Frequently Asked Questions

All products from MetaVis Architect Suite require account credentials to connect to SharePoint.

MetaVis Architect and Migrator require this account to have at least Designer permissions. MetaVis Classifier requires the account to have at least Contributor permissions.

In this case we need to diagnose the issue. To help us open MetaVis product, select menu item Edit / Debug Mode, then try to connect to SharePoint. After failed attempt, ZIP and send us folder "c:\Documents and Settings\%user%\Metavis\.metadata" or "c:\Users\%user%\Metavis\.metadata" if it is Vista or Windows 7. Zip the folder and send it to support@metavistech.com

If you have valid privelages to your SharePoint environment, but still receving this error "The Sever sent HTTP status code 401: Unuathorized" then the problem is likely due to MetaVis authentication methadology.

If the workstation on which MetaVis is installed on is logged into a valid domain, the application automatically picks up these credentials and tries to log in. However, if this account does not have sufficient privelages the "Unauthoried" error is shown. There are several work-arounds:

1) Re-start MetaVis under "Run As" - Hold down the shift key and click with your mouse on the MetaVis shortcut. Select Run As and type in either the admin account or any other account that has no rights to the SharePoint environment. If you do the later, you will be prompted to enter credentials when connecting to SharePoint.

See these Resources for further information:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/294676

2) Relogin into the computer with a local account or a domain account with no SharePoint privileges. You will be prompted to enter credentials when connecting to SharePoint.

If you use MetaVis Architect (either full edition or Trial), the user that you use to connect to SharePoint should have at least Design privileges (Full Control will also work).

If you use MetaVis Classifier or Migrator products (check what it has in the application title bar) then the user that you use to connect to SharePoint should have at least Contribute privileges on the site you connect to (Anything better than Contribute like Design or Full Control will also work).

MetaVis Architect Trial Edition that you receive when you select "Try Now" on www.metavistech.com requires at least Design privileges because it includes Architect product.

MetaVis Architect Products support the following versions of SharePoint

* SharePoint Server 2010: Intranet
* SharePoint Server 2010: Internet/Extranet
* SharePoint Foundation 2010
* Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
* Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3
* Microsoft Online (BPOS) and other SharePoint Hosting Providers
* SharePoint Portal Server (SPS) 2003 (source only)
* Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v2 (source only)
* FAT/NTFS File System (source only)

Hosted SharePoint environment often has mapping of user email to an internal user names on the provider's local domain. In order to learn the exact user name used by SharePoint do the following:

* Login to hosted SharePoint
* Click on your "Welcome " on the top of the page
* Select My Settings
* Look at the Account property
* Use Account as a user on the MetaVis connection wizard to connect to SharePoint
* You can use the complete domain\user account name in the user field or type user in the user field and domain in the domain field

The critical parameter for our product is system memory. We recommend 1 Gig of RAM for MetaVis (which is what we reserve by default). If you are running a lot of diagrams and or migrations simultaneously, we would recommend bumping that to 1.5 or 2 Gig (requires a parameter change). The O/S and processor is not as critical, but we would recommend a Dual Core if possibles

After downloading MetaVis product you will receive an email with the link to the product download and the activation code to activate the product. If you did not receive such email please contact MetaVis support at support@metavistech.com or "Contact Us" form on this WEB site.

Install and run the product. The first screen that the product will present will Registration screen. Paste activation code into the activation code text box and press "Activate Automatically" button. The license should appear in the License box and Activation Status should turn green. After this click "Complete Activation" button and proceed to the product.

In case "Activate Automatically" button does not retrieve the license successfully, make sure that the activation code is pasted into the activation code box exactly like it was written in the email and try to "Activate Automatically" again.

In case "Activate Automatically" button does not retrieve the license successfully, make sure that the activation code is pasted into the activation code box exactly like it was written in the email and press "Activate Manually" button. This button will popup a browser with the license displayed. Copy the license including the whole lines with the words "LICENSE BEGIN" and "LICENSE END" into License box of the license screen. Then press Check License button. License status should become green.

