Code Solution - Import AD Photos into SharePoint User Profiles

[Update: Code download files updated 18/03/2011 - see below]

This is in relation to a previous post I made last week;

Active Directory Images are not imported by the SP2010 User Profile Import

So, the source code is finally ready and uploaded for your enjoyment :)

Now - I must first off give credit to the sources of inspiration. A lot of the code in this solution is copied / borrowed / inspired by the following posts:

• MSDN Blog - Background information on why you cannot import the property from AD directly
• Blog Post - How to upload a user profile photo programmatically
• Technet Blog - Programmatically using the jpegPhoto attribute in Active Directory

All I have done is brought their code and samples together and packaged it into a WSP that runs from SharePoint Timer jobs, so you have the convenience of a SharePoint 2010 farm solution :)

Also it should be understood that both AD and the User Profile database are quite critical parts of anyone's SharePoint farm, so sorry, but first I need to make a ....

... Disclaimer - All code and solutions are provided "as is" and should be used at your own risk! It is highly recommended that you test these in an isolated environment, and I confer no responsibility for any loss or damage from using the code, advice or solutions provided on this blog, or any related content.

Ok, now that is out of the way we can get on with business :)

[Update - 18/03/2011 - I have updated both sets of files so that it now uses the "distinguishedName" attribute to identify users in AD .. as this is a more reliable method and was in response to a reported bug]

I have uploaded the files to my Sky Drive including:

• Full Visual Studio 2010 Solution
• Installable WSP Package

When you roll out the WSP you will find that it includes the following functionality:

Farm Scoped Feature
The WSP package includes a farm scoped feature called:

Hatch Solutions - Import Photos from AD (Timer Job)

When activated this will automatically identify the default MySite host application and create a custom Timer Job (see below) attached to that web application.

My Site Timer Job
The Timer Job (installed by the Farm Feature) is designed to run on the My Site Host web application, and is pre-configured to run once-per hour. It is called:

Hatch Solutions - Import Photos from AD

This will do the following:

• Automatically identify all AD accounts in the current User Profile Database
• If the AD account has a "jpegPhoto" attribute, then this is extracted
• The photo is converted to three thumbnail images, and uploaded to the My Site Host profile photo asset library
• The photo for that user profile is updated to point at their newly uploaded photo

Hope you enjoy, the source code is there for all to see, and good luck!

Tip - CAML Query Retrieve tasks assigned to user (including both AD and SP Groups)

This is something I have seen so many people struggle with, but it really is very easy, with the help of the "<Membership>" element.

The Membership element allows you to basically check to see if the AssignedTo field is assigned to any group which the current user is a member of.

Of course, you still need to use it in conjunction with a standard FieldRef check against the user's ID (which you can get using the <UserID/> element.

Below is the CAML query to return All Tasks Assigned to the Current User, including specific assignments, and where the task is assigned to a group that contains the current user (both AD Groups and SharePoint Groups).

I suppose theoretically this should also work with groups in custom Membership Providers .. but haven't tried it.

<Where>
  <Or>
    <Eq>
      <FieldRef ID='Assigned To' />
      <Value Type='Integer'><UserID/></Value>
    </Eq>
    <Membership Type='CurrentUserGroups'>
        <FieldRef Name='AssignedTo' />
    </Membership>";
  </Or>
</Where>

Active Directory Images are not imported by the SP2010 User Profile Import

This is something that I found when starting a new SharePoint 2010 (SP2010) Intranet project. You see, my client has quite a simple requirement, at least it seems that way at first.

They have an HR database which they use to store everything from employee details to security card information. For this reason they manage all of the employee photos here, and they are pushed into Active Directory (using the LDAP "jpegPhoto" attribute) to make them available in applications like Outlook.

So ... to put it quite simply .. they don't want to use SharePoint to upload their photos. In fact, they already have their photos in AD .. they just want to pull them into SharePoint 2010.

Can't we just map the Profile Property to AD and Import the value?
So here is where we hit the roadblock.. The Active Directory "jpegPhoto" attribute is of type "Binary Data" and the SharePoint 2010 User Profile property is of type HyperLink (as it typically links to an image in an Asset Library in the My Site Host site collection).

As a result, you cannot import it using SharePoint 2010 functionality (although it may be possible if you have also purchased the more sophisticated "ForeFront Identity Manager Synchronisation Server" product).

Options ??
Well .. SharePoint IS used as a development platform so there are some options. Obviously there is a full API for reading and writing in and out of the User Profile database (some more accessible than others).

There are a few good blog articles that you can follow if you want to build your own import function. If you are happy to wait a while longer then I already have my own solution which I will be posting up with the following features:

UPDATE - Full Source code and WSP now published

* WSP Package
* Farm scoped feature, which installs a Timer Job attached to the MySite web application
* Iterates through all User Profiles, and finds and extracts Binary image data from Active Directory
* Automatically creates thumbnailed images in the My Site Host Asset Library
* Automatically updates User Profiles to point to those new images

During my research Glyn Clough also pointed me in the direction of another solution which allows you to do the same using a Console Application... personally I prefer the more "SharePoint" route of Timer Job and WSP package :)

In the meantime, you can feel free to avail yourselves of these posts:

• MSDN Blog - Background information on why you cannot import the property from AD directly
• Blog Post - How to upload a user profile photo programmatically
• Technet Blog - Programmatically using the jpegPhoto attribute in Active Directory