Create and deploy a Sharepoint Feature

Suppose you need to replace the SmallSearchInputBox on the sharepoint site with a new feature. Follow these steps:

step1 : create a copy of existing feature e.g. controlLightUp
Thus copy this folder from 12\Template\Features\CustomLightUp to 12\Template\Features\NewSearchArea

Step2: modify feature.xml to contain the new GUID and add a reference to the element.xml (within a subdirectory or the same directory as feature.xml, whichever you prefer) which describes the feature.
Specify if the feature should be HIDDEN or displayed in the Sharepoint site settings
Specify Title and Description if this feature is NOT Hidden

Step 3: then modify the elements.xml file in controls folder to have the correct settings. Scope can take one of the following values: FARM, Webapplication, Web and Site
Site is SiteCollection
Web is Site
Web Application is parent of Sitecollection
FARM is server wide enabling of the feature

Step4: suppose CustomLightUp feature is installed at FARM level snd it is referenced through a delagate control in the master page and its control id "SmallSearchInputBox", and you want to create a new feature at the Site scope and for the same delegate control
Then there are 2 ways to achioeve this

1: rename the Delegate control id from "SmallSearchInput" to "newSearch" then then make the modification in elements.xml to contain this new control id. then install the feature at Site level using stsadm utility

2. you can keep the control id the same i.e. "SmallSearchInput" but then modify the Sequence value in elements.xml to have a value less than 100.
(for more on this refer to my previous blog on delegate control) Then install the feature at the site level using stsadm
command is stsadm -o installfeature -filename NewSearchArea\feature.xml
stsadm -o activatefeature -filename NewSearch\feature.xml -url http://w.c.com

For automatic deployment of the feature read this:
http://www.codeplex.com/wspbuilder
Or
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/05/OfficeSpace/
and
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/08/OfficeSpace/

if you want to list all existing features then you need to extend the stsadm utility:
http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.com/2006/09/extending-stsadmexe-with-custom.html
and
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb417382.aspx
and
http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/MossStsadmWcmCommands.aspx
and
http://stsadm.blogspot.com/2007/08/enumerate-features.html

Automating Dev, QA, Staging, and Production Web.Config Settings with VS 2005

One of the questions I get asked fairly regularly is: "how can I can easily change different configuration settings in my web.config file based on whether my application is in a dev, qa, staging or production mode?" The most common scenario for this is one where an application uses different database connection-strings for testing and production purposes.

It turns out you can easily automate this configuration process within the Visual Studio build environment (and do so in a way that works both within the IDE, as well as with command-line/automated builds). Below are the high-level steps you take to do this. They work with both VS 2005 and VS 2008.

1. Use ASP.NET Web Application Projects (which have MSBuild based project files)
2. Open the VS Configuration Manager and create new "Dev", "QA", "Staging" build configurations for your project and solution
3. Add new "web.config.dev", "web.config.qa", and "web.config.staging" files in your project and customize them to contain the app's mode specific configuration settings
4. Add a new "pre-build event" command to your project file that can automatically copy over the web.config file in your project with the appropriate mode specific version each time you build the project (for example: if your solution was in the "Dev" configuration, it would copy the web.config.dev settings to the main web.config file).

Once you follow these steps, you can then just pick the mode your solution is in using the configuration drop-down in the VS standard toolbar:

The next time you build/run after changing the configuration mode, VS will automatically modify your application's web.config file to pick up and use the web.config settings specific to that build configuration (so if you select QA it will use the QA settings, if you select Deploy it will use the Deploy settings).

The benefit with this approach is that it works well in a source control environment (everyone can sync and build locally without having to make any manual changes on their local machines). It also works on a build server - including with scenarios where you are doing automated command-line solution builds.

To learn more about the exact steps to set this up, please read the Managing Multiple Configuration File Environments with Pre-Build Events post that Scott Hanselman published earlier tonight. Also check out ScottGu's ASP.NET Tips, Tricks, and Gotchas page for other ASP.NET Tips/Tricks recommendations.

multi column sorting of a typed collection

Use the following One line code for multi-column or single column sorting of a typed collection:

List<Liability> liabList = new List<Liability>();

liabList.Sort(delegate(Liability l1, Liability l2)
{ int r = l1.Type.CompareTo(l2.Type);
if (r == 0 && l1.HolderName != null)
r = l1.HolderName.CompareTo(l2.HolderName);
if (r == 0)
r = l1.Amount.CompareTo(l2.Amount);
return r;
} );