Automatically Activate Feature when subsite created

Question

I have created a web template with 2 features, one is scoped site (to create web template) and the other is scoped web (this is for creating a list instance)

Every time i deploy the solution and create a subsite from this web template the list instance does not appear.

What i have to do is go into the subsite settings and activate the feature manually. Can this not be done automatically once a subsite is created?

Answer 1

Your web-scoped feature needs to be explicitly added to the <WebFeatures> section of your web template, see below:

<Project Title="Custom Site" ListDir="$Resources:core,lists_Folder;" UIVersion="4" xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint">
    <NavBars>
    </NavBars>
    <Configurations>
        <Configuration ID="0" Name="CustomSite" MasterUrl="_catalogs/masterpage/v4.master">
            <Lists>
            </Lists>
            <SiteFeatures>
                <!-- "Custom Site" Web Template Feature -->
                <Feature ID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" />
            </SiteFeatures>
            <WebFeatures>
                <!-- Custom List Instance Feature -->
                <Feature ID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" />
            </WebFeatures>
        </Configuration>
    </Configurations>
</Project>

If you have done this, however your feature is still not being activated, do the following:

• Check the SharePoint log files to see if it has attempted to activate your web-scoped feature. Your feature may be throwing an exception and not completing the activation phase as expected.
• Using either SharePoint Designer or PowerShell, check that your custom web template has in fact been used to create to your new subsite.

Answer 2

You can associate a feature with a specific site template, but if you put "GLOBAL" instead of the template name, your feature will be activated for all websites created.

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <FeatureSiteTemplateAssociation Id="29D85C25-170C-4df9-A641-12DB0B9D4130"  TemplateName="GLOBAL" />
</Elements>