• Download the Item_2LinesNoIcon file to your local machine and rename the file extension to html
• Go to the Search Center, click on the Gear icon, then choose Site Settings

• Under Site Collection Administration, choose Site Collection Features

• Activate the SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure feature if it’s not already activated.
  • Note in the screenshot this feature is activated

• From the Manage Features page, select Site Settings at the top, then select Manage Site Features under Site Actions

• From the Site Features page, activate the SharePoint Server Publishing feature if it’s not already activated.

• Go back to Site Settings, under Web Designer Galleries, select Master pages and page layouts

• Select the Display Templates folder, then the Search folder

• On the Ribbon, click File, Upload Document, then Browse and select the Item_2LinesNoIcon.html file downloaded earlier then click OK.

• When the dialog box opens for the Master Page Gallery – Item_2LinesNoIcon.html, make sure the Content Type = Item Display Template and check Search Results box for the Target Control Type (Search) and Save.

• You’ll now see two (2) files, the Item_2LinesNoIcon.html and Item_2LinesNoIcon.js. Click the Site Contents link.

• On the Site Contents page, click Pages

• On the Pages page, click Files, click the down arrow next to New Document, then choose Page.

• On the Create Page, give the directory a title (i.e. Directory), the URL Name will be automatically populated but you can change this, then select (Welcome Page) Search results and click Create

• Back on the Pages page, check-in the Directory page

• In the pop-up dialog Check in box, select Major version (publish) and No to retain checkout then click OK

• While still on the Pages library, click the Directory document to open it and it will open a Search site

• Now to filter this to our sites. Click the Gear icon and choose Edit Page

• In the Search Results section, click the down arrow and choose Edit Web Part

• In the Properties for Search Results web part, click Change Query

• In the Build Your Query dialog screen, Switch to Advanced Mode

• Under Query text, type the following:
• {searchboxquery}(contentclass:”STS_Site”) path:https://sharepoint.domain.com/*
  • Use the name of your site for the path variable
  • Click the Test Query button

• Next, select the Sorting heading and choose SPSiteURL Ascending then click OK

• Back at the Properties for Search Results web part, expand Display Templates and select Use a single template to display items and choose the Item_2LinesNoIcon template, then click Apply

• You should now be able see results in the Search Results web part on the page

• Click OK to close the web part
• Check-in the page

• On the Check In dialog box, add comments if you want then click Continue

• Now, when users search for a site, it will only return the results based on the query.

• Finally, if you want a navigation link to the Site Directory page, click the Gear icon and choose Site Settings. Under the Search heading, select Search Settings

• On the Search Settings page, in the Configuration Search Navigation, click Add Link. In the Navigation Link dialog box, add a Title and either type in the URL of the Directory page or click Browse and select the page from the Pages library then click OK

• Click OK to close the Search Settings page then go back to the Search Center
• In the Search Center, type a word or phrase to search then view the results

• Notice the word “Everything” is highlighted showing all results. Now, click the Directory link and only sites that start with BI will be shown.

• https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/tothesharepoint/2013/11/12/how-to-add-a-custom-search-vertical-to-your-search-results-page-in-sharepoint-2013/
• https://www.packtpub.com/books/content/building-site-directory-sharepoint-search

Last week I was in a class where we needed the following Azure Virtual Machines configured:

There were pre-requisites that needed to be done prior to the class that kept tripping me up. The main issue I had was getting the TMG server configured with 2 NICs. In Azure, you cannot create a VM with 2 NICs via the GUI – the VM has to be created using PowerShell.

Researching found a few posts on how to accomplish this but, once again, there were issues with the posts that didn’t work for me. These are the ones I started with:

• https://www.petri.com/configure-multiple-nics-in-an-azure-virtual-machine.htm

• https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/azure/dn848315.aspx

• https://azure.microsoft.com/blog/2014/10/30/multiple-vm-nics-and-network-virtual-appliances-in-azure/

As a Microsoft employee, I am able to use the Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN Azure subscription. Keep in mind I am NO expert in Azure but I hope this helps others who are just starting out. Also, while all of this could be done via PowerShell, I decided to use both the Azure GUI and PowerShell so one gets experience with both.

Set up the environment in Azure

Configure Networks

• Launch Azure (https://manage.windowsazure.com) and log in with your account
• On the left side, scroll down and select Networks
• Create a virtual network choose the network name and the location closest to you

• Since I don’t have a DNS server created yet, click Next on the DNS Servers and VPN Connectivity tab.
• On the Virtual Network Address Spaces select the Address Space, modify the settings as required. Add a subnet and configure it as well. The following screenshot shows how I configured mine.

• Note the names of the subnet and the IP addresses as you will need these later

 Configure Storage Account

• In Azure, on the left side scroll to Storage and Create a Storage Account
• Type a name for the URL, select the Location/Affinity Group, and Replication

Create a Cloud Service

• In Azure, on the left side, select Cloud Services to create a cloud service
• Using Quick Create, type a name for your cloud app URL

IMPORTANT: Ensure ALL jobs in Azure have completed before going forward.

Install & Configure Azure PowerShell

• Install the Azure PowerShell cmdlets by running the Microsoft Web Platform Installer located at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=320376&clcid=0x409 and follow the prompts to install.
  • For more information about step 1, please refer to https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/install-configure-powershell/
• Open Azure PowerShell as Administrator
• Run the cmdlet, Get-AzureSubscription, locate the SubscriptionName and verify the property IsCurrent is set to True
  • If the subscription you want to use is not set to true, the run the following command to set the subscription you want to use to be the current subscription. In this example I am changing the current subscription FROM "Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN" TO "azurepfe-anneste"

• Select-AzureSubscription -SubscriptionName "azurepfe-anneste" -Current

• At the cmd prompt type Get-AzurePublishSettingsFile

• Keep this window open

• You will be redirected to the MicrosoftOnline web page to log in with your account
• Select the correct subscription if you have more than one and click submit

• NOTE: I was asked to log in again

• Once logged in, the file will be available to save via the pop-up window

• From within Azure PowerShell, type Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile –PublishSettingsFile and provide the location of the downloaded file
  • EXAMPLE: Import-AzurePublishSettingsFile –PublishSettingsFile d:\downloads\Visual Studio Ultimate with MSDN-2-11-2015-credentials.publishsettings

Create the Virtual Machine

• Open Azure PowerShell as Administrator
• The script will prompt you for the following items in the order listed:
  
  • $vmName - this is the name of the VM you are creating
  • $username - enter your username
  • $password - enter your password
  • How many NICs do you want in this VM? You enter either 2 or 4
    • Entering 2 will create a Large VM and entering a 4 will create an Extra Large VM
  • $subNet - this is the name of the subnet
    • You will be asked for the subnet name up to 4 times depending on how many NICs you chose
  • $IPAddress - this is the IP address of the associated subnet
    • You will be asked for the IP address up to 4 times depending on how many NICs you chose
• Go to the location of CreateMultipleNICVM.ps1 and type .\CreateMultipleNICVM.ps1 and press enter
• Enter the information needed and you'll be given a chance to review your entries after they have been entered
• If successful, you'll see the following progress.
  

