SharePoint dev strategies - it's not all about Features!

Something I've been meaning to discuss for a long time is the decision to develop SharePoint artifacts using Features or some other approach. I actually discussed this back in May 2007 in my post SharePoint deployment options : Features or Content Deployment?, but feel it's a topic worth revisiting/expanding on as I often see teams developing with Features without fully working out what exactly they are getting out of this approach. As you can guess by the article title, I'm not sold on the idea of using Features all the time (readers who have followed this blog from the start might find this surprising given I wrote many articles on how to work with Features) and want to put forward some points to consider when working out whether you need them or not.

Let's first consider some (selected) characteristics of Features:

• Provide a means of deploying SharePoint artifacts such as list templates/site columns/content types to multiple environments (e.g dev, test, production)
• Currently the only way to deploy such artifacts across multiple site collections
• Require some extra overhead to create, even with the community tools available (in comparison with creating artifacts directly in the SharePoint UI)
• Little/no support for certain key updates (e.g. updating a content type which has already been deployed and is in use) - updates must be done through the user interface or the API, since modifying the original Feature files to make changes is unsupported.

Given these points, one scenario I really can't see the benefit of Features for is when the solution consists of just one site collection - which is often the case for WCM sites. Why go through the extra hassle of packaging up artifacts into Features and be faced with difficulties managing updates when the artifacts will only ever exist in one site collection anyway? Sure, they may need to be deployed between environments but we have other ways of doing that.

N.B. The same applies to site definitions - why go to the trouble of creating a custom site definition when only one site will ever be created from it?

The alternative

If you aren't forced into using Features to deal with multiple site collections, not using them could be the 'most valid' choice. In my recent WCM projects, I haven't used Features for anything which doesn't require a Feature (e.g. a VS workflow, a CustomAction etc.) for a long time now, including the project I discussed recently in SharePoint WCM in the finance sector and Developer lessons learnt - SharePoint WCM in the finance sector. Certainly given the extremely tight timescale on that project, I actually feel we could have failed to deliver on time if we had used Features.

Instead, my approach is to create a blank site in the dev environment, and do all the list/site column/content type/master page development there using the SharePoint UI and SPD. My next step (perhaps not surprising to regular readers) is to use my Content Deployment Wizard tool to move all the SharePoint artifacts to the other environments when ready. Equally, you could choose to write your own code which does the same thing using the now well-documented Content Deployment API. You'll need to deal with any filesystem and .Net assets separately (generally before you import the SharePoint content on the destination), but in my view we've at least drastically simplified the SharePoint side of things. This seems to work well for many reasons:

• More efficient since no development time lost to building Features
• The update problem described earlier is taken care of for you (by the underlying Content Deployment API) - as an example, add a field to a content type in dev, deploy the content which uses it and the field will be added on the import site
• Concept of a 'package' is maintained, so .cmp files produced by the Wizard can be handed to a hosting company for them to import using the Wizard at their end. I hear of quite a few people doing this.
• We can store the .cmp files in source control and use them as part of a 'Software Development Lifecycle' approach. My approach (and I'd guess that of others using the tool in this way) is to store the .cmp file alongside the filesytem files such as .ascx files for the current 'release', and import them as part of the deployment process of moving the release to the next environment.

As an aside, when I decided to write a tool which would simplify dealing with dev/QA/UAT/production environments on SharePoint projects, I was initially torn between 'solving the content type update problem' and something based around the Content Deployment API. One reason why I decided on the latter was because the CD API already seemed to have solved the other issue!

Now I'm certainly not saying it works perfectly every time (it doesn't, though is much improved following SP1 and infrastructure update), but in my experience I seem to spend less time over the course of a project resolving deployment issues than I would do building/troubleshooting Features. Additionally, using Content Deployment allows deployment of, well, content - if your solution relies on pre-created publishing pages or you have a scenario such as your client creating some content in UAT which needs to be moved to production before go-live, Features won't help you here. The Content Deployment mechanism however, is designed for just that.

Where do Solutions (.wsp) fit in all this?

So to summarize the above, my rule of thumb for projects which aren't built around multiple site collections is don't use Features for things which don't absolutely require them. So where does that leave Solution packages (.wsp files) - should they be abandoned too? Well no, definitely not in my view. Solutions solve a slightly different problem set:-

• Deploying files to SharePoint web servers such that each server in a farm is a mirror of another. Ensuring all web front-ends have the same files used by SharePoint is, of course, a key requirement for SharePoint farms - this applies to Feature files when using them, but also to assemblies, 12 hive files etc.
• Web.config modifications e.g. the ‘SafeControls’ entry required for custom web parts/controls
• Code Access Security config modifications e.g. those required for controls not running from the GAC
• Some other tasks, such as deployment of web part definition files (.webpart)

Really, there's nothing stopping you from doing all this manually if you wanted to (especially if you're always deploying to a single server, so there are less things to keep in sync). But the point here is that Solutions genuinely do make your life easier for comparatively little effort, so the 'cost/benefit' ratio is perhaps different to Features for me - the key is using one of the automated build approaches such as WSP Builder. So, my recommendation would generally be to always use Solutions for assemblies, 12 hive files etc., particularly in multiple server farm environments.

Conclusion

My rules of thumb then, are:

• Consider not using Features (and site definitions) if your site isn't based around multiple site collections - using the Wizard or some other solution based on Content Deployment can be the alternative
• Use Solutions if you have multiple servers/environments, unless you're happy to have more work to do to keep them in sync
• If you are using Features, plan an approach for dealing with updates such as content type updates

My message here possibly goes against some of the guidance you might see other folks recommend, but I'm just going on the experience I've had delivering projects using different approaches. As always, the key is to consider deployment approach before you actually come to do it!

P.S. Also remember, deploying using backup and restore is a bad idea ;-)

Recipe for successful use of Content Deployment Wizard

So my tool, the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard has been available for some time now and I've been monitoring the feedback and issues people have raised closely. The current version is labelled 'beta 2' but I'm happy with the stability of the current codebase, so will probably re-label it as 'release 1.0' soon (following some feedback on the psychological aspect of the beta label :-)).

Only a small number of people have raised issues, and any problems have almost exclusively been related to the underlying Microsoft code used by the tool rather than the Wizard itself. I should probably be happy about this, but in reality if some people get errors from the tool it doesn't really matter why it happens. The good news is that it seems Microsoft are finally getting some issues with the Content Deployment API sorted at their end. This is a key point in my list of guidance I'd give to anybody running into any errors from the Wizard. Note that the first two apply to use of standard Content Deployment using Central Admin also:

Tip 1 - Service Pack 1 and hotfixes matter

Service Pack 1 fixed many issues with Content Deployment. Unfortunately it also broke some things which had previously been fixed with pre-SP1 hotfixes. It took me a while to realize this, but it's definitely the case. Probably the most common issue in this area is the 'Violation of Primary Key' error. There are reports of being able to work around this by modifying versioning settings on certain libraries, but MS have now released a hotfix very recently which seems to solve the problem for good on SP1 environments. At the moment this is by special request only - the KB to ask for is KB950279. This forum thread discusses this, and it worked for us. Interestingly I spoke to Tyler Butler (Program Manager for Content Deployment) at SPC2008, and he indicated Content Deployment in SharePoint is likely to get "significantly more stable in the next 30-60 days". I'm guessing this hotfix is what he was referring to, or at least part of it.

