Enable Netbios Names

Profile synchronisation in SharePoint 2010 can be a pain. One of the more complex things to do is enable netbios names. This needs to be done to enable line manager names and user names to be resolved correctly.

This must be done using the SharePoint management shell. I dont know why there is not a simple tickbox for this :o(

Here are the steps:

Get-SPServiceApplication
$var = Get-SPServiceApplication –Identity "paste guid of application here"
$var.NetBiosDomainNamesEnabled
$var.NetBiosDomainNamesEnabled = “True”
$var.update()
$var.NetBiosDomainNamesEnabled

Type them one at a time with a return after each one. Paste the GUID obtained from the first command into line two.

After completing the above you MUST delete the AD connection, create a new one and then do a full sync.

Case conversion in SharePoint workflows

Strangely there are no options when using SPD to convert case even though you can convert case easily using a calculated column in your list or library.

There is a workaround that you can use.

First create a list with a calculated column to hold the result of converting a column to upper or lower case. Use =UPPER(Title) or =LOWER(Title) depending on your preference.

Then use the list in any workflow that you need to do a case conversion. Here is a screen of a workflow that does just that. In this example I am setting both upper and lowercase from the same list, i.e. I have two calculated fields in my case conversion list.

You will notice that after creating the list item in the case conversion list, that I immediately make a copy of it. This is because the calculated field event will not fire until something is done to force it. In this case we use the copy item option.

Note that it is the new copy of the item that has the converted data in it not the first item so you must remember to use this to retrieve the data. Hence the use of ‘plus 1’ in the workflow.

The last two lines just delete the two list items that the workflow created to perform the conversion. This is not required but it is just good practice to tidy after yourself.

Hide Quick Launch SharePoint 2010

The easiest way is to add a CEWP to the page then add this HTML.

< style type="text/css">
body #s4-leftpanel {
display:none;
}
.s4-ca {
margin-left:0px;
}
</style>

Unable to view SharePoint list in Datasheet with Office 2010

I just found that I am unable to view a SharePoint list in Datasheet view because I have the 64bit version of Office 2010 installed.

The error message is :

The list cannot be displayed in Datasheet view for one or more of the following reasons:
A datasheet component compatible with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation is not installed.
Your Web browser does not support ActiveX controls.
A component is not properly configured for 32-bit or 64-bit support.

To fix this follow this link to Microsofts Knowledge base article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2266203

Show Quick Launch on SharePoint 2010 Webpart Page

When you create a webpart page on SharePoint 2010 or 2007 for that matter, the quick launch will vanish.

With SharePoint 2007 all you needed to do was edit the page in SharePoint Designer and remove the following 2 lines:

< asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderNavSpacer" runat="server"></asp:Content>
< asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server"></asp:Content>

With SharePoint 2010 you also need to delete the following:

< style type="text/css">
body #s4-leftpanel {
display:none;
}
.s4-ca {
margin-left:0px;
}
</style>

The quick launch will now display on the web part page.

SharePoint 2010 Install Failed

After I tried twice and failed twice to install SP2010, with the same issue both times, I googled the error and found that at the moment SharePoint 2010 cannot be installed on Server 2008 R2.

http://blogs.msdn.com/opal/archive/2009/11/16/installation-notice-for-sharepoint-2010-public-beta.aspx

Yes I was using Server 2008 R2. So now I'll try with Server 2008.

New Certification

With all this Office 2010 excitement, I forgot to brag about my latest certification.

Did 070-630 and scored 1000 from 1000. First time I got the perfect score.