Author: Brian T. Jackett

You Can’t Upload An Empty File To SharePoint 2007 Or SharePoint 2010

Brian T. Jackett SharePoint

The title of this post is pretty self explanatory, but I thought it worth mentioning since I had never run across this rule until just recently.  A few weeks ago I was testing out a new workflow attached to a SharePoint 2007 document library.  I uploaded various file types to ensure all were handled properly.  One of the files I happened to test with was an empty .txt file to which I got the following error.

NoUploadBlankFile1 NoUploadBlankFile2 NoUploadBlankFile3     As you can see from the error message you aren’t allowed to upload a file that is empty.  Fast forward to this week when I was doing some research for my upcoming SharePoint 2010 beta exams.  I remembered that error I got a few weeks ago and decided to try out with SharePoint 2010 as well.  No surprises I got a similar error.

NoUploadBlankFile4 NoUploadBlankFile5

Conclusion

Next time you are uploading files to a SharePoint 2007 or 2010 document library, make sure the file is not empty.  Coincidentally when I tweeted about this issue a few friends replied that they had also found this error recently.  I don’t know the internal reasoning why this is prevented but I assume it has something to do with how the blob for the file is stored in the database.  I assume that this would still be the case even if you had Remote Blob Storage (RBS) configured for your farm, but don’t have access to such a farm to confirm.  If anyone reading this does have access and wants to confirm that would be appreciated, just leave a comment.

 

-Frog Out

Error Using 32 vs. 64 bit SharePoint 2007 DLLs with PowerShell

Brian T. Jackett PowerShell, SharePoint

Next time you fire up PowerShell to work with the SharePoint API make sure you launch the proper bit version of PowerShell.  Last week I had an interesting error that led to this blog post.  Travel back in time a little bit with me to see where this 32 vs. 64 bit debate started.

History

Ever since the first pre-beta bits of Office 2010 landed in my lap I have been questioning whether it’s better to run 32 or 64 bit applications on a 64 bit host operating system.  In relation to Office 2010 I heard a number of arguments for 32 bit including this link from the Office 2010 Engineering team.  Given my typical usage scenarios 32 bit seemed the way to go since I wasn’t a “super RAM hungry” Excel user or the like.

The Problem

Since I had chosen 32 bit Office 2010, I tried to stick with 32 bit version of other programs that I run assuming the same benefits and rules applied to other applications.  This is where I was wrong.  Last week I was attempting to use 32 bit PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment) on a 64 bit WSS 3.0 server.  When trying to reference the 64 bit SharePoint DLLs I got the following errors about not being able to find the web application.

PowerShellBitVersion1

I have run into these errors when I have hosts file issues or improper permissions to the farm / site collection but these were not the case.  After taking a quick spin around the interwebs I ran across the below forum post comment and another MSDN forum reply that explained the error.  Turns out that sometimes it’s not possible to run 32 bit applications against a 64 bit OS / farm / assembly / etc.

…the problem could also be because your SharePoint is 64-Bit but your app is running in 32-bit mode

I quickly exited 32 bit PowerShell ISE and ran the same code under 64 bit PowerShell ISE.  All errors were gone and the script ran successfully.

 

Conclusion

The rules of 32 vs. 64 bit interoperability do not always apply evenly across all applications and scenarios.  In my case I wasn’t able to run 32 bit PowerShell against 64 bit SharePoint DLLs.  I’m updating all of my links and shortcuts to use 64 bit PowerShell where appropriate.  I’m quite surprised it has taken me this long to run into this error, but sometimes blind luck is all that keeps you from running into errors.  Lesson learned and hopefully this can benefit you as well.  Happy SharePointing all!

 

-Frog Out

 

Links

http://blogs.technet.com/b/office2010/archive/2010/02/23/understanding-64-bit-office.aspx

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sharepointdevelopment/thread/a732cb83-c2ef-4133-b04e-86477b72bbe3/

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/266255/filenotfoundexception-with-the-spsite-constructor-whats-the-problem

SharePoint Saturday DC 2010 Slides, Demo Scripts, and Pictures

Brian T. Jackett Conference/Tech Event, PowerShell, Presentation, SharePoint

Wow! This past weekend I attended SharePoint Saturday Washington DC (SPSDC) which was quite an event to say the least.  For those unfamiliar, SharePoint Saturday is a community driven event where various speakers gather to present at a FREE conference on all topics related to SharePoint.  This made my fifth SharePoint Saturday attended and fourth I’ve spoken at.  SPSDC was a bit different than most SharePoint Saturdays mostly due to the scale of it.  We had almost 950 attendees, over 80 speakers presenting close to 90 sessions, and dozens of sponsors.  A big thanks goes out to the organizers of this event.  They put in a lot of hard work and time to pull this event off and should be very proud of the end result.

