Modifying a SharePoint Site Template's manifest.xml - sharepoint

I am trying to manually code some changes into my SharePoint Site Template. I can get the stp/cab file open and have added a new Element to the manifest.xml file, but when I repackage the stp and load it onto the server - the new site that I create using the updated .stp does not reflect the new link that I have added to the manifest.xml
I realize this isn't the proper way to add a link to the sidebar but am interested to make it work this way, for other reasons.

I've never been able to get modifications of STP files to work correctly. The combination of complexity in the STP file and that the solution is very unlikely to be supported by Microsoft means this is going to be a tough road.
You really should look at using a feature-based approach to do this (just web search 'sharepoint feature' for more info). This will give the benefit of not having to hack STP files and being 100% supported by MS and the rest of the SharePoint community.
Perhaps you could update your question with the other reasons you'd like to do this?

Related

I want to implement SharePoint, but I want to design it my way

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/

Document Mng on Redmine: Anyone use DMSF plugin or find an easy way to manage docs in the Files tab with a 'wiki' as a front end?

I'm looking to use Redmine for document management. I know that Redmine is not ideal for this task but there is already a lot of content on the site so I'd like to utilize it if possible.
Redmine currently does not a have great documents module. The files we've uploaded look to be amended on that specific page and it doesn't seem to be able to move to another page (unless you download and re-upload to the proper page).
Idea 1
I see there is a Files section, which could work as a central repository (and you can upload document based on release) however, is there a way to set up a nice-looking 'front-end' page that automatically updates based on new submissions to the Files tab? I envision this front end to be a simple wiki page with the document name, a short description and a links to the file posted in the Files tab.
There are so many documents uploaded to varying pages on the Redmine site. I would only do the whole download and re-upload of files if there was a way to automatically update the 'front end' wiki.
Idea 2
I see there is a DMSF plugin for Redmine. Has anyone used this before and has is solved document management issues? I'd like to hear your feedback. Even if DMSF doesn't totally solve my issue, anything is better than what I have now.
Thanks!
In my opinion DMSF module is a perfect companion for Redmine. We have adopted it in our company. You can easily deal with document versions, webdav access, custom approval workflow, document modifications notification with the extra value of being well integrated with Redmine features (roles, dynamic links in Wiki and issue text and notes).

Updating old Sharepoint site with Sharepoint 2010 - how to update old navigation

First off, I am not a programmer and so I am simply trying to update an old Sharepoint site using Sharepoint tools. The difficulty I have been having is that the site has a lot of archives and pages that I don't want to recreate if possible. Therefore, I have been renaming and adding pages to an old site (originally creating via an earlier version of Sharepoint) and as I create these new pages/site within the share they look and navigate very differently from the old. How can I either update the old navigation to the new or vise versa so that the site all looks and navigates the same?
Any tips on this would be greatly appreciated
Your old pages were probably edited using SharePoint Designer and that's why they do not get the new look&feel. You could reset this changes using Site Setting Reset to Site Definition option, but it could make changes to the site you don't want (it was probably edited for a reason). I would suggest making the change on a test copy and then you will see what is changed and how it can be fixed.
This solution will allow programmers and non-programmers to work on navigation. You will be able to update the navigation using the site settings>navigation and allow the programmers to customize the styling however they wish. You can also put as many levels of sub-entres as you want.
http://sharepoint2010customnavigation.blogspot.com/

Sharepoint: Modify the page template of views

I have a sharepoint list with several views. I can modify the view pages (such as AllItems.aspx) via the sharepoint designer. However I would prefer to modify the underlying template instead.
Now I could directly modify the default view page template located in templates\pages\viewpage.aspx but this would affect the whole sharepoint installation.
I would rather make a copy of this template and make my list (or views) point to it. Is there a way I can accomplish this?
Note: The list/views were created via the Web UI without any custom XML.
Check out this blog:
http://weblogs.asp.net/soever/archive/2006/11/11/SharePoint-Solution-Generator-2D00-part-1_3A00_-create-a-site-definition-from-an-existing-site.aspx
Basically, use the sharepoint solution generator to create a VS solution of your SharePoint list. The solution will contain a file called schema.xml that defines the list and associated views. You can then customize the aspx pages like viewlist.aspx and point the schema at your custom pages. When you deploy the solution/feature it will deploy your custom pages with it.
There's really a wealth of info out on the internets, it's just difficult to find when you don't know what you're looking for. But this should get you started in the right direction.
Also, in my experience, once you create the solution you should port it (read: copy teh contents) into an STSDEV project. STSDEV really shows you what's happening behind the scenes, whereas the other VS tools for SP development can do some hand-waving magic which will leave you in the dark when things go wrong. Just my 2 cents.

Create SharePoint web page outside of document library

I'm reasonably new to SharePoint 2007 and trying to move from an ASP.NET to SharePoint way of thinking has been an interesting experience!
I would like to create a page at the same level as the default.aspx page in a subsite. The "SharePoint way" of doing things involves putting the page into a document library. I am reluctant to do this as the breadcrumb navigation of the page then includes the name of the libarary but I would like the library to be transparent to the user.
I can create a page in the right place in SharePoint designer but I can't find a way to use a SharePoint template. I have tried copying the default.aspx page, but the navigation linkes are not updated.
Am I missing something or can someone suggest a solution?
I see what you are saying. I would like to share my thoughts on how I will do it.
If the Breadcrumb is your only reason why you want to move to a different than lib, the I recommend you to override the ContentPlaceholder that has the BreadCrumb in your Page, so that BreadCrumb wont be there. But URL will be there for the User to Guess ./DocLib/default.aspx.
And if the reason to hide the document library is to make sure that you don't want to allow the user to get into the Lib and change something. I recommend you strip out the permission from the Document Lib and give all the user ReadOnly and add the user with more right who you thing will need to edit the pages.
And finally you wanted to it in a Place, you can try deploying them as a Feature that will provision the pages as Ghostable rather then GhostableInLibray.
While 1,3 cab be packaged in a WSP. 2 one needs bit of a Manual / custom Code if you are trying to automate the process.
Steps to create Ghostable pages you can refer to this
It doesn't seem to be possible. Subsites can be used to be categorise content by topic, but they can't be used very much.

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