Catch my Point

If you look into webtempsps.xml, you will find first template

<Template Name=”SPS” ID=”20″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”SharePoint Portal Server Site” Type=”0″ Hidden=”TRUE” ImageUrl=”../images/spshome.gif” Description=”This template is obsolete.”> </Configuration> </Template>

The description message “This template is obsolete.” is very misleading. Is this template really obsolete? Does that mean “\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\SPS\XML\ONET.XML” is not used for any Site Creation?

If you look into the same file webtempsps.xml, you will see another virtual template “SPSPORTAL” (probably the most used Site Definition for creating Intranet Portal)

<Template Name=”SPSPORTAL” ID=”47″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”Collaboration Portal” Type=”0″ Hidden=”FALSE” ImageUrl=”/_layouts/1033/images/template_corp_intranet.png” Description=”A starter site hierarchy for an intranet divisional portal. It includes a home page, a News site, a Site Directory, a Document Center, and a Search Center with Tabs. Typically, this site has nearly as many contributors as readers and is used to host team sites.” ProvisionAssembly=”Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c” ProvisionClass=”Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.PortalProvisioningProvider” ProvisionData=”SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml” RootWebOnly=”TRUE” DisplayCategory=”Publishing” VisibilityFeatureDependency=”97A2485F-EF4B-401f-9167-FA4FE177C6F6″> </Configuration> </Template>

This above template is Virtual because you don’t find any folder named “SPSPORTAL” in “\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates” instead this site template is driven by ProvisionData (”SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml”), this manifest file is used to create Multiple sites. If you look into “SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml” file, the very first web element points to SPS site definition.

<portal xmlns=”PortalTemplate.xsd”> <web name=”Home” siteDefinition=”SPS” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_Home_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_Home_Description;”> <webs> <web name=”News” siteDefinition=”SPSNHOME” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_News_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_News_Description;” /> <web name=”SiteDirectory” siteDefinition=”SPSSITES” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SiteDirectory_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SiteDirectory_Description;” /> <web name=”SearchCenter” siteDefinition=”SRCHCEN” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SearchCenter_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SearchCenter_Description;” /> <web name=”Docs” siteDefinition=”BDR” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_DocumentCenter_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_DocumentCenter_Description;” /> </webs> </web> </portal>

To prove that Collaboration Portal actually uses SPS Site Definition to create Home Site

1. lets rename the “SPS” to “SPS1″ in webtempsps.xml, your template should like

   <Template Name=”SPS1″ ID=”20″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”SharePoint Portal Server Site” Type=”0″ Hidden=”TRUE” ImageUrl=”../images/spshome.gif” Description=”This template is obsolete.”> </Configuration> </Template>

2. run IISRESET
3. Create a Site Collection by selecting “Collaboration Portal” Template, do you get an error???

Note: Make sure that you rename the Template name back to “SPS”.