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Email the Approval Status to "Created By"/"Modified By" user from Visual Studio workflow

Below is the code snippet to send an email about the approval status to the user who submitted/created the list item in a SharePoint list. Assume that the Visual studio workflow is attached to the list and will trigger the workflow when the item is edited in the list.


  if (workflowProperties.Item.ModerationInformation.Status == SPModerationStatusType.Denied)
  {
        StringDictionary headers = new StringDictionary();
        headers.Add("from", "administrator@domain.com");
        headers.Add("subject", "Request - Denied");
        headers.Add("content-type", "text/html");
        System.Text.StringBuilder strMessage = new System.Text.StringBuilder();

       //link to list item display form (view item)
       strMessage.Append("The request submitted in ABC site has been rejected."+ workflowProperties.WebUrl+ "/" + workflowProperties.List.Forms[PAGETYPE.PAGE_DISPLAYFORM].Url + "?ID=" + workflowProperties.ItemId);
        strMessage.Append("<br><br> Approver's comments: "+ workflowProperties.Item.ModerationInformation.Comment);

        SPListItem item = workflowProperties.Item;
        SPUser spUser = GetSPUser(item, "Created By");
        if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(spUser.Email))
        {
                 headers.Add("to", spUser.Email);
                 SPUtility.SendEmail(web, headers, strMessage.ToString());
        }
  }

//Function to get the user instance who submitted the item
  private SPUser GetSPUser(SPListItem item, string fieldName)
        {
            SPFieldUser field = item.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldUser;
            if (field != null && item[fieldName] != null)
            {
                SPFieldUserValue fieldValue = field.GetFieldValue(item[fieldName].ToString()) as SPFieldUserValue;
                if (fieldValue != null)
                {
                    return fieldValue.User;
                }
            }
            return null;
        }

Limited Access permission in SharePoint

Scenario: We have a list which doesn't inherit permissions from the site. Also, at the root of the list, there are folders, which are also set to NOT inherit permissions from the parent folder (which is the root of the list). We have added a Site group to the folder with 'Contribute' permission.

Issue: We see that the site group which we added to the folder is also added automatically at list level as well. The group have “Limited Access” permissions to the list.

Explanation: When you set permissions (for example: Full Control/Contribute) to the Folder after you break the permissions inherit. The users\group will have “Limited Access” permissions to the list, not the same permissions with the folder.

As discussed on "Anonymous Users, Forms Pages, and the Lockdown Feature  "  on Microsoft Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Team Blog  :   
   
In SharePoint, anonymous users’ rights are determined by the Limited Access permission level. Limited Access is a special permission level that cannot be assigned to a user or group directly. The reason it exists is because if you have a library or subsite that has broken permissions inheritance, and you give a user/group access to only that library/subsite, in order to view its contents, the user/group must have some access to the root web. Otherwise the user/group will be unable to browse the library/subsite, even though they have rights there, because there are things in the root web that are needed to render the site or library. Therefore, when you give a group permissions only to a subsite or library that is breaking permissions inheritance, SharePoint will automatically give Limited Access to that group or user on the root web.

Source:
More information about “Limited Access” permissions:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-sharepoint-services-help/permission-levels-and-permissions-HA010100149.aspx
http://paulgalvinsoldblog.wordpress.com/2008/11/02/what-is-limited-access-anyway/

Send an email with html format using SPUtility.SendEmail

SPWeb oWeb = SPContext.Current.Web

StringDictionary headers = new StringDictionary();

headers.Add("from",  "system@domain.com");
headers.Add("to", spUser.Email);
headers.Add("subject", "Welcome to the SharePoint group: ABC site: ");
headers.Add("content-type", "text/html"); //This is the default type

System.Text.StringBuilder strMessage = new System.Text.StringBuilder();                  
strMessage.Append("<br><br><b>Login Instructions: </b><br>");
strMessage.Append("<font color='red'><UL><li>If you are a US employee ALWAYS login in using the following login format </font><br>");

SPUtility.SendEmail(web, headers,strMessage.ToString());

