Code blocks are not allowed in this file + Performance Point

What is performance point service (PPS)?

PerformancePoint Services is a performance management service that you can use to monitor and analyze your business. By providing flexible, easy-to-use tools for building dashboards, scorecards, reports, and key performance indicators (KPIs), PerformancePoint Services can help everyone across an organization make informed business decisions that align with companywide objectives and strategy.

Functionality: Scorecards, dashboards, and KPIs help drive accountability. Integrated analytics help employees move quickly from monitoring information to analyzing it and, when appropriate, sharing it throughout the organization.

One of our users raised a ticket by mentioning “facing problem while using performance point service w.r.t. BI dashboards. Further probing reflected the fact that he was using site with BI template with PPS activated features.

So far so good but while opening the site i.e. PPSSample.aspx, he was getting the following error message-

An error occurred during the processing of /PerformancePoint/Pages/ppssample.aspx. Code blocks are not allowed in this file.

Further checks provided more details that ppssample.aspx page is by-default one and not a customized. You will find this under every web application’s site collection. Previously I thought it might be web application specific but I was able to reproduce it across all web apps so it’s a farm wide issue.

One thing we need to understand that there is nothing wrong in your activated features or enabled performance point functionality. Also, not all the users use PPS functionality so you need to take the decision very carefully w.r.t. following troubleshooting.

Resolution:

(neat and simple)- 2 step resolution:

Placed this in the web.config file of the web application within the <PageParserPath> header.

1)   <PageParserPath VirtualPath="/BI/Pages/ppssample.aspx" CompilationMode="Always" AllowServerSideScript="true" />

2)   IISRESET

That’s it- Your issue will be resolved.

Note: I mentioned about decision (refer the underlined keyword) - here is the fact- Thanks to Justin Kobel’s article  who have stated- “the page parser solution both open up a huge security hole within the page (allowing server side code to be authored within SPD and executed within your page), as well as causing issues in a farm scenario (trying to keep all of your web.config’s in sync, causing recovery issues, etc.)”

So the alternate solution which is little bit tricky and need SPD.

Here are the references:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh697481.aspx

http://oszakiewski.net/eric/performancepoint-error-code-blocks-are-not-allowed-in-this-file

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, thank you.

Product applies to-

-SharePoint Server 2010

-SharePoint Foundation 2010

-SharePoint Server 2013

-SharePoint Foundation 2013

Error communicating with Excel Services Application - Event ids 5231 5239 5240

SharePoint monitoring is very necessary and should be done on regular basis as it will give complete idea about any exceptions/errors/if any services are not running/if any servers are not responding etc. so while monitoring the servers, I came these following errors in the event viewer-

Event 5239 (Excel Services Application) of severity 'Error' occurred 10 more time(s) and was suppressed in the event log

Event 5231 (Excel Services Application) of severity 'Error' occurred 10 more time(s) and was suppressed in the event log

To verify this, I tried opening excel dashboards on each servers (WFE’s) to find out which server is the culprit. Before doing this, make sure that excel service application is in started mode as well as app pool is running.

Coming back to dashboard point, you will find the culprit server. Just restart that specific server and check the results. In my case, it fixed the issue and reference is as below:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee513104(v=office.14).aspx

The above article will be indeed helpful in many scenarios as-

1.   Delayed load times for workbooks.

2.   Workbooks fail to load.

3.   This event appears in the event log: Event ID: 5231 Description: Unable to reach Excel Calculation Server <URL of machine> [Session: <session ID> User: <username>]

Possible resolutions-

1)   Restart excel calculations services

2)   Recycle app pool

3)   Make sure that the account you are using for excel calculation service is working properly i.e. not locked!

4)   Reboot the server

I hope the above info is helpful and will give some directions to resolve the issue.

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

Unable to save site as template + unexpected error has occurred

Here we go, it’s been a long time I didn’t publish an article which consist of hardcore troubleshooting! Yes, you are correct. It took some time to resolve but finally the issue has been resolved. This time it’s regarding problem occurring while ‘save site as template’ and how we found the culprit.

Problem description:-

User has raised the problem ticket by mentioning “facing problem while saving the site as template”, additionally the templates are getting saved in the solution gallery but not able to activate it also.

Error message:-

An unexpected error has occurred.

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Correlation ID: acd95f50-4049-4625-9682-aa93aded118f

Troubleshooting done:-

Further debugging in the SP ULS logs and we found some strange facts which are based on event receivers- please refer below-

SPSolutionExporter: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: Feature definition with Id 77658379-50ff-4e1e-a431-5652bee07a87 failed validation

Looking for 'ReceiverAssembly' attribute in manifest root node for solution

Looking for 'ReceiverClass' attribute in manifest root node for solution

The 'Format' attribute is invalid - The value 'CheckBoxes' is invalid according to its datatype

I debug further to find out where the problem is-

I downloaded the saved wsp's from  /_catalogs/solutions/Forms/AllItems.aspx to my desktop

Renamed it to .cab

Extracted all the contents and found some interesting facts along with manifest.xml file like-

1.      List Instances

2.      Modules

3.      Property bags

4.      web template

Inside List Instances, I found ElementsFields.xml

Once i opened the above xml file, search for the checkboxes and found the following-

Further exploration on this, it seems that the checkbox attribute is invalid and needs to be modified.

