Project Description

New MOSS 2007/2010 feature to automatically generate documentation/tables for fields, content types, lists, users, etc…

Introduction

Ever wanted to document some components of an existing MOSS site? This tool allows you to get a listing of fields, content types, lists, features and users of a specified site.
It installs as a new feature that creates a new option under Site Settings | Site Administration menu called Documentation Generator.
The whole project was born due to a need of looking at some content types in a structured fashion, so I could see at a glance columns, types, etc…

If you find it useful and have spare time you can drop me a line saying how you like the tool and such, or better yet, you can buy me a beer if you wish. 😉

 

Currently displays information in the same web page, using templates for the different elements to be documented. These templates can be modified here:

%12HIVE%\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\SharepointDocGenerator\Templates

If you just want to change the look and feel, please use the same variables/names inside the templates, just modify styles, colors, etc to display them in a different way.
When you want to add/extend some properties you’ll want to take a look at the code behind for the templates to see how this information is extracted.

This package uses jQuery and jQueryUI to display/collapse sections in the HTML page but you can change whatever styles to suit your needs and modify in the templates.
Only users with administrator privileges will be able to use this option (site administrators).

If you want to make changes to the code and regenerate the WSP package, you can use WSPBuilder.

Right now the release download works only for MOSS 2007 due to DLL references, but I’m planning on recompiling it for SP2010 with the updated ones. In the meantime, if you want to use it for SP2010 you can grab the code and build the package yourself. 🙂

Update

I have uploaded a new package for SP2010 http://sharepointdocgen.codeplex.com/releases/view/58926 which has the same code, and fixed the incorrect version of the assemblies being referenced.

Installation process

Installation is pretty simple using WSP deployment standards. Although these steps might be described in more detail somewhere else, here’s a reminder on how to do it:

1.- Add the solution using STSADM

2.- Go to Central Admin | Solution Management

3.- Select the sharepointdocgenerator package

4.- Deploy the solution to the desired web applications

5.- Go to any site and select Modify All Site Settings

6.- Select the site features

7.- Activate Sharepoint Documentation Generator

8.- A new option appears under Site Settings

9.- Clicking this option shows the interface screen to generate the documentation

 

Usage

Just choose the desired fields, content types, etc… from the main screen and hit the OK button.

A new screen shows the titles of each section.

You can show/hide all sections clicking the appropriate button, or section by section in the desired headers.

There can be sections nested within sections, like fields inside content types

Or content types and fields inside lists, for instance

This project can be extended to make it more flexible, add printout capabilities, etc… but I wanted to upload it right now so other people can use it if needed. 🙂

Download

You can download it here.

Enjoy!