So yesterday I was trying to add a content editor webpart to a page I was deploying through ONET.XML. I wondered how to add custom web parts, and how you’d know what the XML for them was.

Turns out it isn’t very hard. An example:

<webParts>
<webPart xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v3">
<metaData>
<type name="SourceCode.Solutions.GenericCaseWebParts.CaseSSRSReportViewer" />
<importErrorMessage>Cannot import this Web Part.</importErrorMessage>
</metaData>
<data>
<properties>
<property name="TitleUrl" type="string" />
<property name="TitleIconImageUrl" type="string" />
<property name="ReportServerUrl" type="string">http://vm-moss:8088/ReportServer</property>
<property name="Parameters" type="string">&lt;ReportParameters&gt;&lt;Parameter Name="CaseId" MultiValue="false" Value="[Case Id]" /&gt;&lt;/ReportParameters&gt;</property>
<property name="ChromeState" type="chromestate">Normal</property>
<property name="Title" type="string">Context Info</property>
<property name="ReportPath" type="string">/Reports/Case Details</property>
<!-- Snip -->
</properties>
</data>
</webPart>
</webParts>

As you can see, at the top we define the class to use, then we set various properties (I’ve trimmed that set quite a lot). But how did I get the XML? Well… I set the web part up in SharePoint and exported the web part to a file; this was the XML I needed to put into my ONET.xml. Copy and paste… job done.