Deployment of Reusable Content pt2

It has been confirmed that the issue with versioning of automatically updateable reusable content within content deployment is a 'known issue' and will be addressed as either a hotfix or within the next service pack.

Deployment of Reusable Content

I came across this issue the other day, which has been raised with MS who initially said they could reproduce it but now say they can't but are looking at it.

In the first instance where there is an approved version (v1.0) of the reusable content, it is added to the page and the page is deployed and the correct information is displayed.
When the reusable content is changed, so that we have a pending version (i.e. v1.1), and the deployment process is run it removes all previous versions, so that only the pending version exists, on the destination server. So if you have v2.1 pending and run the process, the destination server will have v2.1 from the source server but shows v0.1

The view on the source server is fine and so is a predeployment view (which is the site extended to Internet Zone)

Steps to reproduce the issue:

• add some reusable content, with automatic updating, and approve it
• add to a page (standard article page will do) approve the page so that it deploys
• deploy to the destination server and it works as expected
• edit the reusable content and leave it in a pending state, on the source server, this now shows as v1.0 published and v2.0 pending.
• run the deployment
• the content disappears from the destination server page that contained the original v1.0 – unexpected
• on the destination server the reusable content shows v1.0 pending with the content from v2.0 pending from the source server and no previous versions.

Both servers have WSS3.0 SP1 and MOSS 2007 SP1 installed, Windows 2003 OS

Visual Studio extensions for Visual Studio 2008

Got this from the SharePoint blogs:

Announcing the VSeWSS version 1.2!

Hi everyone, Chris Johnson from the WSS PM team here.  We are really excited and pleased to announce that Version 1.2 of the Visual Studio extensions for WSS is now available for download!

This version adds Visual Studio 2008 support to the extensions.  This is something many of you have been asking for.

Download VSeWSS 1.2 right here.

Today we are releasing the English edition of the Version 1.2 extensions.  We will be releasing the German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Chinese Traditional, Chinese Simplified, and Korean language versions shortly.

We know many of you have been eagerly awaiting VS2008 support, so we hope this release will help you build fantastic SharePoint solutions with the latest Visual Studio toolset.

Note:  Version 1.2 is only for Visual Studio 2008.  If you use Visual Studio 2005, you should still use Version 1.1 (download).

Also, I'm very excited to introduce: http://www.MSSharePointDeveloper.com! If you want to learn about SharePoint development, we designed this website to be the best place for you to get started. It has links to whitepapers, virtual labs, webcasts, screencasts, quickstarts, and other useful resources.  You can also download a virtual machine that has been optimized for SharePoint development and includes all the tools you need to get started. So, go to http://www.MSSharePointDeveloper.com now! It's an easy URL to remember, so pass it along to your friends!

VSeWSS User Guide

In case you have not seen our User Guide for VSeWSS, you can download it here.  It is a great resource that explains how you can use VSeWSS in many common SharePoint development scenarios.

What's in VSeWSS?

Version 1.2 of the Visual Studio 2008 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services contains the following tools to aid developers in building SharePoint applications:

Visual Studio 2008 Project Templates

• Web Part
• Team Site Definition
• Blank Site Definition
• List Definition
• Empty SharePoint Project

Visual Studio 2008 Item Templates (items that can be added into an existing project)

• Web Part
• Custom Field
• List Definition (with optional Event Receiver)
• Content Type (with optional Event Receiver
• Module
• List Instance
• List Event Handler
• Template

SharePoint Solution Generator

This stand-alone program generates a Site Definition project from an existing SharePoint site. The program enables developers to use the browser and Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer to customize the content of their sites before creating code by using Visual Studio.

Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

• Q: Does VSeWSS 1.2 support Visual Studio 2008?
  A: Yes.

• Q: Does VSeWSS 1.2 support Visual Stuido 2005?
  A: No,  you must use Version 1.1 with Visual Studio 2005.

• Q: What additional features are in Version 1.2?
  A: For Version 1.2 we focussed on Visual Studio 2008 support only.

• Q: Does VSeWSS support Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
  A: Yes, VSeWSS supports both Windows SharePoint Services and Office SharePoint Server.

• Q: Does VSeWSS support Windows XP or "remote debugging"?
  A: No, VSeWSS only works against local SharePoint installations.

Thanks!

Chris Johnson
Program Manager – SharePoint

Publication End Date displayed

I've just had a request from our tester that the PublishingConsole.ascx control display the publication end date. Looking at the code, I thought no problem, as the publication start date, version and status are displayed, the end date must be exposed as well! Quick trip into MSDN to see the properties of the Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls to see the name guessing that it would be something similar the the PagePublishDateIndicator or the PublishingPageVersionIndicator and, you've guessed it, the end date is not exposed as an indicator.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.publishing.webcontrols.aspx

Site Definition Viewer

I came across this handy little tool for viewing Site Definition files.

More Deployment Issues

Having struggled with this for what seems like an eternity - and has since resulted in the project being put back by some considerable margin - it was reading through some more blogs that I came across what seemed to be the solution to the Masterpage problem (see previous posts).

By developing a feature that will create a site based upon a specific Masterpage and have it deploy correctly, the feature creation was OK and seemed to work but the associated contentTypes I could get to be created at the same time. After a lot of time yesterday the feature installed, but only at a site level because if the scope is changed to 'Farm' or 'Web' it would not install. So with this in mind I copied the relevant files to the WFE and installed/activated the feature. Created a new site on the backend as it was created as required and then ran the deployment - guess what the Masterpage was reset again!!!!

This has gone beyond a joke and I would recommend anyone thinking about going down the customization and deployment routes to seriously consider the time and resources required.

We will be raising this issue with our Gold Supplier and get them to raise a ticket with MS.

Create a Custom Site Definition

I just came across this article by Eric Shupps on how to create a custom site definition. It looks as though it may help in the deployment issues where custom masterpages are not carried across to the WFE.