SharePoint 4 Developers

Additional reference guide in .NET / SharePoint Development

SharePoint 2010 Developer Dashboard

17. May 2010 Admin Tips and Tricks (0)
Learn how to enable the Developer Dashboard, how to use the APIs to display its Tracing info and how to display the rendering results of your page graphically.

Hi folks,

When developing solutions, developers have the concern to deliver functional solutions that conform to the requested requirements. Although I always analyse the performance of my applications, most of the business solutions that I have worked performance is not a critical factor.

Depending on the scenario, what if performance is a requirement? How to get diagnostic information from your solutions in SharePoint 2010?

Precisely now there is the Developer Dashboard that brings a dashboard of tracing info.

In this article I will show how to enable the Developer Dashboard, how to use the APIs to display its Tracing info and how to display the rendering results of your page graphically.

Introducing the Developer Dashboard

Like something unknown, first of all I would like to introduce the Developer Dashboard, as we can see it below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_0[1]
Figure 1 - SharePoint 2010 Dashboard Developer

Note: Note that the dashboard border is green, because neither asserts nor critical events are displayed. I'll talk about the color changes later in this post.

The left side shows the http handler events executed during the page rendering and their execution times, whilst in the right side a mix of comprehensive information and also details of the request can be found, such as the queries sent to database.

Interestingly, the links show the callstack of the message and other details, according to the figure below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_1[1]
Figure 2 - Details of a database query

Once this is not unknown anymore for you, let's check what matters.

Enabling and disabling the Dashboard Developer

By default the Dashboard Developer is disabled and in order to display it there are three possibilities:

  • .Net code

  • STSADM

  • PowerShell

There are also three display levels of the Dashboard. As described below:

  • "On" - the dashboard will always be displayed;

  • "Off" - disables the dashboard;

  • "OnDemand" - adds an icon to the page, which allows the visualization of the dashboard only when clicked (toggling between On and Off).

The figure below displays this icon:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_2[1]
Figure 3 - Developer Dashboard Icon

NOTE: It is important to note that when the Dashboard is enabled using OnDemand, only Administrators and Site Collection Owners have access to it. Members and visitors will not see the icon. In this post the Developer Dashboard will be displayed using the display level "OnDemand", which in my point of view is the ideal.

.Net Code

A Feature that enables or disables the dashboard can be created, instead of using scripts for that. This way the activation or deactivation can be done directly through the Site Collection Features page.

Create a project in Visual Studio 2010 of Empty SharePoint Project called DeveloperDashboard. Choose the option of a Farm Solution. Your initial project should look like this:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_3[1]
Figure 4 – DeveloperDashboard Feature (Initial Project)

Add an Event Receiver to the Feature according the figure 5:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_4[1]
Figure 5 – Adding an Event Receiver

The class DeveloperDashboardEventReceiver will be created automatically, with all the methods commented out. Add the following code for the Feature Activation and Deactivation:

Code Snippet
  1. public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
  2. {
  3.     SPWebService contentService = SPWebService.ContentService;
  4.     contentService.DeveloperDashboardSettings.DisplayLevel = SPDeveloperDashboardLevel.OnDemand;
  5.     contentService.DeveloperDashboardSettings.Provision();
  6. }
  7.  
  8. public override void FeatureDeactivating(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
  9. {
  10.     SPWebService contentService = SPWebService.ContentService;
  11.     contentService.DeveloperDashboardSettings.DisplayLevel = SPDeveloperDashboardLevel.Off;
  12.     contentService.DeveloperDashboardSettings.Unprovision();
  13. }

In the end your project should look like the figure below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_5[1]
Figure 6 – DeveloperDashboard Feature (Final Project)

Compile and deploy the project directly from the Visual Studio 2010 in development environments. For production environments deploy it via STSADM according the figure below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_6[1]
Figure 7 - Deploy of the feature on Production

In the end this feature must be enabled as the following figure:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_7[1]
Figure 8 - Deploy of the Feature "Developer Dashboard"

Download the solution here.

STSADM

Open the Command console and enter the following cmdlet to enable the Developer Dashboard:

stsadm –o setproperty –pn developer-dashboard –pv OnDemand

To disable it:

stsadm –o setproperty –pn developer-dashboard –pv Off

NOTE: The option-pv is case-sensitive.

