series - Part 1

Problem: There is a lot of information relating to web parts however this series is aimed at connected web parts in SharePoint 2010.  This 1st post deals with creating a custom connection between 2 visual web parts (a provider & a consumer).

Overview:  Create a Interface to enable communication between the provider and the consumer web part.  Create Visual User controls to connect to each other. 
Tip: Web Parts are easier to connect than Visual Web Parts, so only use Visual web parts if there is a heavy visual requirement.

Steps:
Create a new Web Part (it will be the provider web part)

 Create an Interface (contract between the provider and consumer web parts)

 Implement the Interface in the Provider web part

Create the Consumer web part as shown below

Deploy the solution and activate the feature that contains the 2 web parts

In a browser add the 2 web parts to a page (Provider & Consumer) 

 Connect the 2 web parts as shown below

SharePoint 2010 explained in pictures - looks like a great idea

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepointpictures/