Creating a Sharepoint solution from a site (including workflows and custom webparts)

Question

Here's the scenario

I created a Site which in I used custom lists, webparts, custom developed webparts, workflows et cetera. You can see the site as an application.

What I am trying to do is to create a solution package which holds everything I build in that site so that I can give the solution file to an sharepoint administrator who can install the solution to his sharepoint environment.

For example look at the free application templates you can download from MSDN, I am trying to achieve the same as they did. One solution file to hold them all!

Any idea's?

Cheers!

Answer 1

Export the site as a template and include all the content. The workflows will point at the old site and will need to be updated manually, I believe. Everything else should work.

Answer 2

Workflows created using SPD are not portable across sites - they will have to be recreated. As a result, Nathan's solution is probably going to be the only way to go.

Answer 3

Get STSDev and SharePoint Manager. STSDev is goog for creating the solution you want and SharePoint Manager can be used to get the SchemaXML from the customisations you have already created.

You will need to package up the webparts and everything. Unfortunately, this is a pretty hefty learning curve, so expect to do a lot of reading on this subject and some experimentation. However, this is time well spent as a solution is the "only" way to release a custom site definition.