Microsoft Sharepoint Products and Technologies Resource Kit eBook

Chapter 20: Working with Information Components in SharePoint Products and Technologies 563
■ Create a custom view for lists created through the list definition.
■ Create custom forms for working with list items.
■ Specify the default description that is displayed for the list in the user interface.
■ Define the Actions area that is displayed in the side navigational area of list views.
Warning Making changes to an originally installed SCHEMA.XML file on a
server running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services is unsupported and
can break existing sites. Whenever possible, create a new site or list template
as opposed to modifying original schema files.
However, you don’t have to physically edit these files—you can create your
own list templates using a browser. These are known as the custom list templates.
Custom templates remain tied to a particular site definition (for example, the one for
a SharePoint site or a Meeting Workspace site) so that if the site definition is not
present or is changed, the custom template will not work. Each list template, whether
it’s a list definition template or a custom list template, appears as an option on the
Create page for any site or subsite of a particular Windows SharePoint Services site
collection if the template is stored in the top-level site’s list template gallery.
On a portal site, there is only one list template gallery—that is, there isn’t a separate
list template gallery per area, subarea, or Topic. When you navigate to an area
or Topic and create a custom list template, it’s stored in the portal’s list template gallery
with an association as to which area or Topic you created this list template from.
On a portal site, the Create page for the area or Topic displays only custom templates
you created there. They don’t appear on the Create page of any other area,
subarea, or Topic. So, for a portal site, the Create page behaves as if there is a separate
list template gallery for each area, subarea, or Topic. The portal’s list template
gallery doesn’t make visible this association of the custom list template to the area,
subarea, or Topic. Therefore, to assist in the use of custom list templates and to prevent
unnecessary troubleshooting exercises, you should include in the list template
description the area under which a particular list template was created.
You must have the Manage Lists right to create a list template. The Manage Lists
right is included in the Web Designer and Administrator site groups by default. To
add or import a list template to the site collection gallery, you must have the Add
Item right for the list template gallery, which is included by default in the Web
Designer and Administrator site groups for the top-level website in a site collection.