Tom Resing's SharePoint 2010 Blog: Posts http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/All Posts Summary.aspx RSS feed for Tom Resing's SharePoint 2010 Blog Tue, 21 May 2013 16:20:22 GMT Microsoft SharePoint Foundation RSS Generator 60 en-US Tom Resing's SharePoint Blog: Posts http://tomresing.com/blog/_layouts/images/siteIcon.png http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/All Posts Summary.aspx Retrieving Mapped SharePoint Custom Pages from PowerShell http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=74 Body:

Issue

If you’re trying to debug a mapped custom page in SharePoint from PowerShell, but come across this issue:

PS C:\> $webapp = get-spwebapplication http://sp2010
$webapp.GetMappedPage([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.SPCustomPage]::Error)
Unable to find type [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.SPCustomPage]: make sure that the 
assembly containing this type is loaded.
At line:2 char:90
+ $webapp.GetMappedPage([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.SPCustomPage] <<<< ::Error)
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (Microsoft.Share...on.SPCustomPage:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : TypeNotFound

Solution

Try this instead:

$webapp.GetMappedPage([Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication+SPCustomPage]::Signout)

The Clue

I’m not sure why the syntax is different for this. I would have expected a period instead of a plus there before SPCustomPage. None of my research on Enums showed a plus sign, but finally I noticed this:

PS C:\> $webapp.GetMappedPage

MemberType          : Method
OverloadDefinitions : {string GetMappedPage(Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication+SPCustomPage key), 
	string GetMappedPage(string page)}
TypeNameOfValue     : System.Management.Automation.PSMethod
Value               : string GetMappedPage(Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication+SPCustomPage key), 
	string GetMappedPage(string page)
Name                : GetMappedPage
IsInstance          : True

Reference

Mapping Custom Error Pages for SharePoint 2010 Site, Ram Prasad MCTS, http://www.spdeveloper.co.in/articles/pages/custom-error-pages-for-sharepoint2010-sites.aspx

Category: Administration; SharePoint 2010; powershell
Published: 5/20/2013 4:37 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Administration; SharePoint 2010; powershell Mon, 20 May 2013 21:37:06 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=74 Use Nintex and Rackspace Cloud Servers Together http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=73 Body:

Have you ever thought creating a new SharePoint Server would be as easy as adding a new item to a list in SharePoint? Today, you can set that up in about 15 minutes with Nintex Workflow 2013.

Rackspace Actions in Nintex Live

Automating server creation in SharePoint starts with Nintex Live.

Creating a new SharePoint server is only one of the new workflow actions available since May 1st on Nintex Live. Check out the full list below and in the screenshot.

photo NintextLiveRackspace_zps43ad3d7c.jpg

Rackspace Actions

  • Rackspace resize a server
  • Rackspace rebuild a server
  • Rackspace state management
  • Rackspace create server
  • Rackspace change password

Configuring the Action

When Nintex Workflow 2013 is installed in your farm, you can add a new Nintex Workflow from the Workflow settings menu on the List ribbon of any SharePoint List. Adding the Rackspace create server action shown above allows you to drag the action into your new workflow. Below is an example configuration I used today to create a new server. I used the Windows Server 2012 + SharePoint 2013 Foundation with SQL 2012 Standard image, but you can choose from any of the 41 Rackspace Cloud Images available today.

Note that you will need a Rackspace Cloud Server account, free with registration, to get the username and API Key needed to create a server. I chose to use the title of my new SharePoint list item as the name of my new Server instance.

View the Server in your Rackspace Cloud Control Panel

After I created the new workflow and started it on a list item titled Nintex SharePoint Server 1, I could see the new server building in my Rackspace Cloud Control Panel like below.

What great things will you do with the power of the Open Cloud in SharePoint?

I’m curious to see how these new actions get used in the community. I have a feeling this is just the beginning. If you have a dream or a real use, let me know below in the comments or on twitter @resing.

Category: SharePoint 2013; Administration
Published: 5/18/2013 6:21 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing SharePoint 2013; Administration Sat, 18 May 2013 23:21:44 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=73 How do you automate FBA web.config changes? http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=72 Body:

I was asked today by a friend, How do you modify the web.config through a WSP? My quick answer, I don’t! Not if I can avoid it other than the changes made through Visual Studio item properties like safe controls entries and others. However, showing my true consultant nature, I turned the question into the above. That’s a more specific question with a couple good possibilities I’d like to share, but still, it seems like there may be better answers I haven’t found. How do YOU automate FBA web.config changes? If you don’t use one of the options below, let me know in the comments or at http://twitter.com/resing

First, the Manual Way

After going through the Microsoft Certified Master training, I consider Steve Peshka’s writing on FBA to be the go to source. Read Configuring Forms Based Authentication in SharePoint 2010 for the step by step. Basically, Steve outlines the manual processes you need to take. But what if you have 100s of servers to apply the changes to and need to maintain consistency? Scripting is the key in my mind

Taking some of the manual processes Steve describes to script, like creating web applications with the correct properties are already covered by others on the web. However, updating web.config is a bigger issue. And it’s a necessary script. When we say “NEVER TOUCH THE WEB.CONFIG BY HAND” it always comes with a disclaimer for cases like FBA. You kind of have to. However, Steve also provides an automated approach.

