SharePoint Solution Installer

Note: This documentation applies to version 1.2 released 15-Jun-2008.

Welcome

This project is a Windows application for an eased and more user friendly installation and deployment of SharePoint 2007 solution files to a SharePoint server farm. Distribute your SharePoint solution files with this installation program instead of a raw script using STSADM.EXE to install and deploy the solution.

Installation

To install SharePoint Solution Installer, just download the latest release and unzip on a SharePoint server. Then run setup.exe to try and install the DemoSolution.wsp file.

System Requirements

• .NET 2.0+
• Windows SharePoint Services V3.0

Features

• Support for all relevant operations:
• Add solution to the SharePoint solution store.
• Deploy solution on one or more web applications.
• Activate feature on one or more site collections for features scoped to a Site (site collection).
• Upgrade solution.
• Retract and remove solution.
• Pre-install system check for the following conditions:
• WSS V3 is installed.
• MOSS 2007 is installed (This check can be disabled in config file)
• User has permission to install solutions.
• SharePoint database is online.
• WSS Administration service is started.
• WSS Timer service is started.
• Implements a work around for the following error conditions:
• Another solution deployment job never finished and is now blocking for the creation of a new job. Work-around: Delete old job from the list of Timer job defnitions.
• Timer service is not started: An attempt is made to start it (please note that timer services on other front ends will not be started).
• Database is offline, which will yield an ugly NullreferenceException from SharePoint offering little clue to the root cause of the problem. Work around: Detect NullreferenceException and display nice error message.
• Display EULA. (Can be disabled in config file).
• Web application list where user can select the web apps. to deploy the solution to.
• Rollback after installation errors.
• Configurable Product Title.
• Configurable banner image.
• Configurable logo image.
• Supports optionally displaying a documentation/help link at the end of installation.
• Supports optionally displaying a relative configuration link within deployed location for each deployment target.
• Supports a single feature inside a single WSP.
• (Support for multiple features or WSPs is not yet supported.)
• Support for features scoped to:
• Farm
• Site (site collection)
• (Support for features scoped to the WebApplication or Web (site) is not yet supported.)

Configuration File Example for a Farm-Level Feature

The installer can be launched with setup.exe and configured via the setup.exe.config file. The following configuration example outlines the various options that can be configured:

<configuration>
    <appSettings>
        <add key="BannerImage" value="Default"/>
        <add key="LogoImage" value="Default"/>
        <add key="EULA" value="EULA.rtf"/>
        <add key="SolutionId" value="44906C46-D7C1-4a14-A7D2-87394D9FC7E3"/>
        <add key="SolutionFile" value="yoursolution.wsp"/>
        <add key="SolutionTitle" value="Enter Product Title Here"/>
        <add key="SolutionVersion" value="1.0.0.0"/>
        <add key="FeatureScope" value="Farm"/>
        <add key="FeatureId" value="A69D3FDA-142A-4d2c-BA6D-446CE01FF1C2"/>
        <add key="UpgradeDescription" value="Upgrades {SolutionTitle} on all 
frontend web servers in the SharePoint farm. "/>
        <add key="RequireDeploymentToCentralAdminWebApplication" value="true"/>
        <add key="RequireDeploymentToAllContentWebApplications" value="false"/>
        <add key="DefaultDeployToSRP" value="false"/>    
        <add key="RequireMoss" value="true"/>    
	<add key="SSPRelativeConfigLink" value="/_layouts/MyFeature/Config.aspx"/>
        <add key="DocumentationUrl" value="http://www.mycompany.com/MyFeatureDoc.aspx"/>	
  </appSettings>
</configuration>

Configuration File Example for a Site-Level Feature

The installer can be launched with setup.exe and configured via the setup.exe.config file. The following configuration example outlines the various options that can be configured:

<configuration>
    <appSettings>
        <add key="BannerImage" value="Default"/>
        <add key="LogoImage" value="Default"/>
        <add key="EULA" value="EULA.rtf"/>
        <add key="SolutionId" value="44906C46-D7C1-4a14-A7D2-87394D9FC7E3"/>
        <add key="SolutionFile" value="yoursolution.wsp"/>
        <add key="SolutionTitle" value="Enter Product Title Here"/>
        <add key="SolutionVersion" value="1.0.0.0"/>
        <add key="FeatureScope" value="Site"/>
        <add key="FeatureId" value="A69D3FDA-142A-4d2c-BA6D-446CE01FF1C2;5737C838-50F8-4D8C-9C60-C8DF5AD5EDCB"/>
        <add key="UpgradeDescription" value="Upgrades {SolutionTitle} on all 
frontend web servers in the SharePoint farm. "/>
        <add key="RequireDeploymentToCentralAdminWebApplication" value="false"/>
        <add key="RequireDeploymentToAllContentWebApplications" value="false"/>       
	<add key="SiteCollectionRelativeConfigLink" value="/_layouts/MyFeature/Config.aspx"/>
        <add key="DocumentationUrl" value="http://www.mycompany.com/MyFeatureDoc.aspx"/>	
  </appSettings>
</configuration>

BannerImage
Accepts a path to your own banner image. The image is automatically stretched to fit the title bar. Remove or specify empty value to omit banner image.

LogoImage
Accepts a path to your own logo image. Remove or specify empty value to omit banner image.

EULA
Accepts a path to your own EULA file. Remove or specify empty value if you do not want to present an EULA to the user.

SolutionId
Specify the GUID of your solution as indicated in the manifest.xml file within your WSP. The installer will need this to detect any existing solution in the SharePoint solution store.

SolutionFile
Specify the filename of the solution file, e.g. mysolution.wsp. Creating the solution file is of course your job entirely - but I can highly recommend you to take a look at the Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WSS 3.0

SolutionTitle
The title of your solution. This is displayed on various screens within the installer.

SolutionVersion
Specify the version of your solution. The upgrade option will only show if this version number is different from the previously installed solution.

FeatureScope
Set to "Farm" if the feature in your WSP is scoped to the farm. Set to "Site" if your feature is scoped to a site collection. This value should be identical to the Scope value specified within your feature XML file within your WSP. Features scoped to the WebApplication or Web are not currently supported. The installer only supports installing a single feature within your WSP.

FeatureId
Specify the semicolon delimited list of GUIDs of the features as indicated in the feature XML files within your WSP. The installer will automatically activate these features at the end of the installation process. Specify empty value if the installer should not activate any feature.

UpgradeDescription
Text to display during an upgrade.

RequireDeploymentToCentralAdminWebApplication
Set to true if you want to force deployment of your solution to all central administration web applications.

RequireDeploymentToAllContentWebApplications
Set to true if you want to force deployment of your solution to all content web applications.

DefaultDeployToSRP
Set to true if you want the user deployment to default to all Shared Resource Providers (e.g., SSP, My Sites). The user can change this default in the deployment screen.

RequireMoss
Set to true if your solution requires Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to install and run. Leave out or set to false if your solution will settle for a WSS only farm.

SSPRelativeConfigLink
Optionally provide a relative link to a configuration page for your feature that is accessible after your farm feature is activated. This link should be relative to the site where your feature is available (e.g., the SSP URL). This applies only to features scoped to the Farm.

SiteCollectionRelativeConfigLink
Optionally provide a relative link to a configuration page for your feature that is accessible after your Site (site collection) feature is activated. This link should be relative to any site collection where your feature is available. This applies only to features scoped to the Site (site collection).

DocumentationURL
Optionally provide a complete link to where documentation is available for your feature. This is displayed at the end of installation.