SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: SharePoint Search Application Returns “The Content Processing Pipeline Failed To Process The Item” Error On Crawl

Apr 11th

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

Recently, I faced one strange issue on my SharePoint farm. My documents were not crawling and they were showing the below error.

Error

The Content Processing pipeline failed to process the item. (Index was out of range. Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection. Parameter name: index; ; searchID=XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXXX)

So after some analysis, I learned that this line comes up when some required managed properties in the search schema are set to ‘Allow Multiple Values’.

To find which managed properties are causing the problem, just log in to your application server where the search is configured and open the recent ULS log and do a keyword search for “Content processing”. You can find the log line like below.

NodeRunnerContent1-1af8a817-055 (0x142C) 0x2934 Search Content Processing awyjr Monitorable “PropertyMapperProducer[[Microsoft.CrawlerFlow-4c7cf676-1194-43d3-b176-a4b39c6fedec]]: Failed to map values to field Keywords. Metadata: OutputAsList True, Type String, RemoveDuplicates True” dd750643-71e0-4d79-962c-6e47c472d02d

Finally, in my case, “Keywords” managed properties was causing the problem, so I went to my search administration page and search schema and searched for “keywords” managed properties

Then, I removed Multi from the managed properties and ran the full crawl. Then, the above-mentioned error disappeared and all documents crawled successfully.

These troubleshooting steps cleared all my “Content Processing pipeline failed” errors and I don’t get those errors again.

SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Set List Properties By WebRequest

Mar 28th

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

There are many ways in CSOM to set the list properties of a SharePoint site but there are a few properties which we can’t set directly from list object. In this blog, I will explain how to set those properties using WebRequest, for example: offline client availability, major version limit, and major with minor version limit.

This below-mentioned code sample will help us to set those properties which we cannot access directly from the list object.

The code block for this is as mentioned below,

    using System;  
    using System.Collections.Generic;  
    using System.Linq;  
    using System.Text;  
    using System.Threading.Tasks;  
    using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;  
    using System.Net;  
    using System.Security;  
    using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Utilities;  
    using System.IO;  
    namespace EditListProperties {  
        class EditListPropertiesByWebRequest {  
            public static string HEADER_CONTENT_APP = "application/x-vermeer-urlencoded";  
            public static string USER_AGENT_APP = "FrontPage";  
            public static string MESSAGE_SUCCESS_APP = "message=successfully";  
            public static string MESSAGE_CONFLICT_APP = "msg=Save Conflict";  
            public static string ENABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP = "&ExcludeFromOfflineClient=False";  
            public static string DISABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP = "&ExcludeFromOfflineClient=True";  
            public static string MAJOR_VERSION_LIMIT_APP = "&MajorVersionLimit=";  
            public static string MAJOR_VERSION_WITH_MINOR_APP = "&MajorWithMinorVersionsLimit=";  
            static void Main(string[] args) {  
                string listName = "CopyDoc";  
                string username = string.Empty;  
                string password = string.Empty;  
                NetworkCredential credentials = null;  
                List list = null;  
                string query = string.Empty;  
                try {  
                    username = "userName";  
                    password = "******";  
                    ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("siteUrl"); //creating ClientContext from given SharePoint Site  
                    credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, password); //creating creadential object for SharePoint site.  
                    ctx.Credentials = credentials;  
                    Web web = ctx.Web;  
                    list = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);  
                    ctx.Load(list, l => l.EnableVersioning);  
                    ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                } catch (Exception ex) {}  
                try {  
                    //if we want to "SET OFFLINE CLIENT AVAILABILITY"  
                    string value = string.Empty;  
                    value = "Enable"; //We can change it to Enable or Disable accoring to requirement  
                    if (value == "Enable") // if we want it to be enabled  
                    {  
                        query += ENABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP;  
                    } else if (value == "Disable") // if we want it to be disabled  
                    {  
                        query += DISABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP;  
                    }  
                    //if we want to "SET MAJOR VERSION LIMIT"  
                    value = string.Empty;  
                    value = "10"; //We can change it to any intiger accoring to requirement  
                    list.EnableVersioning = true;  
                    list.Update();  
                    query += MAJOR_VERSION_LIMIT_APP + value;  
                    //if we want to "SET MAJOR WITH MINOR VERSIONS LIMIT"  
                    value = string.Empty;  
                    value = "5"; //We can change it to any intiger accoring to requirement  
                    list.EnableVersioning = true;  
                    list.Update();  
                    query += MAJOR_VERSION_WITH_MINOR_APP + value;  
                    GetHttpWebRequest(query, credentials);  
                } catch (Exception er) {}  
            }  
            #region GetWebRequest  
            /// <summary>  
            ///  
            /// </summary>  
            /// <param name="query"></param>  
            /// <param name="credential"></param>  
            private static void GetHttpWebRequest(string query, NetworkCredential credential) {  
                try {  
                    HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create(query);  
                    request.Method = "POST";  
                    request.Headers["Content"] = HEADER_CONTENT_APP;  
                    request.Headers["X-Vermeer-Content-Type"] = HEADER_CONTENT_APP;  
                    request.UserAgent = USER_AGENT_APP;  
                    request.UseDefaultCredentials = false;  
                    request.KeepAlive = true;  
                    request.Credentials = credential;  
                    using(System.IO.Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream()) {  
                        GetWebResponse(request);  
                    }  
                } catch (Exception er) {}  
            }  
            #endregion  
            #region GetResponse  
            /// <summary>  
            ///  
            /// </summary>  
            /// <param name="webRequest"></param>  
            /// <returns></returns>  
            private static string GetWebResponse(HttpWebRequest webRequest) {  
                string responseString = string.Empty;  
                using(WebResponse webResponse = webRequest.GetResponse()) {  
                    using(StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(webResponse.GetResponseStream())) {  
                        responseString = reader.ReadToEnd();  
                        byte[] fileBuffer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString);  
                    }  
                }  
                if ((responseString.IndexOf(MESSAGE_SUCCESS_APP) < 0) && (responseString.IndexOf(MESSAGE_CONFLICT_APP) < 0)) {  
                    throw new Exception(responseString);  
                }  
                return responseString;  
            }#endregion  
        }  
    }