In case the browser that pops up in response to "Activate Manually" button does not connect to Internet, save the URL in this browser, execute it on the other computer to fetch the license and deliver it back to the License box of the MetaVis License Screen. After this press Check License button. License status should become green.

In case the browser with "Activate Manually" URL run on the other computer still does not fetch the license, email the URL that appears in the browser that pops up after you press "Activate Manually" button to support@metavistech.com. You will receive an email back with the license that you should paste to the License box of the MetaVis License screen and press Check License button. License status should become green.

If the computer you are trying to install a product from MetaVis Architect Suite does not have connection to http://www.metavistech.com WEB Site do the following

1. Download off-line product package from this link: http://www.metavistech.com/designer/product/metavis-win32.win32.x86-all.zip
2. Unzip the package to any folder on the local hard drive
3. Run the executable file MetaVis.exe located inside the unzipped folder
4. You may create a desktop icon for the simpler execution
5. Proceed with the product activation and choose "Activate Manually" option

Metavis keeps all offline data in the folder "c:\Documents and Settings\< user >\Metavis" (or "c:\Users\< user >\Metavis" in case of Vista or Win2008 Server). Since site data may be as large as 0.5-2M this space may grow in size. It is posible however to move it to the other folder possibly on the other drive.

First, you need to find new location for Metavis workspace. Let's say you will create a folder d:\Metavis. It is good to create this folder because we could be sure that the application will have permission to write there.

Then you need to edit this file (I assume that you have MetaVis installed on drive D:):

"D:\Program Files\MetaVis Technologies\metavis\configuration\config.ini"

Some folders are hidden in this path so you may want to either unhide them when you look or type (paste) this path to Wordpad Open command. You can use Wordpad instead of Notepad to edit this file since Notepad will not show it properly.

It is a simple text file. The last line there is

osgi.instance.area.default=@user.home/Metavis

you can make it like this:

osgi.instance.area.default=d:/Metavis

Note that slashes between folders are like this: / Basically, you can have any path over there, just keep in mind that the application should have permission to write there. Then restart Metavis and it will use this new folder to store its files. It will ask for the activation code again because it stores license file over there too. You can use the same activation code that you used to activate the product first time.

There is a file "c:\Program Files\MetaVis Technologies\metavis\MetaVis.ini" (path could be slightly different if you installed Metavis in the other location). There is a line in this file

-Xmx512M

It is a memory cap on what Metavis can use (512M by default). It could be changed to something like

-Xmx1024M

Or even more memory. MetaVis Architect should be restarted after this.

To clear the fields of the selected items do the following:

• Select items in the SharePoint list like usual
• Right click on selected items
• Select Tag option in the menu.
• Click Down-Arrow button next to the field to clear value in. Metavis will popup its regular field mapping dialog.
• Select "Make value empty" checkbox in this dialog and confirm it with Ok button.
• Repeat this procedure with other fields.
• After you will finish this wizard the values for the selected fields will be cleared for the selected items.

MetaVis Classifier/Migrator for SharePoint allows loading of files from file system to SharePoint document libraries. It also allows to set document fields during the file load or to pick up values for library fields from certain file properties like Modified Date, Owner or Keywords. The file load process also preserves folder structure in case the whole folder from file system is imported into SharePoint.

Folder structure is one of the few ways to classify files on the file system. In SharePoint, however, it is preferable to maintain document properties in list fields. Using fields instead of folders in SharePoint libraries facilitates flexible content navigation, search and workflows.

It is sometimes desirable to preserve folder information in certain fields of the document library at the time of the file import process. This approach works at its best in cases when files on file system are located in well structured folder hierarchies. The example of such folder tree is the following file path: N:\Network Share\Corporate Documents\Product Support\Company\Project\Phase\Document Name. In this example N:\Network Share\Corporate Documents is the documents storage location, Product Support is a company division, Company is the specific client, Project is the project and Phase is the project phase. MetaVis Migrator allows to grab any element of the folder tree (like Company or Project) and make it as a document field at the time of importing file.

