Custom site template exception on TaxonomyHiddenList feature activation on SharePoint 2013

Question

I have created a site collection on Central Administration using the STS#0 template. Afterwards I deleted the newsfeed webpart and saved the site as template on Site Settings and saved the wsp to my hard drive.

Next I uploaded the wsp to a site collection where I have a webpart that creates a new site collection and applies a specific template after it is created. The webpart code is based on Waldek Mastykarz article "Programmatically creating Sites and Site Collections from a Custom Web Template".

All the code is executed without problems and the template is applied. Here's when the web template ListInstances results an exception. The message sequence of the ULS is as follow:

1. Unknown SPRequest error occurred. More information: 0x80070002
   1. 0x80070002
   2. 0x80070002 SPRequest.GetMetadataForUrl: UserPrincipalName=, AppPrincipalName= ,bstrUrl=http://teamrooms.dev/teamrooms/NoNewsFeed/Lists/TaxonomyHiddenList ,METADATAFLAGS=59
   3. System.IO.FileNotFoundException: 0x80070002, StackTrace: at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.GetList(String strUrl)
      at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.TryGetListByUrl(String url) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFieldElement.PerformFixUpIfLookUpField(Guid fieldId, XmlNode xmlNodeOfAField, SPWeb web) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFieldElement.ElementActivated(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPSqlCommand sqlcmdAppendOnly, SPWebApplication webApp, SPSite site, SPWeb webNull, Boolean fForce) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPElementDefinitionCollection.ProvisionFieldsAndContentTypes(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPSite site, SPWeb web, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPElementDefinitionCollection.ProvisionElements(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPWebApplication webapp, SPSite site, SPWeb web, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.Activate(SPSite siteParent, SPWeb webParent, SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureCollection.AddInternal(SPFeatureDefinition featdef, Version version, SPFeaturePropertyCollection properties, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean force, Boolean fMarkOnly) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureCollection.AddInternalWithName(Guid featureId, Int32 compatibilityLevel, String featureName, Version version, SPFeaturePropertyCollection properties, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean force, Boolean fMarkOnly, SPFeatureDefinitionScope featdefScope) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureManager.EnsureFeaturesActivatedCore(SPSite site, SPWeb web, String sFeatures, Boolean fMarkOnly) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureManager.<>c_DisplayClass7.b_6() at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunAsUser(SPUserToken userToken, Boolean bResetContext, WaitCallback code, Object param) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureManager.EnsureFeaturesActivatedAtWeb(Byte[]& userToken, Guid& tranLockerId, Int32 nZone, Guid databaseid, Guid siteid, Guid webid, String sFeatures) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String bstrWebTemplateContent, Int32 fWebTemplateContentFromSubweb, Int32 fDeleteGlobalListsWithWebTemplateContent, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String bstrWebTemplateContent, Int32 fWebTemplateContentFromSubweb, Int32 fDeleteGlobalListsWithWebTemplateContent, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.ApplyWebTemplate(String bstrUrl, String bstrWebTemplateContent, Int32 fWebTemplateContentFromSubweb, Int32 fDeleteGlobalListsWithWebTemplateContent, String& bstrWebTemplate, Int32& plWebTemplateId) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.ProvisionWebTemplate(SPWebTemplate webTemplate, String webTemplateToUse, SPFeatureWebTemplate featureWebTemplate) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWeb.ApplyWebTemplate(SPWebTemplate webTemplate) at NewTeamRoom.<>c_DisplayClass3.b_0()
      at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.<>c_DisplayClass5.b_3() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.SecurityContext.RunAsProcess(CodeToRunElevated secureCode) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(WaitCallback secureCode, Object param) at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(CodeToRunElevated secureCode) at NewTeamRoom.ProvisionSiteCollection() at NewTeamRoom.btnCreate_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument) at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
      at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)
      at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest() at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequest(HttpContext context) at System.Web.HttpApplication.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() at System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) at System.Web.HttpApplication.PipelineStepManager.ResumeSteps(Exception error) at System.Web.HttpApplication.BeginProcessRequestNotification(HttpContext context, AsyncCallback cb) at System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationHelper(IntPtr rootedObjectsPointer, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotification(IntPtr rootedObjectsPointer, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.UnsafeIISMethods.MgdIndicateCompletion(IntPtr pHandler, RequestNotificationStatus& notificationStatus) at System.Web.Hosting.UnsafeIISMethods.MgdIndicateCompletion(IntPtr pHandler, RequestNotificationStatus& notificationStatus) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationHelper(IntPtr rootedObjectsPointer, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags) at System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.ProcessRequestNotification(IntPtr rootedObjectsPointer, IntPtr nativeRequestContext, IntPtr moduleData, Int32 flags)

If I try to create a new site using this template through UI or even if I create a site collection through the webpart using a saved template based on STS#0 without making any changes, everything works fine: no exceptions and the site collection is created.

I cannot understand why this is happening and I already lost quite sometime with this issue. Do someone have a clue how to solve this problem?

Answer 1

I tlooks like one of the last methods called is the PerformFixUpIfLookUpField. This method is used to rewrite the attribute values of List and WebID of lookupfields. It rewrites the url of the target list to the list guid and the url-token of the WebID to the guid of the target web. Is it possible that in the definition of the lookupfields an old guid is present?

I recently also had a problem with lookupfields and examined this method. You can find some of my findings in my blog post: http://martensboarterstun.wordpress.com/2013/06/15/how-to-create-a-list-definition-with-a-lookup-field-declaratively/

Maybe you can solve your problem with this information