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using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;

using System.Net;

using System.Security;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Utilities;

using System.IO;

namespace EditListProperties {

class EditListPropertiesByWebRequest {

public static string HEADER_CONTENT_APP = "application/x-vermeer-urlencoded";

public static string USER_AGENT_APP = "FrontPage";

public static string MESSAGE_SUCCESS_APP = "message=successfully";

public static string MESSAGE_CONFLICT_APP = "msg=Save Conflict";

public static string ENABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP = "&ExcludeFromOfflineClient=False";

public static string DISABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP = "&ExcludeFromOfflineClient=True";

public static string MAJOR_VERSION_LIMIT_APP = "&MajorVersionLimit=";

public static string MAJOR_VERSION_WITH_MINOR_APP = "&MajorWithMinorVersionsLimit=";

static void Main(string[] args) {

string listName = "CopyDoc";

string username = string.Empty;

string password = string.Empty;

NetworkCredential credentials = null;

List list = null;

string query = string.Empty;

try {

username = "userName";

password = "******";

ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("siteUrl"); //creating ClientContext from given SharePoint Site

credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, password); //creating creadential object for SharePoint site.

ctx.Credentials = credentials;

Web web = ctx.Web;

list = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);

ctx.Load(list, l => l.EnableVersioning);

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

} catch (Exception ex) {}

try {

//if we want to "SET OFFLINE CLIENT AVAILABILITY"

string value = string.Empty;

value = "Enable"; //We can change it to Enable or Disable accoring to requirement

if (value == "Enable") // if we want it to be enabled

{

query += ENABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP;

} else if (value == "Disable") // if we want it to be disabled

{

query += DISABLE_OFFLINE_CLIENT_AVAILABILITY_APP;

}

//if we want to "SET MAJOR VERSION LIMIT"

value = string.Empty;

value = "10"; //We can change it to any intiger accoring to requirement

list.EnableVersioning = true;

list.Update();

query += MAJOR_VERSION_LIMIT_APP + value;

