R – SharePoint list template migration error

The problem you are having is the move from your original site collection to another. The site template does not store the complete definition of a site - only the differences from the underlying site definition. Move from one site collection to another and you lose the underlying site definition and run into problems such as the loss of your content types.

Site templates and site definitions are two separate customizations you can undertake. You need to make a decision based on your requirements as to which is best.

Site templates

Pro's:

• Easy to create and reuse through the SharePoint interface
• Ideal for end users
• A site template is a customization of the underlying default site definition

Con's:

• Dependency on underlying site definition means SharePoint updates could break your site templates
• Poor performance since the modifications are held in the database and are read from the DB and compiled on each request
• Limited customization options

Site definitions

Pro's:

• Harder to create: involves coding XML
• Made by developers and site administrators
• Independent of SharePoint default site definitions so not affected by SharePoint updates
• Limitless customization options

Con's:

• Difficult to modify when deployed
• Can be cached on the file system so is fast to load

Check out Google for info on creating custom site definitions.

Hope this helps!

Jonny

I would chase why you can't create the list via the interface in the first place, these two web service calls don't seem to include the important parameter when creating from custom templates, lets analyse the querystrings:

New Project Tasks (out of the box)

http://site/_layouts/new.aspx?FeatureId={00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119}&ListTemplate=150

New Project Tasks Custom (saved in the list template gallery)

http://site/_layouts/new.aspx?CustomTemplate=PT6.stp&FeatureId={00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119}&ListTemplate=150

New Project Tasks Custom (manifest.xml edited to 151)

http://site/_layouts/new.aspx?CustomTemplate=PT6.stp&FeatureId={00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119}&ListTemplate=151

They all work, so my take here is that the Web Service is a no no for custom templates, or it has some secret magic (common in list definitions) since specifying only the ListTemplate without being explicitly CUSTOM won't work even in the UI.

If you can't get around with this apparent limitation, my suggestions are:

1. .NET, note that this post has some voodoo in the first comment if you happen to get the same error
2. Make an IFRAME with http://site/_layouts/new.aspx?CustomTemplate=PT6.stp&FeatureId={00bfea71-513d-4ca0-96c2-6a47775c0119}&ListTemplate=150 as source and fill the fields using javascript, and then trigger the OK button click, make some full page loading transition and it will even look good.

Method 2 needs to be done from the same domain, if you are not running your PHP from the same domain (unlikely) you need to create a page inside the SharePoint site to contain this hack, it can be as simple as a Web Part Page with a Content Editor Web Part in it, you read some querystring parameters, place them on the fields, trigger the OK and wait for the page to change so you can redirect to a "success" page.

Edit: I got curious and looked at the source of New.aspx, it has this little snippet (bIsCustomTemplate = strCustomTemplate != null, strCustomTemplate = querystring "CustomTemplate"):

<% if (bIsCustomTemplate) { %>
<input id="onetidCustomTemplate" type="Hidden" name="CustomTemplate" value=<%SPHttpUtility.AddQuote(SPHttpUtility.HtmlEncode(strCustomTemplate),Response.Output);%> />
<% } %>

I looked at the disassembled code but I don't think we can post it here, but it only proves that the UI builds it from a post (Request.Form) and looks for the CustomTemplate parameter, and the Web Service has only those methods were you can't specify a custom template.