Creating New Solutions from a Template

See Also

You can create new team solutions on the server using solution templates. A solution template is created using the Access Workflow Designer and contains all of the information required to create the SQL Server database and Web pages that users see. Team templates can be stored in a template directory located in the modSystem database or saved to a file (*.tpl) that can be exported for use on other servers.

In the typical team solution development cycle, a developer creates a team solution using the Access Workflow Designer and then creates a template for the solution. Solution owners then can use the templates to create team solutions on any server that has the Access Workflow Designer server components installed. Using the Team Solutions Manager, a solution owner can import and export template files, making it easy to share templates.

The New Team Solutions wizard is used to create new solutions from templates available in the template directory. This wizard walks you through the process of selecting a template and defining team solution properties and then creates an instance of the team solution in the designated location.

Note   Before creating a team solution, you must have the appropriate permissions on the server for both the database and the Web site. For more information, see Creating Accounts, Logins, Roles and Users.

To create a new team solution on a server

1. Start the New Team Solutions wizard. For details about launching the wizard, see Accessing the Access Workflow Designer Tools.
   
   
2. In the Choose a Template page, select a server, click Refresh, and then select a template to use to create a solution.
   • Server   The server on which the template resides and where the solution is to be created.

     Note   When initially creating the new solution on the server, both the Web site and the database must be on the same server. This server must have the Access Workflow Designer server components installed.

     After creating the new team solution from the template, you can change the Web URL, database name, and team solution title using the Access Workflow Designer.

   • Template   The template to use when creating the team solution. For a template to be listed, a copy of the template file must exist in the template directory. For details about templates, see Managing Team Templates.
3. Specify a title and destination for the new solution.
   • Solution title   The friendly name of the solution to be displayed to users.
     
     
   • Database server and name   The server where the SQL Server database will be created and a name for the database to create. The name must be unique.
     
     
   • Web URL   The Internet address of the FrontPage Web site to create. This Web site cannot already exist, and the name must be unique.
4. Associate SQL Server logins with database roles to identify who will access to the solution and the roles to which they belong.

   Note   The new SQL Group or User must have a valid Windows NT login. If you add a SQL user who does not have a valid Windows NT login, creation of the team solution will fail.

   • To create new SQL Logins, click New SQL Login. Type a user name, or select a domain. Click Refresh, and select a user from the Available names box.
     
     
   • In the SQL Logins box, select the SQL login to add to the solution, and click the Add button to list the login in the database users box.
     
     
   • To associate a role with a user, select the user in the Database users box and then select the desired check box in the Roles for selected user box. Each database user names must be associated with at least one role.

   For more information about roles and users, see Creating Database Roles.

5. Create an Access Project file if you want to be able to use Access 2000 to customize or modify the team solution once it is created.
   
   
6. When you click Finish, the wizard accomplishes the following tasks:
   • The Web site and SQL Server database are created on the server from the selected template.
     
     
   • An Access data project (*.adp) is created that you can use to work with the SQL Server database.
     
     
   • The team solution is registered on the server as an existing solution.
     
     
   • The specified users are added as database users and database role members and are granted permissions to access the solution’s Web site.

Note   If the team solution contains offline publications, you can use the SQL Server Enterprise Manager Replication Monitor to verify that the publications were initialized properly. It is also recommended that you monitor the performance of your publications after the solution has been created. If users report problems with the publication, the Replication Monitor can help troubleshoot the issues.

The Team Web Site

New team Web sites are created as follows:

• Web security options (allow anonymous, clear text authentication and Microsoft Windows NT challenge/response authentication) are inherited from the parent Web site. For tightest security, disable anonymous and clear-text on the root Web site before creating any solutions.
  
  
• The access permissions and content control settings are inherited from the parent Web.
  
  
• The team Web site does not inherit FrontPage permissions from the parent Web. Explicit permissions are set granting solution owners FrontPage admin permissions and granting all other users FrontPage user permissions.
  
  
• The team Web is created as an Internet Information Services (IIS) application root, so it can host an ASP application.
  
  
• Default document settings are inherited from the parent Web.
  • Developers—always use default.htm or default.asp as the default document.
    
    
  • Administrators—configure IIS so default.htm and default.asp are recognized as default documents; otherwise, team solutions may not work properly.