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Understanding WebTemp*.xml Files

SharePoint 2010Other Versions

Published: May 2010

Each server in a deployment of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation has at least the originallyinstalled WebTemp.xml file located in the %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft

Shared\web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LCID\XML folder, where LCID is the numeric

ID of the language/culture, such as 1033 for English. There may also be one or more customWebTemp*.xml files. The WebTemp*.xml files contain an itemization of the site definitionconfigurations that are available in the user interface (UI) for users to select when they create a

new website. The UI varies depending on whether the Microsoft Silverlight or HTML site

creation page is being used.

Caution

You must not modify the original WebTemp.xml file that is installed with SharePoint

Foundation. Changes that you make to originally installed files may be overwritten when you

install updates or service packs to SharePoint Foundation, or when you upgrade an installation tothe next product version. For these reasons, changing the original WebTemp.xml file is not

supported. For more information about creating a custom site definition, see How to: Create aCustom Site Definition and Configuration.

File Format

The Templates element specifies the site definitions that are being made available in the

WebTemp*.xml file. Each site definition is defined with a Template element. Each site definition

has one or more site definition configurations that can be used to instantiate sites. Each Templateelement specifies a unique ID and a name that corresponds to a site definition subfolder within

the %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server

extensions\14\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates folder.

A Template element can contain any number ofConfigurationchild elements. Each such childrepresents a site definition configuration. The ID attribute of each Configuration element

corresponds to the ID of another Configuration element that is in anOnet.xml file. The second

Configuration element specifies the lists and modules of the site definition configuration.

Each Configuration element in a WebTemp*.xml file also specifies the title and description (and

the path to the image) of the configuration that is displayed in the SharePoint Foundation UI

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when a user is creating a new site. A configuration can be hidden from the UI by setting its

Hidden attribute to TRUE.

The DisplayCategory attribute of a Configuration element in a WebTemp*.xml file specifies thecategory of site type that the site appears under in the UI; for example, "Collaboration" and

"Meetings". (In the Silverlight version of the UI for creating a new site, some built-in site typesdo not appear in the category that corresponds to their DisplayCategory value.) If you are

creating a custom site definition configuration and specify a previously unused value forDisplayCategory, a new category with that name appears in the UI to contain your custom site

definition configuration.

The SupportsMultilingualUI attribute of a Configuration element indicates whether sites that

were created from the site definition configuration can have different UIs for different languages.

The following excerpt from the built-in WebTemp.xml file shows the format of the markup.

...

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...

Templates Element (Site)

Published: May 2010

Top-level element in a WebTemp*.xml file that specifies the collection of site definitions

available for instantiating sites within the deployment.

...

...

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