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In one interview, interviewer asked this question. I have one table in sql server database which contains the Title and its id(int). Now I want to retrieve those values from database and based on the title, I have to create sites under one root website. How many values are there, that many sites needs to be create.

    Title                    ID  
-----------------------------------  
    A                        1
    B                        2
    C                        3

These are the values. Now I want to creata these three sites at a time. How to achieve it and if I change title of the site then it should update in the database as well. Any suggestions please

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This should not be hard, here is pseudocode:

Connect to this database and retrieve all the rows in this table
Connect to the desired SharePoint Site Collection (SPSite)

Foreach row in rows
       Add a web site under SPSite.RootWeb.Webs using Add method

For more details check SPSite, SPWeb, SPWebCollection objects and SPWebCollection.Add methods.

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  • What about the update method. When we update the title of a site it should reflect in the database – Mihir Aug 11 '12 at 9:12
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    Unfortunately SharePoint only has event handler that fires when an SPWeb object is created, there is no onupdate event. msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…. You would have to build some scheduled check that iterates SPSite.AllWebs collection and checks if changes were made. – Toni Frankola Aug 11 '12 at 9:36
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  1. One other alternative would be to create a BDC Entity out of your Table with SharePoint Designer, then from the newly External List have a new Workflow again via SharePoint Designer to start on item Creation and create a site automatically based on details. On update (ONLY via SharePoint list), use "Wait for a field change" activity you could update respective site. Both Create/Update site would rely on a custom Workflow Activity which is the only piece of code the would create/update site.
  2. Or directly from within your SQL Server (particularly if you have a single-server farm) rely on SQL Triggers to call .NET Managed procedures which could use SharePoint Client Side Managed Code to create/update sites. - more complex honestly (security wise particularly).
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  • I am not sure item 1. is an option. SharePoint workflows can't be triggered by External Lists. They can, once running from someplace else, read/write to external lists. Ref: msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff394479.aspx "Workflows cannot be associated with an external list. In SharePoint Server 2010, although workflows work with external lists, they cannot be associated directly with external lists. You can create a site workflow, or have a list workflow on a SharePoint list, such as a document library, and have it read or update from an external list." – lwbecker2 Aug 13 '12 at 15:41
  • 1. Indeed you cannot direclty but ingenious alternatives allow to bridge that gap (more here sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/19418/…) – Marius Constantinescu - MVP Aug 13 '12 at 20:01

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