ULS Viewer

Problem:  The ULS log generated by SharePoint 2010 are difficult to read and review as the logging is store in flat text files.

Initial Hypothesis: ULS Viewer allows the administrator/developer to track, understand and solve issues on your SharePoint environment.  The ULS viewer is not a supported product my Microsoft however, it is alot easier to discover errors than using notepad and opening each ULS log.  Logs are located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\LOGS by default.

Resolution:
1.> Download the ULS Viewer
2.> Map a folder to the c drive on my UAT environment.

3.> Open the ULS Viewer.

4.> To view the logs as the are added, Click File > Open From > ULS, select the Logs location on your mapped drive.
5.> Add multiple WFE's log by using the File > Append From option.
6.> To view historic files, copy the log files from the server to your local machine and click File > Open From > File, select multiple ULS log files to see the server history.

How to use the ULS Viewer blogs:
Jie Li
Jeremy Taylor

Uploading multiple files in a document library

Problem: In a SharePoint 2010 document library, the "Upload Multiple Document" option behaves differently in Internet Explorer (IE) in the User Interface (UI) on end user machines.  Either the "Drag and Drop" or the "multi tick tree view upload view" is shown in IE for multiple file uploads. 

Initial Hypothesis: 
1.> I originally thought Silverlight was responsible for the different displays, I remove Silverlight from the client machines and I still see the working drag and drop control.  Therefore the difference has nothing to do with Silverlight.  Additionally, this is not an IE version issue.

2.> Removing Silverlight and restarting the browser/machine has no effect, I still can use the drag and drop control. The ActiveX control that performs the upload must be responsible for the UI.  More info. 

3.> Only IE has the option to "Upload Multiple Document".   The "Upload Multiple Document" is not available in FireFox or Chrome.

4.> The Office ActiveX plug in is STSUPLD.DLL.  I found the file on my client machine located at  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL.  My version is obviously part of the Office 14/Office 2010 release. 

5.> Removing the  e:\Program Files(x86)\Microsoft Office\Office14\STSUPLD.DLL file and restarting IE results in the "Upload Multiple Document" option being disabled (greyed out).

6.> Replacing the STSUPLD.DLL with the Office 2007 STSUPLD in the Office14 or Office12 directory does not fix the issue it merely still greys out the "Upload Multiple Document" option.

Resolution:  The behaviour is part of the version of Office installed on the client machine.  The multi upload option is only available in IE if the client has the ActiveX control installed with Office.  I believe it comes down to the last office product installed so if you have Office 2010, you get the drag and drop UI however if you install SharePoint Designer 2007, you will see the tree view as you will be using the STSUPLD.dll from Office 2007.  Functionality is really out of your control as it comes down to the client machine setup.  You can do javascript to check the plug-in version and change default display if you need to.

Check your version by finding the STSUPLD.DLL (I think you can do it in IE also), the details of the 3 versions are shown below:

 

Office Version	Dll Version	Dll Size
Office 2003	11.0.5523.0	?
Office 2007	12.0.4518.1014	22kb
Office 2010	14.0.4761.1000	78kb

Tip: The ability to use Windows Explorer to upload files to a SharePoint document libray relies on the Os being 32bit.  So on the x64 bit Windows Server, you can't upload files using Windows Explorer.


This control is currently disabled - Document library

Problem: Upload Multiple Documents is disabled with the message "This control is currently disabled.".  If the new documents and various other documents on the ribbon are disable and showing the same message.

Initial Hypothesis:  The Authentication provides have not been configured to Enable Client Integration.

Resolution: CA > Manage Web Applications > Select the WA > Authentication Providers > Select the zone > Enable Client Integration = Yes.

 

Amending the Welcome Menu

Problem: Welcome Menu or Personal Actions Menu occasionaly refered to as the User Menu. SharePoint 2010 that displays the users name in the Welcome server control, this by default in the top right of the master page.  You can add new menu items or hide existing menu items.

Initial Hypothesis: 

• The Welcome user control is located in the 14 hive at 14\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES

• The user control is reference in master pages.

• Take a copy of the welcome.ascx file as you will be working on the original or need to reference your new copy in your master page.

Resolution: Hide the menu option in the Welcome Menu.

Use the PermissionString property to dispay the menu option depending on your permissions.

Edit the Welcome.ascx file for each menu option element add the visible attribute and set it to false to hide the menus.

List of valid properties for the PermissionsString property

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.spbasepermissions.aspx

Alternatively set the MenuItemTemplate attrivute visibility to false, this will hide the menu option for everyone.

 

Resolution - Another option for changing the welcome control:

• Remove the server control wssuc:Welcome from the master page or set it's visibility to hidden.
• Then write a Replacement control and add it to the master page.

