Add JavaScript Date Validation into List Item forms (in NewForm.aspx)

I want to validate two fields on a new list item form by invoking JavaScript custom function. They are two date fields and I want to ensure that the end date can't happen before the start date. My first idea was to attach a validation function on the onclick event of the Submit button.

I started by inspecting the generated HTML of the form. The Submit button already has a onclick() code which is:

if (!PreSaveItem()) return false;WebForm_DoPostBackWithOptions(new WebForm_PostBackOptions("ctl00$m$g_b8be167a_5691_41d0_975c_b269cd345fc6$ctl00$toolBarTbltop$RightRptControls$ctl01$ctl00$diidIOSaveItem", "", true, "", "", false, true

Searching in the SharePoint JavaScript files in the LAYOUT folder, I found the definition of PreSaveItem function in FORMS.JS file. It simply invokes PreSaveAction function, if defined.

Finally, it was just a matter of inserting a custom function named PreSaveAction in a <SCRIPT> block of the NewForm.aspx (and EditForm.aspx). I also used the date parse code from this forum.

The code I put in NewItem.aspx is like this,

Note: Write your function just below the PlaceHolderMain line:

<asp:Content ContentPlaceHolderId="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server">

For validating two dates from two calendar controls:

function PreSaveAction()

{

    var date1 = getTagFromIdentifierAndTitle("INPUT","DateTimeFieldDate","Contract Date"); 

    var date2 = getTagFromIdentifierAndTitle("INPUT","DateTimeFieldDate","Contract End Date");

    var arrDate1 = date1.value.split("/");

    var useDate1 = new Date(arrDate1[2], arrDate1[1]-1, arrDate1[0]);

    var arrDate2 = date2.value.split("/");

    var useDate2 = new Date(arrDate2[2], arrDate2[1]-1, arrDate2[0]);

    if(useDate1 > useDate2)

    {

        alert("The end date cannot happen earlier than the start date");

        return false; // Cancel the item save process

    }

    return true;  // OK to proceed with the save item

}

If you want to validate the date with current calendar date and check the validation on button click, then the function is as below:

function PreSaveAction()

{

    var DateBox = document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_b8be167a_5691_41d0_975c_b269cd345fc6_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00_DateTimeField_DateTimeFieldDate');

    if (DateBox != null)  {

             var value1 = DateBox.value;

               if(value1 != null && value1 != '' ){

                var currentTime = new Date();

         var month = currentTime.getMonth() + 1;

       var day = currentTime.getDate();

       var year = currentTime.getFullYear();

      var currentdate = month + "/" + day + "/" + year;

      if(value1 <= currentdate){

      return true;

      }

      else

      {

      alert("Selected Date should be less than or equal to today");

      return false;

      }

      }

      else

      {

      alert("Selected Date should be less than or equal to today");

      return false;

      }

      }

}

You can also use this code:

<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">

function PreSaveAction()

{

var DateBox = document.getElementById('ctl00_m_g_b8be167a_5691_41d0_975c_b269cd345fc6_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00_ctl00_ctl04_ctl00_ctl00_DateTimeField_DateTimeFieldDate');

if (DateBox != null) {

var value1 = DateBox.value;

var arrDate1=value1.split("/");

var newmonth= arrDate1[0];

var ctrlDay = arrDate1[1];

var ctrlYear = arrDate1[2];

if(value1 != null && value1 != '' ){

var currentTime = new Date();

var month = currentTime.getMonth() + 1;

var day = currentTime.getDate();

var year = currentTime.getFullYear();

var currentdate = month + "/" + day + "/" + year;

if((newmonth <= month) && (ctrlDay <= day) && (ctrlYear <= year)){

return true;

}

else

{

alert("Please select TimesheetDate upto Today!");

return false;

}

}

else

{alert("Please select TimesheetDate upto Today!");

return false;

}

}

}

</script>

VSeWSS 1.3 Post-Install Configuration

If you’re trying to install VSeWSS 1.3, the latest version of the Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services, you may find that you need to tweak a couple of things post-install to make sure the VSeWSS 1.3 web service is configured correctly.
To give you a little context, when I first installed the default installation and then created a web part project to test deployment I was getting the following error. This was resulting from the VSeWSS 1.3 WCF web service not having the appropriate permissions.