Result:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_8[1]
Figure 9 - Execution of commands via STSADM

PowerShell

Another possibility is to use PowerShell for running scripts.

To enable the Developer Dashboard:

$dash = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService
$settings = $dash.DeveloperDashboardSettings
$settings.DisplayLevel = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPDeveloperDashboardLevel]::OnDemand
$settings.Update()

Result:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_9[1]
Figure 10 - Script activation via PowerShell

To disable it:

$dash = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService
$settings = $dash.DeveloperDashboardSettings
$settings.DisplayLevel = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPDeveloperDashboardLevel]::Off
$settings.Update()

Result:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_10[1]
Figure 11 - Script deactivation via PowerShell


Measuring performance and adding messages via Tracing

Once the Developer Dashboard is active, we can proceed with the addition of Tracing messages in SharePoint 2010.

As already said this is an excellent way to measure the performance of code and add custom messages for tracking.

In order to measure the time of the code snippet that we intend to track, the class SPMonitoredScope should be used. This information will be available on the left side of the Dashboard.

In order to add log messages, warnings or assert messages, the class SPCriticalTraceCounter should be used. This information will be available on the right side of the dashboard, and a link will be available to visualize the message details.

NOTE: The callstack, which is in the message details, can add a few Kb on the page. Thus track the growth of the amount of custom messages that you have, they will increase the size (Kb) of your page if the Developer Dashboard is enabled.

Add a new project of Visual Web Part called Tracing. The solution should resemble the figure below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_11[1]
Figure 12 - Web Part Tracing Project

Add the code below in the file TracingWebPartUserControl.ascx.cs:

Code Snippet
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Web.UI;
  3. using System.Web.UI.WebControls;
  4. using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts;
  5. using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;
  6.  
  7. namespace Tracing.TracingWebPart
  8. {
  9.     public partial class TracingWebPartUserControl : UserControl
  10.     {
  11.         protected void Page_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
  12.         {
  13.             // Using class for tracking the execution time
  14.             using (SPMonitoredScope sc = new SPMonitoredScope("LoadMeter"))
  15.             {
  16.                 for (uint i = 0; i < 10; i++)
  17.                 {
  18.                     // Adding custom messages
  19.                     SPCriticalTraceCounter.AddDataToScope(i, "Loop For", 15, string.Format("Mensagem monitorada - {0}", i.ToString()));
  20.                 }
  21.             }
  22.         }
  23.     }
  24. }

Class TracingWebPartUserControl

This code contains two classes SPMonitoredScope and SPCriticalTraceCounter as already commented. It is important to know that the TraceLevel (3rd parameter of the method AddDataToScope) can be:

  • 1 – Critical
  • 4 - Exception (Watson)
  • 6 – Assert
  • 8 – Warning
  • 10 – Unexpected
  • 15 - Monitorable

Perform the addition of the Web Part (1), save it (2) and then visualize the Developer Dashboard (3) as shown below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_12[1]
Figure 13 - Adding Web Part Tracing

Check out the Developer Dashboard, its border color is no longer green color as displayed in Figure 1. Differently it is in red color, which shows that asserts and critical events occurred (in this case the messages created):

1D806A05AA43783B_453_13[1]
Figure 14 - Time Scope and custom messages added

Click over one of the messages and note that the message details and callstack can be seen:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_14[1]
Figure 15 - custom message displayed in details

Download the solution here.

Developer Dashboard Visualizer

We can improve the Dashboard with a graphic display called Developer Dashboard Visualizer, which was created by Jaap Vossers and consists of a UserControl that makes use of JQuery to view the axis Events x Execution time (left side of the Developer Dashboard).

This project is available on Codeplex: http://devdashvis.codeplex.com/

Download the wsp package and install it using the STSADM, as shown below:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_15[1]
Figure 16 - Enabling the Developer Dashboard Visualizer

The http handler events are displayed immediately above the dashboard:

1D806A05AA43783B_453_16[1]
Figure 17 - Graphical View

In this article we checked how to enable the SharePoint 2010 Developer Dashboard. We have checked that diagnostic information and tracing messages are output on the page to the browser that made the request. Such information may help to clarify errors or undesired results during the processing of your solution in SharePoint 2010.