 Resolution:  Add a new menu item

• Add a new element to the project that will be deployed as a feature
  
  
• Add the following code to the element file

 

•  New menu item (Open BBC) is add to the welcome menu.

 

More Info:
http://glorix.blogspot.com/2007/08/custom-action-locations-and-groupid.html
http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2007/07/using-customaction-to-modify-system.html
http://blog.thekid.me.uk/archive/2007/06/23/sample-editcontrolblock-customaction-for-sharepoint.aspx

How to Hide Ribbon

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zwsong/archive/2010/04/29/how-to-hide-ribbon-from-users-without-edit-page-privilege.aspx

Chris O'Briens Ribbon Customisation blog series
http://www.sharepointnutsandbolts.com/2010/01/customizing-ribbon-part-1-creating-tabs.html

Sandboxed Solution with Full Trust Proxy

Problem: You deploy code as a sandbox solution however it fails as you need to go beyond the permissions a sandboxed solution can perform.  For example sandbox solution code cannot write to the ULS and security is restricted so you won't be able to use RunWithElevatedPrivileges.

Resolution: You can develop a full trust proxy that is deployed into the GAC, you also need to register the full trust with SharePoint.  Lastly, create the code for your sandboxed solution using the Full Trust Proxy code.  The full trust proxy performs the operations that are beyond what the sandbox solution code is allowed to perform.
Update 23 April 2011 - CKSDev is an extension tool for Visual Studio that has a SPI (template) to create a full trust proxy.  This will do all the plumbing of creating the full trust proxy and the deployment packaging.  So if you are wanting to add a Sandbox Solution Full Trust Proxy for Logging use the VS template provide and all you need to add is your logging code.

More Info:
http://blah.winsmarts.com/2009-12-SharePoint_2010_Sandboxed_Solutions__Full_Trust__Proxies.aspx
http://ranvijaysingh.blogspot.com/2010/06/full-trust-proxy-in-sharepoint-sandbox.html

Error occurred in deployment step Activate Features Failed to activate feature .. at scope

Problem: When deploying a soluction in VS 2010 I get the following error.

"VS Error: Error occurred in deployment step 'Activate Features': Failed to activate feature 'XX' (ID: xxxa2e8a-78d7-451c-aa85-3d28555e5555) at scope 'http://demo.dev'."
ULS contained the following error "Feature Activation: Threw an exception, attempting to roll back. Feature 'XX' (ID: 'xxxa2e8a-78d7-451c-aa85-3d28555e5555'). Exception: System.InvalidOperationException: Failed to activate feature 'XX' (ID:xxxa2e8a-78d7-451c-aa85-3d28555e5555) at scope 'http://demo.dev'. at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.HandleActivateError(SPFeature featError, Int32 iRetVal, Boolean fForce)"

Initial Hypothesis: Performing an IISreset did not resolve my issue, the suggestion to manual start the feature will activate the feature however it does not solve my deployment issue from VS. The feature is scoped at 'Site' level so activating the feature can be done at the site collection level.

Resolution: Removed the feature and solution using Powershell Rebooted Visual Studio development environment Open solution in Visual Studio 2010 and redeployed.  The cause is still not know however, rebooting and uninstalling the solution has fixed the issue.
More Info:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointadmin/thread/ee35db1a-b83f-477e-ba6b-f59ac8522e34/

The parent content type specified by content type identifier ... does not exist

Problem: When I deploy a solution that automatically activates a feature I receive the following error "Error occurred in deployment step 'Activate Features': The parent content type specified by content type identifier 0x0120D520 does not exist.".
Initial Hypothesis: The feature being deployed relies on another feature being activated, in this case it is the 'Document Sets' site collection feature that is missing.
Resolution: Site Settings > Site Collection features > Document Sets (Activate)

More Info:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543822.aspx

Cannot insert duplicate key row in object

Problem: Error occurred in deployment step 'Add Solution': Cannot insert duplicate key row in object 'dbo.Solutions' with unique index 'Solutions_BySiteAndSolutionId'.

Initial Hypothesis: Sandbox solution wsp deployment is causing the error. I delete and created a new site collection with an identical url.

Resolution: Using Visual Studio 2010 in the solution browser, select the project that is not deploying. In the properties window change the 'Site URL' property that tells Visual Studio the site to deploy your project code to. Change the 'Site Url' to something else save the change and then change the 'Site Url' property back to its original value.  Redeploy the project and it deploys correctly.  Thanks to Brian Farnhill.

Read More:
http://blog.brianfarnhill.com/2010/11/16/error-cannot-insert-duplicate-key-row-in-object-dbo-solutions/