ASP.NET MVC 2 RC – EDIT controller bug related to UpdateModel and ValueProvider

Just got a request from someone that they could only see only certain Custom Web Parts not all (developed in Visual Studio 2008) for selection in SharePoint . They were trying to add the web part to a web zone on a page. They created a new solution and were deploying their web part using VSeWSS 1.3. The ‘Deploy’ option in Visual Studio option did not error out so there was not issue there.

The first thing we checked was did the SharePoint DLL get copied in the appropriate folder in our case C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<portnumber>\bin. It did. The date time stamps were also reasonably in sync.

Next we checked if the DLL contained web part definitions, we did this by using StartàAll ProgramsàMicrosoft Visual Studio 2008àVisual Studio ToolsàVisual Studio Command Prompt. Type in ILDASM, this will open the .NET Framework Disassembler à Open the SharePoint WebPart DLL from the bin directory mentioned above. The WebPart Definitions were not there!

That meant that deploy was not copying the files to the right location. Next thing was to check the location where the files were being deployed Open the solution in Visual Studio 2008à Project Properties à Debug tab. The start browser was set to http://localhost/ which was not the SharePoint site where the web part was support to be deployed it was supposed to be deployed at http://localhost:<portnumber>. We changed the URL and the web parts were now visible!

So the question was why did the Web Part DLL exist in the wrong directory in the first place, the answer turned out to be there were older versions of the Web Part project which had their URL’s set correctly which were still being compiled by developers currently hence the confusion.

Moral of the story: Check your URL First, then the contents of the DLL to check if the Web Parts are being deployed correctly. Off course you could have a host of other issues that could prevent your web parts from being shown, but this is what happend in this case.

If you create a web part using Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3 you may not be able to Deploy your Web Part to your SharePoint web site (WSS\MOSS).  Your first step off course should be to read the release notes posted by Microsoft as suggested by the error message. In my case the issue turned out to the security account that was linked to the VSeWSS WCF Service did not have administrator permissions.

 

Steps that caused the error

1.       Create new web part project and solution, choose deployment to bin directory.

2.       Choose the Deploy option by right clicking on the solution in the Solution Explorer.

 

Solution that worked for me à Added the ‘Network Service’ account to the Administrators group.

 

Finding Root Cause and Solving it (if it was similar to mine)

1.       Open IIS and navigate to the Web Sites folder. Select VSeWSS.

2.       Open the properties window for VSeWSS. Note the Application Pool value under the Home Directory tab.

3.       Under IIS go to the Application Pools folder, locate the Application Pool for VSeWSS.

4.       Open the properties window for the Application Pool. Note the Security Account value under the Identity tab.

5.       Open Computer Management. Locate the Administrators Group under Local Users and Groups.

6.       Make sure the Security Account is added to the Administrators group.

·          If the security account is not under the Administrators group your root cause should be similar to mine.

·          Helpful Note: If you are working on a Virtual\Local Server you may not be able to find your security account e.g. you may not be able to find your Network Service account, make sure you are searching for the account in the right spot by choosing the right Location (Network or local machine) when the Add Users… dialog comes up.

7.       Restart IIS if you had to add the security account and try deploying your web part again.

 

My Error Description (When trying to Deploy the web part)

“Error       1              VSeWSS Service Error: Assembly C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\MyWebPartsOne\bin\Debug\MyWebParts.dll not found. This may occur because the VSeWSS WCF Service does not have local administrator permissions. Please review the release notes.

VSeWSS Service Logging Error: Access to the path 'C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Application Data\Microsoft\VSeWSS 1.3' is denied.

Logging failed attempting to write to C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\Application Data\Microsoft\VSeWSS 1.3\VSeWSS1.3 service.log. This may occur because the VSeWSS WCF Service does not have local administrator permissions. Please review the release notes. “

 

URL for Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=B2C0B628-5CAB-48C1-8CAE-C34C1CCBDC0A&displaylang=en

The ‘IE (Internet Explorer) Developer Toolbar’ is a tool that allows web developers and designers to inspect elements on a web page i.e. the DOM model. For example, if you are a SharePoint designer\developer who wants to create\edit a theme, you can use this tool to click on screen areas\elements to figure out what image files in the theme actually correspond to screen areas\elements. The toolset shows you HTML object class names, id’s, link paths and a host of other information as well. This toolset is also great for debuggin stylesheet problems. Read more about the toolset at the URL below.

 

To download this toolset go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=e59c3964-672d-4511-bb3e-2d5e1db91038&displaylang=en

 

Quick Start à Download and Install Toolset à Open a new instance of internet Explorer à Open a SharePoint site à From the top level IE menu Choose View->Explorer Bar -> IE Developer Toolbar. You should not see a high level summary of your site in the IE toolbar pane that is open at the bottom. In the pane below choose Find-> Select Element by Click, this is an easy way to point + click and identify individual HTML elements.

If you are using Mozilla's FireFox a better toolset is the Firebug available at http://getfirebug.com/

 

If your .NET solution contains projects that contain custom/user controls for windows/web forms these controls are automatically loaded into the toolbox so that they can be utilized on your forms. In some cases when there are a large number of controls in your project the solution seems to compile slowly or the toolbox seems to take quite some time to load. If you are facing such issues turn off the AutoToolboxPopulate property on the ToolsàOptionsàWindows Forms DesigneràGeneral tab.

Microsoft will be hosting a Code Camp on June 10’Th. The code camp is a great event for .NET developers to network and also gain a lot of information on the topics that are current and unique. The speakers in Code Camp are experts on topics they speak on and have a lot of experience in the subject they are presenting; it is a good opportunity for developers to get questions answered in person. You actually see code being developed on the fly!!!

Call for Speakers- To present on a wide variety of topics from Web Applications, Smart Clients, Data Access and Security Best Practices.

Whether you are a speaker or an attendee we would love to have you participate in this developer event.

Whether you are a speaker or an attendee find out more here.

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