How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Complete

As we know, InfoPath forms have the ability to consume data from SharePoint’s User Profile Service Application through the SharePoint Web Services or to be more exact, through the UserProfileService.asmx web service specifically. The question is how to do that? It can be achieved by following a few simple steps as outlined below.

1. From InfoPath, click the “Data” tab in the top menu.

2. From the Data tab ribbon that opened, click “Data Connections”.



3. The “Data Connections” dialog window opens.

4. There should be one data connection named “Main Data Connection” displayed already.

5. Click the “Add” button to add a new connection.



6. The “Data Connection Wizard” appears.

7. Select the “Create a new connection to:” radio button.

8. Select the “Receive data” radio button. NOTE: These are usually set by default, but if they’re not selected on your form, select them.

9. Click the “Next” button.



10. Select the “SOAP Web service” radio button. This should be the default value, but if it isn’t, select it.

11. Click the “Next” button.



12. Now enter the location of the target service to be consumed in the edit box. In our case, we are trying to consume the “UserProfileService.asmx” service which resides in the /_vti_bin/ virtual location off your current SharePoint site. Simply copy the site URL of your site and append “/_vti_bin/UserProfileService.asmx” to it. For example, if your site URL is http://www.crayveon.com/sites/SuperTeam/default.aspx, drop the page reference and append the above text to give you a value of http://www.crayveon.com/sites/SuperTeam/_vti_bin/UserProfileService.asmx which you enter into the edit box.

13. Click the “Next” button.



14. InfoPath will connect to the web service and display the list of valid operations.

15. Scroll down the list and locate the “GetUserProfileByName” operation and select it.

16. Click the “Next” button.



17. On the parameter screen, simply click the “Next” button.



18. Ensure that the “Store a copy of the data in the form template” option is unchecked.

19. Click the “Next” button.



20. On the next screen, you can specify the name you wish to give this data connection. By default it will be called “GetUserProfileByName”, but you can change it if you’d like.

21. Click the “Finish” button.



22. The new data connection is now shown in the “Data Connections” dialog window.

23. Click the “Close” button.



Now by simply using this data connection in your form, you have access to the vast array of data made available to you via SharePoint’s User Profile Service Application.



Cheers
C

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 3

Continued from…

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 1

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 2



17. On the parameter screen, simply click the “Next” button.



18. Ensure that the “Store a copy of the data in the form template” option is unchecked.

19. Click the “Next” button.



20. On the next screen, you can specify the name you wish to give this data connection. By default it will be called “GetUserProfileByName”, but you can change it if you’d like.

21. Click the “Finish” button.



22. The new data connection is now shown in the “Data Connections” dialog window.

23. Click the “Close” button.



Now by simply using this data connection in your form, you have access to the vast array of data made available to you via SharePoint’s User Profile Service Application.



For the sake of improved load time and user experience, this article is divided into three parts. If you wish to read or print the complete article, it can be found here:



How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Complete









Cheers
C

How do I – Activate my MSDN copy of Visio 2013 Professional?

Situation: You have a MSDN subscription and you have downloaded Office 2013 or one of the Office products, like Visio 2013 Professional, from Microsoft and have installed said product. You have a license key provided by MSDN, but the installer never prompts you for the license key. This is a departure from traditional installer behavior where you would enter the license key before the install can even be done. Once you’ve completed the install, you open your product and are confronted by this little gem of a warning just below the Ribbon:



Since you have a license key, you click the “Activate” button. You are presented with this screen which is there for a while, so be patient:



Eventually, you’re presented with a Sign In screen like this:



Having gotten your license key from MSDN, you promptly enter your MSDN UserID and password and click the “Sign in” button. Unfortunately, you’re presented with an error thus:



After trying the login a couple more times (just in case you fat fingered the password), you click the “Can’t access your account?” button. Your browser opens and you’re taken to this page:



Again, you enter your MSDN UserID as well as the CAPCHA code and click the “Next” button. This time you’re presented with an error screen stating that your ID doesn’t exist thus:



So now what?

This is the problem with the new installer. In order to use our MSDN license key, we’re going to have to follow these steps:
Click “Start”.
On the popup menu, click “Control Panel”.
In the Control Panel, double click the “Programs and Features” icon.
Scroll down through the list of installed products and locate the product in question. In this example it was “Microsoft Visio Professional 2013”.
Select the target product.
In the toolbar above the list, click the “Change” button.
When the configuration window appears, select the “Enter a Product Key” radio button and click “Continue”.
No enter your product key and click “Continue”.
Unfortunately, you have to go through the configuration piece again. For a simple license key addition, I don’t see the need in this, but that how it works for now. You could just click “Continue” but in my case, I wanted to make sure nothing was getting reset so I clicked “Customize”.
Ensure your configuration settings are as desired and click the “Continue” button.
It sets in the Configuration Progress screen for quite a while. Just be patient.
Once the configuration completes, click the “Close” button.
Finally re-launch the application and the red warning should now be gone.



