Extending SharePoint Server 2007 by using Features

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Overview

Applies To

• Microsoft� ASP.NET 2.0
• Microsoft� Visual Studio� .NET 2005
• Microsoft� Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
• Microsoft� SharePoint Portal Server 2007

Summary

Microsoft provides ways to extend the out of the box functionality of SharePoint Portal Server 2007 e.g. Features, SharePoint Designer 2007, Windows Workflow Foundation etc. Features offer flexibility in terms of developing extended functionality � such as Page Templates, List, Content Types, Web Parts, Workflow and events � to new and existing SharePoint 2007 sites.

Contents

• Introduction
• Components of Feature
• Event Handler Feature
• Synchronous and Asynchronous Events
• SPItemEventReceiver
• SPListEventReceiver
• SPWebEventReceiver
• Building the Solution
• Packaging the Solution
• Deploying the Solution
• Activating the Solution
• Testing the Solution
• Un-installing the Solution
• Platforms Tested
• References
• Conclusion

Introduction

The Feature Framework has been extended to allow developers to create custom Features. Features can be deployed by using SharePoint Portal Server 2007 new form of deployment, namely Solution Deployment. Solutions are custom packages (e.g. WSP file) or redistributable CAB files, created by developers and deployed by SharePoint Administrators. Administrator can deploy Features to the individual site or to all Web front End Servers.

In this article, I will walk-through Creating and deploying an Event Handler Feature, which can be activated on the Web or Site, Site Collection, Web Application or Farm Level.

Components of Feature

A Feature can include any number of files, but it must include a Feature.xml file. The Feature.xml file, or Feature manifest, is the driver of the Feature, and this is the first file SharePoint looks at when invoking a Feature.

Features are organized in folders under the Features directory located under 12 hives; Where SharePoint Server 2007 puts all of its system files, at the following path: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12.

In addition to the Feature.xml file, Features can include sub-folders and supporting files, such as element files that include for example, event handler references, ASPX pages deployed as part of the Feature, ASCX files, and DLL and RESX files.

Event Handler Feature

SharePoint Event Handler is a program that enhances and adds functionality throughout SharePoint List, List Items or Sites. Event Feature can be deployed to new or existing sites by using Features. SharePoint Object Model provides several event classes that can target event handlers to List, List Item or Sites.

Synchronous and Asynchronous Events

In addition to asynchronous events, SharePoint Server 2007 introduces synchronous events i.e. events that activate before the action occurs. Synchronous events can trap an item, document library or site before it is deleted. Synchronous events removed the ability for users to delete an item from the document library or event restricts users to delete columns from the document library.

SharePoint Object Model exposes several event classes inherited from Microsoft.SharePoint assembly. There are three main event classes:

• SPItemEventReceiver
• SPListEventReceiver
• SPWebEventReceiver

Each class includes both synchronous and asynchronous methods to work with Item, List or Web Level. In this article, I will demonstrate how to hook an ItemDeleting, FieldDeleting or SiteDeleting Event to restrict users from deleting an item from the document library or from deleting a column from the document library.

SPItemEventReceiver

By overriding a member of the SPItemEventReceiver class, developers can restrict users from deleting, updating an Item in a List. Some of the important SPItemEventReceiver class members are described below:

Event	Event Type	Description
ItemAdded	Asynchronous	After an Item added in a list
ItemAdding	Synchronous	Before an Item added in a list
ItemAttachmentAdded	Asynchronous	After an attachment added from a list item
ItemAttachmentAdding	Synchronous	Before an attachment added from a list item
ItemAttachmentDeleted	Asynchronous	After attachment deleted from a list item
ItemAttachmentDeleting	Synchronous	Before attachment deleted from a list item
ItemCheckedOut	Asynchronous	After an item checked-In in a list
ItemCheckingOut	Synchronous	Before an item is checked out in a list
ItemCheckedIn	Asynchronous	After an item is checked-In in a list
ItemCheckingIn	Synchronous	Before an item is checked-In in a list
ItemDeleted	Asynchronous	After an item is deleted from a list
ItemDeleting	Synchronous	Before an item is deleted from a list
ItemUpdated	Asynchronous	After an item is updated in a list
ItemUpdating	Synchronous	Before an item is updated in a list

For the demonstration, I am using a synchronous event i.e. ItemDeleting, which restricts users from deleting an item in a list (document library). You can invoke this event with any type of list of document library by specifying the ListTemplateId attribute in a Feature Schema file e.g. ItemEventReceiver.xml.