Tip 2 - always start from a blank site template an empty site created from STSADM -o createsite on the destination

The official guidance currently states that Content Deployment requires that the target site has been created from the 'blank' site template - this is detailed in KB article 923592. However, a better way detailed by Stefan in the comments below is to create an empty site using the STSADM -o createsite command. This is not the same as a site created from the blank template, and is the safest way to create sites which will use Content Deployment or the Wizard. What this means is that even if you're creating a site based on say, the publishing site template in development, any other environments which you wish to deploy content to should be created in this way. Notably, for publishing sites the publishing Feature should also not be enabled for the first deployment - this will be taken care of for you when the first deployment happens. You'll receive the same 'object already exists' error otherwise.

Tip 3 - pay attention to the 'retain object IDs' option

Generally the right option here is to select that you do want to retain the object IDs, and this should be done from the very first deployment - the only exception is when moving webs/lists to a different part of the site structure (reparenting). However, it's important to note that mixing use of Content Deployment or the Wizard with STSADM export/import is likely to cause problems as noted by Stefan in his recommended 'Content Deployment and Migration API - avoiding common problems' post.

A more comprehensive write-up of options available with the Wizard is available at 'Using the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard'. Also note that's not it as far as the tool goes - in addition to extra functionality such as item-level reparenting and incremental deployment, I hope to refactor the code so that the Wizard would be scriptable from the command-line.

And special thanks go to my colleague Nigel Price for working through the hotfix situation, much appreciated :-)

New version of Content Deployment Wizard released

I'm happy to announce that development/testing of the next version of the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard is now complete, and the new release has been uploaded to Codeplex. If you're not aware of the tool then Introducing the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard is a good place to start. I'm calling this release "beta 2", which indicates the tool is by no means complete, but is significantly more mature than the original version. I'd encourage all of the 1400+ people (and counting) who downloaded the original in the past few weeks to get the latest version - the link is at the bottom of this post.

So let's run through the improvements:

• Better support for large sites:
  
  The treeview of the site is no longer built in one hit - instead, portions of the site are retrieved as webs/lists are expanded. This can make a huge difference when working with large sites.
  
  
• Support for WSS-only sites:
  
  The dependency on the MOSS assembly (Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing) has now been removed, so imports/exports to WSS sites are now possible. The MOSS-specific functionality is only used if we are indeed in a MOSS environment - if you're interested, this is just related to honoring any publishing schedules (i.e. page expiry) from the source site on the target site.
  
  
• Everything in one .exe:
  
  No separate WizardBase.dll any more.
  
  
• Easier access to log files after import/export:
  
  Since it's highly important to analyze the log file for errors/warnings after an import/export, these now open automatically in notepad at the end of the operation. There's also a link in the tool to open the log file, so no more manual digging around the filesystem.
  
  
• Auto-discovery of sites in 'Site URL' box:
  
  No need to re-enter the site URL each time - the sites available for selection in your SharePoint environment are automatically shown in the auto-complete entries for the textbox:
  
   
  
  
• Pretty icons in treeview :-)
  
  Easier visual distinction between objects in the tree:
   
  
  
• Logging via System.Diagnostics.Trace:
  
  In addition to the log file generated by the actual import/export operation, general operations in the tool are now also logged (separately) via System.Diagnostics. So if you have a problem using the tool, it should be easier to pinpoint the actual error - enable by adding a .config file with a TraceSwitch entry for "COB.SharePoint.Utilities.ContentDeploymentWizard" and appropriate TraceListener entries.
  
  
  
• More reliability:
  
  Miscellaneous minor bug fixes, including removal of the somewhat psychedelic flickering as the confirmation screen is built.

In terms of issues reported in the first release, it seems that 95% of them have been related to the underlying Content Migration API provided by SharePoint rather than the actual Wizard - this means the issue would also likely surface if out-of-the-box Content Deployment (via Central Admin) or STSADM -export was used to deploy the content instead. This is in line with what I was expecting since in many ways the Wizard doesn't actually do that much - it just presents a nice UI (with the ability to cherry-pick exactly which items should be deployed) onto existing SharePoint code. Since there are some gotchas with the MS bits however, it does mean that understanding how their API works can help when using the Wizard. My recommended reading list for those wanting to know more would be:

• Using the Content Deployment Wizard
• Stefan's Content Deployment and Migration API article series (especially Avoiding common problems)
• Key concepts in selective migration (SharePoint Developer Documentation team blog)
  

The future

I've had great feedback so far (ranging from feature requests to "why the hell don't you charge for this thing?!" to offers of collaboration). In terms of features, it looks like incremental deployment is the most popular vote so far so I'm hoping to add this fairly soon. Another possibility is making the Wizard scriptable by refactoring the code into something more tiered, thus providing features like the ability to save configurations for import/export jobs and also allowing them to be hooked up to a task scheduler in some way. 

However, the more feedback the better and if you'd like to see particular functionality or have run into problems trying to use the tool I'm definitely keen to hear. Either leave a comment on the blog or over at the Codeplex site.

The download link 

Go to www.codeplex.com/SPDeploymentWizard and go to the releases tab to download the latest version. Hope you find it useful.

Using the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard

So if you've read the earlier posts about the tool (Introducing the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard and When to use the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard) and figure this is a useful tool, let's go onto the next level of detail. Generally speaking the Content Deployment Wizard 'just works', but if you want to know more about the different options, read on. This post contains reference information and a guide to some deployment scenarios at the end.

Firstly, let's remind ourselves of some of the fundamental things to remember when moving content using the Content Migration API (the underlying SharePoint API used by the tool):

• dependencies of selected content (e.g. referenced CSS files, master pages) can be evaluated - in the tool they are automatically included in the export - check 'Exclude dependencies of selected objects' to disable this
• all required content types, columns etc. are automatically included in the export
• in contrast to STSADM export, it is possible to retain GUIDs during deployment (where objects are not being reparented) - check 'Retain object IDs and locations' to enable this
• no filesystem files (assemblies, SharePoint Solutions/Features etc.) are deployed - these must already be present on the target for the import to succeed)
• the following content does not get captured by the Content Migration API - alerts, audit trail, change log history, recycle-bin items, workflow tasks/state

In particular it's the 2nd and 3rd points which make the API (and the Wizard) a good way to deploy content in SharePoint.