For SPSDC I presented “The Power of PowerShell + SharePoint 2007”.  I want to thank all of the attendees of my session for coming and asking some great questions.  Below you can find the slides and demo scripts for this session.  I also took some photos throughout the day (not as many as usual since so much going on) so check them out.  If you have any follow up questions feel free to drop me a line in the comments or the contact link at the top of the site.

Slides and Scripts

Click here for the demo scripts and slides posted on my SkyDrive.

 

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: One thing I forgot to mention in my presentation.  In order to run code against the SharePoint API you need to load the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll assembly first.  Run the below command on the PowerShell console line to complete that:

 

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName(“Microsoft.SharePoint”)

 

Photos

Facebook album

-or-

My album on Windows Live site (higher res shots).

-Frog Out

Stir Trek: Iron Man Edition Recap and Photos

Brian T. Jackett Conference/Tech Event

Stir Trek Logo2     If you’ve noticed my blogging activity has reduced in frequency and technical content lately it’s primarily due to all of the conferences I’ve been attending, speaking at, or planning in the past few months.  This past Friday myself and six other dedicated individuals put on Stir Trek: Iron Man Edition as the culmination of a few months of hard work.  For those unfamiliar, Stir Trek is a web developer conference that was founded last year as an event to showcase content from Microsoft’s MIX conference and end the day with a private showing of the then just-released Star Trek movie.  This year’s conference expanded from 2 to 4 content tracks and upped the number of tickets from 350 to 600.  Even more amazing was the fact that we had 592 people show up day of the event for the lowest drop-off percentage of any conference I’ve been to before.

Nerd Dinner and Swag Bags

IMG_1279

The night before Stir Trek: Iron Man Edition we hosted a nerd dinner at the Polaris Shopping mall food court with about 30 in attendance.  Nerd dinners are a great time to meet others passionate about technology and socialize before the whirlwind of the conference hits.  After the nerd dinner 20+ volunteers headed to the conference location and helped us stuff swag bags.  This in and of itself was a monumental task of putting together 600 swag bags with numerous leaflets, sponsor items, and t-shirts.  A big thanks goes out to all who assisted us that night so that we could finish in just under 2 hours instead of taking all night.  My sleep schedule also thanks you.

IMG_1282 IMG_1288 IMG_1291

Morning of Stir Trek

After getting a decent amount of sleep I arrived at Marcus Crosswoods theater at 6am to begin setting up for the day.  Myself and Jody Morgan were in charge of registration so we got tables set up, laid out swag bags, and organized our volunteer crew to assist with checking-in attendees.  Despite having 600+ people registration went fairly smoothly and got the day off to a great start.  I especially appreciated the 3+ cups of coffee from Crimson Cup, a local coffee shop.  For any of you that know me you’ll know that I rarely drink coffee except a few times a year when I really need the energy, so that says a lot about how good their coffee is.

IMG_1293

Conference Starts

Once registration was completed the day kicked off with Molly Holzschlag keynoting.  Unfortunately Molly suffered from an ear infection and wasn’t able to fly so she had a virtual keynote and a session later in the day.  I was working behind the scenes on various tasks so I was only able to drop in very briefly on the keynote and rest of the morning sessions.  Throughout the day I tried to grab at least 1 or 2 pics of each presenter.  See my album below for the full set of pics.

IMG_1307     For lunch we ordered around 150 pizzas from Mellow Mushroom, a local pizza place (notice the theme of supporting local businesses.)  Early on we were concerned about Mellow Mushroom being able to supply that many pizzas and get them delivered (still hot) to the theater, but they did an excellent job day of the event.  I wish I had gotten some pictures of the old school VW van they delivered the pizza in, but I was just a bit busy running around trying to get theaters ready for lunch.  We had attendees from last year who specifically requested that we have Mellow Mushroom supply lunch this year and I’m glad everything worked out being able to use them again.

During the afternoon I was able to attend a few sessions and hear some great content from various speakers.  It was also nice to just sit down and get off my feet for a bit.  After the last sessions the day concluded with a raffle.  There were a few logistical and technical issues that hampered our ability to smoothly conduct the raffle.  To those of you that agree the raffle wasn’t the smoothest experience I would like to say that the Stir Trek planning committee has already begun meeting to discuss ways of improving the conference for next year.  We are also accepting feedback (both positive and negative) at the following link: click here.  If you don’t wish to use the Joind In site you can also email me directly and I’ll be sure to pass along the feedback.

