Best approach to adding a web part to an existing page in multiple environments

Question

If you’ve got an existing page in each environment e.g. default.aspx and want to add a web part and promote to each environment what is the best approach?

1. Create a WSP with a Feature Receiver and add to page via activation
2. Create a WSP with a Feature and add a module with AllUserWebParts (requires deploying aspx page with it though)
3. Manual export and import web part
4. PowerShell script using SPLimitedWebPartManager
5. Other…

Answer 1

You might find the SP2010 Client Object Model usefule here. Export the Web Part to a Web Part Control Description file (.dwp or .webpart) and then flip it in like this:

using (ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://server")) {

    Web web = context.Web;
    File file = web.GetFileByServerRelativeUrl("/SitePages/Default.aspx");
    LimitedWebPartManager wpMgr = file.GetLimitedWebPartManager(
        PersonalizationScope.Shared);

    WebPartDefinition webPartDef = wpMgr.ImportWebPart(  
        System.IO.File.ReadAllText("Content_Editor.dwp"));
    wpMgr.AddWebPart(webPartDef.WebPart, "Left", 1);

    context.ExecuteQuery();
}

Answer 2

In the "Other" category, simply copy and paste the code from the page in one environment to the other in SharePoint Designer. It all depends on the business requirements, doesn't it?