Resolution:-

After this one, the solution is pretty much simple, just go ahead and remove that affected column / remove the affected content type – does not require IISRESET also.

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 issue, Thank you.

Item level permissions in SharePoint: User should add/edit/read only their own items- SharePoint 2010.

A user requested that he need to have a permission configured on the item level where used can see only their own documents or can read all the items in the list.

As a SharePoint admin the though had some to my mind are:

? Simply deny as it’s only possible with Survey list in SharePoint 2007.

? Can have created a custom list but would be a tedious task.

? Can use the target audience feature but that would be with a complex configuration.  

However, as I was exploring the features of SharePoint 2010, I checked configuration on the List settings of SharePoint 2010 Platform and MS has done a great job to extend the feature from Survey list to all types of list in SharePoint 2010.

You can configure Item level permissions in one go.  You can go to List Settings -&gt; Advance Settings and Item- Level Permissions.

You can also use PowerShell Script to manage the item level permissions:

Manage Read Access:

$SharePointSite = Get-SPWeb http://amar.com/

$list = $web.Lists[“Library Name”]

$list.ReadSecurity = 1

$list.Update()

$SharePointSite.Dispose()

Note: 1 = “Read all items”, 2 = “Read items that were created by the user”

Manage Write Access:

$SharePointSite = Get-SPWeb http://amar.com/

$list = $web.Lists[“Library Name”]

$list.WriteSecurity = 1

$list.Update()

$SharePointSite.Dispose()

Note:  1 = “Create and edit All items”, 2 = “Create items and edit items that were created by the user” 4 = “None”

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, thank you.

Applies to: SharePoint Foundation Server 2010, SharePoint Server 2010.

SharePoint: "The storage space allocation page cannot be used for sites that do not have a storage quota defined"

Issue: User was getting error message below while accessing the Storage Space Allocation page:

The storage space allocation page cannot be used for sites that do not have a storage quota defined.

Background:

While doing some regular clean-up of the sites which are over quota, I noticed that site is not having the Site Storage Allocation page in the Site collection administration page, which was quite strange though.
Accessing storage page directly via _layouts/storman.aspx page, shoes the above error message.

Troubleshooting:

Checked the same behaviour on the other site as well and it was not the same.
Tried to activate and deactivate the Office Publishing feature. Storage Allocation link was still not appearing. 

Resolution:

Checking the site storage quota we have noticed a much wired thing is that the site was given quota or you can say it was set to be 0 MB with Warning level of 0 MB.
Not sure that was done, seeming like a human error obvious.
Set the correct quota for the site and Site Storage Allocation page was back.

Applies to Products:  SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010, SharePoint Server 2013

Error: The Compressed (zipped) Folder is invalid or corrupted in SharePoint 2007.

Issue: Whenever my client tried to open a .zip files from SharePoint it throws the below error message.

Background: One of my clients had zipped the .excel files in on his local desktop and uploaded to SharePoint site. There files contains the project level information and was needed to extract after two years. When he clicked the file to open from SharePoint had encountered the issue.

Now the task begins of a SharePoint admin.

Troubleshooting:

Tried to open the file from SharePoint site, no go.

Downloaded the file on desktop of the client, no go.

Tried the same steps at my end, no success.

Strange this accessing file on SharePoint server also does give the same error.

With the above basic stuff, it was clear that it is something to deal with the zip file itself as it doesn’t seems to be SharePoint issue anymore.

Being a digger try to dig some more in it and seems like something to deal with the excel documents zipped may be was in protected mode.

Client was having no clue for this.

Resolution: Tried to find the Repair tool on the internet and million thanks to Christina Marley who created a zip file repair utility which when ran has repaired the file and is available for download here.
http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/The-Compressed-Zipped-d39407b2

Asked the user to download the files and repair them with the utility.

If you feel any difficulty in understanding the tool or have any query I would be happier to help you.

Applied to: SharePoint 2007, WinZip, and WinRAR. Windows XP.

The operation that you are attempting to perform cannot be completed successfully

Problem description:

We have received the following error message while creating the site collection underneath one web application.

Error message:

The operation that you are attempting to perform cannot be completed successfully.  No content databases in the web application were available to store your site collection.  The existing content databases may have reached the maximum number of site collections, or be set to read-only, or be offline, or may already contain a copy of this site collection.  Create another content database for the Web application and then try the operation again.

Troubleshooting done:-

If you see the error message then you will experience it is somewhat misleading. How?

See-

1)     Checked the content database is attached or not [By means of Central Administration] - Yes, it’s already there.

2)     Checked the maximum & minimum site collection number and its already max 5000 and min 2000. The actual numbers of site collections are only 50! Strange!

