Alexander’s Blog

Today I ran into something strange while editing a list item on one of my SharePoint 2010 sites. I was using Chrome version 10.0.648.204, which is the latest version available at the time of writing. What I discovered is that when I edit a list, or create a new item in the list and enter a comment in the comments box, my text is wiped as soon as I stop typing and my cursor moves back to the beginning of the box. Apparently Chrome functions on a half second rule. I can keep on entering text and as long as I don’t pause for more than half a second it keeps my text but as soon as I move my mouse and click the Save button to save the item it’s too late. All my text is wiped out.

Obviously, out of curiosity I tried to edit the same list item in Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 4.0 and everything worked fine so I knew the issue has to do with the Chrome browser. I updated my browser to the latest version, which I mentioned above is 10.0.648.204 and then restarted the browser but encountered the exact same issue.

Upon digging further into the issue I realized that the Comments column, which is a built-in Core Documents Column at the site level, was a based on multiple lines of text and all the other columns in my task list were based on either single line of text or one of the other options. The built-in Comments column is based on plain text, rather than rich text or enhanced rich text.

I decided to create another column based on the enhanced rich text at the “List” level to see if it will behave differently. Surprisingly, the column that I created worked just fine and doesn’t wipe the text after half a second as I type. Okay, so it seems that the problem is with the built-in Comments column. Next, I wondered if my column worked because it was based on multiple lines of text rather than plain text. I created another column, this time at the “Site” level (not the List level), based on rich text and Chrome had no problem with that. Then I changed the column type to Enhanced rich text and Chrome had no problem with that either. Hmmm?? May be it has something to do with using site columns. Naah….that’s too weird to even comprehend.

Finally, I switched the column type to match with the built-in Column type, which is plain text, and bingo! Chrome started to spit out text as fast as I could type. Okay, almost as fast. I think I’ve finally nailed the problem.

The moral of the story is that Chrome doesn’t support plain text multiple lines columns in a SharePoint list. Notice I said plain text multiple lines columns. Chrome seems to be perfectly happy with plain text single line columns. In the title of this post I wondered if this is a bug. These days vendors don’t like to use the word “bug”, instead they prefer to use the word “incompatibility.” When was the last time you heard any major vendor claim that there was a bug in their software?

Perhaps this is just an incompatibility in Chrome. Call it whatever you want, the fact is Chrome doesn’t support SharePoint as Internet Explorer (IE) does. The nice thing about browser-based software, from the vendors’ perspective, is that if anything doesn’t work right you can always blame it either on the browser-compatibility or user’s settings.

I know Microsoft claims that Firefox is a “Supported” browser for SharePoint 2010 with known-limitations, which is borderline humorous. In the article Plan browser support (SharePoint Server 2010), Microsoft states that Firefox is supported and then lists 17 SharePoint limitations that makes Firefox useless for all practical purposes. The fact is that only IE (32-bit) is fully supported and works with SharePoint. Microsoft’s own IE (64-bit) browser isn’t supported either and no other browser properly works with SharePoint, which is unfortunate.

Workarounds

Here are some of the workarounds that you can try.

1. The simplest workaround for this problem is to use IE or Firefox, if you want to call it a workaround, because the other browsers do not have this issue, only Chrome does.
2. The second option is not to use the plain text type when you create, or use a built-in column that is based on multiple lines of text. For multiple line columns either use rich text, or Enhanced rich text.
3. The third option is to use columns based on single line of text, instead of multiple lines, if single line of text will work for you.
4. If you have to use multiple lines of text with rich text or Enhanced rich text then here’s what worked for me. I slowly typed the text with my left hand, making sure I am not pausing for more than half a second during the keyboard entries, while keeping my right hand on the mouse and clicked Save as soon as the last character was entered. This worked for me each time and I was able to save the item. Once I discovered what exactly the problem was, I just created another column at the site level (that’s the best practice), and added it to my list. The column type was multiple lines of text based on Enhanced rich text. Problem solved!

I know the list of issues with SharePoint compatibility in Chrome is pretty large. In this article I have only mentioned one but there are too many issues with using SharePoint in Chrome to even document. The only reason I blogged about this problem is that the workaround for this issue became a challenge for me and I got really curious as to why my text magically kept on disappearing.

Here’s a trivia for you.

Did you know that the first name, last name, display name, full name, logon name, and SAM account name can all be different for a single user account in Active Directory?

There are some things in software products that are implemented in such a bizarre way that I can’t resist blogging about them. One such example is the Full Name attribute in Active Directory accounts. The way Microsoft implements Full Name is rather interesting. Do not confuse Full Name with Display Name. They are two completely different attributes. By default, the Display Name is a combination of a user’s first and last name. Unlike Display Name, the Full Name attribute is not visible in the GUI and cannot be set within the properties of the user account.

