patterns & practices SharePoint Guidance

New Post: Can't find xUnit file in MS Visual Web Developer Express

OldGrantonian — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:43:29 GMT

I have integrated NUnit as an external tool in MS Visual Web Devloper Express. This works fine, with the following parameters:

Arguments: /run $(ProjectDir)/$(ProjectFileName)

Initial directory: $(ProjectDir)

When I try to use exactly the same parameters for xUnit, I get two messages:

- Error loading assembly. Could not find file c:\run

- Could not find file: c:\Documents and Settings\...........................\myProject.Tests\xunit.dll

I would be grateful for any advice.

New Post: SharePoint 15 and SharePoint Guidance

hhtech1 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:22:03 GMT

Hi, SharePoint 15 is around the corner. Do you already have plans on:

Is there going to be a SP15 version of SharePoint Guidance implemented?
Any schedule estimate for this (before RTM, after RTM...)?
How can we best prepare our apps using SP2010 version of SharePoint Guidance for migration to SP15?

New Post: Addding a Custom SiteMapProvider to the SiteMap Provider section of the Web.config

xelaju — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:13:56 GMT

I am writing a feature receiver to add an entry for a custom SiteMapProvider to the Site Map Provider section of the web.config. I'm working with SharePoint 2007. I am considering using SPWebConfigModification but I am also looking at the Guidance Library. Can I use IConfigManager to update that section in the web.config? What would you recommend?

New Post: Adding DiagnosticsCategory to DefaultArea

nowisee — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:43:04 GMT

Im having some problems adding new diagnostics categories to the default area. Does anyone have a working example og how i can do that?

Commented Issue: LogToOperations - Category [4250]

aeberhar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:34:50 GMT

Missing a map from the string representation of an enum of the category back to a short to display in the Windows Event Log. The category in the windows event log always shows "None".
Comments: ** Comment from web user: aeberhar **

I'm still seeing this problem. Will it be fixed?

New Post: Servicelocator causing Activate Features to fail

ckeyser — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 21:35:57 GMT

hmm....if you are setting the site, then it will save the type mapping at the site collection level, not the farm level. Since this operation stores the settings for the site collection level in the property bag of the root site it will work. If you did not set the site, then the type mappings are stored to the farm property bag. SharePoint prevents writing to the farm property bag from a content web, so it will cause a security exception if you try to do this from feature activated (unless it is a farm scoped feature). Also you really only want to register the setting once - what happens if you activate the feature in mulitple places within the farm?

In order to clear the cache for the service locator, call the Reset method - this will clear the cache.

New Post: Servicelocator causing Activate Features to fail

jmillman — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:34:57 GMT

jmillman wrote:

ckeyser wrote:

I believe I see two issues in the above stack trace:

- You must register your services in the FeatureInstalled event. Registering services writes to the farm level configuration, which is not permitted from a content web, and that is where FeatureActivated will often run. The documentation appears incorrect in this regard. I let the team know it needs to be updated.

- You must register the events for the event log on each web front end. This is true when using the SharePoint logging - this is not a specific requirement of the p&p logger, it's a dependency on the underlying SharePoint logging infrastructure. The content web doesn't have sufficient permission to create the events for the event log, which writes to the registry. There is a helper class for this as well, DiagnosticsAreaEventSource. You can either do this from a command line app, or you can write a timer job. Let me know if you need an example for a timer job and I will write a blog post with an example.

Hi,

Is there any way to do this in feature activated? It seems like the real reason to use this is so that I can change the provider at run time, via a feature activation for instance. I can actually do it and it will work, but only when I deploy the wsp via Visual Studio with auto activation. I really don't want to have an admin have to run a power shell script, or have to hit central admin to swap my provider.