• In Azure, on the Virtual Machines tab, click connect at the bottom of the screen
• After you log into the VM, the Initial Configuration Tasks screen opens. You will see that there are two Local Area Connections

I hope this helps others just starting out!

Notes

• To get a list of all available VMs, in Azure PowerShell type the following that will save the list in txt format in the location you choose.
  •  Example: Get-AzureVMImage | Select -Property ImageName, OS, Label, publishedDate | Export c:\downloads\AzureVMs.csv
• It is important that all of the configuration settings in Azure have completed prior to running the script; otherwise the script will fail.
• Ensure that your subnets are configured correctly for the IPs you want; otherwise the script may fail. An example of this is when I first created my DMZ subnet, I only had 3 IP addresses available and when I used 10.10.10.10 the script failed because the last digit was beyond the scope of available IPs.
• If the script fails to run, you may need to run Set-ExecutionPolicy -RemoteSigned in PowerShell
  

Thanks

Special thanks goes out to my colleague Bill Grauer who helped me tremendously on this script!

CreateMultipleNICVM.ps1

Configuring Access Services involves a lot of players in the company: DNS, Active Directory, IIS, SQL 2012, and SharePoint Server 2013. Be prepared to coordinate with these groups for a successful deployment.

WARNING: This is a very lengthy post!

You will need a service account already being used in your environment or a new one for the following services:

• Subscription Settings Service – either a new account or one that already exists

• App Management Service – either a new account or one that already exists

• Secure Store Service – either a new account or one that already exists

• Access Services – you will need a new account as special permissions are required and you cannot use the SharePoint Farm account.

Sample Farm Topology

 Overview

Step 1: Configure the domain names in DNS (all hosting options)

This needs to be done by the DNS administrator for the domain.

Create a forward lookup zone for the app domain name 

• Verify that the user account that performs this procedure is a local administrator on the domain controller.

• Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click DNS.

• In DNS Manager, right-click Forward Lookup Zones, and then click New Zone….

• In the New Zone Wizard, click Next

• In the Zone Type page, accept the default of Primary zone, and then click Next

• In the Active Directory Zone Replication Scope page, select the appropriate replication method for your environment (the default is To all DNS servers in this domain), and then click Next

• In the Zone Name page, in the Zone name box type the name for your new app domain name (for example, ContosoApps.com), and then click Next

  The New Zone Wizard shows the new domain name for apps.

• On the Dynamic Update page, select the appropriate type of dynamic updates for your environment (the default is Do not allow dynamic updates), and then click Next

• On the Completing the New Zone Wizard page, review the settings, and then click Finish

Create a wildcard Alias (CNAME) record for the new domain name

• Verify that the user account that performs this procedure is a local administrator on the domain controller.

• In DNS Manager, under Forward Lookup Zones, right-click the new app domain name, and then click New Alias (CNAME).

• In the New Resource Record dialog box, in the Alias name (uses parent domain if left blank) box, type *.

  The Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) box displays *. followed by the domain name that you created for apps. For example, *.ContosoApps.com or *.Contoso-Apps.com.

• Next to the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for target host box, type the FQDN of the server that hosts the SharePoint sites.

  For example, SharePoint.Contoso.com.

  Or:

  • Next to the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for target host box, click Browse and navigate to the Forward Lookup Zone for the domain that hosts the SharePoint sites.

    For example, Contoso.com.

  • And then navigate to the record that points to the server that hosts the SharePoint site.

    For example, SharePoint.

  • Select the checkbox to allow any authenticated user to update DNS records                           

    New Resource Record dialog box shows the wildcard alias for the app domain and the FQDN of the server that hosts the SharePoint sites.

    

• Click OK.

Verify the new domain name

Any user or administrator can verify the new domain name from any machine.

• Verify that the user account that is performing this procedure is a local administrator on the domain controller.

• Click Start, and then click Command Prompt.

• At the command prompt, type ping followed by a subdomain of the domain that you created, and then press ENTER.

  For example, ping Apps-12345678ABCDEF.contosoapps.com

  If the ping command returns the correct IP address, then your wildcard for the domain name was configured successfully.

Step 2: Create a Service Account for Access Services

This procedure requires a domain administrator or someone who has access to Active Directory Users and Computers and can create a user.

 Create an Access Services Service Account

• Launch Active Directory Users & Computers

• Expand the domain

• Right click the Users container, choose New, then User

• Create a SharePoint Access service account

• Click Next

• Type in a password and select

  • User must change password at next logon

  • Password never expires (optional)

• Click Next then Finish

 Step 3: Create a new instance on SQL Server 2012 for Access Services

These steps are performed by the SQL DBA.

SQL Server 2012 is a requirement for the successful operation of Access Services in SharePoint Server 2013.

Every Access app creates its own database on SQL Server. In SharePoint Server 2013, SQL Server 2012 is the only version of SQL Server that can serve as the SharePoint Server 2013 application database server for Access Services.

In this set-up, we are assuming a single on premise SharePoint 2013 farm where the SharePoint Services Content and Configuration Databases are stored on the same SQL Server 2012 server that Access Services uses as its application database server.

Create a new instance for the Access databases

Because Access creates its own databases on SQL Server, I feel it is better to have these in their own instance instead of being with the rest of the SharePoint databases. You will need to have access to the SQL Server 2012 media.