Note: To install VSeWSS 1.3, Kirk Evans gives a good overview here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/kaevans/archive/2009/03/17/installing-vsewss-1-3.aspx
For post-install config—i.e. to rid yourself of this error message, you might find you need to follow these steps:
1. Open IIS and verify that you have a VSeWSS web service app.

 2. Click Advanced Settings on the  VSeWSS web app to ensure it is using the SharePoint Central Administration v. 3 application pool.

3. Go to the SharePoint Central Administration v.3 application pool and make sure that the Identity is running as NetworkService.

4. Go to Computer Management and click Groups, Administrators and then Add. You’ll want to, if it’s not already, add the NetworkService to the Administrators group. (Click Advanced, Find Now, and then select Network Service from the results.) Click OK to get out of the Administrators Properties dialog.

 
5. Reset IIS.
Once this was complete, I was able to go back and create a web part and successfully deploy into my local SharePoint site.

Deploying a WebPart Solution in SharePoint 2007 the simple way

Deploying web parts into MOSS 2007 isn’t exactly straight forward and after looking around the web for a while it became apparent that there is no ‘standard’ way for deploying them. I looked at a few different options and found that creating a Solution file using Visual Studio’s CAB Setup Project was the easiest and most reusuable way of accomplishing this task.
Below is a step by step guide to developing and deploying a simple WebPart.
First we need to create a WebPart to deploy, the easiest way I have found of doing this is to download the Visual Studio SharePoint extensions from Microsoft which can be located here.
After installing the extensions open Visual Studio and create a new project. You should now have some extra project templates under the SharePoint section.



Select ‘Web Part’ project, give it a name and click OK.
Visual studio will now create a basic Web Part class for you to edit.
My Web Part was called ClientViewerWebPart and I inserted some code into the overridden Render method which basically outputs data from a SharePoint list. This code looks like this so far:

using System;

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

using System.Web.UI;

using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;

using System.Xml.Serialization;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages;

namespace ClientViewerWebPart

{

    [Guid("6bf05a67-118d-4cc4-80f7-b923be02773a")]

    public class ClientViewerWebPart : System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart

    {

        public ClientViewerWebPart()

        {

            this.ExportMode = WebPartExportMode.All;

        }

        protected override void Render(HtmlTextWriter writer)

        {

            SPSite site = new SPSite(“http://leesbs/”);

            SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();

            SPListCollection collection = web.Lists;

            SPList list = collection.GetList(new Guid(“{936518FF-CC2E-4BD9-ABB9-0580EA04BCD6}”),                         false);

            for (int index = 0; index < list.Items.Count; index++)

            {

                SPListItem item = list.Items[index];

                writer.Write(“<table>”);

                writer.Write(“<tr><td>Client Name</td>”);

                writer.Write(“<td>” + item["Client Name"].ToString() + “</td></tr>”);

                writer.Write(“</table>”);

            }

        }

    }

}

Next we need to tell SharePoint to allow this web part to be executed from a partially trusted location. We do this by making an entry into the web parts AssemblyInfo file.
In Solution Explorer Expand Properties and open up the AssemblyInfo.cs file. At the bottom of the file insert the following:
[assembly: System.Security.AllowPartiallyTrustedCallers()]
Now we need to add a manifest file to out Web Part project. This manifest file is what defines our solution and tells SharePoint everything it needs to know about our Web Part.
Add a new XML file to tthe project and rename it manifest.xml. Insert the following XML into the file:

