SharePoint 2013 - create site collection programmatically

Question

With the introduction of Apps, and solutions going away. What is the best way to create a site collection programmatically? I am on-premise. Can it be done with JavaScript? I can create sub-sites with js, but what about Site Collections?

I have found some c# code to create a site collection, but where do I run it from? In an App?

Answer 1

I have successfully created a site collection programmatically using an event receiver (c#). Microsoft has confirmed that it is not possible to create a site collection with JavaScript. I thought I would share my total solution since I don't see complete documentation from start to finish.

1. I followed these steps to setup a proper dev environment for SP2013 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/fp179923.aspx
2. I created a new VS2012 empty sharepoint 2013 project, I chose farm solution
3. Add Web Reference
   • Right-click on Service References
   • Add Service References
   • Advanced Button
   • Add Web Reference Button
   • http://{SharePointServer}:{Port}/_vti_adm/Admin.asmx
   • login with farm account
   • name the reference "SPAdminService"
   • Add Reference Button

4. Add Event Receiver

   • Right-click on the project
   • add
   • new item
   • event receiver

5. Here is the code for the eventreceiver.cs file:

   using System;
   using System.Security.Permissions;
   using Microsoft.SharePoint;
   using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;
   using Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow;
   
   
   namespace SharePointProject5.EventReceiver1
   {
   /// <summary>
   /// List Item Events
   /// </summary>
   public class EventReceiver1 : SPItemEventReceiver
   {
           /// <summary>
           /// An item is being added.
           /// </summary>
           public override void ItemAdding(SPItemEventProperties properties)
   {
       base.ItemAdding(properties);
       //create admin service reference
       SPAdminService.Admin admService = new SPAdminService.Admin();
       //grant proper admin credentials to admin service
       admService.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("Farmaccount",         "Password", "Domain");            
       try
       {
           //specify new site collection path
           String SitePath = "http://twv101sp13/pm/new2013";
           //setup properties to create the site, see reference below for more info
           admService.CreateSite(SitePath, "new site", "description", 1033, "STS#1", "bluebunny\\sp13admin", "System Account", "cslee@bluebunny.com", "", "");                           
       }
       catch (System.Web.Services.Protocols.SoapException ex)
       {
           //I added this section so any errors would be logged in the server application log
           SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(
           delegate()
           {
               System.Diagnostics.EventLog.WriteEntry("Application", "Message:\n" + ex.MRessage + "\nDetail:\n" +
                   ex.Detail.InnerText +
                   "\nStackTrace:\n" + ex.StackTrace);
           });
       }
    }
   
   
    }
   }
   

6. So you only want this to run when a certain list adds an item so you have to modify the Elements.xml file.

7. Open the Elements.xml, replace this line <Receivers ListTemplateId="101"> with <Receivers ListUrl="http://{SharepointSite}/{targetListName}"> - this is so we can target only that list and not all lists on the the site

8. Right-click your project and deploy

9. You should be able to create a new item and then check for your new site collection.

One issue that I experienced is sites cannot start with a numerical character.

At the bottom of this article it tells how to debug a feature event receiver. Without that I would have been dead in the water: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee231550.aspx

These three articles helped a lot:

1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/websvcadmin.admin.createsite.aspx

2. http://onceinawhilescribble.blogspot.com/2013/05/creating-simple-event-receiver-in.html

3. http://www.sharepointpals.com/post/How-to-create-a-custom-list-level-event-receiver-in-SharePoint-2013-and-SharePoint-2010