What can be deployed?

The Content Deployment Wizard allows any content to be selected for export - site collections, webs, lists/document libraries, folders, right down to individual list items and files. Objects in the treeview can be added to the export by right-clicking them, which for a web, brings up a menu shown below:

These are explained:-

• 'include all descendents' - exports the container and anything beneath it
• 'exclude descendents' - exports the container only
• on webs only, the 'include content descendents' option is shown - this will include all immediate content such as lists/libraries, but will exclude all child webs of the web.

Note that on the import, the Wizard will bring in all the contents of the selected .cmp file(s) - there is no option to partially import a package. Hence if different import options are required for different content, the exports should be broken into separate chunks.

Export options

On the export settings screen, numerous options can be applied to exports:

• 'Exclude dependencies of selected objects' - by default the Content Migration API will automatically include dependent objects of whatever you select. This can include CSS files, master pages, images and the like, but also list items which are displayed on a page included in the export. This can be turned off with this checkbox so only the objects you select are exported.
• 'Export method' (options are 'ExportAll', 'ExportChanges') - for now ExportAll is the option to select, ability to export changes only will come in a future release
• 'Include versions' (options are 'LastMajor', 'CurrentVersion', 'LastMajorAndMinor', 'All') - should be self-explanatory
• 'Include security' (options are 'None', 'WssOnly', 'All')' - note that since security is defined at the level of a web, selecting one of the include security options for a smaller object (e.g. list) actually exports security for the entire web. Both 'WssOnly' and 'All' export SharePoint item-level object permissions, so if you're using SharePoint groups to manage security for example, both the actual permissions and groups will be carried over, and you can add a different set of users/AD groups on the destination. See Migrating Security Information on MSDN for more details.

Import options

On the import we also have several options, some of which correspond to options selected on the export:

• 'Import web URL' (actually shown on the 'Bind to site' screen) - this is used for reparenting operations only. If you are just moving content from source to destination but are not changing the location in the structure, this textbox can remain blank. Alternatively, for operations where a web or list is being imported but the parent web will not be the exact same web on the destination, the URL of the new target web URL should be entered.
  
  Note that the later option to 'Retain object IDs and locations' should not be selected when reparenting, since we are changing the location in this case.
  
• 'From single file'/'From multiple files' options - the Wizard always exports with file compression enabled, so when exporting content over 25MB, files are split into several files at this threshold. When importing from such an export, select the 'From multiple files' option and browse to the folder. In the textbox, enter the 'base filename' - this should be the name of the first file without the number e.g. 'MyExport.cmp' rather than 'MyExport1.cmp'. 
• 'Retain object IDs and locations' - this setting requires particular consideration. Duplicate GUIDs are not permitted in one database (i.e. SP web application), so the choice often depends on what you are importing. If you are taking a site from development to production, the object GUIDs will not yet exist on the destination, so I check the box to ensure the objects are assigned the same IDs in both environments, and all linkages are preserved. If you are reparenting a list or web, you will leave the box unchecked, so that new GUIDs are assigned are the location can therefore be changed.
  
  I highly recommend reading the content listed in the 'Useful links' section at the end of the article to properly understand this setting.
  
• 'Include security' - this allows security information in a package to be imported, assuming one of the options to include security was selected on the export
• 'Version updates' - allows control over whether new versions should be added to existing files, or whether the existing version should be replaced etc.
• 'User info update' - allows control over whether 'last modified' information should be imported. Often this only makes sense if the same set of users exist in the source and destination

Scenarios quick reference

The following table lists the most common settings for a given deployment task:

Deployment item	Typical settings
Entire site collection	Site collection should first be created on the destination. When exporting, select 'include all descendents'. When importing for the first time, ensure 'retain object IDs and locations' is checked. Select one of the 'include security' options if you wish to deploy object permissions and users
Web	When exporting, select 'include all descendents'. When importing for the first time, ensure 'retain object IDs and locations' is checked if web will have same parent as on source. If web will have a different parent, do not check retain object IDs and locations' and ensure 'import web URL' is specified
Document library/list	When exporting, select 'include all descendents'. When importing for the first time, ensure 'retain object IDs and locations' is checked if list will have same parent as on source (i.e. not reparenting). On subsequent imports, ensure 'import web URL' is specified if not importing to the root web, and do not check 'retain object IDs and locations'
File/list item	Ensure the parent library/list exists on the destination Do not check 'retain object IDs and locations' if the item already exists on the destination

 

So hopefully that's some useful reference information. On a final note, the next beta version with much improved treeview performance should be ready over the next week or so!

Useful links

• Download - SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard on Codeplex
• MSDN documentation on RetainObjectIdentity
• Stefan's article which covers importing content
• Key concepts in selective migration on the SharePoint Developer Documentation team blog

When to use the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard

Following my introduction to the tool last time, today I want to try to help position the tool for people who aren't sure if it could be useful to them or for what scenarios - if you only take one thing away from my postings on the Content Deployment Wizard it should be this.

I see the 'value-add' of the Content Deployment Wizard over existing deployment methods such as STSADM export/content deployment in Central Administration to be:

• ability to "cherry-pick" content to deploy using a treeview - this is from entire site collection down to individual list item or file. (This is the big one since the standard SharePoint tools do not supply a method to do this)
• ability to control whether object GUIDs are retained - this is required for scenarios where the destination should be a mirror-image of the source, such as staging/production environments for the same site
• ability to move certain objects (limited to webs and lists in the initial release) to a new location on the import target, known as 'reparenting'

I would suggest the tool could well have a place in your SharePoint toolbox, but it's likely to be something you use every now and then, rather than all the time. The two main scenarios where I use the tool are:

• at the end of the development phase when I need to move a site from development to staging/production. Here, the tool allows me to be sure that all relationships/linkages between objects will be preserved (so no problems with ListViewWebParts/DataViewWebParts/InfoPath forms for example)
• any odd occasions where I have a need to move a particular document library/list, or a particular set of files (e.g. master page, page layouts, CSS etc.). This assumes by the way, that the files were not deployed with a feature - I wouldn't recommend mixing the deployment methods like that.

N.B. It should also be possible to use the tool for ongoing updates to specific files/list items through different environments in a development/test/staging/production situation. An example of this is deployment of just master pages, page layouts and CSS files on a WCM site (meaning all other content authored by the client [e.g. in the 'Pages' library] does not get overwritten on the target) but I haven't had the opportunity to try this on a real project yet.

