How to create a site column through Visual Studio 2010?

Question

I was trying to create lists, content type and site columns through Visual Studio 2010. But I could not figure out how to add site column? What item do I need to add for this and what kind of coding is to be done?

Answer 1

Try this
1. Create a Empty project in Visual studio.
2.The Empty SharePoint Project template does not include any Features in the Features folder. To add a new Feature to this project, right -click the Features folder, and click Add Feature. This adds a new Feature component to the folder; double – click the
Feature1 icon in Solution Explorer to modify the Feature ’ s
metadata using the Feature designer. The Title and Description values appear on the Features pages in Site settings. It is a good idea to make these values
descriptive so that administrators will know what they are adding to the site when they activate the feature.
The feature ’ s scope determines where the feature can be activated within SharePoint. Please Note – Certain components, such as site columns, content types, Master pages, and Page Layouts, are installed at the site collection level and made available to all
sites within the collection. These components require that the scope for the feature be set to “ Site. ”
3. Next, add a new item to the project (Right – click project name ➪ Add ➪ New Item) and select the Empty Element template from the Add New Item dialog box.
The Empty Element template is an XML fi le where you can enter CAML Field definitions.
Following is what you will add in your elements.xml file –
< Elements xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/" >
< Field ID="{76C140E1-D827-433B-AD38-257F9594B846}"
Name="CustomCol"
DisplayName="My Custom Site Column"
Group="Custom group"
Type="Text"
Required="FALSE"/ >
< Field ID="{5F516D92-969C-4661-81B9-C9210E2A2FDC}"
Name="Choice Type"
DisplayName="My Choice Type"
Group="Custom group"
Type="Choice"
Required="FALSE" >
< CHOICES >
< CHOICE > Medical < /CHOICE >
< CHOICE > Dental < /CHOICE >
< CHOICE > Vision < /CHOICE >
< CHOICE > Insurance < /CHOICE >
< /CHOICES >
< /Field >
< /Elements >
4. To deploy the Site Columns defined in the Elements file, right – click the project name in the Visual Studio Solution Explorer, and select Deploy. This will deploy the solution file to the solution store and activate the Feature in the targeted site collection.