Hello World !!

Retrieving Large Data with ADO.NET (BLOB)

2010-05-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

For couple of days, I was working on an issue occurring while I`m trying to download files from Sharepoint 2003 document library. The problem was some of the files were too big (more than 256mb) so when I try to open binary visual studio was giving SystemOutOfMemory Exception. Later I understood that it was hitting the limit of the byte[]. So I thought there should be a way of streaming big files, I searched on internet for 5 hours and when most of my fate lost, my colligue found out about BLOB`s. Then we found the following article that explains how to stream a big binary file from SQL database.

MSDN Article:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/87z0hy49.aspx

C# Version: (In case link breaks)

// Assumes that connection is a valid SqlConnection object.
SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand(
"SELECT pub_id, logo FROM pub_info", connection);

// Writes the BLOB to a file (*.bmp).
FileStream stream;
// Streams the BLOB to the FileStream object.
BinaryWriter writer;

// Size of the BLOB buffer.
int bufferSize = 100;
// The BLOB byte[] buffer to be filled by GetBytes.
byte[] outByte = new byte[bufferSize];
// The bytes returned from GetBytes.
long retval;
// The starting position in the BLOB output.
long startIndex = 0;

// The publisher id to use in the file name.
string pubID = "";

// Open the connection and read data into the DataReader.
connection.Open();
SqlDataReader reader = command.ExecuteReader(CommandBehavior.SequentialAccess);

while (reader.Read())
{
// Get the publisher id, which must occur before getting the logo.
pubID = reader.GetString(0);

// Create a file to hold the output.
stream = new FileStream(
"logo" + pubID + ".bmp", FileMode.OpenOrCreate, FileAccess.Write);
writer = new BinaryWriter(stream);

// Reset the starting byte for the new BLOB.
startIndex = 0;

// Read bytes into outByte[] and retain the number of bytes returned.
retval = reader.GetBytes(1, startIndex, outByte, 0, bufferSize);

// Continue while there are bytes beyond the size of the buffer.
while (retval == bufferSize)
{
writer.Write(outByte);
writer.Flush();

// Reposition start index to end of last buffer and fill buffer.
startIndex += bufferSize;
retval = reader.GetBytes(1, startIndex, outByte, 0, bufferSize);
}

// Write the remaining buffer.
writer.Write(outByte, 0, (int)retval - 1);
writer.Flush();

// Close the output file.
writer.Close();
stream.Close();
}

// Close the reader and the connection.
reader.Close();
connection.Close();

SharePoint Branding Issues: Edit In Datasheet View

2009-11-25T12:58:00.000-08:00

After you customized your MOSS page, when you tried to open a document library in datasheet view Internet Explorer freezes.

To solve this problem, find and replace this line in core.js

var lGCWindowHeight=document.documentElement.scrollHeight;

with

var lGCWindowHeight=(document.documentElement.scrollHeight>document.documentElement.clientHeight) ? document.documentElement.clientHeight : document.documentElement.scrollHeight;

Extending Web Application for extranet HTTPS enabled.

2009-11-25T09:19:00.001-08:00

Go to Central Administration
Go to Application Management
Under Create or Extend Web Application
Select http://mossdev/ as web application
Change Description: Sharepoint – Extranet
1. Port: 443 (HTTPS Port)
2. Host Header: extranet
3. User SSL: YES
4. Zone: Extranet
Also don't forget to add http://extranet to DNS Server.
Install IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools from Microsoft`s web site.
1. Install just SelfSSL if wanted or do complete installation.
2. After installing RKT, from start menu strat SelfSSL console app.
3. On the console write:
4. Selfssl /T /N:CN=extranet (press enter)
5. Write exit to exit from console.
6. Go to IIS go to Default Web Site go to Properties
  1. Select Directory Security
  2. See if View Certificate button is enabled if it is certificate is created.
  3. Go to Sharepoint – Extranet we site on IIS
  4. From properties go to Directory Security
  5. Go to Server Certificate from wizard select Assign an Existing Certificate
  6. Select the certificate that was create
  7. Leave port number as 443
  8. After adding the certificate to the extranet web site
  9. Go to Edit enable Require secure channel (SSL)
  10. Enable Require 128-bit encryption.
7. Go to command line to reset IIS, write iisreset /noforce
8. Open Internet explorer to try the sure write https://extranet/

Turning On Self Service Site Management

2009-11-25T09:18:00.001-08:00

Go to Application Management from Central Administration
Under the Application Security
Go to Self Service site management
Select Require secondary contact
Select On from the radio box
Click OK
Go to MOSS 2007 Home
1. You will see new announcement
2. Go to Site Actions -> Site Settings
3. Under Site Collection Administration, select Site Directory Settings
4. Select "Create new site collections from Site Directory"
5. Click OK, this will enable to users can add new sites from the site directory.