//if we want to "SET MAJOR WITH MINOR VERSIONS LIMIT"

value = string.Empty;

value = "5"; //We can change it to any intiger accoring to requirement

list.EnableVersioning = true;

list.Update();

query += MAJOR_VERSION_WITH_MINOR_APP + value;

GetHttpWebRequest(query, credentials);

} catch (Exception er) {}

}

#region GetWebRequest

/// <summary>

///

/// </summary>

/// <param name="query"></param>

/// <param name="credential"></param>

private static void GetHttpWebRequest(string query, NetworkCredential credential) {

try {

HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest) WebRequest.Create(query);

request.Method = "POST";

request.Headers["Content"] = HEADER_CONTENT_APP;

request.Headers["X-Vermeer-Content-Type"] = HEADER_CONTENT_APP;

request.UserAgent = USER_AGENT_APP;

request.UseDefaultCredentials = false;

request.KeepAlive = true;

request.Credentials = credential;

using(System.IO.Stream requestStream = request.GetRequestStream()) {

GetWebResponse(request);

}

} catch (Exception er) {}

}

#endregion

#region GetResponse

/// <summary>

///

/// </summary>

/// <param name="webRequest"></param>

/// <returns></returns>

private static string GetWebResponse(HttpWebRequest webRequest) {

string responseString = string.Empty;

using(WebResponse webResponse = webRequest.GetResponse()) {

using(StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(webResponse.GetResponseStream())) {

responseString = reader.ReadToEnd();

byte[] fileBuffer = Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(responseString);

}

if ((responseString.IndexOf(MESSAGE_SUCCESS_APP) < 0) && (responseString.IndexOf(MESSAGE_CONFLICT_APP) < 0)) {

throw new Exception(responseString);

}

return responseString;

}#endregion

}

In this blog, I have explained how you can set the properties of a SharePoint list using WebRequest. I hope this information will help you out in a few scenarios.

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SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu : Getting List Properties From SchemaXml

Mar 21st

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

There are many ways in CSOM to get the list properties from a SharePoint site. But there are a few properties which we can’t get directly from the list object. In this blog, I will explain how to find those using the SchemaXml.

This below-mentioned code sample will help us to get those properties which we cannot access directly from the list object.

The code block for this is mentioned below.

    using System;  
    using System.Collections.Generic;  
    using System.Linq;  
    using System.Text;  
    using System.Threading.Tasks;  
    using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;  
    using System.Net;  
    using System.Security;  
    using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Utilities;  
    namespace SchemaXml {  
        class GetListSchema {  
            static void Main(string[] args) {  
                string listName = "CopyDoc";  
                string username = string.Empty;  
                string password = string.Empty;  
                SecureString secureString = new SecureString();  
                SharePointOnlineCredentials credentials = null;  
                List list = null;  
                System.Xml.Linq.XDocument xDocument;  
                string modified = string.Empty;  
                try {  
                    username = "userName@domain.com";  
                    password = "******";  
                    foreach(char ch in password.ToCharArray())  
                    secureString.AppendChar(ch);  
                    ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("siteUrl"); //creating ClientContext from given SharePoint Site  
                    credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(username, secureString); //creating creadential object for office365 site.  
                    ctx.Credentials = credentials;  
                    Web web = ctx.Web;  
                    list = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);  
                    ctx.Load(list, l => l.SchemaXml, //loading schemaXml  
                        l => l.EnableVersioning);  
                    ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                } catch (Exception ex) {}  
                try {  
                    using(System.IO.StringReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(list.SchemaXml)) //getting the data from SchemaXml  
                    {  
                        xDocument = System.Xml.Linq.XDocument.Load(reader); //converting StringReader to XDocument  
                        List < ListpropertiesInfo > listSchemaXml = (from l in xDocument.Descendants("List") select new ListpropertiesInfo // class to store the properties  
                            {  
                                PropMajorVersionLimit = l.Attribute("MajorVersionLimit").Value,  
                                    PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit = l.Attribute("MajorWithMinorVersionsLimit").Value,  
                                    PropExcludFromOfflineClient = l.Attribute("ExcludeFromOfflineClient").Value,  
                                    PropEnableFolderCreation = l.Attribute("EnableFolderCreation").Value  
                            }).ToList();  
                        foreach(var item in listSchemaXml) {  
                            int majorVersion;  
                            int minorVersion;  
                            if (list.EnableVersioning) {  
                                if (Int32.TryParse(item.PropMajorVersionLimit, out majorVersion)) {  
                                    Console.WriteLine("Major Version: " + majorVersion);  
                                }  
                                if (Int32.TryParse(item.PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit, out minorVersion)) {  
                                    Console.WriteLine("Minor Version : " + minorVersion);  
                                }  
                            } else {  
                                Console.WriteLine("Major Version: 0");  
                                Console.WriteLine("Minor Version : 0");  
                            }  
                            if (Convert.ToBoolean(item.PropExcludFromOfflineClient)) Console.WriteLine("Status: false");  
                            else Console.WriteLine("Status: true");  
                            Console.WriteLine("Folder Creation: " + item.PropEnableFolderCreation);  
                            Console.ReadLine();  
                        }  
                    }  
                } catch (Exception er) {}  
            }#  
            region ListpropertiesInfo  
            public class ListpropertiesInfo {  
                public string PropMajorVersionLimit {  
                    get;  
                    set;  
                }  
                public string PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit {  
                    get;  
                    set;  
                }  
                public string PropExcludFromOfflineClient {  
                    get;  
                    set;  
                }  
                public string PropEnableFolderCreation {  
                    get;  
                    set;  
                }  
            }#  
            endregion  
        }  
    }

