Changing the Background Color for ActiveX Controls in SharePoint 2007

You may run into problems if you have a dark CSS background color for your site which is defined on the body element. The ActiveX control will show this dark color as its background color even if it is a child of another element with a light background color. This makes it difficult , if not impossible, to read and work with the content in the control.

On tinyfly.com I've found the solution for this:

body {
/* Background color for ActiveX items like "Edit in Datasheet */
background-color: white;
}

form#aspnetForm {
/* real background color for the site as a whole */
background-color: #002842;

/* to be sure it fills the whole page vertically */
height: 100%;
}

CQWP problems

I've had huge trouble finding out why my Content Query WebPart wasn't showing the data as I configured it to do.

Luckily I've found the following very interesting posts:

• Content Query Web Part (CQWP) SharePoint 2007 Performance


• Content Query Web Part (CQWP), Cross List Query Nightmare Part 1


• Content Query Web Part (CQWP), Cross List Query Nightmare Part 2


• Content Query Web Part (CQWP), Cross List Query Nightmare Part 3

Part 3 really helped me with my problems, but all the posts in this serie are very interesting.

It turns out that there is a inconsistancy in the way SharePoint saves its data in the database and the way SharePoint queries the same data. Item data gets saved in the AllUserData table. In this table there are collumns for general use e.g. the columns have names like nvarchar21, nvarchar22, etc. These columns will be used to store data of lists and libraries.

When a contenttype gets used by multiple subsites, there is no gaurantee that the fields get saved in the same columns. This wouldn't be a problem, if SharePoint create the right query to retrieve the data from the right columns..

Well, I suggest just take the time to read the post. It really makes things clearer.

Create a full administrator account

Want to know how to create an account which has all the rights that a farm administrator should have?

Henk Hooiveld has a great post about this:

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/henkhooiveld/archive/2007/06/04/turning-a-domain-user-into-a-full-blown-moss2007-farm-administrator.aspx

It sure helped me a lot!

Create a secure form

Task:

• Create a form that every employee can fill. This form will be used to register sick days.
• After creation, only a select group of employees will be able to view/modify/delete the form.

Limitation:

• No programming

I first tried InfoPath forms, but I couldn't find a way to ensure the authorizations. If I create a permissionlevel and say everyone whith this permissionlevel should be able to create items, they're automatically able to view items. All items in the library.

The perfect solution in my opinion is to create a couple of workflowactions, which make sure the authorizations get set right after the item is created. Since I'm (unfortunately) not allowed to program anything, I had to find another solution.

My Collegeau's attended a Sharepoint Designer training. They suggested to create a list, instead of using InfoPath and manipulate the pages of the library so that the pages (AllItems.aspx, DispForm.aspx, EditForm.aspx) could only be used by the right group of employees. In my opinion I should authorize the data (listitems), instead of the interface to be really sure no evil person could view and/or manipulate the data.
However I decided to give it a thought.

I believe there are a couple of ways to view/access data in SharePoint:
- By using SharePoint Designer It's possible to disable this by configuring permissionlevels
- By using the SDK dll's Someone has to get access to a front
-end server, to get execute an application to access the data, so if we make sure no authorized people have access to the front-ends, we will be safe here.
- By using the SDK Webservices Webservices are accessible by all employees, however this can be disabled by configuring the permissionlevels.
- By using the webinterface of SharePoint (duh!)

This brainstorm gave me the confidence it may be possible.

I found my solution in executing the following steps:

1. Make sure the list is invisible. This can be done in SharePoint Designer (Navigate to the list > Right-click list > Properties > Settings > Hide from browser
   This way the list won't be found by navigating in Sharepoint.
2. Create the audience in the Shared Service Provider. Make sure the right users are member of the audience.
3. In SharePoint Designer edit the pages Allitems.aspx, DispForm.aspx and EditForm.aspx.
   Search in the webpart for the following tag:
   Supply the ID of the audience you,ve just created like this: ca4cd9d1-f396-4127-a4de-5237cb0255ac;;;;
4. Disable RSS for the list.
5. Make sure the list is not searchable
6. Make sure the sitelevel permissions are configured to disable the use of webservices.

I believe with these steps it's possible to create a secure form. Any thoughts on this? Let me know!

I hope I helped the community with this post.

Trying to use Single Sign On (SSO) with Database Credentials

Trying to use Single Sign On (SSO) with Database Credentials?

Read how in this great post from Nick Kellet: http://planetmoss.blogspot.com/2006/11/using-single-signon-with-database.html

Content editor webpart filter by audience

To filter a CEWP by audience, don't use the audience mechanism as intended, but use the filter.

When the audience mechanism is used, data will first be queried, next the returned items get filtered by audience. By this, the amount of items, will possibly be not the amount of items expected.

To use the filter to filter audiences, select Audience to filter upon and supply the GUID of the audience. Instead of using the operator 'Is', use 'Contains'. This is because items can be mapped to multiple audiences. This mapping is done in the same field in the database. The Guids are seperated by semicolon.

Hope this helps someone.