Custom Web template based on Team Site is empty

Question

Following is the process I followed to create a Custom Web Template based on Team Site in SP 2013. I opened VS 2012 created an "empty SharePoint project", added an "Empty Element", changed its elements.xml file as follows and added a copy of onet.xml from 15Hive\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\sts\xml to the "empty element", changed the deployment type property of the onet.xml file to ElementFile. I Added a web scoped feature to the project and deployed it. elements.xml:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
 <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <WebTemplate
    Name="Same_Name_as_EmptyElement"
    BaseTemplateName="STS"
    BaseTemplateID="1"
    BaseConfigurationID="0"
    Title="MyTeamSite"
    Description="blah"
    DisplayCategory="MyTemplates"/>
 </Elements>

Everything works great, When I want to create a new sub site, I can find my template and create a new Sub Site based on it. But the page is empty. There is no Promoted Links, or Documents Library, nothing. SitePages/Home.aspx is completely empty. why? and how Can I solve it? thanks for helping me.

Answer 1

This is as @suren says due to the fact that you do not provision a default page with your onet.xml

If you do not want to customize the default page you can activate the WikiPage HomePage Feature, it is a web scoped feature, so add it under <WebFeatures> in your onet.xml

    <!-- WikiPageHomePage Feature -->
    <Feature ID="00BFEA71-D8FE-4FEC-8DAD-01C19A6E4053" />

To make your new site have all the abilities of a standard teamsite you would need to activate the following features:

      <SiteFeatures>
        <!-- BasicWebParts Feature -->
        <Feature ID="00BFEA71-1C5E-4A24-B310-BA51C3EB7A57" />
        <!-- Three-state Workflow Feature -->
        <Feature ID="FDE5D850-671E-4143-950A-87B473922DC7" />
      </SiteFeatures>
      <WebFeatures>
        <!-- TeamCollab Feature -->
        <Feature ID="00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-7EA5C011ABE5" />
        <!-- MobilityRedirect -->
        <Feature ID="F41CC668-37E5-4743-B4A8-74D1DB3FD8A4" />
        <!-- WikiPageHomePage Feature -->
        <Feature ID="00BFEA71-D8FE-4FEC-8DAD-01C19A6E4053" />
        <!-- SiteNotebook Feature -->
        <Feature ID="F151BB39-7C3B-414F-BB36-6BF18872052F" />
        <!-- Getting Started List instance -->
        <Feature ID="4AEC7207-0D02-4f4f-AA07-B370199CD0C7" />
        <!-- MDS -->
        <Feature ID="87294C72-F260-42f3-A41B-981A2FFCE37A" />
      </WebFeatures>

You find this in the ONET.XML found in 15/TEMPLATE/SiteTemplates/sts/xml

Edit:

If you want a default page just like the one for a Team Site, with webparts and all:

1. Add a module to your project
2. Add that one to a feature that is web scoped and activate it in the ONET.XML webscoped features.
3. In the module, add the default.aspx from 15/TEMPLATE/SiteTemplates/sts/

4. In the Elements.xml of the module add the following (substituting the module name and file path to match your module):

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
   <Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
     <Module Name="ProjectDefault" Url="" Path="">
       <File Path="ProjectDefault\default.aspx" Url="default.aspx" NavBarHome="True">
     <AllUsersWebPart WebPartZoneID="Top" WebPartOrder="1">
       <![CDATA[
                       <webParts>
                           <webPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3">
                               <metaData>
                                   <type name="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.ProjectSummaryWebPart, Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" />
                                   <importErrorMessage>$Resources:spscore,WPImportErrorMessage;</importErrorMessage>
                               </metaData>
                               <data>
                                   <properties>
                                       <property name="Title" type="string">$Resources:spscore,ProjectSummaryWebPartTitle;</property>
                                       <property name="Description" type="string">$Resources:spscore,ProjectSummaryWebPartDescription;</property>
                                       <property name="ChromeType" type="chrometype">None</property>
                                   </properties>
                               </data>
                           </webPart>
                       </webParts>
                   ]]>
     </AllUsersWebPart>
     <AllUsersWebPart WebPartZoneID="Left" WebPartOrder="1">
       <![CDATA[
       <WebPart xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2">
     <Title>Site Feed</Title>
     <FrameType>None</FrameType>
     <Description>Site Feed contains microblogging conversations on a group site.    </Description>
     <IsIncluded>true</IsIncluded>
     <ZoneID>Left</ZoneID>
     <PartOrder>0</PartOrder>
     <FrameState>Normal</FrameState>
     <Height />
     <Width />
     <AllowRemove>true</AllowRemove>
     <AllowZoneChange>true</AllowZoneChange>
     <AllowMinimize>true</AllowMinimize>
     <AllowConnect>true</AllowConnect>
     <AllowEdit>true</AllowEdit>
     <AllowHide>true</AllowHide>
     <IsVisible>true</IsVisible>
     <DetailLink />
     <HelpLink />
     <HelpMode>Modeless</HelpMode>
     <Dir>Default</Dir>
     <PartImageSmall />
     <MissingAssembly>Cannot import this Web Part.</MissingAssembly>
     <PartImageLarge />
     <IsIncludedFilter />
     <Assembly>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=15.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly>
     <TypeName>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.SiteFeedWebPart</TypeName>
    </WebPart>]]>
     </AllUsersWebPart>
    <View List="$Resources:core,shareddocuments_Folder;" BaseViewID="1" WebPartZoneID="Right" />
   </File>
   

Answer 2

I have created web template by following this link. Please see if you have done everything.

I think you copied onet.xml alone.

https://usmanmughal.wordpress.com/2011/04/26/how-to-create-web-template-in-sharepoint-2010-using-feature/