I hope these tips are helpful.

References:
http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2010/03/26/sharepoint-2010-developer-dashboard-for-debugging-code.aspx
http://weblogs.asp.net/jcortez/archive/2010/03/16/developer-dashboard-in-sharepoint-2010.aspx
http://devdashvis.codeplex.com/

Cheers,

Marcel Medina

Click here to read the same content in Portuguese.

Lesson 2 – Content Types – Part II

21. December 2009 Admin SharePoint Lessons (0)
The first step in creating content types is the choice of a built-in type. A built-in type identifies the source and how two content types are related. This post is a continuation of Lesson 2 - Content Types, in which I will explain Content Type IDs and show some examples about the creation of IDs.

Hi folks,

The first step in creating content types is the choice of a built-in type. A built-in type identifies the source and how two content types are related.

This post is a continuation of Lesson 2 - Content Types, in which I will explain Content Type IDs and show some examples about the creation of IDs.

For those who like to check in details how things work, I recommend this reading!

Content Type IDs

There are some rules to create IDs for content types with the use of XML files.

The first step in creating content types is to choose a built-in type, which are predefined types of content types. Figure 1 shows some examples:

1
Figure 1 - Examples of Built-in Content Types

Each built-in type has a unique identification, indicating which built-in type it inherited from and how they are related.

By analyzing the figure above, observe the hierarchical structure of the identification of built-in types. In blue colour we have the identifiers of inherited built-in types and, in black colour is the built-in type of which it was derived. This represents a tree structure of inheritance.

Built-in and Custom Content Type IDs

There are two ways of creating content type IDs:

  • Parent content type ID + 2 hexadecimal values
    NOTE: Designed to identify a base built-in content type

2
Figure 2 – Built-in Content Type ID

In the example above the selected block in red colour always changes, whose 2 hexadecimal values cannot be "00". The last blank block does not apply in this case.

  • Parent content type ID + "00" + hexadecimal GUID.
    NOTE: Designed to identify a custom content type.

3
Figure 3 – Custom Content Type ID

In the example above the block of Figure 2 remains at "00", and the selected block in red colour must receive a GUID.

Internally, the inheritance scheme is interpreted by SharePoint in blocks (Figures 2 and 3), which facilitates the identification of the ancestor of the content type.

Base Content Type Hierarchy

Both SharePoint 2007 and SharePoint 2010 Foundation have a base content type hierarchy, in which all the content types are derived. Consider the Figure 4:

4
Figure 4 – Base Content Type Hierarchy

As you can see, all content types inherit from System. This content type is the sealed type and can not be edited.

The content types that belong to the group _Hidden are not displayed in the User Interface. They are for internal use of SharePoint.

You can assign content types to list items, documents, and folders. Content types that inherit from the Document site content type can be assigned only to libraries. Similarly, you can assign content types that inherit from the Item site content type only to lists. Content types that inherit from the Folder content type template can be assigned to either libraries or lists, because both can contain folders.

Obtaining Base Content Type Hierarchy Programmatically

Through a recursive algorithm, that uses the LinkedList object to create the hierarchical tree, I simulate such reading.

This is a code for purposes of exemplification only, widely used in my trainings. The code consists of 3 classes:

Code Snippet
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Linq;
  4. using System.Text;
  5. using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  6.  
  7. namespace BuiltinContentTypes
  8. {
  9.     class Program
  10.     {
  11.         static void Main(string[] args)
  12.         {
  13.             using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://localhost/sites/team"))
  14.             {
  15.                 using (SPWeb web = site.RootWeb)
  16.                 {
  17.                     foreach (SPContentType ct in web.AvailableContentTypes)
  18.                     {
  19.                         Common.CreateContentTypeTree(web, ct.Id);
  20.                         Common.Level = 1;
  21.                     }
  22.                 }
  23.             }
  24.             Common.DisplayContentTypeTree();
  25.             Console.ReadLine();
  26.         }
  27.     }
  28. }

Class Program - Responsible for the execution of code

 

