Joseph DeVore's Blog: MOSS

I've been doing a lot of SharePoint master page customization lately and OOTB, SharePoint traps any exceptions by default. If you have a syntax error or are missing a required ContentPlaceHolder, you'll receive a friendly error message and have no idea of why your new master page won't work.

If you want to save yourself some time and some hair - just turn off Friendly Errors!

On the web server, navigate to the site directory for your SP site: c:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\[site]

Open: Web.config in Notepad.

Search for: CallStack and change the CallStack status to: true.

Search for: CustomErrors and change the mode to: off.

Save and close the file.

Now when you receive an error, you'll get the .NET debugging information.

A lot of people have the same opinion as I once had about SharePoint - it sucked.
That was then this is now! Recently I've started to realize that SharePoint is actually pretty amazing now. I've also begun to realize that most of the problems that I had with SharePoint and my opinions about the product were caused by a poor implementation, deployed with little or no planning.

The more I work with this product and the more I learn about branding and customization, the more I like it.

I've started a new MOSS category in my blog here and I hope to find time to post links, tips and code snips as I travel the road to MOSSville.