Qdabra Database Accelerator

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Jim Cantwell — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:20:50 GMT

Sorry for the delayed reply, I just got back from vacation. A few issues to evaluate came up during testing, but I could send you a beta build later this week if you would like to evaluate.

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

mattmoose — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:37:09 GMT

Hi Jim,

Is your tool available yet? This is also something i would very much like to be able to do with DBXL!

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Jim Cantwell — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:00:35 GMT

I'm glad you were able to figure out the permissions problem. I have investigated the issue with the naming, and believe I may have another solution. The problem is that the Name value must be unique within the library. DBXL uses the DBXL Document ID as the name so conflicts should not occur. Renaming in workflow requires having a mechanism to prevent duplicates.

I have almost completed a tool to allow adding a computed column to the SharePoint library that acts like the Name column, but contains the value from the Title column (or any other column you specify).

One drawback is that the name at the top of the form will still be something like 123.xml. This can be worked around by setting the form title based on content within the form. You could use the name value from the <QdabraDBXL> processing-instruction in the form xml, or use a field from your schema.

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:22:28 GMT

Thank you Jim.

After reading over your questions a second time, and trying to figure out what you were getting at with question #5. I found the "An Overview of DBXL Permissions" document on this site. I read it over and figured out that the default settings during install is what was faulty. At the time I did not have an understanding of those settings, so went with the default thinking that that would be "mostly harmless". Turns out I needed to set the Write Group to my Domain Users AD group. Once I did that everything worked as advertised.

Please thank Ted Fitch, Jo-Anne, and the rest of your team for me. You guys helped me out of quite a pickle. This software will help our organization out of several pickles. I look forward to seeing the file renaming functionality built in to the next version.

Thanks again for everything,

- Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 19:14:13 GMT

Hi Jim,

To answer your questions:

1) Farm configuration on a single server (called MOSS), which houses the IIS application, SQL database, and the shared service provider.

2 & 3) DBXL is installed on the same website as the Sharepoint top level site, on port 80 (http://moss) and physically on the same server.

4) Was using Object Model mapping, but switched to using Web Service (on recommendation from a previous post), which worked better, but not for every user. BTW, switching to Web Service made SSO fields pop up in the DBXL DAT. I've left them blank.

5) DBXL was installed on the server using the domain's administrator account, if that is what you are asking.

6) The form is IPFS.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

-Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Jim Cantwell — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:54:33 GMT

The following information will help in diagnosing the problem:

1) SharePoint Server Farm configuration (how many servers and where components live...)

2) Where is DBXL installed (web front end, application server, etc...)

3) Is DBXL installed on the same website as SharePoint?

4) Are you using webservice or object model for SharePoint mapping?

5) What groups were used when installing DBXL for the Admin group and the DBXL Admin group

6) Is the form using IPFS or the IP rich client?

Thanks,

Jim

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 18:36:07 GMT

Darn it, I spoke too soon.

Apparantly things are just bizarre. Let me breakdown what is happening.

When logged in as "the" AD Domain Administrator on any computer (domain\ADMINISTRATOR), the workflow does not run automatically, but submitted forms show up in library.

When logged in as an AD regular domain user on any computer, submitted forms DO NOT appear in the library at all.

When logged in as user that is a member of the AD DomainAdmins group on any computer, submitted forms appear in the library with the workflow successfully ran on them.

My head is starting to hurt now. Help??

- Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:31:23 GMT

Hello Everyone,

Jo-Anne's solution did indeed work!

Our preliminary testing of the workflow was done on the server itself. Which makes sense as I was sitting there doing the configuration. However, when using a diferent machine with a different login, the workflow ran automatically as it should.

Thank you for your help everyone,

- Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:41:56 GMT

Hi,

I followed the document's instructions to the letter and changed step 6h from Object Model to Web Service as you said to, but still the workflow is failing to start when a new item is created. It is still only working when manually invoked.

[EDIT] Your idea of having Infopath publish the template to Sharepoint instead of DBXL did work, in that the IP promoted fields are now visible in SPD. A small victory, that I do humbly thank you for.

- Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Jo-Anne Alfafara — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:47:54 GMT

In my case, I got rid of the error "Failed on Start (retrying)" when I switched to Web Service. Could you try it? In SharePoint tab of DAT, you'lll see the options "Object Model" and "Web Service". Select Web Service and resave your SharePoint mapping.

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Jo-Anne Alfafara — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:31:36 GMT

Hi Ra,

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble getting this done. Actually, I found a workaround which you can try on so you don't have to create duplicate columns in your SharePoint list. I'm assuming that the reason why you're not getting the columns in SPD is because the form is published through "Publish XSN" in SharePoint tab of DBXL. But when the form is published using InfoPath, it works in SPD. We are still trying to investigate why this could have happened. Meantime, you can publish your form using InfoPath (direct publish it through File > Publish) but make sure to follow the steps in this document (don't worry because this also works with codeless forms). Then, when you reach step #6 - h, select Web Service instead of Object Model.

