Mauro Cardarelli

SharePoint 2010 Import Error: “Could not find Feature MobilePowerPointViewer”

I had a situation recently where we tried to export a SharePoint 2010 site from one site collection and import it into another (using stsadm).  The import failed and the log stated “FatalError: Could not find Feature MobilePowerPointViewer”. 

After some quick analysis, I determined that the source site collection had the Office Web App feature installed and activated.  I deactivated the feature, re-ran the export, re-did the import in the destination site collection and all was good!

Minimizing Corporate Risk with SharePoint 2010 through Compliance Best Practices

There is a fantastic SharePoint conference coming to Boston in October.  SPTechCon (The SharePoint Technology Conference) is being held from October 20-22, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency in Cambridge MA and is loaded with great sessions and speakers.  I have the honor of doing a session on compliance (see details below) and am very much looking forward to interacting with the great folks of the SharePoint community.  Hope to see you there!

Minimizing Corporate Risk with SharePoint 2010 through Compliance Best Practices
One of the more compelling features of SharePoint 2010 is social networking. Employees are increasingly empowered to add content including documents as well as free form text – including personal opinions, to corporate repositories. With that enablement comes increased risk to the organization as content deemed “inappropriate” may find its way into intranets and collaboration systems. How can organizations take advantage of the benefits of more fluid information sharing in SharePoint 2010 without incurring the risks associated with having sensitive information or opinion openly shared? This session will review best practices and implementation options for applying strong compliance monitoring in a SharePoint 2010 environment.

“The site template requires that the Feature {GUID} be activated in the site collection“

I was looking for an update version of the Fantastic 40 templates when I can across this posting (http://techsolutions.net/Blog/tabid/65/EntryId/17/Fab-40-Templates-for-MOSS-2010.aspx).  Thank you very much!  The download per template is a zip file that contains a wsp file (for those who don’t know it, SharePoint 2010 site templates are wsp files; in SharePoint 2007, they were stp files).

To implement a new site template, follow these steps:

·         Click ‘Site Actions’

·         Click ‘Site Settings’

·         Under Galleries, Click ‘Solutions’

·         On the Solutions tab, click ‘Upload Solution’

·         Upload your wsp file (and don’t forget to activate it or it won’t appear in the template list!)

Having done the above for the Board of Directors site template, I got the familiar (to me) “The site template requires that the Feature {GUID} be activated in the site collection.“ error message where GUID is a specific guid value.  The solution is easy; activate the missing feature… but which one?

I always refer back to an excellent post (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcsnoiwb/archive/2010/01/07/features-and-their-guid-s-in-sp2010.aspx) that serves as a great reference source for features and their guids.  In my case, it was workflow.  Once I activated the feature, presto magic and the new site is created!

Office Web Apps - Error when editing Excel file in Browser

I have been working with the Office Web Apps and SharePoint 2010 this week.  Quick FYI, I noticed that when I attempt to edit an Excel file in the browser when its document library is NOT a trusted file location I get a “Unable to process the request. Wait a few minutes and try performing this operation again” error message.  So, if you have installed the Office Web Apps, started the appropriate viewing services, enabled the Office Web App feature for your site collection and still can’t edit a spreadsheet in the browser check your trusted file locations!

By the way, I have been impressed with the Office Web Apps, especially the co-authoring (also sometimes referred to as ‘simultaneous users’) functionality in Excel.  It really works!  There are some shortcomings that users need to be aware of (more details in a subsequent post) but, needless to say, things like (1) can’t run macros (2) no undo when making simultaneous edits and (3) 2MB size limit on Excel files are really going to force IT staff to properly set expectations with business users who may want to do real-time collaboration on big, complex spreadsheets.

The SharePoint 2010 Developer/Architect Learning Curve

I’ve had the opportunity over the last few months to lead some developer focused training sessions on SharePoint 2010.  For those who have not begun the process and are interested in being SharePoint 2010 developers/architects, I must warn you (even if you have previous SharePoint and/or .NET expertise) the task is quite daunting.  I mentioned this in a conversation with a fellow SharePoint enthusiast early this week and shared with him the syllabus for a recent developer onboarding training experience I led (see below).  This does not even include supplemental knowledge (PowerShell is one example; configuring a proper development environment is another) that I think is critical for full appreciation.

I absolutely believe that while the new development features with SharePoint 2010 will allow developers to do more with less (code) the burden on the SharePoint architect is now far greater.  Picking the “right” architecture has become harder (given all the options).    In my opinion, SharePoint developers, especially those that work in teams, will become specialized (i.e. workflow, BCS, etc.) to allow them to “go deep” in their development expertise.  The SharePoint architect, however, will need to understand and appreciate all options to best align a design with known business requirements.  So, if you haven’t started looking at this stuff, start!  There is some great material available online, including labs supplied by Microsoft.  The learning curve is steep but the power of the toolset is much too big to ignore…

·         What's New for Developers in SharePoint 2010

·         Introduction to Sandbox Solutions in SharePoint 2010

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Services Architecture

·         Introduction to LINQ and SharePoint 2010

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Client OM

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Web Services

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 BCS

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Developer Dashboard

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Security Enhancements

·         Upgrading SharePoint 2007 Code to SharePoint 2010

·         Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Workflow

·         Summary of Visual Studio 2010 Tools for SharePoint

·         Next Steps - Getting Started with SharePoint 2010 Development