SharePoint 2007 Installation Walkthrough

2009-11-25T09:16:00.001-08:00

Create a Service Account
1. Create a group named "SharePoint" by using Computer Management or from Active Directory.
2. Create a user named "spservice" and assign it to the group.
3. Add that service account to SQL Server users.
  1. Open SQL Server Management Studio
  2. Got to Security Tab from tree view
  3. Expand Logins and right click to Logins, select New Login
  4. Enter spservice to login name.
  5. Unser Server Roles select:
    1. dbcreator
    2. securityadmin
    3. public
Run Setup of SharePoint 2007:
1. Enter the License Key, accept terms and conditions.
2. Select Advanced installation
  1. Select Complete installation
3. Select Install
4. After installation run configuration wizard.
Configuration Wizard Setup:
1. On the welcome screen click Next
2. On window click Yes to restart services listed.
3. If this computer is the first computer in the farm select No
4. On the specify configuration database settings
  1. Database Server: MOSSDEV
  2. Database Name: SharepointFarm_Config
  3. Database Access Account
    1. Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
    2. Password: <password>
  4. Configure SharePoint Central Administration Web App
    1. Check and specify port number: Port 1984 or other.
    2. Default Authentication Provider : NTLM
    3. Click Next
5. You will see all the settings and be sure they are ok. Click Next.
6. After Configuration successful click Finish.
Central Administration Setup:
1. Login to central administration as an administrator role user.
2. After logging in on the list Administrator Tasks
  1. Select Initial Deployment: Assign services to server
  2. On the task description, there is Action column, click to the link which is given in Action column.
3. That link takes you to Operations> Services on the server where you can observe all the services that is running on the server.
4. Click the start button for Office SharePoint Server Search Service
  1. On Query and Indexing
    1. Check – Use this server for indexing content.
    2. Check – Use this server for serving search queries.
    3. Contact Email Address: <email address>
    4. Farm Search Service Account
      1. Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
      2. Password: <password>
    5. Leave Index Server Default File Location as it is.
    6. Indexer Performance
      1. Select Reduced
    7. Web Front End and Crawling
      1. Select; use all web front end computers for crawling.
    8. After starting the service, go to Excel Calculation services and start that one also.
    9. As last one click start for Windows SharePoint Service search.
      1. In the settings, for Service Account
        Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
        Password: <password>
      2. Content Access Account:
        Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
        Password: <password>
      3. Search Database:
        Database Server: MOSSDEV
        Database Name: MOSS_Search_DB
        Windows Authentication
        Index Scheduling
        Every 15 minutes.
Create a web application:
1. Under the Application Management
2. Go to Create or Extend Web Application
3. Click Create a new web application.
4. First we will create a web application for SSP (Shared Services Provider)
5. IIS Web Site:
  1. Create a new IIS Web Site
    1. Description: SSP – 8080
    2. Port : 8080
  2. Leave Host header and Path as they are
  3. Security Configuration
    1. Authentication Provider: NTLM
    2. Allow Anonymous: No
    3. User SSL: No
  4. Leave Load Balanced URL as it is
  5. Application Pool
    1. Create new Application Pool
      1. Application pool name: SSP – 8080
      2. Configurable
        Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
        Password: <password>
      3. Reset IIS:
        Select restart IIS automatically.
      4. Database Name and Authentication
        Database Server: MOSSDEV
        Database Name: SSP_Content
        Windows Authentication – Click OK
Create New Web Application for SharePoint Web Site:
1. IIS Web Site
  1. Select Create a new IIS web site
  2. Description: Sharepoint – 80
  3. Port: 80
2. Security Configuration
  1. Authenticator Provider: NTLM
  2. Allow Anonymous: No
  3. Use SSL: No
3. Load Balanced URL
  1. URL: http://MOSSDEV:80
4. Application Pool
  1. Select Create new application pool
    1. Application pool name: Sharepoint – 80
    2. Select Configurable for security account for this app pool.
      1. Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
      2. Password: <password>
  2. Reset IIS
    1. Reset IIS Manually
  3. Database Name and Authentication
    1. Database Server: MOSSDEV
    2. Database Name: Sharepoint80_Content
    3. Database Authentication: Windows Authentication
5. Click OK
Create Site Collection:
1. This site collection will be the main site.
2. Web Application: http://mossdev/
3. Title: TechLaw Companies
4. Description: Intranet Portal for TechLaw, Inc.
5. Website Address: http://mossdev/
6. Template Selection: Team Site
7. Primary Site Collection Admin: MOSSDEV\<username>
8. After creating the site open it on a new tab to test.
New Shared Service Provider:
1. Go to Application Management
2. Click Manage This Farm's Shared Services
3. Click New SSP
  1. SSP Name: Select SSP – 8080 from web application dropdown.
  2. Copy SSP Administration Site URL to clipboard.
4. My Site Location
  1. Click to create new web app.
  2. Create a new IIS web site
    1. Description: MySite – 2009
    2. Security Account – Configurable
      1. User Name: MOSSDEV\spservice
      2. Password: <password>
  3. Database Name and Authentication
    1. Database Name: MySite_Content
    2. Click OK
New Shared Services Provider:
1. When new page came after clicking OK, SharePoint will want more configurations.
2. The only thing that needs to be changed here is SSP Service Credentials
  1. Username: MOSSDEV\spservice
  2. Password: <password>
3. After SSP is successfully created, by clicking the given link go to SSP. Enter spservice credentials to log in.
4. Return to Central Administration.
Setting up the Top-Level Site:
1. Go to http://mossdev/
2. From Site Actions -> Site Settings -> People and Groups
3. Add Users group to Members
Creating the 12 Hive Shortcut:
1. Go to C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\Microsoft Shared\we server extensions
2. Create a shortcut of "12" named folder to desktop. Name it "12 Hive".
Activating Office SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure:
1. Go to Home
2. From Site Actions -> Site Settings
3. From Site Collection Administration
  1. Select Site Collection Features
  2. Click Activate to turn on office SP server publishing infrastructure.
Email Server Configuration:
1. Go to Central Administration
2. Go to Operations -> Outgoing E-Mail Settings
  1. Outbound SMTP Server: <IP Address>
  2. From Address: <email address>
  3. Reply To: <email address>
Alternate Access Mappings:
1. Go to DNS and map http://intranet to <IP address> the SharePoint server
2. Go to Central Administration under Operations
  1. Select Alternate Access Mappings
  2. Change Alternate Access Mapping Collection and select Sharepoint – 80
  3. Click Edit Public URLS
  4. Write http://intranet to Intranet box and Save.

