Having problems with FAST and the Microsoft Information Worker virtual image , try creating a new certificate …

If you want to try out FAST and SharePoint without having to do a complete install yourself you can  use the 2010 Information Worker Demonstration and Evaluation Virtual Machine (RTM) image – which also includes FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint. Don’t forget to update the certificate though because this image uses a self signed certificate which has expired – for a detailed description how to do this correctly check out remember to give your SharePoint 2010 Information Worker Virtual Machine a fresh certificate

Tags van Technorati: FAST,FS4SP,SharePoint,SharePoint+2010,SPS2010,Microsoft

Community Day 2011 registrations are open ….

Registrations are open for Community Day 2011  - do not hesitate to register for this whole day of technical sessions – free of charge. Registrations will be handled on a first come first serve basis – so don’t wait. There are 2 SharePoint related sessions on the agenda as well …

Tags van Technorati: community+day,community,microsoft,biwug

Using the default property extractors in FAST and how it works with the search refinements

Property extraction in Fast Search 2010 for SharePoint is a process that extracts information from the textual content of an item which is crawled and then adds this information into a number of crawled properties. Afterwards you map these crawled properties to SharePoint managed properties and use it in your search – within the search refiners, within the search results and even as input for sorting of your search results.

FAST has a number of standard extractors shipped with the product – all of these use a generic dictionary to recognize the different terms within a crawled document:

• Companies – activated by default and present in the search refiners on the search result page
• Locations – activated by default but not present in the  search refiners on the search result page
• Person names  - this one is not activated by default. You will need to modify OptionalProcessing.xml which you can find in FASTSearch\etc\config_data\DocumentProcessor\ . Switch <processor name=”personnameextraction” active=”no”/> to <processor name=”personnameextraction” active=”yes”/>. Afterwards you will need to reset the processorserver using the FAST command line – psctrl –reset (For reference take a look at psctrl.exe reference on Technet). Afterwards you will need to do a full crawl.

Although these extractors use a generic dictionary you still have some control over the way that they work – by defining include and exclude lists of items within the FAST search administration screens – this is nicely explained in this article - Manage property extraction. You can off course also use PowerShell – to fill these include/exclude lists as explained in this blog post -  Property extraction in FS4SP.

If you want to use information from the person names and locations extractors in the search refinemens you will need to modify them and add the following.

For the people refiner:

<Category Title="People" Description="Use this filter to restrict results by people" Type="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.ManagedPropertyFilterGenerator" MetadataThreshold="1" NumberOfFiltersToDisplay="4" MaxNumberOfFilters="200" ShowMoreLink="True" MappedProperty="personnames" MoreLinkText="show more" LessLinkText="show fewer" ShowCounts="Count" />

For the location refiner:

<Category Title="Location" Description="Use this filter to restrict results by location" Type="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.ManagedPropertyFilterGenerator" MetadataThreshold="1" NumberOfFiltersToDisplay="4" MaxNumberOfFilters="20" ShowMoreLink="True" MappedProperty="locations" MoreLinkText="show more" LessLinkText="show fewer" ShowCounts="Count" />

Tags van Technorati: FAST+search+2010,FS4SP,FAST,SharePoint+2010,SharePoint,Microsoft,enterprise+search

Introductory information about FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint

I will be presenting a MSDN live meeting on Tuesday the 24th of May about FAST Search Server 2010 from a development perspective. For those of you who want to attend – it might be useful to take a look at these links beforehand – since they present an overview of what FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint allows you to build as a developer:

• FAST Search for SharePoint demo video
• Building search driven applications with FAST
• Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Enterprise Search Evaluation Guide

If there are more must read articles or videos that you would recommended, just leave a link.

Technorati Tags: FAST,search,FAST+Search+Server,FS4SP,SharePoint,development,SPS2010,microsoft

BIWUG on Community Day 2011

This year’s Microsoft Day will take place on Thursday 23th of June in Utopolis, Mechelen. Community Day is a joint effort of the 14 Belgian Microsoft user groups and brings a whole day of sessions about Microsoft technology … for free.

