Transcript Fall 2008 Connections Conference Template

Packaging Your Advanced
SharePoint Customizations
Neil Iversen
Inetium
http://justaddcode.com
Solution Basics
• At its core, a solution pushes files around
●
The File Bus of SharePoint
• ‘Farm Safe’ – Works across Front Ends
• Deployed to the Farm
Solution Life Cycle – High Level
Develop
Deploy
• Core
functionality
created
• Made
available on
the
SharePoint
server
Develop
Update
Deploy
Update
• Additional
changes
made and
solution is
rebuilt
• Deploy
updated
Solution
Remove
• Removed
from
SharePoint
Features
•
•
•
•
Deployable unit of functionality
Used to customize SharePoint
Extensively used by SharePoint itself
Stored in the Hive
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●
12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES
Each feature in its own directory
Feature Lifecycle
Installed
Activated
Deactivated
Uninstalled
Types of Features
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Content Type
Custom Action
Delegate Controls
Events
Feature Stapling
Field
Lists (Templates and Instances)
Module
Workflow
Why do I need this fancy packaging?
• You need something that isn’t available in
the OOB Features
• The OOB Features do/don’t do something
you need
• You are deploying something outside of
SharePoint
• And you still care about change control
Individual Developer Environments
●
Developers build functionality into
features/solutions
Developer
Alice
Developer
Bob
Developer
Charlie
Developer
Merge
Stage
Prod
Feature Receivers
• Executes code when the state changes
• Key to our ability to make drastic changes
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“If you can code it you can do it”
• Allows for extremely powerful code to get added
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While still being easily deployable
Overrides
• FeatureInstalled, FeatureUninstalling
• FeatureActivated, FeatureDeactivating
• Example
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<Feature Id="0a7e1ca9-ee71-4407-80a0-b5b57f4f6f5d"
Title=“My Feature Reciever"
Scope="Site"
ReceiverAssembly=“MyAssembly, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,
PublicKeyToken=e35a4d2663eae0ae"
ReceiverClass=“MyAssembly.MyFeatureReciever"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
Feature Receivers – Getting Context
• Getting Context
●
Retrieving the Current Scoped Object
• SPFeatureReceiverProperties
– SPFeatureReceiverProperties.Feature.Parent
• Cast to the appropriate type
– Scope: Web
» SPWeb web = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent;
» SPSite site = (SPSite)properties.Feature.Parent
Scopes
•
•
•
•
Farm
Web App
Site
Web
Database
WFE A
WFE B
http://sitecollection
http://sitecollection/deptA
http://sitecollection/deptB
Indexer
Extranet WFE
http://external
http://external/clientA
Demo: Our first Custom Feature
Feature Receivers - Debugging
• Based on Deployment/Activation Method
• Stsadm
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Runs as currently logged in user
Debug/Console.WriteLine
System.Diagnostics.Debugger.Launch();
• Web Interface
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Runs as App Pool user
Need to use logger (EventLog, or some Logging
code)
Attach to w3wp.exe
• DLL Deployment
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Overwrite Existing DLL
iisreset
stsadm –o activatefeature -force
Testing Your Code
• Unit Testing Features
●
●
Pretty straight forward if you Develop on a
SharePoint environment
Probably want to ignore your abstraction
violations (SharePoint mocks are tough)
• Always test Farm/Scope safety
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●
Need a multi server environment
Can you make it part of your build?
Feature Object Model
• SPFarm.FeatureDefinitions
• SPSite.Features
• SPWeb.Features
• SPFeature
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SPFeatureDefinition
Demo: Exploring the Feature OM
Feature Properties
• Configuration for your Feature
• Allow different values for Dev/Test/Prod
• Combine with scoped property bags to set
configurations
• Example
<Properties>
<Property Key=“MyKey" Value=“123" />
<Property Key=“DBServer" Value=“prodsql001" />
</Properties>
Demo: Working with Properties
Manually Activating Features
• Why?
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Evade chaining restrictions (at your own peril)
Working with Hidden Features
Manage Stages of a Site with a Web Part
Creating a ‘Suicide Feature’
Manually Activating a Feature
• Get your Context
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Ex: SPWeb
• Find the Feature Collection
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Ex: SPWeb.Features
• Find the Feature’s Guid
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Ex: Guid featureGuid = new Guid(“0a7e1ca9-ee714407-80a0-b5b57f4f6f5d”)
• Activate!
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Ex: SPWeb.Features.Add(featureGuid)
Demo: Manually Activating Features
Feature Properties
• Configuration for your Feature
• Allow different values for Dev/Test/Prod
• Combine with scoped property bags to set
configurations
• Example
<Properties>
<Property Key=“MyKey" Value=“123" />
<Property Key=“DBServer" Value=“prodsql001" />
</Properties>
Demo: Working with Properties
Dependencies and Features
• Your Feature might need to assume another
feature is already active
• Make several smaller features, then wrap them
into a single feature that is dependant on them
• Dependencies can only be one level deep
• Example
<ActivationDependencies>
<ActivationDependency FeatureId="52890518-036f4027-babd-f4c7df3ee429" />
<ActivationDependency FeatureId="6d276cfc-1c8446cc-8566-500e66213e06 " />
</ActivationDependencies>
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Dependency Limitations
• Feature Chains
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Limited to one visible feature
• Dependencies can’t be triggered at a
higher scope
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Ex: Farm Feature can’t depend on a Web
Feature
• Features can’t be automatically
activated at different scopes
●
Ex: Web Feature can’t activate a Farm
Feature
Feature Dependency
Dependant
Parent
Web
Web
Site
App
Farm
Site
App
Farm
Parent
Feature
Child A
Child B
Hidden Feature
Hidden
Feature
Child A
Hidden Feature – Activate Child
1.
Hidden
Feature
2.
Child A
Hidden Feature - Deactivate
2.
Hidden
Feature
1.
Child A
Hidden Feature - Deactivate
3.
Hidden
Feature
1.
2.
Child A
Child B
Demo: Dependencies are Tasty!
Putting it Together
• Problem: Modifying the web.config in a
Farm Safe manner
• Solution: SPWebConfigModification and
Features
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SPWebConfigModification is Farm Safe
Scoping does become an issuee
• Not for the faint of heart!
Demo: Farm Safe Web.config
Getting a little crazy
• What about non-SharePoint assets?
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Databases, other web sites, …
• Is there an advantage?
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Depends on reason for creating the Feature
Most common is Devs can’t touch Prod
Other Interesting Approaches
• Manually Deploy across a Farm
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Create your own Timer Jobs
Manually add them to the different WFEs
• PowerShell ‘Feature’
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Execute PowerShell via a Feature
• PowerShell v2 Scripts
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Has ability to execute remote commands
Demo: Deploying SQL Components
Your Feedback is Important
Please fill out a session evaluation form and
either put them in the basket near the exit
or drop them off at the conference
registration desk.
Thank you!
Questions?
Thanks!
Neil Iversen
Inetium
http://justaddcode.com