SMTP4DEV: Your sharepoint 2010 out going email server for development farm

If you are having standalone sharepoint 2010 development farm on window7 64bit, and looking for good option,  SMTP4DEV. It is a free tool. You will need around 10mins and then you can start receiving emails from sharepoint farm! Here are quick steps:

1. Download  SMTP4DEV from it's codeplex project site, I prefer standalone exe but you can download installer as well.
2. If you like to use some custom local domain, click on options and set up some local domain like local.machinename.com. Create host entry pointing to 127.0.0.1
3. By completing these many steps you can now send emails through  SMTP4DEV by any url ending in @local.machinename.com
4. Go to sharepoint central administration > System settings > setup outgoing email server.
5. set local.machinename.com as server, and provide any email ending in @local.machinename.com 
6. Save your settings

After these minimum set of configuration you will be able to start sending emails. Beauty of SMTP4DEV is:

1. It will show you notification that new email is sent
2. It will show you all emails sent from the smtp in UI without actually sending it
3. You can inspect email
4. You can view email (in email client that you set default)

So, in conclusion, it is a best choice KISS kind of solution for your sharepoint 2010 development farm's outgoing SMTP server.

How to use soapUI to review ListData.svc

Introduction

​SoapUI is a free tool that can be used to test out of the box ListData.svc service provided by sharepoint. This service is available at /_vti_bin/ListData.svc for any of your sharepoint site. Here is how we can try it out using SoapUI.

Step 1: Install sopa UI and click on File > New SoapUI Project. Add some project name and check "Add REST Seervice:" like shown in following figure and then click OK

Step 2: After clicking on OK another window will open like following, just click on OK

Step3: New REST resource window will appear. In resource name enter site url and in resource path/endpoint provide list/document library name and click on "Extract params" button. Following is the screen that shows sample data.

Step4:That will automatically create a new request called Request 1.This request will automaticlaly detect endpoint and path to your list/document library. If it is not, just click on"-no endpoint set-" and click on add new endpoint. Enter site url in the dialog again.

Step5: Maximize "Request 1" window in soapUI. In botton left corner you will see " ... ", click on it and you will be able to provide sharepoint authentication details there.

Step6: Once you are done with authentication details you can click on execute icon at top left corner of "request 1" window (marked in above figure) to execute the request and you will be able to see response at right hand side window.

Step7: ListData.svc can also return json data in response out of the box. Just try to provide accept = application/json like shown in figure below:

Conclution:
SoapUI is a super simple too to try out and it will be really help to review xml/json data while you are planninig to consume it with jQuery. 

PowerGUI script editor: powershell debugging and intellisense

​​​In this post I am going to show you how to use PowerGUI script editor for executing powershell. There are two main advantages of using PowerGUI:

1. Dubugging of powershell script
2. Intellisense support

So, let's start setting up PowerGUI to use with sharepoint 2010:

1. Download and install latest version of PowerGUI.
2. Download PowerGUI PowerPack for sharepoint.
3. Start PowerGUI script editor​ and go to File > Powershell Libraries
4. Click on "Add Module" and add downloaded "PowerPack for sharepoint" library here
5. That will add another entry "Microsoft.Sharepoint.PowerShell" into the listing. Check the library to make it enable
6. Restart PowerGUI script editor and you are ready to get started.