A couple of months ago I wrote some posts about provisioning design files in SharePoint 2013 (display templates, none html design files). One thing I did not described is how you can provision your HTML master page and page layout design files.
Most of the research (read time) was already done when I was trying to find out the best way to provision display templates. It seemed that the best solution was to update and publish the display templates from the moment they got provisioned on your site. The update triggers SharePoint to convert the HTML layout to a JavaScript display template.
The same approach can also be used when you want to provision your HTML design files to SharePoint. In the following sections I’ll describe what you need to do for provisioning a master page and page layouts.
Provision HTML Master Page
When you create a new HTML master page in SharePoint 2013, it will automatically get all the required properties set in the file itself (if created with the design manager).
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| <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<mso:CustomDocumentProperties>
<mso:ContentType msdt:dt="string">Design File</mso:ContentType>
<mso:ContentTypeId msdt:dt="string">0x0101000F1C8B9E0EB4BE489F09807B2C53288F0054AD6EF48B9F7B45A142F8173F171BD10003D357F861E29844953D5CAA1D4D8A3A</mso:ContentTypeId>
<mso:HtmlDesignAssociated msdt:dt="string">1</mso:HtmlDesignAssociated>
<mso:HtmlDesignFromMaster msdt:dt="string"></mso:HtmlDesignFromMaster>
<mso:HtmlDesignConversionSucceeded msdt:dt="string">True</mso:HtmlDesignConversionSucceeded>
<mso:HtmlDesignStatusAndPreview msdt:dt="string">http://sp2013app/brand/import/_catalogs/masterpage/custom-master.html, Conversion successful.</mso:HtmlDesignStatusAndPreview>
</mso:CustomDocumentProperties>
</xml><![endif]-->
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Note: If you created a copy from the Seattle or Oslo master page, the ContentTypeId property is not specified. You don’t really have to specify the ID, the ContentType property is enough.
Provisioning the HTML Master Page is really easy, because you do not have to specify the properties anymore. Here is an example of the module elements file:
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| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="_catalogs" Url="_catalogs/masterpage" Path="_catalogs">
<File Url="custom-master.html" Type="GhostableInLibrary" Level="Draft" ReplaceContent="true" />
</Module>
</Elements>
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Important is that the property ReplaceContent for the file is set to true. Otherwise the content of the HTML file doesn’t get updated if you create a new version of your branding package.
Provision HTML Page Layout
HTML page layouts can be provisioned just the same way as the HTML master pages. The properties are also added to the file when it gets created:
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| <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<mso:CustomDocumentProperties>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea msdt:dt="string">1</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderMain msdt:dt="string">1</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderMain>
<mso:HtmlDesignStatusAndPreview msdt:dt="string">http://sp2013app/brand/import/_catalogs/masterpage/HTML Page Layout.html, Conversion successful.</mso:HtmlDesignStatusAndPreview>
<mso:ContentTypeId msdt:dt="string">0x01010007FF3E057FA8AB4AA42FCB67B453FFC100E214EEE741181F4E9F7ACC43278EE8110003D357F861E29844953D5CAA1D4D8A3B</mso:ContentTypeId>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageTitle msdt:dt="string">1</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageTitle>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead msdt:dt="string">1</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead>
<mso:HtmlDesignFromMaster msdt:dt="string">http://sp2013app/brand/import/_catalogs/masterpage/seattle.html, http://sp2013app/brand/import/_catalogs/masterpage/seattle.html</mso:HtmlDesignFromMaster>
<mso:PublishingAssociatedContentType msdt:dt="string">;#Article Page;#0x010100C568DB52D9D0A14D9B2FDCC96666E9F2007948130EC3DB064584E219954237AF3900242457EFB8B24247815D688C526CD44D;#</mso:PublishingAssociatedContentType>
<mso:HtmlDesignAssociated msdt:dt="string">1</mso:HtmlDesignAssociated>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderTopNavBar msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderTopNavBar>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageTitle msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageTitle>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb msdt:dt="string">683900979</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderFormDigest msdt:dt="string">1833940137</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderFormDigest>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderMain msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderMain>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderFormDigest msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderFormDigest>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderSearchArea msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderSearchArea>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderLeftNavBar msdt:dt="string">1289116816</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderLeftNavBar>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderSearchArea msdt:dt="string">50717157</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderSearchArea>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderLeftNavBar msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderLeftNavBar>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderTopNavBar msdt:dt="string">2010927482</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderTopNavBar>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageDescription msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageDescription>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageDescription msdt:dt="string">1337919370</mso:ContentPlaceHolderHashPlaceHolderPageDescription>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea>
<mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb msdt:dt="string">True</mso:ContentPlaceHolderChangedPlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb>
<mso:HtmlDesignConversionSucceeded msdt:dt="string">True</mso:HtmlDesignConversionSucceeded>
</mso:CustomDocumentProperties>
</xml>
<![endif]-->
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The module elements file looks like this:
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| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
<Module Name="_catalogs" Url="_catalogs/masterpage" Path="_catalogs">
<File Url="HTML Page Layout.html" Type="GhostableInLibrary" Level="Draft" ReplaceContent="true" />
</Module>
</Elements>
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What to do next?
When these design files get provisioned, one thing you’ll notice is that at this moment no master or aspx file gets created. SharePoint still needs to have a trigger to start the conversion process of the design file.
This trigger can be just an item update without really changing anything to the item itself. Here is an example of the method I’m using:
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| public static void EditAndCheckingAndApprove(SPFile file)
{
try
{
// Edit the item, this triggers SharePoint to convert the HTML file
if (file.CheckOutType != SPFile.SPCheckOutType.None)
{
UpdateHtmlPageLayoutProperty(file);
file.Item.Update();
}
else
{
file.CheckOut();
UpdateHtmlPageLayoutProperty(file);
file.Item.Update();
}
// Check the file in and approve it if needed
file.CheckIn("Checked in by the branding feature.", SPCheckinType.MajorCheckIn);
if (file.DocumentLibrary.EnableModeration)
{
file.Approve("Approved by the branding feature.");
}
}
catch (Exception Ex)
{
}
}
private static void UpdateHtmlPageLayoutProperty(SPFile file)
{
if(file.Item.ContentType.Name != "Html Page Layout") return;
// Update the HtmlDesignFromMaster property with your master page
var Hyperlink = new SPFieldUrlValue { Url = string.Format("{0}/_catalogs/masterpage/Seattle.html", file.Web.Url) };
file.Item["HtmlDesignFromMaster"] = Hyperlink;
}
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Important: the hyperlink of the HtmlDesignFromMaster property needs to match to your master page. Please update the hyperlink on line 35 in your project.
Updates
26/06/2013
Updated the C# code to support provisioning HMTL page layouts to a different site collection. When the HtmlDesignFromMaster property of a page layout is set to a master page on another site collection, you will retrieve a error when you want to open the page in the design manager.