<?xml version=“1.0“ encoding=“utf-8“ ?>

    <Solution xmlns=“http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/“

                    SolutionId=“{E3CF88A3-0EC3-49b9-B09E-5F84417EC6ED}“>

        <Assemblies>

            <Assembly DeploymentTarget=“WebApplication“

                                  Location=“ClientViewerWebPart.dll“>

                <SafeControls>

                    <SafeControl Assembly=“ClientViewerWebPart, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,                                                                                         PublicKeyToken=3858ebd08dca7ee0“

                                            Namespace=“ClientViewerWebPart“ TypeName=“*“/>

                </SafeControls>

        </Assembly>

    </Assemblies>

</Solution>

You need to provide your own GUID value for the SolutionId attribute, you can do this within Visual Studio by using the GUID Generator under the Tools menu. You also need to enter your assemblies PublicKeyToken value which can be found by either using ILDASM.exe or Reflector.

The last thing we need to do to our Web Part project is make sure it has a strong name when it’s compiled, you can do this either using the SN.exe command line tool, or opening the project properties from within Visual Studio and navigating to the Signing section. From here you can create a new key file which will be used to strong name the assembly at compile time.

Now we have a fully working Web Part which can be compiled, what we need to do now is deploy this Web Part into our SharePoint site.

We are going to use a Visual Studio setup project to accomplish this, so add a new project to the same solution your Web part project is in, and create a CAB setup project. I called my setup project ClientViewerWebPartSetup.

Right click on the project and goto Add -> Project Output, from the ‘Add Project Output Group’ dialog box, select your Web Part project and then select ‘Primary Output’.

Repeat the step above but this time instead of selecting ‘Primary Output’ select ‘Content Files’.

After this is done you should have a solution that looks something like this:

Now you can compile your setup project, this will create a cab file containing the WebPart assembly and the manifest.xml file so all we need to do now to create our SharePoint solution file is rename our .cab file to .wsp.

We are now ready to deploy this solution file into SharePoint and we do this by using the STSADM.exe tool. This tool is located in your SharePoint installation directory under the bin folder mine was located here C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN. I strongly suggest you add this path to you PATH environment variable for ease of use.

You need to use the addsolution argument to the STSADM tool the first time you deploy a Web Part into your SharePoint site. When updating the Web Part you can use the upgradesolution argument.

The following is how I deployed my Web Part into my SharePoint site for the first time.

Great! Your Web Part is now deployed into your SharePoint site, or is it?

We need to do one more thing to make out Web Part available to our SharePoint site.

Open up Central Administration and navigate to ‘Operations’ under ‘Global Configuration’ click ‘Solution Management’. You should see your Web Part Solution sitting in the list with ‘Not Deployed’ as it’s status. Click on the Solution and click the ‘Deploy Solution’ button.

You should now be able to add your Web Part to any sites Web Part gallery.

Hope this guide has been useful, it’s quite a lengthly process do first time, but should get easier the more times you do it.

Simple Windows Service Sample

Introduction

As a matter of fact Microsoft Windows services, formerly known as NT services enable you to create long-running executable applications that run in its own Windows session, which then has the ability to start automatically when the computer boots and also can be manually paused, stopped or even restarted.

This makes services ideal for use on a server or whenever you need long-running functionality that does not interfere with other users who are working on the same computer. You can also run services in the security context of a specific user account that is different from the logged-on user or the default computer account.

Windows services don't have any interface to the user, so it can not be debugged like any regular application, but it's debugged as a process. .NET has a very nice tool that enables processes debugging while it's in the run status, by easily pressing Ctrl + Alt + P shortcut.

Background

I've searched well so many sites about a code that I can with the help of it, build a simple Windows service, but I found a lot of code on how to manage the current Windows services of the system and that's through theServiceController class.

After searching the MSDN, I've found some nice code that helped me to create this simple Windows service. Hope it can help as a basic architecture for and usage of such a Windows service.

Using the code

At first you should simply open VS.NET and then at the File menu click on New, Project. From the New Project Dialog Box, choose the Windows service template project and name it MyNewService like shown below:

The project template automatically adds a component class that is called Service1 by default and inherits fromSystem.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.

