Unable to find the default edit form for list...

So Exporting a Site as a Template and Importing it into Visual Studio can be very useful but only if it works!

I was trying to use this method to create a List and a Library Instance so I could include it into my existing solution.  I did this and it appeared as though everything worked well until I tried to upload a document in the library or create a new list item...then I would get a nasty error about

"Unable to find the default edit form for list My List"

So I looked back in the definition and for the list there was this SharePoint Module inside that was named 'Listslist_name_here_pages'and had a Elements.xml inside it with some information about the DispForm, NewForm and EditForm...

Perfect, so for the list I included this module just as it was in the other solution and low and behold it worked...but then the Library didn't have a module inside it...WTF!!! Then some more snooping lead me to see that there was a Modules folder that had 4 Modules with the corresponding names each with their own different Elements.xml files!

LibraryNameForms_1033_STS_doctemp_word
LibraryNameForms_Features_DocumentLibrary_doclib
LibraryNameForms_pages
LibraryNameFormsMy Custom ContentType_1033_STS_doctemp_word

NASTY!!!

So, being a slave to SharePoint I set out to duplicate these four modules just as they were in the imported solution...no dice...but then I got to thinking about how this works and I snooped into the Scheme.xml of the list instance and found this....

<Forms />

What?!? that's not right...so I blew away all my precious modules I worked so hard on and switched the above one line in the Scheme.xml for this...

<Forms>
  <Form Type="DisplayForm" Url="DispForm.aspx" SetupPath="pages\form.aspx" WebPartZoneID="Main" />
  <Form Type="EditForm" Url="EditForm.aspx" SetupPath="pages\form.aspx" WebPartZoneID="Main" />
  <Form Type="NewForm" Url="NewForm.aspx" SetupPath="pages\form.aspx" WebPartZoneID="Main" />
</Forms>

WOW! Its magic! just like It should be...and a much nicer, cleaner solution.

More information about the Scheme.xml can be found here

HEY!!! Who changed my Helper.dll?

Ever want to share a class in Visual Studio without having the overhead of the good 'ol "Helper.dll"?

Try this instead...
Adding an Existing Item as a Link

It is a very rarely used and under appreciated feature of Visual Studio that I didn't know existed until recently.

Here is why this is good:

• You have less DLL's
• You still have the ability to share classes.
• When you compile your code you always have the latest version of the class unlike a copy of the class.
• Once you compile, that build will always have that version of the class until you build again.
• Sharing Is Caring...OK, OK, I am done

Downfalls:

• I can't think of one can you?

Thanks to my coworker and this blog post for helping me realize this possibility.