•  From the Start menu, select Microsoft SQL Server 2012

• Expand Configuration Tools and select SQL Server Installation Center (64-bit)

• Select Installation

• Select New SQL Server stand-along installation or add features to an existing installation

• Browse to where the SQL Server 2012 media is located

• Click OK at the Setup Support Roles

• Click Next at Product Updates

• Click Next at Setup Support Rules

• Ensure the radio button is selected for Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2012, click Next

• Click Next at Product Key

• Accept the License Terms, click Next

• Ensure the radio button is selected for SQL Server Feature Installation, click Next

• On the Feature Selection page, select the following settings

  • Database Engine Services

  • Full-Text and Semantic Extractions for Search

  • Click Next

•  Click Next on Installation Rules

• On the Instance Configuration page, select Named Instance and provide a meaningful name for the Access databases. In my case I called the named instance Access

• Click Next

•  Click Next on Disk Space Requirements

• Ensure Startup Type is set to Automatic on Server Configuration for SQL Server Agent

• Click Next

• Select Mixed Mode (SQL Server authentication and Windows authentication) on the Database Engine Configuration page, Server Configuration tab

• Enter the password for the SQL Server System Administrator (SA) account

• Add a SQL Server administrator account

• Select the Data Directories tab and configuration the locations for the various directories

• Click Next

• Select whether or not to use Error Reporting and click Next

• Click Next on Installation Configuration Rules

• Select Install

• Once installation is complete, follow any on-screen instructions (if any) then select Close to complete the installation

  • In my case, I needed to install Service Pack 2 so I went to Windows Update, checked for updates, and installed the required and recommended updates

 Add Server Roles to the Access Services Instance

The Access Services Service account and the SharePoint farm account need specific server roles on the Access instance created earlier 

• Launch SQL Server Management Studio

• On the Connect to Server dialog box, click the down arrow in the Server Name section and select <Browse for more…>

• Expand Database Engineand choose the Access instance created earlier and click OK then Connect

• Once you are connected to the Access instance, expand Security and Logins

• Right-click Logins and choose New Login

• On the Login page, click Search

• Change the Locations to the domain

• Enter the Access Services Service account from the domain location and click Check Names, then OK

• Select the Server Roles page and select the following roles

  • dbcreator

  • securityadmin

• Follow steps 5-9 for the SharePoint Farm account

Configure SQL Server for Access Services

There are several properties on the SQL Server 2012 Access instance that need to be configured. The following sections provide step-by-step guidance for configuring SQL Server 2012 Access instance for the required settings for Access apps.  

• Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).

• Connect to the Access instance

• Right-click the Access instance in Object Explorer and then select Properties.

• In the Server Properties dialog box, click Security.

• Select SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode.

• Do not close the server properties

• Select Advanced page

• Select the dropdown arrow in the Enable Contained Databases row and then select True

• Select the dropdown arrow in the Allow Triggers to Fire Others row and then select True

• Select the dropdown arrow in the Default Language row and then select English

• Set Max Degree of Parallelism to 1

• Click OK to close

Set permissions on proc_putObjectTVP in the Config database

The Access Services Service Account must have permissions to execute the store procedure called proc_putObjectTVP in the configuration database. The account needs the SPDataAccess role.

• In SQL Server Management Studio, connect to the SQL instance that has the SharePoint databases and expand the SharePoint_Config Database

• Expand Security, then Users

• Add the Access Services Service Account

• Choose Windows User

• Select the domain

• Click on the Membership page

• Click the box for SPDataAccess

• Click OK

 Configure SQL Server protocols

You must enable TCP/IP and Named Pipes protocols in the SQL Server Network Configuration.  

• Open SQL Server Configuration Manager and select Protocols for MSSQLSERVER to enable both protocols.

• Right-click any disabled protocol and choose enable

• Repeat steps 1-2 for the Access instance

By default, SQL Server enables TCP/IP during installation of SQL Server. If the TCP/IP status is not Enabled, enable it when you enable Named Pipes.

• In SQL Server Configuration Manager, select SQL Server Services.

• Right-click SQL Server (MSSQLSERVER), and then select Restart.

Right-click SQL Server (Access) and then select Restart

Configure Windows Firewall settings for SQL Server 2012

After you install SQL Server, you must set the following ports to communicate through Windows Firewall:

• TCP 1433

• TCP 1434

• UDP 1434

To set the ports, take the following steps:

• On SQL Server, type firewall in the Start search box and click Enter.

• Select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and press Enter to view the following dialog box:

  

• Select Inbound Rules

• Select the Action Menu and click New Rule. The Rule Type page opens.

• Select Port as the rule type and then click Next. The Protocol and Ports page opens.

• Select TCP.

• Select Specific local ports: and enter 1433.

• Click Next. The Action page opens.

• Select Allow the connection.

• Click Next. The Profile page opens.

• Select Domain, selectPrivate, and then click Next. The Name page opens.

• In the Name text box enter a name for the port, for example: TCP 1433.

• Click Finish.

• Repeat Steps 1 through 13 for TCP 1434 (enter 1434 in the text box that is next to Specific local ports and use TCP 1434 as the name for the port).

• Repeat Steps 1 through 5.

• Select UDP instead of TCP.

• Select Specific local ports: and enter 1434.

• Repeat steps 8 through 11.

• Enter a name for the port, for example: UDP 1434.

You will see the entries in your Inbound Rules dialog box when you are done, as shown in the following screenshot:

Step 4: Configure the Service Applications

These steps are performed by the SharePoint 2013 administrator.

Apps rely on the App Management and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings service applications. These service applications use the multi-tenancy features to provide app permissions and create the subdomains for apps. Therefore, even if you are not hosting multiple tenants, you must still establish a name for the default tenant for your environment (any SharePoint site that is not associated with a tenant will be in the default tenant).

 Start the Subscription Settings, App Management, & Access services in Central Administration

• Verify that you are a member of the farm administrators group in Central Administration.

• In SharePoint 2013 Central Administration, click System Settings.

• On the System Settings page, under Servers, click Manage services on server.

• On the Services on Server page, select the server that will be handling the service, then next to Access Database Service 2010, click Start.

  • NOTE: This is optional only if the organization will be using Access 2010

• On the Services on Server page, select the server that will be handling the service, then next to Access Services, click Start.

• On the Services on Server page, select the server that will be handling the service, then next to App Management Service, click Start.

• On the Services on Server page, select the server that will be handling the service, then next to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service, click Start.

• Verify that the App Management and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings services are running. The following illustration shows the Services on Server page where you can verify that the services are running.

Ensure you have the right server for these services to be running.

Configure the Subscription Settings Service Application by using Windows PowerShell

If the Subscription Settings Service application is already created, skip to “Configure Permissions for the Subscription Settings Service Application” 

• Logon as the SharePoint Administrator account and ensure that account has the following memberships:

• • securityadmin fixed server role on the SharePoint SQL Server instance.

• • db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated on the SharePoint SQL Server instance.
  • Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.

An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 15 Products cmdlets.

• On the Start menu, click All Programs.

• Click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products.

• Right-click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell and choose Run As Administrator

• Open the SharePoint PowerShell command prompt, type the following commands, and press ENTER after each one to create the application pool:

  # Get the name of the managed account and sets it to the variable $account for later use.

  $account = Get-SPManagedAccount "<AccountName>"

  Where:

  <AccountName> is the name of the managed account in the SharePoint farm in domain\username format.

