Problem with adding TagCloud web part to site definition/onet.xml with userscope

Question

I'm trying to add a Tag cloud web part to my site definition's onet.xml file and set its userscope to everything under the current url.

I understood from Microsoft I cannot simply export and import the web part because its not supported by v3 schema (its not a asp.net based web part). I exported a DWP file from the web part gallery and added it to my onet.xml and everything is fine.

The problem is I cannot understand how to set the userscope using the v2 schema. In v3 its quite simple. You have a parameter called UserScope and there sits the definition. In v2 i tried all the following settings without any success:

<TagCloudUserScope>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TagCloudUserScope.UnderUrlEveryone</TagCloudUserScope>

<TagCloudUserScope>UnderUrlEveryone</TagCloudUserScope>

<UserScope>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.TagCloudUserScope.UnderUrlEveryone</UserScope>

<UserScope>UnderUrlEveryone</UserScope> 

Answer 1

I'm sure you found a workaround for this by now. I'm posting this for anyone still looking for the answer. All you need to do is use the correct namespace: "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:TagCloudWebPart"

<UserScope xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:sharepoint:TagCloudWebPart">UnderUrlEveryone</UserScope>

Answer 2

Is there a reason you need to use site definitions? Site Definitions are generally a bad idea and introduce real dependency issues over time. Using WebTemplates are almost always a better idea.

here are a few good resources:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa979709(v=office.14).aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vesku/archive/2010/10/14/sharepoint-2010-and-web-templates.aspx

There are a lot of advantages, but the main one is that you can get the same level of customization without introducing a dependency to the custom site definition, instead it will reference a standard site definition making the upgrade and maintenance process easier.

Typically I'll add the web parts to the page as part of a feature receiver using the object model.