This took me a while to figure out, so hopefully this saves someone some time.



Cheers
C

Heartbleed – You MUST take action!

What is Heartbleed?

If you haven’t heard of the Heartbleed (CVE-2014-0160) bug in the OpenSSL library, it’s time to pay attention! I’m not going to regurgitate already available information here, but I’ll provide some pointers for you to get more of said information. There’s a good explanation of the bug located here. If you think it isn’t serious, consider the fact that services such as Google, Facebook and YouTube were affected while at the same time, hardware manufacturers did not escape scott free either. Cisco published a security advisory here noting affected equipment as well as equipment being investigated for the vulnerability.
What do I need to do?

Here’s a non exhaustive list of things to do in order to address this:
Make a list of services you use. CNet maintains a page with a list of the top 100 US sites which should give you a good starting point. If you are not using a password manager such as RoboForm, now might be a good time to consider starting to use one. I personally use RoboForm and because I do, all my services are within easy reach. It makes the creation of this list automatic and more importantly, it will have services on your list that you may forget about because you don’t use them on a daily basis. Remember, this bug has been around for 2 years!!! Any vulnerable service you accessed over the past two years could have resulted in your security passwords being stolen.
Once you have the list, check each of the services for the vulnerability. There are several checkers out there like this one from LastPass. Personally, I like this one published by Filippo Valsorta.
Once your service site clears the check, change your password. It’s important NOT to change your password until the service provider has both patched their software AND updated their SSL certificates. Changing your password before both of these are done, would still leave you vulnerable.
DO NOT access any vulnerable services until they’ve been patched and are secure again. The very first login to a previously vulnerable service should be to change your password. Once changed, logoff completely and then log back onto the service using the new password. For an extra measure of security I would recommend doing it in Incognito or InPrivate mode in your browser, closing the browser between logons.
If you’re responsible for hardware, be it at home or at work, do research to see if your hardware such as routers are affected. If your hardware is affected, patch it! If no patch is available, pull the hardware and replace it with something that isn’t vulnerable.

It’s important to realize that it’s going to take time to patch all the services, especially smaller sites, and that continued use of these services will remain risky unless they’ve been properly secured.

Well what are you waiting for???!!! Get started!!! (And you thought you’re going to be doing this and that over the weekend… )



Cheers
C

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 2

Continued from…

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 1



10. Select the “SOAP Web service” radio button. This should be the default value, but if it isn’t, select it.

11. Click the “Next” button.



12. Now enter the location of the target service to be consumed in the edit box. In our case, we are trying to consume the “UserProfileService.asmx” service which resides in the /_vti_bin/ virtual location off your current SharePoint site. Simply copy the site URL of your site and append “/_vti_bin/UserProfileService.asmx” to it. For example, if your site URL is http://www.crayveon.com/sites/SuperTeam/default.aspx, drop the page reference and append the above text to give you a value of http://www.crayveon.com/sites/SuperTeam/_vti_bin/UserProfileService.asmx which you enter into the edit box.

13. Click the “Next” button.



14. InfoPath will connect to the web service and display the list of valid operations.

15. Scroll down the list and locate the “GetUserProfileByName” operation and select it.

16. Click the “Next” button.





Click HERE to continue to Part 3







Cheers
C

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Part 1

For the sake of improved load time and user experience, this article is divided into three parts. If you wish to read or print the complete article, it can be found here:

How do I – Add an InfoPath Data Connection to consume the UserProfileService.asmx web service – Complete



As we know, InfoPath forms have the ability to consume data from SharePoint’s User Profile Service Application through the SharePoint Web Services or to be more exact, through the UserProfileService.asmx web service specifically. The question is how to do that? It can be achieved by following a few simple steps as outlined below.

1. From InfoPath, click the “Data” tab in the top menu.

2. From the Data tab ribbon that opened, click “Data Connections”.



3. The “Data Connections” dialog window opens.

4. There should be one data connection named “Main Data Connection” displayed already.

5. Click the “Add” button to add a new connection.



6. The “Data Connection Wizard” appears.

7. Select the “Create a new connection to:” radio button.

8. Select the “Receive data” radio button. NOTE: These are usually set by default, but if they’re not selected on your form, select them.

9. Click the “Next” button.





Please click HERE to continue to Part 2





Cheers
C