Welcome to the Minnesota SharePoint User Group May 9 th, 2007 Site Templates and Site Definitions Raymond Mitchell – Inetium

User Group Goal / Objectives Develop and support a local community focused on Microsoft SharePoint Technologies Educate user group members about SharePoint Technologies Transfer knowledge within the community Communicate best practices Introduce new products / solutions

Introductions – MNSPUG Sponsors Inetium ( Twin Cites based Microsoft consulting company Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Practice Area focused on Information Worker Technologies New Horizons – Minnesota ( Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Training on many technologies Microsoft ( I’m guessing you’ve heard of them

Website for user group SharePoint resource documents SharePoint resource websites links RSS Feeds Meeting Schedule Past User Group Presentations

Upcoming Schedule Next Meeting June 13 th 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Microsoft’s Bloomington Office Topic: TBD Ongoing Schedule 2 nd Wednesday of every month 9:00 to 11:30 am Microsoft’s Bloomington Office

CRM User Group Meeting Wednesday, June 6 th, :30 – 9:00 Registration 9:00 – 11:00 Presentation 11:00 – 11:30 Q&A and Networking Microsoft’s Bloomington Office (here)

Twin Cities MPA Free Lunch ‘n’ Learn May 18, 2007 Overview: Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007: A Project Enabling Platform RSVP or for more information The Official Industry Association for Microsoft Office Project

Upcoming WebCast When: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 Time: 10:30 AM – 11:30 AM Topic: Content replication solutions to improve SharePoint’s business value Sponsors: Syntergy and Inetium Registration: Invitation Code: https://

Previous Meetings SharePoint 2007 Overview: – May 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation provides an overview of a number of the key features and capabilities that SharePoint 2007 provides. Group Presentations/May 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/May 2006 MNSPUG.ppt Document Management / Records Management: June 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation covers how documents and records are managed using SharePoint. This presentation also covers SharePoint Content Types. Group Presentations/June 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/June 2006 MNSPUG.ppt Workflow: July 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation covers how workflow and digital forms work in SharePoint Group Presentations/July 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/July 2006 MNSPUG.ppt Business Intelligence: August 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation covers many of the new features of SharePoint 2007 that are used to address Business Intelligence including Dashboard sites, Key Performance Indicator (KPI) lists, Excel Services and the filter web parts. Group Presentations/August 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/August 2006 MNSPUG.ppt Web Content Management: September 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation focuses on the web content management features of SharePoint 2007 that allow end users to publish their own web content (ex: articles). Group Presentations/September 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/September 2006 MNSPUG.ppt Search, Business Data Catalog (BDC), and the Knowledge Network: October 2006 MNSPUG Presentation – This presentation focuses on the search capabilities of SharePoint 2007 including leveraging the Business Data Catalog. Group Presentations/October 2006 MNSPUG.ppthttp:// Group Presentations/October 2006 MNSPUG.ppt

Conferences Advisor Summit – May 6-10 Anaheim, CA Microsoft Business Intelligence Conference - May 9-11 – Seattle, WA Tech Ed – June Orlando, FL PDC – October Los Angeles, CA SharePoint Connections – November 5-8 – Las Vegas, NV

Agenda Quick Intro Site Template and Site Definitions - Concepts Break Site Templates and Site Definitions – hands on Give Away Q & A

OOB “Templates”

Out of the box “Templates” When you create a new site you can select “templates”: OOB “Templates”

Out of the box “Templates” Additional templates are available based on your version. Some examples include: WSS Blank Site, Team Site Meeting Workspaces, Document Workspaces Blogs, Wiki MOSS Enterprise (Document Center, Search Center, MySite Host) Collaboration Portal Publishing Portal Each template contains information about a site including Navigation elements, Lists, and other site functionality OOB “Templates”

Site Templates

Overview Allows you to quickly and easily save a customized site as a template Examples Project Sites Client Sites Saves all of the changes made to a site based on a site definition Site Templates

Overview Saved as a.STP file Actually a.CAB file that can be opened with Windows Explorer Contains a manifest.xlm manifest.xml contains customizations from the site’s original definition Site Templates

Overview Saved as a.STP file Actually a.CAB file that can be opened with Windows Explorer Contains a manifest.xlm manifest.xml contains customizations from the site’s original definition Site Templates

Creating Site Templates Can be created from the Web UI Requires “Full Control” permissions on the current web Site Templates

Creating Site Templates File name must be unique Template name and description as they will be displayed in the UI Include Content allows you to save documents and static list items with your template. Default Site Template file size limit is set to 10MB Can be increased...