This year BIWUG (Belux Information Worker User Group) will bring two different sessions:

• Claim Based Authentication in SharePoint Server 2010 Demystified. In this session we will explore how claim based authentication allows for new ways authentication, authorization and how it enables service oriented architecture in a heterogenous identity environment. This session targets both developers and IT pros and will explain the benefits as well as the caveats around claim based authentication. We will take a look at external identity providers (Windows Live), custom identity providers as well as how ADFS fits into the whole picture.  Speaker: Joris Poelmans
• SharePoint Governance - Stop thinking about features features features when talking about governance. When designing governance for a SharePoint implementation, a lot (not to say all) energy and words go out to technical stuff, SLA's and not to the things that define the business value. And the business value is not only a perfect technically tuned and performant SharePoint farm(if that even exists) – Speaker: Patrick Sledz

Keep an eye open for the Community Day site - http://www.communityday.be – registration will open soon.

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepoint+server+2010,governance,claim+based+authentication,biwug,community,microsoft

The difference between introvert and extrovert IT person?

Heard on Wednesday on a seminar: What is the difference between an extrovert and an introvert IT person?

The extrovert IT person will be staring at your shoes instead of his own when talking to you….

Technorati Tags: fun,LOL,IT

MSDN Live Meeting - FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint: a developers walkthrough

I will be presenting a MSDN live meeting on the 24th of May around at 14:00 (GMT+1) around FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint from a developers perspective.

Microsoft FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint extends the SharePoint search functionality and provides an exceptional search experience by incorporating features such as an extensible content processing pipeline, contextual search, extensible
relevance models and an advanced query language.

This session will introduce the FAST search platform from a developer's perspective and will explore the different functionalities as well as talk about common developer tasks around Fast Search 2010 for SharePoint 2010 such as:
-     Configuration and extension of the FAST search webparts
-     Extending the content processing pipeline
-     Building search applications using the SharePoint object model combined with the capabilities of the FAST Query Language (FQL).

Click here to register for this MSDN Live Meeting.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,SPS2010,SharePoint+Server+2010,Search,FAST+Search+Server,FAST,MSDN,development

ECM Maturity Model and SharePoint

If you don’t know the ECM Maturity Model – definitely take a look at http://ecm3.org/about/ – they are currently at version 2.0. The ECM Maturity Model provides a framework for creating a roadmap in the context of an overall ECM strategy. It categorizes an organization across 13 maturity dimensions into one of the 5 levels of ECM maturity:

• Unmanaged
• Incipient
• Formative
• Operational
• Pro-active

I’m wondering if anyone has already applied this model to a typical SharePoint implementation. Please leave a comment if you have.

Technorati Tags: sharepoint,sharepoint+2010,ECM,maturity+model,roadmap

Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 Update

Just finished installing the Windows Phone Developer Tools January 2011 update. Now off to finalize my WP7 app. Expect more news about this in the coming weeks.

Technorati Tags: windows+phone+7,wp7dev,visualstudio2010,development,microsoft

How to get SharePoint 2010 people search to work together with FAST Search 2010

If you install FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint you will notice that you get some extra service applications – a FAST Query Search Service Application and a FAST Content Search Service Application. The people search is actually handled by the FAST Query Search Service Application – so this is where you need to do some extra configurations:

• Go to Central Admin and click Manage Service Applications > Select the FAST Query Search Service App and click Manage in the Ribbon)
• Create a new crawl rule:
• Path http://[servername];sps3://[servername]
• Crawl configuration : Include all items in this path - crawl SharePoint content as http pages
• Specify authentication: Use the default content access account
• Content sources - Make sure that both http://[servername] and sps3://[servername] are listed in the content source listing.
• Configure security on the User Profile Service Application. Go to Central Admin and click Manage Service Applications > Select the User Profile Service Application and click Administrators in the ribbon. Make sure that you add the default content access account in this screen and give it at least permission to "Retrieve People Data for Search Crawlers".