2 Forms Based Authentication Configuration Managers

I haven’t tried out either of these 2 options, but I feel comfortable recommended you at least check them out based on the source (Steve) and the source (codeplex.)

First, Steve had produced what he calls the SharePoint 2010 Forms Based Authentication Configuration Manager. He explains it in his blog post and provides a readme file in the download. It uses primary SharePoint concepts like a Solution Package, .wsp, and timer jobs to make the changes. Seems very reasonable.

Second, there is another project, this one on codeplex, based on the same manual techniques. The author explains his approach in a post on his blog, FBA Configuration Manager for SharePoint 2010. What I like about this solution is two things. 1, the code is available on codeplex, so you can explore the technique used and tweak it if you want. 2, it uses PowerShell. I’m a big fan of PowerShell, so I think that is just cool.

The Custom Code Way

If neither of those approaches work for you or you are just the type to write your own code and live on the edge, read What every SharePoint developer should know about the web.config file. The author does a good job of explaining the code options and some of the many issues with it. Honestly, I recommend against this method. This method I have tried before and run into some major issues. I don’t trust it. And if you can’t trust it, it won’t achieve the desired result of consistency. However, under the perfect conditions, this may work for you and some people seem to like it, so I mention it. However, be wary.

Your Way

One of the things I love most about sharing with the SharePoint community is the great feedback I get. If you’ve used one of the methods above or have a better way, please let me know! I’ll be sure to update this post with your solution if it can help the community.

Category: Administration; powershell; SharePoint 2010; SharePoint 2013
Published: 5/2/2013 12:01 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Administration; powershell; SharePoint 2010; SharePoint 2013 Thu, 02 May 2013 17:01:51 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=72 Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Inside Out Early Release http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=71 Body:

I’m so excited to see that the second book I’ve co-authored has made it to the Early Release stage!

You can purchase Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Inside Out Early Release at Oreilly.com today.

When you purchase an Early Release book like this, you will receive the first 10 chapters we’ve drafted and all updates to the digital edition including the final release E-book. If you’re not familiar with O’Reilly E-books, they are all DRM free and available to read in formats readable on most book readers, tablets and computers. The Early Release is also selling today at $39.99 which is a discount to the list price showing at Amazon of $49.99.

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Inside Out is for the Advanced Information Worker Topic. A basic understanding of SharePoint IW concepts is assumed so that my co-authors and I could dive deep into more advanced topics like Administration for Business Users and in the 23rd chapter, after all the other topics, Enhancing SharePoint with Custom Development, two favorites of mine!

I’m so lucky to have worked on this book with such a great team including my co-authors, Darvish Shadravan, Penelope Coventry, and Christina Wheeler, contributing authors Javier Barrera and Sam Larko, technical editor Neil Hodgkinson and editors Katharine Dvorak and Kenyon Brown. With so many great contributors, I hope you get a chance to enjoy our work and I hope it helps you in your work.

Category: Books; SharePoint 2013
Published: 3/1/2013 9:42 AM
]]> Thomas.Resing Books; SharePoint 2013 Fri, 01 Mar 2013 15:42:45 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=71 Code Sample Reviews–App Model Workflow http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=70 Body:

Have you checked out the SharePoint 2013 workflow samples from MSDN? I sometimes hesitate to download these because you never know the quality. Some of them don’t even compile without changes. Recently, I found a pair of examples from the Apps for Office and SharePoint Samples that do work with the RTM SharePoint 2013 and latest developer tools, one I had to tweak.

SharePoint 2013 workflow: Workflow-powered app for SharePoint

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/officeapps/SharePoint-2013-workflow-580034f9/view/Discussions

Fixes

I had to make a few changes to get this to compile. I replaced a reference to Microsoft.Activity with System.Activity and then I had to fix the XAML for BuildDictionary based on the BuildDictionary I dragged in from the toolbox. After that it would compile against the most recent tools for SharePoint in Visual Studio 2012 on my Windows 8 box with all Windows Updates installed.

What to do after it deploys

There is no walkthrough of the functionality of this app, so I had to decipher the workflow sequence in Visual Studio to see it work. Here are the steps:

  1. After deploying, click the List1 link on the App Web default.aspx
  2. create a new item with any title
  3. refresh the page until the title is replaced with "Workflow1 is waiting"
  4. edit the item to change the text to Go workflow
  5. refresh the page until the title is replaced with "Workflow1 is completing"
  6. go back to default.aspx and click the List2 link
  7. A new item will have been created in List2 titled "Workflow1 ran on List1"

My Take

While I get that this is basically a no-code example that does a lot of stuff, I have a hard time picturing a real time scenario based on this example. The activities in the Workflow editor are fairly complicated to understand and I’m not sure I could repeat them with real data.

