We had some problem on our server and during clean ups some xml files were lost. Because of this, some good posts are missing from my blog! And surprisingly there wasn't any backup running on our box either *~##(@)@!)#%!$@#. I will try and cover some of the topics in the near future. In the meanwhile, I am trying the boot from vhd as an option to see how it works for general development for 2010. Running development machine on VPC is fine for some general development stuff, but when it comes to doing more (like integrating VPC with a scanner or a DVD/RW drive), both VPC and Virtual Server came short on that. So, I am really looking forward to seeing how booting from vhd works for me truly for SP10 development. Few things that I have learnt, that I would like to share with you is.

1) Your host machine has to have Windows VISTA or WINDOWS 7 (Preferably Windows 7). With Windows Vista you have to install the new boot loader and stuff but still workable.

2) Your guest machine OS can only be Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 or better (meaning R2). So you cannot run Windows Server 2003 VHD or Windows XP VHD as bootable.

Just some tidbits, I wanted to share. Take care and Enjoy!

I just ran into this on my development and realize that I should share this anamoly with you. When you have a require check out option enable for the document library, you will experience an odd behaviour with the events actually firing twice. This is because how SharePoint object model handles the check-in and check out. Instead of me going on and on about how this happens and why this happens, here is a link to Microsoft KB article which explains clearly the behavior and its work-around. I followed the steps and looked for vti_sourcecontrolcheckedoutby in my code. If exists, then you have a valid check out if not, then ignore what you were planning to do with the ItemUpdating and ItemUpdated event. Simple...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/939307 

Can you believe this? SharePoint Designer is now a free tool. Kudos to SharePoint Designer team at Microsoft in making this tool not only easy to use but making it available for wide audience.

So, brace yourself folks, start creating those mashups and complex workflows without having to rely on IT. Sweet..

Here is the link to the announcement.

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepointdesigner/default.aspx 

Enjoy!!

If you are in the process of evaluating a more advanced workflow tool then I bet you have stumbled on Nintex and K2. I did an evaluation couple of days ago and here are some of my thoughts/views on these two tools.

K2 runs outside of SharePoint as a separate engine, stores metadata pertaining to workflows in its own database v/s Nintex is engraved inside SharePoint and it stores its metadata inside SharePoint content database.

USing K2 tools, a workflow can be designed using variety of tools including K2 designer, Visio pluggin and a really cool SilverLight based browser workflow tool. In Nintext, the only way to design workflows is by going inside List/Document library and adding workflows in a brower based interface.

K2 has 2 separate product for designing workflows. First one is BlackPearl which is a robust, enterprise level workflow tool with complex capabilites to invoke workflows from external applications. This feature is extremely useful for designing high end integration points within workflow itself. This product is little expensive. The second one is BlackPoint. In order to meet the needs of workflows within SharePoint, K2 is running a beta on their latest offering called BlackPoint, the pricing of which is extremely attractive (as of writing this blog entry it was quoted as 5000 USD for 200 seat license). BlackPoint is a tool geared towards creating workflows specifically for SharePoint. But the gotchas is workflow designed using BlackPoint can only be triggerd within SharePoint. Also, if you have any integration needs the only way in BlackPoint is to create assembly reference within the workflow designer (SilverLight Designer) itself.

Nintex on the other hand is geared towards SharePoint and if compared with K2's BlackPoint, pricing wise - is a little bit on the higher side (7000 USD). But is also extremely easy to use and works well in terms of intiating and managing workflows.

Personally, I have appreciation for K2's BlackPoint simply because it is built on SilverLight platform. Both the tools are extremely easy to use. If you think your needs are stricly managing workflows only then either Nintex or BlackPoint will do. But for highly scalable solution and creating reports off meta data etc, I would strongly suggest looking at K2's BlackPearl.

(NOTE): I don't have any affiliation with either of the vendors. This blog is purely meant to share my understanding of these two tools.

First and foremost, I am not trying to undermine the importance of SharePoint Designer when it comes to authoring workflows. It certainly is a handy tool at times specially when it comes to quickly authoring and deploying workflows. It provides several advantages including ability to quickly author and test workflows, simplifying deployment process to name a few. But here are few reasons NOT to use SharePoint Designer for authoring workflows.

1) Workflows are only bound to 1 specific document library/list. You cannot re-use the same workflow for multiple lists or span across sites.

2) Circumvents the security administrative policy which prohibits custom code assemblies eventhough behind the scenes, it first creates a source file which then gets compiled at run time when the workflow gets instantiated the first time. (Some people could argue that this actually is an advantage of using SharePoint Designer).

3) You cannot modify/change/edit or even review the existing workflow tied to a list which makes it impossible to duplicate workflows. For e.g. if your need grows and out-of-box workflow is simply not enough, and you went ahead and bought K2 blackpoint or Nintex workflow 2007, you are left with nothing but re-inventing the wheel. Unless there is proper documentation with adequate process flow outlined, you are left with nothing but re-doing all the work. Remember that everytime you change something it requires the same amout of testing and other efforts required. So this is a HUGE DISADVANTAGE in my opinion.

4) The power of SharePoint Designer is also a curse. Now, less tech-savvy users are designing and deploying workflows to meet their department needs, which makes it harder for IT to enforce control, polices and procedure. I bet that none of the business users are interested in creating a process flow before authoring workflow, which goes back to my earlier discussion about what can be done when you have to edit/review a workflow?

5) SharePoint designer does not allow authoring workflows against contentypes which in my opinion is also an important functionality missing. For e.g. a news contentype needs to be approved by legal before it gets out to the intranet/extranet/internet world. The only way to attach a workflow would be to create that using Visual Studio and deploying using features etc.

In short, if you want to achieve any of the above, please consider investing in technology by using your development team. After all, thats the reason they are there for. Right?