Code Snippet
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Linq;
  4. using System.Text;
  5. using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  6.  
  7. namespace BuiltinContentTypes
  8. {
  9.     class ContentMapping : IEqualityComparer<ContentMapping>
  10.     {
  11.         #region Properties
  12.  
  13.         public string Name { get; set; }
  14.         public SPContentTypeId Id { get; set; }
  15.         public int Level { get; set; }
  16.  
  17.         #endregion
  18.  
  19.         #region IEqualityComparer<ContentMapping> Members
  20.  
  21.         public bool Equals(ContentMapping x, ContentMapping y)
  22.         {
  23.             return x.Id == y.Id;
  24.         }
  25.  
  26.         public int GetHashCode(ContentMapping obj)
  27.         {
  28.             return obj.GetHashCode();
  29.         }
  30.  
  31.         #endregion
  32.     }
  33. }

Class ContentMapping - Responsible for storing data of content types

 

Code Snippet
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Linq;
  4. using System.Text;
  5. using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  6.  
  7. namespace BuiltinContentTypes
  8. {
  9.     class Common
  10.     {
  11.         #region Variables
  12.  
  13.         static int level = 1;
  14.         static LinkedList<ContentMapping> mapping = new LinkedList<ContentMapping>();
  15.         static ContentMapping content = null;
  16.  
  17.         #endregion
  18.  
  19.         #region Properties
  20.  
  21.         public static int Level
  22.         {
  23.             get { return level; }
  24.             set { level = value; }
  25.         }
  26.  
  27.         #endregion
  28.  
  29.         #region Methods
  30.  
  31.         /// <summary>
  32.         /// Creates a ContentMapping tree
  33.         /// </summary>
  34.         /// <param name="web">Sharepoint web</param>
  35.         /// <param name="ctId">ContentTypeId</param>
  36.         public static void CreateContentTypeTree(SPWeb web, SPContentTypeId ctId)
  37.         {
  38.             var contentType = web.AvailableContentTypes[ctId];
  39.  
  40.             // recursive
  41.             if (ctId.ToString() != "0x") CreateContentTypeTree(web, contentType.Parent.Id);
  42.  
  43.             if (level == 1)
  44.             {
  45.                 var cm = new ContentMapping() { Id = ctId, Name = contentType.Name, Level = level };
  46.                 if (mapping.Count == 0)
  47.                 {
  48.                     mapping.AddFirst(cm);
  49.                     content = cm;
  50.                 }
  51.             }
  52.             else
  53.             {
  54.                 var cm = new ContentMapping() { Id = ctId, Name = contentType.Name, Level = level };
  55.                 if (!mapping.Contains(cm, cm))
  56.                 {
  57.                     mapping.AddAfter(mapping.Find(content), cm);
  58.                     content = cm;
  59.                 }
  60.             }
  61.             level++;
  62.         }
  63.  
  64.         /// <summary>
  65.         /// Displays the tree
  66.         /// </summary>
  67.         public static void DisplayContentTypeTree()
  68.         {
  69.             StringBuilder tab = new StringBuilder();
  70.  
  71.             foreach (var item in mapping)
  72.             {
  73.                 tab.Remove(0, tab.Length);
  74.                 for (int i = 0; i < item.Level; i++)
  75.                     tab.Append("   ");
  76.                 if (item.Id.ToString().Length < 15) // just getting base built-in types
  77.                     Console.WriteLine(tab.ToString() + item.Id + " - " + item.Name);
  78.             }
  79.         }
  80.  
  81.         #endregion
  82.     }
  83. }

Common Class - Helper class that provides methods for construction of the tree

Download the code here.

At the end of execution, the content displayed on the console must be the same in Figure 4 (if you did not change any content type).

5
Figure 5 – Console of base content type hierarchy

Finally we can reproduce the image in Figure 4 with some additional built-in types that are not contained in the documentation of SharePoint 2010 (probably because the current documentation is preliminary and subject to change).

Well folks, that's it.

References:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms452896.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms452896(office.14).aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543822.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543822(office.14).aspx
Book: Professional SharePoint 2007 Development (WROX)

Cheers,

Marcel Medina

Lesson 2 – Content Types – Part I

28. November 2009 Admin SharePoint Lessons (0)
What are Content Types? This concept is present in WSS 3.0 and remains present in SharePoint 2010 Foundation.