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;

using System.Net;

using System.Security;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Utilities;

namespace SchemaXml {

class GetListSchema {

static void Main(string[] args) {

string listName = "CopyDoc";

string username = string.Empty;

string password = string.Empty;

SecureString secureString = new SecureString();

SharePointOnlineCredentials credentials = null;

List list = null;

System.Xml.Linq.XDocument xDocument;

string modified = string.Empty;

try {

username = "userName@domain.com";

password = "******";

foreach(char ch in password.ToCharArray())

secureString.AppendChar(ch);

ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("siteUrl"); //creating ClientContext from given SharePoint Site

credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(username, secureString); //creating creadential object for office365 site.

ctx.Credentials = credentials;

Web web = ctx.Web;

list = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);

ctx.Load(list, l => l.SchemaXml, //loading schemaXml

l => l.EnableVersioning);

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

} catch (Exception ex) {}

try {

using(System.IO.StringReader reader = new System.IO.StringReader(list.SchemaXml)) //getting the data from SchemaXml

{

xDocument = System.Xml.Linq.XDocument.Load(reader); //converting StringReader to XDocument

List < ListpropertiesInfo > listSchemaXml = (from l in xDocument.Descendants("List") select new ListpropertiesInfo // class to store the properties

{

PropMajorVersionLimit = l.Attribute("MajorVersionLimit").Value,

PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit = l.Attribute("MajorWithMinorVersionsLimit").Value,

PropExcludFromOfflineClient = l.Attribute("ExcludeFromOfflineClient").Value,

PropEnableFolderCreation = l.Attribute("EnableFolderCreation").Value

}).ToList();

foreach(var item in listSchemaXml) {

int majorVersion;

int minorVersion;

if (list.EnableVersioning) {

if (Int32.TryParse(item.PropMajorVersionLimit, out majorVersion)) {

Console.WriteLine("Major Version: " + majorVersion);

}

if (Int32.TryParse(item.PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit, out minorVersion)) {

Console.WriteLine("Minor Version : " + minorVersion);

}

} else {

Console.WriteLine("Major Version: 0");

Console.WriteLine("Minor Version : 0");

}

if (Convert.ToBoolean(item.PropExcludFromOfflineClient)) Console.WriteLine("Status: false");

else Console.WriteLine("Status: true");

Console.WriteLine("Folder Creation: " + item.PropEnableFolderCreation);

Console.ReadLine();

}

} catch (Exception er) {}

region ListpropertiesInfo

public class ListpropertiesInfo {

public string PropMajorVersionLimit {

get;

set;

}

public string PropMajorWithMinorVerionLimit {

get;

set;

}

public string PropExcludFromOfflineClient {

get;

set;

}

public string PropEnableFolderCreation {

get;

set;

}

endregion

}

In this blog, I have explained how you can get the properties of a SharePoint list from SchemaXml. I hope this information will help you out in a few scenarios.