MetaVis Classifier/Migrator allows you to drag and drop (or copy and paste) files of folders from file system to SharePoint document library. This operation displays Properties screen that allows you to select fields for imported documents. Select a Content Type, define or map values for any fields on this screen. Pick a field that should contain folder information. Click Down-Arrow button for this field to map it to a property of the source files. The source properties will include folder values. In our example given above "Folder 1 in File Path" will have Network Share value, "Folder 2 in File Path" - Corporate Documents, "Folder 3 in File Path" - Product Support and so on. After field is mapped to the correct Folder and import process is started, MetaVis Migrator for each loaded file will set correct folder value for the mapped field.

It is usually a good strategy to perform load of one file in MetaVis Data Analysis Mode to understand better the values for "Folder in File Path" properties. In this mode MetaVis Migrator will show values for the selected field on the source property pick up dialog. To enable this mode select menu item Edit / MetaVis Data Analysis Mode. Remember which "Folder in File Path" property should be used during mapping or save the complete mapping in MetaVis Copy Template. To save time, disable MetaVis Data Analysis Mode when performing actual file import and use MetaVis Copy Template or remembered "Folder in File Path" field during field mapping.

Once the folder information is loaded into fields of each SharePoint item there is no more need for folders. There are other tools that exist in SharePoint which could be employed to simplify navigation to better find SharePoint content. List views with group by criteria and faceted search are just two examples of dynamically changing navigation systems. MetaVis Migrator optionally allows to get rid of folders during file load from file system. Just check "Remove folder Structure" check-box on the Summary page of the File Load wizard and MetaVis will load all files from all subfolders into one selected location (list or folder) in SharePoint

Each SharePoint item and document has special Created By, Created At, Modified By and Modified At properties that can be seen on the item's View Properties screen. These properties are not editable with SharePoint GUI but sometimes it is desirable to keep these properties while copying document from one location to the other one, uploading a file from file system or re-classifying the document with new content type or field values.

Below are some typical cases that would benefit from maintaining original values for these "core" properties at the time of moving, copying or uploading an item:

• Created At property could be used to enforce document retention policy. During its life-cycle document may travel from file system to a list in SharePoint and to an other SharePoint site. In this case it would be nice to keep the created date of the original document instead of the date of moving to its last location.
• Created By property could be used in a navigational list view with grouping that include original document author. Unless this property will be preserved during document copy, the document would not be found in the author category it belongs.
• Modified At property could be an indicator of items that have been recently changed. The change would trigger a special workflow for an item or cause a notification. In case of maintenance (not business related) changes such business related activities should be waved. These maintenance changes may include mass enhancement of metadata of simple copying items to another location.

MetaVis Classifier and Migrator products optionally allow user to maintain Created By, Created At, Modified By and Modified At properties during item tag, copy or file upload to SharePoint. To enable this functionality a special product called MetaVis Core Properties Service has to be installed on the destination SharePoint server - the one where these properties values should be maintained.

After MetaVis Core Properties Service has been installed on the destination SharePoint server, MetaVis Classifier and Migrator products detect it automatically during items copy. In this case MetaVis displays all four created / modified properties on the Copy Wizard Properties screen. By default these properties are set up to keep original value they had on the source item but there are several other possibilities listed below for defining their values during items copy or tag. Note that any of these cases could be applied to any of four core properties independently.

• Copy value to the property from the same property of the source item (Create At to Create At, Modified By to Modified By, etc). This is the default choice on the Properties screen of the Copy Wizard. This choice maintains the original created / modified property value as it was in the source item whether it was located in other SharePoint site or on file system.
• Copy value to the property from the other property of the source item. This option allows to set Modified At field to the value of the Created At field of the original item or to copy a value from a custom Person or Group column to a Created By field.
• Let SharePoint set this property. This option does not copy any values. After the item copy, Created At and Modified At properties of a newly copied items will be set to the current time, Created By and Modified By fields will be set to the current user. After tag or copy to the new version only Modified properties would be set to current time and user.
• Set certain value for this property. A user for Created By or Modified By fields could be selected from the list of users. Date and time for Created At or Modified At fields could be selected using calendar control.

