IE8 and SharePoint

I've just begun to use IE8 and I've run into some issues. I had a co-worker say to me,"Not all new things are good". That's true, but someone needed to be the first to fly J. It's time to embrace new software and technology. Not in a haphazard way, lets start testing sooner…writing policies sooner. At its best, it is truly there to make our lives easier. So lets begin…

Θ The first problem I ran into is that the DataSheet view didn't work well on initial install. Example there's a drag feature that allows you to duplicate cells or have them automatically increment. This does not work with IE8 or in the compatibility view that allows you to simulate IE7.

Θ Another problem I call the Something's missing here… A good example is at: http://iphonetoolbox.com/wallpaper/squirrel/ If you view this site as IE8 when you rollover the images on the right you'll see a popup of the image. But if you hit the compatibility tool you'll see the rollovers as they were meant. With a Iphone skin on it.

So how do you know what you're missing? You're guess is as good as mine.

Fix for both problems:
After a little searching on the Web, I was able to find a solution to the Data Sheet View Problems. Installing 2007 Microsoft Office Suite Service Pack 2 (SP2): http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=b444bf18-79ea-46c6-8a81-9db49b4ab6e5&displaylang=en
Proceed with caution if you decide to go this route.
In my honest opinion, IE8 is just like any new software. There's gonna be bumps in the road. So far I like it.
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More on IE8 from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/internet-explorer/features/enhanced-navigation.aspx
Browser Support:  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263526.aspx

Publishing and Synchronizing Excel 2007 Tables to SharePoint Lists

Excel 2003 had a feature that allowed you to synchronize with a SharePoint list. For some odd reason it was left out of Excel 2007. Lauren Clear, Lauren, a co-worker, happened to come across the following add-in for Excel. It allows you to publish an Excel spreadsheet to SharePoint and synchronize the changes.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb462636(office.11).aspx

Figure 1 Image of "Publish and allow Sync" button on the Design tab

I'm interested in your experiences with this add-on, feel free to comment.
Thank you Lauren.

When going for training…

I'm back from a SharePoint Designer class. The class was pretty "OK", but could have been better. Thanks to the course material, I did learn that SD is a very powerful tool when used for good. J I have three suggestions when considering training.

Make sure the class is a guaranteed class

The last thing you want is to wait a month for a class and then it gets canceled. You could have gone somewhere else in the interim

Check into the instructor

Have they taught the class before? What qualifies them to teach the class? I once went to a class where the instructor had never seen the product before and was going to spend the class time walking through the course material.

Shop around

There are many training vendors out on the market today and on occasion they're using the same course material. If one vendor has the class for a lower price, but you'd prefer to go to another vendor…ask them if they'll match the price.

Training money is hard to come by in this economy. Make the best of it.

Consider Widgets on your landing page in SharePoint...

Something I don't see a lot of in SharePoint is Widgets. Consider Using widgets on your pages for dynamic up to date information. This can be done by copying the script into a Content Editor Webpart.

One Resource: http://www.hhs.gov/web/library/index.html#HHSWidgets

HHS 2009 Flu Info Widget

Add This To Your Web Site!

This Swine widget provides a graphic with links to Swine Flu Info

Copy This Code for the Swine Flu Info widget:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://transparency.cit.nih.gov/widgets/swinelinks.cfm?javascript"></script> <noscript><iframe src="http://transparency.cit.nih.gov/widgets/swinelinks.cfm" name="swineframe" frameborder=0 id="swineframe" scrolling="no" height="160" width="198" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" >Swine Flu Info</iframe></noscript><br /><br />

Consiga su widget ahora!

This Swine widget provides a graphic with links to Swine Flu Info

Copy This Code for the Swine Flu Info widget:

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://transparency.cit.nih.gov/widgets/swinelinks_sp.cfm?javascript"></script> <noscript><iframe src="http://transparency.cit.nih.gov/widgets/swinelinks_sp.cfm" name="swineframe" frameborder=0 id="swineframe" scrolling="no" height="160" width="198" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" >Swine Flu Info</iframe></noscript><br /><br />

How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver!
Proverbs 16:16

An indexer is not assigned to the Shared Services Provider 'SharedServices1'.