Click the designer. Then, in the Properties window, set the ServiceName property for Service1 toMyNewService.

Set the Name property to MyNewService. Set the AutoLog property to true.

In the code editor, edit the Main method to create an instance of MyNewService. When you renamed the service in step 3, the class name was not modified in the Main method. To access the Main method in VC#, expand the Component Designer generated code region.

static void Main()
{ 
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] ServicesToRun; 
    //Change the following line to match. 

    ServicesToRun = new 
        System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase[] { new MyNewService() }; 
    System.ServiceProcess.ServiceBase.Run(ServicesToRun);  
}

In the next section, you will add a custom event log to your Windows service. Event logs are not associated in any way with Windows services. Here the EventLog component is used as an example of the type of components you could add to a Windows service.

To add custom event log functionality to your service:

1. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Service1.vb or Service1.cs and select View Designer.
2. From the Components tab of the Toolbox, drag an EventLog component to the designer.
3. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Service1.vb or Service1.cs and select View Code.
4. Edit the constructor to define a custom event log.

To access the constructor in Visual C#, expand the Component Designer generated code region.

protected override void OnStart(string[] args)
{ 
    eventLog1.WriteEntry("my service started"); 
}

The OnStart method must return to the operating system once the service's operation has begun. It must not loop forever or block. To set up a simple polling mechanism, you can use the System.Timers.Timer component. In theOnStart method, you would set parameters on the component, and then you would set the Timer.Enabledproperty to true. The timer would then raise events in your code periodically, at which time your service could do its monitoring.

To define what happens when the service is stopped, in the code editor, locate the OnStop procedure that was automatically overridden when you created the project, and write code to determine what occurs when the service is stopped:

protected override void OnStop()
{ 
    eventLog1.WriteEntry("my service stoped");
}

You can also override the OnPause, OnContinue, and OnShutdown methods to define further processing for your component. For the method you want to handle, override the appropriate method and define what you want to occur. The following code shows what it looks like if you override the OnContinue method:

protected override void OnContinue()
{
    eventLog1.WriteEntry("my service is continuing in working");
}

Some custom actions need to occur when installing a Windows service, which can be done by the Installer class. Visual Studio can create these installers specifically for a Windows service and add them to your project. To create the installers for your service.

1. Return to design view for Service1.
2. Click the background of the designer to select the service itself, rather than any of its contents.
3. In the Properties window, click the Add Installer link in the gray area beneath the list of properties. By default, a component class containing two installers is added to your project. The component is namedProjectInstaller, and the installers it contains are the installer for your service and the installer for the service's associated process.
4. Access design view for ProjectInstaller, and click ServiceInstaller1.
5. In the Properties window, set the ServiceName property to MyNewService.
6. Set the StartType property to Automatic.

Tip

To avoid being asked about the system username and password you must change the Account for theserviceProcessInstaller to LocalSystem. This is done by opening the ProjectInstaller design and then selecting the serviceProcessInstaller, press F4 and then change the Account property to LocalSystem. Or you can manually do that by creating a class that inherits from System.Configuration.Install.Installerlike this:

[RunInstaller(true)]

public class ProjectInstaller : System.Configuration.Install.Installer 
private System.ServiceProcess.ServiceProcessInstaller 
                                  serviceProcessInstaller1;
private System.ServiceProcess.ServiceInstaller serviceInstaller1; 
/// <summary> 

/// Required designer variable. 

/// </summary> private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;


public ProjectInstaller()
   // This call is required by the Designer.

