Importing Mutliple Web Parts Simultaneously

During the last SIG meeting, one of the members asked if multiple web parts could be deployed simultaneously. There was no obvious way to use the SharePoint UI to import multiple web parts at once. However, other solutions are available by use of STSADM.EXE and InstallAssemblies.EXE.

STSADM.EXE
To use the Stsadm.exe command to deploy a Web Part package on a server computer running Windows SharePoint Services, open a command prompt, and then type the following command:

stsadm.exe -o addwppack -filename Web_Part_Pack_name [-url URL] [-globalinstall] [-force]

A series of these commands can be entered into a batch file and used to import multiple web parts simultaneously.

STSADM.EXE is a standard SharePoint utility, and is installed by default on the SharePoint server.


InstallAssemblies
InstallAssemblies is an assembly installation tool for Windows SharePoint Services. The tool is designed for use within development and testing environments. By default, InstallAssemblies will start in interactive mode, but it can run in command line mode. Once InstallAssemblies.exe boots, you will need to select which assemblies to install. This can be done by either clicking on the “Select assemblies” button, or dragging and dropping assemblies onto the tree view control initially labeled “No assemblies have been selected”. Afterwards, ensure all other options are properly set before clicking on the “Install” button. The results of all actions are displayed in the Results sections.

InstallAssemblies is a free download available with the SharePoint 2003 Resource Kit.