See the screenshot below of ItemEventReceiver.cs and ItemEventReceiver.xml for defining the ListTemplateId and Assembly.

The following table shows the default list template integer IDs that you can use in defining the template ID for event handlers.

List Template Id	List Template
100	Generic list
101	Document library
102	Survey
103	Links list
104	Announcements list
105	Contacts list
106	Events list
107	Tasks list
108	Discussion board
109	Picture library
110	Data sources
111	Site template gallery
113	Web Part gallery
114	List template gallery
115	XML Form library
120	Custom grid for a list
200	Meeting Series list
201	Meeting Agenda list
202	Meeting Attendees list
204	Meeting Decisions list
207	Meeting Objectives list
210	Meeting text box
211	Meeting Things To Bring list
212	Meeting Workspace Pages list
300	Portal Sites list
1100	Issue tracking
2002	Personal document library
2003	Private document library

SPListEventReceiver

By overriding a member of the SPListEventReceiver class, developers can restrict users from deleting, updating a list from a Site. Some of the important SPListEventReceiver class members are described below.

Event	Event Type	Description
FieldAdded	Asynchronous	After a document is added in a List (Document Library)
FieldAdding	Synchronous	Before a document is added in a List (Document Library)
FieldDeleted	Asynchronous	After a document is deleted from a list (Document Library)
FieldDeleting	Synchronous	Before a document is deleted from a list (Document Library)
FieldUpdated	Asynchronous	After a document is updated in a list (Document Library)
FieldUpdating	Synchronous	Before a document is updated in a list (Document Library)

For the demonstration, I am using a synchronous event i.e. FieldDeleting, which restricts users from deleting a document from a list (Document Library). In this case, I am again specifying ListTemplateId = 101 for Document Library in a ListEventReceiver.xml file.

SPWebEventReceiver

By overriding a member of the SPWebEventReceiver class, developers can restrict users from deleting a site from a site collection or even completely delete a site collection. Some of the important SPWebEventReceiver class members are described below:

Event	Event Type	Description
SiteDeleted	Asynchronous	After a site collection has been deleted
SiteDeleting	Synchronous	Before a site collection is being deleted
WebDeleted	Asynchronous	After a web site has been deleted
WebDeleting	Synchronous	Before a web site is being deleted

For the demonstration, I am using a synchronous event i.e. WebDeleting, which restricts users from deleting a web site from a site collection.

Building the Solution

We need Visual Studio 2005 to create a solution for providing the required functionality.

The steps required to create an event handler for SharePoint Sever application are described below:

• Create a C#.NET Class Library Solution in Visual Studio .NET 2005 and give a name, such as EventHand<code>lerFeature
• On the Project Menu, choose Add Reference to Open Reference dialog box
• Scroll down to Windows SharePoint Services and click the references the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll
• Create a new folder inside Project Solution and give a name such as Features
• Create three folders inside Features folder and give names such as ItemEventReceiver, ListEventReceiver and WebEventReceiver folders.
• Create Feature.XML and feature schema file for ItemEventReceiver folder.

Attributes of Feature.XML File

Some of the attributes of Feature Tag are described below:

Attribute	Value	Description
ID	GUID	Contains the globally unique identifier (GUID) for the Feature.
Title	Text	Returns the title of the Feature. Limited to 255 characters.
Scope	Farm/WebApplication/Site/Web	Can contain one of the following values: Farm (farm), WebApplication (Web application), Site (site collection), and Web (Web site).
Hidden	True/False	This attribute equals FALSE by default.
AlwaysForceInstall	True/False	Optional Boolean. TRUE if the Feature is installed by force during installation even if the Feature is already installed. For example, if set to TRUE, Feature installation callouts will always fire anytime a user tries to install the Feature (even if it is already installed) by using either the scanforfeatures or installfeature command-line operation. This attribute equals FALSE by default. The AlwaysForceInstall attribute affects Features of all scopes.

See screenshot below of Feature.XML file.

• Repeat the above step from ListEventReceiver and WebEventReceiver folders
• Create a new C#.NET class and give a name, such as ItemEventReceiver.cs class. Add Microsoft.SharePoint namespace and inherit this class from SPItemEventReceiver class in order to override ItemDeleting member for restricting users from deleting an Item from a list or document library
• Repeat the above step and create two more classes and give names, such as ListEventReceiver.cs and WebEventReceiver.cs
• Build the Solution
• Sign the solution by using SN utility of .NET command prompt or specifying the Sign Assembly name in the solution properties.

