Build and deploy Sharepoint solutions using bat functions

Today for solution administration in Sharepoint we can use great opportunities of PowerShell. However there is interesting feature available in simple cmd (or bat) files which can be used in every day development – bat functions. Of course it is not so powerful as PowerShell, but is it very simple and doesn’t require any additional components in the system. We used this approach in several projects in conjunction with WSPBuilder and it proofed its reliability and value. If you don’t familiar with this concept you can check this link for example: Routines functions methods in .bat.

Assume that you have several class library projects (e.g. Project1 and Project2) in Visual Studio which are built into separate wsp packages using WSPBuilder. Project1 doesn’t contain web application specific resources and should be deployed globally. Project2 in contrast contains web application specific resources and should be deployed into particular web application. You need to automate build process. In order to do that you can use the following cmd file which uses bat functions technique:

   1: @cd ..

   2:  

   3: @call :install Project1 global

   4: @call :install Project2

   5:  

   6: @pause

   7: @exit

   8:  

   9: rem Makes wsp package, add it to solution store, deploys it and waits some time in order to allow sharepoint successfully install wsp

  10: :install

  11: @cd %1

  12:  

  13: @call :create_wsp %1

  14:  

  15: @call :add_solution %1

  16:  

  17:  

  18: @if "%2" == "global" (

  19:     @call :deploy_solution_globally %1

  20: ) else (

  21:     @call :deploy_solution_web_specific %1

  22: )

  23:  

  24: @call :delay 5

  25:  

  26: @cd ..

  27: @exit /b

  28:  

  29:  

  30: rem Creates wsp based on current directory

  31: :create_wsp

  32: wspbuilder -BuildWSP true -ResetWebServer true -TraceLevel Warning

  33: @exit /b

  34:  

  35:  

  36: rem Adds wsp file in the current directory to solution store

  37: :add_solution

  38: stsadm -o addsolution -filename %1.wsp

  39: @exit /b

  40:  

  41:  

  42: rem Deploys wsp from current directory to specific web applications (i.e. not globally)

  43: :deploy_solution_web_specific

  44: stsadm -o deploysolution -local -allowgac -allcontenturls -name %1.wsp

  45: @exit /b

  46:  

  47:  

  48: rem Deploys wsp from current directory globally

  49: :deploy_solution_globally

  50: stsadm -o deploysolution -local -allowgac -name %1.wsp

  51: @exit /b

  52:  

  53:  

  54: rem Delays execution

  55: :delay

  56: @echo Off

  57: PING -n %1 127.0.0.1>nul

  58: @echo On

  59: @exit /b

I added comments to the script so it is more or less self descriptive. Note that every function begins with colon “:” and ends with “@exit /b” command which returns execution to the caller. So we call “install” function for Project1 and Project2. What “install” function does? First of all it creates wsp package using wspbuilder (see “create_wsp” function). After that it adds solution to the solution store (“add_solution” function) and deploys solution to the server. Note that for Project1 we specified additional param “global” which is used in the code in order to determine how solutions should be deployed – globally (“deploy_solution_globally” function) or web application specific (“deploy_solution_web_specific”).

After solution is deployed “install” function waits some time in order to give Sharepoint time to proceed the request. Note how “delay” function is implemented: it uses “-n” parameter of well known “ping” command in order to wait specified amount of seconds

That’s how this feature can be used in Sharepoint development to automate simple scenarios using common cmd files. Of course for more complicated things you should prefer PowerShell, however for many real world cases described technique can be useful as well.