Automatically activate a Site/Web Scoped Feature

I'm wondering if there is a way to automatically activate Site or Web scoped features after the feature installation. I did some research and found a XML attibute "ActivateOnDefault", which you can place in the feature definition file (feature.xml).

I placed the attribute into the feature.xml to force the feature to activate himself after installing, with no results...

Reason:
The ActivateOnDefault attribute does not apply to site collection (Site) or Web site (Web) scoped Features.

In general, Farm-scoped Features become activated during installation, and when a new Web application is created, all installed Web application-scoped Features in it become activated.

So I think the only way to accomplish this is to write some code within the "FeatureInstalled" method of the FeatureEventHandler: Activate features through code.

Problem with deleting a solution

For once I got an error when trying to remove an existing SharePoint Solution (.wsp) from the SharePoint Server.

The solution cannot be removed when a job is scheduled or running

Also when you go to the Central Administration > Operations > Solution Management, you will notice that an error shows up in the list of solutions.

Off course there is a way to fix this. Alex Thissens wrote a nice blogpost of this issue. Maybe there are other ways to fix this, but Alex' way worked for me.

Performance issues with Virtual PC on laptops

If your Virtual PC runs in slowmotion try the following:

a. Stop running Virtual PC
b. Open notepad
c. Open %appdata%\Microsoft\Virtual PC\options.xml (appdata is a hidden directory)
d. Add or edit <.virtual_machines.> section of the file and add this key:
<.enable_idle_thread type="boolean">true

eg. It should be on the same level as the node
(just put it after the last <./virtual_network.> node)

<.virtual_machines.>
<.enable_idle_thread type="boolean">true<./enable_idle_thread>
<./virtual_machines>

f. Save the file and exit notepad
g. Start Virtual PC
h. Don't forget to remove the dots in the XML above

Source: Virtual PC Guy's WebLog

MCTS 70-536 Practice Test humor

Just look at the picture and you will know what I mean. PS. The yellow boxes are the "correct" ones...

Timer Job Schedule Classes

It was hard to find a list of all the schedule classes and examples of how to use them. I found it on a French site. You can always use Babelfish to translate the page;)

C# for Kids

For all the SharePoint people out there (with kidz)... Let your kidz learn C#! Begin young and become a real SharePointer. LoL

C# for Sharp Kids - Part 1 - Getting Started
C# for Sharp Kids - Part 2 - Learning to Communicate
C# for Sharp Kids - Part 3 - The C# Language
C# for Sharp Kids - Part 4 - Programming with the .NET Framework
C# for Sharp Kids - Part 5 - Beyond This Book

Business Data Catalog Links

~Best wishes for the new year~

For those who are new to the BDC check out the channel 9 introduction video.

The BDC is all about the application definition file (XML File) that describe the metadata model for the backend system that you are connecting to. You can either create it manually or semi-automatically with tools.

I recommend to start learning the basic elements of an application definition before using tools. The reason for that is that you sometimes need to modify a definition after you have generated one. Especially the free MS BDC Tool (available in the MOSS 2007 SDK) has his shortcomings... but its a great tool to support your application definition development.

One of the best resources about the BDC on the net to create definition files manually: Blah!Blah!Blog!!

And some recent posts about the Business Data Catalog Editor:
-Using business data catalog Editor
-Working with business data column