Despite this, it’s interesting to me. My favorite part was that I downloaded this on Windows 8, compiled it and deployed it to a free Office 365 Developer Site without touching a SharePoint Server that I had to set up or use local resources for. I also liked that it deployed in the App Model. That is super cool to me because of the removed burden on administrators to worry if this will take down the server.

SharePoint 2013 workflow: Workflow OM in an app for SharePoint

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/officeapps/SharePoint-2013-workflow-050f5211/view/Reviews

Fixes

None. Deployed with no changes when I set the url to my Office 365 Developer Site.

What to do after it deploys

Very straightforward. Click the link to the test harness. Click the buttons to run different Javascript functions that use the Workflow Object Model

My Take

This one is interesting. It uses JSOM and sp.workflowservices.js to create a workflow. Very easy to install and use. The meat of the project is in the JavaScript functions stored directly in WorkflowOMTest.aspx.

It’s hard for me to find any other references to sp.workflowservices.js, so I’m not sure how to go deeper into this one. It would appear you can run this JavaScript from anywhere, so it could be a good example for non-SharePoint JavaScript developers.

Your take

Have you tried these examples or had better luck with the other 5 or so Microsoft has provided? Do you know of better code examples? I like to learn through experimenting with existing code like this, so I’m always looking for examples that show me how to do something new. Reply in the comments, email me resingnet-website@yahoo.com or mention me on twitter @resing.

Category: SharePoint 2013; software development
Published: 2/10/2013 2:24 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing SharePoint 2013; software development Sun, 10 Feb 2013 20:24:53 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=70 Creating ADRMS service discovery keys in PowerShell http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=69 Body:

I’m trying to do more and more with PowerShell lately. I’ve found it’s a really quick way to make changes on Windows Server. Experimenting with Information Rights Management in SharePoint 2013, I needed to create 3 registry keys and set the value of 2.

Here’s a script example for setting the Windows Registry keys for client-side ADRMS service discovery:

New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSIPC\ServiceLocation'
New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSIPC\ServiceLocation\EnterprisePublishing'`
-value 'http://adrms.adventureworks.com/_wmcs/licensing/license.asmx'
New-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSIPC\ServiceLocation\EnterpriseCertification'`
-value 'http://adrms.adventureworks.com/_wmcs/certification'

If you need to delete a key it’s just as easy:

Remove-Item -Path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSIPC\ServiceLocation\EnterpriseCertification'

Reference

Note AD RMS is the Active Directory Rights Management Service

Category: powershell; Administration
Published: 1/27/2013 2:24 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing powershell; Administration Sun, 27 Jan 2013 20:24:56 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=69 SharePoint Dev Tools Preview 2 Changes http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=66 Body:

A funny thing happened on Day 1 of SharePoint Conference. Scott Guthrie did not announce the Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 - Preview 2, despite the Apps for Office and SharePoint Blog post that went live just after the keynote. I could have missed it, but you’re free to stream the whole 2 hours for yourself and tell me the minute mark. Or, you can stream just the 23 minutes Scott Guthrie was talking.

While we’re on the SharePoint Conference YouTube channel, you might notice they added a SharePoint TV video 8 hours ago, so there may still be content to come.

At any rate, the tools were released, despite the fact that the announcement got cut from the keynote. Installation instructions below after some highlights.

jQuery Intellisense

One of the things I noticed during the developer breakout sessions was a change in the script files I was seeing in Visual Studio 2012 demos. I noticed a jQuery script with Intellisense in the name. Turns out, the presenters from the SharePoint Product Team had Preview 2 (or newer) installed.

Take a look at the new feature in practice:

Notice two things: first, the new files included when you create a new SharePoint Hosted App from the project template and second, when you type $( you see jQuery intellisense code completion suggestions.

Compare the screenshot about created from the Preview 2 App Project Template to the clip of the scripts in the Solution Explorer below. Notice, that the version of the jQuery files was updated from jquert-1.6.2.js to 1.7.1 in Preview 2, as well.

High Trust Apps

My favorite session of the conference was a breakout by fellow Texan and multiple time SharePoint MVP award winner, Eric Shupps. Eric got such a great response, he started a @SPYoda twitter account after the session to capture all his hilarious quotes from the session. One of the things Eric demoed was a horribly painful configuration process necessary for high trust apps in SharePoint 2013. Read his 30 page post, or at least the 1st paragraph, for a great explanation of high trust apps.

Yesterday, Kirk Evans, who I believe still lives in Dallas, wrote this new post on the subject, Creating High Trust SharePoint Apps with Microsoft Office Developer Tools for Visual Studio 2012 - Preview 2. While I haven’t walked through either process myself, I take it that Preview 2 made things a little easier on us. If page length is any indication, the newer post is only 6 pages long. Does that mean deploying high trust apps got 5 times easier? I hope so.

Install the Tools

If you’d like to install, download Preview 2 of the SharePoint Developer Tools or launch the Web Platform Installer and search for SharePoint.

