Create Custom List Definitions in CAML

Introduction

As a developer you can create your own list definitions in SharePoint based on the different existing list templates. Best practice is to define them in XML and to deploy them as a feature. Your list definitions can range from very simple to very complex and can be defined in a wide range of flavors.

Your feature.xml file must reference the elements file:

<Feature Id="{22E8B537-52B1-4588-BF93-F5A20598E199}"
         Title="My custom list definition feature"
         Description="Feature defining a my custom list definition"
         Scope="Site"
         Hidden="FALSE"
         xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <ElementManifests>
     <ElementManifest Location="listtemplate.xml" />
  </ElementManifests>
</Feature>

 The following code is the definition of the custom list template. The CustomList.xml file can be found in the 12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\CustomList\ListTemplates directory:

<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <ListTemplate
        Name="custlist"
        Type="100"
        BaseType="0"
        OnQuickLaunch="TRUE"
        SecurityBits="11"
        Sequence="410"
        DisplayName="$Resources:core,custList;"
        Description="$Resources:core,custList_Desc;"
        Image="/_layouts/images/itgen.gif"/>
</Elements>

Important details to note are:

• FeatureId (optional): This is the ID of the feature in which the list template is defined
• BaseType (required): Specifies the base type, or default schema, for lists created using this template. See the table below for the 5 possibilities.
• Type: this is the template type on which the new list template is based. Se the table below for all base types of standard SharePoint list templates.
• DisplayName: the display name of the list template.

More details can be found in André Vala’s post.

The following table lists the 5 base types:

Base Type	Description
0	Generic List
1	Document Library
3	Discussion List
4	Survey
5	Issue List

 The following table lists all available list templates with their template type id and their corresponding feature id:

Type of list	TemplateId	FeatureId
Generic List	100	00BFEA71-DE22-43B2-A848-C05709900100
Document Library	101	00BFEA71-E717-4E80-AA17-D0C71B360101
Survey	102	00BFEA71-EB8A-40B1-80C7-506BE7590102
Links List	103	00BFEA71-2062-426C-90BF-714C59600103
Announcements List	104	00BFEA71-D1CE-42de-9C63-A44004CE0104
Contacts List	105	00BFEA71-7E6D-4186-9BA8-C047AC750105
Events List	106	00BFEA71-EC85-4903-972D-EBE475780106
Tasks List	107	00BFEA71-A83E-497E-9BA0-7A5C597D0107
Discussion List	108	00BFEA71-6A49-43FA-B535-D15C05500108
Picture Library	109	00BFEA71-52D4-45B3-B544-B1C71B620109
Data Sources	110	00BFEA71-F381-423D-B9D1-DA7A54C50110
Site template gallery	111
User Information List	112
Web Part gallery	113
List Template gallery	114
XML Form Library	115	00BFEA71-1E1D-4562-B56A-F05371BB0115
Master Pages gallery	116
No-Code Workflows	117	00BFEA71-F600-43F6-A895-40C0DE7B0117
Custom Workflow Process	118	00BFEA71-2D77-4A75-9FCA-76516689E21A
Wiki Page Library	119	00BFEA71-C796-4402-9F2F-0EB9A6E71B18
Grid List	120	00BFEA71-3A1D-41D3-A0EE-651D11570120
Data Connection Library	130	00BFEA71-DBD7-4F72-B8CB-DA7AC0440130
Workflow History	140	00BFEA71-4EA5-48D4-A4AD-305CF7030140
Gantt Task List	150	00BFEA71-513D-4CA0-96C2-6A47775C0119
Meeting Series List	200
Meeting Agenda List	201
Meeting Attendees List	202
Meeting Decision List	204
Meeting Objectives List	207
Meeting Things to Bring List	211
Meeting Workspace Pages List	212
Blog Posts List	301
Blog Comments List	302
Blog Categories List	303
Status Indicator (KPI) List	432	7ED6CD55-B479-4EB7-A529-E99A24C10BD3
Report Library	433	6E53DD27-98F2-4AE5-85A0-E9A8EF4AA6DF
Issue Tracking List	1100	00BFEA71-5932-4F9C-AD71-1557E5751100
Administrator Tasks List	1200
Translation Management Library	1300	29D85C25-170C-4df9-A641-12DB0B9D4130
Translation List	1301	29D85C25-170C-4df9-A641-12DB0B9D4130
Slide Library	2100	0BE49FE9-9BC9-409d-ABF9-702753BD878D

 

Creating a list definition based on a generic list

There is a good post of Andrew Connell that explains the basics so I won’t repeat them here.

