I have around 9 web parts and 3 pages to be deployed. Each page will be having 3 webparts.
From a deploymnet perspective, i think i have the following two options:
Deploy the pages using a feature. The pages will have webparts present.
Create a custom site definition with a document library and have the three pages as part of the document library.
Can you please let me know which one of the options is better or is there any better solution?.
Please note that the solution needs to work on WSS 3.0 as well.
I would code the whole thing as a feature. You can staple it to the site definition for the site type you want it activated on.
If ever you need to migrate to the next version of SharePoint or another server it is easier to not have any custom site definitions. Also, the features leaves the site in a normal out-of-the box state; if you ever remove the feature nothing breaks.
Also, unlike the site definition it will also allow you to run it on sites that where created in the past.
First you need to deploy the webparts using WSP. Once it populated in webpart gallery you can copy the pages from page library and can paste in production.
Related
is it possible for sharepoint 2010 to create global web parts?
I have 10 pages that would use one web part, I want to create one in a library, then drag and drop it in, and when editing one, it updates across all the pages I inserted this web part.
I suppose what you are looking for is proper scoping. When creating a webpart you have a feature for it. When the webpart is added to a farm solution you may set the scope of the feature to be web app level or farm level (those are the global ones). I suppose web application level is the one you will be interested in. Then you may add webpart deployed like this to any number of pages.
To check more about scoping please check those two links:
https://www.pritambaldota.com/understanding-features-and-feature-scope-in-sharepoint-2010/
https://www.red-gate.com/simple-talk/dotnet/net-tools/using-features-and-solutions-to-deploy-your-sharepoint-customizations/
I am aware of a program called "SharePoint Designer 20xx), and I would like to know if any of you have modified the default master page to make it.. less confusing and more simplistic. Can this be however I want it or is there limitations?
I also found this:
http://www.expertsharepointconsulting.com/images/Blue%20Large.PNG
I would like to implement a design similar to this! If I were to download a "Free sharepoint master page", would this design only work for the main page of SharePoint? as in if I were to go from the newly added masterpage, to a page called "reports", would it be completely different? If so how can I get around this?
You can create customized masterpages whichever way you want. Usually you don't touch the default ones, specially because you can break some system pages with that. Just create new ones from them or from the minimum.master one.
As an example of a Sharepoint Website using a very customized master page I can point you to a publishing website project I was involved for a Portuguese company: http://www.ana.pt/en-US/Pages/Homepage.aspx
It's all Sharepoint 2010...and it is fully customized
You can of course use the same template for all pages, just have to set it on the root site and say that all sub sites inherit from it.
To achieve the level of design changes you see on that web site you have to build new master pages, page layouts, use JS, CSS and user controls (the website uses little to no web parts).
we don't use Sharepoint designer because that would mean the files becoming unghosted, which can be pain sometimes, and sharepoint designer is not a very good tool.
The way we do it is by implementing everything on visual studio and deploying it via WSP packages. This way everything stays ghosted on the file system. You can check an example here:
http://mihirsharepoint.wordpress.com/2012/11/23/creating-custom-master-page-in-visual-studio-and-deploy-it-to-the-sharepoint-site/
I am an experienced .NET Developer acting as interim SharePoint Developer, and am new to SharePoint. After determining that I need to go with an application page instead of a site page for a new project due to it's complexity and need of custom code behind. Before developing the entire solution, I wanted to tie up the loose ends of my understanding of application page deployments. I need to add this page as a URL on the left side of a Site Collection page (kind of like what happens when adding a subsite to a site page.) I have read about the modules, which seems extremely hacky to me. There must be a better way to develkop a custom page on top of SharePoint without the page being accessible to anyone on the entire site.
EDIT
The application I am wanting to develop on top of SharePoint exists purely for data entry and reporting purposes.
Have you considered using a Webpart?
With a visual webpart which is essencially a usercontrol wrapped in a webpart you can add as much complexity as you want and you also have code behind to hook to events etc.