Here is my code:

IServiceLocatorConfig typeMappings = serviceLocator.GetInstance<IServiceLocatorConfig>();
IServiceLocator serviceLocator = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent();
typeMappings.RemoveTypeMapping<IContextService>(null);

The error that happens if I try to toggle the feature activation in site settings:

Configsetting with key 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.TypeMappings' could not be set 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.ServiceLocation.ServiceLocationConfigData' with type 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.ServiceLocation.ServiceLocationConfigData'. The technical exception was: System.Security.SecurityException: Access denied.

I actually got it to work without error by setting the site to the current site in feature activation. While this does get around the error, the service doesn't swap out until I do an iisreset. Is there any way to swap the service on the fly?

New Post: Servicelocator causing Activate Features to fail

jmillman — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 03:58:07 GMT

ckeyser wrote:

I believe I see two issues in the above stack trace:

- You must register your services in the FeatureInstalled event. Registering services writes to the farm level configuration, which is not permitted from a content web, and that is where FeatureActivated will often run. The documentation appears incorrect in this regard. I let the team know it needs to be updated.

- You must register the events for the event log on each web front end. This is true when using the SharePoint logging - this is not a specific requirement of the p&p logger, it's a dependency on the underlying SharePoint logging infrastructure. The content web doesn't have sufficient permission to create the events for the event log, which writes to the registry. There is a helper class for this as well, DiagnosticsAreaEventSource. You can either do this from a command line app, or you can write a timer job. Let me know if you need an example for a timer job and I will write a blog post with an example.

Hi,

Is there any way to do this in feature activated? It seems like the real reason to use this is so that I can change the provider at run time, via a feature activation for instance. I can actually do it and it will work, but only when I deploy the wsp via Visual Studio with auto activation. I really don't want to have an admin have to run a power shell script, or have to hit central admin to swap my provider.

Here is my code:

IServiceLocatorConfig typeMappings = serviceLocator.GetInstance<IServiceLocatorConfig>();
IServiceLocator serviceLocator = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent();
typeMappings.RemoveTypeMapping<IContextService>(null);

The error that happens if I try to toggle the feature activation in site settings:

Configsetting with key 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.TypeMappings' could not be set 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.ServiceLocation.ServiceLocationConfigData' with type 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.ServiceLocation.ServiceLocationConfigData'. The technical exception was: System.Security.SecurityException: Access denied.

New Post: Registering type mappings at site collection level, and in sandbox

hhtech1 — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 08:30:43 GMT

Update: got this working now at site collection level by adding this line to the type registration code in the feature receiver:

SharePointServiceLocator.Reset();

New Post: Registering type mappings at site collection level, and in sandbox

hhtech1 — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 13:12:23 GMT

Hi, I can't seem to get service locator type registering working at site collection level. I am using latest download from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=23919.

First, basic question: we would like to use service locator also in sandbox and in multiple-vendor environments, so we are trying to register types at site collection level instead of farm (to avoid sandboxing issue and to avoid possible mixups when several vendors are using SPG in the farm). Should using service locator in sandbox be possible this way?

Second, the actual issue. I have a site collection scoped feature, where I try to register the types at site collection level. I get no errors and I can see typemappings added to the collection.

However when I later come back to retrieve instance, my registered type is not there.

Should this work in this build?

Code I try to use for registering our ICustomCache interface in FeatureActivated:

IServiceLocator serviceLocator = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent();
IServiceLocatorConfig config = serviceLocator.GetInstance<IServiceLocatorConfig>();
config.Site = siteColl;
config.RegisterTypeMapping<ICustomCache, CustomCache>();

Code I try to use to get instance of ICustomCache (but at this point mapping does not exist in typeMappingsDictionary):

IServiceLocator loc = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent();
ICustomCache cache = loc.GetInstance();

If I change my feature scope to Farm instead of Site, and my feature event to FeatureInstalled instead of FeatureActivated, and remove use of config.Site, then it works. But I would prefer the site collection option.

