A SharePoint site template is basically a saved version the differences between a Site Definition and the current state of a site. I've read that Site Templates can only be applied to sites that use the same Site Definition that was used to create the template.
If you have an STP file, how do you determine which Site Definition was used to create the Site Template?
STP files are just ZIP-compressed files. If you rename the extension to *.ZIP you can extract the contents and examine the XML files that will contain the info you are looking for.
I don't have a STP file around so I can't tell you exactly what file to look for but I've done that before and is not that hard to find.
Good luck!
Use these steps to determine what site definition a site template was based on:
Save the .STP site template to a local folder.
Rename it to a .CAB file.
Extract the cab file.
Open the manifest.xml file.
There will be a TemplateID value in the section near the top (e.g. 1)
The TemplateID refers to a site defintion.
Open [12 hive]\TEMPLATE\1033\XML\WEBTEMP.XML.
Find the template name with the ID that corresponds to the TemplateID in the site template manifest file (e.g. )
I'm not sure why, but the site definitions are grouped so that you might not know exactly which site definition was used. For example, Team Site, Blank Site, and Document Workspace all share the same Tempalte ID (1). That should mean that a site template with that ID should be able to be applied to any of those 3 sites.
I have written SharePoint Object Model code list all the sites and the site definition used to create the side. Please see this here:
http://manish-sharepoint.blogspot.com/2009/06/finding-template-used-to-create-sites.html
Related
I was trying to find any tool that I can use to create ONET file from the existing SharePoint site. Unfortunately wasn't able to find. Does anybody know anything about that? There should be something besides of manual way to do that... Any MS solutions, third party tools?
As John Saunders is alluding, the simplest approach would be to let SharePoint create it for you. It's not exactly sitting in the site though; you can't just open the site in SharePoint Designer & grab it - but there is a way to get it:
Save the site as a Site Template (with or without content, doesn't matter - but without will be faster/smaller)
Download the STP/WSP from the Site Template (SP2007)/Solutions (SP2010/13) Gallery to your desktop
Change the file extension to .CAB
Use an archive tool (i.e. 7-zip) to unpack the CAB file
Within the unpacked CAB you will see a folder whose name will be the original name of your Site Template + "WebTemplate"
Within that folder will be a sub-folder whose name is just the original name of your Site Template
Within that folder is the ONet.xml file
I am beginning sharepoint development and have some quick questions concerning basic terms.
How do i find out whether a particular site is a site collection, or a site JUST BY THE URL? Is their a powershell command to do this?
I was creating some sites in sharepoint. Some sites were appended with /sites/sitename whereas others were just under the base url of sharepoint. What is the difference between the 2? AND, how do i recreate the ones under the sites node? For some reason, I cant find the option to create under the sites node again. Please explain this concept as all msdn tutorial are very confusion for beginners like me. Those are good once you get the hang of basics.
Please provide an analogy how to understand web app, site collection, site, web site, etc.
Is there a way to use NEWFORM.aspx for a document library instead of UPLOAD.aspx?
The Site collection is at the root level of your Web application.
So http://abc.com/ => Site collection
Using Powershell, open the Sharepoint Powershell prompt and run Get-SPSite to get all Site-Collections
the /sites/ is called as a managed path
It can be defined in the Central Administration for every web application.
The option to select the /sites will be available only when you create the second site collection under the Web Application (The first one take the / by default.)
Have a look at Technet Article
document library is for uploading file, not for storing user submitted data, for that you need to create a list
1) Document Set is used in cases where multiple documents have the same properties, its like putting all these documents in a folder and then providing attributes to that folder which are in turn applied for each document in that folder.
In your case, if all the files have the same values for the 8 fields then the document set is the correct way to go.
2)If there is additional metadata associated with the files then these can be added either to the content type (eg. document or document set content type) or to the columns in the library itself, you dont need to create a separate list for holding that data. Adding data to the content type ensures consistency across all the document libraries within that site collection, adding columns to the library affects only that library.
I am working on a site template that will be used to create hundreds of sites for different org units. The site should contain a form library, with an InfoPath form template.
My question is - is it possible to create a template and let power users create sites, without any administrator or developer involvement? If not - what's the easiest alternative?
The problem is that the form template contains the site URL and I don't know if this can be avoided. As a consequence, when a site is created and a form submitted - it ends up in the library of the original site.
I have created a handful of sites for the pilot project and what I've been doing so far is to uncab the XSN file, edit the URL manually, repackage into XSN and publish to the new library. This works, but involves a manual step in the site creation process that I wish to avoid. Here are the lines I'm editing:
<xsf:submit caption="Submit" disableMenuItem="no" onAfterSubmit="close" showStatusDialog="no">
<xsf:davAdapter name="SharePoint Library Submit" submitAllowed="yes" overwriteAllowed="no">
<xsf:folderURL value="http://my_farm_url/subsite1/form_lib"
Also here:
<xsf2:solutionPropertiesExtension branch="wss">
<xsf2:wss path="http://my_farm_url/subsite1/form_lib"
I'm changing subsite1 to subsite2.
I tried to set a relative URL, first to the submit element, then to both, to no avail. The form was being rendered (in browser), the submit worked (no errors) but then the submitted form was not in the library. Looking further into this, the forms ended up being submitted to a form library on the root site - http://my_farm_url/form_lib! It makes sense when you think about it, that's where a relative url of form_lib takes you to, from the site, from the root site perspective.
For the moment the only solution I envision is to create a tool that will help users create sites based on the template, fixing the XSN behind the curtains. I don't know how to publish a form template programmatically but it should be possible. Apart from this unknown, it's also not very automated and I'll be very happy if a proper solution is possible that will work with SharePoint/InfoPath tools only.
You need to schedule a EventReceiver there is no way to do it for configuration.
In EventReceiver you have to read the file "Manifest.xsf", update the XML node is defined where the url and save the file "Manifest.xsf".
To read the XML node is necessary to use System.Xml.dll
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.