Provisioning Custom Content Types and Document Templates

Question

I am using a complete 2010 environment (SP,VS and Word) but when I provision my content type using XML, while it provisions everything and appears to work, when I create a new Word document from my content type it decides not to hold the Content Type when I save it…has anyone got a working example of this in 2010?

I am storing the document template in the _cts folder, provisioning all content type info in XML.

I am provisioning a document library and assigning the content type to it using code…

I am currently investigating if provisioning the Content Type in code makes a difference…

Answer 1

God bless Reflector!! Maybe I should have tried this one earlier rather than that crappy* “Import SharePoint Solution Package” tool that led me down the garden path!!

I had been trying to add the document template file to a folder and document in the _cts folder like the “Import SharePoint Solution Package” tool (and every other blog site) was doing and linking my content type to the file and was getting nowhere.

So I decided to see how SharePoint actually does it from the ChangeContentTypeOptionalSettings.aspx page See below is an extract from Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.dll  ChangeContentTypeOptionalSettingsPage  OnSubmit  UpdateContentType

The two lines of paramount importance are highlighted

        HttpPostedFile file = base.Request.Files[0];
        if ((file.FileName.Length > 0) && (file.ContentLength > 0))
        {
            string fileName = file.FileName;
            fileName = fileName.Substring(fileName.LastIndexOf('\\') + 1);
            base.ContentType.ResourceFolder.Files.Add(fileName, file.InputStream, true);
            base.ContentType.DocumentTemplate = fileName;
            flag = true;
        }
        else
        {
            base.ContentType.DocumentTemplate = "";
            flag = true;
        }

This has resolved the issue with Word documents, I still need to find a solution for Visio documents…this is my next battle…

Thanks to all those people whom provided ideas and feedback, as always it is much appreciated!

*I am sure that the “Import SharePoint Solution Package” tool has its place…but content types and document templates it not something it does well…use with caution!