New Post: SharePoint Logger Proxy in sandbox solution

ckeyser — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:27:53 GMT

Did you check the level configured in central admin to make sure it was medium or lower for the default category? The default category if you do not specify one is SharePoint Guidance and the log level for that category should be at least medium. Also consider defining your own category. if you log events, you will need to register the categories prior to use on each WFE. The guide describes how to do that (writing to the event log causes a category to added to the registry if it doesn't already exist, which is a security issue - therefore it needs to be registered prior to use from a higher privileged process) - this includes the SharePoint Guidance category.

New Post: SharePoint Logger Proxy in sandbox solution

Mahaprabhu — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:18:45 GMT

Hi,

I have deployed the sandbox logger proxy solution in SharePoint and the following assemblies are added to the GAC successfully:

Microsoft.Practices.ServiceLocation

Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common

Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.LoggerProxy

Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.XmlSerializers

And added the following code to Trace in logs:

IServiceLocator serviceLocator = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent();

ILogger logger = serviceLocator.GetInstance<ILogger>();

logger.TraceToDeveloper("Visual Webpart1 Started", SandboxTraceSeverity.Medium);

But on executing the sandbox solution, no traces are found. On debugging, always proxyCheckerIsInstalled=0 in ProxyInstalled() method.

Whether I'm missing some more configuration?

New Post: [SP logger] access denied when saving areas

Fusion2k — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 07:30:22 GMT

Solved the issue with a script from here http://unclepaul84.blogspot.com/2010/06/sppersistedobject-xxxxxxxxxxx-could-not.html. Essentially you change Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService.ContentService.RemoteAdministratorAccessDenied to FALSE.

Cheers

New Post: [SP logger] access denied when saving areas

Fusion2k — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 07:29:32 GMT

Went through the ULS logs and found this:

The SPPersistedObject, FarmSettingStore Name=_pnpFarmConfig_, could not be updated because the current user is not a Farm Administrator.

Feature receiver assembly 'KreiranjePDFporocil, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=cd534680f0521697', class 'KreiranjePDFporocil.Features.KreirajPDFporocilaFeature.KreirajPDFporocilaFeatureEventReceiver', method 'FeatureActivated' for feature '06d55510-5328-47d7-a3a6-59d1d860d924' threw an exception: Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Configuration.ConfigurationException: Configsetting with key 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.DiagnosticAreas' could not be set 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Logging.DiagnosticsAreaCollection' with type 'Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Logging.DiagnosticsAreaCollection'. The technical exception was: System.Security.SecurityException: Dostop zavrnjen. ---> System.Security.SecurityException: Dostop zavrnjen.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.BaseUpdate()
at Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Configuration.SPFarmPropertyBag.set_Item(String key, String value)
at Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Configuration.ConfigManager.SetInPropertyBag(String key, Object value, IPropertyBag propertyBag) The Zone of the assembly that failed was: MyComputer     -
-- End of inner exception stack trace ---
at Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Configuration.ConfigManager.SetInPropertyBag(String key, Object value, IPropertyBag propertyBag)
at Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Logging.DiagnosticsAreaCollection.SaveConfiguration()
at KreiranjePDFporocil.Features.KreirajPDFporocilaFeature.KreirajPDFporocilaFeatureEventReceiver.FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.DoActivationCallout(Boolean fActivate, Boolean fForce)

And am even more confused at what could be wrong.

New Post: [SP logger] access denied when saving areas

Fusion2k — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:49:18 GMT

Checked the "Sharepoint 2010 Timer" service and it's running as Network Service user... so I think that's OK.