Tags van Technorati: sharepoint+2010,sharepoint,fast,fast+search+2010,search,microsoft

Excel 2010 and SharePoint 2010 on a single box demo environment–the Excel file is corrupt using edit in Excel

A typical SharePoint 2010 demo environment has everything installed on a single machine (Office 2010, SharePoint, etc…). Unfortunately this has some side effects – one of the things you might encounter is the fact that it seems that Excel integration does not work correctly anymore. Every time I uploaded an Excel document to SharePoint 2010 and tried opening it using the Edit in Excel option – I got an error stating that the file was corrupt.

Luckily I knew this had something to do with theTrust Center settings. Go to File Options > Trust Center. Next click the Trust Center Settings button. On the new screen which popups – go to Protected View and unselect all the three protected view options displayed on the top of this settings page.

Close Excel and try the “Edit in Excel” option again …

Related post: Getting Office 2010 to work on a single box SharePoint 2010 demo environment

Tags van Technorati: office+2010,excel,sharepoint+2010,sharepoint,office,sps2010,microsoft,trust+center

Installing client side TFS certificate on Windows 7

Apparently with Windows 7 you can’t simply use the wizard to import the client certificates for Team Foundation Server connections. You will need to do this manually.

Open Internet Explorer and go to Internet Options. Select Content and next the Certificates tab. Select Trusted Root Certification authorities when importing the certificate.

Tags van Technorati: windows+7,development,microsoft,visual+studio,TFS,team+foundation+server

Search suggestions in SharePoint 2010

One of the new features for end users with SharePoint 2010 is that suggestions are provided while you are typing a search query - for a complete list of enhancements - check out – What’s new in Enterprise search(SharePoint Server 2010) . Now if you want to force these suggestions for demo scenario’s you can use some powershell scripts – the next code sample is meant to be used in a setup with Fast Search 2010:

$SearchApp = Get-SPEnterpriseSearchServiceApplication "FAST Query SSA"
New-SPEnterpriseSearchLanguageResourcePhrase -SearchApplication $SearchApp -Language En-Us -Type QuerySuggestionAlwaysSuggest -Name "SharePoint"
New-SPEnterpriseSearchLanguageResourcePhrase -SearchApplication $SearchApp -Language En-Us -Type QuerySuggestionAlwaysSuggest -Name "SharePoint Server 2010"
Start-SPTimerJob -Identity "Prepare Query Suggestions"

Technorati Tags: sharepoint+2010,sps2010,fast,search,enterprise+search,microsoft,sharepoint

Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge Management NextGen and digital marketing

One of my predictions for 2011 is that we will finally witness the boom or bust of social media apps within the enterprise for the Belux market. Here’s some background info that might get you thinking

• Second wave smart working : what role HRM?
• Collaboration by Design
• Knowledge management is not just information delivery and just in time is not enough
• Social Media is dead – Long live common sense 
• Social media in product management

This is one of my pet peeves  about which I have written a couple of blog posts:

• Enterprise 2.0 and organizational culture
• Knowledge and talent in a people ready business
• Knowledge is power! So why share your knowledge?
• SharePoint and Web 2.0
• The value in social networks
• Colleagues, Social Distance & Relevance in People Search, and other Social Networking tools in SharePoint

Technorati Tags: knowledge+management,enterprise2.0,social+apps,digital+marketing

Web Content Management in SharePoint 2010 – some random links

Mental reminder – check out this collection of links about Web Content Management in SharePoint 2010

• Introducing web content management in SharePoint 2010
• Introducing web analytics in SharePoint 2010
• Accessibility and SharePoint 2010 
• Web Authoring in SharePoint 2010
• How to apply corporate branding (themes) to all SharePoint 2010 team sites
• Web Analytics in SharePoint 2010 – Insights into reports 
• View changes makes in-browser content localization easier
• What’s new with the content query web part 

Technorati Tags: sharepoint+2010,sps2010,sharepoint,wcm,development

Porting oAuth with Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 to RTM version

Recently I stumbled upon this interesting blog post Windows Phone 7 with Twitter which showed how to use oAuth on Windows Phone 7 but it was unfortunately built with the beta versions of Windows Phone 7. As an exercise I decided to upgrade the code to get it to work with the RTM release.