Hi folks,

The SharePoint Lessons Series is back with a very interesting issue for analysts and developers: Content Types.

What are Content Types? This concept is present in WSS 3.0 and remains present in SharePoint 2010 Foundation.

In this post I will present how to create content types, from analysis to development!

Enjoy one more post of the SharePoint Lessons Series!

What are Content Types?

Content Types are collections of metadata (encapsulate a data schema) that can be applied to a particular content such as lists and libraries, enabling you to manage its settings and behaviours in a centralized way.

A metadata is a data that defines other data, it works as an identifier. For example, the version number of an item is an example of metadata because it identifies the data.

Taxonomy

The identification of metadata depends on the classification and categorization of the object in question. This classification is called Taxonomy.

Just for understanding of how the classification and categorization of data works, consider 2 types of documents to be used here for example: job application and work contract.

Each metadata must be extracted and documented for the creation of content types. In this case I show how to do it with Job Application and Job Contract, as Figure 1.

1
Figure 1 - Sample Document Inventory Spreadsheet

The spreadsheet above shows the metadata extracted from the fictitious documents JobAplication.docx and JobContract.docx.

Once classified and categorized, the two content types Job Application and Job Contract may be applied to lists and libraries.

In a technical point of view both content types can be applied to the same library, because multiple content types can be stored in the same list or library, but in a business model perspective this may not necessarily be an ideal thing.

Creating Content Types

The Content Types can be created in 3 ways:

  • By the User Interface
  • Using the API (object model)
  • By installing content types features based on XML definition files.

Now check out the creation of the Content Type of Job Contract in 3 different ways.

How to Create a Content Type by the User Interface

Click Site Actions> Site Settings and click on Site Content Types (group Galleries).

2
Figure 2 – Site Content Types

Click Create to add a new Content Type.

3
Figure 3 - Create a Content Type

Please fill out the new content type according to Figure 4 and click OK.

4
Figure 4 - New Content Type

In the next part of my post I will show how the hierarchy of the types of Content Types.

After creating the Content Type Job Contract, it is necessary to add site columns that will be part of the collection of metadata.

5
Figure 5 - Content Type Job Contract

Add new columns according table 1 settings. Click Add from new site column.

6
Figure 6 – Adding new site column

Column

Description

Employee Name

Column Name: Employee Name
Field Type: Single line of text
Description: Employee Name

Contract Duration

Column Name: Contract Duration
Field Type: Single line of text
Description: Duration of the Contract

Earnings

Column Name: Earnings
Field Type: Currency ($, ¥, €)
Minimum Value (Min): 0
Number of decimal places: 2
Description: Earnings

Contract Date

Column Name: Contract Date
Field Type: Date and Time
Description: Date of the Contract

Table 1 – Site Columns definition

Leave the default settings for the settings omitted. In case of doubt of how to create Site Columns, check out my other post about it.

After creating the site columns, the content type is available and configured as shown in Figure 7.

7
Figure 7 - Content Type Settings

How to Create a Content Type using the API (object model)

Firstly I will show the final solution and describe the code contained in the solution. I believe this is the easiest way of understanding.

The code created by me is available for download and modification for any reader of my blog.

Note the 2 files in the solution and Program.cs SiteSettings.cs:

8
Figure 8 - Solution with project Scripts

The SiteSettings class is responsible for creating the SiteColumns described in Table 1 and the Content Type Job Contract.

Below is the code of SiteSettings class:

Code Snippet
  1. //------------------------------------------------------------------------
  2. // Author: Marcel Medina
  3. // Blog: http://www.sharepoint4developers.net
  4. //
  5. // Feel free to use this code any way you want
  6. // If this code helped you, leave a comment on the blog!
  7. //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  8.  
  9. using System;
  10. using System.Collections.Generic;
  11. using System.Text;
  12. using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  13.  
  14. namespace CommonScripts.Scripts
  15. {
  16.     public class SiteSettings
  17.     {
  18.         public static void CreateSiteColumn(SPSite oSite)
  19.         {
  20.             string group = "Custom Columns";
  21.             string fieldName = null;
  22.  
  23.             //Employee Name
  24.             fieldName = "Employee Name";
  25.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields.Add(fieldName, SPFieldType.Text, false);
  26.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldText).Description = "Employee Name";
  27.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldText).Group = group;
  28.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Update();
  29.  
  30.             //Contract Duration
  31.             fieldName = "Contract Duration";
  32.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields.Add(fieldName, SPFieldType.Text, false);
  33.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldText).Description = "Duration of the Contract";
  34.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldText).Group = group;
  35.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Update();
  36.  
  37.             //Earnings
  38.             fieldName = "Earnings";
  39.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields.Add(fieldName, SPFieldType.Currency, false);
  40.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldCurrency).Description = "Earnings";
  41.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldCurrency).MinimumValue = 0;
  42.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldCurrency).DisplayFormat = SPNumberFormatTypes.TwoDecimals;
  43.             (oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName] as SPFieldCurrency).Group = group;
  44.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Update();
  45.  
  46.             //Contract Date
  47.             fieldName = "Contract Date";
  48.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields.Add(fieldName, SPFieldType.DateTime, false);
  49.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Description = "Date of the Contract";
  50.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Group = group;
  51.             oSite.RootWeb.Fields[fieldName].Update();
  52.         }
  53.  
  54.         public static void CreateContentType(SPSite oSite)
  55.         {
  56.             SPContentType baseType = oSite.RootWeb.AvailableContentTypes["Document"];
  57.             SPContentType jobContract = new SPContentType(baseType, oSite.RootWeb.ContentTypes, "Job Contract");
  58.             jobContract.Description = "Job Contract";
  59.             jobContract.FieldLinks.Add(new SPFieldLink(oSite.RootWeb.AvailableFields["Employee Name"]));
  60.             jobContract.FieldLinks.Add(new SPFieldLink(oSite.RootWeb.AvailableFields["Contract Duration"]));
  61.             jobContract.FieldLinks.Add(new SPFieldLink(oSite.RootWeb.AvailableFields["Earnings"]));
  62.             jobContract.FieldLinks.Add(new SPFieldLink(oSite.RootWeb.AvailableFields["Contract Date"]));
  63.             oSite.RootWeb.ContentTypes.Add(jobContract);
  64.         }
  65.     }
  66. }

 

Below is the code that make calls to methods CreateSiteColumn and CreateContentType:

Code Snippet
  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using System.Text;
  4. using Microsoft.SharePoint;
  5.  
  6. namespace CommonScripts.Scripts
  7. {
  8.     class Program
  9.     {
  10.         static void Main(string[] args)
  11.         {
  12.             using (SPSite oSite = new SPSite("http://sharepoint2007:100"))
  13.             {
  14.                 SiteSettings.CreateSiteColumn(oSite);
  15.                 SiteSettings.CreateContentType(oSite);
  16.             }
  17.         }
  18.     }
  19. }

Download the solution here.

How to Create a Content Type by Feature with XML definition files

In this solution the WSP package was created using WSP Builder tool, which works well together with Visual Studio and allows the developer to focus on the solution and not worry as the WSP package will be created.

This is a productivity tool, it helps to automate a deploy task that is not part of the objective of the solution, which certainly would require a few hours to create a script to generate the WSP file.

Download the tool via the link: http://www.codeplex.com/wspbuilder

Similarly I will show the final solution and then describe the code contained in the solution.

Note the directory structure and files of the solution:

9
Figure 9 - Solution with Project of FeatureSettings

The main files to be installed are the XML files, because they contain the creation of Site Columns and Content Type of Job Contract.

Check out the feature.xml file:

Code Snippet
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  2. <Feature  Id="d9ad6f23-ee06-4521-a51c-65d35827e774"
  3.           Title="FeatureSettings"
  4.           Description="Job Contract Content Type and Fields"
  5.           Version="12.0.0.0"
  6.           ActivateOnDefault="True"
  7.           Hidden="FALSE"
  8.           Scope="Site"
  9.           DefaultResourceFile="core"
  10.           ReceiverAssembly="FeatureSettings, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=4e843e7c1420247a"
  11.           ReceiverClass="FeatureSettings.FeatureSettings"
  12.           xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  13.   <ElementManifests>
  14.     <ElementManifest Location="contract.xml"/>
  15.   </ElementManifests>
  16. </Feature>

 

The file Contrat.xml is referenced in the file feature.xml and contains all the definitions of Site Columns and Content Types.