3)     Checked the status of web application – whether its Read Only / content prevented/locked/unlocked [By means of Central Administration]

4)     Checked the status from SQL end and it was fine.

This issue can be resolved in multiple ways-

Resolution:-

1)     Create a new content database and check new site collections are getting created or not.

2)     You can also test this by creating a site collection in a different web application – By this way you are trying to isolate the problem. Whether it’s restricted to single web app/single content database/complete farm.

3)     Check the database status –

                                i.            Central administration

                              ii.            Application management

                            iii.            Manage content databases

                            iv.            Select the appropriate web application from the dropdown

                              v.            Check the status

                            vi.            In my case, it’s showing error

Note: I would like to highlight that the above mentioned ‘error’ status does not make any impact on the existing site collections so nothing to worry about it.

4)     Execute IISRESET and check the results

5)     Check the status from the SQL end and make sure there is no problem with the logs as the database consists of mdf and ldf files, this problem might be occur due log files gets full!

In my case, it’s showing the database status as “Error” so I performed the following steps-

1.      Detach the content database from the web application

2.      IISRESET

3.      Attach the content database back & check the results.

Now site collections can be created without any problems!

Issue resolved! Happy SharePoint…

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, Thank you.

Reference:

1)     http://support.microsoft.com/kb/300226

2)     http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927917

Product applies to:

1)     SharePoint Server 2010

2)     SharePoint Foundation 2010

Sorry, something went wrong – SharePoint 2013

I am an owner of one group on Facebook where people used to ask their queries and community people replied with appropriate answers. One of the question/query reported by one user where he is getting an error message- Sorry, something went wrong while opening office documents with respect to office web apps.

Exact error message:-

Sorry, something went wrong

An error has occurred on the server.

Technical Details

Troubleshoot issues with Microsoft SharePoint Foundation.

Correlation ID: a85Kdd9g- jht 1- 50e6- 6gdd- 164d14296a0t

I have started my research and found this article which reflects the exact resolution-http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2761265

Thanks to Microsoft once again!

Note: if you think that the above mentioned article does not resolves the issue then Please use the correlation id from the error message and check the ULS logs and update your findings here so that we can check and try to find out the resolution.

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

Some Important references:

1)   Problem: When you select the "new document" link in a SharePoint library, you’re prompted to upload a document instead of having the option to create a new Office document. Choosing (single-clicking) an Office document opens the file in the client application. Previews of Office documents are not displayed.

2)   Problem: You receive a "Sorry, there was a problem and we can't open this document" error when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.

3)   Problem: You receive a "Sorry, Word Web App can't open this document because the service is busy. Please try again later" error when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps.

4)   Problem: You receive a "File Not Found. The URL of the original file is not valid or the document is not publicly accessible. Verify the URL is correct, then contact the document owner" error when you try to view an Office document in Office Web Apps by using a user generated URL.

5)   Problem: Previews of Office documents don't appear in SharePoint 2013. Instead, they show the "This content cannot be displayed in a frame" error.

6)   Problem: You receive “A data connection is set to always use connection file and {0:ExcelWebApp} does not support external connection files. The following connection failed to refresh: Data connections” error.

This workbook is larger than the maximum workbook size allowed to be opened in the browser

Today we faced one more new issue and it was quite easy to understand and predict what will be the resolution! But today’s article is especially for those who are business managers/IT analyst/vice presidents/governance etc. - who does have access to the servers.

To display a workbook in an Excel Web Access Web Part, you must add the Web Part to a page and then connect the workbook to the Web Part by entering the workbook URL or UNC in the Excel Web Access tool pane. As a final step, you can customize the Web Part by selecting properties in the Excel Web Access tool pane for the Web Part.

User reported an issue that he is trying an excel file in the excel web access webpart (EWA) and getting the following error message-

This workbook is larger than the maximum workbook size allowed to be opened in the browser.

 

Here is the step by step resolution:

1)     Open the central administration

2)     Application management

3)     Manage service applications

4)     Excel service application

5)     Click on Trusted File locations

6)     Select the document library link where your excel files are stored

7)     Go to the section termed as “Workbook Properties”

8)     Maximum workbook size

9)     By default its set to 10MB

10) Set it as per your requirement – like 50MB/100MB

11) Click OK

Go back to your site now where you were facing the problem -> refresh the page and check the results!

It should be resolved now. Thank you.

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, Thank you.

Free Training & Resources from Microsoft

Windows Server 2012 Evaluation Download

System Center 2012 Suite Evaluation Download

Hyper-V Server 2012 Evaluation Download

Windows Server 2012 Training at MVA

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Private Cloud Guided Labs

October 2013 Cumulative Update

October 2013 Cumulative Update Packages for SharePoint Foundation 2013 and SharePoint Server 2013 have been released

October 2013 CU for SharePoint Foundation 2013 - KB 2825674 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2825674

October 2013 CU for SharePoint Server 2013 - KB 2825647 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2825647

Note: This is build 15.0.4551.1001 of the cumulative update package.