Download latest InfoPath form templates

"Change is inevitable", and it is true to InfoPath forms as well. Quite often the client asks you to make changes to the InfoPath forms and you may not have the original files.

Perhaps the files you have in your network location are outdated and old and have been gone through many update iterations.

You can download the latest form by navigating to the following path:

http://<domain>/FormServerTemplates/FormTemplate.xsn

Select the Form and click Save As or Download a copy

Note: The URL path may be different for you depending on your SharePoint Site hierarchy.

SPD Workflow error: Path needs to point to valid member

I had created a workflow and its always interesting to make few changes to it, or is it? It is not so welcoming though, but when you have a client instruction, you welcome it with a smile.

So here I was updating/editing the workflow. After updating it when I clicked Finish (this will associates the workflow to a SharePoint List), I received an error as below.

I haven't found any reference on the web or workaround for this issue.

(0, 0) Activity 'ID9355' validation failed: Path '_x005f_String135' used to specify member for 'ROOT' is invalid. Path needs to point to valid member.
(0, 0) Activity 'ID9325' validation failed: Path '_x005f_String136' used to specify member for 'ROOT' is invalid. Path needs to point to valid member.

I realized I had backed up the workflow before making any changes to it. So I opened the copy in Notepad (.xoml file) and was trying to trace the String '_x005f_String135' and '_x005f_String136' as in the above error.

I found that this string was referenced couple of times in the document. I then started comparing both the workflows (the one I was editing and the backed up copy).

Found that a statement like below were missing in the copy I was editing:

<ns0:WorkflowDataField Name="_x005f_String135" Type="System.String" />
<ns0:WorkflowDataField Name="_x005f_String136" Type="System.String" />

I believe this to be a declaration of strings used in the workflow which apparently went missing when I was updating the workflow. I have no idea why did this happen.

So I copied this part from the backup and pasted in the file I was editing. I then saved the .xoml file, opened the workflow and clicked Finish (to associate with SharePoint List.)

It worked!

Lesson Learnt, or rather an Affirmation to myself - Continue backing up often.

Unable to add Active Directory group in SharePoint

SharePoint Users are usually Active Directory Users when using SharePoint in intranet. A strange thing I came across was I was able to add individual AD users in SharePoint but when I was trying to add an AD group, it said "No exact match found." Even though the AD group is present in the domain's active directory.

•  Now to resolve this issue, browse to the Active Directory and right click the group to open it's properties.
• On the General tab, find the section Group Type.
• If it is set to Distribution, change that to Security.
• Now you should be able to add the AD group into SharePoint.

For details regarding Group Types, refer Microsoft TechNet Site here.

In brief:

Distribution Group

This is used only with e-mail applications (like Exchange) to send e-mails to a group. This is not security enabled.

Security Group

To give an AD group controlling access to shared resources, you need to use Security Groups. A concept called discretionary access control lists (DACLs)

Hope this helped!

Screenshot on HTC Chacha

Red button (Call End button) + Home button (on the screen)

Did you get it?