When bulk list or site copy is performed instead of item level copy MetaVis Migrator will preserve all four created / modified properties from the original source item. MetaVis Migrator will also preserve all four created / modified properties if "Keep Original Content Type" option is selected on the Properties screen of the Copy / Tag Wizard during item level copy.

These flexible choices allow to plan each copy or tag process with respect to the intended use of a document or an item during its life-cycle.

Item Level Tag or Copy allows to select one or several items in a list and copy all of them at once to another folder, list, site, site collection or SharePoint server. During this process it is possible to change content type, replace values for certain fields or to specify new values for the selected fields. All these changes to the field values will be applied to all items selected for the bulk tag or copy.

The function to replace field values offers two possibilities for any field:

• Specify new value for the selected field. The new value will be applied to all items selected for the tag or copy operation. Use Left-Arrow button on MetaVis Properties Screen of Copy/Tag Wizard to unlock the field and enter the new value to the unlocked field. MetaVis will present free editable box for fields of String, Text, Number, Currency and other field types that allow free text entry. MetaVis will display drop-down control with populated values for the selection for Choice, Lookup or Person or Group fields. Drop-down control will allow selection of multiple values for fields that allow that (like Check-boxes of multi-selection lookups). Multiple values could be selected by using Shift-Click or Control-Click mouse actions
• Specify the source field for the copy / tag operation. Using this function MetaVis will copy value from the source field to the destination field. The source field could be selected from the list of all fields available in the source list or content type. Use Down-Arrow button on MetaVis Properties Screen of Copy/Tag Wizard to display selection list with the source fields

It is worth to note that while selecting source field during field mapping it is possible to select a field of a different field type that the field from the destination. It allows not only to map string field to the string one or number field to number one but also to map string field to a lookup one or lookup field to choice. It opens an opportunity to replace fields with other fields of different field type.

This article discusses various cases of copying data in SharePoint by MetaVis Migrator. MetaVis Migrator offers wide variety of functions from a fine control over each field value while copying few selected items in a large list to a bulk copying of many lists or even sites at a time preserving object properties and all items metadata. Below is the list of different methods of copying SharePoint objects with the explanations what they do and how and when they should be used.

• Item Level Copy allows to select one or several items in a list or file system folder and copy all of them at once to another folder, list, site, site collection or SharePoint server. Item level copy could be applied to documents, non-document items or pages. During this way of copy items of different content types could be selected and copied at the same time. The copy will preserve content type and values for all fields while copying the data. To activate item level copy in MetaVis Copy Items Wizard select "Keep Original" in Content Type box on the Properties page of the wizard. Item level copy should be used when some items in a list or library should be copying to the new location.
  
• Item Level Copy with Fields Mapping allows to select one or several items in a list or a folder on a file share and copy all of them at once to another folder, list, site, site collection or SharePoint server. Item level copy could be applied to documents, non-document items or pages. During this way of copy items of different content types could be copied at the same time but only one content type could be selected as a destination. User may define a mapping for fields so that values will be copied from the source fields to the new fields of the destination item. MetaVis Migrator supports wide variety of field mapping strategies like mapping of Choice or String fields to Lookup field which make MetaVis Migrator a perfect tool for the content re-classification and enhancement of content metadata. To activate fields mapping during item level copy select destination content type on the Properties page of MetaVis Copy Items Wizard. In this mode new values for fields could be selected by using Left-Arrow or Down-Arrow buttons located near each field.
  