   InitializeComponent();

   // TODO: Add any initialization after the InitComponent call 

} 
private void InitializeComponent() 
{ 
   this.serviceProcessInstaller1 = 
     new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceProcessInstaller(); 
   this.serviceInstaller1 = 
     new System.ServiceProcess.ServiceInstaller(); 
   // serviceProcessInstaller1 

   // 

   this.serviceProcessInstaller1.Account = 
     System.ServiceProcess.ServiceAccount.LocalSystem; 
   this.serviceProcessInstaller1.Password = null;
   this.serviceProcessInstaller1.Username = null; 
   // 

   // serviceInstaller1 

   // 

   this.serviceInstaller1.ServiceName = "MyNewService"; 
   this.serviceInstaller1.StartType = 
     System.ServiceProcess.ServiceStartMode.Automatic;

   // 

   // ProjectInstaller 

   // 

   this.Installers.AddRange
     (new System.Configuration.Install.Installer[] 
   { 
       this.serviceInstaller1, 
       this.serviceInstaller1});
   }
}

To build your service project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click your project and select Properties from the shortcut menu. The project'sProperty Pages dialog box appears.
2. In the left pane, select the General tab in the Common Properties folder.
3. From the Startup object list, choose MyNewService. Click OK.
4. Press Ctrl+Shift+B to build the project. 

Now that the project is built, it can be deployed. A setup project will install the compiled project files and run the installers needed to run the Windows service. To create a complete setup project, you will need to add the project output, MyNewService.exe, to the setup project and then add a custom action to have MyNewService.exe installed.

To create a setup project for your service

1. On the File menu, point to Add Project, and then choose New Project.
2. In the Project Types pane, select the Setup and Deployment Projects folder.
3. In the Templates pane, select Setup Project. Name the project MyServiceSetup.

A setup project is added to the solution. Next you will add the output from the Windows service project,MyNewService.exe, to the setup.

To add MyNewService.exe to the setup project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click MyServiceSetup, point to Add, then choose Project Output. The Add Project Output Group dialog box appears.
2. MyNewService is selected in the Project box.
3. From the list box, select Primary Output, and click OK.
   A project item for the primary output of MyNewService is added to the setup project. Now add a custom action to install the MyNewService.exe file.

To add a custom action to the setup project

1. In Solution Explorer, right-click the setup project, point to View, then choose Custom Actions. The Custom Actions editor appears.
2. In the Custom Actions editor, right-click the Custom Actions node and choose Add Custom Action. The Select Item in Project dialog box appears.
3. Double-click the application folder in the list box to open it, select primary output from MyNewService(Active), and click OK. The primary output is added to all four nodes of the custom actions  Install, Commit, Rollback, and Uninstall.
4. Build the setup project.

To install the Windows Service

Browse to the directory where the setup project was saved, and run the .msi file to install MyNewService.exe.

To start and stop your service

1. Open the Services Control Manager by doing one of the following:
   • In Windows 2000 Professional, right-click My Computer on the desktop, then click Manage. In theComputer Management console, expand the Services and Applications node.
     - Or -
   • In Windows 2000 Server, click Start, point to Programs, click Administrative Tools, and then clickServices.
     Note: In Windows NT version 4.0, you can open this dialog box from Control Panel.
2. You should now see MyNewService listed in the Services section of the window.
3. Select your service in the list, right-click it, and then click Start.

Right-click the service, and then click Stop.

To verify the event log output of your service

1. Open Server Explorer and access the Event Logs node. For more information, see Working with Event Logs in Server Explorer.
   Note: The Servers node of Server Explorer is not available in the Standard Edition of Visual Basic and Visual C# .NET.
   

To uninstall your service

• On the Start menu, open Control Panel and click Add/Remove Programs, and then locate your service and clickUninstall.
• You can also uninstall the program by right-clicking the program icon for the .msi file and selecting Uninstall.

public MyNewService()
{
 
    InitializeComponent()
    if(!System.Diagnostics.EventLog.SourceExists("DoDyLogSourse"))
    System.Diagnostics.EventLog.CreateEventSource("DoDyLogSourse",
                                                          "DoDyLog");

    eventLog1.Source = "DoDyLogSourse";
    // the event log source by which 


    //the application is registered on the computer


    eventLog1.Log = "DoDyLog";
}

To define what happens when the service starts, in the code editor, locate the OnStart method that was automatically overridden when you created the project, and write code to determine what occurs when the service begins running: