How to update all elements child of a Content Type programmatically

Question

when (by web interface) user access to a content type (in site settings -> content types) and adds or remove a column there is a flag near the end that says something like:

"Update all content types inheriting from this type?" YES / NO

If yes, every list in the site that uses the CT updates with the new column.

I'm in a project in which content types are deployed in a WSP. Whenever I update one of them the behavior is like "Update all content types inheriting from this type?" NO..

How could I change this setting setting it to YES? Is there a flag in the xml?

Thank you!

I see that when I retract from VS everything goes fine... So I tried to investigate WHAT VS does...

I tried this script:

Disable-SPFeature -Identity "f5768894-9568-49bb-8c11-354e2d42c6bd" -url URL  

Uninstall-spfeature -identity "f5768894-9568-49bb-8c11-354e2d42c6bd" -force

Uninstall-SPSolution -identity saviogd.wsp  -allwebapplications -force

Remove-SPSolution -identity saviogd.wsp -force

I'm gone to the SP folder and look for "something remains on it", but:

• Feature Folder is no more installed
• Layouts Folder is no more installed

So I may suppose I've done the same VS Operations... Now running an IISRESET, going to the Content Types section I found ALL Content TYpe installed and all columns remove... When I deploy again the CT has all the old data.

Checking the situazion when VS retract I see that there is no more my Content Types...

How can I get the same VS Result?

Answer 1

The two "official" ways to update a deployed content type are:

• AddContentTypeField which has a PushDown attribute
• Code in CustomUpgradeAction where the SPContentType.Update method takes an upgradeChildren parameter