Note: Complete source code of solution and package file is attached with this article.

Packaging the Features

In SharePoint Server 2007, Solutions are used to package and deploy Features, Site Definitions, Web Parts, Template Files, Assemblies and Code Access Security (CAS) policies to SharePoint front-end servers.

Steps for creating a Solution Package are described below:

• Create Manifest.XML file as part of the same project, which contains information Solution and path of feature files as part of the overall solution.
• Create the Diamond Discovery File i.e. DDF file, which contains information to compress files into a CAB file.
• In the windows command prompt, run MakeCab.Exe on the DDF file to generate the WSP file. Note: MakeCab.Exe file can be downloaded from the Microsoft Site and should be copied into the same directory containing the Visual Studio Project Files.
• See screenshot below to make WSP file by using MakeCab.EXE command line utility.

Deploying the Features

Steps for deploying a Solution Package are described below:

• Use the STSADM.EXE command line tool to add WSP file into the SharePoint Solution Store.

• Navigate to SharePoint Central Administration Page.
• Click "Operation" Tab and Select "Solution Management" to see the list of solutions deployment in a Farm.

See screen below for a list of solutions deployed in a farm.

• Click EventHandlerFeature link to deploy the solution to specified Web Application.
• Click "Deploy Solution" to deploy the EventHandlerFeature Solution to Web Application. See screenshot below.

• Select "Web Application" and Click "OK" to deploy the solution. See screenshot below for details.

Activating the Solution

• Now navigate Site Settings and Select Site Features of the required web site.
• Select the desired Site Feature and click "Activate" button to activate the Feature. See screenshot below for details.

• You can use STSADM command line utility to activate a feature on a particular web site by specifying the URL.

Testing the Solution

• ItemEventResource Feature:

Navigate to a Document Library in a Site, Where you have activated ItemEventResource feature.

• Select a document and click "Delete" to delete the document.
• SharePoint will generate an error page stating that you cannot delete an item from document library.
• De-Activate the feature and try to delete the same document from the library. Now, in this instance, you can successfully delete the document.

• ListEventResource Feature:

Navigate to a Document Library in a Site, Where you have activated ListEventResource feature.

• Select "Settings" and click "Document Library Settings" to navigate the document library settings page.
• Select any column and delete a column from the Document Library.
• SharePoint will generate an error page stating that you cannot delete columns from this Document Library.

• WebEventResource Feature:

Navigate to a Site in a Web Application, Where you have activated WebEventResource feature.

• Click Site Action and Settings.
• Click "Delete this Site" to delete the site.
• SharePoint will generate an error page stating that you cannot delete this Site from the Web Application.
  Note: Please first try this solution to a testing environment in order to avoid any catastrophe.

Deactivating and Uninstalling the Solution

You can choose to turn deactivate a particular feature on your site or web application, or you can choose to uninstall a feature, which completely removes the feature from your SharePoint deployment. Features can be deactivated either through the administrative user interface or by using the STSADM.EXE command-line tool.

• Deactivating the Feature by administrative user interface:
• Browse the site where you want to deactivate the feature, Click Site Actions, and under Site Administration, click Site Features.
• On the Site features page, locate the Feature you want to deactivate and click the Deactivate button to deactivate the Feature

• Deactivating the feature by using the STSADM.EXE command-line utility:
• Open the Windows command-line tool and type the following command: STSADM.EXE �o deactivatefeature �name ItemEventReceiver �url http://mtech.litwareinc.com/
• Uninstalling the Feature by using the STSADM.EXE command-line utility
• Open the Windows command-line tool and type the following command: STSADM.EXE �o uninstallfeature �name ItemEventReceiver �force

Note: Files deployed as part of the Feature, such as ASPX, ASCX files are not removed when a Feature is uninstalled.

Platforms Tested

I have tested the included project on the following platforms:

• Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition SP1

References

• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Administrator's Companion Bill English
• Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SDK

Conclusion

In the article, I have demonstrated how to work with Features to enhance and extend SharePoint Sites by creating features for restricting users from deleting item, column and site for web application. This article also covered Features Packaging and deployment option and how can you de-activate or uninstall an existing feature.

