SharePoint WCM Feature Generator

From my experiences on of SharePoint WCM projects I did so far, I came across certain repetitive & time-consuming development tasks. Some of them are listed below:

1. Creating Site Definition

2. Features

· Site Columns- Columns used in lists/libraries/page layouts.

· Content Types- Lists/Page Layout content types.

· Content Type Associations- Association of Content Types with the SharePoint list.

· Master Pages and Page Layouts- Provisioning master pages and layouts on SharePoint master pages library.

· Provision Files- Provision image, CSS, XAPS and documents on specified SharePoint library.

· Feature Staplers- Auto activation of features based on site creation.

3. Feature Receivers

4. Custom Controls

The image below illustrates the Visual Studio 2005/2008 solution for a typical SharePoint WCM project.

Keeping the same thought in mind, I have developed a utility SharePoint WCM Feature Generator to automate the feature creation for some of the fundamental WCM components in SharePoint like Site Columns, Content Types, Content Type Associations, Provisioning etc (indicated by green callout).

Also this tool well integrate with Visual Studio to make things even simpler.

The SharePoint WCM Feature Generator is targeted for both Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SharePoint 2010.

The tool can be downloaded from here: SharePoint WCM Feature Generator.exe

The user guide can be downloaded from here: SharePoint WCM Feature Generator User Guide