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: How To Create Structural Navigation Nodes In Quick Launch And Top Navigation?

Mar 14th

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

You can add, edit, or remove links on the left-hand menu (Quick Launch menu), the top menu (Top Navigation Node) through “Edit Links” in SharePoint. In this blog, we are going to create a structural navigation node that is the root node having subnodes in both – top navigation and quick launch.

The code block for this is mentioned below.

    using System;  
    using System.Linq;  
    using System.Security;  
    using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;  
    namespace StructuralNavigationNode {  
        class Program {  
            static void Main(string[] args) {  
                ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("http://portal/sites/site1");  
                string password = "Password";  
                SecureString secureString = new SecureString();  
                foreach(char c in password.ToCharArray()) secureString.AppendChar(c);  
                ctx.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials("user@domain.com", secureString);  
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                Web web = ctx.Web;  
                NavigationNodeCollection quickLaunchNodeColl = web.Navigation.QuickLaunch; // we are getting all quick launch node collection  
                NavigationNodeCollection topNavNodeColl = web.Navigation.TopNavigationBar; // we are getting all top navigation node collection  
                NavigationNodeCreationInformation quickLaunchNodeCreation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();  
                quickLaunchNodeCreation.Title = "QuickLaunchNode";  
                quickLaunchNodeCreation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/";  
                quickLaunchNodeColl.Add(quickLaunchNodeCreation); //we are creating root quick launch node  
                ctx.Load(quickLaunchNodeColl);  
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                NavigationNode quickLaunchParentNode = quickLaunchNodeColl.Where(n => n.Title == "QuickLaunchNode").FirstOrDefault(); //retrieving parent quick launch root node for which we will add sub nodes  
                NavigationNodeCreationInformation quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();  
                quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation.Title = "QuickLaunchSubNode";  
                quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/about-us/";  
                quickLaunchParentNode.Children.Add(quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation); //we are creating sub quicklaunch node  
                quickLaunchParentNode.Update();  
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                NavigationNodeCreationInformation topNavNodeCreation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();  
                topNavNodeCreation.Title = "TopNavNode";  
                topNavNodeCreation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/";  
                topNavNodeColl.Add(topNavNodeCreation); //we are creating root top navigation node  
                ctx.Load(topNavNodeColl);  
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
                NavigationNode topNavParentNode = topNavNodeColl.Where(n => n.Title == "TopNavNode").FirstOrDefault(); //retrieving parent top navigation root node for which we will add sub nodes  
                NavigationNodeCreationInformation topNavNodeCreationInformation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();  
                topNavNodeCreationInformation.Title = "TopNavSubNode";  
                topNavNodeCreationInformation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/about-us/";  
                topNavParentNode.Children.Add(topNavNodeCreationInformation); //we are creating sub top navigation node  
                topNavParentNode.Update();  
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
            }  
        }  
    }

using System;

using System.Linq;

using System.Security;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;

namespace StructuralNavigationNode {

class Program {

static void Main(string[] args) {

ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("http://portal/sites/site1");

string password = "Password";

SecureString secureString = new SecureString();

foreach(char c in password.ToCharArray()) secureString.AppendChar(c);

ctx.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials("user@domain.com", secureString);

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

Web web = ctx.Web;

NavigationNodeCollection quickLaunchNodeColl = web.Navigation.QuickLaunch; // we are getting all quick launch node collection

NavigationNodeCollection topNavNodeColl = web.Navigation.TopNavigationBar; // we are getting all top navigation node collection

NavigationNodeCreationInformation quickLaunchNodeCreation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();

quickLaunchNodeCreation.Title = "QuickLaunchNode";

quickLaunchNodeCreation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/";

quickLaunchNodeColl.Add(quickLaunchNodeCreation); //we are creating root quick launch node

ctx.Load(quickLaunchNodeColl);

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

NavigationNode quickLaunchParentNode = quickLaunchNodeColl.Where(n => n.Title == "QuickLaunchNode").FirstOrDefault(); //retrieving parent quick launch root node for which we will add sub nodes

