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Globally implement custom content types

  Asked By: Dejuan Solomon         Date: May 13, 2010      Category: Sharepoint      Views: 268
 

I am trying to ascertain the best method to address the following
requirement:
Our organization is instituting a major records classification and
retention program. this requires that all content stored in SharePoint
needs to be assigned a record type classification and a record
activation date.

To accomplish this, I am thinking that I need to create custom content
types that include two new fields record_class and record_date. I need
to make sure that no content is created using a content type that does
not derive from these custom content types.

I have read lots of blog warnings against modifying any out of the box
content types, so I expect to create new content types that inherit from
all of the existing base content types, and then hide the out of the box
ones. I feel I can do this rather easily through the use of features. Is
this the right approach?

But I am more confused about how to make sure that all site definition
and their embedded list definitions, will derive from the custom content
types and not the ootb. Do I have to modify every site definition I plan
to use (or make custom copies)? What is the best way to accomplish this?

I expect that other companies must have gone down this road before. Any
documented advice?

Tagged:          

 

6 Answers Found

 
Answer #1       Answered By: Kabeer Karkare          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

My first serious piece of advice  would be to look at doing it in SharePoint
2010. There are a number of new enhancements in 2010 like the content  type
hub that will make what you are trying to do much easier.

 
Answer #2       Answered By: Nathaniel Davis          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

I agree. Unfortunately, our current plans won't have us on SP2010 for at least
12-24 months, and we are committed to implementing a solution for this within
the next 7 months.

So... any ideas for doing this in MOSS 2007?

 
Answer #3       Answered By: Zoe Cotton          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

About all you can do in SharePoint 2007 would be to implement  all the
content types  as features  and then activate those features in each site
collection. But try to get it right the first time, because updating
content types deployed as features is difficult at best in SharePoint 2007.

 
Answer #4       Answered By: Alexander Scott          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

Can you elaborate on your comment that "updating content  types deployed as
features is difficult at best in SP2007"?

 
Answer #5       Answered By: Benito Carey          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

The problem is that if you have deployed content  types using a declarative
feature in 2007 you can't simply go in and update the xml and re-deploy.
You will normally need to deploy changes to existing  content types  through
custom code. That in turn means that the content type  is now dependent on
both a feature and custom  code making removal of the feature messy. Take a
look at the following MSDN article for a discussion of the challenges and
approaches.

msdn.microsoft.com/.../ee330223.aspx
ContentTypes_UpdatingContentTypes

 
Answer #6       Answered By: Ebony Perkins          Answered On: May 13, 2010       

While we do need to deploy some solution prior to moving to SP2010, we are now
considering less ambitious options that might not so heavily commit us down a
path that will make migration to SP2010 (or deployment of a more ideal SP2010
solution) more difficult, and then try to do it the right way in SP2010. And
hopefully this just becomes one more impetus for migrating sooner.

 
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