  # Create an application pool for the Subscription Settings service application.

  # Use a managed account as the security account for the application pool.

  # Stores the application pool as a variable for later use.

  $appPoolSubSvc = New-SPServiceApplicationPool -Name “Subscription Settings Service Application” -Account $account

• At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following commands, and press ENTER after each one to create the new service application and proxy:

  # Create the Subscription Settings service application, using the variable to associate it with the # application pool that was created earlier.

  # Stores the new service application as a variable for later use.

  $appSubSvc = New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplication -ApplicationPool $appPoolSubSvc -Name “Subscription Settings Service App” –DatabaseServer <sqlserver\instance> -DatabaseName <Subscription_Settings_Service_DB>

  Where:

  <SettingsServiceDB> is the name of the Subscription Settings service database.

  Example: Subscription_Settings_Service_DB

  <sqlserver\instance> is the name of the SQL Server 2013 instance for the SharePoint databases

  Example: SP2013-SQL

  # Create a proxy for the Subscription Settings service application.

  $proxySubSvc = New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplicationProxy -ServiceApplication $appSubSvc

• You can verify this by going to Central Admin, Application Management, and Manage Service Applications.

Configure permissions for the Subscription Settings Service Application

• Click to the right of the Subscription Settings Service Application and select Permissions from the Ribbon

• Add the Access Services Service account with Full Control permissions.

Configure the App Management service application by using Windows PowerShell

If the App Management Service Application is already configured, skip to “Configure Permissions for the App Management Service”

• Logon as the SharePoint Administrator account and ensure that account has the following memberships:

  • securityadmin fixed server role on the SharePoint SQL Server instance.

  • db_owner fixed database role on all databases that are to be updated on the SharePoint SQL Server instance.

  • Administrators group on the server on which you are running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets.

    An administrator can use the Add-SPShellAdmin cmdlet to grant permissions to use SharePoint 15 Products cmdlets.

• On the Start menu, click All Programs.

• Click Microsoft SharePoint 2013 Products.

• Click SharePoint 2013 Management Shell.

• At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following commands, and press ENTER after each one to create the application pool:

  # Get the name of the managed account and sets it to the variable $account for later use.

  $account = Get-SPManagedAccount "<AccountName>"

  Where:

  <AccountName> is the name of the managed account in the SharePoint farm using domain\username as the format of the account name.

  # Create an application pool for the Application Management service application.

  # Use a managed account as the security account for the application pool.

  # Stores the application pool as a variable for later use.

  $appPoolAppSvc = New-SPServiceApplicationPool -Name “App Management Service Application” -Account $account

• At the Windows PowerShell command prompt, type the following commands, and press ENTER after each one to create the new service application and proxy:

  # Create the Application Management service application, using the variable to associate it with # the application pool that was created earlier.

  # Stores the new service application as a variable for later use.

  $appAppSvc = New-SPAppManagementServiceApplication -ApplicationPool $appPoolAppSvc -Name AppServiceApp –DatabaseServer <sqlserver\instance> -DatabaseName <AppServiceDB>

  Where:

  <AppServiceDB> is the name of the App Management service database.

  Example: App_Management_Service_DB

  <sqlserver\instance> is the name of the instance housing the SharePoint databases

  Example: SP2013-SQL

# Create a proxy for the Application Management service application.

$proxyAppSvc = New-SPAppManagementServiceApplicationProxy -ServiceApplication $appAppSvc

• You can verify this by going to Central Admin, Application Management, Manage Service Applications

Configure permissions for the App Management Service Application

• Click to the right of the App Management Service App and choose Permissions

• Add the Access Services Service account with Full Control permissions

Configure Access Services & Access Services 2010 (backward capability) using Central Admin

For this step, we will be using the Access Services Account created by the domain administrator earlier. However we need to add the account to the managed accounts set up for SharePoint

• In Central Admin, go to Application Management, Manage Service Applications

• Click the New button and choose Access Services

• Provide a name such as Access Services Application

• Enter the name of the SQL Server\instance for the Access instance on SQL Server 2012

• Create a new application pool

• Select the Access Services Service Account in the drop-down under Configurable

• Click OK

• Follow steps 1-7 to create the Access Services 2010 Application (optional) creating an appropriate name and using the Access Services Service Account.

Configure permissions for the Access Services Application

While still on the Manage Service Applications page, we need to grant the Access Services Service Account full control to the Access Services Application database.

•  Click to the right of Access Services Application and choose Permissions button

• Add the Access Services Service Account with Full Control permissions.

• Click OK

• Follow steps 1-3 for the Access Services 2010 Application

 Set a new application database server

During SharePoint Server setup, you are prompted to assign a configuration database server for the SharePoint_Config database. By default, SharePoint Server assigns that same server as the application database server. If that server happens to be SQL Server 2008 R2, or if you will be using a separate instance of SQL Server 2012, you must assign a new application database server so that Access Services can point to a SQL Server 2012 instance.

• Go to Central Admin, Application Management, Manage Service Applications

• Click on Access Services Application

• The Manage Access Services 2013 screen appears, displaying the default settings for Session Management and Memory Utilization.

• Click New Application Database Server to expand the choices:

  

• Enter the name of the SQL Server 2012 instance you want to use.

  • This is the SQL instance created earlier for Access

• Select Windows authentication.

  Note: The account configuring this must have dbcreator and securityadmin privileges on the SQL Server.

  If you have multiple instances of SQL Server 2012, you can assign multiple Application Database Servers for Access Services by using PowerShell.

Configure the Secure Store Service Application

The Secure Store Service provides capability to store data (e.g. credential set) securely and associate it with a specific identity or group of identities. The SharePoint Secure Store Service manages authentication and authorization for Access apps. 

NOTE: If the Secure Store Service application is already configured all you need to do is to Refresh Key and skip this section. 

• Open SharePoint Central Administration.

• Select Application Management.

• Select Manage Service Applications.

• Click New and select Secure Store Service

• Provide a Service Application Name such as Secure Store Service Application

• Ensure the Database Server name is correct

• Leave the default Database Name

• Provide a Failover Database Server name if applicable

• Either use an existing application pool or create a new application pool

• Select the managed account for the Secure Store Service

• Select whether to enable auditing. If selected, the audit log is required to be a number of days between 1 and 365

• Click OK

 Generate the Secure Store Application Security Key

Access Services requires the Secure Store Service to be started and enabled. Access Services requires you to generate a Secure Store Service security key for it to run properly. 

Set the key for the Secure Store Service Account by following these steps:

• Open SharePoint Central Administration.

• Select Application Management.

• Select Manage Service Applications.

• Select Secure Store Service.

• Click Generate a New Key.

• Enter a Pass Phrase. The Pass Phrase for the key does not have to be the same as the one you entered when you installed SharePoint Server.