NavigationNodeCreationInformation quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();

quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation.Title = "QuickLaunchSubNode";

quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/about-us/";

quickLaunchParentNode.Children.Add(quickLaunchNodeCreationInformation); //we are creating sub quicklaunch node

quickLaunchParentNode.Update();

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

NavigationNodeCreationInformation topNavNodeCreation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();

topNavNodeCreation.Title = "TopNavNode";

topNavNodeCreation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/";

topNavNodeColl.Add(topNavNodeCreation); //we are creating root top navigation node

ctx.Load(topNavNodeColl);

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

NavigationNode topNavParentNode = topNavNodeColl.Where(n => n.Title == "TopNavNode").FirstOrDefault(); //retrieving parent top navigation root node for which we will add sub nodes

NavigationNodeCreationInformation topNavNodeCreationInformation = new NavigationNodeCreationInformation();

topNavNodeCreationInformation.Title = "TopNavSubNode";

topNavNodeCreationInformation.Url = "http://www.softreeconsulting.com/about-us/";

topNavParentNode.Children.Add(topNavNodeCreationInformation); //we are creating sub top navigation node

topNavParentNode.Update();

ctx.ExecuteQuery();

}

Output

After the code is executed, you can see the root navigation with its respective subnodes created successfully.

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Search Database Related Tables Using BCS

Mar 8th

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

Configure BCS to search a Database, where the Tables have a parent-child relationship. When searching for any term within the child table, the item linked in the parent item has to be displayed on the result page then the searched term or item from the child table.

The requirement makes sense in a way, that the child tables are considered as paragraphs within a document. When searching for a term within the paragraph, you would expect the link to the document to be displayed. After all, the child tables will always be additional information about the parent item.

Design

While designing for this requirement the data to be retrieved from the parent table and the child table has to be from two different entities, however, they need to be within the same LOBInstance.

By which, we have control to define the association between these entities within the Model.

Here is how the Method and the method instance need to be defined.

<Method Name=”PartItemToRevisionItem”>      <Properties>          <Property Name=”HideOnProfilePage” Type=”System.Boolean”>true</Property>      </Properties>      <Parameters>          <Parameter Name=”partID” Direction=”In”>              <TypeDescriptor Name=”PartID” TypeName=”System.String” IdentifierEntityName=”PartItem” IdentifierEntityNamespace=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity” IdentifierName=”PartID” ForeignIdentifierAssociationName=”PartItemToRevisionItem” />          </Parameter>          <Parameter Name=”revisionAssociationItemList” Direction=”Return”>              <TypeDescriptor Name=”RevisionItemList” TypeName=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity.RevisionItem[], MultiEntity” IsCollection=”true”>                  <TypeDescriptors>                      <TypeDescriptor Name=”RevisionItem” TypeName=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity.RevisionItem, MultiEntity”>                          <TypeDescriptors>                              <TypeDescriptor Name=”RevisionID” TypeName=”System.String” IdentifierEntityName=”RevisionItem” IdentifierEntityNamespace=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity” IdentifierName=”RevisionID” />                              <TypeDescriptor Name=”Revision_Name” TypeName=”System.String” />                              <TypeDescriptor Name=”Revision_Cost” TypeName=”System.Int32″ />                              <TypeDescriptor Name=”PartID” TypeName=”System.String” />                              <TypeDescriptor Name=”Revision_Type” TypeName=”System.String” />                          </TypeDescriptors>                      </TypeDescriptor>                  </TypeDescriptors>              </TypeDescriptor>          </Parameter>      </Parameters>      <MethodInstances>          <Association Name=”PartItemToRevisionItem” Type=”AssociationNavigator” ReturnParameterName=”revisionAssociationItemList” IsCached=”false”>              <Properties>                  <Property Name=”AttachmentAccessor” Type=”System.String”></Property>              </Properties>              <SourceEntity Name=”PartItem” Namespace=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity” />              <DestinationEntity Name=”RevisionItem” Namespace=”MultiBCS.MultiEntity” />          </Association>      </MethodInstances>  </Method>

The association method can be written in any entity (parent or child). But the tag that defines the source and the destination can be seen within the MethodInstance.

