Special Character Problem From Excel To Oracle DB

So no one really likes to type things and everyone wants to just upload a spreadsheet. Why not? Many of us have had the situation where you see an upside down question mark in your data. Some how a special character that your database does not like got in there. I am not a database person, so please feel free to post the technical details in the comments. It seems like it happens when people paste things from Word into a form or into the Excel upload file. We had a case of this today and it was really annoying because we could not see where the special characters were coming from. I had this nice text file to upload and it looked fine. The database guys started sending me notes that there were special characters and the customers needed to fix the input file. Easier said then done because no one can see the characters. I felt like the blonde girl on the Big Bang Theory. The database guys kept taking about special characters I could not see. After much discussion with the guys and playing with UltraEdit (love it), I finally figured out how to fix this issue. So we took the Excel spreadsheet, saved it as a .CSV MS-DOS format. Next opened it in a text editor (Wordpad will work). OMG, the y with two dots over it. The Ÿ or (trema Y) for you technical types was my problem. In Excel it just looked like a space at the end of the cell. Once we could see it, an easy find and replace. We are in back in business now.

SharePoint Workflow Stuck Starting

I had a case where I was using a OOTB Approval workflow and had it set to run when a new item was added.  It worked in 2007, but then when we upgraded to 2010, only problems.  After working with the help desk I finally got to the bottom of the problem.  The deal is the workflow kicks off before you even fill in the properties.  This makes sense because sometimes I get the email the workflow started before I finish typing.  Hence the problem.  If you have a document library containing required fields or that requires the item be checked out, the workflow will get stuck and just say "Starting" forever.  The easy fix is to remove all the requirements on the fields and checkout.  I have read you can add a step in the workflow to telling it to wait before starting.  I have not gotten that to work yet.  When I do I will post the instructions.

Just For Fun Find Treasure With Google Maps

This April Fool's day, why not take a break from all of your SharePoint designing and look for some treasure. If you go to Google Maps today, there is a button in the top right for "treasure". This puts your map into treasure mode and your map will change to look like a pirate's treasure map. Be sure to follow the Google Maps G+ page as we work together to decipher the clues to Captain Kidd’s buried secrets. If you come across a blank map, zoom out to get back to the treasure map. Check out the video below which is pretty funny explaining the treasure map.

Can Not Enter Assign To Field In SharePoint Workflow

So getting my hands dirty and really digging into the new SharePoint 2010.  As with 2007, I am dealing with annoying quirks or bugs that seem to be known issues.  Thank goodness people post stuff on Technet or I would never figure it out.  So here is the problem of the day.  I want to use just an approval workflow, but I want to add some more stuff to the email.  So I copy the OOTB workflow and tweek the email.  Oh, should be a piece of cake. NOT!  I published my copy and went to test it out.  Looking good.  Get to lookup the Assign To, darn.  I get this error message that the form can't be submitted. I just changed the email. I do not get why this is not working.

 

So if found the answer here, but had to mess with it to get it to work.

 

The bad update is: KB2553322 (Security update for InfoPath 2010: July 10, 2012)

It appears to add extra XML into a few files which cause the error:
WFName.xoml.wfconfig.xml - it added (xsi:nil="true")
So you have to go in that file and change:
<d:Assignee xsi:nil="true"/> To: <d:Assignee/>

The instructions how to fix it really did not work for me.  I had to do the following:

 In SharePoint Designer->All Files->Workflows->the Workflow -> WorkflowName.xoml.wfconfig.xml ->Edit
I went in and changed the file and hit save.  It told me that a newer version was out there and did I want to replace it.  I chose replace.  This does not seem to work if you hit publish.  If you ever republish the workflow you need to go back to the file and edit it again.  It did it a couple of times and it seemed to do the trick.