Posted on July 12th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
How to override default CSS styles/classes for one or more TOC Web Part in SharePoint
How to override CSS classes used by one or many Table of Contents web Parts (TOCWP) without affecting the default classes or XSL stylesheets. Using CSS, the styles of one or more TOC Web Parts can be customised by overriding the default classes and styles. By placing styles direcly into a page, or attaching a stylesheet with the updated classes to the page containing a TOCWP, the default classes can be overridden when the updated classes have the same name. This can be utilised to allow customisation of the TOCWP without haveing to modify core functionality or style sheets (core.css).
How to customise CSS styles of a single Table of Contents Web Part on a specific page
How to customise a single or specific set of Table of Contents Web Parts, but not others that may exist in a SharePoint site collection. By Attaching an additional style sheet to a page containing a TOCWP, or by including styles directly in the page allows the TOCWP to be cusomised without having to modify core styles.
How to apply additional Styles to a SharePoint Site, Page or existing CSS Style Sheet
How to incorporate a new stylesheet into a SharePoint site or page. There are a number of methods available for incorporating styles into a page on SharePoint, including associating the stylesheet as the style sheet to be used by the SharePoint Site, attaching an additional style sheet to a page using SharePoint Designer, or by including the CSS classes in a style tag in the head section of a specific page.
What CSS Classes Does a TOCWP Use by Default
How do I know which CSS classes to make changes to in order to customise a specific presentation layout for a Table of Contents Web Part? The following provides a table containing the main classes and elements used to render a TOCWP. The classes can be overridden or replaced with new ones to allow Table Of Contents Web Part styles to be customised.
How to differentiate the styles between the Horrizontal & Vertical presentation Layouts
Many of the Horizontal and Vertical presentation layouts available for a Table of Contents web Part are shared with other presentation layouts, making it hard to customise a specific one. For example, the “Vertical with boxed title” and “Horizontal with boxed title” layouts both use the same class for the outer div container and title text. Overriding CSS styles for one of these presentation layouts will affect TOCWPs on the page with wither of the two layouts. To differentiate styles between the Vertical / Horizontal layouts (or any others), the XSL style sheet used to define elements and CSS classes for TOC Web Parts needs to be modified to include differentiated classes for the various presentation layouts.
How to include a custom background image for Table Of Contents Web Part Titles using CSS
How to override or replace the default classes used by a Table of Contents Web Part to incorporate background images and an alternate layout. How to incorporate background images and CSS into a page or style sheet so that they are available to all TOCWP that require the new styles.
Free example image set and styles for Table of Contents Web Part
Download a free example image set for use as background and bullet images for a Table of Contents web Part. Style Sheets are included to allow default classes to be overridden or replaced with new styles.
Incorporate company Branding into TOCWP Styles
Customise the CSS styles and classes used by a Table of Contents Web Part to include Company Branding. Apply company branding and theme (fonts, colours, images) into a TOCWP in SharePoint.
See Customize TOC Web Part CSS for details.
Posted on April 13th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
I came accross an error in one of my infoPath form templates. I was working on a template and able to save and publish to the form to SharePoint. A blank from can be opened and submitted using the published template in Sharepoint, but if I try to edit (design) the template, the following error occurrs when InfoPath is attempting to open the form:
InfoPath has encountered an error. The operation failed.
There are a number of possible causes for this and similar (parameter) errors, but in this case the error was caused when I removed dome empty group elements from the form’s main data source. The groups were no longer being used on the template and did not contain any fields so I would have assumed that thay could be removed without issues. I was able to narrow down the cause by retracing my steps using previous (working) versions of the form template.
Posted on March 2nd, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | 2 Comments »
SharePoint InfoPath Forms
InfoPath forms can be a powerful tool for collecting organising, processing and submitting data of various types. Data Connections allow an infoPath Form to pull data from multiple data sources, including sharePoint. SharePoint InfoPath Forms can provide a rich interface and additional functionality when manipulating data in SharePoint lists and libraries than when using OOB browser forms.
When using InfoPath to open and complete forms, complex priocessing can be performed without impacting on performance of the SharePoint server as the procing is done by the client. Using SharePoint InfoPath Forms as an Interface to control workflow can provide greater functionality and control over the workflow process. Using an infoPath form to submit data to SharePoint lists can allows data from multiple lists to be updated once processed.
SharePoint InfoPath Forms
Posted on February 22nd, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | 4 Comments »
SharePoint Forums
Popular SharePoint forums and development communities to help when learning to develop, customise and troubleshoot SharePoint environments. Each of the SharePoint Forums listed have many members of the community who are willing to help people with SharePoint queries by responding to forum threads, as well as helping to maintain high quality, relevant and accessable information.
SharePoint Blogs
Many blogs relating to Sharepoint by some of the leading SharePoint developers and Administrators. Many of the sharepoint Blogs listed on the page are Sharepoint MVPs with many years of experience.
SharePoint Groups & Discussion Communities
SharePoint discussion groups.