I just tried this and it worked. I got my SharePoint columns displayed in SPD, the workflow ran as expected, and the file name (DocID) is replaced with a meaningful value I set in the workflow. The solution worked for me when using "Start this workflow when a new item is created".

Please try this and let us know how it works with your scenario.

Thanks,

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Patrick Halstead — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:13:54 GMT

Hi Ra,

We've logged the custom filename feature and are investigating this request for DBXL 2.4. DBXL 2.4 is tentatively scheduled for release in October. If you would like to postpone a purchasing decision until you have time to try it with DBXL 2.4, send email to Sales at Qdabra no spammy dot com and we will send you a free trial extension for 3 months.

We can also help with SharePoint if you need it, so let us know if you don't get unstuck.

Best,

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:41:12 GMT

I've redone the SPD workflow (removed all conditions) and now it showing that new forms are starting the workflow. But now I'm getting this error in the workflow status column of the library.

"Failed on Start (retrying)"

I click on that and I can see the slightly more descriptive error ...

"7/24/2009 7:42 AM Error SP_SSP RMA Filename Renamer failed to start." ("SP_SSP" is the service account that runs nearly all the Sharepoint services).

I checked all the event logs (including Qdabra's) in the server's Event Viewer, but nothing appears around that time period.

But yes, it appears today that new items are indeed trying to invoke the workflow. Since what I'm currently experiencing is more of a Sharepoint issue, I won't bother you about it. However if you do have any pull with the DBXL developers, tell them a custom filenaming feature will save me and perhaps others a huge amount of trouble.

Thank you all for your assistance. I'll keep you informed on how things go with my troubleshooting.

- Ra

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Hilary Stoupa — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:57:51 GMT

Hi, Ra:

I've forwarded this to some other members of our team who are more familiar than I am with the document you mention, so we'll have someone else posting soon on that.

I'm still perplexed as to why you are having to create columns in your SharePoint library for your promoted properties to be available in SharePoint Designer. When I open a library that I have a DBXL based form shredding to, I can see my promoted properties... at least in some actions. I've been assuming that those are the actions where I am reading only, and not setting a value, which makes sense.

In fact, I just tried your suggestion (which I like very much, by the way) and created a workflow on the same library I've used for testing to do the same thing.... and when I saved a new form where I opened the template from SharePoint, my workflow ran as I'd anticipated. I tried again, opening the template from DAT and saving... and again, the workflow ran. I'm wondering if you might have some kind of configuration issue? Do you have any errors in any of your event logs? Particularly the Qdabra log, but you might also want to check for SharePoint errors....

Re: Custom XML Filename to Sharepoint Library

Ra Jeffrey — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:29:01 GMT

Hello everyone,

So, after a couple days of trying, I conjured a workaround using an SPD workflow ... only to run into another DBXL set back (which I will tell you about in a second).

Basically, I created a workflow in SPD for the document library that the Qdabra DAT pointed to. To get the promoted fields to actually show in SPD, a column with the exact name of the field you are promoting has to exist in the library. This will cause there to be 2 columns with the same name in the library (one is the promoted IP form field, the other is the Sharepoint column). A little weird but no worries, as you have full control of the Sharepoint column and can hide it from view. The neat thing is that through DBXL/Sharepoint hocus-pocus, the value of the IP promoted field will map into both columns. The Sharepoint version of the column IS visible in SPD, so I used that to create a dynamic string that became the new filename for the XML (remember to use .xml at the end). I told the workflow to store the dynamic string in a variable, then as a second action to set "Name (for use in forms)" equal to that variable. I ran the workflow manually and it worked like a dream. The xml file gets renamed to something more useful than an integer. YAY!

BUT ... when I set the workflow to run automatically as new item is created in the library, nothing happens. New XML's from DBXL don't seem to register as "new" to the library, so the workflow isn't kicking on to rename them. I went onto this website and found a document called "How to create a SharePoint workflow that will work with DBXL and IPFS", and stepped through it. Unfortunately, it does not work. The approval workflow either does not run while "Start this workflow when a new item is created" is checked off in the approval worklow setup. However, manually starting the workflow still works OK.

So I still have the original problem of renaming the XML files DBXL pushes to the Sharepoint libraries. Workflow solutions to that problem can't work because the XML's that DBXL pushes don't seem to register as "newly created" to the workflows. Anyone got anything? I mean I'm really desperate here.