Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Technologies

11.4 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Solution Framework 253

Chapter 11

11.4 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Solution

Framework

The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 solution framework provides a

method for collating the various components that comprise a solution and

packaging them together into a solution file. The solution file is basically a

Figure 11.10

Workflow project

templates added to

Visual Studio.

Figure 11.11

Visual Studio

Workflow Designer.

254 11.4 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Solution Framework

cabinet based format with a .wsp extension instead of a .CAB extension. As

we saw in our previous Web Part example, once the solution is created, the

solution file can then be used to deploy the contained functionality to a

SharePoint farm, which in this instance was a “Hello World” Web Part.

A solution goes through several phases during its lifecycle, from creation

through deletion. Figure 11.12 illustrates the solution lifecycle as it pertains

to the WSS 3.0 solution framework. The whole premise behind the solution

framework is to provide separation and consistency between the creation of a

solution package, which is seen as a developer’s task, and the actual deploy-

ment of the solution package, which is more of an administrative task. Phase

one of the lifecycle shows the creation of the solution file. There are a variety

of methods that developers can adopt when creating a solution file, and we’ll

go into more detail on these shortly—but the most important point to make

here is that the creation of the solution is a developer task; you do not need

admin privileges to create a solution package. Granted, you will most likely

want elevated privileges in your own development environment when build-

ing solutions to make your life easier; they are not, however, a requirement.

Once you have created your solution file (.wsp file) you pass that file off to

your administrator for deployment. The administrator takes your file and,

using the SharePoint command line administration tool (stsadm.exe), adds

the solution file to the WSS 3.0 configuration database. Once the solution

has been added to the solution store, the administrator can then either

deploy the solution immediately or schedule the solution to be deployed at a

future point in time. If the solution contains resources that are scoped at the

Web application level, then the administrator has the option to specify the

Web applications to which the solution should be deployed; there is also an

option available to deploy to all Web applications. Solutions that do not con-

tain Web application–scoped resources are deployed globally.

Figure 11.12

Solution lifecycle.

11.4 Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Solution Framework 255

Chapter 11

The solution deployment process can be initiated using stsadm.exe, or

using the central administration browser user interface via the operations

solution management page. Figure 11.13 shows the deploy solution page,

from which the administrator can configure when and where a solution is

deployed. This particular example shows that the solution package

deploysampleWebpart.wsp is configured to be deployed immediately; how-

ever, the page also includes a scheduling option. The scheduling option

leverages the WSS timer services to create a timer job for the deployment.

During deployment, the files contained in the solution package are exam-

ined and placed in their appropriate location on the server. For example, if

the solution package specifies some _layouts files, they are placed in the

_layouts directory, if the solution package includes some Features the Fea-

ture folders are copied to the features directory; (

\Program Files\Common

Files\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEA-

TURES

), and if the solution package includes Web Parts, the Web Parts are

copied to the appropriate location, such as the global assembly cache and a

SafeControl entry is placed in the Web.config file of each Web application

to which the solution is deployed.

The solution file in our example is named deploysampleWebpart.wsp

and, as its name suggests, it is used to deploy a sample Web Part. As previ-

ously mentioned, the deployment process for a solution that includes Web

Parts involves copying the assembly files associated with the Web Part to the

global assembly cache and registering the Web Part in the Web.config file of

the appropriate Web applications. Figure 11.14 shows the solution proper-

Figure 11.13

Deploying a

solution using the

browser user

interface.