SharePoint 2010: Create Custom Document Set Content Type using VS 2010

Every product evolves and so as SharePoint. In SharePoint 2010, the latest SharePoint version, one of the few remarkable enhancements added to Content Management is Document Set Content type.

One of the problems people facing in MOSS 2007 was there was no provision to group the different documents related to single entity (work product) and perform a collective operation on them like executing some workflows etc. In SharePoint 2010, Document Set content type is introduced to address such business needs.

Document Set content type is a special kind of folder which can store multiple documents. It brings following advantages over the normal folders.

Document Set Vs Folder content type:

1.       When document set is clicked it redirects user to a unique welcome page associated with the document set. Welcome page can be customized in the sense it allows adding new web parts, displaying welcome page fields (metadata) etc apart from displaying the documents within the document set. Normal folders when clicked just display documents within them .

2.       Ability to have Shared Metadata

Documents within the document set can share the metadata between them. Such shared fields can be displayed in welcome page. This is not possible using folders.

3.       Ability to have default documents

Document set can have default documents which will be automatically added to document set when a new document set is created. Folders do not possess such feature.

4.       Versioning:

Apart from the contained documents, Document Set have its own versioning capability.

5.       Workflows

Workflows are richly supported by Document Set. Few new OOB workflow actions are added in SharePoint Designer to support Document Set content type. Folder content type lacks many workflow capabilities and needs some workaround to be implemented. Have a look at http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/30452/SharePoint-Workflows-for-Folder-Content-Type

  

Limitations:

Nicely put together in this post http://www.sharepointanalysthq.com/2011/09/document-set-limitations-and-considerations-in-sharepoint-2010/

Note:

Strangely, I got an error while creating the document set with localhost in url. Everything worked seamlessly when I used the Default Zone url instead. No intension to troubleshoot it. If you are getting same error, you know the fix now.

Aim:

Custom Document set content type can be created using Server object model or in declarative manner (element.xml). We will see how to create it using declarative manner step by step in this post. As Document set very different than normal content types, creating it through VS 2020 in declarative fashion  is also very different than that of normal content type.

We will create a custom Loan Proposal content type inheriting from the Document Set content type. This custom Loan Proposal content type will have custom welcome page and one default document.

Detailed Steps:

1.       Ensure Document Set site collection feature is activated.

2.       Create a DocumentSetContentTypeDemo VS 2010 project using Empty SharePoint Project template.

3.       Add a web part to the project. Give the name of the web part as LoanRequestorImageWebPart as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 : Create LoanRequestorImageWebPart

We will add this web part on the welcome page of the Loan Request content type so that it would display the photo of the requestor.

4.       Copy the below code into the web part so that LoanRequestorImageWebPart.cs will look like this.

using System; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Web.UI; using System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts; using Microsoft.SharePoint; namespace DocumentSetContentTypeDemo.LoanRequestorImageWebPart {     [ToolboxItemAttribute(false)]     public class LoanRequestorImageWebPart : WebPart     {         const string NO_IMAGE_AVAILABLE = "/_layouts/Images/DocumentSetContentTypeDemo/NoImageUploaded.jpg";         protected override void CreateChildControls()         {             if (this.Page.Request["ID"] != null)             {                 int docSetId = Convert.ToInt32(this.Page.Request["ID"].ToString());                 SPList currentList = SPContext.Current.Web.Lists[new Guid(this.Page.Request["List"].ToString())];                 SPFolder folder = currentList.GetItemById(docSetId).Folder;                 string docSetRootFolder = this.Page.Request["RootFolder"].ToString();                 if (currentList != null)                 {                     SPQuery qry = new SPQuery();                     qry.Query = @"<Where>                                      <Eq>                                          <FieldRef Name='ContentType' />                                          <Value Type='Computed'>Image</Value>                                     </Eq>                                  </Where>";                     qry.Folder = folder;                     SPListItemCollection listItems = currentList.GetItems(qry);                     if (listItems.Count > 0)                     {                         SPListItem imageItem = listItems[0];                         string name = imageItem["Name"].ToString();                         string imageUrl = docSetRootFolder +"/" + name;                         this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(string.Format("<img src='{0}' alt='{1}' height='150' width='140' style='padding:8px'/>", imageUrl, name)));                     }                     else                     {                         this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(string.Format("<img src='{0}' height='150' width='140' style='padding:8px'/>", NO_IMAGE_AVAILABLE)));                     }                 }             }             else             {                 this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(string.Format("<img src='{0}' height='150' width='140' style='padding:8px'/>", NO_IMAGE_AVAILABLE)));             }         }     } }

5.       Add an Image mapped folder to the project. Add the following image to the mapped folder.

Figure 2: No photo image

This image will be used when there is no loan requestor photo uploaded.

