SharePoint 2010 Beta 2 SQL Server Version

I ran into some trouble getting SQL Server installed on the same box as SharePoint. It think it may have something to do with the order of installing applications. As a general rule of thumb make sure that you install from the oldest to the newest apps. This is especially true when working with beta software.

Running the configuration wizard I discover that  SharePoint 2010 requires the latest SQL Server updates be installed.

SQL Server 2005:

• SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3
• Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

SQL Server 2008:

• SQL Server 2008 SP 1
• Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Posting it here hoping it will save someone else some trouble.

SharePoint Workflow Versioning

Upgrading Workflows in an existing SharePoint site can be very tricky. Just copying in a new version is not the best practice. Depending on what changes were done to the new version of the assembly SharePoint may end up having trouble re-hydrating (deserializing) the currently in-progress workflows.

Here are some excellent articles I found recently on how to properly implement versioning, its potential pitfalls and how to overcome them:

• http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/archive/2008/09/10/versioning-long-running-workfows.aspx
• http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/archive/2008/09/11/versioning-long-running-workflows-part-2.aspx
• http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/archive/2008/09/16/versioning-long-running-workfows-part-3.aspx
• http://msmvps.com/blogs/theproblemsolver/archive/2008/09/22/versioning-long-running-workflows-part-4.aspx

Another alternative approach which I think is also a good solution:

• http://omensblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/versioning-workflows.html

Adding a new item to a SharePoint List

Using SPList.Items.Add() is not the best way to add a new item to a list. This is because the moment you access the get method on the Items collection it retrieves all the items into memory.

A quick peek at the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll assembly via reflector confirmed it:

 

You may not notice a difference in performance in the dev environment, but once your list starts to grow it will gradually degrade.

I recently learned this the hard way. This is the best way to add a new Item:

SPList list = _Web.Lists[LIST];                    SPQuery query = new SPQuery();
query.RowLimit = 0;
SPListItem item = list.GetItems(query).Add();
item[TITLE] = “testing”;
item.Update();

On an unrelated note, executing a query with a RowLimit generates an underlying SQL query such as  SELECT TOP X ..... where X is the RowLimit value.

I wonder if the behavior is still the same in SharePoint 2010. Hmmm...

References:

• http://blog.robgarrett.com/2009/02/25/efficient-way-to-add-a-new-item-to-a-sharepoint-list/
• http://www.infoq.com/articles/SharePoint-Andreas-Grabner

More best practices on SharePoint:

• http://www.hezser.de/blog/archive/2009/04/08/summary-common-coding-issues.aspx