Watch the Webinar

This Friday, November 30th, I’m delivering a webinar on the App Model, free registration, as part of Rackspace SharePoint Services’ 2nd Free Week of SharePoint 2013 Webinars.

Friday, November 30th 2:00 p.m. CST
Another App Store? What for? – with Tom Resing, Racker and SharePoint MCM

Category: SharePoint 2010; SharePoint 2013; software development
Published: 11/28/2012 4:52 AM
]]> Thomas.Resing SharePoint 2010; SharePoint 2013; software development Wed, 28 Nov 2012 10:52:03 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=66 Thanks for the MVP Award! http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=68 Body:

On January 1st 2012, I was honored to hear about an award that is very special to me. I was notified that I had received the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for community work in SharePoint.

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to learn quite a lot from recipients of the MVP Award, commonly referred to as MVPs or Microsoft MVPs. Clearly, they set a great example for me to follow in their footsteps.

I’ve learned from MVPs through answers to questions in online forums, excellent technical content published in blogs and books and helpful and entertaining presentations online and in person at events. Many lead technical communities such as SharePoint User Groups and SharePoint Saturday Organizations. I’ve tried to return the favor by doing much of the same.

Thank You

I’m grateful to Microsoft for granting this award. However, my thanks now go to you, the blog reader.

The primary reward to me for sharing my technical experience through writing and presentations has always been the positive comments from those I’ve helped. This MVP award is a result of positive comments you and others have shared with the decision makers at Microsoft.

So thank you. Thank you for reading and attending my presentations. And thank you for telling me how I could improve. And thank you for telling others about the help I’m willing to give.

MVP Profile

I’ve published an initial profile on the MVP Awardees page at https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Resing

I haven’t had a chance yet to update it with all of the relevant community activity they give the space for. For now, you can refer to my recap of 2012 Community Activity blog post if you’d like to see where I’ve contributed by writing, speaking or leading.

Category: Community
Published: 1/6/2013 2:22 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Community Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:22:40 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=68 Join Me at 4 Upcoming Events http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=62 Body:

SharePoint Saturday San Antonio is October 6th. I hope you know that already and have RSVPs. Other than that, I’ll be at quite a few events over the next 6 months including these below:

October 6th 2012, Region 20 ESC, San Antonio, TX I’ve helped organize SharePoint Saturday San Antonio. It’s a free, all day event with 26 technical presentations by 25 veterans of the industry including past and current MVPs, an MCM and a keynote by Microsoft Information Worker Specialist Brad Freels on SharePoint 2013.
Please RSVP for the October 6th event.
November 12-15 2012, Las Vegas, NV I’ll be at the Rackspace Booth, book signings, attending sessions and maybe the Ask the Experts table.
My co-workers John Ross, Randy Drisgill, Shane Young and Todd Klindt will be presenting breakouts and Shane and Todd have a post-conference session.
Oct 29-Nov 1 2012, Bellagio, Las Vegas, NV I’ll be signing books at the Rackspace booth and giving one breakout session on Mapping Mashups including a 2013 App Model demo at the DevConnections SharePoint Connections track.
March 3-6, 213, San Francisco I’ll be presenting two breakout sessions at SPTechCon with a great lineup of speakers including one other Microsoft Certified Master and a bunch of MVPs and book authors.
Category: events; Community
Published: 9/28/2012 9:27 AM
]]> Thomas.Resing events; Community Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:27:41 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=62 My 2012 Community Activity Recap http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=67 Body:

Happy New Year!

Wondering what I did in 2012? I hope I saw you at one of these events, but if not, you have a good idea how to find me next year. In 2013, I’ll no doubt be engaging the SharePoint community by in person presentations, webinars, organizing events, book writing, blogging and tweeting once again.

Take a look below to see how I’ve been measuring my community impact and feel free to let me know what you think. Am I applying my talents and experience to the right places in the community? Would you like to see more or less of my contributions in any of these areas? For example, one way I plan to expand this year is with more book writing and more conferences like SPTechCon.

Highlights

Gave 13 presentations at 11 events to approximately 450 attendees. Organized 11 Tuesday night meetings of the San Antonio SharePoint User Group and 1 SharePoint Saturday San Antonio. Continued promotion of SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out while drafting SharePoint 2013 Inside Out for publication in 1H 2013 by Microsoft Press. Gained about 500 twitter followers after joining Rackspace in April and published 15 original blog posts.

Outside of the details on my personal output below, my thought leadership and community participation had one public response that made me smile more than the rest. Todd Carter, an MCM instructor and Microsoft Veteran, wrote a post declaring the Rackspace Cloud “in some cases blows the competition away.” I was flattered that Todd responded to my request in such a prominent way. Collaboration is one of the highest forms of response to community work, at least from my way of looking at it.