Configure permissions for the Secure Store Service Application

• Go to Central Admin on Manage Services Applications

• Click to the right of Secure Store Service Application and choose Permissions from the ribbon

• Add the Access Services Service account with Full Control permissions

Step 5: Add the Access Services Service Account to Managed Accounts

This procedure is performed by the SharePoint Administrator account on the SharePoint Server 

• In Central Admin, go to Security and choose Configure Managed Accounts

• Select Register Managed Account

• Type the Access services account in the form of domain\username

• Type the Password

• Click OK

Step 6: Configure Apps

These steps are performed by the SharePoint 2013 administrator. 

The app URL points to your app domain and a prefix that determines how each app is named. The following steps will configure app URLs for non-hosting environments by using Central Admin.

 Configure app URLs

• In Central Administration, click Apps.

• On the Apps page, click Configure App URLs.

• In the App domain box, type the isolated domain that you created for hosting apps.

  For example, ContosoApps.com or Contoso-Apps.com.

• In the App prefix box, type a name to use for the URL prefix for apps.

  For example, you could use “apps” as the prefix so that you would see a URL for each app such as “apps-12345678ABCDEF.ContosoApps.com”. The following illustration shows the Configure App URLs page after you have filled in the App domain and prefix.

  The Configure App URLs page in Central Administration shows the App domain and App prefix.

  

• Click OK.

• If you will install apps and you have changed the App prefix from a previous name (also known as the site subscription name), you must perform additional steps that involve restarting the World Wide Web Publishing Service (WWW Service) that hosts the apps.

Step 7: Install Required SQL Server 2012 Components on SharePoint Server 2013

This procedure is done by the SharePoint Administrator on the SharePoint Server(s) that will provide Access Services. 

In order for Access Services to function properly, it is highly recommended that you install the following SQL Server 2012 Feature Pack components on the SharePoint Server 2013 computer:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Local DB (SQLLocalDB.msi)

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier Application Framework (DACFramework.msi)

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client (sqlncli.msi)

• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Transact-SQL ScriptDom (sqldom.msi)

• Microsoft System CLR Types for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (SQLSysClrTypes.msi) 

  You can download the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Feature Pack components from the Microsoft Download Center. The files are also available as an attachment to this post. 

  The SQL Server 2012 Feature Pack components are needed for various essential features of Access 2013. LocalDB and the Load User Profile setting are needed for reading from external SharePoint lists and the Native Client is needed for loading saved app packages. 

  You will need to install all five (5) components on the server(s) where Access Services will be available. 

Step 8: Grant permissions to the config cache

The Access Services Service Account must have permissions to the config cache.  

• On the SharePoint servers, open Windows Explorer and browse to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\

• Right-click the Config folder and choose Properties

• On the Security tab, click Edit

• On Permissions for Config dialog box, click Add

• Enter the Access Services Service Account object and click Check Names

• Click OK

•  Back on the Permissions for Config, ensure the Access Services Service account is highlighted then remove all permissions EXCEPT Read and Write in the allowed column.

• Click OK two times to exit the properties of the Config folder.

• Repeat Steps 1-8 on each of the SharePoint servers in the farm

Step 9: Set permissions on the Web Application Database for the Access Services Service Account

The identity for the application pool that is running Access Services must have permissions to the web application.  

Launch the SharePoint Management Shell as Administrator and run the following script 

$w = Get-SPWebApplication PortalName

$w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity(“domain\username”)

$w.Update() 

Where:

PortalName is the name of the site where Access Services will be configured

Domain\username is the name of the domain and the Access Services Service Account 

EXAMPLE

$w = Get-SPWebApplication https://portal.fabrikaminc.local

$w.GrantAccessToProcessIdentity("fabrikaminc\spaccess")

$w.Update()

Step 10: Create an empty Web Application

This procedure is run on the SharePoint server with a SharePoint Administrator account.

Running Apps in SharePoint 2013 require a web application that doesn’t use host headers in order for the redirect to the apps domain to function properly. This web app will not have any site collections in it.

• In Central Admin, go to Manage Web Applications

• Click New

• Create a new IIS web site and provide a Name

• Change the Port to 80

• Leave the Host Header field blank

• Scroll down to the Application Pool section and create a new application pool

• Change the managed account to the correct account

• Click OK

WARNING!!!!! If this fails and you receive this error, follow the work-around.

 Work-Around

• Follow steps 1-4

• In step 5, put in the name of the server that is running the App service

• Continue with steps 6-8

• Open IIIS Manager and expand Sites

• Select the site created for Apps and choose Bindings

• Select the binding and choose Edit

• Delete the Host Name and leave it blank, click OK then Close

 NOTE: Follow steps 4-7 on all the SharePoint servers in the farm

Step 11: IIS Application Pool Load User Profile Setting

This procedure is performed by the SharePoint Administrator. 

A change to the IIS Application Pool for Access Services is necessary for you to be able to open linked SharePoint tables. You must set the Load User Profile setting to true because ADS requires a user profile to load LocalDB. A restart of the server(s) is necessary after you change the setting. 

•  Click Start and type IIS. Select Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

• Select the server name and click the + (plus) sign to expand the tree.

• Select Application Pools.

• Determine which App Pool to modify

  • Sort the Application Pools by their Identity by selecting the Identity column header

  • Locate the Identity of the Access Services Service Account

  • Right click the application pool and select View Applications

  • Expand the Physical Path

    • If the physical path shows AccessDataServices, this is the application pool you want to modify as it’s for Access Services

    • If the physical path shows AccessDataServer, this is the application pool for the Access Services 2010 application and you DO NOT want to modify this app pool.

      

• Once you’ve located the correct App Pool, right click the application pool and select Advanced Settings…

• In the Process Model section, click the dropdown for the Load User Profile setting and select True.

  

• Click OK and restart the server.

Step 12: Configure permissions on the App Management Database

While the SharePoint servers are rebooting, have the SQL Server Admin account run this procedure on the SQL Server 2010 Instance housing the SharePoint databases.

• Launch SQL Server Management Studio

• Connect to the instance housing the SharePoint databases

• Expand security

• Expand Logins

• Double-click the Access Services Service account

• Select User Mapping on the left

• Select the App Management Service database

• Add the following permissions for the Access Services Service account

  • Db_owner

  • Db_securityadmin

  • SPDataAccess

 Step 13: Create an Access app

The procedures for this need to be done on a client machine as a regular user. 

If you haven't already done so, install Office 2013 on a computer other than the server that is running SharePoint Server 2013. Office 2013 requires Windows 7 or Windows 8. 

• Start Access 2013 and click Custom web app.

