Windows Server

Brian · Guest

Hello All,

We wanted to add a button to lists that currently exist in a few site
collections we have. I modified the SCHEMA.XML files of the underlying lists
so that the button shows up (yes we know this can get stomped by an SP).

All was going well when I noticed that some sites did not show the button.
Part of the reason of modifying the SCHEMA.XML files in the STS directory was
to make sure the button showed up everywhere.

A little bit of checking and it turns out that these sites are based on a
template site that I believe was taken prior to the changes in the SCHEMA.XML
files in the STS directory. My guess is that this is why they do not show up
on these sites.

So, I pulled the template out and started exploring the manifest.xml file.
It appears to have a copy of the contents of all (?) the schema.xml files.

Am I really on the right path here? Does anyone know if I edit this and then
push it back into the central template gallery, will the button appear on
existing lists of sites created from this template?

Also, is it possible to extract a template from the central template
gallery? I see functions to enum, add and delete templates but not "extract".

--
Take care,

Brian

Jim Buyens · Guest

Responses interspersed.

"Brian" wrote:

Brian · Guest

Jim,

Thanks for the reply!

Doh! This is going to be a fun one to explain to everyone.

With regard to the "extract" or "export" functionality, I may have made a
mistake in posting that part of the question to WSS group instead of Portal
group. These sites are under Portal so the top level sites are created via
templates in the central template gallery. They only interface to that is via
stsadm.

But that is fine, I can pose the question to that group. Your answers still
explain the problem I am facing.

Take Care,

Brian

"Jim Buyens" wrote:

Brian · Guest

Also, can someone from Microsoft ISV support please confirm this.

"Jim Buyens" wrote:

Wei-Dong XU [MSFT] · Guest

Hi Brian,

"All was going well when I noticed that some sites did not show the button.
"
I guess these sites who don't show the button should be the area, not the
WSS site. Is that correct?

This is due to the product design of SPS and WSS. At the folder below, we
can find the templates files for WSS & SPS.
Local_Drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server
Extensions\60\TEMPLATE\<LCID> (1033 for en-US)

WSS Site Definitions:
STS Team Site
MPS Meeting Site

SPS Site Definitions (Area):
SPS, SPSPers, SPSSITES, SPSTOPIC, ETC

So if you are going to change the List template schema.xml, please also
customize the corresponding list template of the area.

Please note: Changing a site definition after it has already been deployed
can break existing sites and is not supported!

After the changing to the template, one IISreset is required.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any question.

Best Regards,
Wei-Dong XU (WD.XU)
Microsoft Product Support Services
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Brian · Guest

Hi Wei- Dong,

Actually it is not portal areas. It is strictly WSS sites. Here is the
sequence of events that I think illustrate the problem:

1.) A template is created from the default team template called "Template A".
2.) This template is then added to the portal Central Template Gallery via
stsadm.
3.) Changes are then made to the schema.xml files for lists contained in the
STS subdirectory under template (drive:Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033\STS\LISTS) which affects all
sites created with the default Team template.
4.) Sites created with "Template A" do not show the modifications made to
lists schema.xml files as described in step 3 above.

Jim's post sounds correct to me. Essentially since the template was taken
prior to the modifications, it does not reflect those changes. That is
logical and ok.

The problem is that it does not appear there is a way to correct this and I
am left with sites that I cannot modify to include new functionality that was
made. I need to verify that indeed this cannot be corrected.

Thanks,

Brian

"Wei-Dong XU [MSFT]" wrote:

Wei-Dong XU [MSFT] · Guest

Hi Brian,

Thanks for more information! So for your scenario,

" Anything in the template file gets copied into each and every site when
that site is created."
I agree with Jim. When the template is applied, the new feature in the
template will not affect the existing sites.

