[SharePoint 2010] Custom Actions – Intro

This is the first in a series of posts about using Custom Actions in SharePoint 2010. To get started, I thought it prudent to introduce the topic to those who have not used Custom Actions in SharePoint before. Custom Actions are not a new concept to SharePoint 2010, much of this information also applies to SharePoint 2007.

In a nutshell, Custom Actions allow developers to make references to custom pages, actions, outside resources, etc. to the SharePoint interface. These can be added to:

• The ribbon as a button:
  
   
• The Site Actions menu as a menu item:
  
   
• The Site Settings screen as a link item:
  
   

These custom actions can be added to many other areas of the interface, including List / Library Settings, Central Administration, the Document menu, and so forth.

Custom Actions are defined using an XML file that is part of a SharePoint solution. For example, the following XML would add a link to the Site Actions menu to take a user to Bing:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
  <CustomAction Id="SiteActionsToolbar" GroupId="SiteActions" Location="Microsoft.SharePoint.StandardMenu" Sequence="1000" Title="Bing">
    <UrlAction Url="http://www.bing.com"/>
  </CustomAction>
</Elements>

In the next article: A Step-By-Step guide to create a Custom Action using Visual Studio 2010.

John Chapman

Hello, I'm John Chapman. I am a SharePoint developer living in Denver, Colorado. I develop solutions using ASP.NET, C#, jQuery, SQL, SharePoint, etc, and I thrive on the challenge of writing code to overcome the impossible, annoying, or otherwise difficult obstacles.

More Posts - Website - Twitter