Exporting List Template from the CUstom List created using a Feature

Question

I have created a Custom List Template and wrote the Schema.xml,feature to deploy it,Installed to the server created a List based on that. Everything is fine. Now I wanted to Save this List as template and Deploy it to a different machine (Different SharePoint Server). But that feature is not visible in the Template List, when we try to create a New List. I have experienced it before. I wanted to know if someone else has come across this issue and is there a way to get it working without installing the feature again?

The Reason why I want to do this is that, SharePoint Administrator don't want to allow the custom List Template being deployed as Feature, he wants the things to be created as a STP file. We have created around 40+ Custom List Template and doing all the things manually to get the stp file is not an option. So I wanted to see is there any option so that I can save the existing list created using the Feature be saved as Template and reused.

Answer 1

Try this http://blogs.objectsharp.com/cs/blogs/max/archive/2009/01/26/issue-with-migrating-custom-list-templates.aspx

Answer 2

You can use VSeWSS Solution Generator to generate VisualStudio project of the list definition which is easy to deploy to different SharePoint servers

Download Visual Studio 2008 extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, v1.3 - Mar 2009 CTP http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=FB9D4B85-DA2A-432E-91FB-D505199C49F6&displaylang=en Walkthrough - Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2005 Extensions http://sharepointsolutions.blogspot.com/2006/11/walkthrough-windows-sharepoint.html