Hi,
Environment Setup:
I have a feature/stapling which upon creation of a new site changes the master page and web UI-version of this newly created web. Following is the structure of my project:
- Feature.xml: contains the feature guid, scope (web), and receiver assembly.
- Stapling feature.xml: contains the normal feature info guid, scope (web application) and reference to element.xml. This 'element.xml' contains information about association of my feature with the site templates like:
<FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="guid-goes-here" TemplateName="STS#0" />
Now, I created a new site and the feature gets activated just fine and the master page is changed.
Business Need: Save an existing site as template (with/without content), create new sites using this template, and have custom master page apply to these newly created sites.
Problem: Feature stapling does not work when i create sites using the saved site template. Basically, the site gets created without any errors but it applies OOB V4.master page.
When i look in the manage site features list then i can see my custom feature 'activated'. Now, from here i can manually 'deactivate' and 'activate' the feature and it works as expected.
My Research Results: Upon researching, it looks like that feature stapling is not supported for 'site templates' (results of save site as template). So I downloaded the saved WSP, opened it up, and explored the ONET.xml. It does have a reference to the feature that needs to be activated (feature receiver that would change the master page). I came across another blog and in there the person said that if you convert following line in ONET.xml as shown then it work. I imported the WSP in VS, changed it, packaged it, re uploaded it to SharePoint solution gallery. Created a new site using this template and IT DOES WORK.
From:
<!--CustomMaster Feature-->
<Feature ID="{7cc51c27-6ba1-453e-ba74-8bf1c87a72e4}" Name="FeatureDefinition/7cc51c27-6ba1-453e-ba74-8bf1c87a72e4" SourceVersion="1.0.0.0" />
To:
<!--CustomMaster Feature-->
<Feature ID="{7cc51c27-6ba1-453e-ba74-8bf1c87a72e4}" />
BUT, this is not a feasible solution.
Anyhow, I have seen other having similar issue but NO SOLUTION; thus this post.
If you have any recommendation please do share.
Thanks for your help and time!