Some areas where the tool cannot be used (i.e. the tool does not yet support this usage) are:

• exporting only changes since a certain timestamp (change token) from a site
• importing individual list items/files to a new location on the target (reparenting)

On the last point, the 'new location' would be a document library or list, since these items have to be in such a container - they cannot exist at the root of a web. Currently the tool supports reparenting webs and lists, but not individual list items/files. What is currently possible with individual list items/files, is moving selected items from a source to a target where the structure is the same (e.g. move Doc2 and Doc5 from "Team documents" on the source to "Team Documents" on the target). Usefully, whenever a file is exported/imported using the tool, the associated list item is also deployed, meaning metadata updates to column values are deployable.

Hopefully that might help you understand where the Wizard fits in. If you're thinking the Wizard could be useful to you from time to time, stay tuned for my next post which will have more detailed 'usage' information. 

Introducing the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard

Regular readers might have spotted I've been slightly quieter than usual over the past few weeks - actually I've not been slacking, but working on a tool which you might find useful from time to time. As I've discussed in numerous posts, deployment of SharePoint artifacts is something that's perhaps more complex than it should be, and the standard tools provided don't always simplify this picture. Personally, over my past few MOSS projects, there have been several times when I've thought:

• I just need to move this document library from A to B
• I just need to move these selected files (e.g. master page, page layouts, CSS etc.) from A to B
• I just need to move this web from A to B
• I just need to move this site collection from A to B
• I just need to move these 20 list items from A to B

If only there was an easy way! CMS 2002 users may remember the SDO export mechanism which allowed you to use a treeview to select exactly which content you wished to move, but unfortunately there's no similar tool for MOSS. Sure, we have Content Deployment and STSADM export etc., but the lowest level of granularity is a web, and if you don't want to overwrite the whole thing neither option can be used. The only other option is to write code which uses the Content Migration API. This is fine for projects which have the appropriate development skills and time, but otherwise things can be tricky.

Enter the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard.

The tool provides a wizard-like approach to deploying content between SharePoint sites. The selected content is exported using the Content Migration API (PRIME), giving a .cmp file (Content Migration Package) which can be copied to other servers.

Since pictures are often more useful than words, let's look at using the tool. Click to enlarge any of the images below:

EXPORTING CONTENT

Welcome screen (click any image to enlarge):

Select action (import or export) and provide site URL:

 

For export, use the treeview to select which content you wish to deploy. On container objects such as webs, there are options about whether descendent objects should be included:

 

Select options around security, dependencies, versions and name of the export file:

 

 

 

The details are shown back for confirmation, and when 'Finish' is clicked the export will begin:

 

 

 

IMPORTING CONTENT

 

Browse to the .cmp file we exported in the previous steps, and select options around security, versions and, importantly for some scenarios, whether object IDs should be retained:

 

 

The details are shown back for confirmation, and when 'Finish' is clicked the import will begin:

 

 

 

And that's the gist of it. This is the first beta of the tool and I'm sure there will be issues. Regardless, when using any tool which makes this kind of change to your data you should always take a backup before performing the import. Depending on what you're doing, it could be difficult to revert back to the previous state otherwise.

Some other notes:

• the tool must be installed locally on the server which hosts the site
• not all features of the Content Migration API are supported by the tool
• the next beta (mid-December) will properly support large sites - currently the site bind operation can be slow for large sites since the treeview is built in one operation
• it must be run under an account which has the appropriate permissions to the SharePoint site - use the Windows 'Run as..' feature to do this if necessary (shown below in the image below- right-click on the .exe and select 'Run as..')

 

In the next post, I'll cover details on different usages of the tool and the effect of different options. The tool also supports reparenting (e.g. importing a web or list to a different parent on the target) and I'll talk about this.

You can download the tool now from www.codeplex.com/SPDeploymentWizard. All feedback (particularly bug reports) welcome, either post here or on the Codeplex site.

Change a SharePoint site's URL

Something you may find yourself tasked with at some point, is changing the URL of an existing SharePoint 2007 site. This is a fairly interesting scenario, and it's fair to say the relationship between SharePoint and IIS makes this more complex than for a standard .Net site. However, there are several possible solutions. The first things many of us would think of as potential approaches would probably be:

• extending the web application onto another URL
• using Alternate Access Mappings somehow

Depending on your site both could be valid methods, but as with anything SharePoint-related, there are different things to watch out for with the different approaches. As an example, extending the web application wasn't the right approach for our scenario for the following reasons:

• the site shouldn't actually exist at the old URL, but a redirect was required
• InfoPath forms don't seem to deal well with the 'extended web application' configuration. (Problem detail - on one URL everything will be fine, but if the two web applications use separate site collections, on the other you're likely to see security errors when opening forms. This is because the form templates are referenced in the other site collection - a document library can only have one URL to the document template, and publishing a form to a content type stores an absolute link in the content database.)

Additionally some quick tests with Alternate Access Mappings didn't seem to give the expected results for me, so I decided on another approach since I knew it would work and didn't have much time for experimentation. So this was my process:

Changing a site's URL by recreating the site (downtime required)

1. Stop old IIS site.
2. Create new web application in SharePoint, bind to new IP address in IIS.
3. Apply SSL certificate if appropriate.
4. Create new site collection for this web application using the blank site template.
5. Export content using the SharePoint's content migration API (I have a tool which does this, which will shortly be on Codeplex) ensuring all security data is exported. Alternatives to this step include STSADM -O BACKUP and STSADM-O EXPORT. *
6. Import content into the new site collection, ensuring to include security.
7. Amend any absolute URLs in .udcx data connection files used by InfoPath.
8. Republish any InfoPath forms to the new site.
9. Configure search:
1. Ensure new URL is a content source.
2. Update any crawl rules which use absolute URLs.
3. Update 'authoritative pages' as appropriate.
4. Start full crawl.
5. Update scopes.
6. Go to Site Settings > Site collection administration > Search scopes, add any custom scopes to search dropdown (if using standard search web parts).
7. Ensure search web parts use relative URLs/do not reference old site URLs.
10. If a redirect from old URL is required, create new IIS site to implement this:
1. Create new site in IIS and bind to old IP address.
2. On 'Home directory' tab, specify content should come from 'A redirection to a URL' and enter the URL.
11. Ensure DNS/firewalls are configured appropriately for new URL, remembering to allow appropriate time for DNS propagation.
12. Perform testing.

* N.B. Between the content migration API and STSADM export, I prefer the former since this allows control over whether object GUIDs are retained (more information in STSADM export, Content Deployment, Content Migration API, Features/Solutions - deployment options compared). STSADM backup/restore is discussed in next section.

Considerations to this approach

• When using the content migration API or STSADM backup/restore, the following items are not included - alerts, workflows, recycle bin state or site collection properties. These must be migrated/recreated separately.
• Regression testing is absolutely required since the site is effectively recreated

As a way to improve on the first consideration, another option would be STSADM backup/restore (though I've not tried this approach). Notably this method does collect data for the items which the other approaches exclude, however due to the nature of our site, none of these were significant problems.

