Some Windows 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

I downloaded the Windows 8 Consumer Preview today, a day after it was released. I succeeded in getting it installed on an Oracle VirtualBox version 4.1.8. It was a fairly painless exercise.

It is quite a challenge getting used to the absence of the start button. I dug up the following shortcuts that make it easier for me to navigate this new O/S:

Peek into Desktop >> Win + ,
Start Narrator >> Win + Enter
List of Narrator Commands >> Win + ALT + F1
Stop Narrator >> Win + ALT + ESC
All Charms >> Win + C
Search Charm >> Win + Q
Share Charm >> Win + H
Start Charm >> Win
Device Charm >> Win + K
Settings Charm >> Win + I
Multiple Display Options >> Win + P
Search Apps >> Win + Q
Windows Explorer on Desktop >> Win + E
Search Settings >> Win + W
Search Files >> Win + F
Show Desktop >> Win + D
Start Button Functionality >> Win + X
Close an app >> Win + F4
Cycle through notifications >> Win + V
Cycle through applications >> Win + Tab
Toggle AppBar >> Win + Z
Swap from a snapped app to full screen >> Win + J

I'll update this list as I learn more. Meantime, enjoy !!!

March 17, 2012 - Found this great article on "Windows 8 How To": http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alfredth/archive/2012/03/10/dr-z-s-windows-8-how-tos.aspx

How do you install a SharePoint 2010 Feature that appears to be missing.

Similar to a previous post, I got the following error while creating the "WIKI Publishing" site collection is SharePoint 2010:

Dependency feature with id 14aafd3a-fcb9-4bb7-9ad7-d8e36b663bbd for feature 'BaseSite' (id: b21b090c-c796-4b0f-ac0f-7ef1659c20ae) is not installed

I determined that 14aafd3a-fcb9-4bb7-9ad7-d8e36b663bbd refers to a feature named "LocalSiteDirectoryControl" from this site:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mcsnoiwb/archive/2010/01/07/features-and-their-guid-s-in-sp2010.aspx

I then executed the following command to activate the feature.

INSTALL-SPFEATURE -Path "LocalSiteDirectoryControl"

Thereafter, it was smooth sailing.

How do you find out the name of a feature from the GUID in SharePoint 2010?

While trying to import an exported site onto a different SharePoint instance, I encountered the following error:

The site template requires that the Feature {d57f4817-f1f9-42aa-863c-139804c731b0} be installed in the farm or site collection.

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Correlation ID: 59577f16-fffc-422c-8b16-458cfb62adaf

I needed to figure out what feature was missing on the destination SharePoint 2010 instance. The following Powershell command came in handy:

PS C:\> GET-SPFeature -Identity "d57f4817-f1f9-42aa-863c-139804c731b0"

DisplayName                    Id                                       Scope
-----------                    --                                       -----
FBAManagement                  d57f4817-f1f9-42aa-863c-139804c731b0     Site

It turned out that I had installed a codeplex "Forms Based Authentication Management" feature on the source site that facilitates managing forms-based authentication users with the aspnetdb.mdf database.

Easy way to create a site template in SharePoint 2010

Even though it is not as obvious as in SharePoint 2007, here's an easy way to create a site template for a site that you would like to reuse:

1) Go to the site that you want to create a site template for. Example: http://sp.abc.com/marketing/default.aspx

2)  Add the "_layouts/SaveTmpl.aspx" to the site's URL. Example: http://sp.abc.com/marketing/_layouts/SaveTmpl.aspx

3) This brings you back to the familiar dialog from the SharePoint 2007 days. The site template is saved in the
 root site Solutions gallery under: Site Actions >> Galleries >> Solutions

Cannot find "Team Site" on SharePoint 2010

I installed a SharePoint 2010 web site based on the "Publishing Site" template. When I came to create sub sites I could not find the many templates (including Team Site) that I was accustomed to under SharePoint 2007. It turned out that they included but need to be brought to the surface. Here's how you can make them available:

Site Actions >>  Look and Feel >> Page layouts and site templates

All the templates are in the first listbox. Add them then click OK. Voila... you can now create new sites based on this template.

LINQ to SQL not working on SharePoint 2010

I recently created a user control that was hosted on a SharePoint 2010 server using the Smart Part. This user control contained a simple LINQ to SQL statement that looked like this:

int count = (from address in db.JobsDistribution
                 where address.Active == true
                 select address).Count();

I was getting a compile error: Missing ; on line xx.

It turned that the default compiler used by the SharePoint 2010 web application was .NET Framework 2.0. This issue was fixed by adding the following section in the web.config file of the application within the <configuration> section:

<system.codedom>
    <compilers>
      <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider,System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" warningLevel="4">
        <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/>
        <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>
      </compiler>
      <compiler language="vb;vbs;visualbasic;vbscript" extension=".vb" type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" warningLevel="4">
        <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/>
        <providerOption name="OptionInfer" value="true"/>
        <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>
      </compiler>
    </compilers>
  </system.codedom>

Dealing with error "Login failed for user ‘IIS APPPOOL\DefaultAppPool" on Windows 7.

The cause of this error is that a login is being attempted to a database with the "ApplicationPoolIdentity" account. In a development environment, you would prefer using your credentials to log into a SQL Express database. This can be fixed by doing the following:

• Go to IIS Manager
• Click on Application Pools
• Click on the offending application pool
• Click on the "Advanced Settings ..." link on the right-hand-side
• Find the "Identity" property and change it from "ApplicationPoolIdentity" to "LocalSystem"