Automatically Deploy Any File to SharePoint When you Debug a SharePoint Solution (Norm Estabrook)

VSTO Team — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 22:30:00 GMT

When you debug a SharePoint workflow project, the workflow deployment process copies the feature.xml and workflow.xml to a feature directory on SharePoint. You can configure your solution to deploy other files as well. For example, you might want to deploy InfoPath (*.xsn) files that provide a UI for the workflow, or a file that contains localized resource strings.

To do this, open the feature.xml file of your solution, and add an element named ElementFile for each file that you want to deploy along with your project. Set the Location attribute of the element to the name of the file.

Note If the file is located outside of the root directory of the SharePoint solution, ensure that the name includes a relative path.

The following example specifies an InfoPath form named InitiationForm. This form is located in the root directory of the SharePoint solution so the name does not require a relative file path.

<Feature Id="c8ff5406-135a-4fba-8507-ff4d311434a7"

Title="SharePointFormsWorkflow feature"

Description="My SharePoint Workflow Feature"

Version="12.0.0.0"

Scope="Site"

ReceiverAssembly="Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Feature,

Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral,

PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" ReceiverClass="Microsoft.Office.Workflow.Feature.WorkflowFeatureReceiver"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">

<ElementFile Location="InitiationForm.xsn" />

</ElementManifests>

</Properties>

</Feature>

The VSTO documentation has been updated with this information and will appear on MSDN soon.

SharePoint Workflow Tools: Video Interview with John Durant

VSTO Team — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:50:07 GMT

Here's a brief description of the SharePoint workflow tools you'll find in Visual Studio 2008 Professional. Norm Estabrook talks with John Durant, a program manager on the Visual Studio Tools for Office team.

For more information about Visual Studio 2008 SharePoint tools, see the articles on MSDN.

Office Development with Visual Studio : SharePoint workflow

Automatically Deploy Any File to SharePoint When you Debug a SharePoint Solution (Norm Estabrook)

SharePoint Workflow Tools: Video Interview with John Durant