Structure of a WSP file

Question

After you save a site as template you get a WSP file that you can then import in VS and tweak it as you want.

I did this for a site today and had a lot of things in the WSP after I decompressed it, and I'm a bit confused on what is what and which is which.

Is the folders structure standard for a WSP file? Where can I find this structure defined?

Answer 1

There are no official statements on the structure in the WSP's generated from saving a site as template and it is for sure not a template that you should reuse or build on. IMO it's a really messy export that is hard to understand and maintain. (Some sources says it's a best practice to work on the exported WSP, but it definatley is not!)

I do recommend that you create your own WSP and then copy-paste only the bits and pieces from the exported WSP to your own solution. That way you only get the necessary stuff (since save as template includes all default content types and fields etc) and your own solution will be easier maintained.