So this method was successful, and hopefully this information allows folks to see some of the pros and cons without having to spend the time going through it themselves. However, I also note an approach based on Alternate Access Mappings suggested by Faraz Khan. Since this was only published in the few days before this article it was too late for my scenario, though I'd encourage you to take a look. Note that Faraz also points out considerations such as certain links not being updated to new URL without fix-ups, though this doesn't seem to be a major issue. It does echo my point about there being different things to watch out for with the different approaches, but both methods provide valid techniques for changing a SharePoint site's URL.

STSADM export, Content Deployment, Content Migration API, Features/Solutions - deployment options compared

Back in May I wrote a post titled SharePoint deployment options : Features or Content Deployment?, which discussed some thoughts on what was the "right" way to move assets from development to production (and perhaps environments in between) during the site development process in SharePoint. Having now worked on other projects and consciously used different deployment methods on each, I'm rapidly coming to the conclusion that the "right" way to do deployment varies according to circumstances. So I thought what might be useful is an analysis of the whole range of deployment options, with information which might help you decide more easily on how you will complete this crucial step of the process.

So let's run through the options and their characteristics. Note by the way, that none of the options use 'destructive synchronization', where all content is first deleted before import.

Using STSADM export/import

Description:

Uses STSADM commands to generate a file (export) which can then be transferred to the target for import. One of the simplest ways of moving content from one place to another, although unlikely to be suitable as a continuous deployment mechanism. Examples:

stsadm.exe -o export -url http://localhost -filename C:\Export.cab -includeusersecurity -versions 4 -overwrite

stsadm.exe -o import -url http://localhost/sites/newsite -filename C:\Export.cab -includeusersecurity

Good for:

• Moving an entire site/web as a one off
• Quick deployment tests
• Reparenting webs (can be into a different site collection)

Considerations:

• Content on target will be overwritten if already exists
• Granularity down to web only
• Object GUIDs are not preserved (so some things will need to be 'fixed up' e.g. anything that references a list by GUID - ListViewWebPart, using lists with InfoPath forms)
• Not a backup/restore tool - although it's the option which is most like backup/restore, things like alerts, audit trail, recycle bin items, security state, workflow tasks/state are not exported
• Not transactional
  

Using Content Deployment via Central Admin *

Description:

Configured via 'Content Deployment paths and jobs' in Central Admin ('/_admin/deployment.aspx'). A path defines the source/target and authentication details, specific jobs define exactly which content should be deployed and how often. Quick deploy functionality allows users with permissions to specify important content which should be deployed more regularly than existing job schedules configured by administrators (quick deploy items are deployed every 15 mins).

Good for:

• Moving entire site collections/webs on a scheduled basis e.g. in an authoring/production or authoring/staging/production topology
• Deploying only incremental changes, e-mail notifications of success/failures
• Allowing site owners to have some control over content deployment via Quick Deploy
• Automatically deploying dependencies of content selected for deployment, even if in different site (e.g. page layouts/content types/site columns/referenced images etc.)
• Automatically transferring the deployment package to the target environment (via HTTP[S])
• Not transactional

Considerations:

• Content on target will be overwritten if already exists
• Granularity down to web only
• No differentiation between site content (e.g. pages/images) and site 'infrastructure' (e.g. master pages, page layouts)
• Object GUIDs are preserved
• Blank site template should be used for source and destination site collection (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923592)
• Also not a backup/restore tool (see above)

Using the content migration API *

Involves writing code which uses the content migration API (known as PRIME) to export then import content - the API is easy to use.

Good for:

• Complete flexibility over deployment options
• Granular control over what gets deployed (down to item level)
• Ability to preserve object GUIDs (so that list GUIDs do not need to fixed-up)
• Ability to select options for security, versioning and user roles

Considerations:

• Blank site template should be used for source and destination site collection (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/923592)
• Not transactional
• Also not a backup/restore tool (see above)
• Need development skills to write code
  

Using Features/Solutions

The focus of this blog for several articles. Involves defining XML configuration files which SharePoint uses to add artifacts in the correct way on the target. This can be significantly more complex than simply developing in SharePoint Designer but can allow for better management throughout a solution's lifecycle.

Good for:

• Iterative development/deployment
• Deployment of assemblies and filesystem files (none of the other methods deal with this)
• Ability to deploy assemblies/filesystem files to all servers in a farm with Solution packages
• Possibilities for continuous integration

Considerations:

• Developer is responsible for evaluating and deploying dependencies (e.g. underlying content types).
• Updates to content types, list definitions, site columns etc. deployed via a Feature must be done with the API - modifying original Feature files and then reprovisioning is not supported
• Can be very time-consuming due to lack of assistance from current tools
  

* Some additional notes on using Content Deployment or content migration APIs: - appropriate Features will automatically be activated on the target, but they must be present (i.e. installed) for content deployment to work (N.B. publishing feature should not be enabled on target for first deployment) - using Content Deployment or content migration API with RetainObjectIdentity option should not be combined with STSADM -export/import, since the latter will allocate new IDs!

So clearly there can be a few aspects to consider in choosing how to go about deployment for your project. In many scenarios where Features/Solutions aren't the most appropriate option, I favor using the content migration API, mainly due to the flexibility which isn't provided in any of the other options. Of course it does mean writing code, but as I mentioned last time, I'll soon share the mini-app I wrote so you don't have to!

Some useful references:

• Tyler Butler's Content Deployment overview
• Stefan's series of articles on the content migration API
• How to use Features to deploy master pages/page layouts, web parts, content types

Deployment using STSADM export or content migration API

Having focused on deployment using Features for several articles, back in May I wrote an article titled SharePoint deployment options : Features or Content Deployment?, which explored some of the decisions around deployment strategies for SharePoint projects. There are a variety of methods which can be used to move SharePoint artifacts and content from one place to another, and I think it's fair to say there's still a certain amount of confusion around deployment for many SharePoint developers. I certainly wouldn't claim to have all the answers, but after delivering another project last week, it seems like a good time to go over some of the experiences and reflect on the different approaches.

Needless to say, as far as deployment strategies go in general, the best idea is to have one! I see many newsgroup posts from people approaching the end of the development phase asking how they should move their work to the live servers. The problem I find with leaving deployment until the end of the project, is that none of the approaches are completely straightforward (particularly depending on what your solution consists of), and so if your project is to be delivered on time, it's important to know what steps you might need to go through.

