Add Web Part(dwp file) to the Page Layout

Question

I'm Creating Page Layout using SharePoint designer. Using the below code i created Web part zone

<WebPartPages:WebPartZone  runat="server" Title="ZoneTit" ID="ZoneId">
    <ZoneTemplate></ZoneTemplate>
    </WebPartPages:WebPartZone>

I want to add the web part(dwp file) to the page layout using SPD2013? If i create the page using the custom layout, it automatically bring all the web parts to the corresponding zone(Don't want to add the web parts to the page manually). How can i achieve this?

Answer 1

If you can deploy your page layout with a sharepoint solution it would be quite easy, you can add your webparts to the elements.xml file which includes your page layout:

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <Module Name="PageLayouts" List="116" Url="_catalogs/masterpage">
    <File Path="PageLayouts\UAGSearchPage.aspx" Url="Umdasch/UAGSearchPage.aspx" Type="GhostableInLibrary" ReplaceContent="true">
      <Property Name="ContentType" Value="$Resources:cmscore,contenttype_pagelayout_name;" />
      <Property Name="Title" Value="UAG-Searchpage" />
      <AllUsersWebPart WebPartZoneID="RefinementWebPart" WebPartOrder="1">
      <!-- Refinement Panel -->
      <![CDATA[<webParts>
            <webPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3">
                <metaData>
                     <type name="Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.WebControls.RefinementScriptWebPart, Microsoft.Office.Server.Search, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />
                     <importErrorMessage>Cannot import this Web Part.</importErrorMessage>
                </metaData>
               <data>
               <properties>
               ...
               ...
</Elements>

Pagelayout.aspx:

<asp:Content ID="LeftNavBar" ContentPlaceHolderID="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server">
    <div class="wpxp-webpartzone" id="wpxp-searchRefinement">
        <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" AllowPersonalization="false" ID="RefinementWebPart" FrameType="None"
                    Title="<% $Resources:wpxpUmdasch, WPZoneRefinement;%>" Orientation="Vertical"><ZoneTemplate></ZoneTemplate>
        </WebPartPages:WebPartZone>
    </div>
</asp:Content>

When i open the file in sharepoint designer after the deployment it looks like as follows:

<asp:Content ID="LeftNavBar" ContentPlaceHolderID="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server">
    <div class="wpxp-webpartzone" id="wpxp-searchRefinement">
        <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" AllowPersonalization="false" ID="RefinementWebPart" FrameType="None"
                    Title="<% $Resources:wpxpUmdasch, WPZoneRefinement;%>" Orientation="Vertical"><ZoneTemplate>
        <spsswc:RefinementScriptWebPart runat="server" SelectedRefinementControlsJson="..." UseManagedNavigationRefiners="False" QueryGroupName="Default" RenderTemplateId="~sitecollection/_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Filters/Control_Refinement.js" StatesJson="{}" ServerIncludeScriptsJson="null" Title="Refinement" FrameType="None" SuppressWebPartChrome="False" Description="This webpart helps the users to refine search results" IsIncluded="True" ZoneID="RefinementWebPart" PartOrder="2" FrameState="Normal" AllowRemove="True" AllowZoneChange="True" AllowMinimize="True" AllowConnect="True" AllowEdit="True" AllowHide="True" IsVisible="True" DetailLink="" HelpLink="" HelpMode="Modeless" Dir="Default" PartImageSmall="" MissingAssembly="Cannot import this Web Part." PartImageLarge="" IsIncludedFilter="" ExportControlledProperties="True" ConnectionID="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000" ID="g_2a9274f8_a121_4fe4_ad4f_4ecb4f53e80d" ChromeType="None" ExportMode="All" __MarkupType="vsattributemarkup" __WebPartId="{2A9274F8-A121-4FE4-AD4F-4ECB4F53E80D}" WebPart="true" Height="" Width=""></spsswc:RefinementScriptWebPart>

        </ZoneTemplate></WebPartPages:WebPartZone>
    </div>
</asp:Content>