Delete List Items or Document Library Items Forever (Without sending to recycle bin)

Some weeks back I got a post from my co-worker to delete all the items from a list without being overloading items in recycle bin.

There is a good post in http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/SharePointListDelete which I'm keeping it for my own reference. This post is not my original content, and I'm only keeping this post for my own reference in development.

Firstly this method of deleting the items is more efficient with the performance on the execution for deleting let's say 10,000 of records. Also it sends only one request to delete all the records instead of individual request per items. Also I noted one more useful method spSite.RootWeb.ProcessBatchData(sbDelete.ToString());

public static void DeleteAllItems(string site, string list)
{
using (SPSite spSite = new SPSite(site)){
using (SPWeb spWeb = spSite.OpenWeb()){
StringBuilder sbDelete =BuildBatchDeleteCommand(spWeb.Lists[list]); spSite.RootWeb.ProcessBatchData(sbDelete.ToString()); spWeb.RecycleBin.DeleteAll();
//Note: For me it didn't work for rootweb, i used spWeb.ProcessBatchData(sbDelete.ToString());}}}
Now the method to call the XML request. This will build a list of all the items to get deleted.
private static StringBuilder BuildBatchDeleteCommand(SPList spList)
{

StringBuilder sbDelete = new
StringBuilder();

sbDelete.Append("<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\"?><Batch>");

string command = "<Method><SetList Scope=\"Request\">" + spList.ID +

"</SetList><SetVar Name=\"ID\">{0}</SetVar><SetVar Name=\"Cmd\">Delete</SetVar></Method>";
// Remember to delete the document library you have to add this <SetVar> too //<SetVar Name="owsfileref">{server-relative-url}</SetVar> The relative URl to the document to delete, where SPFile instance's ServerRelativeUrl property.
foreach (SPListItem item in spList.Items)
{
sbDelete.Append(string.Format(command, item.ID.ToString()));
}
sbDelete.Append("</Batch>");

return sbDelete;
}
Also I got variant of this method to delete purge the items similar way. This can be executed in the list object without calling the Rootweb.You have to call only the CAML query with each fields ids defined. This will also run as a single request batch command.

<Batch OnError="Continue">
<Method ID="1" Cmd="Delete">
<Field Name="ID">1</Field>
</Method>
<Method ID="2" Cmd="Delete">
<Field Name="ID">2</Field>
</Method>
……… so on
</Batch>

Similary for deleting the documents from the list , add the following line inside the Method tag.
<Field Name="FileRef">http://spdev/Library Name/Msg-4218faa2-727e.xml</Field>

The commands can also be executed from the Sharepoint Webservices UpdateListItems() method.

Sharepoint Image Rolling (Content) Webpart

Recently in one of the project there is a requirement of building a image rolling webpart. As there was time constraint to build a entire Visual Studio webpart, I took help of Content Editor Webpart and put down simple Javascript and HTML codes to make it working.
You need to create a picture library to store your images. Only disadvantage is that you need to hardcode the images and add some scripts code for any images you want to add for rolling in future.

1) Drag and drop a Content Editor webpart in your ASPX page.

2) Add the complete Script below:
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

<!--
var image="";
var banners=0;
var bannerImage = new Array(4); // Modify the array count if new images added
bannerImage[0]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image1.jpg";
bannerImage[1]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image2.jpg";
bannerImage[2]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image3.jpg";
bannerImage[3]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image4.jpg";
// <<Insert new Image array here>>

var bannerURL = new Array(bannerImage.length);
bannerURL[0]= "http://www.google.com";
bannerURL[1]= "http://www.yahoo.com";
bannerURL[2]= "http://mywebserver/news/Pages/CCNNEAwards.aspx";
bannerURL[3]= "http://mywebserver/default.aspx";
// <<Insert New Image URL here>>

var link = bannerURL[0] ;
function cycle() {
if (++banners > bannerImage.length-1) banners=0;
document.banner1.src = bannerImage[banners];
window.setTimeout('cycle();',6000);
}

function urlswitch() {
link= bannerURL[banners];
return link;
}
//-->
</script>

<center>
<a href="#" onclick="this.href=urlswitch()">
<img width="225" border="0" src="http://mywebserver/Rotating%20Images/Image1.jpg" name="banner1"></a> </center>