Creating a list definition based on a document library

Step 1

As you can create a list definition based on a generic list, you can also create a custom defintion based on the standard document library. The best way is to base the new document library template on the existing template. Create a Visual Studio 2008 project and create the necessary folder infrastructure. Add a sub folder with f.e. the name Custom Document Library Template.

Step2

Locate the DocumentLibrary folder in the C:\Program Files\…\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES directory and copy the files to the Custom Document Library Template folder in your Visual Studio 2008 project.

Step 3

The feature.xml file can be modified as follows:

   <Feature Id="{C8880A81-8EF2-4037-90A5-022796A917C8}"
      Title="Planet Document Library Template Feature"
      Description="This feature demonstrates how you can define your own document library templates using CAML."
      Scope="Site"
      Version="1.0.0.0"
      Hidden="FALSE"
      ImageUrl ="BPoint\BPoint.png"
      DefaultResourceFile="core"
      xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
     <ElementManifests>
       <ElementManifest Location="ListTemplates\DocumentLibrary.xml" />
       <ElementFile Location="DocLib\schema.xml" />
       <ElementFile Location="DocLib\EditDlg.htm" />
       <ElementFile Location="DocLib\Repair.aspx" />
       <ElementFile Location="DocLib\Upload.aspx" />
     </ElementManifests>
   </Feature>

   Change the feature ID to a unique GUID and also the properties Title, Description.

Step 4

Find the documentlibrary.xml in the ListTemplates folder and open it. 

   <Elements Id="bc53ee2c-46b3-41ea-8deb-e75013c92eee" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
     <ListTemplate Name="CustomDocLibTemplate"
                DisplayName="Custom Document Library Template"
                Description="Custom document library template."
                BaseType="1"
                Type="10100"
                OnQuickLaunch="TRUE"
                SecurityBits="11"
                Sequence="130"
                Image="/_layouts/images/itgen.gif" />
   </Elements>

Change the values for the Name, DisplayName and Description attributes. Leave the BaseType to 1 as it indicates that you are building on the document library template.

Change also the value of the  Type attribute. Custom list templates must have at least number 10000. When I create a custom document library template, I start by 101 and then add a sequence number like 00, 01, 02, etc.  

The Sequence attribute indicates the order in which the template hyperlinks will appear on the Create page. Library templates all have a number between 100 and 199 and show up in utmost left section of the Create page. This code snippet has its Sequence attribute set to 130.Once the list template deployed, the hyperlink will appear below the Form Library template, as shown in the picture.

Step 5

Find the schema.xml in the DocLib sub folder and open it. Change the values for the Title and Url properties.

<List xmlns:ows="Microsoft SharePoint"
      Title="Custom Document Library"
      Direction="$Resources:Direction;"
      Url="Custom Document Library Template"
      BaseType="1"
      FolderCreation="false" EnableContentTypes="False" VersioningEnabled="false">

If you want don ‘t want your users to be able to create folders in your custom document library, you have to add the FolderCreation attribute and set it to true.

If you want document libraries based on this template to be version enabled, set the VersioningEnabled attribute to true.

You can also prevent users from making document libraries content type enabled by adding the attribute DisallowContentTypes and set its value to false.

Information on other possible attributes can be found here.

Now you are ready to deploy your custom document library template and start using it.

Creating a list definition based on a generic list using a custom content type

But if you want to have additional columns added to the document library you have to create the necessary site columns and a content type containing these columns, before these columns can be used in the document library template. 

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A side node on adding fields to the list template: when you need site columns based on the Lookup type, you will have to create the site columns programmatically. Read more about this in this blog post.