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Walkthrough: Import a Custom Master Page and Site Page with an Image

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This walkthrough demonstrates how to import a SharePoint custom master page and a site page that has an image into a Visual Studio SharePoint project.

This walkthrough shows how to accomplish the following tasks:

  • Create a custom master page and a site page by using an image in SharePoint Designer.

  • Export a custom master page, image, and site page to a SharePoint solution (.wsp) file.

  • Import and deploy the .wsp file into a Visual Studio SharePoint project by using the Import SharePoint Solution Package project.

Note

Your computer might show different names or locations for some of the Visual Studio user interface elements in the following instructions. The Visual Studio edition that you have and the settings that you use determine these elements. For more information, see Customizing Development Settings in Visual Studio.

Prerequisites

You must have the following components to complete this walkthrough:

Create Items in SharePoint Designer

This example shows how to create three items in SharePoint Designer for export: a custom master page, a site page that references the custom master page, and an image file to appear on the site page. The image is added to the /images/ folder in SharePoint.

To create a custom master page in SharePoint Designer

  1. In SharePoint Designer, in the Navigation pane, choose the Master Pages site object.

  2. On the Master Pages ribbon, choose Blank Master Page.

  3. Choose the new master page, and then, on the Master Pages ribbon, choose Edit File.

  4. At the bottom of SharePoint Designer, choose the Code tab.

  5. Replace the existing markup with the following markup.

    <%@ Master Language="C#" %>
<%@ Register tagprefix="SharePoint" namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<html dir="ltr">
<head runat="server">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<SharePoint:RobotsMetaTag runat="server" __designer:Preview="" __designer:Values="&lt;P N='InDesign' T='False' /&gt;&lt;P N='ID' T='ctl00' /&gt;&lt;P N='Page' ID='1' /&gt;&lt;P N='TemplateControl' ID='2' /&gt;&lt;P N='AppRelativeTemplateSourceDirectory' R='-1' /&gt;"></SharePoint:RobotsMetaTag>
<title>Web Page</title>
</head>
<body>
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="ContentPlaceHolderMain" 
        runat="server">
      </asp:ContentPlaceHolder>
</form>
</body>
</html>

  6. Save the page, choose the Master Pages tab, and rename the master page as mybasic1.master.

Add an Image to the Content Database in SharePoint Designer

Now you can add an image to display on the site page. The image is deployed to the SharePoint content database.

To add an image to the content database in SharePoint Designer

  1. In the Navigation pane, choose the All Files site object, and then, in the tree view, choose the images folder.

  2. On the All Files ribbon, choose Import Files, choose a file of your choice, and then choose the OK button. In this example, the file is named myimg1.png.

    Optionally, you can create a subfolder to help organize the images.

  3. Close the Import dialog box.

Create a Site page

This basic site page uses the custom master page and displays the image that you added in the previous step.

To create a site page

  1. In the Navigation pane, choose the Site Pages object.

  2. On the Pages ribbon, choose the Page button, choose the ASPX page type, and then name the new file mycontentpage1.aspx.

    Optionally, you can create a subfolder to help organize the site pages.

  3. In the site pages list, choose MyContentPage1.aspx to open its properties page, and then, at the bottom of the page, choose the Edit file link.

    If a message appears and says that this page doesn't contain any regions that are editable in safe mode and asks whether you want to open this page in advanced mode, choose the Yes button.

  4. At the bottom of the page, choose the Code button.

  5. Replace the existing markup with the following markup.

    <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="Utilities" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Register Tagprefix="asp" Namespace="System.Web.UI" Assembly="System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35" %>
<%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %>
<%@ Assembly Name="Microsoft.Web.CommandUI, Version=14.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %>
<%@ Page Language="C#" Inherits="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls.LayoutsPageBase" MasterPageFile="../_catalogs/masterpage/mybasic1.master" meta:progid="SharePoint.WebPartPage.Document" %>

<asp:Content ID="Main" ContentPlaceHolderID="ContentPlaceHolderMain" runat="server">
<img alt="My Image" longdesc="My image from images folder" src="../images/myimg1.png" />
</asp:Content>

  6. Save the updated site page.

Export the Items from SharePoint

Export the items from SharePoint to a SharePoint solution (.wsp) file.

To export items from SharePoint Designer

  1. In SharePoint Designer, in the Navigation pane, choose the Team Site object, and then, on the Site ribbon, choose Save As Template.

  2. In the Save as Template dialog box, enter a file name and template name, select the Include Content check box, and then choose the OK button.

    This saves the contents of the site in the .wsp file.

  3. After the solution exports, choose the Solution Gallery link to display the list of available solution files.

  4. Open the shortcut menu for the new .wsp file, and then choose Save target as to save it to the system.

Import the Items into Visual Studio

Import the .wsp file into Visual Studio. After the content is imported, you can customize it, add more items, and then deploy it.

To import items from the .wsp file into Visual Studio

  1. In Visual Studio, create an Import SharePoint 2010 Solution Package project.

  2. On the Select items to import page, under Module in the Type column, select the check boxes for only the files in the following table for import.

    File Name

    Description

    _catalogsmasterpage_

    The custom master page.

    images_

    The image file in the SharePoint file system.

    SitePages_

    The site page.

  3. Choose the Finish button to import the selected items.

  4. In Solution Explorer, choose the _catalogsmasterpage_ node, and set the value of its Deployment Conflict Resolution property to Automatic.

    This helps ensure that that any deployment conflicts are resolved automatically.

  5. If your new master page has the same name as an existing page, make sure that the existing page is not marked as either a Default Master Page or a Custom Master Page in SharePoint Designer.

    If an existing master page is marked as either Default Master Page or Custom Master Page, you will get a deployment error that states that the master page cannot be deleted. To avoid this problem, do this:

    • If the existing master page is set as Default Master Page, temporarily set another master page as Default Master Page. After you deploy the files to SharePoint, set your new master page as Default Master Page.

    • If the existing master page is set as Custom Master Page, temporarily set another master page as Custom Master Page. After you deploy the files to SharePoint, set your new master page as Custom Master Page.

  6. On the menu bar, choose Build, Deploy Solution.

  7. Open the SharePoint site to view the deployed items.

An alternative way to import files into Visual Studio and deploy them to SharePoint is to add the files into modules in Visual Studio. For more information, see How to: Import a Master Page or Theme and Using Modules to Include Files in the Solution.

See Also

Concepts

Importing Items from an Existing SharePoint Site

Other Resources

Developing SharePoint Solutions

Creating Reusable Controls for Web Parts or Application Pages