The benefit of using a webpart is that you can then drop it on a page, and use all OOB sharepoint access controls.
You mention that you want to develop a data entry reporting app. So something you can do is to create a subsite. Look all access to modify pages except to owners. Create all your screens by adding pages to the subsite and dropping webparts on it with the logic you require for each screen.
Also make sure you deploy the werbparts via a web feature that only is activated in your subsite, this way the webparts are only available in that particular subsite.
My team is trying to build out a Web Template which includes an instantiated Wiki Page with some default Web Parts added to it; but we're unable to get this behavior to happen.
In brief, we're looking to add some default.aspx (or Home.aspx, the name is unimportant, just the functionality) to the SitePages directory, GhostableInLibrary; so it's visible to all SiteCollections made from this Web Template.
It is of note that we're basing our Web Collection off the Team Site, and that the Wiki will be the default Home Page for the new site.
Site templates can be used to customize newly created sites except for the top site of a site collection. Since site templates are all managed in site collection's Solution gallary, so a site template CAN'T be used to define its own container.
You need a Site Definition to customize the first site of your site collection.
For how to use site template, you can goto, http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2009/10/19/sharepoint-2010-site-exporting-as-wsp-solution-part-1.aspx
For how to create a site definition, you can goto, http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg276356.aspx
If you want to strap onto an existing template without creating a new copy, or you don't have the original site template to access. You use a process called feature stapling.
When you create a sharepoint solution it would contain two features, one for your actual functionality and one that simple staples it to an existing template.
Here is an article discussing it some more. http://mssharepointtips.com/tip.asp?id=1065
During site creation using SharePoint, SharePoint offers some templates. If we need to create a site other than a template offered, how should we proceed?
You have 2 options:
Site Templates
Site Definitions
Many people use those terms interchangeably, but there are big differences between the two.
Site Templates
Site templates are easy to create. Basically, you create a site using a ite definition (e.g. the blank site) and start customizing it. You can add lists and libraries and setup the site however you want it. Then, go to Site Actions > Site Settings > Save site as template. You can save your site as a .STP file. The .STP file basically records everything that you added or changed on your site after site creation.
Once saved, your site template will show up in your site template gallery. You can go to the site template gallery and save the .STP file offline. Your new site template will be available in the subsite creation page in the "custom" tab. The template will only be availalbe in this site collection, unless you add the .STP file to the site template gallery of another site.
You can deploy site templates globally. So, if you want everyone to see a STP in their subsite creation page, you can run the following stsadm command:
stsadm -o addtemplate -filename BoardDirectors.stp -title "Board of Directors"
You can retract site templates whenever you want without affecting the sites that used them for creation. This makes them easy to version, as long as you don't want to push updates to existing sites.
One big problem with site templates is that you cannot staple features to them.
Site Definitions
Site definitions are collections of XML files deployed to the 12 hive. They are harder to develop; you basically have to use Visual Studio. The XML files have to be packaged into a SharePoint WSP and deployed using STSADM.
Creating a site definition gives you the most control over your site. Another benefit is that sites using the site definition will always reference the site definition's files, so updates will be recognized by sites using that site definition. For example, if you find a bug, you can fix it in one spot and all sites using that site definition will be fixed.
Note that withdrawing a site definition will break sites that use it.
Recently, many SharePoint experts have recommended staying away from creation new site definitions because of the overhead. Instead, if custom functionality is needed, they recommend coding custom features and just activating those features on sites.
Think about which option you need. In our organization, we chose not to create any new site definitions, and use site templates sparingly. Custom functionality is driven primarily by the use of features.
You are talking about custom "site definitions" and custom "site templates". Google those terms and you'll find tons of information.
You can design your own custom templates. Install VSeWSS extension for Visual Studio and it has a project type called "Blank Site" template. You can use it as a base starting point and customize the solution generated to your needs. All the information required to do so is available in the help document that comes with VSeWSS.