The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get the data view from the data source

Error when creating a SOAP Data Source in SharePoint Designer 

With Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, you can easily link data sources that contain interrelated data to one another. You can even link data sources of separate types — for example, you can link an XML file to an SQL database. By linking multiple data sources, you create a single data source that appears in the Data Sources list with all of your other data sources.

Consider the following scenario:

§  You create a web application which is configured to use claims-based authentication with NTLM 

§  You create a custom list or use an existing list with some data. 

§  You create a SOAP data source in SharePoint Designer & configure to authenticate as a claims user 

In this scenario, you receive an error similar to the following

The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get the data view from the data source

Cause: I am trying to find out the root cause behind this issue but most probably the answer would be- SharePoint impersonates the anonymous IIS user account and is denied access to the resource.

Resolution:

1.      Open IIS Manager. 

2.      Expand site and find the application to which you are connecting from SharePoint Designer. 

3.      Right click, select Explore. 

4.      Open the web.config file 

5.      Search for <appSettings> 

6.      Find the line with <add key="aspnet:AllowAnonymousImpersonation" value="true" /> 

7.      Change it to <add key="aspnet:AllowAnonymousImpersonation" value="false" /> 

8.      Save the file 

9.      Add the Data View from SharePoint designer.

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know, Thank you

SharePoint Designer cannot display the item

Problem Description:

When you use Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, you may experience one or more of the following issues:

When you try to edit or publish a workflow, you receive one of the following error messages: 

1.      SharePoint Designer cannot display the item.

2.      The list of workflow actions on the server references an assembly that does not exist. Some actions will not be available. 

When you try to create a new list workflow, site workflow, or reusable workflow, you follow the steps to create the workflow. However, after you have completed the steps, the item is not present. 

When you connect to a SharePoint Online site, you receive the following error message:

Microsoft SharePoint Designer cannot be used to edit web sites on servers different from SharePoint Server 2010.

  

When you connect to a SharePoint site, you receive the following error message:

This web site has been configured to disallow editing with SharePoint Designer. 

Resolution:

To resolve these issues, install Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2013. SharePoint Designer 2013 is available at the following Microsoft website:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35491

Note:- You may install SharePoint Designer 2013 alongside SharePoint Designer 2010. However, we recommend that you uninstall SharePoint Designer 2010 before you install SharePoint Designer 2013.

Important Guidelines:

1.      You experience these issues if one or more of the following conditions are true:

2.      You have received the most recent update to the Office 365 SharePoint Online service. 

3.      You have upgraded your on-premises installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013. 

4.      You have upgraded your installation of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013. 

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issuesJJ

"List from Spreadsheet" using SharePoint Designer 2010 throws "An unexpected error has occurred"

We are all aware about ‘How to import a spreadsheet’ from normal GUI functionality. This time I was playing the same functionality with SharePoint Designer 2010 and faced some challenges. I would like to share the exact steps as how we can reproduce the same error and workaround for the same.

Problem Description: If you try to import a spreadsheet from within SharePoint Designer 2010 to create a list in SharePoint 2010 you get an error

"An unexpected error has occurred."

Steps To Reproduce:

1.     Browse to a SharePoint site 

2.     From the Site Settings menu click on "Edit In SharePoint Designer" 

3.     Within SharePoint Designer, choose left menu "Lists and Items" 

4.     From the Ribbon menu click "List from Spreadsheet" 

5.     SharePoint Designer will launch the SharePoint site within a browser 

6.     Add a title on the list and choose File then click Import 

7.     You will get error message "An unexpected error has occurred" 

Workaround:

The URL when you try to load the page from SharePoint Designer will look something like the following and it will not work:

http://server/_layouts/new.aspx?ListTemplate=SpreadsheetImport  

Append to the URL on the page that is being called from SharePoint Designer with the following and reload the page.

&ListBaseType=0&DisplayName=Spreadsheet+Import  

Example:

http://server/_layouts/new.aspx?ListTemplate=SpreadsheetImport&ListBaseType=0&DisplayName=Spreadsheet+Import

If you have any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information then please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you as well as resolves your issues J J

Exchange Public folder migrations to SharePoint

Migrating content from Exchange Public folders to SharePoint can be a complicated task.  Public Folders contain a variety of content (email, file attachments, distribution lists, contacts, tasks, etc.), so your first task is to figure out what will be migrated and where.  Some items will go into doc libraries; others will end up in lists.  You'll have to run an extractor tool to extract content out of PF's and then import that content into SharePoint. 

Microsoft doesn't offer a free migratory tool from PF to SharePoint, so you have to either write one yourself, use a community tool, or buy a third-party product. There are some free, open-source extractor and migratory tools available, but I'd recommend going with a third-party migration tool, such as the Quest or AvePoint products:

http://www.quest.com/public-folder-migrator-for-sharepoint

http://www.avepoint.com/exchange-public-folder-to-sharepoint-migration-docave

We need to consider the following points before migrating public folders to SharePoint:

·        Find out what folders and data items you have and who has permission to access them

·        Remove any unnecessary or outdated items from the folders

·        Remove unnecessary replicas of the folders

·        Design a SharePoint infrastructure that’s suitable for your needs (a topic that’s outside the scope of this article)

·        Migrate your public folder data to SharePoint

·        Decommission your public folder servers

Few questions based on the above theory

What kind of items we need to migrate from exchange folder?

·        Mail items

·        Calendars and Appointments (Events in Calendars, including recurring events)

·        Contacts and Distribution lists

·        Posts

·        Tasks

·        Notes

·        Documents

How many public folders you have and how important they are?

Do we have any custom tool to generate a list of all your folders and their last access and modification times? (Purpose behind this-That will immediately help you identify folders that haven’t been used in a long time)

Which mode of discussion is really important by migration point of view?

Because: Exchange public folders mix discussion functionality (which we normally use for email) and document storage. SharePoint uses two separate models for these two different types of data: Document libraries hold documents, and discussion lists hold threaded discussions. If you move Exchange public folder discussions to a document library, you lose the conversation threading from Exchange; if you move documents to a discussion list, you won’t have the versioning and check-in and check-out capabilities.

Thanks Amol again for content contrubution....!