Posted on February 22nd, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
Free Web Parts for SharePoint : WSS, MOSS 2007, Sharepoint 2010
Download free Web Parts for SharePoint from the following sites providing various resources for SharePoint:
Free SharePoint web Parts: Web-Resource.org
“The free Web Parts for SharePoint listed in this section have been selected by the team at Web-Resource.org from around the web and suggested by users and developers. The functionality provided by the free web parts varies, and are configurable in most cases. The web parts listed in this section apply mainly to WSS and MOSS 2007. ”
Free Web Parts for SharePoint (WSS and MOSS 2007) - WebmasterHub.net
Free web Parts, including resources for developing custom Web Parts as well as tips and tutorials for customising core / OOB Web parts such as the Data View Web Part. Perform string manipulation ( remove / replace ) functions uising XSL templates.
Free SharePoint Web Parts
Posted on February 13th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
This article demonstrates how to set up secondary data connections in an InfoPath form to connect to the Lists web service to update an existing item in a SharePoint list. An XML document containing a Collaborative Application Markup Language (CAML) query is sent containing data which will map to specific fields in the specified SharePoint list.
How to integrate InfoPath forms with workflow in SharePoint to give greater control over the functionality and user interface.
When an InfoPath form is set up to submit to a SharePoint library, fields in the form can be mapped to columns/fields in the SharePoint library, or a content type which is associated with a document library. See Submit InfoPath form to SharePoint List or Library using Content Type for details and an example of how to submit an InfoPath form to a SharePoint document library.
I noticed that when trying to update a SharePoint list item using a CAML query from an InfoPath form, if the date/time format was not correct the field in the SharePoint list item would not be updated. Any updates in the CAML query after an element with an invalid date/time format were also not applied.
The following demonstrates how to use InfoPath data connections to connect to and retrieve SharePoint list contents (item metadata) for use in the form. This can be useful when InfoPath forms are used as a workflow component or interface, or if the form is being submitted to a library on a SharePoint site.
InfoPath SharePoint Integration:
http://blog-sharepoint.blogspot.com/
Tutorials, tips and techniques for integrating InfoPath forms with SharePoint
The following article demonstrates how to integrate an InfoPath form with a SharePoint form library, using a centralised template stored in a SharePoint document library and linked to a site Content Type. The form is set up to submit to a SharePoint form library
InfoPath SharePoint Integration
Posted on February 10th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
When should code be used in an InfoPath form and when should it be avoided?
There is no simple answer to this question, as it comes down to a matter of personal preference. This article is aimed at reducing the development time for InfoPath forms of various scales. The following are some tips to help you make the right decision…
Code is Reusable
InfoPath form code can be written to allow reuse in multiple forms which may have completely different requirements for functionality and layout. Developing to enable code reuse will prove to be a significant benefit to any developer. Having access to code that you know that works as well as an intimate understanding of how it works will save a many hours of development, as well as providing building blocks for further development…
Choose an appropriate language to become most familure with
Many languages are supported when using InfoPath forms (JScript, VBScript, C#, VB), sometimes making it harder to find relevant information or resources when troubleshooting and learning….
No need to over do it!
After saying all this, I should stress a few key points…
InfoPath Programming:
InfoPath Forms
Posted on February 10th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | 2 Comments »
SharePoint Workflow Errors: Descriptions, resolutions and Workarounds SharePoint Workflow Errors
There are many cases where a workflow developed using SharePoint Designer will stop due to a workflow error. A number of factors can cause a workflow error, including list permissions, data types, incorrect lookups to items that don’t exist based on the criteria specified or document libraries and lists with Force Checkout and Content Approval enabled.
Workflow errors can also be used intentionally to break / stopping a looping workflow sequence. For example, a looping workflow that is configured to processe all items from a list will stop once all items have been processed as it will not be able to find the next item to process. The result will be a “List item not found” error which will cause the looping workflow sequence to break / stop.
For more information about workflow errors in SharePoint including examples, common causes and workarounds / resolutions, see SharePoint Workflow Errors.
Common Workflow Errors:
- List Item Not Found
- Error updating a list item
- Access Denied
- Failed on Start (retrying)
- Document must be checked out
- Error Deleting a list item
Posted on February 5th, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | 4 Comments »
By default, SharePoint Designer (2007) doesn’t allow you to retrieve the
details of the user who started / initiated a workflow. The only option
available using OOB workflow activities is to get the user who created the list
item or to retrieve the user who last modified the list item, which in most
cases will be the user who initiated the workflow, but not all.
To retrieve the account details of the user who triggered the workflow, you can
create or modify a separate list item, then retrieve the account details of the
item from either the Created By field or the Modified By field. As the
workflow runs using the credentials of the user who initiated the workflow, when
an item is created or modified by the workflow it will be done using the account
of the workflow initiator.
For more information, see SPD Workflow: Get account details of the user who initiated the workflow.
Posted on February 2nd, 2010 by Master-SharePoint | Comments Off
Forum Discussion:
Replicate / Migrate data into sharepoint lists from an external sql database
Solutions for integrating data from an external SQL database in SharePoint. Migrate data from an external database into Sharepoint Lists and libraries, or configure data connections to retreive data directly from the external database to be displayed on pages or stored in SharePoint.
Replicate / Migrate data into sharepoint lists from an external sql database