"User Information List" instead of "UserProfileManager"

For all those friends who were trying to find out an option for "UserProfileManger" to get the information of user, I found "User Information List" on the root. I am still not sure if it gets sync directly to the active directory or any other user list. But will write a blog on this in future once i find it.

Sharepoint 2010 deploy .webpart file Custom Group instead of Miscellaneous.

Goal
To deploy a web part using Module in Visual Studio project. The webpart should be deployed in group custom name "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Miscellaneous".

• Open Visual Studio 2010.


• File > New > Sharepoint > Empty Sharepoint Project > Name it "Sample"


• Right click project > Add a Module > Name "Something".


• Remove Sample.txt. Add a file(DemoWebPart.webpart) to the module.


• Make the below given changes to the "Element.xml".


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

You should now be able to see webpart in "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Miscellaneous".

Change in Element.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

    <Module List="113" Name="Something" Url="_catalogs/wp">

        <File Path="Something\DemoWebPart.webpart" Url="DemoWebPart.webpart" Type="GhostableInLibrary">

            <Property Name="Group" Value="MBD Web Parts" />

        </File>

    </Module>

</Elements>

Hope this is helpfull for you!

Sharepoint 2010 Deploy visual web part to "MBD Web Parts" instead of "Custom".

Goal
To deploy our custom visual webpart to a custom group name "MBD Web Parts" instead of getting deployed to "Custom". Please follow below given steps to see how to reproduce.

• Open Visual Studio 2010.


• File > New > Sharepoint > Visual Web Part > Name it "Sample"


• Delete the "VisualWebPart1"(Default) and add a new Visual Web Part file "DemoWebPart".


• Complete writing code.


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

This will show up our web part in the Group name "Custom", but we need to the web part in a group name "MBD Web Parts".

Simple Solution

• Expand "DemoWebPart" and open "Element.xml".


• Modify an attribute value in the xml from "Custom" to "MBD Web Parts".


• Right click project and deploy.


• Visit your website.


• Site Actions > Edit Site


• Click "Add a Web Part". On the top ribbon.

You should now be able to see our custom category of "MBD Web Parts" and not in "Custom".

Change in Element.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" >

  <Module Name="DemoWebPart" List="113" Url="_catalogs/wp" RootWebOnly="TRUE">

    <File Path="DemoWebPart\DemoWebPart.webpart" Url="DemoWebPart.webpart" Type="GhostableInLibrary" >

      <Property Name="Group" Value="MBD Web Parts" />

    </File>

  </Module>

</Elements>

Hope this is helpfull for you!

Problem creating or deleting Sharepoint List in Visual Web Part's Feature Receiver when called from stsadm or powershell.

Summary of Issue.

Working Process
In a Visual Studio Web Part, I was trying to create a Sharepoint List using a Feature Receiver Event. Every thing works fine when I deployed the solution using Visual Studio 2010.

Problem
I tried deploying the solution using STSADM Command or Powershell scripts. The deployment went fine but the Sharepoint List was not getting created. After research I found out the issue was in the activation code. I was using SPContext.Current.Web.Url. Now the correct way to do this is mentioned below.


If the Feature Scope="Web"

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)

{

    SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate

        {

            SPWeb _web = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent;    

    });            

}

If the Feature Scope="Site"

public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)

{

    SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate

        {

            SPSite _site = (SPSite)properties.Feature.Parent;    

    });            

}

Hope you find this helpfull. Please comment if you have any queries.