As a sidenote, let's clarify some potentially confusing terminology here:

• Content Deployment - the "paths and jobs" functionality which can be used to move content, surfaced by screens in Central Admin
• Content Migration API - the underlying API (sometimes referred to as PRIME) which actually is used for both STSADM export and Content Deployment (in slightly different ways), in addition to the 'Manage Content and Structure' tool and in migrations from CMS2002

This time round I had decided to use the content migration API to deploy our solution, and it worked well for our circumstances. This is a contrast to developing with Features which I've done in the past, and the main reasons for choosing this approach were: 

• no need for iterative deployment - although our overall project is phased, for this component we were able to develop the solution and then deploy everything from our development environment. (This approach will not work for subsequent deployments since content our client has generated on the live site would be overwritten on each deployment - more on this in an upcoming post.)
• ability to retain object GUIDs - this simplified deployment significantly for our project, since if our lists were allocated new GUIDs on deployment (as happens with STSADM export/import), our components which referenced these lists (ListViewWebPart, InfoPath forms etc.) would not hook up properly on the deployment target. This would add a lot of "fix-up" steps to the deployment process if we were to use STSADM export.
• no direct HTTP access from source Central Admin to target Central Admin - this is a prerequisite to use the Content Deployment functionality (paths and jobs) in Central Admin, but what we needed was a file we could copy to the live server. The content migration API provides this ability and also gives a compression option for large amounts of data.
• automatic inclusion of database dependencies - as with STSADM export, (but not with Features), SharePoint will analyze and collect all dependencies such as fields, content types, master pages etc. for us.

The API is fairly simple to use and you may have seen Stefan's series of excellent articles on the subject - these serve as a good companion to the MSDN documentation.

It's important to remember that any non-database assets (e.g. user controls, assemblies etc.) need to be deployed manually to the target environment - these will not be included by use of something like STSADM export or the content migration API. In our case, since the live environment was a single server (and versioning would be handled by our main source control system), these were deployed by XCOPY since deployment using Solution packages did not offer any compelling advantages here. 

Whilst we're talking about filesystem files, it's useful to be aware that if you see 404 errors on the target after performing (e.g.) an STSADM import, chances are you've forgotten to deploy something like a user control. The 404 is actually coming from the referenced file rather than the actual page, so don't assume something has gone wrong with the import - a check on 'View all site content' and the import log will probably confirm all the site pages are present!

Hopefully this has given some food for thought on an approach you may not have considered. I guess my main message here is that whilst STSADM export is extremely simple, it may not provide the complete answer to all your deployment challenges due to changing GUIDs. In upcoming posts I'll provide a more direct comparison of deployment strategies (extending my 'Features or content deployment' post), and also share my mini-app which provides a front-end onto the content migration API.

[P.S. Sincere apologies to people who left comments whilst I was on holiday which are still not published - I'll publish these and respond over the next few days.

C.]

Blending publishing/collaboration functionality in SharePoint

Most often when creating SharePoint solutions, the requirements often map fairly well to one of the out-of-the-box site definitions which can be used to create new sites. If we're creating heavily-branded internet/intranet sites (WCM sites), we'll probably start with the 'publishing site' template. If we are deploying SharePoint in a document management/collaboration scenario, we'll probably start with the 'team site' template, and so on. Where it gets interesting it when the project requirements effectively have a mix of this functionality. Characteristics of such a site might include:

• site has completely bespoke look and feel/navigation
• users will work with files stored in document libraries
• site templates or definitions are used to create several sites with the same content/functionality
• custom workflow is used to support a business process (other than standard content publishing), perhaps with InfoPath forms

Such requirements present a few challenges, and a current project of mine fits into this category. At a high level, one consideration is that site users will also use 'system' pages provided by SharePoint in many scenarios (e.g. working with document libraries/lists, workflow etc.) and this doesn't happen in most WCM sites. This can lead to situations where there is a disparity between the look and feel of the 'published view' of the website and the 'system' areas. I don't intend to provide answers to all the issues here, but I do want to discuss a few as some food for thought. I'll probably revisit this post at the end of the project and provide a better insight into the issues and solutions, but for now let's cover some high-level decisions:

 

Approach for master page development

Options for starting development here include:

• Using a 'minimal master page' from MSDN or Heather Solomon
• Modifying a copy of default.master (good starting point for customized team sites)
• Modifying a copy of blueband.master (good starting point for WCM sites)

Partly this decision depends on where you are heading. Since the aim in my project is for formatting to be controlled by CSS rather than layout tables, starting with a minimal master page makes more sense (the shipped page layouts use tables). This is an interesting area since there's a lot of rework to be done to eliminate tables in a mixed publishing/collab site (and in fact it often won't be possible to eliminate them completely), and for me the benefit is debatable. Certainly all the 'system' pages which site users will be exposed to use layout tables, so I'm not sure how much is gained by only having some pages using CSS for layout.

Other things to consider here are the usual questions of how to factor responsibility of content items between the master page and page layouts, how to define content types etc., but these are standard decisions in WCM site development so I won't cover them here.

 

Use of Content Editor web parts vs publishing RichHtmlField controls

Most folks in WCM development know there is an overlap in functionality provided by the Content Editor web part and the RichHtmlField control in the Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls namespace, i.e. they can both be used to enter page content such as text/images. However it's important to consider the differences - the RichHtmlField control stores it's content in a column of the list item for the page, whereas the CEWP is a web part and thus stores content in the web part storage architecture. This is important, since if deployment to a different environment is in your project plan or ongoing architecture, things will likely be simpler if you use the field control, since this content will then travel with the page properly.

Additionally, there are some URL fix-up issues with using the CEWP across different environments, as documented in the HawaiianAir.com write up.

In summary, I'd recommend considering the CEWP as a means of entering content in non-publishing SharePoint sites only. 

 

Use of collaboration web parts - in layouts or in WebPartZones?

In a similar vein, since we are mixing the collaboration features into our site we are likely to need to use certain web parts which we wouldn't in a straight WCM site. In our situation the ListViewWebPart is fairly key to some areas, and is used as a means of allowing users to work with different lists from one page. The first decision here is whether the page layouts should include web parts directly (by adding them in SharePoint Designer), or just web part zones to which the individual parts would be added later through the browser. In most WCM scenarios I prefer to add web parts directly to page layouts since they will not be customized/personalized by end users (the main usage scenario for web part zones), and when web part zones are used, again the web part config is not stored in the page which can make deployment more complex. Using the other approach of adding directly from SPD, config is stored in the actual HTML markup of the page and so travels with the page layout itself.

However! The ListViewWebPart has some quirks which means it isn't always possible to use directly from the page layout. Specifically, it is only possible to configure the part to consume a list from the current web, and in the case of a publishing page layout, this means the root web since this is where the master page gallery is stored. Since our lists are stored in a child web, this is problematic - the other solution of using a DataView also had issues. Additionally, the ListViewWebPart configuration stores values specific to it's location, meaning the config XML is not very portable (i.e. export web part definition, modify, use). I'd like to think it would be possible with time to work out exactly which IDs do need to be changed, but alas we don't have time on this project.

As a result, using the ListViewWebPart in a web part zone is actually the best solution in these circumstances as far as I can see. We'll have an extra few steps at deployment, but this will take less time than the alternatives it appears.

