Setting Custom ListFormWebPart Parameters in List Definition

In order to set custom ListFormWebPart parameters when defining list definition schema, you need to modify Form tag in schema.xml. Please refer to the following sample, used to add CSRRenderMode property to ListFormWebPart and set it to ServerRender:

<Form Type="NewForm" Url="NewForm.aspx" SetupPath="pages\form.aspx" WebPartZoneID="Main" UseDefaultListFormWebPart="False">
    <WebParts>
      <AllUsersWebPart WebPartZoneID="Main" WebPartOrder="1">
        <![CDATA[
<WebPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2">
  <Assembly>Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, 
         PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly>                         
  <TypeName>Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.ListFormWebPart</TypeName>
  <PageType>PAGE_NEWFORM</PageType>
  <CSRRenderMode xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2/ListForm">ServerRender</CSRRenderMode>

</WebPart>]]>
      </AllUsersWebPart>
    </WebParts>
</Form>

You can change Microsoft.SharePoint assembly reference to 14.0.0.0 or 12.0.0.0 to use it with SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2007 respectfully.

SharePoint SPSiteDataQuery DateTime Results Timezone

When working with SPSiteDataQuery keep in mind that all DateTime results are being returned either in current user profile regional settings timezone, or under root web regional settings timezone, depending on the settings. It will ignore all the sub web regional settings.

Anonymous Access and TaxonomyWebTaggingControl WebTaggingDialog

Trying to use TaxonomyWebTaggingControl with anonymous user? Control works fine, but the popup dialog (WebTaggingDialog). It will ask you for authentication no matter what. The reason is that it is an application page, which by default does not allow anonymous access.

So far I was able to find only one way to fix it, and it is described in Ironworks blog. You have to modify actual application page (WebTaggingDialog.aspx) located in LAYOUTS folder, by adding the following code:

<script runat="server" type="text/C#">
protected override bool AllowAnonymousAccess
{ 
    get
    { 
        return true; 
    } 
}
</script>

Please remember that this change is not supported by Microsoft and could be overridden during service pack deployment.

SharePoint 20+ Items Lookup Positioning Issue

I was working with custom master page and stumbled on interesting problem, related to SharePoint lookup field with 20+ elements being rendered in IE in wrong place. There is plenty of information on how this control behaves (i.e. here), but not that much about how it actually works. I had to figure it out, in order to fix my problem, so hopefully this would help someone ;)Please read Boris Gomiunik's blog post before proceeding, cause it explains the basics of it.

When you click on the lookup field, the following script is called from core.js:

function ShowDropdown(textboxId)
{ULSsa6:;
 var ctrl=document.getElementById(textboxId);
 var str=ctrl.value;
 var opt=EnsureSelectElement(ctrl, ctrl.opt);
 ctrl.match=FilterChoice(opt, ctrl, "", ctrl.value);
 ctrl.focus();
}


function EnsureSelectElement(ctrl, strId)
{ULSsa6:;
 var select=document.getElementById(strId);
 if (select==null)
 {
  select=document.createElement("SELECT");
  ctrl.parentNode.appendChild(select);
  select.outerHTML="<select id=\""+strId+"\" ctrl=\""+ctrl.id+"\" class=\"ms-lookuptypeindropdown\" name=\""+strId+"\" style=\"display:none\" onfocusout=\"OptLoseFocus(this)\"></select>";
  FilterChoice(select, ctrl, ctrl.value, "");
 }
 return document.getElementById(strId);;
}