6.       Deploy the DocumentSetContentTypeDemo project.

7.       Create Following site Columns through browser

Site Column	Type	Required	Description	Group	Any other details
Loan Amount	Currency	Yes	Enter the loan amount required.	SharePoint 2010 Custom Development	Currency Format : Rs. (India)
Loan Reason	Single line of text	Yes	Enter the reason for which loan is required.	SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Loan Type	Choice	Yes	Select the loan type.	SharePoint 2010 Custom Development	Choices: Educational Loan Personal Loan Furniture Loan Home Loan
Age	Number	Yes		SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Contact Number	Single line of text	Yes		SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Current Salary	Number	Yes		SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Job Experience	Number	Yes	No. of years	SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Occupation	Single line of text	Yes		SharePoint 2010 Custom Development
Sex	Choice	Yes		SharePoint 2010 Custom Development	Choices: Male Female

8.       Create following content types through browser

a.       Loan Application Form

Figure 3 : Loan Application Form content type

b.      Requestor Credit Details

Figure 4 : Requestor Credit Document content type

c.       Loan Proposal

Create a Loan application form document as shown in figure 5. We will use this document as Default document for Loan Proposal document set content type.

Figure 5 : Loan Application Form content

Then create a Loan Proposal content type as shown in figure 6.

Figure 6 : Loan Proposal Content type

Click on Document Set settings link shown in Red in figure 6 and make the configurations as shown in below figures.

Allow Content Types:

Figure 7 : Allowed Content Types

Default Content:

Upload the Loan Application form document created as default document using Loan Application Form content type. Once Loan Proposal document set is created, Loan Application Form will be added to the document set automatically. This then can be downloaded and sent to Loan Requestor for filling his/her details.

Figure 8 : Default Document

Shared Fields:

Figure 9 : Shared Fields

Welcome Page Columns:

Figure 10 : Welcome page columns

Welcome Page:

Click on Customize the Welcome Page link. It will redirect you to OOB Document set welcome page. Remove the Image web part and add LoanRequestorImageWebPart web part on welcome page.

9.       Save the site as site template as DocumentSetSiteTemplate using the Save site as template link present in Site Settings page.

10.   Download the DocumentSetSiteTemplate.wsp in local physical file system.

11.   In DocumentSetContentTypeDemo VS 2010 solution, add new project using Import SharePoint Solution Package template as shown below in figure 11.

Figure 11 : Import SharePoint Solution Package project

12.   In SharePoint Customization Wizard, select the DocumentSetSiteTemplate.wsp in Specify the new project source step and click next.

13.   In Select items to import step, select following items and click Finish button. Wizard will show Selection Dependacy Warining. Click on No button.

Content Types:

Loan Application Form

Requestor Credit Details

Loan Proposal

Fields:

Loan Amount

Loan Reason

Loan Type

Age

Contact Number

Current Salary

Job Experience

Occupation

Sex

Modules:

_ctsLoan Proposal_

14.   Copy Modules, Content Types and Fields folder into DocumentSetContentTypeDemo project. Your project will look like this.

