How to retrieve data from an XML file in a Sharepoint 2010 Feature Event Receiver? - sharepoint

Question

I am following this tutorial and I am trying to setup the code in a Event Receiver.
I need 2 properties to send into their method a SPWeb and string.
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
// is there a way to make this non hardcoded?
SPSite site = new SPSite("http://localhost.com");
SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb("/");
string XMlPath = // get xml file path
CreateGroups(web, path);
}
private void CreateGroups(SPWeb currentSite, string groupsFilename)
{
}
So I tried to use getFullPath but that did not work. I also tried to use MapPath but I did not seem to have access to that.
So how do I get XML file (I think thats what I need)?

Answer 1

You need to dispose of the SPSite / SPWeb object, this is usually done in a using clause.
You don't need to use an absolute path (hard code) in a feature receiver, as the feature is already web/site scoped
your XmlPath usually needs to point to a file on the Sharepoint server, which you also deployed in your Feature - as the feature receiver is running after all the normal files have been deployed, you're good.
Without further ado, slightly different code:
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
//Web scoped feature?
//spWeb = (SPWeb) properties.Feature.Parent;
//assuming Site scoped feature
spWeb = ((SPSite) properties.Feature.Parent).RootWeb;
using (spWeb)
{
string XmlPath = properties.Definition.RootDirectory + #"\Xmlfile\groups.xml"
CreateGroups(spWeb, XmlPath);
}
}
So how do you get your XML file into "\Xmlfile\groups.xml"? Just create a module! (Add new item > Module)
The elements.xml of your module should look something like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="Xmlfile" Path="Xmlfile">
<File Path="groups.xml" Url="Xmlfile/groups.xml" />
</Module>
</Elements>
Of course you will need to add your groups.xml file into that module (Context menu > Add existing item) for this to work.
Also note that you can easily debug feature receivers, just make sure that the deployment configuration is set to "No Activation" (Project Properties > Sharepoint > Active Deployment Configuration) - this way you will need to manually activate the feature on the site (instead of Visual Studio doing it automatically for you in debug mode) - but debugging will work flawlessly.