"I cannot modify to include new functionality that was made"
"The problem is that it does not appear there is a way to correct this ..."
The template of WSS sits as the base of the generated site pages/list etc.
So after the creation, each generated page has its own code. To change
them, the suggestion from Jim directs the way:
"...change eash site manually, or write a program that modifies each site.
..."

From my view, you can write one program to extract the necessary data out
from the created list and then remove the old list from WSS; after the
creation of new list, insert the data then. This will be very quick then
altering them manually.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any question.

Best Regards,
Wei-Dong XU (WD.XU)
Microsoft Product Support Services
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Jim Buyens · Guest

First, in the future, if you aren't referring to SharePoint Portal Server,
please don't use the word "portal" as you did below in your point 2.).

As to sites that from a template taken before your change to schema.xml,
you'll have to either change eash site manually, or write a program that
modifies each site. This could be a Web Part, a command-line program, or a
Windows app.

In my view, the *real* answer is to stop replicating your application this
way. Otherwise, as you've discovered, you end up with dozens, hundreds, or
thousands of team-level installations to maintain, instead of a single
enterprise app.

Jim Buyens
Microsoft FrontPage MVP
http://www.interlacken.com
Author of:
*----------------------------------------------------
|\---------------------------------------------------
|| Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Inside Out
|| Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Inside Out
||---------------------------------------------------
|| Web Database Development Step by Step .NET Edition
|| Microsoft FrontPage Version 2002 Inside Out
|| Faster Smarter Beginning Programming
|| (All from Microsoft Press)
|/---------------------------------------------------
*----------------------------------------------------

"Brian" wrote:

Jim Buyens · Guest

I agree, if there are a lot of sites to correct, writing a small "fix it"
program is probably the best approach. But if there are just a few sites to
correct and the change is minor, I'd probably favor the Nike apoproach (Just
do it).

Jim Buyens
Microsoft FrontPage MVP
http://www.interlacken.com
Author of:
*----------------------------------------------------
|\---------------------------------------------------
|| Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Inside Out
|| Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003 Inside Out
||---------------------------------------------------
|| Web Database Development Step by Step .NET Edition
|| Microsoft FrontPage Version 2002 Inside Out
|| Faster Smarter Beginning Programming
|| (All from Microsoft Press)
|/---------------------------------------------------
*----------------------------------------------------

"Wei-Dong XU [MSFT]" wrote:

Mike Walsh · Guest

Brian · Guest

Jim -

Thanks for the reply. In the case that I am mentioning, portal is the
correct term. These are WSS sites under a Portal. The template in question is
a WSS Site Template published to the Central Template Gallery of SharePoint
Portal Server. As this straddles functionality in each technology, but the
template is a WSS template, I posted to this group.

Take Care,

Brian

"Jim Buyens" wrote:

Brian · Guest

Thanks everyone for your posts.

I agree with not distributing the application in this manner and I open to
other options. The issue is that the desired functionality is requested to be
behind a button in the toolbar of a list or document library. Of course it
may be better given this current situation to deploy a web part that
encapsulates this functionality it is just less convienient for the user and
does not "show" as well.

Given this current deployment model, I understand that I may have to edit
each site manually. In fact, though I do not like it, I accept that it is a
ramification of the way in which this feature was deployed. My confusion here
is where would I do that? The contents of the template do not have a
schema.xml though it appears that this content is contained in the
manifest.xml file.

However, if I am understanding the earlier posts, what I am hearing is that
the template information is actually copied per site somewhere into the db
and I cannot actually edit those existing sites (at least not easily).

Is that the case?

TIA!

"Mike Walsh" wrote:

Wei-Dong XU [MSFT] · Guest

Hi Brian,

Yes, your understanding is very correct. For altering the existing site, as
I know, no any easy way to do, manually or programmatically.

Please feel free to let me know if you have any question.

Best Regards,
Wei-Dong XU (WD.XU)
Microsoft Product Support Services
Get Secure! - www.microsoft.com/security
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Mike Walsh · Guest

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