Figure 12 : DocumentSetContentTypeDemo project

15.   If you open the Loan Proposal content type, you will see it quite different than normal content types. It will have information about Allowed Content types, shared fields, welcome page fields, Default Documents etc.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">    <ContentType ID="0x0120D52000442F5196B2EA0C489F01F37985515E5B" Name="Loan Proposal" Group="SharePoint 2010 Custom Development" Overwrite="TRUE" ProgId="SharePoint.DocumentSet" PushDownChangedResourceFilesOnly="TRUE" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/"> <Folder TargetName="_cts/Loan Proposal" /> <FieldRefs> <FieldRef ID="{8553196d-ec8d-4564-9861-3dbe931050c8}" Name="FileLeafRef" Required="TRUE" Hidden="FALSE" /> <FieldRef ID="{475c2610-c157-4b91-9e2d-6855031b3538}" Name="FullName" /> <FieldRef ID="{cbb92da4-fd46-4c7d-af6c-3128c2a5576e}" Name="Description" ShowInNewForm="TRUE" ShowInEditForm="TRUE" /> <FieldRef ID="{2defb7a6-aca0-43bc-8d73-cbd07e5b7503}" Name="Loan_x0020_Amount" /> <FieldRef ID="{413b4744-f709-4952-8864-fd38e60bd754}" Name="Loan_x0020_Reason" /> <FieldRef ID="{7cf8011a-9d47-44f4-a49e-f72d6b038161}" Name="Loan_x0020_Type" /> <FieldRef ID="{b824e17e-a1b3-426e-aecf-f0184d900485}" Name="ItemChildCount" /> <FieldRef ID="{fa564e0f-0c70-4ab9-b863-0177e6ddd247}" Name="Title" Required="FALSE" Hidden="TRUE" /> <FieldRef ID="{c042a256-787d-4a6f-8a8a-cf6ab767f12d}" Name="ContentType" /> <FieldRef ID="{960ff01f-2b6d-4f1b-9c3f-e19ad8927341}" Name="FolderChildCount" /> </FieldRefs> <XmlDocuments> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/welcomepageview"> <WelcomePageView xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/welcomepageview" LastModified="1/1/1 0:00:01 AM" /> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/events"> <spe:Receivers xmlns:spe="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/events"> <Receiver> <Name>DocumentSet ItemUpdated</Name> <Synchronization>Synchronous</Synchronization> <Type>10002</Type> <SequenceNumber>100</SequenceNumber> <Assembly>Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly> <Class>Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.DocumentSets.DocumentSetEventReceiver</Class> <Data /> <Filter /> </Receiver> <Receiver> <Name>DocumentSet ItemAdded</Name> <Synchronization>Synchronous</Synchronization> <Type>10001</Type> <SequenceNumber>100</SequenceNumber> <Assembly>Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly> <Class>Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.DocumentSets.DocumentSetItemsEventReceiver</Class> <Data /> <Filter /> </Receiver> </spe:Receivers> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/allowedcontenttypes"> <act:AllowedContentTypes xmlns:act="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/allowedcontenttypes" LastModified="05/12/2012 13:23:22"> <AllowedContentType id="0x0101" /> <AllowedContentType id="0x0101008CF1CDE6AF3C644E93569474BF0D9DFD" /> <AllowedContentType id="0x0101009A5057FEE7BD674EB0C0B448F20F833E" /> <AllowedContentType id="0x0101009148F5A04DDD49CBA7127AADA5FB792B00AADE34325A8B49CDA8BB4DB53328F214" /> </act:AllowedContentTypes> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/sharedfields"> <sf:SharedFields xmlns:sf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/sharedfields" LastModified="05/12/2012 13:23:22"> <SharedField id="cbb92da4-fd46-4c7d-af6c-3128c2a5576e" /> <SharedField id="413b4744-f709-4952-8864-fd38e60bd754" /> <SharedField id="475c2610-c157-4b91-9e2d-6855031b3538" /> <SharedField id="7cf8011a-9d47-44f4-a49e-f72d6b038161" /> <SharedField id="2defb7a6-aca0-43bc-8d73-cbd07e5b7503" /> </sf:SharedFields> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/defaultdocuments"> <dd:DefaultDocuments xmlns:dd="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/defaultdocuments" LastModified="05/12/2012 13:23:22" AddSetName="True"> <DefaultDocument name="Loan Application Form.docx" idContentType="0x0101008CF1CDE6AF3C644E93569474BF0D9DFD" /> </dd:DefaultDocuments> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/welcomepagefields"> <wpf:WelcomePageFields xmlns:wpf="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/documentsets/welcomepagefields" LastModified="05/12/2012 13:23:22"> <WelcomePageField id="475c2610-c157-4b91-9e2d-6855031b3538" /> <WelcomePageField id="2defb7a6-aca0-43bc-8d73-cbd07e5b7503" /> <WelcomePageField id="413b4744-f709-4952-8864-fd38e60bd754" /> <WelcomePageField id="7cf8011a-9d47-44f4-a49e-f72d6b038161" /> </wpf:WelcomePageFields> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms"> <FormTemplates xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms"> <Display>ListForm</Display> <Edit>ListForm</Edit> <New>DocSetDisplayForm</New> </FormTemplates> </XmlDocument> <XmlDocument NamespaceURI="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms/url"> <FormUrls xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3/contenttype/forms/url"> <New>_layouts/NewDocSet.aspx</New> </FormUrls> </XmlDocument> </XmlDocuments> </ContentType> </Elements>

16.   Create three features WebParts, Content Types and Site Columns. Associate the element manifests with them so that package designer looks like this.

Figure 13 : Package Designer

17.   Deploy the project to another site collection. Check whether Loan Proposal content type is created exactly like that of created through browser.

18.   This is how it looks when a Loan Proposal document set is created. 

Figure 14 : Loan Proposal Document Set in usage

That was easy! Please leave a comment in case of any queries. Source code can be downloaded here.

Tributes to all loving mothers on this Mother’s Day!