A Web Part with this ID has already been added to this page - Creating SharePoint App

I started with creating my first ever SharePoint App for SharePoint Online following this link. However, on trying to deploy my App I received the following error -


"A Web Part with this ID has already been added to this page".


I tried removing the web part (XSLT List View Web Part) and redeploying (please note that I was using NAPA for my development here) but that didn't work


I found this interesting blog post after Googling around and I appreciate the effort put in my Dragos here. According, to the post the reference of the Web Part is stored in the Content Database in the AllWebParts table mapped with the page on which it is placed. Usually, we add a web part to the SharePoint page using the SharePoint UI and delete it the same way. This would definitely add/delete the reference of the web part from the Content Database as well. However, since I was adding and removing the reference of the web part through HTML in my app, this would obviously not trigger the database for updating the reference.


Now, as I mentioned earlier, I am using SharePoint Online and therefore, cannot interfere with the database, so Dragos' solution would not work for me and as it is interfering with the SharePoint Content Database is out of limits.


So, since I could not delete the reference of the web part mapped against my page, I changed the name of my page and redeployed. And it worked!


Doesn't really help much if you are starting with a new app, but can save a lot of time if you have already implemented major functionality in your App. Either ways, it is interesting to understand the internal functioning of SharePoint.


Once again, really appreciate the MSDN Link and Drago's Post,

Wrap Promoted Links Web Part - Display Multiple Rows

The Promoted Links List/App gives a decent effect to represent static links instead of the Summary Links Web Part or the Links List in SharePoint 2013, though I would like to mention that Summary Links Web Part does have a few advantages.


However, in most cases the number of tiles (links) exceeds the available content area and we have a to navigate through the tiles using scroll buttons. For a relatively small number of tiles most users find this acceptable. However, if the number of tiles is too large and a certain group of users have to regularly browse till the last link, you can surely count them out of your Friend's List!


So, to ease things a bit here is a simple javascript you can use to "wrap" the Promoted Link Tiles after a set number of occurrences i.e. say you would like to display your tiles in rows of four. You need to embed the below javascript in the page where you are displaying the Promoted Link Tiles.




==Script Begin==

<script type="text/javascript" src=http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.10.2.min.js></script>

<script type="text/javascript">

$(document).ready(function () {

   

// Update this value to the number of links you want to show per row

var numberOfLinksPerRow = 4;

   

// local variables

var pre = "<tr><td><div class='ms-promlink-body' id='promlink_row_";

var post = "'></div></td></tr>";

var numberOfLinksInCurrentRow = numberOfLinksPerRow;

var currentRow = 1

// find the number of promoted links we're displaying

var numberOfPromotedLinks = $('.ms-promlink-body > .ms-tileview-tile-root').length;

  // if we have more links then we want in a row, let's continue

  if (numberOfPromotedLinks > numberOfLinksPerRow) {

    // we don't need the header anymore, no cycling through links

    $('.ms-promlink-root > .ms-promlink-header').empty();

    // let's iterate through all the links after the maximum displayed link

    for (i = numberOfLinksPerRow + 1; i <= numberOfPromotedLinks; i++) {

      // if we're reached the maximum number of links to show per row, add a new row

      // this happens the first time, with the values set initially

      if (numberOfLinksInCurrentRow == numberOfLinksPerRow) {

        // i just want the 2nd row to

        currentRow++;

        // create a new row of links

        $('.ms-promlink-root > table > tbody:last').append(pre + currentRow + post);

        // reset the number of links for the current row

        numberOfLinksInCurrentRow = 0    }    // move the Nth (numberOfLinksPerRow + 1) div to the current table row

    $('#promlink_row_' + currentRow).append($('.ms-promlink-body > .ms-tileview-tile-root:eq(' + (numberOfLinksPerRow) + ')'));   // increment the number of links in the current row

    numberOfLinksInCurrentRow++;  }

}

});

</script>

==Script End==


Please note that to display more number of tiles per row, increase the "numberOfLinksPerRow" variable. Also, it would be a good idea to give a local jQuery library reference instead of codeplex reference.


I have taken this script from the TechNet Article here.


Hopefully, you will be in the "Good Books" of all your colleagues! :)










Office Lens - Microsoft's mobile scanner

Office Lens works like a scanner with your mobile phone. It enhances pictures taken through your cell phone camera. You can convert documents, notes, expense bills to neat scanned copies and save them to One Note.


Obviously, there are a lot of available software that can perform the same job for free and can be used on multiple devices. However, the main appeal for Lens is its integration with Office applications.


Pictures from Lens are directly saved to One Note and using Office Online we can use them on multiple devices (actually any device with an internet connection). And since Microsoft Office is very much part of our daily lives it becomes easy to use the data.


Examples -
1. Whiteboard data during meetings can be easily re-used to create presentations
2. Restaurant bills can be easily converted to create expense claims.
3. Hard copies of multiple documents can be collected together and can be searched through for specific keywords using OCR.


But these are just a few of the examples that I could think of.


Lastly, Lens is now available on iDevices and hopefully will come up in PlayStore soon.


For more details - http://blogs.office.com/2014/03/17/office-lens-a-onenote-scanner-for-your-pocket/