Columns in Edit in Datasheet View are read-only

Few Days before, we encountered a weird error message, not error we can say but normal properly working list or document library turned out to be readable only and we were not able to edit anything by using datasheet.

In standard view, it worked properly but our users wanted to use datasheet view only because they are more comfortable with that view and also it is more flexible to apply the metadata for multiple documents in datasheet view. I tried to reproduce the issue and strange thing is i am also facing the same behavior.

After lots to research and troubleshooting, we are able to find out the cause as well as resolution.

CAUSE:

User was using Office 2003 and then later installed an Office 2007 component so the Windows SharePoint Service Support tool portion of Office defaulted to using the Office 2007 version. Office 2007 will by default use Access instead of Excel for opening lists in Datasheet view. The types of columns that were being used in the list did not translate correctly to Access from Excel and so were changed to read-only.

This issue is by design and Microsoft is working on this one:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb462636(office.11).aspx#Office2007SynchronizeSharePointListfromExcel_Updating

WORKAROUND:

This will in effect remove the Office 2007 integration with SharePoint and change it back to using Office 2003 integration.

On the client machine:-

1.   Go to Add/Remove Programs

2.   Select the Office 2007 component, if there are more than one, do this for each of them.

3.   Select “Change” and then Add or Remove Features Expand the Office Tools section and

4.   Change the install state for Windows SharePoint Service Support to Not Available (Right click on it and choose “not available”) Continue through the wizard.

5.   Reboot

Go to Add/Remove programs --> Select Office 2003 -->Select Change and then Repair-->Continue through the wizard.

I hope the above steps helps you to resolve your problem and you are able to use the data view properly. If you face any issues after applying the above steps then please let me know!! Thanks!!

unable to connect to database or unable to connect the configuration database

Issue with SharePoint after installating the hotfix which solve DNS issue

If you install the DNS fix (KB 953230) and experience SharePoint trouble – such as error message which says unable to connect to database or unable to connect the configuration database.

You can follow the steps below if you're using Windows Internal Database/MSDE:
• Download and install SQL Management Studio Express (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=C243A5AE-4BD1-4E3D-94B8-5A0F62BF7796&displaylang=en) if you don't have any SQL 2005 management tool available
• Connect the server using the following information
oServer: \\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query
o Windows authentication
• Detach the SharePoint configuration database
• Reattach the SharePoint configuration database
• Restart your SharePoint server

Your issue should have been solved!!!

‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined

How to fix: Recurring Meeting Workspace error: ‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined
After changing the master page on a Meeting Workspace site, the recurring meeting workspace hyperlinks under “Select a date from the list below” do not work and throw a JavaScript error.

Please follow these steps to to overcome this error message "‘g_InstanceID’ is undefined "
1. At the top level of the site collection:- Browse to Site actions -> Site Settings -> Modify all site settings.
2.- Under the Galleries section, click 'Master pages and page layouts' to access the Master Page Gallery
3.Select 'Upload'. Browse to 12 hive\TEMPLATE\GLOBAL and select mwsdefault.master.
4.The 'Edit Item' page for the gallery will open. It's best to give this mwsdefault.master a new name in order to distinguish it from the original mwsdefault.master. Then click 'Check In'.
5.Publish the newly uploaded copy by selecting 'Publish a major version' from the item's dropdown box on the Master Page Gallery.
6.Approve the newly uploaded master page by selecting 'Approve/reject' from the item's dropdown box, selecting the Approved box, and clicking OK.

Back on the problem Meeting Workspace page:
-Select 'Site Actions' -> 'Site Settings' -> and then 'Master page' under the Look and Feel section
-Select the newly uploaded version of the mwsdefault.master in the Site Master Page and System Master Page dropdown boxes, and then click OK.
-the JavaScript controls on the Meeting Workspace will now work without producing the JavaScript error, making the other event dates browsable again.

I hope the above steps helps you to overcome this javascript error message and your meeting workspace template will work properly and never face this problem again. Thanks!!!

Cannot open file: it does not appear to be a valid archive. If you downloaded this file, try downloading the file again.

After you download a .ZIP file from a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services document library, and then you try to open the .ZIP file, you may receive the following error message:
Cannot open file: it does not appear to be a valid archive. If you downloaded this file, try downloading the file again.

CAUSE
This problem may occur if HTTP compression is turned on in the Web Sites properties of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) on the SharePoint virtual server. When you download a .ZIP file, IIS encodes the file as GZIP. However, the browser client passes the file directly to the unZIP program, without GZIP decoding the file. To determine if HTTP compression is turned on, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Expand the server (local computer) tree, where server (local computer) is the name of your IIS server.
3. Right-click Web Sites, and then click Properties.
4. Click the Service tab to view the HTTP compression properties.

Resolution:

change the MIME type for the .ZIP file from application/x-zip-compressed to application/octet-stream . To change the MIME type, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.
2. Right-click the server (local computer) tree, where server (local computer) is the name of your IIS server, and then click Properties.
3. Click MIME Types.
4. Scroll down the registered MIME type list to find the .zip entry.
5. Click the .zip application/x-zip-compressed entry, and then click Edit.
6. Change the MIME type value to application/octet-stream .
7. Stop and then restart the IIS Admin Service to apply the change to the MIME type.

The file that you selected could not be found

Few Days before, in our project, one of the user faced wierd error message which was never seen by my team. First of all lets focused the whole error message:
"The file that you selected could not be found. Check the spelling of the file name and verify that the location is correct."

When trying to open the sample dashboard in MOSS 2007 Enterprise Report Center site as an user with Read Only rights, we got this error message.
While troubleshooting, we compared two document libraries and reproduced the scenario.
After the excat replication of error message on a new document library,we found out the resolution which is quite simple.

Resolution:-
1. Go to your reports library where the workbooks are stored.
2. On the Settings menu, click Document Library Settings.
3. Under General Settings, click versioning settings.
4. Disable versioning.

I hope the above steps helps you to resolve your issue.
Thanks...