• Data Analysis Mode for Item Level Copy enables preview of field values during field mapping. It is often beneficial to see all possible values that appear in certain field for all items selected for item level copy. One of the values could be selected as a value for the selected field in the destination item. Enable menu item "Edit / Data Analysis Mode" to activate this mode and use Down-Arrow button on the Properties page of MetaVis Copy Items Wizard to preview field values for the selected field during mapping. Data Analysis Mode could be used to understand current data in source SharePoint lists prior to the migration project and build MetaVis migration templates to facilitate repeatability during migration.
• Folder Copy initiates item level copy for all items in the selected folder in SharePoint or on a file share. Folder copy will also include all sub-folders of the selected folder into a copy operation. To activate a folder copy the folder could copied or dragged from the Navigator or Content Views into the other folder or a list on the Navigator or Content Views. This mode of copying could be used to mass copy items located in folders.
• List Copy allows to select a list or several lists in a certain site and copy them all to another location. In the process MetaVis Migrator will create each list in the target site together with all required fields and content types and optionally will copy content, list views and list permissions. MetaVis Migrator will copy items preserving their content type and field values as they were in the source list. This mode of copy could be activated by copying of a list node in the Navigator View and pasting it on the site, dragging and dropping list node in the Navigator View or using List Copy Wizard available in the Tools menu. This mode of copying could be used to mass copy lists with items or to copy list structures and views.
• Site Copy is a new feature of MetaVis Migrator that will be available in the upcoming end of December 2009 update. This function will allow to copy sites from one location to the other one or to copy certain site objects to the existing sites. This function will optionally allow to include all sub-sites into a single copy operation, optionally support copying of the lists, list views, list items and site permissions. This function will later be extended to include other site objects like master and layout pages, web parts, security groups, etc. Site Copy could be activated by copying a site node and pasting it to the other site in the Navigator View or by using Copy Site Wizard available in the Tools menu. Site Copy could be used to bulk copy the site hierarchies without changing site structures.

Copying items between SharePoint lists or file system shares could be performed using MetaVis Classifier, Migrator or Architect Studio. If you use MetaVis Architect Suite switch to Classifier mode by pressing yellow tag in the application toolbar.

Connect to source and target SharePoint sites before starting to copy items. It will display site hierarchies, lists and folders in the left side Navigator View. Double clicking of a list or a folder in the Navigator View will display folders, items and documents in the right side Content View. There is also My File System View that displays drives and folders. Double clicking of a folder in My File System View will display folders, items and documents in the right side Content View.

There are several ways to initiate copy operation that will move items between SharePoint sites or load files from file system shares.

• Select source items, copy them into clipboard and paste them to the destination list or folder
• Select source items and drag and drop them to the destination list or folder
• Select source items in the Content View, right-mouse click on the Content View and select "Copy To..." menu item which will display a "Copy Items" wizard. Select destination site, list and folder on the first page of the wizard and proceed to the properties and copy pages
• Open second MetaVis Window by selecting Window / New Window menu item or by pressing Crtl-N keyboard shortcut. Arrange windows on the screen (to auto-arrange, right click on the Windows Task Bar and select Arrange menu item). Copy / Paste or Drag and Drop items between MetaVis windows
• Open Tools / Copy Lists and Libraries wizard and follow its pages to copy lists and libraries and (optionally) their content (items or documents) between the sites and site collections
• Open Tools / Compare Sites wizard and follow its pages to copy lists and libraries structures between the sites and site collections. This method does not allow to copy content (items or documents) but it does allow to copy definitions to multiple destination sites

The following items could be copied or dragged:

• SharePoint items, folders or documents in Contents View
• File System files or folders in Content View
• SharePoint lists and folders in Navigator View
• File System folders in Navigator View
• File System folders in My File System View

The following items could be used as target containers where the selected items could dropped or pasted

• SharePoint folders in Contents View
• SharePoint lists and folders in Navigator View

Use the following shortcuts to select multiple items. A item could be a SharePoint item, folder, document or file system file in the Content View, List or Folder in the Navigator View or a Folder in My File System View.