• In the Web Location box, enter the URL of the site where you want to install the app.

  • Example: https://portal.fabrikaminc.local/sites/IT

• Click Create

  
  

   

• A dialog box will show it is connecting to the web service

• You will be prompted to enter your credentials

  

You have successfully created an Access app and all you have to do is add tables and configure it.

NOTE: This post does not go into how to configure the actual tables in Access Services.

Summary

As you can tell, there are lots and lots and lots of steps with coordination among several people to ensure a successful deployment of Access Services.

 Resources

Access Services 2013 Setup for an On-Premises Installation

Set up and configure Access Services for Access apps in SharePoint Server 2013

Configure an environment for apps for SharePoint (SharePoint 2013)

White Paper: Office 2013--Access Services Setup for an On-Premises Installation

Enable apps in AAM or host-header environments for SharePoint 2013

Additions

How to: Create and customize a web app in Access 2013

A special shout-out goes to Mark Kordelski & David Wollerman - my colleagues @ Microsoft

SQL2012FeatureComponents.zip

1. In Computer Management, under Local Users and Groups, add the user(s) to the following Groups:
   1. Remote Desktop Users
   2. WinRMRemoteWMIUsers__
   3. WSS_ADMIN_WPG
   4. Remote Management Users
2. Still in Computer Management, under Services and Applications, select Services and start Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) if it's not started and ensure it is set to Automatic.
3. Open the Local Group Policy Editor by typing gpedit.msc at a command prompt
   1.  Go to Computer Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> System -> Credentials Delegation and double-click "Allow delegating fresh credentials"
   2. Set this to Enabled, then click the Show button under options.
   3. In the Show Contents dialog box, add the value WSMAN/*.domain.com changing domain.com to match your domain.
   4. Click OK and OK then close the Local Group Policy Editor
4. Run the SharePoint Management Shell as Administrator
5. Type Enable-PSRemoting -Force
6. Type Enable-WSManCredSSP –Role Server
7. Type winrm set winrm/config/winrs '@{MaxShellsPerUser="25"}'
8. Type winrm set winrm/config/winrs '@{MaxMemoryPerShellMB="600"}'
9. Type Get-SPShellAdmin
   1. This should only return all the users who have the SharePoint_Shell_Access role
10. Type Add-SPShellAdmin -UserName Domain\Username -Database (Get-SPContentDatabase -Identity “ContentDatabaseName”)
    1. Replace Domain\Username with the user needing access
    2. Replace ContentDatabaseName with one of the Content Databases
       1. You will need to run this command for all content databases for the user(s) who need access

       2. NOTE-> To grant access to all content databases use the following command:

          Get-SPDatabase | Add-SPShellAdmin DOMAIN\UserName

11. Type Get-SPShellAdmin
    1. The user you added should now be listed
12. Type Set-PSSessionConfiguration -Name Microsoft.PowerShell32 –ShowSecurityDescriptorUI
    1. This will open up a dialog box. Add the user(s) with Read and Execute permissions then click OK
    2. Run the command again to ensure the permissions were applied correctly

1. Open Computer Management and select Services under Services and Applications. Set the Windows Remote Management (WS-Management) service to automatic and start the service.
2. Open Windows PowerShell as Administrator
3. Type Enable-WSManCredSSP -Role client -DelegateComputer “SharePointServerName” 
   1. Replace SharePointServerName with the FQDN of the SharePoint server
4. Type $cred=get-Credential
   1. Enter the credentials of the user logged onto the client machine
5. Type $s=new-PSsession “SharePointServerName” -authentication credssp -credential $cred
   1. Replace SharePointServerName with the FQDN of the SharePoint server
   2. NOTE: If this fails with an "access denied" error, re-run Step 10 on the server to enable configuration of the x64 PowerShell by running Set-PSSessionConfiguration -Name Microsoft.PowerShell32 –ShowSecurityDescriptorUI
6. Type Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell;}
7. Type Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {get-SPContentDatabase}
   1. This will return all the content databases in your SharePoint farm and ensure you have access
8. Type Invoke-Command -Session $s -ScriptBlock {get-spserviceinstance}
   1. This will return the SharePoint service instances and ensure you have access
9. Type Enter-PSSession -session $s

Maximum upload file size

This section describes the upload file size limitation, tells how to decide what the maximum upload file size limit should be, and how to configure it.

The maximum upload file size is a setting that is used by the SharePoint Server 2013 web application that specifies the maximum size of a file that a user can upload to the server. When a new web application is created, SharePoint Server 2013 sets the default maximum upload size to 50 MB. If a user tries to upload a file larger than the specified maximum upload size, the upload will fail.

I went to my test 2013 farm (build 15.0.4569.1000) and, sure enough, the Maximum Upload Size is 250 MB.

NOTE: To check the settings, go to Central Admin -> Application Management -> Manage Web Applications. Click to the right of the web application then choose General Settings -> General Settings.

Apparently this change took place with the August 2013 CU for SharePoint 2013. Therefore, if you don’t want users to be able to automatically upload files this large, you will need to manually change this to a value within your business needs.

I have also contacted the TechNet team to have the article updated.

After doing some research on the Internet, I came across a great blog describing, in detail, all the ins and outs of this process. For complete information, please visit https://www.powershellpro.com/powershell-tutorial-introduction/powershell-wmi-methods/.

The down and dirty way to change the TCP/IP settings of one network adapter, including multiple DNS server IP addresses, is to use the following PowerShell script. Be sure to change your IP numbers!!

$NICs = Get-WMIObject Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration | where{$_.IPEnabled -eq “TRUE”}
{
$NICS.EnableStatic(“192.168.171.42″, “255.255.255.0″)
$NICS.SetGateways(“192.168.171.1″)
$DNSServers = “198.102.234.125″,”198.102.234.126″
$NICS.SetDNSServerSearchOrder($DNSServers)
$NICS.SetDynamicDNSRegistration(“TRUE”)
$NICS.SetWINSServer(“198.102.234.125″, “198.102.234.126″)
}

This web service site is https://www.WebserviceX.NET.

 Figure 1:WebserviceX_01.jpg

As you can see, they have over 70 web services available. In the search box, I typed in zip to see what was available. The search results produced a link to “USA Zip code Information”.

Figure 2:WebserviceX_02.jpg

BINGO! Exactly what I’m looking for.  Now to use this service in an InfoPath 2010 form on a SharePoint Server 2010 farm.

NOTE: The following detailed steps take into consideration those readers who do not know how to customize an InfoPath form within SharePoint or how to add SOAP Web Services to the form. If you just  want the nitty gritty of how to use the USZip web service in the form, skip to this section.

