ISSUE:

We know that SharePoint does not allow anonymous users to submit InfoPath forms to Form libraries. This feature is by design. But, there are several cases when we need anonymous users to log on to our SharePoint external-facing sites and submit request forms. In this case, the by-design behavior can act as a functionality-limitation.

CAUSE:

By design, SharePoint does not allow anonymous users to submit InfoPath forms.

SOLUTION.

There is an excellent feature in SharePoint 2010 which allows us to customize SharePoint lists with InfoPath. Using this feature, we can customize our InfoPath form templates for the lists and have anonymous users submit forms to these lists.

It is a very easy to configure and solves the big problem in a few steps. Let me show you how:

1. Create a SharePoint web application and site and configure anonymous access on the web application level:

Go to Central administration –> application management –> manage web application and select the web application.

Then click on authentication providers on the top ribbon.

Select authentication providers:

Now, check the option to use “anonymous access”.

2. Next , we need to configure anonymous access on the site level.

   This can be done from site actions –> site permissions on the site.

   Select “entire web site”

this will enable us to browse to the site anonymously (you will see the “sign in” option on the top right corner of the site, instead of the user display name).

When we are signed into the site, the display name is seen as :

For the anonymous site, we see “sign in” option:

3. Next, let us create a new custom list on the SharePoint site and configure anonymous access on the new list, as needed.

  Go to the list settings –> list permissions and click on “stop inheriting permissions”.

Now, grant them anonymous access with add and view permissions (to know more about anonymous access and security related to anonymous access, please read this)

Now, the list will be anonymously accessible and anonymous users should be able to view and add items.

4. Next, let us customize this list with InfoPath.

  Go to the top ribbon and select “customize form”

It will open the form in InfoPath, where you can work on customizing the form as per your requirements and then publish the newly updated and customized form back to the list.

anonymous users should now be able to successfully submit forms to this new list, as needed..!!  :)

ISSUE:

You are unable to edit a website in SharePoint Designer. You get the error "The web site has been configured to disallow editing with SharePoint Designer."

CAUSE:

Your site does not open in SharePoint designer. The error is as above.

One possible reason is that this site has Designer disabled (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/940958)

Another cause (less likely to guess) is that this site was created using a template saved from a site where Designer was disabled.

RESOLUTION:

- One straight forward way of doing it is from the UI (Which did not work in my case though :(  )

  1.  Right-click the ONET.XML file ( at \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\<Service>\xml) for the site definition and open it with Notepad

       If you see “DisableWebDesignFeatures=wdfopensite” section in the one.xml that means your site has been configured to disallow SharePoint designer.

      You can remove this section from the file and should be able to access the site in designer now

2.   If you are unable to get rid of “DisableWebDesignFeatures=wdfopensite” or find the correct onet.xml corresponding to your site definition, here is a simple script I put together to see if Designer is disabled on the site using the property vti_disablewebdesignfeatures2 and update it as required.

Download here :

The Code in the script is :

=================

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

namespace EnableDisableSPD

{

    class Program

    {

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            Console.Write("Enter the Site URL: ");

            string siteURL = Console.ReadLine();

            //Console.Write("Enter Web Relative Path: ");

            //string webURL = Console.ReadLine();

            using (SPSite site = new SPSite(siteURL))

            {

                using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())

                {

                    try

                    {

                        string propVal = "NULL";

                        if (web.Properties["vti_disablewebdesignfeatures2"] != null)

                        {

                            propVal = web.Properties["vti_disablewebdesignfeatures2"];

                        }

                        Console.WriteLine("Current Value of Property vti_disablewebdesignfeatures2 is : " + propVal);

                        Console.WriteLine(@"Do you want to proceed ....(Y\N)");

                        string response = Console.ReadLine();

                        if (response.ToLower() == "y")

                        {

                            web.Properties["vti_disablewebdesignfeatures2"] = null;

                            web.Properties.Update();

                            web.Update();

                            Console.WriteLine("Web Property updated to allow Designer ....");

                        }

                        else

                        {

                            Console.WriteLine("Exiting without update ...");

                        }

                    }

                    catch (Exception e)

                    {

                        Console.WriteLine(e.ToString());

                    }

                }

            }

        }

    }

}

After executing the above code, we should be able to open the site in Designer as needed..

ISSUE

While trying to connect to  external content types for a  SharePoint site using SharePoint designer the following error is encountered -  "The Business Data Connectivity Metadata Store is currently unavailable”

SYMPTOMS:

Getting the error "The Business Data Connectivity Metadata Store is currently unavailable" in SharePoint designer while trying to connect to the external content types.

Even after checking the first few basic steps (Checking BDC service is started, we are able to browse to the BDC service application and see the external content types here, Checking BDC permissions and even creating a new BDC) if you still get the same issue

In this scenario, it is best to capture a fiddler trace.

The fiddler trace (fiddler tool available at https://fiddler2.com/) would show  a 404 for the BdcAdminService

# Result Protocol Host URL Body Caching Content-Type Process Comments Custom

75 404 HTTP <siteurl>/_vti_bin/BDCAdminService.svc 0   spdesign:10080 [#55]  

# Result Protocol Host URL Body Caching Content-Type Process Comments Custom

76 404 HTTP <siteurl>/_vti_bin/BDCAdminService.svc /_vti_bin/BDCAdminService.svc 0   spdesign:10080 [#56]

RESOLUTION:

Collect “Failed Request tracing” logs (as Fiddler would only show us a 404 for the BDCAdmin service) and SharePoint ULS logs would not be very useful for the issue.

(Refer to https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc731798(v=ws.10).aspx and https://www.iis.net/learn/application-frameworks/running-classic-asp-applications-on-iis-7-and-iis-8/using-failed-request-tracing-to-troubleshoot-classic-asp-errors to understand failed request tracing)

From the Failed Request tracing logs, You should see something like:

“Request filtering module” in IIS is giving a 404. 404.10 status code implies that the “Request header it too long” (Refer https://www.iis.net/configreference/system.webserver/security/requestfiltering/requestlimits  )

Check the  ApplicationHost.Config file at the following location on server C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\config

look for the headerlimit section. The header limit was set to:

<headerLimits>
                       <add header="Range" sizeLimit="4294967295" />
                        <add header="Content-Type" sizeLimit="100" />
                    </headerLimits>

The header limit set here causes the issue.

Remove the headerlimit section from the ApplicationHost.config file and do an IISReset.

Works like a charm! :-)