Silver Bullet

Of all this requirements, the most important part and the one that defines that the child tables need to be crawled as attachments, by which I mean that “when searched for a term in the child table, the item linked in the parent table to be displayed”. The below tag needs to be added within the method instance, otherwise multiple results will be displayed for a single record, which is unwanted.

<Property Name=”AttachmentAccessor” Type=”System.String”></Property>

1	<Property Name=”AttachmentAccessor” Type=”System.String”></Property>

Thanks to Scott Hillier to the right pointer on the “Attachment Accessor” which is significant for this requirement.

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Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Use Of UseClientCachingForSearch Property In BDC Model

Feb 28th

Posted by Peter in European SharePoint 2013 Hosting

We are using a custom BCS connector to crawl the data from SQL for a SharePoint 2013 search. There are 2.1 million records in the SQL table. The data is being read in batches and provided to the crawler (we have implemented our own logic to supply the records to the search crawler in batches).

The issue here is the crawl rate. The rate of crawl at which the out of the box (OOTB) External Content type retrieves the data is way higher than the custom process (2.1 M items in 8.30 hrs.). But when we try to crawl the BCS External Content type using custom BCS connector, it takes 10 hours. (If the load is high or multiple users log into the server sometimes it takes 19 hrs. to crawl 1M items)

At this point in time, we are unable to identify the cause of the issue or find the section where the bottleneck is.

Solution

When we compared the OOTB and Custom BDC model files (.bdcm), we found that one additional property called UseClientCachingForSearch was used in the OOTB BDC model. Then, we started investigating this property and found that this is the property that produced the magical number for OOTB BCS.

The UseClientCachingForSearch property in the BDC model improves the speed of full crawls by caching the item during enumeration. This property is also recommended when implementing incremental crawls that are based on change logs because it improves incremental crawl speed.

Basically, when we make a model using Out of the box, the UseClientCachingForSearch property is added automatically. When we make our own custom BCS model we have to add this property manually.

Important Note

If BCS crawl items are larger than 30 kilobytes on average, we should not set this property, as it will lead to a significant number of cache misses and negate performance gains. In our case, our records are not more than this limit.

Output

After implementing this, we get the magical number similar to out of the box BCS crawl in our custom BCS crawl activity. This is just in the development environment. When it goes to production, it should definitely give very good performance.

Why Custom BCS Connector?

Custom BCS connector is used here for the following reasons,

Out of the box, BCS Connector has a response limit. The maximum number of rows that can be read through the Database Connector is 1,000,000. The limit can be changed via the ‘Set-SPBusinessDataCatalogThrottleConfig’ cmdlet using PowerShell. But it is not recommended. To handle this threshold issue on the search crawler, we are writing the custom BCS connector with the batch processing.
Currently, our external system (Teamcenter) has 2.1 million data and this may grow up to 6 million in the next 4 to 5 years. To process this dynamic data growth we have implemented batch processing in our Custom BCS connector.
OOTB SharePoint incremental crawl will not delete the deleted items in the external system from the search indexes until we do a full crawl. To implement this logic for incremental crawl we choose custom BCS connector.

The researches, findings, and learning we have done in this project are going to be a great knowledge-base for everyone.

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Design

Silver Bullet

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Use Of UseClientCachingForSearch Property In BDC Model

Solution

Why Custom BCS Connector?

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

BLOGROLL

Featured On

European Sharepoint 2013 Hosting Blog

SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: SharePoint Search Application Returns “The Content Processing Pipeline Failed To Process The Item” Error On Crawl

SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Set List Properties By WebRequest

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

SharePoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu : Getting List Properties From SchemaXml

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: How To Create Structural Navigation Nodes In Quick Launch And Top Navigation?

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Search Database Related Tables Using BCS

Design

Silver Bullet

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

Sharepoint 2013 Hosting – HostForLIFE.eu :: Use Of UseClientCachingForSearch Property In BDC Model

Solution

Why Custom BCS Connector?

SharePoint 2013 Hosting Recommendation

BLOGROLL

Featured On

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