Speaking Engagements

SharePoint Saturday Austin

January 21st 2012

Topic: Integrate External Data with the Business Connectivity Services

Link: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/austin/speakers/36/TomResing.aspx

Number of attendees: 30

Webinar in Lighting Tools SharePoint Webinar Series

Feb 2012

Topic: Integrate External Data with the Business Connectivity Services

Link: http://lightningtools.com/webcasts/

Number of attendees: 40 + plus downloads (unknown)

Innotech San Antonio

March 2012

Topic: Bring Business Data into SharePoint

Link: http://www.innotechconferences.com/sanantonio/

Number of attendees: 35

SharePoint Saturday Houston

April 2012

Topic: Mapping Mashups with SharePoint Designer

Link: http://www.sharepointsaturday.org/houston/Pages/meetings.aspx

Number of attendees: 30

Featured Free Rackspace SharePoint Training Webinar

July 2012

Topic: SharePoint Development in the Cloud

Link: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/upcoming-webinar-sharepoint-development-in-the-cloud/

Number of attendees: 25 + plus downloads (unknown)

Baton Rouge TECH Day & SQLSaturday

August 4th, 2012

Topic 1: Mapping Mashups with SharePoint Designer

Topic 2: Integrate with Business Connectivity Services

Link: http://sqlsaturday.com/150/eventhome.aspx

Number of attendees: 80

Webinar in Rackspace Week of Free SharePoint 2013 Webinars

August 2012

Topic: SharePoint 2013 Web Architectural Changes

Link: http://www.rackspace.com/blog/sharepoint-2013-week-of-webinars/

Number of attendees: 30 + plus downloads (unknown)

SharePoint Saturday Ozarks

Sept 9th 2012

Topic 1: Mapping Mashups with SharePoint Designer

Topic 2: A Mapping Web Part in 45 minutes

Link: www.sharepointsaturday.org/ozarks/

Number of attendees: 45

Presentation to Austin SharePoint User Group

October 2012

Topic: Mapping Mashups to the App Model

Link: https://www.facebook.com/Austinspug

Number of attendees: 30 (most of them dancing pic1 pic2 + video!)

SharePoint Connections

October 2012

Topic: Mapping Mashups to the App Model

Link: http://www.devconnections.com/shows/fall2012/sessions.aspx?s=192

Number of attendees: 30

Webinar in Rackspace Week of Free SharePoint 2013 Webinars

Friday, November 30th

Another App Store? What for?

Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/158221488

Number of attendees: 25 + recording downloads

Webinar in Rackspace Week of Free SharePoint 2013 Webinars

Monday, December 17th

Another App Store? What for?

Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/166846897

Number of attendees: 25 + recording downloads

User Group

Role: Lead Organizer of the San Antonio SharePoint User Group since January 2009

This year, I’ve recruited and coordinated the speakers and sponsors, arranged the venue, picked up the dinner, procure and handed out giveaways and organized and attended SharePints. I’ve written a monthly newsletter, wrote and sent the invite and managed registration. I’ve MC’d 10 meetings this year and handled the surveys. I organized an 11th meeting MC’d by Jeff Deverter. Most speakers were authors, MVPs, MCMs or Microsoft employees this year including 3 Rackspace MVP presentations.

Next year, we’re looking to expand the leadership of the user group. I’m very excited about that. It should allow us to do even more!

Link: http://sasug.net

Members: 828 members in mailing list

Meeting Schedule: 10+ Meetings a year

Average Attendees per meeting: around 35

Event Organizer

Event: SharePoint Saturday San Antonio, TX

Date: Oct 2012

Link: http://sharepointsaturday.org/sa

https://www.facebook.com/spssanantonio

Total number of event attendees: 155 checked in on Eventbrite, (98 checked in before 9AM, 70 filled out and handed in the 6 sponsor scavenger hunt card at 4PM)

Role: I lead the event, recruited speakers, recruited and organized the sponsors, ordered the speaker shirts, made sure everything was paid for, made website updates, coordinated a Windows Phone App, Spoke at the opening and closing general sessions and organized a SharePint.

Forum Activity

Answered questions in the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and 2013 forums

Link to forum profile:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/profile/tom%20resing%20mcm

Answer Questions, Ask Questions, Vote and Edit on SharePoint.stackexchange.com

Link to SharePoint.StackExchange.com: http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com

Link to forum profile: http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/users/2899/tom-resing

Answer Questions, Ask Questions, Vote and Edit on stackoverflow.com

Link to stackoverflow.com: http://stackoverflow.com

Link to forum profile: http://stackoverflow.com/users/17063/tom-resing

Blogging

Tom Resing’s SharePoint Blog:  http://www.tomresing.com/blog

16 new posts in 2012

Reach:  Blog has an average of 6k unique visitors per month

Rackspace.com/blog

2 posts http://www.rackspace.com/blog/author/tom-resing/

SPTechWeb SharePointers
http://www.sptechweb.com/content/article.aspx?ArticleID=36835

Book Publishing

Co-author of SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out published by Microsoft Press

Published: October 2011

Link: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-SharePoint-Foundation-2010-Inside/dp/073562724X?tag=resingnet-20

Twitter

http://twitter.com/resing - Grew from 1,912 followers in January to 2,577 in December

Category: Community
Published: 12/31/2012 12:54 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Community Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:54:09 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=67 My first experience with New-SPConfigurationDatabase http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=57 Body:

Todd Klindt gets a lot of respect in the SharePoint Administration community.

