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One of the properties of the Web Part has an incorrect format

I was trying to insert a Content Editor Web Part (CEWP) to a Master Page. I used the recommended route of using Design Manager. Let me share the steps if you are new to this:

1. Navigate to Site Settings
2. Under Look and Feel, click on Design Manager
3. Click on Edit Master Pages and click on perticular Master Page which you would like to edit (before editing, ensure you have a copy of the file for backup)
4. Click on Snippets
5. In the Snippet Gallery, insert CEWP, and set the web part properties
6. Click on Update button
7. Copy the HTML snippet generated and paste it in the Master page (.html file)
8. Upload the [[Master Page]].html file and publish

With this approach, you can attach any custom HTML/JavaScript which you would want to execute in all the pages in a site. After publishing the master page, when I refreshed the page, I got the below error:
One of the properties of the Web Part has an incorrect format. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation cannot deserialize the Web Part. Check the format of the properties and try again.

This error was frustating as it did not tell which property has incorrect format. Luckily I had the Developer Dashboard which came handy in this case. This tool gave me enough information like this:

System.InvalidOperationException: Instance validation error: 'None' is not a valid value for FrameType. at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderContentEditorWebPart.Read7_FrameType(String s) at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderContentEditorWebPart.Read12_ContentEditorWebPart(Boolean isNullable, Boolean checkType) at Microsoft.Xml.Serialization.GeneratedAssembly.XmlSerializationReaderContentEditorWebPart.Read13_WebPart()

The culprit was the property "FrameType" which was present in the HTML as

<!--MS:<frametype>--><!--SPM:None--><!--ME:</FrameType>-->

I had set this property to None in web part properties box. Interestingly, this value is not recognized by the SharePoint! Though I could have spent time in finding out the correct value, I just went ahead and deleted this property from the HTML snippet in the master page.

Well, the story did not end here. I got similar error for the following Properties one by one (It is so frustating that I had to remove each line one by one, publish the Master Page for every error).

System.InvalidOperationException: Instance validation error: 'Normal' is not a valid value for FrameState.

System.InvalidOperationException: Instance validation error: 'Modeless' is not a valid value for WebPartHelpMode.

System.InvalidOperationException: Instance validation error: 'Default' is not a valid value for Direction.

After clearing the above HTML lines, finally the page was loaded.

I am still clueless why Snippets generated the HTML code which does not work! If I get time to research on this, will share my findings here.
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Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 23, 2018 at 1:55 PM

    That was helpful...
    Just to clarify - HTML code (which actually is rather XML than HTML in this case) is generated well. Whole mess happens when you upload your masterpage and it's translated to .master file. All properties are then broken into seperate lines with nice line indents so they are easy to read. But unfortunately serializer treats those whitespaces as parts of value. And there we go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Divya_SenthilMarch 8, 2019 at 1:25 AM

    Is there any solution for properties not being broken into separate lines when translated into .master file? I tried the solution provided in this blog but it breaks the styles and messes up the menu webpart.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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