• Mouse Click selects an item and clears previous selection
• Crtl-Mouse Click adds an item to the existing selection or removes existing item from the selection
• Shift-Mouse Click adds a group of items to the existing selection or removes a group of items from the selection
• Ctrl-A selects all items in the Content View

There are several ways to copy and paste items after they selected

• Right mouse click and select Copy or Paste
• Select menu item Edit and then Copy or Paste
• Use keyboard shortcuts Crtl-C / Ctrl-V

MetaVis Architect Custom Column Types Profile Manager (Profile Manager)

Profile Manager is designed to define custom column types for use by MetaVis Architect. Once the initialization is completed, Architect can understand, display and provision these column to SharePoint. Please note, that in order to complete the configuration you must understand how the column was initially constructed in SharePoint.

Profile Manager can be invoked by selecting File / Custom Columns Profiler.

Press the Create button to begin initializing a custom column type. After profile is created is should be saved by "Save Profile" button. Existing column type profiles could be edited by selecting profile in Profile drop down box. Profiles may be distributed among multiple MetaVis Architect installations by using Export and Import functionality.

Column type profile contains the following properties:

• .Column Icon. This icon will be used by MetaVis Architect to display corresponding columns on the diagram and in the Palette. Column icons can be chosen from one of the predefined options or can be uploaded into the profile
  
  
• .XML Name. This is your column type internal name. This should be available as part of a feature.xml distribution.
  
  
• .Display Name. This name will be displayed wherever the column is used in MetaVis Architect
  
  
• .Scope. Defines where this column will be provisioned in SharePoint (e.g. site, list or both).
  
  
• .Vendor Information. Optional field containing custom column type vendor data
  
  

In addition to general profile properties described above, Profile Manager can be used to define unique characteristics for the custom column type. You may define these by selecting a column type profile and pressing the "Create" button in "Column Characteristics" area.

Each characteristic has the following properties:

• . XML Name. The is your characteristic internal name. This should be available as part of a feature.xml distribution.
  
  
• . Display Name. This name will be displayed in the Properties Tab for the this column type.
  
  
• . Data Type. This value will be displayed in the Data Type field for this column type property in the Properties Tab.
  
  
• . Do Not Use. This indicator is used to signify that the characterisitic should be excluded from the MetaVis Architect Properties View.
  
  

After defining characteristic properties the characteristic should be saved by using "Save Characteristic" button. Note that this button does not save the whole profile. A profile may contain many characteristics.

A selected characteristic may be removed, but the whole profile should be saved using "Save Profile" button after any changes in characteristics are made.

MetaVis Architect is an offline application. After you added objects to a diagram and decided that this is right time to provision them in the SharePoint site, right click on the site icon in the Navigation Tree, select "Compare With... / Last Loaded Version" or "Compare With... / Latest from SharePoint" that will display a Compare Report. Select some, all or group of records in the Compare Report, right click and select "Update SharePoint". This command will actually start creating objects in SharePoint site. Look for update status that will be displayed in the Compare Report.

There are two ways to make MetaVis to pick up new objects created in SharePoint:

1. Right click on the site icon in the Navigation Tree and select “Compare With … / Latest from SharePoint”. It will download latest SharePoint structure and show compare report where you will see new object. Right click on the object in the Compare Report and select “Update Diagram” so this list will appear in MetaVis. You may need to right click on “Lists” (or Content Types) icon to refresh the view after this.

2. You can do the same things faster by doing this: Right click on the site icon in the Navigation Tree and select Refresh. When you do it for the site, MetaVis will connect to SharePoint and retrieve new site structure. At the end it will ask you whether you want to replace the local data and you should say Yes. It does it because it assumes that you may make changes in the local site diagram (like add new content type or a column) so it confirms that it is fine to overwrite them with the latest data from SharePoint site. You may need to right click on “Lists” icon in the Navigation Tree after this to refresh the view.