P.S.: the code i'm using in the event reciever

// This helper property builds a collection of areas and categories.
        DiagnosticsAreaCollection _myAreas = null;
        DiagnosticsAreaCollection MyAreas
        {
            get
            {
                if (_myAreas == null)
                {
                    _myAreas = new DiagnosticsAreaCollection();
                    DiagnosticsArea crmArea = new DiagnosticsArea("PorocilniSistem");
                    crmArea.DiagnosticsCategories.Add(new DiagnosticsCategory(
                    "KreiranjePDFporocil", EventSeverity.Warning, TraceSeverity.Medium));
                    _myAreas.Add(crmArea);
                }
                return _myAreas;
            }
        }
        
        public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            IConfigManager configMgr = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<IConfigManager>();
            DiagnosticsAreaCollection configuredAreas = new DiagnosticsAreaCollection(configMgr);
            foreach (DiagnosticsArea newArea in MyAreas)
            {
                var existingArea = configuredAreas[newArea.Name];
                if (existingArea == null)
                {
                    configuredAreas.Add(newArea);
                }
                else
                {
                    foreach (DiagnosticsCategory c in newArea.DiagnosticsCategories)
                    {
                        var existingCategory = existingArea.DiagnosticsCategories[c.Name];
                        if (existingCategory == null)
                        {
                            existingArea.DiagnosticsCategories.Add(c);
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
            configuredAreas.SaveConfiguration();
        }

        public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            IConfigManager configMgr = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<IConfigManager>();
            DiagnosticsAreaCollection configuredAreas = new DiagnosticsAreaCollection(configMgr);
            foreach (DiagnosticsArea area in MyAreas)
            {
                DiagnosticsArea areaToRemove = configuredAreas[area.Name];
                if (areaToRemove != null)
                {
                    foreach (DiagnosticsCategory c in area.DiagnosticsCategories)
                    {
                        var existingCat = areaToRemove.DiagnosticsCategories[c.Name];
                        if (existingCat != null)
                        {
                            areaToRemove.DiagnosticsCategories.Remove(existingCat);
                        }
                    }

                    if (areaToRemove.DiagnosticsCategories.Count == 0)
                    {
                        configuredAreas.Remove(areaToRemove);
                    }
                }
            }
            configuredAreas.SaveConfiguration();
        }

        public override void FeatureInstalled(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
        {
            DiagnosticsAreaEventSource.EnsureConfiguredAreasRegistered();
        }

New Post: [SP logger] access denied when saving areas

ckeyser — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:03:07 GMT

Did you change the account the timer job is running under, or permissions for that account? It sounds like the account the event receiver is running under doesn't have permissions to write to farm level configuration.

New Post: [SP logger] access denied when saving areas

Fusion2k — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 07:52:57 GMT

Hello

As the title indicates i'm having problems with an access denied exception whenever i try to add or remove my areas with the logger. Specifically when i call "configuredAreas.SaveConfiguration();" from FeatureActivated() or FeatureDeactivating(). The rest of the cody is copy pasted from the SPG2010 so I don't think the problem is there. The only addition i made is I call EnsureRegisteredAsEventSource in the Feature installed method.

The funny thing is it worked a day ago :/ and I have no idea what went wrong.

I am quite lost on what to do and any help would be appreciated...

New Post: SPG 2010 on NuGet

jole — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:03:05 GMT

Just wanted to know why you haven't put the SPG ommon dlls on NuGet?

New Post: Logging with custom diagnostic categories from sandbox

ckeyser — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:33:46 GMT

I'm glad you found it. This is an area of the API that is unfortunately not that intuitive, and doesn't use compile time checking so it can be hard more challenging to isolate. In hindsight I would have designed it differently.