For this demonstration, I created a “contacts” list in SharePoint called MyContacts. (Site Actions -> More Options -> Contacts) When the list gets created, choose either “Customize Form” or “List Settings -> Form Settings”.  

Figure 3:WebserviceX_03.jpg

This will allow you to open the form in InfoPath 2010 so we can use the USZip web service.

Figure 4:MyContactsForm_01.jpg

NittyGritty

Now that we have added the USZip web service to the form, we need to change the zip code binding then query the web service for the city and state.

Be sure to save your form so as to not lose any of your hard work. Go to the location of where the form was saved and double-click to open the form. Type in a zip code then press the Tab key and watch the magic work.

Figure 23:MycontactsForm_21.jpg

Caveats

In my testing, when designing the form and going to Preview (F5), the form opens but with errors. The only way I could get this to work was to open the form from the saved version.  Below are the errors I received when trying to use the form in Preview mode.

Figure 24:PreviewMode_01.jpg

Figure 25:PreviewMode_02.jpg

Figure 26:PreviewMode_03.jpg

Figure 27:PreviewMode_04.jpg

Publishing the Form to SharePoint

I did what a lot of people will do when they publish the form back to the SharePoint list. From the InfoPath design page, I simply went to File -> Publish -> SharePoint List ensuring the correct list was shown. Next, I went to the MyContacts list in SharePoint and clicked “Add New Item”.

 All of a sudden the form that WAS working isn’t.

Figure 28:NewItem_01.jpg

The following text is the full error details:

 A query to retrieve form data cannot be completed because this action would violate cross-domain restrictions.

If this form template is published to a SharePoint document library, cross-domain access for user form templates must be enabled under InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Central Administration, and the data connection settings must be stored in a UDC file in a data connection library in the same site collection.

If this is an administrator-approved form template, the security level of the form must be set to full trust, or the data connection settings must be stored in a UDC file by using the Manage data connection files option under InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Central Administration.

An entry has been added to the Windows event log of the server.

Log ID:6932

Correlation ID:9e347c24-07ed-4df1-b8e9-48d0b4f18aac

In my case, the event was NOT added to the Windows event log but it probably wouldn’t have given me any more information anyway. The SharePoint ULS logs had the same error information as the dialog box. Looking at the dialog box error message shows two (2) possible reasons for the error along with resolutions. I marked in bold the key points.

(A)

If this form template is published to a SharePoint document library, cross-domain access for user form templates must be enabled under InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Central Administration, and the data connection settings must be stored in a UDC file in a data connection library in the same site collection.

(B)

If this is an administrator-approved form template, the security level of the form must be set to full trust, or the data connection settings must be stored in a UDC file by using the Manage data connection files option under InfoPath Forms Services in SharePoint Central Administration.

Since my InfoPath form is for a particular site collection, I don’t need full trust. All I need to do is enable cross-domain data access in Central Admin and add the data connection file to my site collections Data Connection Library. Simple, right?

InfoPath Forms Services is in the General Application Settings within Central Admin.

1)      Browse to the InfoPath Forms Services and chose Configure InfoPath Forms Services, check the box to “Allow cross-domain data access . . .”

Figure 29:ConfigureService_01.jpg

2)      If you don’t already have a Data Connection Library in your site collection, go to Site Actions -> More Options and choose Data Connection Library. In my case, my Data Connection Library is called Data Connections.

3)      Browse to the Data Connections library and copy the URL

a.       You can follow How to: Create and Use a Data Connection Library for this

4)      Since I already created the InfoPath form and had the data connection already there, I opened the form then followed from step 7 in the section “To create a new data connection file in InfoPath” to convert the data connection.

5)      After that, I went to MyContacts list and the form opens and works fine.

Click on the links for more information about the InfoPath Forms Service and Working with Data Connections.

A special shout out to one of my colleagues, Scott Heim, for getting me going in the right direction on this!

P.S. I have attached my MyContacts.xsn for those who might find this useful

MyContacts.xsn

I use Microsoft Lync 2010 for conference calls with my customers and other communications where we can share our screens and so forth, but never realized it also offered recording services!

To produce a demonstration with voice and video simply follow these steps:

If you don’t see any menu options at the top, then select the arrow next to the gear and select “Show Menu Bar”

Once the menu bar populates, select “Meet Now”

A pop-up box opens called “Join Meeting Now” then select “Use Lync” and click ok

Note: I distorted the names and pictures to protect the innocent :-)

Next, click the “Share” menu item and choose what you want to share.

Now that you have sharing started, it’s time to start the recording. On the menu bar at the top, choose “Actions”, then select “Start Recording”

Once you have started recording, clicking the Actions menu item again allows you to stop, pause, and manage your recordings.

Once you have stopped your recording, provide the necessary information in the “Stop Recording” dialog box and click OK.

After you click OK, the “Microsoft Lync Recording Manager” opens and you can see all of your recordings.

Hope this helps!

Anne

We have several lists: Resources, Projects, Regions, Skills, Feedback, Issues, etc.

One of the suggestions that came through was the ability to create a document set for their project. "A document set is a group of related documents that can be created in one step and then managed as a single entity."

A previous post of mine, “How to Create an InfoPath Form to Auto Populate Data in SharePoint 2010”, demonstrated creating the form for our PFE’s to create new projects using InfoPath 2010. By modifying that form, I created a Yes/No value to see if a user wanted to create a document set or not. Next, using SharePoint Designer 2010, I created a workflow based on the projects list to see if the Yes/No column contained a “yes”, and if so, create a document set and set the name of the document set the same as the title of the project. Let’s see how to do this.

Steps we need to do:

• Create a document set
• Create a document library
• Add a column to the list and update the InfoPath form
• Create the workflow
• Verify the workflow association & test
• Troubleshooting

Create a Document Set

1)      Launch the site and go to Site Actions, Site Settings, and choose Site Content Types under Galleries

Figure 1: Site content types

2)      On the Site Content types page, choose Create at the top

Figure 2: Create content type

3)      On the New Site Content Type page, type a name for the Content Type (i.e. ProjectsDocSet), select the parent content type from the “Document Set Content Types” with the parent content type of “Document Set”. You can either leave it in the existing Custom Content Type group or create a new one.

Figure 3: New site content

Create a Document Library

4)      Launch the site and go to Site Actions, More Options. We need to create a new Document Library that will contain our Document Sets. From the Create dialog box, choose Document Library and name the Document Library.

Figure 4: Create document library

5)      Within the document library, choose Library Settings, Advanced Settings. Since document sets are based on content types, we need to allow management of content types. For my purpose, I don’t want to allow new folders to be available so I choose “no” in that section and “no” to the datasheet settings.

