I was trying to do a filter in Microsoft SharePoint (WSS 3.0) list where it will show me all the records in the list where the date is NULL. After number of attempts and googling I found the solution to be very simple

1) Go to modify view - (you need appropriate rights)
2) Select the date field you want to filter
3) Select is equal to
4) Leave the next text box blank

See image below

Easy….

If you are having problems with checking out a project in MS Project Server and keep getting the error that project is checked out or wasn’t checked in.

Try this

Go to Local Project Cache > Clean Up Cache

and clean up the cache. (See Screen shots below)

NOTE: You might loose the changes you have done on the Project.

How to Forced Check in, in MS Project 2007

Sometime when you want to edit an item you might receive an error that the item is currently checked out and thus you can only view the item in read only mode. Sometime project server or documents can also crash and leave the objects in a checked out state.

That’s where forced checked out comes in handy. You can go to server settings > Under Database Administration heading > Forced Check-in Enterprise Objects.

See below the screen shots. (Click on the images to enlarge them)

Step 1:

Step 2:

How can you setup wss to accept infopath forms web? or

How can you use infopath form services in wss?

Well, sorry to disappoint you, you cannot unless you have MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) or Microsoft Form Server Installed

WSS only have the basic functionalities and doesnt include the features of MOSS

Some of the features not included in WSS are

• My Site
• Site Directory
• User Profiles
• Site Manager
• Portal or “Enterprise” templates
• Search
• Knowledge Network / People Search
• Business Data Catalog / Business Data Search
• Document Workflow
• Excel Services
• Business Intelligence
• Report Centre
• Forms
• Social Networking webpart etc and much much more

So if you need the above features you need to upgrade to MOSS.

PS: Also just found this out on Microsoft website “Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007
Office Forms Server 2007 is no longer available for purchase. The capabilities of Forms Server will continue to be part of SharePoint.”

Hardware requirements for SharePoint 2010

Please note that SharePoint 2010 will ship only as a 64-bit product. So please be careful when considering budget for 64-bit hardware and software (Operating system). If you’re deploying SharePoint on new hardware, this situation shouldn’t be a problem, but can be a issue if you’re planning to upgrade an existing SharePoint server.

Below is the hardware requirements for SharePoint 2010.

Processor

64-bit, four-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core

RAM

4 GB for developer or evaluation use
8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use

Hard disk

80 GB for installation + additional space for day to day operations.

The requirements are from Microsoft Technet (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(office.14).aspx) and are accurate as of 27 Dec 2009

Software Requirements will be coming soon.

If you get this error in Microsoft Project Server (PWA) while trying to export to excel.

“The active x control on which this feature depends could not be created”

To fix this error got to Internet Explorer.

1. Go to Tools -> Internet Options
2. Click on the Security tab
3. Click on Trusted Sites
4. Add Project Server Site to Trusted Sites (If already not added)
5. Click on the Custom Levels button
6. Set the security level to low
7. Scroll to the Active X controls and plug-ins section
8. Enable the option to download unsigned Active X objects
9. Click OK and OK again
10. Restart Internet Explorer

Also make sure you are using the latest internet explorer

“You have this project open read-write in another session. To  open this project read-write, you must close the project in the other session or check in the project using Project Web Access.”

One of my client recently got this error:

To fix this:

Go to Project Center in MS Project Server 2007 > Goto > Check in My Projects and Check in any projects that are checked out to you.

Please note that you may lose some data if its not saved.

Increasing the maximum upload limit on a Sharepoint Site

I found this on a blog  from Mark Rhodes (http://www.msexperts.org/blogs/mark/archive/2008/10/23/increasing-the-maximum-upload-limit-on-a-sharepoint-site.aspx)
You need to do 3 things to be able to increase the limit of upload.

1.  Increase the Web Applications Upload limit.
2.  Increase the HTTP Timeout.
3.  Increase the Execution Timeout and MaxRequestLength in web.config

1. Increase the Web Applications upload limit

Open Central Administration. Go to “Application Management”, then “Web Application General Settings”.  Ensure you are on the correct web application and modify the “Maximum Upload Size” field.

2.  Increase the HTTP Timeout

Open IIS, find the appropriate website and open its properties.  The timeout setting is on the Website tab and in the connections setting under “Http Connection Timeout”.  I’d probably consider adding 120 seconds per extra 50 mb, more or less depending on your connection.

3.  Increase the Execution Timeout and MaxRequestLength in web.config

Edit C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\web.config

From :

<location path=”upload.aspx”>
<system.web>
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength=”2097151″ />
</system.web>
</location>

To :

<location path=”upload.aspx”>
<system.web>
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength=”2097151″ ExecutionTimeout=”999999″/>
</system.web>
</location>

Edit the web.config in the home directory of the IIS Site of your web application.

From :
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength=”51200″ />

To :
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength=”51200″ executionTimeout=”999999″ />

One problem one of my client recently faced was to find out the SQL version or service pack is installed.

One easy way of doing it is by connecting to SQL Server 2008 by using SQL Server Management Studio, and then run the following Transact-SQL statement.

SELECT SERVERPROPERTY (’productversion’) as product_version,
SERVERPROPERTY (’productlevel’) as service_pack,
SERVERPROPERTY (’edition’) as server_edition

What SharePoint Can Do for You

SharePoint is one of the most useful, versatile and beneficial technologies you can use. SharePoint can do many things for you, from managing data to document sharing to instant messaging. If you take a few minutes to think about the things SharePoint can do for you, you might just be pleasantly surprised.

On a basic level, SharePoint can provide you and your organization a way to share knowledge. Sharing knowledge benefits you on several levels. It helps to reduce the duplication of effort inside your organization. Users can become more efficient, building off one another’s work instead of creating everything they might need from the ground up.

In addition, the kind of knowledge sharing that SharePoint provides your business helps to streamline the knowledge sharing process. Rather than having to look in several places – such as a server, a personal computer and a filing cabinet – your employees can find all of the information in the SharePoint repository.

One of the best things about SharePoint is that it makes finding documents easier. While most companies have a way to share documents, SharePoint lets you do it in a uniform way. For example, attaching documents to email messages means that only the recipient of the email message has access to the document. In addition, to get any use out of the document in the future, that user has to be able to remember the particulars of the email in order to find the document. SharePoint puts the document in a central location where it is easily accessed.

In addition to easy access, SharePoint lets users have the latest and best information available. If you send someone a document via Email or burn a document to a CD, the recipient will only ever have that version of the document. If you update the document in the future, you’ll have to send an entirely new Email or burn a new CD. With SharePoint, you simply update the document on the SharePoint server and the user will have the latest version at their fingertips.

SharePoint can also reduce your overall need for Information Technology consulting or personnel. For example, SharePoint can empower your Human Resources personnel to make information available directly to employees via SharePoint, rather than having to place a request with your IT department and waiting for them to make the information available.

You can also use SharePoint to provide data and information across your organization to users without specialized knowledge or without specialized software. You could post accounting data to SharePoint, for example, which could then be used by other departments without having to install the accounting software and without having to make a formal request to the accounting department. In this way, SharePoint makes your company’s important data more accessible to the entire organization.

If you need a more effective way to share information across your company, consider implementing a SharePoint solution. SharePoint can make your business run smoother, and can do it in such a way that actually saves you money and increases productivity.