Symptom 1

A web part page with a dataview web part that connected to a SQL Server datasource was giving the following error message and stack trace:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application

The type is not registered as safe

Stack Trace:

 

[UnsafeControlException: The type is not registered as safe.]

   Microsoft.SharePoint.EditingPageParser.VerifyControlOnSafeList(String dscXml, RegisterDirectiveManager registerDirectiveManager, SPWeb web) +948

   Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart.get_DataSources() +186

   Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart.AddDataSourceControls() +69

   Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.DataFormWebPart.CreateChildControls() +1583

   System.Web.UI.Control.EnsureChildControls() +87

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +44

   System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.WebPart.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +42

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171

   System.Web.UI.Control.PreRenderRecursiveInternal() +171

   System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint) +842

The Sharepoint site had many pages with similar dataview web parts, and most of these were still working. The only clear difference with this one was that it was connected to a form web part on the page.

Symptom 2

After opening the Sharepoint site, or any of its subsites, I was unable to view data for either existing database connections or new database connections. For example, when clicking Manage Data Sources, I could see the database connection that had been defined. If I clicked the drop down box and chose ‘Show Data’, I received the following error:

“The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get data from the data source. Check the format and content of your query and try again. If the problem persists, contact the server administrator.”

If I tried to define a new database connection, I could connect to the database, and I could see the schema because a list of tables was being returned. However, as soon as I clicked ‘Show Data’ I got the same error above.

Root Cause

The problem was a missing section of XML in the web.config file that defines the SQL Data Sources. The web.config file was the first place I looked, since the ‘Type is not registered as safe’ usually means there is not a safe control entry in the file. However, in this case, the control was not a custom web part, it was a default Sharepoint web part, and it looked like all of the defaults were listed in Safe Controls.

After doing some file comparisons with some older web.config files, we discovered that the following code was missing from the current web.config file.

<pages enableSessionState="false" enableViewState="true" enableViewStateMac="true" validateRequest="false" pageParserFilterType="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationRuntime.SPPageParserFilter, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" asyncTimeout="30">
 <namespaces>
 <remove namespace="System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts" />
 </namespaces>
 <tagMapping>
  <add tagType="System.Web.UI.WebControls.SqlDataSource, System.Web,  Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a"
mappedTagType="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.SPSqlDataSource, Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />
 </tagMapping>
</pages>

We were able to trace the problem back to a web part installation of Lightning Tools Forum that happened a couple of weeks ago. The Lightning Tools Forum web part consisted of two features. One of them was a .Net Framework 3.5 Feature that added all of the entries needed for .Net 3.5 into the web.config file. We had some problems with this feature, and during troubleshooting, it was activated and deactivated several times. So either the deactivation removed the section, or it was accidentally removed by me in the process. (On a side note, We got the Lightning Tools Forum web part to work without the .net 3.5 feature)

With Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0, we can use the Content Query Web Part (CQW or CQWP) to display SharePoint content from another source on a SharePoint page. This web part is rather nifty and one of my new favorite things about MOSS 2007.  At first glance you tend to pass it by, then when you see what it can do, it is pretty cool.  Imagine if you will, creating a list in SharePoint 2003 and then adding it as a web part to your WSS home page or SPS portal area.  You are then limited to controlling the view through the Web Part Tool Pane by hiding or showing various columns.   With the CQWP, you can now control how that content is displayed. You can wrap HTML code and styles to format the display nearly however you wish.  Here is a quick example of a CQWP used on the ShareSquared.com site:

Customizing the Content Query Web Part and Custom Item Styles

Creating Master-Detail views with Web Part connections using Flickr Services as a Data Source

Hi everyone, Allan Smith here. I’m a Software Development Engineer in Test on the SharePoint Designer Data team. I have a great example of using a server-side script data source to create Master-Detail views using the DataFormWebPart. My finished example is show in this screen shot:

I will use Flickr services as my data source in this example thus there are a few pre-requisites before we can get started. Flickr requires an API key in order to use their service but this is easy to setup by visiting their site at http://www.flickr.com/services/api/. I also recommend reading through their API methods to see what is available via this service.

Microsoft SharePoint Designer Team Blog : Creating Master-Detail views with Web Part connections using Flickr Services as a Data Source

If, like me, you happen to encounter the following user experience when attempting to edit a master page…

Figure 1: SharePoint Designer – “Error Creating Control”

See full-sized image.

…then follow these steps to resolve the issue:

1. Start Control Panel and then open Administrative Tools.
2. In Windows Vista, right-click Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration and click Run as administrator. If you are not using Windows Vista, then right-click and select Run as… and specify an account that is a member of the local Administrators group (because you don’t normally login with an administrative account, right?). Enter the appropriate credentials to start the configuration console.
3. In the .NET Framework 2.0 Configuration console, in the tree on the left, expand My Computer, and click Runtime Security Policy.
4. In the Code Access Security Policy window on the right, in the Tasks section, click Adjust Zone Security.
5. In the Security Adjustment Wizard, ensure Make changes to this computer is selected and then click Next.
6. Select Local Intranet, in the Choose the level of trust for assemblies from this zone section, click and drag the slider to Full Trust, and then click Next.
7. Confirm the setting in the Summary of changes and then click Finish.

Restart SharePoint Designer and you should be “good-to-go.”

http://blogs.msdn.com/jjameson/archive/2007/03/22/error-creating-control-when-using-microsoft-office-sharepoint-designer-2007.aspx

SharePoint Designer workflows are have some great benefits: they are relatively
easy to create, don’t require any code, and can be created and maintained by power
users, not just developers.  However, there are several limitations to SharePoint
Designer workflows and you can hit these edges relatively quickly.  Before deciding
to go down the SharePoint Designer workflow path, you might want to understand these
edges as you may have to do more work to create the solution.  Nearly all of
these limitations listed further below can be solved through one or more of the following
techniques:

SharePoint
Designer Workflow Limitations – Implementing SharePoint Blog