Figure 5: Advanced Settings

6)      In the Document Library Settings page, under Content Types, click “Add from existing site content types”.

 Figure 6: Add from existing content types

7)      In the Add Content Types page, select ProjectsDocSet from the Available Site Content Types and click Add, then OK

Figure 7: Add content types

8)      Back at the Document Library Settings page, under Content Types, choose “Change New Button Order and Default Content Type”.  For my purpose, I didn’t want anyone to be able to upload a document and only wanted the document set available.

Figure 8: Change new button order and default content type

Figure 9: Content type order

9)     We should now have the Document Set as visible and the default content type.

Figure 10: Content Type

Figure 11: New Document

Add Column & Update the InfoPath 2010 Form

10)  Go to the list properties of the Projects list and create a column called DocSet. Set the type as a Yes/No check box with a default value of “No”.

Figure 12: Create Column

11)  On the Projects list, choose List under List Tools then select Customize Form.

Figure 13: Customize Form

12)  The form will open in InfoPath 2010

Figure 14: Open form

Notice the new DocSet field on the right. We have to add the DocSet field to the form so users can select the form.

13)  Place the cursor at the end of the last line after “semi-colon” (shown by the arrow) and press the tab key. This will create a new row in the form.

Figure 15: New row

14)  Click DocSet on the right and drag the field to the colored column on the new row.

Figure 16: Drag DocSet

15)  Next we need to add some text to the form so it makes sense to the user. Click in the colored area to un-highlight the field name.

Figure 17: Un-highlight

16)  Erase the word “DocSet” and add your own text similar to the following in both columns of the new row.

Figure 18: Add row text

17)   Now we need to publish the form. From the menu bar, click File, Publish, and click the SharePoint List button.

Figure 19: Publish Form

You should get a dialog box (shown above) with your InfoPath form in the background showing the form was successfully published. Click OK on the dialog box and close out of InfoPath. You will be taken back to the list in SharePoint.

18)   Let’s verify the form is correct when opening. From the list, click Items under List Tools and click New Item.

Figure 20: New item

Figure 21: New Item 2

Super! Now, we’re ready to create the workflow that will actually create the Document Set.

Create Workflow to Automatically Create a Document Set

19)   Launch Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 (SPD) and open the site.

Figure 22: Open site

20)   Once the site opens in SPD, click Workflows under Navigation, Site Objects.

Figure 23: Select Workflows

21)   Once Workflows is selected, the Ribbon shows the Workflow options. Click List Workflow and select the list that will be used for this workflow – in our case it is the PFELaunch Projects list.

Figure 24: Select projects workflow

22)   Next, the Create List Workflow dialog box opens. Type a Name for the workflow and (optional) description, and then click OK.

Figure 25: Create list workflow

23)   In the Workflow editor, we need to put in the logic on when to create the document set.

Figure 26: Create workflow 01

Thinking out loud, here’s what we want to do:

IF DocSet from the Projects list is Yes, THEN create the document set using the same name as the title of the project;   otherwise do not create a DocSet for the project.

NOTE: You cannot use the following characters in the Project Title or else the workflow will fail.

: / \ : * ? " < > | # { } % & ~ or tab characters and multiple periods.

a)      In the section where it says “Start typing . . .”, type the letter “I” and press <enter>. Listings of all the possible options are shown. Select “If current item field equals value”.

Figure 27: Create workflow 02

Figure 28: Create workflow 03

24)   Click the “field” hyperlink and scroll down and select DocSet.

Figure 29: Create Workflow 04

Figure 30: Create Workflow 05

25)   Next, select the “value” hyperlink and choose “Yes”

Figure 31: Create workflow 06

26)   Remembering our logic from before: IF DocSet from the Projects list is Yes, THEN create the document set using the same name as the title of the project, we have set the first condition – next we need to create the document set.

27)   Below our “If” statement, type create and press enter to see our list of choices – choose “Create List Item”

Figure 32: Create Workflow 07

28)   After you choose “Create List Item”, you screen should look like this:

Figure 33: Create Workflow 08

29)   Click on “this list” hyperlink, select the down arrow next to List and choose ProjectDocuments.

Figure 34: ProjectsDocSet

The “Create New List Item” dialog box will now show the list as ProjectDocuments with the following fields:

30)   Highlight “Content Type ID” and select “Modify”. Change the value of “Content Type ID” to ProjectsDocSet.

Figure 35: Content Type ID

31)   Select Path and Name (Red arrow) and click Modify (Blue arrow). When the “Value Assignment” dialog pops up, select the function button (fx),(Purple arrow) then choose Title from the Field from source selection (Green arrow).

Figure 36: Create New List Item

32)   Once you have selected “Title” from the “Field from source” selection, click OK to close the “Lookup for String” dialog box, and then click OK at the “Value Assignment” dialog box. Your “Create New List Item” dialog box should now look like this:

Figure 37: New List item

33)   Click OK at the Create New List Item dialog box – the completed workflow is now set.

34)   From the breadcrumb at the top of SPD, click ProjectsCreateDocSet to go to the information and settings page of the workflow.

Figure 38: Create Workflow 10

35)   Select the Start Option of “Start workflow automatically when an item is created” and “Start workflow automatically when an item is changed.”

Figure 39: Create Workflow 11

36)   Click “Publish” on the ribbon to publish the workflow to the projects list.

Figure 40: Create Workflow 09

37)   Close SharePoint Designer 2010

Verify the Workflow Association & Test

38)   Launch the site and go to the projects list

39)   Check to make sure the workflow is associated with the list by going into the List Settings and selecting Workflow Settings.

Figure 41: Verify workflow association

40)   Looks like the workflow is associated with the list correctly – now it’s time to try it out and make sure it works as planned.

41)   Go back to the list and select Items from the List Tools, then New Item. Complete the form and click Save making sure to check the box to create a document set.

Figure 42: New Project 01

Figure 43: New Project 02

42)   We have successfully created a new project with the DocSet set to yes. Let’s check our ProjectDocSets library to make sure the document set was created.

Figure 44: Document Sets Completed

Troubleshooting

If you are a site and/or site collection administrator, you will need to work with your SharePoint administrators to troubleshoot why the workflow is not working. However, I want to give you some things to look at as this happened to me when I first created this workflow.

If you’re confident your workflow is set up properly along with your document set and lists, then the SharePoint administrator needs to look at the ULS logs. Ask them to check for a category called “Workflow Infrastructure” to see if they can find any unexpected or critical errors.

For example, in my initial situation, I couldn’t get the workflow to create a document set. In looking at the ULS logs, I came across this unexpected error.

 Workflows will not work if the account creating the project is the SharePoint System Administrator. 

I hope this post helps others out there who are trying to accomplish this task.