Setting up the PictureURL User Profile Property using Forefront Synchronization Service Manager in SharePoint 2010

Scenario:

Mapping the User Profile property "PictureURL" is not a straight forward process in SharePoint 2010. In our case, we needed to map this property to the attribute extensionAttribute3.

It is not a straight forward process like the procedure we generally follow to set any other property mapping beacause the attribute "extensionAttribute3" does not exist in the list of mappable attributes. We had to follow the same procedure whenever we could not find the desired attribute in the list of mappable attributes.

Resolution:

In order to setup the mapping, use Forefront Synchronization Service Manager. (It is found at \Program Files\Microsoft Office Servers\14.0\Synchronization Service\UIShell\ miisclient.exe)

Navigate to Metaverse Designer and choose person in the list below:

If extensionAttribute3 is not found in the list of available attributes, click on “Add Attribute” that appears as one of the actions in the right hand pane. If it does not appear in the available attributes list, click the “New Attribute” button.

Make sure that “Indexed” is checked and type in the value “extensionAttribute3” for the Attribute Name.
Now we need to setup the Attribute Flow. In order to do that, navigate to “Management Agents” tab

Choose the desired “Active Directory Domain Service Agent” (MOSSAD-ACTIVE DIRECTORY) and navigate to its properties. Navigate to “Select Attributes” section. If you don’t see extensionAttribute3 in the list, check “Show All” and you will see the extensionAttribute3 in the list. Make sure that it is checked.

Navigate to “Configure Attribute Flow” and setup attribute flow as below:

Now choose the Extensible Connectivity Agent (MOSS-64c01ea7-862d-4c64-969d-8e5e52457cdb)
Navigate to Properties > Configure Attributes. If “PictureURL” is not found in the list of attributes, add it by clicking on “New”.

Navigate to “Define Object Types”. If you don’t see the “PictureURL” attribute in the list, click on “Edit” and then add “PictureURL” from the list of available attributes to the list of “May have attributes”

Navigate to “Configure Attribute Flow” and setup mapping as below:

Now you should be able to see that the Picture attribute is mapped to extensionAttribute3 in the “Edit Profile Property” UI screen.

Thanks a lot to our Practice Lead David Perkinson for all the help he offered me while setting up the search configuration.

SharePoint 2010 Excel Services error: The workbook cannot be opened.

In our SharePoint 2010 portal, we have recieved an error "The workbook cannot be opened" when we try to open Excel files in web pages or when we try to use the Excel Web Access Web Parts.

The logs are not of much help as they donot contain details about the cause for the error.

Error info from SharePoint log:

Utils.ExecuteWebEventHandler: An exception occured Microsoft.Office.Excel.WebUI.ExcelWebRendererException: The workbook cannot be opened. ---> Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ServerSessionException: The workbook cannot be opened. at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ServerSession.ExecuteWebMethodCore(WebMethodType webMethodType, WebMethodBehaviorAttribute webMethodBehavior, CommandParameter parameter, CoreWebMethod coreWebMethod) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ServerSession.ExecuteWebMethod(WebMethodType webMethodType, WebMethodBehaviorAttribute webMethodBehavior, CommandParameter parameter, CoreWebMethod coreWebMethod) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ServerSession.OpenWorkbook(String u... e9b4f581-c314-4f43-b3e8-60257ead66a0


...rl, OpenWorkbookFlags flags, CommandParameter commandParameter, CultureCommandParameter cultureParameter, String subscriberId, OpenWorkbookOutFlags& outFlags, OpenWorkbookOutParameters& outParameters) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ExcelServerLoadBalancer.<>c__DisplayClass3.b__2(ServerSession newServerSession) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.LoadBalancer.ExecuteNewSessionMethod(CreateServerSessionMethod createServerSessionMethod, CoreNewSessionMethod newSessionMethod, String workbookUrl) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ExcelServerLoadBalancer.OpenWorkbook(String url, OpenWorkbookFlags flags, CommandParameter commandParameter, CultureCommandParameter cultureParameter, String subscriberId, O... e9b4f581-c314-4f43-b3e8-60257ead66a0
...penWorkbookOutFlags& outFlags, OpenWorkbookOutParameters& outParameters, ServerSession& serverSession) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.Server.CalculationServer.Proxy.ExcelServerSession.OpenWorkbook(String url, OpenWorkbookFlags flags, CommandParameter commandParameter, CultureCommandParameter cultureParameter, OpenWorkbookOutFlags& outFlags, OpenWorkbookOutParameters& outParameters, ServerSession& serverSession) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.WebUI.EwaState.OpenWorkbookAndUpdateState(String sessionId, CommandParameter commandParameter, OpenWorkbookFlags flags, String plainTextWorkbookUrl) at Microsoft.Office.Excel.WebUI.EwaState.OpenWorkbook() --- End of inner exception stack trace --- at Microsoft.Office.Excel.WebUI.EwaState.OpenWorkbook() at Microsoft.Office.Excel.WebUI.Util... e9b4f581-c314-4f43-b3e8-60257ead66a0
...s.ExecuteWebEventHandler(CoreWebEventHandler coreWebEventHandler, CoreWebEventHandler baseClassHandler, Object param, IMainControl mainControl) e9b4f581-c314-4f43-b3e8-60257ead66a0
InternalEwr.RenderWebPart: Finished rendering internal EWR e9b4f581-c314-4f43-b3e8-60257ead66a0

Resolution:

Finally the problem was resolved after deleting and creating Excel Services Application again in Cental Admin

Navigate to SharePoint 2010 Central Admin > Application Management
Under the Service Applications section, click the "Manage service applications" link


Select the Excel Services Application and delete it.

The confirmation screen looks like the one below:

Create a new Service Application by clicking on the "New" button:

Create a new Excel Service Application and choose Application Pool as required:

Do an IISRESET finally

The maximum number of Web Parts for all zones on this page has been exceeded

Error: The maximum number of Web Parts for all zones on this page has been exceeded

I came across this message today when I was working on a page that has more than 50 web parts on it.

Later after a bit of research I learnt that

• The limit is customizable in web.config file,
• 50 (default) - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx
• 100 (recommended max) - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287743.aspx

 However, no documentation  has been found about

• The maximum number of web parts per web part zone
• The maximum number of web part zones per page

SharePoint 2010 - Table of Contents webpart 20 sites limit

Today while working with Table Of Contents Web Part in a 2010 site, I have noticed that the web part was not displaying all the sites.

From my research online, I have understood about the 50 item limit that SharePoint imposes. There are many posts explaining that issue such as this post

My case was different because the Table of Contents was showing only 20 sites.

Later I have found out that I need to change a setting in Site Settings of the site that contains all the sub sites that I wanted to show.

Navigate to Site Settings > Navigation

Change the value from 20 to [whatever number you need] in the "Current Navigation" section

After changing this, the site map started to show all the sites (in my case about 40)