Try this. Look at all the properties of a user account closely. You won’t find Full Name anywhere. You will find Display Name, which is not the name that is displayed in Active Directory Users and Computers. So what is the actual Display Name that is displayed in Active Directory Users and Computers? Well, the actual name that is displayed is the Full Name. I am not kidding. The next obvious question you are going to ask is how do I change the Full Name if it’s not shown in the GUI? Answer: By right-clicking the account and selecting Rename you will notice a pop-up Window that will show you the Full Name.

So let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far. The Full Name is by default a combination of a user’s first and last name but it can be a combination of anything you want, totally unrelated to the actual first or last name. The first name, last name, display name and the full name can be completely independent of each other. You can literally have a first name John, last name Smith, display name David Jones, and a full name Joe Shmoe, as shown in the screenshot below. Play around with these attributes and you will see what I mean.

By the way, the logon name of the user and the SAM account name (Pre-Windows 2000 name) can also be completely independent. So Joe Shmoe, a.k.a John Smith, a.k.a. David Jones can have a logon name of Tony and a SAM account name of Williams. The logon and Pre-Windows 2000 names are configured on the Account tab of the user account properties. Obviously, I am not recommending you configure the account in such a manner, I am just pointing out the fact that first name, last name, display name, full name, logon name, and SAM account name can all be different for a single user account in Active Directory. Which is all fine and dandy, but the way the Full Name and the Display Name is implemented in Active Directory appears rather strange to me. What do you think?

Known Issues

I should point out that the fact that changing the first and last name doesn’t change the Full Name is known to cause developers some headaches (e.g. issues with sharing of a BCM database). The inconsistency in the way this “feature” is implemented has also some known issues with Exchange 2007, as pointed out in this MSDN article.

After installing SharePoint Server 2010, if you try to view the Site Web Analytics Reports you will get the following error.

There is no data available for this report. Here are some possible reasons: (1) Web Analytics has not been enabled long enough to generate data; (2) There is insufficient data to generate this report; (3) Data logging required for this report might not be enabled; (4) Data aggregation might not be enabled at the level required for this report.

In order to view the Site Web Analytics Reports, you first need to create a Web Analytics Service Application in the Central Administration. Here’s how.

1. Go to Central Administration -> Application Management -> Manage service applications.
2. Click New and select Web Analytics Service Application.
3. Enter a name for the service and create a new application pool, or use an existing one.
4. Provide a name of the database server for the service application.
5. Provide a unique name for the Staging Database and the Reporting Database and then click OK.
6. Once the application has been created you will notice the status is automatically set to Started. However, you need to go to another location and manually start two services.
7. Go to Central Administration -> Application Management -> Manage service on server (under the Service Applications heading). Make sure that both of the following services are started. If not, start them.
   - Web Analytics Data Processing Service
   - Web Analytics Web Service

   

8. Because the data has to be populated before you see it in the reports, you may have to wait a day or two before you view the results. Just use the Web site as you normally do and then check back in a day to see the results.
9. Click on the Analyze tab to customize the date range or the site scope. Their are some default options to view the data for preceding day, or preceding 7, 30, 90, 180, or 365 days. You can also use custom dates for the site report.

The Developer Dashboard in SharePoint 2010 allows you to display information about the Web page, such as the time it took to load the page, Page Checkout Level, how long it takes to load Web parts, etc. The dashboard is called Developer Dashboard but it’s not just for the developers. It’s a farm-wide setting that only site collection administrators can see. Site visitors will not be able to see the icon. Once you enable the dashboard, it’s available on all the sites in the farm.

Enabling the Developer Dashboard

To enable Developer Dashboard in SharePoint Server 2010, run the following command in SharePoint 2010 Management Shell. Make sure you start the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell as Administrator:

stsadm -o setproperty -pn developer-dashboard -pv ondemand

Once you execute the command successfully, you will see the icon in the top right hand corner of the site. You may need to refresh your screen.

The icon can be used to toggle the dashboard on or off. When it is on you will see the dashboard at the bottom of the page, as shown below.

Microsoft SQL Server licensing provides the option to purchase SQL Server 2008 R2 under a Server/CAL licensing model with a server operating system license and incremental Client Access Licenses (CALs), or a Per Processor license model.

NOTE: The following table provides guidance on estimated Open NL level pricing for U.S. and Canadian editions of SQL Server 2008 R2 offered in the Volume Licensing program. These prices were posted on Microsoft’s Web site on March 1, 2011. For current pricing information please visit Microsoft’s Web site.

* SQL Server Datacenter and SQL Server Web are offered in the VL Channel Only

- Unless otherwise noted, all editions are licensed in the Volume Licensing (VL) and Retail Full Packaged Product (FPP) sales channels.

- Estimated prices are provided in US dollars and are representative of Open NL level pricing for a company purchasing a small number of licenses via volume licensing distribution partners in the United States.

- Software Assurance prices are annual estimates for comparative purposes only.

- Actual reseller pricing may vary.

- To find the Microsoft Web site for your country/region, visit the Worldwide sites page.