Enhanced Content Query Web Part goes Beta 2!

I am proud to announce that the Enhanced Content Query Web Part is now beta 2. The new release includes a WSP deployment file that simplifies deployment - just download the file, and use STSADM to install it - no more messing around with web.config, .dwp or .webpart files, or xslt style sheets!
I even wrote a small batch file to help you install it if you are uncomfortable with the stsadm command line.
You can find the above in the project's web site: http://www.codeplex.com/ECQWP

The new version also comes with default xslt files that get installed in the style library and render the web part like a list (table format):

Now, to get to release candidate, I still need:

• Testers (must have own server)
• Technical Writers (must have own server)

Testers need not contact me - they should just go to the project web site and start entering bugs in the Issue Tracker.
Writers should contact me and I will ask them to write up the installation instructions and usage documentation.

Call for beta testers! Enhanced Content Query Web Part

This is to call beta testers. I want to kick the ECQWP project to beta2, which requires beta testers to start testing and reporting on Beta 1 (well, 1.3 actually) .
You don't need to write to me or anything - just get a free codeplex account, and use it in the ECQWP project site to add issues (bugs) to be fixed, or ask for enhancements.
Please try to be VERY clear on the problem - preferably with a step by step of what I need to do to get the error you are describing.

While I am at it, if you are a good SharePoint developer and you think you have the ability to solve the bugs, let me know, and I will add you to the project as a developer, and assign bugs for you to fix.
Please note - this is not a practice run. I do not have time to mentor beginners, so don't use this as a free training exercise. Sorry.

Adding custom fields to the Enhanced Content Quey Web Part (Beta 1.2)

I just got around to adding another important feature to the Enhanced Content Query Web Part and I uploaded it to codeplex.
I am sure you read my articles, or articles by other MVPS like Heather about showing custom columns in the content query webpart. This requires (as Heather's article shows) that you export the web part to a file, manually modify the file to add the fields you want, and import it back.
This annoyed me enough to add a property to my ECQWP that will allow you to add those fields without having to export-import.

In this version (1.2) you have two new properties in the propeties pane - Data Fields and Common View Fields. I have yet to find out how Data Fields are used, so you don't need to use that property - it is enough that you set the Common View Fields.
I will refer you to Heather's article to find out the format that the value of this property should be written in - how to get the field's internal name, and how to get the field's type. Just a quick reminder though - the value in that field is a pipe seperated value of fields, where each field is a coma seperated pair of field (internal) name and field type. For example, a text field with internal name "Comments" will be added like so:
Comments,Text
A choice field with internal name "Client_x0020_Name" will be added like so:
Client_x0020_Name,Choice
and if we want to add both of the above fields, it will look like so:
Comments,Text|Client_x0020_Name,Choice


As always, get the web part, installation instructions and source code from codeplex. Just be sure to download the most recent version.

Enhanced Content Query Web Part upgraded to Beta 1.1

I am happy to announce that the Enhanced Content Query Web Part project has progressed to Beta 1.1, with some very important fixes to major bugs.

The web part now correctly prints out the item ID, has context menus for folders (not just documents) and supports displaying icons for documents.

Be sure to read the documentation (installation instructions) and use the new XSLT that is provided there. The old XSLT will not solve any of the bugs I fixed.

Content Query Web Part, with a marquee

Meron Fridman has released a free web part - a version of the content query web part that displays the content it found as a marquee. Read about the web part in Meron's blog.

Free web part, as promised! - User profile Checker

As I promised a couple of days ago, I have published a new webpart for download, complete with source code.

The web part checks the user's profile for properties that are marked as "required" and if a user didnt fill in one of them, he is prompted to fill it in:

You can also choose to have the user prompted by a message box, or just automatically redirect him!

Go to the web part download page to download the web part's source code and installation instructions!

As an answer to the comments I will explain some more:

The web part checks the properties that are not disabled, that are user editable or are administrator editable and are required.
The property may be mapped to active directory,