Colt Kwong Blog

Misleading Error Message about Trial Period Expiration in MOSS

2008-06-16T10:21:00Z

A very misleading error message that I came across last week..

Trial period of my MOSS has expired? No way.. check out the permission and security settings first.

Microsoft DreamSpark - Free Professional Tools for Students

2008-06-14T17:14:00Z

Just see this DreamSpark program on the Visual Studio home page and it is definitely a good news for students. (Personally, I'm glad to see that this program covers and beneficial to students in China as well :)

Enable SmartPart with AJAX in SharePoint

2008-06-09T15:10:00Z

I just try SmartPart and enable AJAX functionality in SharePoint tonight, here are few notes:

1. Download and install SmartPart (make sure SmartPart is deployed and affect all WSS sites as shown in the last step of the Setup wizard)
2. Activate SmartPart features (either admin UI or stsadm -o activefeature command)
3. Config AJAX extension in SharePoint (otherwise, you will get an "Unknown server tag 'asp:UpdatePanel' " error)
4. Create a AJAX-enabled website and "user controls"
5. Copy ASCX to UserControls folder to your SharePoint app

All developers are recommended to read the blogs from Jan and Michael first of course.

BTW, I saw another error message "This control does not allow connection strings with the following keywords: ‘Integrated Security’, ‘Trusted_Connection’." in my experimental application. After a quick googling then I change (it's the normal practice BTW) to use a limited rights user account instead of using integrated security in connection string and the problem solved.

Provisioning User to ADAM in ILM2007

2008-05-29T13:51:00Z

I just finish provisioning a user object to ADAM from AD today, the process is pretty smooth and below is the first piece of codes that I wrote for the metaverse rule extension in ILM2007.

// Provision to ADAM
MA = mvEntry.ConnectedMAs["ADAM_MA"];
Connectors = MA.Connectors.Count;
rdn = string.Format("CN={0}", cn);
dn = MA.EscapeDNComponent(rdn).Concat("OU=Alpha Users,DC=ALPHA,DC=COM);

if (Connectors == 0)
{
csEntry = MA.Connectors.StartNewConnector("user");
csEntry.DN = dn;
csEntry.CommitNewConnector();
}
else if (Connectors == 1)
{
csEntry = MA.Connectors.ByIndex[0];
csEntry.DN = dn;
}
else
{
LogAndThrowUnexpectedDataException("Multiple connectors in MA");
}

The code is obviously incomplete, but there are lots of useful resources on the net and below are the links that I read today:

If you are new to MIIS / ILM like me, make sure you check out the first article which is extremely useful, easy to read and understand.

IIS Feature is missing during SQL 2005 Installation

2008-05-27T11:50:00Z

This is not the first time for me to see this message, so I think it may be a good idea to blog about it for future reference.

The error message is:

Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) is either not installed or is disabled. IIS is required by some SQL Server features. Without IIS, some SQL Server features will not be available for installation.

Last time I saw this error when I try to install SQL 2005 in my Vista environment. I do have IIS installed in my Vista and I have no idea what's wrong with this error message. (Solution can be found here BTW)

Today, I see this error again in my clean Win2K3 server box. (ha) It is much easier for me to solve this problem because the cause is just because IIS is not enabled by defafult in Win2K3. So I just select and enable IIS in Add/Remove Windows Components then the SQL 2005 installation go well.

Install WSS Tools: VS 2005 Extensions on Vista

2008-05-21T09:47:00Z

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: VS 2005 extension can improve the productivity of developers because it comes with a lists of useful project and item templates. However, this tool is only limited to OS of either Win Server 2003 or Win Server 2008.. If you are running Vista or develop SharePoint solution remotely, you may want to take a look at the hack from this blog post.

P.S. The latest version of WSS Tools: VS2005 Extension should be V1.1, instead of V1.0 as mentioned in the blog post.

Note on Customizing Content Query Web Part

2008-05-17T03:05:00Z

Content Query Web Part (CQWP) is a powerful feature in SharePoint, where users can create custom view of data that is queried from various sources, lists, libraries, and present all in one web part. One of my tasks yesterday is to create a content query web part, and query the contents from two sub-sites. Specifically, I have 2 calendars in 2 sub-sites and I have to query all events and combine into a master calendar in the top site (Of course I can make use of the great filtering, sorting and grouping features in CQWP).

After adding the CQWP, my next step is to customize the layout because the default one is too plain. I google and find all these useful articles:

One of the techniques in customizing CQWP layout is to make use of internal field name and modify CommonViewFields in the exported .webpart file. I follow all steps, modify the .webpart and xsl files as I wish, but I still can't display the content in my CQWP (I can see some other default fields like Title though).

