There was an error generating the XML document

There was an  issue i had encountered today while starting workflow using Nintex. The following thread helped me. 

http://oldconnect.nintex.com/forums/thread/30196.aspx 

While trying to start the workflow, it is failing while "Assigning Task to Apprver" basically in Nintex Language at "Request Approval" action item. 

The issue is the title contains some hidden characters. I copied the title and pasted in Notepad and found that there is one Escape character which is causing the workflow to fail. I cleaned up that character and after that workflow started working fine. 

Simple Fix! Isn't it? 

Thanks,

Vinay. 

The specified URL is not a top-level Web site

While doing site Backup and Restore in SharePoint 2013, i was getting the following error. Please note that the site collection is Host Name Site collection not Path based site collection.

The command i was giving is

PS C:\Windows\system32> Restore-SPSite http://sites.mytestsites.com/sites/mytestsite1 -Path "D:\Backup\MYTESTSITE1-PROD-20150210-2351.bak" -DatabaseName "SP13_Content_TESTSITEDB" -HostHeaderWebApplication "http://WFESERVERNAME" -Force 

The specified URL is not a top-level Web site. The backup and restore operations work only for top-level Web sites. Enter the URL for a site to try the

operation again.

At line:1 char:1

+ Restore-SPSite http://sites.mytestsites.com/sites/testSite1 -Path "D:\Backup\ ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...dletRestoreSite:SPCmdletRestoreSite) [Restore-SPSite], SPException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletRestoreSite

The only thing that worked for me is 

- Deleting the existing site collection using the Remove-Spsite powershell cmdlet.

- Restoring the site from Backup using Restore-Spsite powershell cmdlet targeting to specific content DB

Remove-SPSite -Identity "http://sites.mytestsites.com/sites/TestSite1" -GradualDelete

Restore-SPSite http://sites.mytestsites.com/sites/MyTestSite1 -Path "D:\Backup\MyTestSite1.bak" -DatabaseName "SP13_Content_TestSitesContentDB" -HostHeaderWebApplication "http://WFESERVERNAME"

Hope this helps for some one who is having similar issue in backing up and restoring Host Name Site Collection (HNSC)

If someone finds a reason for this or is there any other way of doing this restore please let me know. 

Thanks,

Vinay. 

Export-SpWeb : The URL provided is invalid

While running the Export command for exporting the list from one site to another, i was giving the exact syntax but giving me the following error.

Export-SPWeb http://sites.sp13.com/sites/MyDevSite -Path "D:\SharePointBackUps\MyTestList.bak" -ItemUrl "http://sites.sp13.com/sites/MyDevSite/Lists/MyTestList" -IncludeUserSecurity -IncludeVersions All

Export-SPWeb : The URL provided is invalid. Only valid URLs that are site collections or sites are allowed to be exported using
stsadm.exe.
At line:1 char:1
+ Export-SPWeb -Identity http://sites.sp13.com/sites/myDevSite -Path "D: ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (Microsoft.Share...CmdletExportWeb:SPCmdletExportWeb) [Export-SPWeb], SPException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell.SPCmdletExportWeb

Annoying, isn't it?

After reading the some of the blogs, the following link helped me
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briangre/archive/2014/03/18/export-spweb-syntax-changes-between-root-site-and-sub-sites.aspx 

After giving the following syntax it worked. The issue occurring at -ItemUrl parameter. After giving in the format Lists/LISTNAME it worked.

Export-SPWeb http://sites.sp13.com/sites/MyDevSite -Path "D:\SharePointBackUps\MyTestList.bak" -ItemUrl "Lists/MyTestList" -IncludeUserSecurity -IncludeVersions All

Why??
The reason is at the background Get-SPWeb cmdlet is calling SPWeb.GetList(), before calling this function it prepends SPWeb.ServerRelativeUrl and an extra forward slash "/".

HTH

Vinay.