 

Iron Man 2 Movie

Last but not least, what Stir Trek event would be complete without the feature movie.  This year’s movie was Iron Man 2.  The theater had some really cool props and promotions (see pic below) for the movie.  I really enjoyed Iron Man 2, but I would recommend brushing up on the Iron Man comics and Marvel’s plans for future movies to understand some of the plot elements that come up.  Also make sure you stay through to the end of the movie credits to see a sneak peak of something special, that’s all I’ll say. IMG_1309

Conclusion

Again a big thanks goes out to all of the speakers, sponsors, attendees, movie theater staff, volunteers, and everyone else involved in making this event great.  Also big thanks to my fellow Stir Trek planning committee members: Jeff Blankenburg, Matt Casto, Carey Payette, Jody Morgan, Rick Kierner, and Sarah Dutkiewitcz.  I am grateful for everything I learned while helping plan this event and look forward to being involved again next year.  For those interested we are currently targeting Thor as our movie theme for 2011 and then The Avengers for 2012.  These are tentative based on release dates that could shift as we get closer, but for now look solid.

 

Photos

Pics on Facebook (includes tagging)

Stir Trek: Iron Man Edition photos on Facebook

Pics on Live site (higher res)

 

 

-Frog Out

Slides and Files from Day of .Net Ann Arbor ‘10

Brian T. Jackett Conference/Tech Event, General .Net, Presentation

    This past Saturday I presented “Real World Deployment of SharePoint 2007 Solutions” at the Ann Arbor Day of .Net conference in Ann Arbor, MI.  Below are my slides and PowerShell demo scripts I used during the presentation.  Thanks to everyone who attended my session, as well as the sponsors, speakers, organizers and all attendees who made this event happen.

 

Slides and demo scripts

Motorola Droid App Recommendations

Brian T. Jackett Personal, Technology

motorola droid app screen

Just as a disclaimer, the views and opinions expressed in this post are solely my own and I’m not getting paid or compensated for anything.

Ok, so I’m one of the crazy few who went out and bought a Droid the week it was released a few months back.  The Motorola Droid was a MAJOR upgrade in phone capabilities for me as my previous phone had no GPS, no web access, limited apps, etc.  I now use my Droid for so much of my life from work to personal to community based events.  Since I’ve been using my Droid for awhile, a number of friends (@toddklindt, @spmcdonough, @jfroushiii, and many more) who later got a Droid asked me which apps I recommended.  While there are a few sites on the web listing out useful Android apps, here’s my quick list (with a few updates since first put together.)

Note: * denotes a highly recommended app

 

Android App Recommendations for Motorola Droid (Updated after 2.1 update)

RemoteDroid – install a thin client on another computer and Droid becomes mouse pad / keyboard, control computer remotely

PdaNet – free version allows tethering (only to HTTP, no HTTPS) without paying extra monthly charge.  A paid version allows HTTPS access.

SportsTap – keep track of about a dozen sports, favorite teams, etc

*Movies – setup favorite theaters, find movie times, buy tickets, etc

WeatherBug elite – paid app, but gives weather alerts, 4 day forecast, etc.  Free version also exists.  (Update: Android 2.1 offers free weather app, but I still prefer WeatherBug.)

*Advanced Task Killer – manually free up memory and kill apps not needed

Google Voice – have to have a Google Voice account to really use, but allows visual voice mail, sending calls to specific phones, and too many other things to list

AndroZip – access your phone memory like a file system

Twidroid – best Twitter client I’ve found so far, but personal preference varies.  I’m using free version and suits me just fine.

Skype (beta) – I only use this to send chat messages, not sure how/if phone calls works on this. (Update: Skype Mobile app just released, but uninstalled after few days as it kept launching in background and using up memory when not wanted.)

*NewsRob – RSS reader syncs to Google Reader.  I use this multiple times a day, excellent app. (Update: this app does ask for your Google username and password, so security minded folks be cautioned.)

ConnectBot – don’t use often myself, but allows SSH into remote computer.  Great if you have a need for remote manage server.

Speed Test – same as the online website, allows finding upload/download speeds.

WiFinder – store wifi preferences and find wifi spots in area.

TagReader – simple Microsoft Tag Reader, works great.

*Google Listen – audible podcast catcher that allows putting items into a queue, sync with Google Reader RSS, etc. I personally love this app which has now replaced the iPod I used to use in my car, but have heard mixed reviews from others.

Robo Defense – (paid app) tower defense game but with RPG elements to upgrade towers over lifetime playing. I’ve never played FieldRunners but I’m told very similar in offering. Nice distraction when in airport or have some time to burn.

Phit Droid 3rd Edition – drag and drop block shapes into a rectangle box, simple game to pass the time with literally 1000s of levels. Note this game has been updated dozens of times with numerous editions so unsure exactly which are still on the market.

Google Sky Map – impress your friends by holding Droid up to sky and viewing constellations using Droid screen.

wootCheck Lite – check up on daily offerings on Woot.com and affiliated wine, sellout, shirt, and kids sites.

 

Side notes: I’ve seen that Glympse and TripIt have recently come out with Android apps.  I’ve installed but haven’t gotten to use either yet, but I hear good things.  Will try out on 2 upcoming trips in May and update with impressions.

 

-Frog Out

 

Image linked from http://images.tolmol.com/images/grpimages/200910191814100_motorola-droid.gif