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SharePoint Features it is easy itsaranga 2:28 29 Sep '09   Very simple way to create sharepoint features Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Update or extended the existing Feature Member 4750963 7:39 7 May '09   It's realy a good article. I have a quick question. In what scenario you will go for extending the feature with different version OR you will change the feature Id. Considering your feature is in live and you want to do something in your existing feature. If yes then how? can you please explain it with a bit example. Thanks in Advance. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Error for sitedelete mstabb 7:15 11 Mar '09   Hi Syed I am recieving the following error when trying to activate the "Restrict Deletion of Site from a Site Collection" feature. The other two work fine with no errors. A feature 'Receivers' element must have attribute 'ListTemplateId'. at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEventElement.Initialize() at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEventElement.ElementActivated(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPSqlCommand sqlcmdAppendOnly, SPWebApplication webApp, SPSite site, SPWeb web, Boolean fForce) etc etc etc Just so you know I am using VS2008 etc. Everyting else works fine and I have made some alteration, additions quite successfully despite being a c# novice ported over from VB.net On a positive note I really like your style and find your articles most infomative and logical to follow. Thank you for your efforts. Mark mstabb Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink unable 2 delete the site. shamsiya 16:44 10 Mar '09   Hi, Im a beginner in sharepoint and Im unable 2 activate this feature ' Restrict Deletion of Site from a Site Collection ' by your article . error is we have 2 provide listtemplateid.but in other articles its mentioned as its optional. its giving the same error again.if anybody knows about this error pls let me know. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Correction Jose Pablo Vega 7:29 24 Dec '08   This is a small error, but it might confuse some people. On the article's 1st table, the mistake is on this row: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ItemCheckedOut | Asynchronous | After an item checked-In in a list ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "checked-In" should be "checked-Out". BTW, great article. -JP Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Event not firining TheYoda 21:01 12 Nov '08   Hi! Im using the ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties) to detect when a new document is uploaded to a library. It works like a charm, but when i create a new document (the new button) nothing happens? Why? I must have an event on both because im renaming the documnets in the library... Any ideas? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Feature not found in the sitecollection feature raajii 5:58 22 Oct '08   I have a question, should i include the feature.xml and EventHandlerReceiver.wsp in ..\\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES folder? If it so how to do that? Whether i should create any folder named EventHandlerReceiver inside that, the path I mentioned earlier. and whether i need to put the EventHandlerReceiver.dll in to GAC? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink How can use with itemadded for a particular document library sonashish 9:51 2 Oct '08   Hello This is great article to understand the concept of event handler. I am trying to understand How Can I implement same code for itemadded for particular document library i.e. "My Docs". Any idea Ashish Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Excellent article Member 3634250 11:05 19 Aug '08   great effort Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Excellent article Portatofe 9:38 2 Oct '08   Cake Shop Cooking Dash Lost Secrets: Bermuda Triangle Cinema Tycoon 2: Movie Mania The Hidden Object Show: Season 2 Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Project Server 2007 Event Handler henryoh 6:55 16 Jul '08   I want to automate an Event Handler for Project Server 2007. Do you know of a method that I can deploy using a feature it is set up a bit different? Thanks, H Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Hi, May I ask: SharePoint EventHandler Deployed as Solution + Feature(.wsp or .wsp.cab), cannot deploy, no resources, and cannot trigger EventHandler Code. Thank you! qurl2008 17:12 10 Jul '08   Hi Blogger and friends, I have a problem on SharePoint EventHandler deployed as .wsp. Now I`m on my way to “Solution + feature”, and its deployment depends on .wsp or.wsp.cab file. I almost reach the final step, except for one problem. I use tool to help feature deployment, which is STSDEV(has WPSBuilder quick-start function embodied). It builds automatically a good files structure in the solution folder, and has a series of function like “WSPBuilder, Deploy, to 12 hive, etc.” My problems lays on here: 1. Can addsolution, but cannot deploysolution whenever I add -url parameter. 