Cleaning up a rogue SharePoint 2010 Shared Service Application

A couple of weeks ago I run into problems with a SharePoint 2010 Search SSA which apparently did not work anymore. Nothing helped to get it working again so we decided to delete it. Unfortunately doing this through the UI did not work nor did using Powershell. So we decided to just delete the associated SQL database. Afterwards I needed to remove the reference in the SSA administration screen. Luckily there is a stsadm command to do this:

Stsadm -o deleteconfigurationobject -id “GUID identifying the Search SSA”

To get at the GUID for the Search SSA – you can use the Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication Powershell command.

This is probably not the recommended way of doing this but if nothing else helps you can still revert to this method.

Technorati Tags: sharepoint+2010,sharepoint,administration,troubleshooting,microsoft

Seven useful tips and tools for Windows Phone 7 developers

• In order to develop a Windows Phone 7 app you need to understand some design tips – definitely download the UI Design and Interaction Guide for Windows Phone 7 – before you start building you can also mock up the screens with Photoshop using the Design templates for Windows Phone 7
• To easily make screenshots of your Windows Phone 7 application you can download this nifty Windows Phone Screenshot tool from Cory Smith.
• You don’t want to build all of the controls for your Windows Phone 7 app from scratch – definitely with looking at the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit (Latest version is the February 2011 edition) – an interesting article to read about it is written in Microsoft .Net magazine (Dutch only) Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 Toolkit – maakt het bouwen van applicaties een stuk eenvoudiger)
• Build an app which is going to use geo data is a little bit more tricky if you are just using the emulator – there is a work around though – check out Simulate Geo Location in Windows Phone 7 emulator
• Must see episode of Silverlight TV: Silverlight and Windows Phone 7 Performance Tips
• Releasing a successful app is not only about having great programming skills – broaden your horizon and check out these articles – 5 Pitfalls to avoid when developing a successful mobile app as well as  5 musts for Mobile App Marketing, 4 legal considerations for building a mobile app, What makes a WP7 app successful – there is probably more non-techie stuff you should know – leave a link if you think something is worthwhile knowing.
• Don’t forget to look at the code samples on MSDN – check out Windows Phone 7.1 (Mango release) code samples on MSDN (pre release version) or  download the Windows Phone 7.0 documentation

If you think I left something out – do not hesitate to leave a comment.

Technorati Tags: windowsphone7,wp7,wp7dev,phone7,microsoft,silverlight+toolkit,silverlight,visualstudio2010,vs2010

Windows Phone 7 and the LongListSelector

If you are using a Windows Phone 7 you have probably seen the elegant way that you can navigate across all of your contacts in the People Hub by using a jump list with the first letters of the names. If you are not using WP7 take a look at this YouTube video explaining the concept:

If you want to use something similar yourself in your own Windows Phone 7 apps, you should take a look the Silverlight for Windows Phone Toolkit – one of the tools you will find in there is the LongListSelector – this control allows you to build a grouped list of items (basically you are grouping by first letter of the first name or last name).

Here are some links to get you started:

• Using the LongListSelector without LINQ
• WP7 LongListSelector in Depth Part 1: Visual structure and API
• WP7 LongListSelector in depth Part 2: Data binding scenarios
• Using the LongListSelector control on Windows Phone 7
• LongListSelector and animating touch/click

Technorati Tags: windowsphone7,wp7,wp7dev,microsoft,development,silverlight,silverlight+toolkit

Passing information across pages in Windows Phone 7 apps

Probably the first thing I struggled with when building my first Windows Phone 7 app – how can I pass information from one page to another – here are some links which got me started:

• Windows Phone 7 – Passing arguments between pages and Input scope
• Windows Phone 7: How to store data and pass data between pages
• Page Navigation and passing, sharing and retaining data in Windows Phone 7

Technorati Tags: wp7,wp7dev,windows+Phone+7,development,microsoft,silverlight

Recommended blogs for FAST Search 2010 for SharePoint

If you want to learn something about Fast Search Server 2010 for SharePoint - these are the blogs I recommend to follow:

• FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Newly Published Content
• Federated FAST
• Keenan Newton
• Knut Brandrud's blog
• Microsoft Enterprise Search Blog
• Neil on SharePoint
• On The Search
• Search Unleashed
• Sezai's - SharePoint Server 2010 - FAST Search for SharePoint - MOSS 2007 Blog
• FAST Search Experts Blog
• SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Search and FS4SP
• Tech and me

Technorati Tags: FAST,FS4SP,microsoft,enterprise+search,sharepoint,sharepoint+2010