Introduction
Provisioning SharePoint makes it easier for developers and the organization too, as it reduces time consuming manual effort and resource utilization. More importantly, it is a single-click, reusable component, suitable for anyone!
Here, we will see how to develop a reusable component – methods and functionalists.
SharePoint Web Application Creation
We will create a web application using server-side code. We can achieve the same using client-server object model and power-shell script too.
We will see important methods and the logic involved in creating a feature:
SPWebApplicationBuilder _webAppBuilder = new SPWebApplicationBuilder(SPFarm.Local);
SPWebApplication _webApplication;
_webAppBuilder.Port = 2255;
Uri url = new Uri("http://spTestSite:2255/");
string host = url.Host;
int port = 2255;
_webAppBuilder.HostHeader = host;
_webAppBuilder.ApplicationPoolId = "Sharepoint - " + port.ToString();
_webAppBuilder.IdentityType = IdentityType.SpecificUser;
SPFarmManagedAccountCollection manaccountcollection = new SPFarmManagedAccountCollection(SPFarm.Local);
SPManagedAccount maccount = manaccountcollection.FindOrCreateAccount(“DomainUserName”);
//use the SPManagedAccount to receive the username and password automatically
_webAppBuilder.ManagedAccount = maccount;
_webAppBuilder.RootDirectory = new System.IO.DirectoryInfo(“C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\” + host + port.ToString());
_webAppBuilder.CreateNewDatabase = true;
// Create new database name
_webAppBuilder.DatabaseName = “WSS_Content_” + host + port.ToString();
//Mention the database server name
_webAppBuilder.DatabaseServer = “SQL01”;
_webAppBuilder.UseNTLMExclusively = true;
// Create new web application
_webApplication = _webAppBuilder.Create();
_webApplication.Provision();
// Pass the parameter as per your requirement
SPSite mySiteCollection = _webApplication.Sites.Add(“/”, “Test Site”, “Site Description”, 1033, “STS#0”, “PrimaryDomainme”, “PrimaryAdminUserName”, “PrimaryTest@mail.com”);
mySiteCollection.Close();
In this method, we are creating a SharePoint web application using server-side code SPWebApplicationBuilder Member. This initializes a new instance of the class using the default Web application settings and exposes further properties like ManagedAccount, RootDirectory, CreateNewDatabase, DatabaseName, DatabaseServer, UseNTLMExclusively, et.,
The next level code is SPWebApplication Class – It represents Internet Information Services (IIS) load-balanced Web application that is installed on a server farm and exposes the methods as Delete(), Update(), etc.,
SharePoint Top-level Site Collection Creation
In the following method we will see how to create site collection through code using SharePoint objects SPSite, SPWeb and SPSiteCollection as below.
//Code to create site collection programmatically
string _url = "http://spTestSite:2255/";
SPSite site = new SPSite(_url);
SPWeb web = null;
try {
SPWebApplication webapp = site.WebApplication;
web = site.OpenWeb();
SPSiteCollection spSites = webapp.Sites;
webapp.Sites.Add("sites/team1", "Title of the Site", "Description", 1033, "STS#0", "PrimaryDomainName", "PrimaryAdminUserName", "PrimaryTest@mail.com");
}
At this point we have created the web application and the top-level site collection as needed. Where, “sites/team1” is the top level site, “Title of the Site” is to mention the name/title of the top-level site, “Description” is to mention the description, “1033” is the English language code, “STS#0” is the sharepoint site template code, “PrimaryDomainName” is the required primary domain name, “PrimaryAdminUserName” is the first primary admin user and “PrimaryTest@mail.com” is the primary admin user email id.
Further, “Sites.Add()” method will create/add the site collection into the web application with the required parameter as we described in the code.
SharePoint Required Default Features Activation for the Team Site
Next, we need to move on- to activate the SharePoint required features ‘Activate SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure’ and ‘Activate the publishing feature’. These features will not get activated by default when the site been created as a “Team Site (STS#0)”. So, let’s activate the same features using code as below.
