What is SharePoint Solution Package?

What is SharePoint Solution Package?

SharePoint has a system which bundles all the components of a SharePoint Foundation extension in to a single file which is called a Solution Package. The Solution Package file has the extension .wsp.

The contents of solutions package are

• Assemblies
• Web Parts Site Definition files - Site definition is a unique type of SharePoint website. It contains (onet.xml, webtemp*.xml, and default.aspx)
• Application Pages - these can be .aspx pagesResource files and resources- Resource files (can be *.doc or *.xls ) and Resources are (*.resx)

Developers can easily change the site functionality using package files. It enables administrators to easily install the solution packages on server farm in one action instead of installing separately to each server on farm.

The solution package contains a manifest file and it tells the deployment engine what it should with those files inside manifest.

Solution packages have a hierarchical structure, Manifest file is at the root, Feature, resource and site definition directories are in subdirectories.