Code Snippet
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
  2. <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  3.   <ContentType ID="0x010100852E4863F66E174DBD7CD1A930818A02"
  4.                Name="Job Contract"
  5.                Group="Custom Content Types"
  6.                Description="Job Contract"
  7.                Version="0"
  8.                xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"
  9.                Hidden="False"
  10.                ReadOnly="False"
  11.                Sealed="False">
  12.     <FieldRefs>
  13.       <FieldRef ID="{83782324-6342-4fd3-a9ac-7e8aa0210ebe}" Name="Employee_x0020_Name" />
  14.       <FieldRef ID="{1f0d885a-22e7-4e1f-bc1d-5cd794d9dbcc}" Name="Contract_x0020_Duration" />
  15.       <FieldRef ID="{5205d996-6502-4823-9350-180c4e2f771c}" Name="Earnings" />
  16.       <FieldRef ID="{5b6173f8-d2c8-4cc2-84ac-8fc5541e8464}" Name="Contract_x0020_Date" />
  17.     </FieldRefs>
  18.   </ContentType>
  19.   <Field DisplayName="Employee Name"
  20.          Type="Text"
  21.          Required="FALSE"
  22.          ID="{83782324-6342-4fd3-a9ac-7e8aa0210ebe}"
  23.          StaticName="Employee_x0020_Name"
  24.          Name="Employee Name"
  25.          Description="Employee Name"
  26.          Group="Custom Columns"
  27.          xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" />
  28.   <Field DisplayName="Contract Duration"
  29.          Type="Text"
  30.          Required="FALSE"
  31.          ID="{1f0d885a-22e7-4e1f-bc1d-5cd794d9dbcc}"
  32.          StaticName="Contract_x0020_Duration"
  33.          Name="Contract Duration"
  34.          Description="Duration of the Contract"
  35.          Group="Custom Columns"
  36.          xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" />
  37.   <Field DisplayName="Earnings"
  38.          Type="Currency"
  39.          Required="FALSE"
  40.          ID="{5205d996-6502-4823-9350-180c4e2f771c}"
  41.          StaticName="Earnings"
  42.          Name="Earnings"
  43.          Description="Earnings"
  44.          Min="0" Decimals="2"
  45.          Group="Custom Columns"
  46.          xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" />
  47.   <Field DisplayName="Contract Date"
  48.          Type="DateTime"
  49.          Required="FALSE"
  50.          ID="{5b6173f8-d2c8-4cc2-84ac-8fc5541e8464}"
  51.          StaticName="Contract_x0020_Date"
  52.          Name="Contract Date"
  53.          Description="Date of the Contract"
  54.          Group="Custom Columns"
  55.          xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" />
  56. </Elements>


Note that the Content Type Job Contract references all Site Columns by the ID. The directory structure created is the same found at the 12 Hive (the directory C: \ Program Files \ Common Files \ Microsoft Shared \ web server extensions \ 12)

At this point we are not using the class FeatureSettings, which was created automatically by WSP Builder. In another lesson I will explain how Event Receivers work, but not this time, so comment out the class code.

The files *. bat in the project are batch files to install or uninstall the solution in SharePoint and were written manually.

Other key files (*. snk) and text were created automatically by WSP Builder to sign the assembly and for reference in creating the WSP package respectively.

To deploy the solution, create the WSP package as shown in Figure 10:

10
Figure 10 - Creating the WSP package

With the WSP package created, run the Install.bat and watch it run by the prompt shown in Figure 11:

1D806A05AA43783B_329_10
Figure 11 – Running the batch file Install.bat

Download the solution here.

Content Types can be created in 3 ways, as exemplified in this post. They all have pros and cons.

We also saw that before creating content types an analysis of what metadata should be considered is necessary. Taxonomy is the answer.

Lesson 2 continues on Content Types in the next post, which shows the hierarchy of the types of Content Types.

References:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms472236(office.14).aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101495511033.aspx
http://www.endusersharepoint.com/
Book: SharePoint 2007 Development – WROX

Cheers,

Marcel Medina