Sharepoint site definition file

Then does modification to the site def or site template get inherited by the site instance? Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Niranjan Kulkarni Niranjan Kulkarni 1, 1 1 gold badge 12 12 silver badges 32 32 bronze badges. Varun Verma Varun Verma 1, 3 3 gold badges 15 15 silver badges 29 29 bronze badges. Content db? Please elaborate? Instance means new site from this def or template — variable. Show 1 more comment. Site definition is a template you creating it using codes.

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Stack Gives Back A SharePoint Foundation website is based on particular site definition configuration. For this reason, you can think of a site definition as a family of configurations, although some families contain only one configuration. The following are the four site definitions whose configurations can be used to create new websites.

The following site definitions are also built into SharePoint Foundation, but they cannot be used as the basis for new sites. WIKI provides a site definition configuration for legacy wiki sites that were originally created in an earlier version of SharePoint Foundation. Because standard site pages on SGS sites are wiki-enabled pages, users do not have to create sites that are specifically for wikis. Site definition files are cached in memory on the server when first accessed at run time, which improves scalability and performance by reducing unnecessary data storage or retrieval, and by allowing uncustomized pages to be reused across sites.

The information contained in these files is pulled from the cache for each subsequent request. When site pages are customized, excluding browser-based customizations such as modifications to Web Parts, the pages and their contents are stored in the content database. The contents of customized pages are routed through safe mode parsing, which prevents unsafe server-side code from executing, and which depends entirely on the Safe Controls list—specified in the web.

The following are the prominent XML files that govern the structure and content of a site definition. Since you chose to create a site definition instead of a web template, you need to do at least one of the following bulleted items, which cannot be done with web templates. For more information about whether to create a custom site definition or a web template, see Deciding Between Custom Web Templates and Custom Site Definitions.

Register a custom email footer that will appear in email messages that are sent from websites that are created from your custom site definition. Do this by adding a ServerEmailFooter element as a child of the Project element. Configure your custom site type to use a custom file dialog post processor or a custom external security provider.

Do this by adding a Components element as a child of the Project element. For more information, see Components Element Site and the topics for its child elements. Register a custom document type for use in the document libraries of websites that are created from your custom site definition. Do this by following these steps.

Add a DocumentTemplates element as a child of the Project element, and add a DocumentTemplate element as a child of the DocumentTemplates element. Set the Type attribute of the DocumentTemplate element to a value of or greater to ensure that it does not conflict with future document templates created by Microsoft.

Set the DisplayName attribute and the Description attribute of the DocumentTemplate element to appropriate values. Add and set the other possible attributes of the DocumentTemplate element as needed. Then add at least one child DocumentTemplateFile element to it, and set its attributes. Repeat the previous steps for each custom document template that is a part of your custom site definition.

Each DocumentTemplate element must be given a different Type attribute value. You will register any built-in document templates for your custom site type in a later step.

Set the following attributes of the Project element to appropriate values. Do not use the UIVersion attribute. For more information about these attributes, see Project Element Site.

If there are any built-in document templates that you want to register for use on your custom sites, you can do so by following these steps. If you did not already do so in an earlier step, add a DocumentTemplates element as a child of the Project element. Copy DocumentTemplate elements as needed from the Onet. Set the ID attribute of each Configuration element to consecutive numbers beginning with 0.

When you are making all additional changes to the Configuration elements, remember that the configuration in the Onet. So in the continuing example, configuration 0 in the Onet.

Set the Name attribute of each Configuration element. By convention, the former is an acronym of the latter. In the continuing example, you give the names "RC" and "RDW" to configurations 0 and 1, respectively. In each Configuration element, add child List elements to the Lists element as needed to ensure that each website that is created from one of your configurations is automatically created with the lists you want.

For any of the built-in list types, copy the List element from one of the built-in Onet. For your custom list types, you must construct a List element. For more information about registering a list in a site definition configuration, see List Element Site and Building Block: Lists and Document Libraries.

In each Configuration element, add child Module elements in the Modules element as needed to ensure that each website that is created from one of your configurations is automatically created with the files that it needs. Each module that you reference in a configuration must be defined in the main Modules element that is also in the Onet. For more information about registering modules in an Onet. In each Configuration element, add child Feature elements in the SiteFeatures element and WebFeatures element as needed to ensure that each website that is created from one of your configurations is automatically created with the Features it needs and that they are activated.

Use the SiteFeatures element to register features that are scoped to the site collection. Use WebFeatures to register features that are scoped to the website. For example, you could add a content type, as described in How to: Add a Content Type to a Site , or a column type to your configuration, as described in How to: Add a Column to a Site. To register any of the built-in Features that are included with SharePoint Foundation, you can copy Feature elements from the SiteFeatures element and the WebFeatures element in any of the built-in Onet.

If you want a specific page to open automatically for users who create a site from your site definition configuration, add an ExecuteUrl element to the Configuration element.

Typically, this element is used to open a specific custom application page that you have created on which the user can set certain options relevant to your custom site type. For more information about this element, see ExecuteUrl Element Site.

Add child NavBar elements in the NavBars element to customize the navigation areas of pages in the websites that are created from your custom site definition.