InfoPath form .udcx data connections not working

We are using lot of InfoPath data connection .udcx files for populating the drop down boxes used in the InfoPath forms. During one of the deployment we found that the changes made in the connection string was not getting updated and the InfoPath forms were keep throwing the errors.

While trouble shooting the issue we found that the Approval status of the Data connection files were showing the pending status. We made the files approve and the InfoPath forms were able to take the latest changes from the .Udcx files.(Publishing features were activated in our site)

We found that there is a way to make the .Udcx connections working even with the "Pending" status. We should modify the logged in user's permission level to have the "Approve" access in the Site Settings-->Advanced Permission --> Settings -->Permission Levels-->[permission level name (for eg contribute)

Edit in Datasheet view is not working

As part of one of our deployment we had to modify lot of data in a SharePoint list, which was used by the InfoPath forms for populating the dropdowns. To make the deployment steps short we gave the steps to use the Edit in Datasheet view option. But when the deployment team was executing the steps, they were not able to use the Edit in Datasheet view and they were getting some activeX related issues.

We were troubleshooting this issue and found that this problem is mostly related to a office component which corrupts because of some reason. We followed the steps mentioned below and it resolved the error.

1.Go go to this directory:C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12
2.Then delete OWSSUPP.DLL after taking a backup
3.Then run Microsoft Office Diagnostics (Start-Programs-Microsoft Office-Microsoft Office Tools - Microsoft Office Diagnostics).It will verify your installation and recreate the OWSSUPP.DLL file.

w700i flight mode settings

I was trying to use my mobile phone Sony ericsson w700i in flight mode and it took a while to find out the settings. By default these settings will be turned off. So we can't use the phone in case the SIM card is not there or if we would like to use it in the areas where the mobile phone transmitters must be turned off. Check out the following simple settings

Menu-->Settings-->General tab-->Start-up menu

Run Virtual PC at maximum speed

I was executing my deployment scripts in one of the Test virtual machine. The deployments scripts includes uploading form templates,site template,Installing and activating the features and creating the site collection. This was taking lot of time to execute. So the issue was whenever i change my focus to the host operating system the VPC was not executing at its full speed, because of this the deployment scripts were getting time-out errors. So i had to stay focused in the virutal machine to execute all the deployment scripts it will run more than 2 hours.

I was trying various settings of VPC to get rid of this problem and found the following settings to correct this problem .

From the the virtual PC Console window click on the File-->Options. Select Performance from the left menu and choose the "Run Virtual PC at maximum speed". This resolved my problem.


However, the host machine will be bit slow after applying this settings. It was not a big difference to me and it was manageable.

Save site as template link is missing

I was trying to create the site template from a site where the "Office SharePoint Server Publishing" feature was activated for some reason. But the issue here is after activating the "Office SharePoint Server Publishing" feature the "Save site as template" link from the "Look and Feel" section of site settings is missing.

I understand that its disabled because the functionalities part of "Office SharePoint server Publishing" can't be included in the site template(.stp) file. But i have applied lot of customization which are not related to publishing feature, I will be requiring those changes in a template file.

So if we have the core template we can apply the publishing related changes on top of the site created with the core template.For that we need the core template...we can still get the template by calling the "_layouts/savetmpl.aspx" page from the address bar. We should also make sure we will be applying the publishing related changes on top of it.