Knowledge Base

This article contains information about how to add features to a SharePoint farm.

Features add new functionality to a SharePoint farm, site collection, or site. Features are commonly used to add web parts and workflows to a SharePoint environment.

To add features to a SharePoint farm, follow the steps below.

Before you begin:

1. Define your feature and add it to a folder.  For more information about defining and creating features, see the Windows SharePoint Services SDK.
2. Compress that folder using a ZIP application. 

Steps:

1. Open Kivati Studio and create new blank project.
2. Open project resources view (Design tab, Resources) and add the compressed feature ZIP file as a resource.
3. Add an Open Farm task.  You can find this task under the features category in the WSS task library.
4. Add an Add Feature Definition task to your project.  You can find this task under the features category in the WSS task library. Set the following property values:
   • CompressedData = True
   • Force = True
   • PathToCompressedData = select the name of the resource added in step 2 using the “…” button
   • PathToManifest = <featureFolder>\feature.xml, where <featureFolder> is the name of the folder in the ZIP file that contains your feature.xml file
5. On the task added in step 4, chain the Farm property from the Open Farm task to the Farm property on the Add Feature Definition task.  Create a dependency from the Open Farm task to the Add Feature Definition task.
6. Build and execute your project.
   

The Windows SharePoint Services SDK has documentation on creating features available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms460318.aspx.