He should. He consults, writes, speaks, webcasts publicly weekly and leads a user group with a consistently great rating.

Todd highly recommends a scripted configuration approach to SharePoint. And he’s not the only one, but mostly I’ve ignored that advice in the past. However, as a new co-worker of Todd’s, I’ve heard him recommend to clients more than once in the 7 weeks I’ve worked with him to use the SharePoint PowerShell Scrip New-SPConfigurationDatabase to eliminate a GUID in the Admin Content Database Name compared to the Configuration Wizard.

Could you live with GUIDs in the names of your databases? Maybe. I certainly could, up until now. I’ve occasionally had DBAs at consulting clients who complained that the GUIDs did not fit their naming conventions. But it’s never been a stopping block, just an occasional annoyance. And I’ve tried scripted install methods before. At the Microsoft Certified Master Rotation 4, many of my classmates swore by scripted installs. I tried then, but only found it to be getting in my way. They promised it would make installing faster. But for me, at the time, it just slowed me down because I was very proficient already with the configuration wizard.

If you decide you don’t want to have GUIDs, or, like me, you just want to follow Todd’s advice so you have a consistent approach with shared clients, you may come across some of the same issues I have in my first attempt. If so, watch out for these error messages.

Error Messages for New-SPConfigurationDatabase

1. Requested registry access is not allowed

I received this error on my first try at New_SPConfigurationDatabase. It’s not really specific to that command, but something I’ve come across before running the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell in a newly installed environment, but often forget. I wasn’t running the Shell as Administrator. Easy enough to fix googling the error and finding threads like this TechNet Forum Post.

2. The user does not exist or is not unique

This error occurred when I entered the farm account name, sp_farm, without the domain’s shortname. Even when I entered the domain name in front of the user name, Rackspace\sp_farm, I received this error again. After some trial and error and research, it appears that you have to exit the Shell after the first time you receive the error or you will receive it again, even with the proper domain\username form.

3. Some or all identity references could not be translated

One of my attempts to get around the 2nd error above was to enter the fully qualified domain name syntax for my farm account, sp_farm@rackspace.local. According to one blog post I found, that version of the account name has too many characters in it!

Reference

Category: Administration; SharePoint 2010
Published: 6/3/2012 2:23 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Administration; SharePoint 2010 Sun, 03 Jun 2012 19:23:05 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=57 Find Rackspace and me at SharePoint Conference http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=65 Body:

Did you know that SharePoint 911 is now part of Rackspace SharePoint Services? When you’re looking for the experts from SharePoint911, you’ll probably see them with Rackspace shirts on and often at the Rackspace booth. Also, they’re very active presenting, signing books and working with the community.

The Rackspace booth is number #704 and it’s in the 6th row of exhibitors when you head forward with your back to the main entrance of the Exhibit Hall.

As part of the team, I’ll be doing book signings at the Rackspace Booth and the O’Reilly Booth and I will be volunteering at the Community Lounge for the San Antonio SharePoint Community. I’ll also be checking in at the Rackspace booth everyday when I’m not attending sessions.

Book Signings at the Rackspace Booth

Look in your attendee bag for a coupon for a free, signed book from the Rackspace book. Bring the coupon to the booth at one of these times to claim your book. Quantities are limited, so line up early to make sure you get one.

Presentations by Rackers

Rackspace employees are affectionately known as Rackers. This year Rackers will be making quite a few presentations. Watch out for special opportunities for session attendees. I hear there may be giveaways.

Shane Young & Todd Klindt Monday, November 12, 2:00pm-3:15pm

What’s New with Service Applications in SharePoint Server 2013

Reef Room

John Ross & Randy Drisgill Wednesday, November 14, 9:00am- 10:15am

Creating Your Brand in SharePoint 2013: On-Premises or In the Cloud

South Seas Ballroom CDFJI

John Ross & Randy Drisgill Wednesday, November 14, 1:45pm—3:00pm

Planning and Creating Well Designed Intranet Sites in SharePoint Online

Breakers Room

Jennifer Mason & Laura Rogers Wednesday, November 14, 6:45pm—7:00pm

Document Trafficking: Now safer than ever with External Users

Microsoft SharePoint Pavilion in the Exhibition Hall

Jennifer Mason & Laura Rogers Wednesday, November 14, 7:10pm-7:25pm

From Zero to SharePoint Hero: 5 Easy Steps for bringing Business Value to Collaboration Solutions

Microsoft SharePoint Pavilion in the Exhibition Hall

Shane Young & Todd Klindt Thursday, November 15, 2:00pm-5:00pm

SharePoint 2013 Deployment and Administration End to End

This is a post conference session with additional cost - Registration.