//Code to activate Sharepoint Features programmatically
string _url = "http://spTestSite:2255/";
SPSite site = new SPSite(_url);
if (site != null) {
// Activate SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure
site.Features.Add(new Guid("f6924d36-2fa8-4f0b-b16d-06b7250180fa"), true);
foreach(SPWeb web in site.AllWebs) {
// Activate the publishing feature for all created webs.
web.Features.Add(new Guid("94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb"), true);
}
}
Where, SPSite object used to get the current site, the Guid (“f6924d36-2fa8-4f0b-b16d-06b7250180fa”) is the “SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure” feature which activates the feature at site level.
Next, the Guid (“94c94ca6-b32f-4da9-a9e3-1f3d343d7ecb”) is the “SharePoint Server Publishing” feature which activates the feature at web level.
SharePoint Group Creation and Role Assign
Now, we create the group using the object SPGroup. First, we check whether the group is created or not using the object SPGroupCollection. Once the group has been created, assign the role using the object ‘SPRoleDefinition’ and ‘SPRoleAssignment ’.
SPGroup groupMngr = null;
//check group already exists or not
if (!ContainsGroup(web.SiteGroups, web.Title + "_" + CustomTestGroup)) {
web.SiteGroups.Add(web.Title + "_" + CustomTestGroup, web.Author, web.Author, "CustomTestGroup");
groupMngr = web.SiteGroups[web.Title + "_" + CustomTestGroup];
groupMngr.OnlyAllowMembersViewMembership = false;
groupMngr.Update();
// assign edit permissions to ‘CustomTestGroup’
SPRoleDefinition roleDefinition = web.RoleDefinitions.GetByType(SPRoleType.Editor);
SPRoleAssignment roleAssignment = new SPRoleAssignment(groupMngr);
roleAssignment.RoleDefinitionBindings.Add(roleDefinition);
web.RoleAssignments.Add(roleAssignment);
web.Update();
}
private bool ContainsGroup(SPGroupCollection groupCollection, string index) {
try {
SPGroup testGroup = groupCollection[index];
return true;
} catch (SPException e) {
return false;
}
}
SharePoint List/Libraries Creation
We then create the document library using the object ‘SPList’, ‘SPDocumentLibrary’. Checking if the library does not exist, create the new list or library as per the requirement. Once the library is created, create the necessary fields with the type accordingly using the object ‘SPFieldType’. Enable the library versioning. Next, break the Inheritance permission of the library and assign custom group permission. Then, create the custom view using the object ‘SPView’ and mention which column should appear in the view state. Finally, update the library at the last to complete the process.
string CustomerLibraryName = “customLibrary”;
SPList list = web.Lists.TryGetList(CustomerLibraryName);
if (list == null) {
Guid customerGUID = web.Lists.Add(CustomerLibraryName, "Custom Document Library", SPListTemplateType.DocumentLibrary);
SPDocumentLibrary CustomerDocLibrary = web.Lists[customerGUID] as SPDocumentLibrary;
CustomerDocLibrary.Fields.Add(“columnDocName”, SPFieldType.Text, true);
CustomerDocLibrary.Fields.Add(“columnDocCreator”, SPFieldType.Text, true);
CustomerDocLibrary.Fields.Add(“columnDocContributors”, SPFieldType.Text, true);
CustomerDocLibrary.Fields.Add(“columnDocSubject “, SPFieldType.Text, true);
CustomerDocLibrary.Fields.Add(“columnDocDate”, SPFieldType.DateTime, true);
//enable versioning
CustomerDocLibrary.EnableVersioning = true;
//check Inheritance broken or not
if (!CustomerDocLibrary.HasUniqueRoleAssignments) {
CustomerDocLibrary.BreakRoleInheritance(true);
}
CustomerDocLibrary.RoleAssignments.Add(roleAssignment); CustomerDocLibrary.Update();
SPView CustomerView = CustomerDocLibrary.DefaultView; CustomerView.ViewFields.DeleteAll(); CustomerView.ViewFields.Add(“columnDocTitle”); CustomerView.ViewFields.Add(“columnDocLinkFileName”); CustomerView.ViewFields.Add(“columnDocDate”); CustomerView.Update(); CustomerDocLibrary.Update(); web.Lists[customerGUID].Update();
}
Finally, place all implemented code in the SharePoint event receiver file and once the file gets deployed successfully into the SharePoint site, activate the event receiver then the required lists/library, fields and group creation with assigned role. This will create the same in SharePoint, avoids manual creation and helps to save time!