Later, I find the bug is at the key element - CommonViewFields - It does not allow SPACE in the value string. For example:

Wrong: <property name="CommonViewFields" type="string">Title, Text; Description, Note;</property>

Correct: <property name="CommonViewFields" type="string">Title,Text;Description,Note</property>

My note is that we developers cannot add SPACE when typing the value, or even anywhere in the tag. And, we should not add a semi-colon at the end of the string.

P.S. After customizing the layout and fields on the CQWP, we will most probably need to format the field, such as changing the time format of a DateTime field, number of decimal points etc, and here is a very useful reference article: Customizing the Content Query Web Part XSL

Visual Studio extensions for SharePoint - Developer User Guide

2008-05-15T01:45:00Z

I was engaged in a SharePoint workflow project recently, so I prepare and boost my learning in SharePoint technology. I got new laptop and VS2008 (excited), but then I heard that the extension for VS 2008 will only be available in June 2008 (Today is still May!)

So I install VS2005, the extended SharePoint tool and the following "mandatory" components:

Of course, I need to check out the user guide of VS extension that just released yesterday.

Please feel free to drop me any useful resources or website so as to fasten my learning process. :)

Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tools

2007-12-27T02:32:00Z

If you are a typical TFS user like me, then you must bookmarked these 2 links / tools already:

Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server Power Tools
Visual Studio Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain)

Colt

Opening Work Items in Excel/Project Failed with Office 2007 (TF80042)

2007-12-20T03:18:00Z

I try to open a (collection) work items in Excel today but I got the following error:

I was thinking is it because I am using Excel 2007 instead of Excel 2003?

No way, it works fine after I read this post and enable .NET programming support!

Imagine Cup 2008 in Hong Kong

2007-10-01T16:06:00Z

The Microsoft Hong Kong Imagine Cup website has been launched this year (the flourish and web page are excellent BTW)!

As a supporting organization, the Hong Kong .NET User Group is proud to cooperate with local MS office and provide a discussion forum and experts for this event this year.

Windows Mobile 6 for Palm Treo 750V

2007-09-05T08:25:00Z

After attending the MS Hong Kong TechEd 2007 2 weeks ago, I'm glad to meet Mr. Mobile and recently, I know that Windows Mobile 6 release for the Palm Treo 750V after reading his blog.

Frankly, I had been using the Treo 750V with my 3G data plan for more than 8 months, but I'm not satisfied and won't recommend this phone to others, because it is not so stable and I asked for a replacement already. Also, I have to restart it at least once a day (I know I know, it's acceptable for most WM users out there).

Anyway, I just install Windows Mobile 6 on my Treo 750V successfully so I hope this would enhance my device and fix some bugs. Also, please also read this doc about the difference between WM5 and WM6.

Colt

Sleep and Power Management in Windows Vista

2007-09-02T01:59:00Z

I run into a problem that my laptop cannot wake up after sleep / hibernate, I try many different settings and combinations in power management of Vista and no luck, so I suspect it is related to my recent installation of KB939979 or KB938194?!

Nevertheless, I searched a couple of articles & tools, and also the differences between sleep (S2), hybrid sleep (S3) and hibernate (S4) in Windows Vista. My resolution is... update the latest version of display driver in Vista then problem gone. :)

Discount for Microsoft TechEd HK 2007

2007-08-03T09:11:00Z

Just put the privilege membership discount announcement to couple of local communities and user groups for the Microsoft Hong Kong TechEd 2007. If you want further discount, drop me a message because I got a special discount code where the ticket is even more cheaper than a TechEd sponsor...

The name or security ID (SID) of the domain specified is inconsistent with the trust information for that domain

2007-08-03T04:54:00Z

My colleague created a WMware Windows base image and I asked him to send a new copy to me because I need an environment of 2 separate (virtual) machines for AppServer (machineA) and DbServer (machineB) for testing purpose.

machineA is a DC and what I need to do next is let machineB join the domain of machineA. I go to the property of my computer on machineB and join the domain of machineA successfully. However, I can't login to machineB after restart and I got an error message: The name or security ID (SID) of the domain specified is inconsistent with the trust information for that domain.

Fortunately, I read this post from google and try the NewSid tool immediately, then the SID and name of the cloned WMware image changed immediately! (BTW, the URL of NewSid tool in that blog post is outdated so please following this link - http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/NewSid.mspx