 

Look and feel of system pages

As mentioned earlier, for a mixed WCM/collaboration site there can be a disparity of the look and feel of the main pages of the site and the 'system' pages users will see, i.e. pages from the '_layouts' directory. Note this happens even if both the site and system master page is set to point at your custom master page, since these pages are set to use 'application.master' (also on the filesystem in '_layouts') which neither of these properties affect. Sure it would be possible to simply replace 'application.master' with your own version, but that's not an elegant solution and would probably be unsupported. Unfortunately it seems that the architecture doesn't provide an easy way to change the master page used by '_layouts' pages - you have to go a level deeper to explore ways of doing this. Many .Net 2.0 developers will know it's possible to switch a master page dynamically in .Net, and to be fair this is what SharePoint does with the maser pages stored in the master page gallery anyway. I'm not aware of a truly elegant solution to this problem, but this discussion on Serge van den Oever's blog presents a viable approach using this technique. 

 

So those are some of the issues to consider. There are certainly others, including navigation, CSS customization of standard styles (to ensure collaboration web parts integrate well with your look and feel), and possibly the choice of authentication mechanism. I'll cover these and any others which arise in an upcoming post.

VSeWSS 1.1. CTP - a look at the nuts and bolts

Regular readers of this blog will know that I've been a reasonably keen advocate of Microsoft's Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services (VSeWSS) for certain SharePoint development tasks. If you read more than a couple of SharePoint blogs, you won't have avoided the news that MS have just released version 1.1 of this tool, as announced here by Alex Malek over on the SharePoint Designer blog. At the time of writing, this is a CTP (Community Technology Preview) meaning it is pre-beta, so bugs can be expected. So today I wanted to run through the changes, so folks who aren't familiar with the tool or haven't had a chance to take a look themselves can quickly get a sense of what's in there.

In essence, VSeWSS helps by simplifying the process of developing Features for SharePoint - this approach is generally regarded as the way to do SharePoint development in such a way that assets can be more easily deployed to other environments. In previous articles, I detailed how to create and deploy lists and how to create and deploy web parts with VSeWSS. For me, these are probably the scenarios where VSeWSS comes in the most useful, though there definitely are others depending on how you work. However, the most common gripe of developers who used the tool was that since VSeWSS 1.0 regenerated Feature files with each change, it wasn't possible to manually amend the files. This was often necessary to add things not directly supported by the tool, such as Feature receivers.

So let's run through the different areas where the tool has been improved.

WSP View

The big change with this release is that it is now possible to amend Feature files in the development process. Instead of hiding the generation of these files behind the scenes, the tool now makes these bona fide VS project items which can be edited before the Solution package is built. Certainly auto-generation of the final files still happens (that's the point) and there are some files lurking which are needed to support the tool, but VSeWSS now does a good job in presenting to you what you can modify through the WSP View (View > Other windows > WSP View). This is shown below for a project with some different artifacts:

Some nice things which can be done here are that entire Features can be deleted with a single click (all files will be removed), and the Feature activation order can be changed. Toolbar buttons are provided which modify the sequence of FeatureManifest elements in the manifest.xml file.

Feature file editing

So the WSP View provides the mask onto the editable files, but I wanted to drill into why this is useful. Some examples would be:

• ability to add Feature receivers to a particular Feature
• ability to rename properties of the Solution package, e.g. to bring VSeWSS-generated Solutions into line with a naming convention
• ability to refactor Feature elements into a single Feature. This can be useful because by default the tool will create a new Feature each time you use Project > Add new item > Some SharePoint item (e.g. Content type). Often you will want several Feature elements to comprise a single Feature rather than split over several Features.

Event receivers

VSeWSS 1.1 also provides some enhancements around event receivers (handlers for events raised by lists). Version 1.0 also provided some support in this area, but the main scenario was adding a list/item receiver at the time the list was being created (i.e. "create list with receiver"). Version 1.1 now makes it easy to add an event receiver to an existing list, which simplifies those scenarios.

My favorite improvement in this area however, has to go to event receivers on content types. This effectively means that the event-handler code travels with the content type - so your code will run on all lists the content type is associated with. This is interesting as I had no idea this was possible in the WSS 3.0 platform! So I did some digging. I haven't yet done any testing of the results, but what VSeWSS does to support this is add some custom attributes to a standard list event receiver. For those interested, these are defined in the SPDevTools namespace in a file which is added to your project (out of the way in the Properties folder, alongside AssemblyInfo.cs) by the tool. I've not yet worked out exactly what picks up these flags in the Feature activation process, but it's clear that standard list event receivers are actually being used as the generated class derives from SPListEventReceiver. The image below (click to enlarge) highlights the new attribute being applied which supports all this:

Web parts

This was where I thought VSeWSS was a winner, and it's good to see the support for web part deployment has been extended further still. With 1.1, a default web part definition file (.webpart) is now generated for you to edit before deployment to add custom property settings. This is useful, since it means that developers can avoid the "deploy web part, add to page, configure, export web part" process which is otherwise required to obtain a configured definition.

Performance

One of the first things VSeWSS 1.0 users will notice is that a full IISReset is no longer performed on each deployment. This was something of a pain with version 1.0, since it meant the "edit, deploy, get feedback" cycle took longer than was necessary. So having been used to the IISResets, personally I was pretty pleased to see the message below in the Visual Studio status bar during the first deployment!

 

What could be better

 

So those are the good bits, and it's a great step in the right direction. However I'd still like to see the following:

• fully-featured Solution Generator. I didn't have time to look at this in detail, but the download page specifies that certain items still aren't covered. This ties in with what I remember Alex Malek saying at this year's Tech Ed, that this still wouldn't be "full fidelity".
• ability to easily add a Feature receiver to a Feature I'm working with. I just want right-click > Add Receiver - this should generate the class and add the attributes to the Feature definition with default values, or perhaps infer the generated type.
• ability to easily refactor Feature elements in Features, since I often don't want the default of a Feature per element
• no GUIDs in Feature names (though apparently this will be sorted by final release)
• ability to deploy a _layouts file (again, this should be there in final release)

On a "bigger picture" note, I'm reminded of a common view in the SharePoint community which made complete sense when I heard it first from Ted Pattison. Unlike .Net, where Microsoft has gone to great lengths to ensure the tools are in sync with the platform (same team [Scott Guthrie], same timeframe for development phase, same ship date), a different thing is happening with SharePoint. Effectively the tools are 18 months behind the platform, so SharePoint development can be pretty painful at the moment -  however, this shouldn't be taken as a reflection of the platform.

This release of VSeWSS should help though, and it'll be interesting to see what comes in the future.

The download link is http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3e1dcccd-1cca-433a-bb4d-97b96bf7ab63&displaylang=en.

