Download SkyDrive Pro Client as standalone download

Woo hoo! Isn't it a great news? Earlier SkyDrive Pro was coming with the Office 2013 and that was a big problem to most of the clients as all not migrated to 2013 environment yet. This week Microsoft released the news that SkyDrive Pro is now available as a standalone download. :)

Now, with SkyDrive Pro you can sync your data from SharePoint 2013 site or Office 365 sites to your local machine both on and offline. SkyDrive Pro can be installed side by side with previous versions Office 2007 and Office 2010. I have to test the tool by syncing data with SharePoint 2010. I believe it supports SharePoint 2010 environment too! Bookmark this post for latest updates on further information.

This will save money to lot of organizations as the sync tool is now ready! You can take a look at it for more details at : SkyDrive Pro Download for Windows

Change the SharePoint list url

This is a very old tip. But still I see many people don't know about this. In SharePoint we have a concept of display names and internal names. The same way when we created a list in SharePoint it has display name where it used to show the list name and internal name where it used in the list url. The internal names cannot be changed from browser once the list was created. But, what if we have a requirement where we need to change the list url???

The only way to achieve this is using SharePoint Designer. Open SharePoint Designer and change the name of the list/library which will change the name of the library as well as the list url.

If you don't have option to open the site in SharePoint Designer then you must save the list as site template and create a new list with that template. But, make sure dependencies like lookup columns, workflows, event receivers etc.

Data View Web Parts and SharePoint Designer issues

This is a strange issue which was happened recently to me when working with Data view web parts in SharePoint Designer.

I have created a page in SharePoint Designer which has the data view web part in it. And I got another requirement where I need to create the same page as the first page with slight change in caml query. So, I have created another ASPX page in designer and copy and pasted the data view web part code from page1 to page2. I saved the page and browsed the page2 and all looks good. Now I browsed page1 and it started showing me empty content (data view web part is not visible anymore on the page.) I have opened the page1 in designer, added the data view web part back on page1 and opened in browser. Now page1 is looking good and page2 is showing empty content. Which means they started working mutually exclusive.

After worked for couple of hours I have learnt that the issue happened was because of the data view web parts sharing the same id. You might think it's a shit reason as the data view web parts are in different pages how that could be the problem. But, yes that is the problem. Believe me. :)

Two data view web parts should not be sharing the same ID whether they are on a single page or in different pages (site pages or pages library).

Once changed the ID and __WebPartId properties of the data view web parts to the new values I started seeing both pages are showing content correct! So, save this tip to your memory for saving hours and hours of time. 

SharePoint global variables in Javascript

This is very useful information to know by all SharePoint developers. Recently I have reviewed a code from one of the SharePoint developer who written good ECMAScript for loading list data. All is good except the logic to get the site relative url. He has written a function which is 10 lines of code to get the site relative url. But, the code will not work in all the scenarios. If you think, SharePoint site can be like /spsite or /sites/spsite or /sites/something/something etc.. So, please don't write your custom logic and know the OOB features available around you. Below are the global variables available in Javascript for SharePoint Developers.

L_Menu_BaseUrl: To read the current site relative url you are in. This will be very useful in almost all the code we work with SharePoint data through javascript.

Example: If you are writing code to generate anchor links dynamically to take users to lists, views and pages   then this is the most useful variable.

you can set the href like L_Menu_BaseUrl + "/lists/Tasks". This will results the path to the tasks list. No matter in which site you are in, it always take the user to the correct lists location.

L_Menu_SiteTheme: To get the name of the current site theme.

L_Menu_LCID: To get the current site LCID. It will be useful in knowing the language details of the site. To understand these ID number you must check the other post here.

_spUserId: To know the current login user ID. By using this variable we can query to SharePoint to get more details of the user like profile, email, name etc.. 

