Extracting DLL's out of GAC

To backup the dll's in the GAC i.e. Extracting DLL's out of GAC we can use either of the below methods.


Method 1:
Change the Windows\Assembly\GAC folder from the GAC view to the Windows Explorer view by editing the Registry:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Fusion\

Add a DWORD value called DisableCacheViewer and set the value to 1 Don't Forget to change it back to 0 once your done with the backup.

As shown below:

Method 2 (32 bit only):

From command prompt run
regsvr32 -u C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\shfusion.dll

GAC back to it’s original structure, use
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\shfusion.dll

spWeb.Lists vs spWeb.GetList

// Best Practice To Retrieve List Item

// Below example updates the Task list Item based on the task id

 ....
SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
{
        using (SPSite oSiteCollection = new SPSite(url))
        {
                        using (SPWeb spWeb = oSiteCollection.OpenWeb())
                        {
                            spWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                            SPList oList = spWeb.Lists["New_Task_List"]; // Gets the entire List Collection and then picks the list mentioned
                            SPListItem oListItem = oList.GetItemById(taskid);

                           //Instead the following should be used, get the intended list directly
                           //SPListItem oListItem = spWeb.GetList("/Lists/New_Task_Lis/AllItems.aspx").GetItemById(taskid);

                            if (oListItem != null)
                            {
                                oListItem["flag"] = Guid.NewGuid().ToString();
                                oListItem["actiontaken"] = "Claim";
                                oListItem["actiontakenby"] = CustomUtility.GetUtility().GetLoggedInUserID();
                                oListItem.Update();
                            }
                            tempID = Convert.ToInt64(oListItem["TicketNumber"].ToString());
                        }
                    }
                });
...

Large Lists and List View Threshold

You would need to know or as we know

         List View Threshold (LVT)

                o   Every web application in SP 2010, has a default configured constant LVT value.

                o   Administrator default LVT is generally set to a higher value compared to end user (default is  

                     20000 for admin / 5000 for end users).

Consideration for Large Lists

              Large List should have:

o   Limited number of columns

o   Limited number of lookup fields (<= 8)

o   Filter criteria should be on Indexed fields (around 2)

o   Folder Structure with number of items less than LVT of web application ( default 5000)

Why not List View

o   List View is not appropriate for list having large number of items

o   The LVT value limits the Views to work for certain Lists, this decision is based on some logical limits (SQL applies database lock on table when more than 5000 items are being touched on a single query) to counter balance the performance degradation of the SharePoint Farm.

o   Conditions, when the List View won’t work

§  When using the Filter on a column and the number of items; having same value in the column is repeated more than the number of threshold value.

·         Regardless of using

o   Folder

o   Index

o   Item Limit

o   And Condition

o   OR Condition

o   For List View to work without or with Filter criteria

§  The number of items should be less than the LVT of the web application

Alternatives for Viewing List Items

o   Search with result shown in the end user expected format

o   Metadata Navigation consideration while designing the List

§  Metadata Navigation applies to doc lib page only

§  Document library design is critical to have useful Metadata Navigation

o   Object Model Custom Code

o   Content Query Web Part

Consideration for Large Lists 

 From a high level, it looks like we can perform activity at three different levels; which can help avoid List View Threshold issue and performance degradation:

            Document Library Level

·         Redesign the document library, split into multiple logical library based on business needs

·         Items storage in the document library has to be modularized / use container

           Page Level

·         Create custom Views for pages to access data
·         Caching via Content Query Web Part if required

      Archival
            ·         Implement Archiving policy for the document library (auto/manual)

·         Document / version cleanup, based on document life cycle

·         Content Organizer can be utilized

SharePoint Web Service - Elevated Privilege / Anonymous Access / Performance

Considering SharePoint Web Service, watch out for the following:

* SharePoint internet site has anonymous user base. Calling web service from an anonymous internet sp site is not straight forward. Moreover, Read only web service call from anonymous SP pages is feasible.   The following blogs takes a stab on it:     

    http://sympmarc.com/2010/03/18/allowing-anonymous-access-with-sharepoint-web-services-and-spservices/

* Web Service work great when small amount of data across the network is considered. If web service requires intensive operations this in turn puts frequent database updates and cause a significant burden in a production environment. For example, using Web services to bulk load or synchronize a list with a database is risky, depending on the amount of data and the period of synchronization. A more acceptable use of code that accesses a Web service is for a Web Part to access a built-in service to query a set of items in a list. More

on this straight from the core: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb862916.aspx

* Considering best practices; Microsoft does not recommend heavy use of SharePoint Web Services for updating SharePoint data, however, passive use of SharePoint Web Services to read service data is considered acceptable.

* At times we need to elevate privilege to perform certain action on the SP server via managed code. When working with the SharePoint Web Services you can't elevate the privilege.  More on this: 

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/spwslimits_1.aspx

* Some other notable blog points out:

-          Web Services use XML based SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) messages as the communication protocol

-          Reliance on XML can translate into high overhead in the form of oversized, sluggish messages

-          This can mean an investment in XML appliances or other software to optimize validation, parsing, and analysis of XML messages.

-          As Web services operate autonomously, with no centralized control, users may find them unpredictable, necessitating IT to provide service guarantees or service-level agreements.

-          Every request has a marshalling un-marshalling overhead.
-          Every request has to be authenticated using user name and password. It does not support the concept of authenticated session, which can be re-used with a session key. Exception is Excel Service Web Service
-          Issues with Downloading Files  Copy web service i.e. Marshalling/un-marshalling overhead: The SharePoint Server encodes the binary file data (e.g. Word, Excel file) into text (using Base64 encoding) in order to send it over Web Service. The client application should decode it back to the original encoding for viewing the file. This can affect performance.

-          Memory overhead: The GetItem() method uses a single buffer to retrieve the whole file content.

Finding List of all Installed KB on your windows server or pc

To get all the KB installed on your machine / box / pc / server, your best bet is to simply run the following command from the command prompt:

reg query HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall >> C:\list_of_kbs.log

Using Add Remove Program from control panel or any other method doesn't give you all the KB's on your box.