Some things which needed fixing or which bugged me during the upgrade

You will need to remove references to Microsoft.Phone.Controls, Microsoft.Phone.Controls.Navigation, Microsoft.Phone.Controls.WebBrowser, Microsoft.Controls.WebBrowser.interop. Don’t forget to to change the namespace declarations in the XAML files as well.

Add a reference to Microsoft.Phone assembly – all the previous dll’s have been combined into one dll.

Be carefull about some changes in the APIs - WebBrowser is now a sealed class. You cannot inherit from it. IsScriptEnabled, Source, and Base are now dependency properties. NavigatedEventArgs change to NavigationEventArgs.

Changes have been made to WMAppManifest.xml - http://10rem.net/blog/2010/09/16/announcing-the-windows-phone-7-release-wp7-silverlight-toolkit-and-xna-40 – you can find this xml underneath the properties folder in your project

This will probably get you going … have fun

Technorati Tags: windows+phone+7,wp7dev,microsoft,development,visualstudio2010

Tips to get the Social sample for SharePoint 2010 to work

There’s an interesting code sample that you can download from MSDN called SharePoint to LinkedIn Connector which is part of the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 SDK. Here’s a number of extra steps that I took to get it to work on my SharePoint 2010 dev box.

Some tips:

• I needed to add a reference to Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.dll assembly – you can find it underneath C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\CONFIG\ADMINBIN.
• It has a hard coded reference to http://mysite in the feature activated event receiver – don’t forget to change that.
• During deployment I got an error stating - “No User Profile Application available to service the request. Contact your farm administrator.” – thankfully Steve to the rescue – “No User Profile Application Available Mystery” in SharePoint 2010

After that everything worked smoothly.

Technorati Tags: sharepoint+2010,linkedin,socialdata,microsoft,sharepoint,sps2010,development,sharepoint+sdk

Code profiler for Windows Phone 7

EQATEC  has recently release comes a code-profiler that can profile your WP7 Silverlight app on real phone hardware, as well as on the emulator. The profiler is free for single-assembly applications. You can download it now from www.eqatec.com.

For more info check out Channel 9 – World’s first profiler for Windows Phone 7 or the Eqatec  profiler website.

 

Technorati Tags: Development,visualstudio2010,vs2010,c#,windows+phone+7,wp7,wp7dev,microsoft

Crop the webbrowser control in a Windows Phone 7 app

When building my Windows Phone 7 app – I needed to login into LinkedIn – unfortunately the login page of LinkedIn does not seem to scale as well as the Twitter login page so I decided to only show a specific part of the page within the WebBrowser control for Windows Phone. I kind of got it working by using the Clip property (for reference see How to: Crop an object (Silverlight))

<phone:WebBrowser HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 
Name="webBrowser1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Height="466" Width="480" 
IsScriptEnabled="True"  Visibility="Collapsed">
 <phone:WebBrowser.Clip>
        <RectangleGeometry Rect="0,0,400,300" />
   </phone:WebBrowser.Clip>            
 </phone:WebBrowser>

Technorati Tags: wp7,wp7dev,windows+phone+7,development,vs2010,silverlight,visualstudio2010

Windows Phone 7–Solving the missing dll issue in Training Kit Lab–Using Pivot and Panorama controls

The lab Using Pivot And Panorama Controls seems to be missing file that supports the reference to the Syndication namespace - System.ServiceModel.Syndication.dll . You can copy that one over from the install directory of the Silverlight 3.0 SDK (C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Silverlight\v3.0\Libraries\Client).  You can ignore the warning message when adding the dll – everything will work correctly.

Technorati Tags: windows+phone+7,wp7,wp7dev,silverlight