Microsoft Press Book Signings

O’Reilly is hosting book signings all week at their booth. Rackers who have co-authored Microsoft Press books will be there at the following times:

  • Monday, 3:15PM Laura Rogers with Darvish Shadravan signing Using Microsoft InfoPath 2010 with Microsoft SharePoint 2010
  • Wednesday, 6:15PM Jennifer Mason with Wes Preston, , Christian Buckley and Brian Jackett signing Microsoft SharePoint 2010: Creating and Implementing Real-World Projects
  • Wednesday, 7PM Tom Resing with Penelope Coventry, Jonathan Lightfoot, Michael Doyle, Troy Lanphier signing Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 Inside Out

See also: Full schedule of Microsoft Press book signings

Microsoft SharePoint Community Lounge

Jennifer Mason and Tom Resing will be at the Community Lounge with other SharePoint Community Leaders on Wednesday from 4:30-5:30PM.

The Community Lounge is located at the back of the Exhibit Hall on Level 1, Bayside C. Event organizers say the Community Lounge is the place to be at SPC12 – aside from our time at the User Group kiosk, there will also be an interactive mural wall, an interactive timeline, book signings, and live interviews with top Microsoft personalities.

Category: Community; SharePoint 2013; cloud
Published: 11/11/2012 2:04 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Community; SharePoint 2013; cloud Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:04:30 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=65 SharePoint Session Picking Advice http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=64 Body:

Going to the Microsoft SharePoint Conference November 12-15, 2012 in Las Vegas? There are so many sessions, how do you choose?

I got an email from a friend with the following question and so I thought I’d publish my response, because I’d probably give it to you too if you asked.

Question

Hey Tom,

I will be going to the conference in Las Vegas and could appreciate your suggestions for the best events/sessions to attend. First time there so any comments would be great.

-DD

My Answer

Hi DD,

Congratulations! SharePoint Conference is the premier SharePoint event with the most sessions dedicated to SharePoint of any Conference.

First off, don’t be late for the Keynote, you want a good seat. And don’t miss the official conference party. The former is sure to have announcements Microsoft and the SharePoint Product Team have been holding back for a reveal. The latter is a great social opportunity and a huge investment by Microsoft and your conference registration dollars.

Past that, my approach is different than some, but I tend to look first for speaker's whose name I recognize from their writing or previous conferences. Todd Klindt and Shane Young's session is always a highlight for me even though I work with them now, that will not change. Same with Randy Drisgill and John Ross. With my developer background, Andrew Connell, Scott Hillier and Ted Pattison are other favorites of mine.

Also, I will be attending a lot of sessions by those that have earned a Microsoft Certified Master in SharePoint certification. Spencer Harbar stands out in this category. He is an MCM instructor and funny. I’ll be honest, some other MCMs are not as practiced and entertaining as the other speakers I’ve mentioned, but they often have advanced technical content I look for. I do like to be entertained, but also I look to learn. And, I want to support the program and my fellow MCMs. Past that, I look for interesting topics and then see if I can find any background on the presenters to determine if I trust what they will be saying.

After all of that, I tend to be flexible at the conference. If I'm having a good conversation with someone and they are going to a particular session, a lot of times, I'll just go along so I have someone to talk to while waiting for it to start. Also, sometimes a presenter will be great and I'll want to catch any other session they do or ones they recommend. If I don't enjoy a session for any reason, I leave. I do that a lot and try to make up my mind quickly so I don't miss too much setup in another session.

Also, keep your ears out. Sometimes extra sessions or session details are added because they are under NDA until they keynote. Sometimes twitter buzzes with an excellent session and I'll leave for that one. Sometimes you hear about a can’t miss session you somehow missed.

Overall, you can't go wrong. You'll like some sessions more than others no matter how you choose, but you'll get something out of any session because of your focus on SharePoint and the experience level of the presenters.

P.S. Make sure to look out for me and say hi! I’ll be spending some time at the Rackspace booth where I and co-workers will be signing copies of our books throughout the exhibitor hours. Like last year, I’ll also be doing a book signing of SharePoint Foundation Inside Out 2010 Wednesday night at the O’Reilly and Microsoft Press booth with my co-authors.

Tom

See Also

Mark and Joel have put together some great guides to SharePoint Conference 2012, so if you want to read more, click through below.

Category: Community; SharePoint 2013; events
Published: 10/25/2012 2:54 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Community; SharePoint 2013; events Thu, 25 Oct 2012 19:54:42 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=64 The post-pc era is here. http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=63 Body:

See below for a small capture of Microsoft's evolution of the 3 screen approach, PC, Mobile and TV.

The 4th and most recent article below is clearly the most interesting today, but the progression itself is also interesting.