Presenation Power of Steve Jobs

2009-10-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

This is the Kansu Consulting daily newsletter, I’m Can Kansu your “IT guru”, today I want to talk about presentation techniques. This morning while I was browsing my daily mails as usual, one of them took my attention; it was about Steve Jobs` presentation techniques. The man behind these techniques is Carmine Gallo who is the founder of Gallo Communications. He recently published a book about presentation secrets of Steve Jobs.

I strongly recommend taking a look at his web site and watch a YouTube video of Steve Jobs while presenting Mac Book Air for the first time.

This is the video:

How to bind XQuery result string to a DataSet

2008-11-05T14:40:00.000-08:00

In my previous blog I explained how to use XQuery in .NET platform. You can see it from here. In this blog I will explain how to display the result of a XQuery by using DataGrid in .NET.

As a beginning we have a string value which has a format like XML and holds the result of our XQuery like:

Example of string value:

Our main concern is to use DataSet.ReadXML() method but the problem is this method does not take String value as an input. It takes one of the File, Stream, XMLReader or TextReader typed objects. So how can we use it ?

First we can write our String value to a new file which we can create on fly then give it to method.

We can create either of XMLReader and TextReader objects and assign our file to these objects the put the output to out method.

I think these solutions are to complicated and there are too much steps on them. While I was looking for any neat solution, I found using Stream isn`t a bad idea to be used here. Also it was my only choice left.

So let`s start;

First we need to create a MemoryStream object, because ReadXML() takes Stream typed objects.

Constructor of the MemoryStream class is accepting byte[] that we can easily cast our String value.

This is how we cast our String value:
System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(result)

As a result we are getting our Stream value like:

MemoryStream mstream = new MemoryStream(System.Text.ASCIIEncoding.ASCII.GetBytes(result));

After we filled up our Stream object, we need to put it into ReadXML() method of our DataSet;

DataSet ds = new DataSet();
ds.ReadXml(mstream);

Now we can use this DataSet where ever we want, for example we can easily bind it to a DataGrid.

If you want to learn how to bind this DataSet to a DataGrid, look for my post about it..

Cya..

Using XQuery in C#

2008-11-04T18:06:00.000-08:00

Last week I was working on fetching data over XML to be used in ASP.NET project. I had been studying XQuery for a while and I realized it is easy and neat language to query on XML document. There also some other technologies that are able to do same things but I chose to use XQuery because it`s logic is very similar to common programming languages. While I`m trying to find how to use XQuery in .NET platform, I couldn't`t find any built in library in .NET framework but I found a library that was created by third party.

You can download the class library from here.
After downloading the file just move .dll file to your project`s bin folder.
As last step you need to add this .dll file as reference to your project.

After doing all these steps you will be able to use this library in your project. Also you should attach it to your code like:
using Microsoft.Xml.XQuery;

First, we need to create XQueryNavigatorCollection instance:

XQueryNavigatorCollection col = new XQueryNavigatorCollection();

Then we need to link the xml data file to our instance, AddNavigator method`s first input will be the path of the data file and second one is the alias of that file. This alias will be useful while writing our XQuery to point out our data file.

col.AddNavigator(Server.MapPath("Data.xml"), "doc");

We are writing our XQuery and assign it to a string value, as you can see I used "doc" alias that points Data.xml file:
string query = "for $row in document(\"doc\")/Import/Row " +
"return " +
"$row";

After assigning our query to a string we give this string to XQueryExpression class`s constructor, by doing this step our query will be ready to be executed:

XQueryExpression xepr = new XQueryExpression(query);

To execute our query and get the output from it we are just writing:

string result = xepr.Execute(col).ToXml();

and getting the result to string result variable. By getting the result you can do whatever you want with it. You can just display it as it is or by assigning it to a DataSet you can give to it more usable scope in your project.

After a while I will post how can you assign it to a DataSet...