Site Templates Creating Site Templates Once saved, site templates live in the “Site Template Gallery”

Site Templates Managing Site Templates Site Template Galleries exist at the site collection level Can be managed from the root web’s site settings Site Templates

Managing Site Templates Can save.STP files and deploy to other servers or site collections Site Templates

Managing Site Templates Can install via STSADM – available to all site collections Requires an IISRESET to complete deployment Site Templates

Managing Site Templates Change the max template file size: Site Templates

Site Template Notes List / Site Permissions are not saved Known Issues: Changes to “List View” Web Parts are not saved. Hotfix is available via KB Article: Issues creating sites from templates saved with the publishing feature activated. Details available via KB Article: Site Templates

Site Definitions

Overview Used for more the same scenarios when additional configuration options are required More complex to create / install Site Definitions

Overview Made up of a WebTemp.xml descriptor file and additional supporting files Defines exactly what should show up on the site once it is created Located on the file system of your SharePoint front end web servers C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\1033\XML Site Definitions

Overview Used for OOB “templates” Site Definitions

Templates vs. Definitions

Main differences: Who will be creating, who will be using What configuration options are needed Templates vs. Definitions

Site TemplateSite Definition Can be created by a site administratorCreated by a developer Can be deployed by a site administratorDeployed by a system administrator.STP File.WSP file (if deployed by Solution) Can be heavierMore difficult to create Feature for convenienceCore component of SharePoint Templates vs. Definitions

Related Technologies

Ghosting / UnGhosting Ghosted files are good Ghosted files exist on the file system and do not have to be retrieved from the database (which would be slower) Files added or modified with SharePoint Designer are unghosted. They must be loaded from the database (which is slower) Related Technologies

Ghosting / UnGhosting Site Templates contain copies of unghosted files. Each site created based on that site template will save another copy of the file in the database. Customized homepages, custom.css,.js, or image files saved with the site Documents saved as default content for the site template Sites created based on site definitions contain ghosted files Custom files can be added to site definitions Files are copied once to the file system and are referenced unless the instance is unghosted Related Technologies

Features Can be used to deploy all kinds of functionality Custom ActionUrls List Event Handlers Custom Workflows Custom List Definitions Stored in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES directory Related Technologies

Features Every list in SharePoint is defined as a feature Related Technologies

Solutions Allow you to package functionality for deployment: Web Parts Features Site Definitions Must be installed and deployed.WSP file copied to the server and installed via STSADM Related Technologies

Solutions Install using the addsolution command: Related Technologies

Solutions Once installed, solutions must be deployed. Can be deployed via Central Administration: Related Technologies

Solutions Once installed, solutions must be deployed. Or via STSADM using the deploysolution command: Must run STSADM -o execadmsvcjobs or else wait for the timer job to run/complete

Break 5 – 10 minutes

Example: “Fabulous 40”

40 sample applications meant to showcase what you can build in SharePoint 20 are Site Templates 20 are Site Definitions Require the Core Solution “Fabulous 40”

Downloading All templates: 47CB C1363F127D&displaylang=en 47CB C1363F127D&displaylang=en Core Solution: 4D7D-8CAE-3B96FA5A4045&displaylang=en 4D7D-8CAE-3B96FA5A4045&displaylang=en “Fabulous 40”

Featured Template: Classroom Management “Fabulous 40”

Featured Application: Absence and Vacation Schedule “Fabulous 40”

Featured Application: Expense Reimbursement “Fabulous 40”

Example: CKS & SCK &

CKS & What is the CKS The Community Kit for SharePoint is a set of best practices, templates, Web Parts, tools, and source code that enables practically anyone to create a community website based on SharePoint technology for practically any group of people with a common interest. The CKS 2.0 will include several different editions that consist of custom Master Pages, web parts, and Features. Go here for current list of editions and features being considered. The CKS 2.0 project was officially announced on the SharePoint Team Blog on March 27, CKS &

The making of The CKS:UGE 1.0 is a site admin template (.STP file) designed for user group websites. The default settings and content of a SharePoint site that's been created with this template can be used with minimal modification by any Microsoft product oriented user group. Nevertheless, a user group of any product will find this template to be a compelling option with which to create a SharePoint site for its members. sharepoint-user-group-edition-1-0-now-available.aspx sharepoint-user-group-edition-1-0-now-available.aspx CKS &

Advanced Site Definitions

Creating a new site definition 101 via notepad Deployment Advanced Site Definitions

Really creating a site definition Visual Studio Schema file / intellisense Additional properties Alternate CSS Master Page Features Modules / Web Parts & LVWPs Advanced Site Definitions

References MSDN – Working with Templates and Definitions Dan Winter – Site Definition listing Good info… Inetium Blogs

Q & A

Give Away

Thanks for coming!