Archive for March 2007

 
 

Upload, Activate, Deactivate, Remove Form Templates

I get the stsadm command for uploading  form templates goes like this:

C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft Sharedweb server extensions12BINstsadm.exe -o uploadformtemplate -filename C:MyFolderMyForm.xsn

But the -help activateformtemplate says this:

stsadm -o activateformtemplate
 -url <URL to the site collection>
 [-formid <form template ID>]
 [-filename <path to form template file>]

so we can go with formid or we can go with path and filename. 

Next, the formid is exposed when you view the form properties by hovering over the form on the Manage Form Templates and clicking on View Properties.

Of course, when we use stsadm.exe to upload the form, we have no way of knowing what the formid is.  Which brings us to -filename.  Can we activate using a path and filename to a site collection and have it still be the same form that's uploaded to the Manage Form form library?  I would guess not but I would also guess that there's doggone few people that know for sure so let's add to that count.

Yes, this is odd.  But, if you look at the form template properties in InfoPath designer, you'll see that it knows its form ID and, obviously shares that knowledge with the form template that's loaded into the form server.  That lets us use the -filename parameter just the same.

So your "No GUI" form management routine goes like this:

Verify:  

stsadm.exe -o VerifyFormTemplate -filename c:MyFormFolderMyForm.xsn  

Upload:

stsadm.exe -o UploadFormTemplate -filename c:MyFormFolderMyForm.xsn  

Activate: 

stsadm.exe -o ActivateFormTemplate -url http://MySiteCollection -filename c:MyFormFolderMyForm.xsn            

Deactivate:

stsadm.exe -o DeactivateFormTemplate -url http://MySiteCollection -filename c:MyFormFolderMyForm.xsn            

Remove:

stsadm.exe -o RemoveFormTemplate -filename c:MyFormFolderMyForm.xsn            

Remember, uploading and removing waits for the SharePoint Timer so make it work right now using:       

stsadm.exe -o execadmsvcjobs

So you, me and all that we can tell now know that managing form templates is now a batch file.

-robot

Active Active Directory Directory

http://msmvps.com/blogs/shane/archive/2007/02/23/using-the-dataview-web-part-and-the-profile-database-in-sps-2003-to-create-a-company-directory.aspx

 

-robot

The Timer Service

OK, you guys are the greatest.  Our newest best friend Visuary actually joined our group so he could let us know:

I was experiencing the same issue, I went to Configure Infopath Forms Services and turned off SSL, allowed everything (checked all check boxes).  Then ran stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs and upon refresh the template was gone.  I then went back and put my settings back like I wanted them.

Which is great because we can try that right now.

On a second and slightly related issue, we seen the form status stuck on "Installing" or "Deleting" for what seems like an eternity, a condition to which our other newest best friend BrokenArrow refers to in his comment.  Now, apart from what your might think, I am capable of figuring out some things for myself, and this one is not one of those cases. 

But, I have found that when my form won't move out of Installing or Deleting status, I can turn off the windows time service, move the clock ahead an hour, reset IIS and run stsadm.exe -o execadmsvcjobs, then turn the windows time service back on and be sure it reset the computer's clock.  I wonder if this problem will go away after next weekend? 

It's funny how we were all spun up about Y2K and it was a dud but we completely overlooked this DST thing and it's been an "issue."

-robot

More Frustration with the InfoPath Form Server

When I go to remove a form from the Manage Form Templates page, it shows as Deleting in the status column.  And it never goes away.

I restart the timer service. 

I run the stsadm.exe -o removeformtemplate

I reboot the server.

nothing.

But at least I can still work on other forms.  On this other guys server, everytime he tries to manage a form, he gets that "An item with a duplicate key has already been entered" error.

-robot

InfoPath Form Server Form Deletion

We have the InfoPath Form Server version of SharePoint v3 running on a single server and we're trying to delete a form from the Manage Form Templates page in Application Management.

 When we hover and select Delete it give us a SharePoint error page that says:

An item with the same key has already been added.

I've got no idea what's going on here but, in the past, when we've had trouble with form templates, the template would indicate Deleting and never change and never go away.  We could run stsadm.exe -o execsvcjobs and the form would disappear.

This led me to believe it had something to do with some job service but I've never been able to figure out where or how to access any of that.  I find the Timer Job Definitions and the Time Job Status but I'be never been able to find anything that would idicate that a job is configured or runs that is intended to delete those form templates.

I got some help from the Yahoo Group that suggested the STSADM commands for forms were a little simpler that using the interface.  Those two command would be:

stsadm -o verifyformtemplate -filename "C:MyForm.xsn"
stsadm -o uploadformtemplate -filename C:MyForm.xsn.

So that would be cool except that I was getting the command line error when I tried to enter that value.  So I started looking for the STSADM help and I found some STSADM help here but it may be WSS v2.:

Then, our friend Todd related his experience with the OWSTIMER.EXE going crazy.  That seems like what I may have been looking at although we've rolled the server back and rebuilt it and the issue has not reappeared.

Now while STSADM might be an option for installing the form, I'm not sure where I get the overwrite, quiesce or extend functionality.

-robot

RSS Feeds

Undoubtedly, RSS feeds are one of the coolest things about WSS v3.

One solution I can see is, as a MOSS administrator, I can build a master link list and manage it froma central location and then every web master in the world could subscribe to my link list.

But, of course they don't need the whole list just any set of links of a given context.  And, equally of course, they'll want them in a specific order.

So I went to the link list and added a sort order column and context column and then I build a view to select the desired context and sort in the correct order. 

Then, on the Edit View page you get the little RSS icon in the top Name section.  Use that RSS feed to get the sorted, contextualized view into your feed reader.

Also, at some point, you're going to get the error:

The RSS webpart does not support authenticated feeds

You can fix this by allowing anonymous access to the source list.  But there's more to that story and it's covered well here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/markarend/archive/2006/10/03/RSS-Viewer-web-part-and-authenticated-feeds.aspx

-robot

MOSS 2007 Search

So this guy comes up and says "search isn't working" and I say "oh?"

And I look, and, sure enough, I get nothing when I search for "robot"

So I get to the Shared Services Administrator and there, under Search, I see the Search Settings.  I guess these are different from the Manage Search Service on the Application Management page.

 So I click on Content Sources and Crawl Schedules and I schedule a crawl and check Start Now and another satisfied customer goes away happy.

I did notice, the Manage Search Service paeg, you get a Farm-Level Search Settings option where you can select

SSL Certificate Warning Configuration

Select this checkbox only if you trust that sites are legitimate even if their certificate name does not exactly match.
 
I'm guessing we'll need to uncheck that since none of our certificates match.
-robot

WSS v.3 and Team Foundation Server

Mike's blog makes a pretty strong  case for upgrading to WSS v.3 on your Team Foundation Server.  I've always wanted to get my TFS and My Project server to live inside my portal server as a top level site instead of as a seperate web collection  IIS web application but this is a good step.

http://bloggingabout.net/blogs/mglaser/archive/2006/12/05/Why-you-should-upgrade-TFS-V1-to-WSS-3.0.aspx 

 -robot