Creating, deploying and updating custom site definitions

This is the first article in a series of three where we'll discuss custom site definitions, and in particular how to run your own custom code in the site creation process. This technique is useful if you need to make any customizations using the API beyond what can normally be accomplished with a site definition. In my series (for the full series contents, see my introduction at http://sharepointnutsandbolts.blogspot.com/2007/07/article-series-custom-permissions-with.html), I use the example of creating a site definition with specific security permissions 'attached' - so that when any sites are created using the definition, specific permissions are applied which are different to those of the parent site (this is unlike the default, which is for new sites to inherit the parent site's permissions). More background can be found in the introductory article linked to earlier.

In this article we'll start with the site definition basics - I'll also supply the set of files used in this article in a link at the end. Fundamentally, a custom site definition is a template from which new SharePoint sites can be created. Customizations can be packaged into the definition, so that they are present automatically in sites created from the template. Consider the following about site definitions:

• they are created by copying an existing (e.g. out-of-the-box) site definition and adding customizations
• XML files (in particular the onet.xml file) specify what a site definition consist of (i.e. .aspx pages, images, web parts, functionality [in the form of SharePoint Features])
• they provide a similar functionality to site templates (.stp files) - for a discussion of the differences between site definitions and site templates see http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979683.aspx
• site definitions can be deployed using a SharePoint Solution package (.wsp file), so that files do not need to be manually copied to each web server in a SharePoint farm

The process for creating site definitions is well-documented in the WSS 3.0 SDK at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms454677.aspx, so I actually won't cover it here but would encourage you to follow the link. However I will quickly run through some of the key elements in the onet.xml file to go over what can be done with site definitions. For an example, let's take an extract of the onet.xml file for a publishing (note for clarity this is an extract only - a full version is available at the link at the end of the article):

<Configuration ID="0" Name="BLANKINTERNET">

  <SiteFeatures>

    <Feature ID="A392DA98-270B-4e85-9769-04C0FDE267AA">

      <!-- PublishingPrerequisites -->

    </Feature>

    <Feature ID="7C637B23-06C4-472d-9A9A-7C175762C5C4">

      <!-- ViewFormPagesLockDown -->

    </Feature>

    <Feature ID="F6924D36-2FA8-4f0b-B16D-06B7250180FA">

      <!-- Office SharePoint Server Publishing -->

    </Feature>

  </SiteFeatures>

  <WebFeatures>

    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140" > </Feature>

    <Feature ID="22A9EF51-737B-4ff2-9346-694633FE4416">

      <!-- Publishing -->

      <Properties xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

        <Property Key="ChromeMasterUrl" Value="~SiteCollection/_catalogs/masterpage/BlueBand.master"/>

        <Property Key="WelcomePageUrl" Value="$Resources:cmscore,List_Pages_UrlName;/default.aspx"/>

        <Property Key="PagesListUrl" Value=""/>

        <Property Key="AvailableWebTemplates" Value="*-ProjectX#0"/>

        <Property Key="AvailablePageLayouts" Value="ThreeColumnLayout.aspx"/>

        <Property Key="AlternateCssUrl" Value="" />

        <Property Key="SimplePublishing" Value="false" />

      </Properties>

    </Feature>

  </WebFeatures>

  <Modules>

    <Module Name="LoginPage" />

    <Module Name="Images" />

    <Module Name="Home" />

  </Modules>

</Configuration>

• The Configuration element represents settings to be used with the selected definition, allowing groups of settings to be reused across definitions for flexibility
• SiteFeatures /WebFeatures - specifies which Features should be automatically activated when the definition is used to create a site collection or child site respectively. This is key to our overall aim in this series of creating a site definition which applies custom unique permissions to sites created from it.
• AvailableWebTemplates property of publishing feature - can be used to restrict which site definitions can be used to create child sites within sites created from this definition. This can be useful to prevent your content creators adding a team site onto your public-facing .com website for example. Here I'm specifying that only the 'ProjectX' definition with Configuration '0' can be used for child sites.
• AvailablePageLayouts property of publishing feature - can be used to restrict which page layouts can be used within sites created from this definition. Again, this can be useful in controlling the look and feel of your website.
• Modules - a module is a set of files to be automatically added when sites are created. Note it's also possible to specify which web parts should be added by default to a web part page by using the AllUsersWebPart element.

Deploying site definitions

What I really want to focus on however, is how site definitions can be packaged into a Solution to simplify deployment. This is typically most useful when deploying to multiple environments (e.g. test, staging, production) and/or deploying to a farm which consists of multiple SharePoint web servers. If you don't have this requirement, you may want to consider the simpler process of copying the XML files around manually, as detailed in the WSS SDK.

Before we start, let me highlight that Visual Studio Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services (VSeWSS) is a useful tool for creating and deploying custom site definitions, and I'd recommend looking into it for this requirement if you haven't already. However, I'm illustrating the 'manual' way here to hopefully provide an understanding of the nuts and bolts.

So, to package these files as a Solution manually, we follow the SDK instructions to get our customized onet.xml and webtemp*.xml files, but then place the files in a similar folder structure to the existing site definition files found under the 12 folder. I recommend creating a Visual Studio project as the best way to group these files (VSeWSS also follows this approach). This means you should end up with something looking like this:



Note we also have a .ddf file which is used with makecab.exe to build the Solution package - see my article on building and deploying Solution packages for details on the full process here. Effectively, we need to build the Solution by passing the .ddf file as a parameter to makecab.exe, and then run the STSADM -o addsolution and STSADM -o deploysolution commands to deploy to our target SharePoint site.

Once this is done, on the 'create site' screen we should see our new template appear:



Users can now use this definition to create sites which automatically have all the functionality and appearance we specified upfront. If we then need to deploy the definition to other environments, it's a simple case of copying the .wsp file there and running the STSADM commands. We are now well on our way to creating a site definition with custom permissions associated with it.

The set of files used in this article are at http://sharepointchris.googlepages.com/creatinganddeployingcustomsitedefinition

Updating existing site definitions

Finally, a quick note on updating definitions. Care needs to be taken here as often you will want to update files which are in use by sites already created with the definition - this can break things! Generally adding to a definition is OK, but modifying/deleting things can cause problems.

So a good technique is to copy the existing definition, add the updates and deploy for new sites to use, but also hide the earlier version so it cannot be used going forward. This is accomplished by removing the webtemp*.xml file from the TEMPLATE\\XML directory. Any sites already provisioned from the earlier version of the definition will continue to run fine, since you're leaving the actual definition (onet.xml etc.) intact over in TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates.

Remember also that new Features can be stapled to existing site definitions (affecting only new sites which are created, not existing ones), and this can be useful in avoiding having to update the site definition itself. See my article on Feature-stapling for more details.

So that's site definition basics. Next in the series - how to go beyond simple site definitions : add custom code which will execute when sites are created!