New Post: Logging with custom diagnostic categories from sandbox

aggieben — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 01:25:31 GMT

*sigh*. After all that, I figured out that I was just never in sync with how I was adding categories and then how I was referencing them later. Here's the updated code for any poor soul who may try this same approach:

/// LoggingConfigurationEventReceiver.cs
using System;
using System.Linq;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Logging;
using Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Configuration;
using Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.ServiceLocation;
using Wingtip.Global.Logging;

namespace Wingtip.Global.Features.LoggingConfiguration
{
	/// <summary>
	/// This class handles events raised during feature activation, deactivation, installation, uninstallation, and upgrade.
	/// </summary>
	/// <remarks>
	/// The GUID attached to this class may be used during packaging and should not be modified.
	/// </remarks>

	[Guid("5f49c1dd-9204-4c55-9802-ccdc9061f42b")]
	public class LoggingConfigurationEventReceiver : SPFeatureReceiver
	{				
		public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
		{
			IConfigManager configMgr = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<IConfigManager>();
			ILogger logger = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<ILogger>();
			var areaCollection = new DiagnosticsAreaCollection(configMgr);

			foreach (var area in Areas.AllAreas())
			{
				if (null == areaCollection[area.Name])
				{
					areaCollection.Add(area);
				}
				else
				{
					foreach (var category in area.DiagnosticsCategories)
					{
						var existingArea = areaCollection[area.Name];						
						if (null == existingArea.DiagnosticsCategories[category.Name])
						{
							existingArea.DiagnosticsCategories.Add(category);
						}
					}
				}
			}

			areaCollection.SaveConfiguration();

			logger.TraceToDeveloper("Logging areas and categories added.", 
				String.Format("{0}/{1}", Areas.Wingtip.Name, Areas.Wingtip.Configuration));
		}

		public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
		{
			IConfigManager configMgr = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<IConfigManager>();
			ILogger logger = SharePointServiceLocator.GetCurrent().GetInstance<ILogger>();
			var areaCollection = new DiagnosticsAreaCollection(configMgr);

			logger.TraceToDeveloper("Removing areas and categories.",
				String.Format("{0}/{1}", Areas.Wingtip.Name, Areas.Wingtip.Configuration));

			foreach (var area in Areas.AllAreas())
			{
				DiagnosticsArea existingArea = null;
				if (null != (existingArea = areaCollection[area.Name]))
				{
					areaCollection.Remove(existingArea);
				}
			}

			areaCollection.SaveConfiguration();
		}

	}
}

/// Areas.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using Microsoft.Practices.SharePoint.Common.Logging;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration;

namespace Wingtip.Global.Logging
{
	public static class Areas
	{
		public static IEnumerable<DiagnosticsArea> AllAreas()
		{
			return typeof(Areas).GetNestedTypes()
				.Where(t => t.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(AreaAttribute), false).Any())
				.Select(t => BuildArea(t));
		}

		[Area(Name="Wingtip")]
		public static class Wingtip
		{
			public static string Name 
			{ 
				get 
				{
					var attr = (AreaAttribute)typeof(Wingtip).GetCustomAttributes(typeof(AreaAttribute), false).First();
					return attr.Name;
				} 
			}

			[Category(DefaultEventSeverity = EventSeverity.Information, DefaultTraceSeverity = TraceSeverity.Verbose)]
			public static string ProductDevelopment
			{
				get { return "Product Development"; }
			}

			[Category(DefaultTraceSeverity=TraceSeverity.Verbose, DefaultEventSeverity=EventSeverity.Information)]
			public static string Configuration
			{
				get { return "Configuration"; }
			}			
		}

		private static DiagnosticsArea BuildArea(Type areaType)
		{
			var cats = new DiagnosticsCategoryCollection();
			foreach (var category in areaType.GetProperties().Where(p => p.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CategoryAttribute), false).Any()))
			{
				var catAttr = category.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(CategoryAttribute), false).First() as CategoryAttribute;
				cats.Add(new DiagnosticsCategory(category.GetValue(null, null) as string,
					catAttr.DefaultEventSeverity, catAttr.DefaultTraceSeverity));
			}

			AreaAttribute areaAttr = areaType.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(AreaAttribute), false).First() as AreaAttribute;
			return new DiagnosticsArea(areaAttr.Name, cats);
		}
	}
}

As for me, my next stop is to see about getting satellite resource assemblies going instead of this craptacular static class arrangement.