Hotfix lets you store WSS data outside of SQL

If you missed this, give the following KB article a read. It is short, and to the point - a new hotfix is out that lets you store WSS data on external storage- out of SQL.
KB938499

My mark @ Tech.Ed

Ok, I am back, and boy, do I have some stories...

On the first day I had a presentation about templates and features with US consultant and trainer Milan Gross. I was not very satisfied with our presentation, and I think we should have kept the scenario simpler.
I showed how I built the wsp solution and features for the Enhanced Content Query Web Part and for the Print List feature.

My next presentation was with Gayan Peiris, who left my company to join Microsoft just a month ago. We did a presentation on upgrade and migration from sharepoint 2003 to 2007.
Now, before people start asking me how to upgrade I have to say that that was Gayan's part of the presentation. My part was warning about the customization upgrade (custom webparts, event handlers etc.), and about what is different in the new version that requires re-thinking on the information architecture.
That Session went very well, if a bit tight on time, and we got good reviews (7.62) even if we didn't get to the top ten.

After our presentation we left with all of tech.ed to Movie World, where I went, for the first time in my life, on a roller coaster - Lethal Weapon. I have been told by people with more experience that this is the most frightening ride ever, everywhere. I can now believe it.
The only reason I was brave enough to go on the ride was that it was night - I couldn't see the ride. I was sure that a "lethal weapon" ride would be a video game with shooting in it.

Here is a picture of me on the ride:

Here is a movie of what the ride looks like:

MCTS in MOSS configuration

Well, Tech.ED Australia 2007 is over (I will post some details soon) and I am happy to let you know that I took the "Configuring Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007" exam (70-630) and passed! I only got 3 questions (out of 51) wrong, so I am pretty happy with myself right now.
Now I only have to do the WSS configuration exam to have the entire set!

Off to teched

So this is it - the moment I have been waiting for and the reason I didnt write anything in the last month. I am flying to the goldcoast tomorrow and will be presenting there this week. I will also be at the meet the experts dinner (as a self proclaimed expert) and at the influencer party (as an MVP).
See you there!
p.s. I released today a technical refresh to the content query web part project. more features, less bugs!

Modifying Search to Add a Send Link By Email link

My customer wanted a "send link by email" next to each search result item. "Easy", I thought and went ahead to edit the xslt for the search results. But I found out a problem with links that had spaces in them - the link in outlook would appear broken. To solve this, I had to write some simple javascript, and the process is described below.

Problem:


If you want a mailto link (href="mailto") that has in the body a link to a file, you may get a link like this:


href="mailto:body=http://server/site/library/this is my file.doc"


This is a problem, because the file name contains spaces. The email will open with a broken link in it's body:

Solution:

Luckily, SharePoint has a javascript functions that solves that for us. They are "escapeProperly" and "navigateMailToLink". What I did is create a function of my own in the page:

function SendEmailWithLink(link)
{
      var link = "mailto:?body=" + escapeProperly(link);
      navigateMailToLink(link);
      return false;
}

And my link is:

href="#nowhere" onclick="javascript:SendEmailWithLink('');"

This article would'nt be complete if I didn't explain why I did this - this if for the search results xslt - the idea was to add a "send link by email" button next to each search result. The solution - change the xslt to include the script above, and a button like this:

<a title="E-mail a Link" href="#nowhere">
      <xsl:attribute name="onclick">
         javascript:SendEmailWithLink('<xsl:value-of select="$url"></xsl:value-of>');
       </xsl:attribute>
       <img border="0" src="/_layouts/images/ICMSG.GIF"/> 
</a>

We also added other actions (I will try to get them published) and came up with the following for each result item:

Search query default row limit is 50 rows

Just something that happened to us - we were wondering why all the search queries that one of our developers wrote in a web service were only returning 50 results everytime. The answer was simple - if you don't specify a RowLimit to the query object, the default is 50.
The solution is easy - set the RowLimit property to the number that you want.

Live vs Google

Every now and then someone from Microsoft asks me why I don't use Live Search as my search engine. My answer is always the same - results are awful!

In my opinion Microsoft have a lot to learn before getting us a proper search engine.

GOOGLE
First - try searching for "sharepoint australia" (without the quotes) - in google, the first results is Angus Logan's blog and the second is the APAC conference from two months ago.
The third results is my post about me presenting at teched australia.
The fourth - my user group in Canberra.

LIVE
Now do the same with Live - first result is the APAC conference, next is the site for WISDOM - where they sell sharepoint related products. Next, a broken link to a page in obs.com.au that does not exist any more - another company that works with sharepoint.
Why is it broken? Well, the link under is is also to the same site, but this time the aspx page doesnt have an underscore and it works.
As we go down in the page, we see more and more sites of vendors trying to sell you something, or microsoft's own site. Not a single blog or user group site in sight.

My conclusion - Google results are quality based, while MS results are commercially based. And until they change that - I AM NOT USING LIVE.

Note - this was triggered by an old blog post by Arpan about how he uses Live search because it is better.

Enhanced Content Query Web Part goes Beta 2!

I am proud to announce that the Enhanced Content Query Web Part is now beta 2. The new release includes a WSP deployment file that simplifies deployment - just download the file, and use STSADM to install it - no more messing around with web.config, .dwp or .webpart files, or xslt style sheets!

I even wrote a small batch file to help you install it if you are uncomfortable with the stsadm command line.



You can find the above in the project's web site: http://www.codeplex.com/ECQWP

The new version also comes with default xslt files that get installed in the style library and render the web part like a list (table format):

Now, to get to release candidate, I still need:

• Testers (must have own server)


• Technical Writers (must have own server)

Testers need not contact me - they should just go to the project web site and start entering bugs in the Issue Tracker.


Writers should contact me and I will ask them to write up the installation instructions and usage documentation.

I am presenting - Tech Ed Australia 2007.

It is official - I will be presenting two presentations in Tech Ed Australia 2007:

• OFC304 Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Upgrade and Migration
  
  Do you want to learn about upgrading from Windows SharePoint Services version 2 to version 3, and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Office SharePoint Server 2007? In this session you will learn the different upgrade options, as well as how to prepare your SharePoint deployment today for upgrade.
• OFC402 Templates and Features: The Engine Under the SharePoint Hood - Build and Deploy Your Own!
  Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services version 3.0 provides many new capabilities for extending existing sites and building new solutions. This session outlines the high-level concepts of SharePoint templates, features, and extension points; and discusses the best practices for deploying code to a SharePoint farm, including code access security and the new solution deployment capability.

I will also be available for Q&A, and am always happy to answer questions - so come meet me in Tech Ed, and let me know how you liked my presentation!

Tips on xslt dataviews by Mark Kruger!

Take a look at "Free SharePoint DataView Tips" by Mark Kruger. Useful!