They are also positioning the surface tablet device shipping Friday as a PC because it has a detachable keyboard. In that way, they are saying the PC is still relevant, it's just gone to a new form factor, but they still give great value to the TV (XBox) and Mobile (Windows Phone 8)

  1. Why Carriers and Microsoft Need Each Other June 27, 2008

  2. PC Is Just One of 'Three Screens,' Ballmer Says By James Niccolai, Jan 7, 2009

  3. Microsoft’s 3 Screens and a Cloud – in a single image August 16, 2010

  4. Microsoft announces new Xbox SmartGlass experiences and commences free streaming Xbox Music Posted on Tue, 23 Oct 2012

Category: Microsoft
Published: 10/23/2012 3:57 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing Microsoft Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:57:18 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=63 SharePoint 2013 Webinar Playback, Web Architectural Changes http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=61 Body:

Table-less HTML, friendly URLs and host named site collections are the major topics of my presentation in Rackspace’s 1st Week of SharePoint 2013 Webinars.

Download This Webinar Recording (86MB .wmv) and replay the 35 minutes of demonstration and explanation of 3 areas of SharePoint 2013 web developers will be interested in:

  1. Watch a comparison of SharePoint 2010 HTML Markup to SharePoint 2013 HTML Markup pointing out some areas of improvement with the Internet Explorer F12 Developer Tools.
  2. Watch me demonstrate and explain some of the changes in web addresses for pages available with SharePoint 2013 and metadata navigation features.
  3. Take a peek at the Central Administration Site Collection creation which is lacking support for the newly improved Host Named Site Collection features and get a look at a great blog post explaining how to do the same through PowerShell.

7 More SharePoint 2013 Webinar Recordings

Shane Young, Todd Klindt, Laura Rogers, Randy Drisgill, John Ross and Jennifer Mason, my Rackspace SharePoint Services MVP co-workers, each created presentations for the week of webinars, too. Find their recordings and recordings from Jonathan Mast and Jeff Deverter on the Rackspace blog post, Week of Free Webinars: SharePoint 2013

If you have a few hours to dedicate to SharePoint 2013 learning, I suggest watching the whole set of 8 webcasts. Personally, I started from the beginning with Jennifer Mason’s excellent overview of end user improvements and changes. Next, I watched Laura’s Overview of the Social Features. I really liked how Laura built out example sites so you can see what looks like a real-life capture with interactions among team members. I watched all but 1 of the webinars so far and learned something new in each one.

Host Named Site Collection References

Category: SharePoint 2013
Published: 9/19/2012 2:38 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing SharePoint 2013 Wed, 19 Sep 2012 19:38:12 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=61 Two Firsts: Rackspace blog + webinar http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=60 Body:

Free Webinar this Wednesday at 1PM Central.

That's the main theme of my first post on the Rackspace Blog.

  Upcoming Webinar: SharePoint Development in the Cloud

I'm really excited about both. As a SharePoint Developer and Consultant, I've been blogging and speaking for quite a while. However, I think Rackspace.com looks good on me. What do you think?

I hope you'll join me for the upcoming webinar. If you've ever wanted to see how to spin up a new server in 15 minutes for very little cost, this is the show for you! Or maybe you just want to support a friendly SharePoint MCM. :)

SharePoint Development in the Cloud is a passion of mine, so I chose the topic. However, if you've got an idea for a topic you'd like to see in an upcoming webinar, drop me a note in the comments or email resingnet-website@yahoo.com

Category: events; software development
Published: 7/14/2012 8:05 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing events; software development Sun, 15 Jul 2012 01:05:07 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=60 Excel Co-Authoring does work in SharePoint 2010 Office Web Apps http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=58 Body:

Talking to Jeff Deverter yesterday about how cool Excel Co-Authoring was in SkyDrive, I couldn’t answer whether two or more people could edit the same Excel Spreadsheet in the version of Office Web Apps that comes with SharePoint Server 2010. But now, I can. They can!

In the screen shot above, notice the “2 people editing” message in the Excel status bar. The example is from the Microsoft Information Worker VM.

If you’d like to see a great demo of how it works in both Skydrive and in on-premises SharePoint Deployments watch this office tips and tricks video.

More Details on Co-Authoring with Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010

While the co-authoring supported by excel only works in the browser, other office clients support co-authoring in the rich clients and OneNote supports it in both. I found the great summary below of the co-authoring products on office.microsoft.com. This states which clients and web apps support which features.

Application

Server Requirements

Common Scenarios

Word 2010

SharePoint Technologies

Any document including proposals, plans, vision statements, minutes, newsletters, and reports

PowerPoint 2010

SharePoint Technologies

Any presentation including training, conferences, post-mortems, product overviews, handbooks, and project status reports

Excel Web App

SharePoint Technologies and Office Web Apps

Any spreadsheet, including team financial modeling, business-to business product line update on a web page, and real-time trading spreadsheet trackers

OneNote 2010

SharePoint Technologies

Any notebook, including recurring meeting minutes, project brainstorming ("group-think"), shared research and reference material, and shared training courses

OneNote Web App

SharePoint Technologies and Office Web Apps

 

References

Category: SharePoint 2010
Published: 6/12/2012 5:36 PM
]]> Thomas.Resing SharePoint 2010 Tue, 12 Jun 2012 22:36:20 GMT http://tomresing.com/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=58