Recently, I had a K2 process sending notifications when escalations occur. This was done by sending an email to a gateway. During testing I started encountering email relay issues. The error log on my process portal stated that “Mailbox unavailable. The server response was: 5.7.1 Unable to relay for…”

A quick visit to my SharePoint central admin page revealed that they were using a different SMTP server to mine. I used an SMTP server picked up by the blackpoint installer.

The email relay error usually comes to light when you start sending emails to users outside your domain.  This behavior is a good thing. So, how do you work with this issue? You need to have permissions for relaying.  Sort that out with the sys admins. Then use the correct SMTP server for relaying from a valid from email address.

I think this is probably the first hosted solution developed and gone live with the VS.NET 2010 beta 2 go-live license in Australia (correct me if I am wrong – comments welcome). here’s the news: http://australianalm.wordpress.com/2009/11/10/net-4-0-beta-2-hosting-at-emantra/

this is the site: http://www.australianalm.com.au/spkrportal/Default.aspx Great to see it

K2 are giving away free K2 blackpoint support tickets. Regardless of how good your solution implementation is, having access to a quality support system and skilled people cannot be an after thought. It is critical for the success of every business system. As part of a promotion, K2 are giving away 5 free K2 blackpoint support tickets. If you are thinking about process applications on SharePoint, think no more. jEyLaBs has a track record of successful K2 implementations and we have a K2 blackpoint case study ready to be released. We also work with selected SI’s to ensure successful implementations for K2 customers. If you want to make the move with K2 then think no more, talk to us now.

Oh yeah, now we have an official name for what was code named “090x”. It is K2 4.5 and, we will have K2 blackpearl 4.5, K2 blackpoint 4.5 and K2 connect for SAP 4.5 entering beta cycles shortly. This release is a major milestone for K2 as the fourth generation K2 technology released in August 2007 now matures into the next level.

One of my favourite features of K2 to look forward to in this release is called the “Inline Functions”. With Inline Functions, one can construct complex rule evaluations very easily without writing code. There is an impressive array of pre-built functions made available. There are things like GetXmlValue() for working with Infopath content, PadLeft() and other string manipulation functions, Conversion functions for type casting and your standard logical functions.

In the screen shots below you will see the inline functions in action:

Inline functions can be called everywhere within a K2 process. Combining them with smart objects will open up interesting scenarios. There is also an API made available for extending these out-of-the-box functions with your own custom goodies.

Nov 14th is Sharepoint Saturday in Melbourne. SharePoint Saturday is a Free educational day of sessions from respected SharePoint technologists covering a range of topics. If you would like to attend then you need to register to confirm your place as spaces are limited! It is at Cliftons on Colins street. There is also a K2 session presented by Hennie Laubscher, Director of K2 for Australia & NewZealand. Be there!

I was in Vegas last week attending the K2 Insider conference. I also attended SPC09. I thoroughly enjoyed the time there meeting people and learning all the cool things that the Microsoft  platform is going to leverage in the next 12 months. There was a ton of K2 stuff and SharePoint stuff. Needless to say I am very excited.

The highlights from the K2 Insider conference are: (090x is coming baby! and with grunt!!)

- inline functions
- better install and configuration experience
- performance improvements
- VS.NET 2008
- silverlight process designer V2
- email templates
- central admin improvements

I am actually presenting at MOSSIG tonight so happy to have a chat – please try to make it.

UPDATE: Here’s more info on what to expect from K2 when Microsoft ships Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010

http://www.k2underground.com/media/p/33946.aspx

Thanks to Chris Geier for recording the pod cast interview. It was an impromptu recording but it wasn’t too bad. I will let you decide.

I got involved with this project only at the tail end of it. Kudos to everyone involved, you know who you are -  Great to read this case study involving K2 & SharePoint.

Now K2 blackpoint is supported on Windows Server 2008 and on SQL Server 2008! The KB470 update just released to the customer portal provides this support. KB000470 updates all K2 blackpoint 0902 version 4.9040.1.0 installations with latest product hotfixes. The installer will update K2 blackpoint 0902 32-bit and 64-bit installations.

check out this cool new help site on k2.com – featured in the august K2 networker.

The all-new K2 Knowledge Center has been released in beta: help.k2.com.

Here you’ll find knowledge base articles, online help, training courses and user guides for all of our products. Features like KB filtering, Google Search and custom RSS capabilities make finding information easier than ever.

The old K2 knowledge base, kb.k2workflow.com, is still active as we migrate some K2.net
2003 articles and training.

IMPORTANT: Users must have a valid portal account to access some portions of the K2 Knowledge Center.