Hi everybody, I've created a custom site definition (sd v1.0)and with this one i've publishedsome new sites. In time, this site definition was updated with some new components.I've created a new custom site definition (sd v1.1).Sure, all this modifications can be the object of a site template. Right now, I want to update the old site(s) (created with sd v1.0)with the new site definition (sd v1.1).Could you help me with some ideas of how this can be done? In fact, its a normal thing to update the old version with new functionalities, but I dont know how to do this. Thank you for any ideas!

Hi again, Nobody knows how to solve this problem?! Its very strange.I dont believe that Microsoft team didnt anticipate this situation.

There's currently no posted solution for updating sites or lists based on a custom site or list definition. I'm working on some code to update a list when it's defintion changes but haven't completed it yet - I don't know of anyone with code to deal with site definition changes.

Hi Guys Sounds like I have the same problem as you. I have created a custom site definition using the SharePoint solution generator tool and have created sites off the definition. Then I try to update the definition for example changing a lists title and then redeploy the solution. I go back to the existing site and it doesnt load (Error 404 web page cannot be found) but if I create a new site off the definition the change has applied and site functions normally. I have read in book's that say sites that are built from a site definition are always uncustomized, which implies changing the site definition will change all of the sites based on that template. Thats why Im investigating using site definitions as opposed to site templates which we currently use now because of the update factor. Cheers

My understanding though is that your onet.xml file which describes the site setup is a one time shot - modifying this shouldn't affect existing sites (I could be off here - I've not actually done much with custom site definitions). Certain aspects of your site defintion will be initially in an uncustomized state so updating those will affect existing sites (custom list defintion view pages and page layouts and master pages for example).

This is what I thought, too. I am currently experiencing the same problems and even ghosted files are not being updated on existing sites; That was the point I too was hoping for. However, if you take it from POV of design it might be obvious that you cannot allow this. How should SharePoint know that the new version is compatible with the old one? If you do not update list definitions (which is indeed one of the core features of SharePoint) you shouldn't update anything else either. I thought there might be a small version of upgrade configurations to handle this issue. But it figured out that they are to be used for major version upgrades only (e.g. WSS v2 to v3). Regards Felix Kollmann

Any luck on this anyone?

Is there any update on the solution for this? In the case that I don't allow the user to customize SharePoint site via browser or SharePoint Designer, is there any solution? I'm working with WSS 3.0 and developing a product which will go to the market, not just customize for internal use. Therefore it's critical for me to make the site upgradable by an automatic process (e.g. through an installer). Thanks

I have the same problem,(I am working with WSS3.0) I wanted to update a custom site definition which is created using VS 2005. for modifying few aspx files and the code behind. My colleagues say that it should not be updated using the wsp, and suggested me to update only dll (GAC) and pages straight into <SiteElements....> folder. As mark6543 say, I am having the same issues. Even my site in testt environment went down trying to update with wsp using stsadm -o upgradesolution command Can any one from microsoft throw some light on this. Vasudev