Programmatically set permissions to a folder in a SharePoint list

This method can be used to bind permission to a folder in a SharePoint list

 /// <summary>
/// Method to set the permission at folder level for the newly created site groups
/// </summary>
/// <param name="web">The current web instance</param>
/// <param name="groupName">Name of the Site group that is added to the folder</param>
/// <param name="listName">Name of the list</param>
/// <param name="folderName">Name of the folder in the list</param>
/// <param name="role">Role/permission level set to the group to access folder for the site group users</param>

 private void SetRoleDefinitionBinding(SPWeb web,string groupName, string listName, string folderName, string role)
        {
            try
            {
                SPRoleAssignment roleAssignment = new SPRoleAssignment((SPPrincipal)web.SiteGroups[groupName]);
                SPList list = web.Lists[listName];
                SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
                    query.Query = "<Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Title'/><Value Type='Text'>" + folderName + "</Value></Eq></Where>";
                //Retrieve the items based on Query
                SPListItemCollection items = list.GetItems(query);
               
                //Get the name and Url for the folder
                foreach (SPListItem item in items)
                {
                    SPFolder folder = web.GetFolder(item.Url);
                    folder.Item.BreakRoleInheritance(true);
                    roleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add(web.RoleDefinitions[role]);
                    folder.Item.RoleAssignments.Add(roleAssignment);
                    web.Update();
                }
      
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
              
                //Error handling
            }
        }

Activity 'onWorkflowActivated1' validation failed: Cannot resolve Activity 'Workflow1'

I got following error when I try to build custom workflow in Visual Studio 2008
"Activity 'onWorkflowActivated1' validation failed: Cannot resolve Activity 'Workflow1'"

To resolve this, do a search in your entire project and find  any references to "Workflow1", if so, rename all the occurrences with the modified class name.

Visual studio Workflows in SharePoint

Good videos to start working on Basic Visual studio Workflows in SharePoint.

http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/robertshelton/sharepoint-document-workflow-extracting-document-details-with-your-workflow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy3NW9pv7Qk&feature=player_embedded

"Save library as template" link is missing in SharePoint site

Some of the document libraries and list, "Save library as template" link is hidden by default. If you go to  "View All Site Content" and have a look at the description next to each library/list, the description that says "This system library was created by the Publishing feature.." will have the "Save library as template" link hidden.

This behaviour is by default, however we have a workaround for this. Go to the "Document Library Settings" page. You should see the URL address like this ".../listedit.aspx?List={GUID}", change the "listedit" to "savetmpl" and the URL look like this "../savetmpl.aspx?List={GUID}", now you will be able to save the library as a template.

This method is not recommended, but it works. If you have any workflow bound to the library then you may have some issues,but works fine if you just want to create a template for document settings, Columns and views.

To prevent users from creating folders in SharePoint document libraries

Using SharePoint 2007;

The OOB method to remove the "New Folder" menu will prevent users only creating folder from the standard view and users are still be able to upload/create folders from explorer view. Below is the feature code used to prevent users from creating folders in document library even in explorer view.

Feature.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Feature  Id="62b28298-e3fc-4ccc-a2ea-3f92b7e9a21e"
          Title="Disable Folders"
          Description="Feature to disable creating new folders in document libraries in the site"
          Version="12.0.0.0"
          Hidden="FALSE"
          Scope="Web"
    ActivateOnDefault="FALSE"
          DefaultResourceFile="core"
          xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <ElementManifests>
    <ElementManifest Location="elements.xml"/>
  </ElementManifests>
</Feature>


Elements.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
 <Receivers ListTemplateId="101">
  <Receiver>
   <Name>AddingEventHandler</Name>
   <Type>ItemAdding</Type>
   <SequenceNumber>10000</SequenceNumber>
   <Assembly>AAAA.BBB.AllUsers, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=9f4da00116c38ec5</Assembly>
   <Class>AAAA.BBB.AllUsers.DisableFoldersInLib</Class>
   <Data></Data>
   <Filter></Filter>
  </Receiver>
 </Receivers>
</Elements>

Code:
 public override void ItemAdding(SPItemEventProperties properties)
        {
            base.ItemAdding(properties);
            //If the new created file type is "folder" then the following conditions will be true
            if ((properties.BeforeUrl != properties.AfterUrl &&
                properties.ListItem == null &&
                properties.ListItemId == 0) ||
                properties.AfterProperties["ContentType"].ToString() == "Folder")
            {
                properties.Cancel = true;
                properties.ErrorMessage = "You are not allowed to create new Folders in this document library. Please tag the files with Metadata instead of creating folders.";
            }
        }

The source code of this feature is available at Technet Gallery