Language Local ID's (LCID) numbers in SharePoint

Language - Country/Region	LCID Hex	LCID Dec
Afrikaans - South Africa	0436	1078
Albanian - Albania	041c	1052
Alsatian	0484	1156
Amharic - Ethiopia	045e	1118
Arabic - Saudi Arabia	0401	1025
Arabic - Algeria	1401	5121
Arabic - Bahrain	3c01	15361
Arabic - Egypt	0c01	3073
Arabic - Iraq	0801	2049
Arabic - Jordan	2c01	11265
Arabic - Kuwait	3401	13313
Arabic - Lebanon	3001	12289
Arabic - Libya	1001	4097
Arabic - Morocco	1801	6145
Arabic - Oman	2001	8193
Arabic - Qatar	4001	16385
Arabic - Syria	2801	10241
Arabic - Tunisia	1c01	7169
Arabic - U.A.E.	3801	14337
Arabic - Yemen	2401	9217
Armenian - Armenia	042b	1067
Assamese	044d	1101
Azeri (Cyrillic)	082c	2092
Azeri (Latin)	042c	1068
Bashkir	046d	1133
Basque	042d	1069
Belarusian	0423	1059
Bengali (India)	0445	1093
Bengali (Bangladesh)	0845	2117
Bosnian (Bosnia/Herzegovina)	141A	5146
Breton	047e	1150
Bulgarian	0402	1026
Burmese	0455	1109
Catalan	0403	1027
Cherokee - United States	045c	1116
Chinese - People's Republic of China	0804	2052
Chinese - Singapore	1004	4100
Chinese - Taiwan	0404	1028
Chinese - Hong Kong SAR	0c04	3076
Chinese - Macao SAR	1404	5124
Corsican	0483	1155
Croatian	041a	1050
Croatian (Bosnia/Herzegovina)	101a	4122
Czech	0405	1029
Danish	0406	1030
Dari	048c	1164
Divehi	0465	1125
Dutch - Netherlands	0413	1043
Dutch - Belgium	0813	2067
Edo	0466	1126
English - United States	0409	1033
English - United Kingdom	0809	2057
English - Australia	0c09	3081
English - Belize	2809	10249
English - Canada	1009	4105
English - Caribbean	2409	9225
English - Hong Kong SAR	3c09	15369
English - India	4009	16393
English - Indonesia	3809	14345
English - Ireland	1809	6153
English - Jamaica	2009	8201
English - Malaysia	4409	17417
English - New Zealand	1409	5129
English - Philippines	3409	13321
English - Singapore	4809	18441
English - South Africa	1c09	7177
English - Trinidad	2c09	11273
English - Zimbabwe	3009	12297
Estonian	0425	1061
Faroese	0438	1080
Farsi	0429	1065
Filipino	0464	1124
Finnish	040b	1035
French - France	040c	1036
French - Belgium	080c	2060
French - Cameroon	2c0c	11276
French - Canada	0c0c	3084
French - Democratic Rep. of Congo	240c	9228
French - Cote d'Ivoire	300c	12300
French - Haiti	3c0c	15372
French - Luxembourg	140c	5132
French - Mali	340c	13324
French - Monaco	180c	6156
French - Morocco	380c	14348
French - North Africa	e40c	58380
French - Reunion	200c	8204
French - Senegal	280c	10252
French - Switzerland	100c	4108
French - West Indies	1c0c	7180
Frisian - Netherlands	0462	1122
Fulfulde - Nigeria	0467	1127
FYRO Macedonian	042f	1071
Galician	0456	1110
Georgian	0437	1079
German - Germany	0407	1031
German - Austria	0c07	3079
German - Liechtenstein	1407	5127
German - Luxembourg	1007	4103
German - Switzerland	0807	2055
Greek	0408	1032
Greenlandic	046f	1135
Guarani - Paraguay	0474	1140
Gujarati	0447	1095
Hausa - Nigeria	0468	1128
Hawaiian - United States	0475	1141
Hebrew	040d	1037
Hindi	0439	1081
Hungarian	040e	1038
Ibibio - Nigeria	0469	1129
Icelandic	040f	1039