function FilterChoice(opt, ctrl, strVal, filterVal)
{ULSsa6:;
 var i;
 var cOpt=0;
 var bSelected=false;
 var strHtml="";
 var strId=opt.id;
 var strName=opt.name;
 var strMatch="";
 var strMatchVal="";
 var strOpts=ctrl.choices;
 var rgopt=strOpts.split("|");
 var x=AbsLeft(ctrl);
 var y=AbsTop(ctrl)+ctrl.offsetHeight;
 var elmWorkspace=document.getElementById("s4-workspace");
 if(elmWorkspace)
  y -=AbsTop(elmWorkspace);
 var strHidden=ctrl.optHid;
 var iMac=rgopt.length - 1;
 var iMatch=-1;
 var unlimitedLength=false;
 var strSelectedLower="";
 if (opt !=null && opt.selectedIndex >=0)
 {
  bSelected=true;
  strSelectedLower=opt.options[opt.selectedIndex].innerText;
 }
 for (i=0; i < rgopt.length; i=i+2)
 {
  var strOpt=rgopt[i];
  while (i < iMac - 1 && rgopt[i+1].length==0)
  {
   strOpt=strOpt+"|";
   i++;
   if (i < iMac - 1)
   {
    strOpt=strOpt+rgopt[i+1];
   }
   i++;
  }
  var strValue=rgopt[i+1];
  var strLowerOpt=strOpt.toLocaleLowerCase();
  var strLowerVal=strVal.toLocaleLowerCase();
  if (filterVal.length !=0)
   bSelected=true;
  if (strLowerOpt.indexOf(strLowerVal)==0)
  {
   var strLowerFilterVal=filterVal.toLocaleLowerCase();
   if ((strLowerFilterVal.length !=0) && (strLowerOpt.indexOf(strLowerFilterVal)==0) && (strMatch.length==0))
    bSelected=false;
   if (strLowerOpt.length > 20)
   {
    unlimitedLength=true;
   }
   if (!bSelected || strLowerOpt==strSelectedLower)
   {
    strHtml+="<option selected value=\""+strValue+"\">"+STSHtmlEncode(strOpt)+"</option>";
    bSelected=true;
    strMatch=strOpt;
    strMatchVal=strValue;
    iMatch=i;
   }
   else
   {
    strHtml+="<option value=\""+strValue+"\">"+STSHtmlEncode(strOpt)+"</option>";
   }
   cOpt++;
  }
 }
 var strHandler=" ondblclick=\"HandleOptDblClick()\" onkeydown=\"HandleOptKeyDown()\"";
 var strOptHtml="";
 if (unlimitedLength)
 {
  strOptHtml="<select tabIndex=\"-1\" ctrl=\""+ctrl.id+"\" name=\""+strName+"\" id=\""+strId+"\""+strHandler;
 }
 else
 {
  strOptHtml="<select class=\"ms-lookuptypeindropdown\" tabIndex=\"-1\" ctrl=\""+ctrl.id+"\" name=\""+strName+"\" id=\""+strId+"\""+strHandler;
 }
 if (cOpt==0)
 {
  strOptHtml+=" style=\"display:none;position:absolute;z-index:2;left:"+x+   "px;top:"+y+   "px\" onfocusout=\"OptLoseFocus(this)\"></select>";
 }
 else
 {
  strOptHtml+=" style=\"position:absolute;z-index:2;left:"+x+   "px;top:"+y+   "px\""+   " size=\""+(cOpt <=8 ? cOpt : 8)+"\""+   (cOpt==1 ? "multiple=\"true\"" : "")+   " onfocusout=\"OptLoseFocus(this)\">"+   strHtml+   "</select>";
 }
 opt.outerHTML=strOptHtml;
 var hid=document.getElementById(strHidden);
 if (iMatch !=0 || rgopt[1] !="0" )
  hid.value=strMatchVal;
 else
  hid.value="0";
 if (iMatch !=0 || rgopt[1] !="0" )
  return strMatch;
 else return "";
}

It is generating a new <select> element, and placing it right after the input box that you have clicked. It is setting its position as absolute, and calculating the left and top value from the start of the page. This is done using AbsLeft and AbsTop functions.

function AbsLeft(obj)
{ULSxSy:;
 var x=obj.offsetLeft;
 var parent=obj.offsetParent;
 while (parent !=null && parent.tagName !="BODY")
 {
  x+=parent.offsetLeft;
  parent=parent.offsetParent;
 }
 if (parent !=null)
  x+=parent.offsetLeft;
 return x;
}
function AbsTop(obj)
{ULSxSy:;
 var y=obj.offsetTop;
 var parent=obj.offsetParent;
 while (parent !=null && parent.tagName !="BODY")
 {
  y+=parent.offsetTop;
  parent=parent.offsetParent;
 }
 if (parent !=null)
  y+=parent.offsetTop;
 return y;
}

It sets an exact absolute calculated position for this element:

<SELECT 
style="Z-INDEX: 2; POSITION: absolute; DISPLAY: none; TOP: 436px; LEFT: 414px" onkeydown=HandleOptKeyDown() 
id=_Select 
onfocusout=OptLoseFocus(this) 
ondblclick=HandleOptDblClick() 
tabIndex=-1 
size=8 
name=_Select ctrl="ctl00_m_g_a0c896e4_02dd_41b4_87ea_58cdb333059b_ctl00_ctl05_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl01">

The problem is that if you have a div driven master page and have a div with the position:relative somewhere in between of the top of the page and select element, our select element is being placed relative to it, instead of relative to the top left corner of the page. If you have this problem, you need to find this element and override it to be "static".

Installing SharePoint 2010 on machine with existing SQL Server 2008

If you already have SQL Server 2008 installed, DO NOT install SharePoint 2010 as a single server (standalone) version. It will create additional instance of SQL Server Express, which is obviously not what you want. This also brings some additional problems (based on this). Select a full installation. If you don't have domain and using local accounts - you need to read this blog.

SharePoint 2010 Beta Installation

Do not try installing SharePoint 2010 Beta (14.0.4536.1000) on top of SharePoint 2010 Technical Preview (14.0.4006.1010) unless you really need this.It will install but would not work correctly. Just uninstall previous version first.