Getting global Navigation working using onet.xml

Question

Im trying to create a site definition using onet.xml in sharepoint 2010. So far things are going well however I am now having a problem getting the subsite to inherit the global navigation from its parent when its created.

my parent nav bar which I want to inherit from

my nav bar when I create my sub site through my site definition

my onet.xml so far

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project Title="News Portal" Revision="1" ListDir="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;" xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint" UIVersion="4">
  <NavBars>
   <!-- Added this in as per answer //-->
   <NavBar Name="SharePoint Top Navbar" ID="1002"></NavBar>
 </NavBars>
 <ListTemplates>
<ListTemplate Name="NewsItems" DisplayName="$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsPortalTitle;" Type="666" BaseType="0" OnQuickLaunch="TRUE" FolderCreation="TRUE" AllowDeletion="FALSE" Unique="TRUE" DisallowContentTypes="FALSE" SecurityBits="11" Description="News Items" Image="/_layouts/images/itcat.gif">
</ListTemplate>
</ListTemplates>
<DocumentTemplates>
</DocumentTemplates>
<Configurations>
<Configuration ID="0" Name="NewsPortal" MasterUrl="_catalogs/masterpage/inSightMaster2.master">
    <Lists>
        <List Type="666"
Title="News Items"
Url="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;/$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsPortalTitle;"
Name="News Portal List"
QuickLaunchUrl="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;/$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsPortalTitle;/allitems.aspx" />
    </Lists>
    <SiteFeatures>
    </SiteFeatures>
  <WebFeatures>
  </WebFeatures>
  <Modules>
    <Module Name="BasicHome" />
    <!--<Module Name="NewsPage" />//-->
  </Modules>
    <WebFeatures>
    <!--THESE FEATURES DONT SEEM TO GET PICKED UP //-->
        <Feature ID="541F5F57-C847-4e16-B59A-B31E90E6F9EA">
            <Properties xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
                <Property Key="InheritGlobalNavigation" Value="true"/>
                <Property Key="ShowSiblings" Value="true"/>
                <Property Key="IncludeSubSites" Value="true"/>
            </Properties>
        </Feature>
    </WebFeatures>
</Configuration>
</Configurations>
<Modules>
    <!-- Need to implement Modules for page views. For more info please view http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms474369.aspx -->
    <!--<module Name="NewsPage"  Url="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;/$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsItemsFolder;" Path="Lists\NewsItems">
        <File Url="allitems.aspx" IgnoreIfAlreadyExists="TRUE">
            <View List="207" BaseViewID="8" WebPartZoneId="Left" WebPartOrder="1">
                <![CDATA[]]>
            </View>
        </File>
    </module>//-->
    <Module Name="BasicHome" Url="" Path="">
        <File Url="default.aspx" IgnoreIfAlreadyExists="TRUE">
        </File>
    </Module>
</Modules>
<ServerEmailFooter>$Resources:ServerEmailFooter;</ServerEmailFooter>

my webtemp.newsportal.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- _lcid="1033" _version="14.0.4762" _dal="1" -->
<!-- _LocalBinding -->
<Templates xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint">
 <Template Name="NewsPortal" ID="60010">
 <Configuration ID="0"
                Title="News Portal"
                Description="News Portal"
                RootWebOnly="FALSE"
                Hidden="FALSE"
                DisplayCategory="GC Portals" />    
 </Template>
</Templates>

My current active features:-

Advanced Web Analytics Disposition Approval Workflow Publishing Approval Workflow SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure Workflows

Can you see any reason why these navigation settings don't get picked up when I create a site using my new site definition.

Thanks in advance!

Nicholas

Answer 1

The navigation inheritance is a functionality of Publishing feature. This feature changes data provider for navigation by delegate control. Are you sure that your site definition activates this feature?

Answer 2

Use the NavBars Element in the onet.xml file ...

<NavBars> <NavBar Name="SharePoint Top Navbar" ID="1002"></NavBar> </NavBars>

That will display your global navigation within the Site Definition ...

In a non publishing site, you should be able to use web.Navigation.UseShared = true; ... where web is SPWeb type.

In a publishing site, you should be able to use pw.Navigation.InheritGlobal = true; ... where pw is PublishingWeb. Although by default with the NavBar element, you should see global navigation inheriting.

You should also note, if you want to activate all publishing features (including Pages list) that you will need to add the below feature definitions to your onet.xml WebFeatures ... then staple any custom features in there after ...

 <!-- Include the common WSSListTemplateFeatures used by CMS -->
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-DE22-43B2-A848-C05709900100"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-E717-4E80-AA17-D0C71B360101"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-52D4-45B3-B544-B1C71B620109"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-A83E-497E-9BA0-7A5C597D0107"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-F600-43F6-A895-40C0DE7B0117"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-7EA5C011ABE5"></Feature>
    <Feature ID="22A9EF51-737B-4ff2-9346-694633FE4416">
      <Properties xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
        <Property Key="ChromeMasterUrl" Value=""/>
        <Property Key="WelcomePageUrl" Value="$Resources:osrvcore,List_Pages_UrlName;/default.aspx"/>
        <Property Key="PagesListUrl" Value=""/>
        <Property Key="AvailableWebTemplates" Value=""/>
        <Property Key="AvailablePageLayouts" Value=""/>
        <Property Key="SimplePublishing" Value="true" />
      </Properties>
    </Feature>
    <Feature ID="541F5F57-C847-4e16-B59A-B31E90E6F9EA">
      <Properties xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
        <Property Key="InheritGlobalNavigation" Value="true"/>
        <Property Key="ShowSiblings" Value="true"/>
        <Property Key="IncludeSubSites" Value="true"/>
      </Properties>
    </Feature>
    <Feature ID="94C94CA6-B32F-4da9-A9E3-1F3D343D7ECB">
      <!-- Office SharePoint Server Publishing -->
    </Feature>

Answer 3

Found the problem in the onet.xml, I have 2 webfeature elements, the first one being empty. So i guess it was only running the first webfeature element as per the schema set out by ms http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms467789.aspx only one webfeature element can exist.

<Configuration ID="0" Name="NewsPortal" MasterUrl="_catalogs/masterpage/inSightMaster2.master">
<Lists>
    <List Type="666"
Title="News Items"
Url="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;/$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsPortalTitle;"
Name="News Portal List"
QuickLaunchUrl="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;/$Resources:GCSites,GC_NewsPortalTitle;/allitems.aspx" />
</Lists>
<SiteFeatures>
</SiteFeatures>
<WebFeatures>
</WebFeatures>
<Modules>
<Module Name="BasicHome" />
<!--<Module Name="NewsPage" />//-->
</Modules>
<WebFeatures>
<!--THESE FEATURES DONT SEEM TO GET PICKED UP //-->
    <Feature ID="541F5F57-C847-4e16-B59A-B31E90E6F9EA">
        <Properties xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
            <Property Key="InheritGlobalNavigation" Value="true"/>
            <Property Key="ShowSiblings" Value="true"/>
            <Property Key="IncludeSubSites" Value="true"/>
        </Properties>
    </Feature>
</WebFeatures>

Thanks for all your answers and suggestions and views.

Nicholas