3) To add new Image
To add a new image(Image5.jpg) just add a this line
//** URL of the image**
bannerImage[4]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image5.jpg";
after
bannerImage[3]= "http://mywebserver/PublishingImages/Image4.jpg";
Also update the number of array item to 5 in the line.
var bannerImage = new Array(5);

Add a URL to the New Image
Add this line
bannerURL[4]= "http://mywebserver/department/HR/default.aspx"; // **URL to drill down to a site after the line containing “bannerURL[3] “;

Search Add-ons (Providers) on MOSS search result in IE7 / Firefox

Today while reading an article found a very good trick for configuring the search provider/ add-ons for your favorite browser. Which allows you to quick websearch. Now how about doing quick search on your MOSS installation. I'll show you step by step for doing this.

First basics of search. I know the various ways how sharepoint handles search requests. Back from SPS 2003 configuration , advanced webpart development till Moss2007 integrated search.
For our purpose, we will use the query string keyword search( As other search options are postback with some compulsory parameters to the search result webpart in results.aspx page.
http://portal/searchcenter/Pages/Results.aspx?k=dhyan&Scope=All Sites.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<OpenSearchDescription xmlns="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/">
<ShortName>Search corporate</ShortName>
<Description>Searching the Corporate MOSS sites</Description>
<Url type="text/html" template="http://portal/searchcenter/Pages/Results.aspx?k={searchTerms}&amp;s=All%20Sites"/>
</OpenSearchDescription>

As it shows: k={key word you want to pass}, Scope= {The scope defined in the portal SSP or simple All sites}

Now you create a XML file with your notepad update the content given below and upload it to a document library in your moss. Its required to call the XML from your Fav. Browser so that it installs the XML configuration for your search Add-on.

Add javascript code in a file or in a content webpart of a page and publish it.

<a href="javascript:window.external.AddSearchProvider('http://portal/adp/pages/search_add.xml');">Add Corporate Search </a>

While I after uploading my XML file named as search_add.xml , I simply refreshed the page to show the link "Add Corporate Search". And it will ask for your permission to add in the search provider. Click "yes", and choose default search provider option
Now done you can do search on the keyword from your browser on your Moss installation site.

Configure SSO for MOSS 2007

With the vague detail provided my MSDN, a normal person like me couldn't make it out how to setup the SSO repository for MOSS 2007. With a brave ambition i started to figure it out by reading only technet steps. Its as always filled with confusion, as where to configure a domain account. Is it for the local machine or the entire domain tree of the company. With the help of Robert L. Bogue, he showed the missing link for SSO mystery.

The steps i'm following what he wrote in his blog. its only for my future reference i'll come and see my blog incase he removes this valuable information.
There are seven main activities that we need to do:

1. Create the SSO service account -- This is the account that the service will run under.
2. Create the SSO groups -- These groups are used to control who has the ability to administer SSO (export the master key) and who has the ability to manage it (add/remove application definitions.)
3. Configure the SSO Service - Set SSO to start and get it to use the service account.
4. Configure SQL Server - Authorize the SSO service account to SQL server.
5. Manage SSO - Setup SSO in MOSS including the groups and the database.
6. Manage the encryption key -- Create the encryption key that will be used for protecting the username and password information on the system.
7. Manage settings for enterprise application definitions -- Define what initial applications SSO will be setup to manage passwords for.

We need to create an account for the "Microsoft Single Sign-on Service" (SSO Service) to run as. This account has to be a domain account that has local administrative privileges for the front end web servers, must be a member of the SharePoint group Farm Administrators, must have db_creator and security administrator roles in SQL Server, and must be a member of the group that is defined as SSO administrators.

Then add the user to the Domain Admins group( this is the missing link) in order to get the local administrator privileges requirement met.
# From the Start Menu click Administrative Tools-Active Directory Users and Computers
# In the left hand pane on the Users folder right click and select New-User from the menu that appears. If your organization places service accounts in a different organizational unit (OU) you can certainly add this account to that location.
# Enter the First Name (SharePoint SSO), Last Name (Service), and User logon name (SharePointSSOSvc) fields and click the Next button. You can name the account anything you want, however, these values make it clear what the account is used for.
#Enter the a password into the Password and Confirm password fields. Uncheck the User must change password at next logon checkbox. Check the User cannot change password and Password never expires checkboxes. Click the Next button. This sets the account up to be a service account.
# Click the Finish button.
# On the user that was just created, right click and select Properties.
#Click the Member Of tab.
#Click the Add button
# Enter the group name Domain Admins and click Check Names then click OK. As mentioned above, if you're using another group to provide local administrator access to the farm servers, use that group here.
# Click the OK button.
With the user account created and added to a group that will have administrative access to the farm servers. Next we need to create the groups that we'll add the users capable of managing SSO into.