2. For hundreds of time, Given that I use feature deployment way, the eventHandler never inspire, never work nor be able to debug steply. Why my .dll works and debug well when pragramatically deploy and so pecimistically lousy by the feature approach? Wish to get your kind instructions, thank you again!! Bin> stsadm -o addsolution -filename “D:\NickTest160\NickTest.wsp” (Successful!) stsadm -o execadmsvcjobs stsadm -o deploysolution -name NickTest.wsp -url http://localhost -immediate -allowgacdeployment -force (On This step I Fail! SDK Command Line following gave me such notice: “This solution contains no resources scoped for a web application and cannot be deployed to a particular web application.” I tried again, by removing the -url parameter, and succeed to pass, why? Should one feature be deployed on some level of web, or list? mnn, run it, and EventHandler still doesn`t inspire.. My heart sink. My Feature ID, Solution ID, all .xml files has been carefully overlooked, seems good enough. But Why Lack of Resources? is it that Something more must be embodied in .wsp.cab compact file? I uncompressed it and see, there are: NickTest180.dll manifest.xml (Folder)OssurEventHandler {feature.xml; elements.xml} I looked into relative materials on web, but failed to find the solution. Really hope you help me. Thank you!! Best Regards. Nick. Nick Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Deactivating and uninstalling features [modified] Lucy 5:29 10 Mar '08   What are the risks if you uninstall a feature without deactivating it first? Why must you deactivate feature before uninstalling it? Lucy modified on Monday, March 10, 2008 10:58 AM Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Very Good Effort adnan Tariq Younas 0:59 26 Feb '08   Really very good effort by Adnan. Regards, Tariq Younas Software Engineer SharePoint Developer INTECH PROCESS AUTOMATION Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink can we customer listview with new webpart containing paging sanong 16:11 18 Nov '07   I have customer with design issue where they have big lists in one page hence the page slowly display. We need to have listview webpage with paging so that page can display faster. any advise Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Trap event When a role is created Saisreenath 1:09 14 Nov '07   Hi, I wud like to know if there is a way to trap event when a role is created...how do i do it thanks , Sai sreenath Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Excellent article Aziz ur Rahman Syed 22:43 13 Nov '07   Excellent article Syed Aziz ur Rahman Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) How to Trap the folder creation event Saisreenath 19:09 18 Oct '07   hi guys, im using item added event to trap when a file is added in document library.... it works fine..... i wud like to trap the event when a new folder is created in sharepoint....how do i do this?? thanks Sai sreenath Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Keep up the good work - Adnan boura 18:59 12 Oct '07   Very nice article. It helped me a lot. Thanks Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Great article but please resolve this powerkru 23:31 11 Oct '07   When I activate webevent receiver I get an error that the Receivers element needs an ListTemplateId which is not provided in the example. I'm a beginner in Sharepoint programming, am I missing any thing Thanks for ur Efforts Powerkru Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.43/5 (4 votes) Sharepoint portal Brave_Gass 22:53 4 Oct '07   Where to write code in sharepoint designer? Where should I add server side code(code behind C# code) on the page in sharepoint designer(MOSS 2007) Thanks Prakash Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Put the user profile properties " Departament " in eventhandler deharf 13:15 26 Sep '07   Hi is it possible to insert the user perfile peroperties en the list with column name Departament ej: Departament->Informatique in de event handler "ItemAdding" i make this code but not work !!!! public override void ItemAdding(SPItemEventProperties properties) { SPSite mySite = new SPSite(properties.Context.ToString()); ServerContext myContexto = ServerContext.GetContext(mySite); UserProfileManager myManPerfil = new UserProfileManager(myContexto); UserProfile myUsuario = myManPerfil.GetUserProfile(properties.UserLoginName); if (myUsuario["Department"].Value.ToString() != null) { properties.AfterProperties["Departament"] = myUsuario["Department"].Value.ToString(); } else properties.AfterProperties["Departament"] = "???"; } but this work public override void ItemAdding(SPItemEventProperties properties) { properties.AfterProperties["Departament"] = "Informatique" properties.AfterProperties["Departament"] = "???"; } thank you Farid Dehar Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Hi good article - and I need your advise sanong 6:41 8 Sep '07   We have performance problem with FlatList in sharepoint. On a page we have multiple lists with -some of items contain calcalted field -list contain 100 or 1000 items immagin that when we click a page then it give you blank page for a while and come back with a list view. if you go forward and back again it will repeat again. I am looking for a customise list webpart with better performance. Any one pls. sanong Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Customizing Item Checkingin event handler Red October 7 22:29 19 Aug '07   Hi, In a document library, after an item has been checked in, I need to send a mail to a specific group of people. If I override the item checkingin method, i think i would have to recode for the check-in part. Is there any method where the check-in happens by itself and also, the mail is sent. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Wrong informations about the SPListEventReceiver methods gountick 3:27 16 Aug '07   Hi all, The methods from the SPListEventReceiver class are not FileAdded, FileUpdated,... but FieldAdded, FieldUpdate,... It's important because you don't work on a SPFile but on a SPField ! Sincerely Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink

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