Igbo - Nigeria	0470	1136
Indonesian	0421	1057
Inuktitut	045d	1117
Irish	083c	2108
Italian - Italy	0410	1040
Italian - Switzerland	0810	2064
Japanese	0411	1041
K'iche	0486	1158
Kannada	044b	1099
Kanuri - Nigeria	0471	1137
Kashmiri	0860	2144
Kashmiri (Arabic)	0460	1120
Kazakh	043f	1087
Khmer	0453	1107
Kinyarwanda	0487	1159
Konkani	0457	1111
Korean	0412	1042
Kyrgyz (Cyrillic)	0440	1088
Lao	0454	1108
Latin	0476	1142
Latvian	0426	1062
Lithuanian	0427	1063
Luxembourgish	046e	1134
Malay - Malaysia	043e	1086
Malay - Brunei Darussalam	083e	2110
Malayalam	044c	1100
Maltese	043a	1082
Manipuri	0458	1112
Maori - New Zealand	0481	1153
Mapudungun	0471	1146
Marathi	044e	1102
Mohawk	047c	1148
Mongolian (Cyrillic)	0450	1104
Mongolian (Mongolian)	0850	2128
Nepali	0461	1121
Nepali - India	0861	2145
Norwegian (Bokmål)	0414	1044
Norwegian (Nynorsk)	0814	2068
Occitan	0482	1154
Oriya	0448	1096
Oromo	0472	1138
Papiamentu	0479	1145
Pashto	0463	1123
Polish	0415	1045
Portuguese - Brazil	0416	1046
Portuguese - Portugal	0816	2070
Punjabi	0446	1094
Punjabi (Pakistan)	0846	2118
Quecha - Bolivia	046B	1131
Quecha - Ecuador	086B	2155
Quecha - Peru	0C6B	3179
Rhaeto-Romanic	0417	1047
Romanian	0418	1048
Romanian - Moldava	0818	2072
Russian	0419	1049
Russian - Moldava	0819	2073
Sami (Lappish)	043b	1083
Sanskrit	044f	1103
Scottish Gaelic	043c	1084
Sepedi	046c	1132
Serbian (Cyrillic)	0c1a	3098
Serbian (Latin)	081a	2074
Sindhi - India	0459	1113
Sindhi - Pakistan	0859	2137
Sinhalese - Sri Lanka	045b	1115
Slovak	041b	1051
Slovenian	0424	1060
Somali	0477	1143
Sorbian	042e	1070
Spanish - Spain (Modern Sort)	0c0a	3082
Spanish - Spain (Traditional Sort)	040a	1034
Spanish - Argentina	2c0a	11274
Spanish - Bolivia	400a	16394
Spanish - Chile	340a	13322
Spanish - Colombia	240a	9226
Spanish - Costa Rica	140a	5130
Spanish - Dominican Republic	1c0a	7178
Spanish - Ecuador	300a	12298
Spanish - El Salvador	440a	17418
Spanish - Guatemala	100a	4106
Spanish - Honduras	480a	18442
Spanish - Latin America	580a	22538
Spanish - Mexico	080a	2058
Spanish - Nicaragua	4c0a	19466
Spanish - Panama	180a	6154
Spanish - Paraguay	3c0a	15370
Spanish - Peru	280a	10250
Spanish - Puerto Rico	500a	20490
Spanish - United States	540a	21514
Spanish - Uruguay	380a	14346
Spanish - Venezuela	200a	8202
Sutu	0430	1072
Swahili	0441	1089
Swedish	041d	1053
Swedish - Finland	081d	2077
Syriac	045a	1114
Tajik	0428	1064
Tamazight (Arabic)	045f	1119
Tamazight (Latin)	085f	2143
Tamil	0449	1097
Tatar	0444	1092
Telugu	044a	1098
Thai	041e	1054
Tibetan - Bhutan	0851	2129
Tibetan - People's Republic of China	0451	1105
Tigrigna - Eritrea	0873	2163
Tigrigna - Ethiopia	0473	1139
Tsonga	0431	1073
Tswana	0432	1074
Turkish	041f	1055
Turkmen	0442	1090
Uighur - China	0480	1152
Ukrainian	0422	1058
Urdu	0420	1056
Urdu - India	0820	2080
Uzbek (Cyrillic)	0843	2115
Uzbek (Latin)	0443	1091
Venda	0433	1075
Vietnamese	042a	1066
Welsh	0452	1106
Wolof	0488	1160
Xhosa	0434	1076
Yakut	0485	1157
Yi	0478	1144
Yiddish	043d	1085
Yoruba	046a	1130
Zulu	0435	1077
HID (Human Interface Device)	04ff	1279