Then Create the SSO Group.

rest of the steps are SKIPPED as it has to do with sharepoint configuration

The last step:
Manage Settings for Enterprise Application Definitions ( has to do in Sharepoint)

Deploying asp.net user control in sharepoint

Shown a good way to put custom usercontrols to work with sharepoint pages.

This is the same content that has been posted in http://bestofcyber.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/deploying-aspnet-usercontrolsascx-declared-in-custom-aspx-pages-into-moss-2007-sites/

Consider you are developing a custom application in asp.net out of the box SharePoint for the ease of UI development and deployment ,you might need to also create user controls and use into your aspx pages.

While you are deploying usercontrols(.ascx) file ,you can follow below steps to get the usercontrols rendering in the custom aspx pages I found this way more simple and working 100% fine.

1. Create a Directory called “UserControls” in the root of your SharePoint web site on the file system E.g. C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80\UserControls

2. Open IIS manager and in the root of your SharePoint site create a VirtualDirectory called “_controls” and point it to that newly created directory.

3. Put your user control in that newly created directory on the filesystem.

4. Open the web.config file and add the following:

Also make sure the trustlevel entry is set to the below

5. In your ASPX page change the existing register directive with the following:

<%@ Register src=”~/_controls/SomeControl.ascx” TagName=”somecontrol” TagPrefix=”uc1″ %>

6. Run your ASPX page and your control should render correctly.

Dataformwebpart Server variables

I found this blog very helpful . its like my reference guide for passing server parameters to a dataformwebpart. Its just the one of the powerful tool I came across for custom sharepoint form development which are simple and easy to maintain.
http://dataformwebpart.com/2007/11/07/spd-2007-data-view-parameters-you-dont-know-about/

Get Current User Email, Login, Display Name Details

I hit upon a wonderful blog while working on a requirement on getting the current user's Email id in efficient way.
The normal code which microsoft given fails:

SPWeb site = SPContext.Current.Web;
SPUser user = site.CurrentUser;
string DisplayName = user.Name;
string Login = user.LoginName;
string EMail = user.Email;
string User Notes = user.Notes;

Because most of the users who don't have access to All sites won't give details of their email by the code given. If you are wondering what is all about the difference between All users see below:

SPWeb site = SPContext.Current.Web;
SPUserCollection c1 = site.Users;
SPUserCollection c2 = site.AllUsers;
SPUserCollection c3 = site.SiteUsers;

The code gives 3 types of different user collection so i guess the user who logged in and didn't find his email by the code above belongs to one of this group.
The difference between these SPUserCollection is copied from MSDN.:

The Users collection has the smallest membership of these three collections. This collection includes all the external principals that have been explicitly assigned permissions within the current site.

The AllUsers collection includes all members of the Users collection, plus external users that have accessed objects within the site using implicit permissions through group or role membership. For example, imagine a user named Brian with the login of LITWAREINC\BrianC that has never been given explicit permissions to access a site and view a particular list. However, he might still be able to view the list because of his membership within an Active Directory group that has been configured with list view permissions. When Brian first accesses the site or one of its objects (say, a list using implicit permissions), he is added as a member of the AllUsers collection, but he is not added as a member of the Users collection.

The SiteUsers collection is an aggregation that combines membership for each AllUsers collection within the current site collection. The membership of this collection includes all external principals that have been assigned permissions to any object within the site collection as well as all external users that have been granted access to any of the site collection's objects using implicit permissions.

I used a basic way to get the current user using (context of control HTTPCONTEXT) Context.User.Identity.Name or Page.User.Identity.Name which does the same httpcontext.

After we get the current user login i can pass it to the magic of another Class in sharepoint object Model which brings the user details.

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;

SPWeb osite = SPContext.Current.Web;

SPPrincipalInfo prin = SPUtility.ResolvePrincipal(osite,Context.User.Identity.Name , SPPrincipalType.All, SPPrincipalSource.All, osite.AllUsers, false);
writer.Write(prin.Email);

using this method u can also search the user by their Email ID, or their Display name. its a cool method who does the search on multiple fields.