This comes up so infrequently that I don't always remember the solution. So this time I'm posting. :)

An indexer is not assigned to the Shared Services Provider 'SharedServices1'.Configure an indexer and a search database for this Shared Services Provider

Fix:
1) Open Central Admin
2) Click "Shared Services Administration" link on the left navigation bar
3) Click the drop-down of your SSP and click "Edit Properties"
4) Specify the Indexer from drop down and enter password and click OK.

Import Profiles of only Active Accounts

I came across this great post that covers importing only active profiles. Which is an issue in the in organizations with many accounts in AD.
Check it out:

SharePoint Profile Cleanup - http://blogs.technet.com/seanearp/archive/2009/03/04/sharepoint-profile-cleanup.aspx

Failed to activate feature 'RelatedLinksScopeSettingsLink' (ID: e8734bb6-be8e-48a1-b036-5a40ff0b8a81) at scope 'http://www...

This error occured when attempting to activate the publishing feature on a recently 2003 to 2007 migrated site collection. The problem was access related.

Additional Error:
Unexpected Publishing Resources Feature activation failed. Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: The user does not exist or is not unique. ---> System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x81020054): The user does not exist or is not unique

To fix:
People and Groups\Groups\Settings\Setup Groups and provide User access to Owners Group

Additional info can be found at:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/926814

Application Web Config for this IIS site (601773052) could not be found at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\XXX\web.config.

After running a sharepoint patch the configuration wizard would fail on one of the farm servers towards the end w/o any identifying information. These are some of the error messages that I received in the upgrade log(located: program files/common files/microsoft shared/web services../bin/logs):

Application Web Config for this IIS site (601773052) could not be found at C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\XXX\web.config.

[SPManager] [INFO] [1/24/2009 2:30:48 PM]: Resetting the status of PersistedUpgradableObject: SPWebApplication Name=WEBAPPLICATIONNAMEHERE Parent=SPWebService to Online.

[SPManager] [ERROR] [1/24/2009 2:30:48 PM]: ReflexiveUpgrade [SPWebApplication Name=WEBAPPLICATIONNAMEHERE Parent=SPWebService] failed.

Well thanks to MS KB944267

I was lead to look for the web.config file which did not exist on the problem farm server. I copied the files from the WFE- inetpub/wwwroot/virtualdirectories/WEBAPPLocation to the same directory on the farm server missing the files and that fixed the problem

How to troubleshoot common errors that occur when you run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard on a computer that is running

This article describes how to troubleshoot some common errors that occur when you run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard after you upgrade a computer that is running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/944267

MOSS Version Numbers

How to check SharePoint Version level running:

1) Goto IIS, select the MOSS website
2) Right click and select Properties
3) Select HTTP Headers tab and you should be able to see a custom HTTP Header called "MicrosoftSharePointTeamServices" with a version number by its side.

MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 Hotfix (KB953484 - KB953473 - KB953471) 12.0.0.6317.500
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 Hotfix (KB953138 - KB953137) 12.0.0.6316.500
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 Hotfix (KB952704) 12.0.0.6315.500
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 post-SP1 hotfix (KB952294) 12.0.0.6314.500 [In SSP admin you will get a new Search Administration option, which brings the Search Server features to MOSS.]MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 post-SP1 hotfix (KB948945) 12.0.0.6303
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 post-SP1 hotfix (KB941274) 12.0.0.6301
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 post-SP1 hotfix (KB941422) 12.0.0.6300
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 SP1 12.0.0.6219
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 October public update 12.0.0.6039
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 August 24, 2007 hotfix package 12.0.0.6036
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 RTM 12.0.0.4518
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 Beta 2 TR: 12.0.0.4407
MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0 Beta 2: 12.0.0.4017

Credit: Boby Habib