Moving K2 for SharePoint SmartObjects , SmartForms from Dev to Production Server

Have you tried using templates to recreate the Sharepoint artifacts, then use package and deploy to move the K2 artifacts?

Thank you,

Ted Boeckman

Dear Techies ,

I followed below steps to complete this process sucessfully:

SharePoint site collection Backup - Restore :

1.Uninstalled the K2 Application from the Development Site Collections before taking Backup (we will get all the lists and libaraies withoiut K2 SmartForms and SmartObjects).

2.Restored the Site Collections Backup to the Production Environment .

3.Activated the K2 Application in the Restored Site Collections in Production Site Collections.

Create and Deploy Package :

1.I Created Package of all Individual Lists and Libararies from the Dev Sites

2.Deployed the K2 Packages to the respective List and Libararies in the Production sites

here while creating packages we need to add the related items as referenced items as we are Deploying Packages for all Lists and Libraries Individually.

I don't know whether its a best way to move the K2 artifcats between environments , but i could able to acheive my requirement by follwing these steps.

Hi Esaki,

I am trying to do the same thing. I have found creating templates for the list is not successful if you have multiple lists that contain lookup columns. The only way I have found to do this is to create a site solution (we are using Office 365 SharePoint).

Did you uninstall Appit from the site in dev that you were trying to move, or the entire site collection?

Did you manage to restore Appit to the dev site, including links to the Appit dev server with your previous data (e.g. workflows)? I am worried that I will break the dev site if I uninstall Appit from it.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jon.

Dear Techie,

Yes , you're correct if we have lookup coloumns in the list taking the List Template wont help us as the Lookup Link breaks in this way.

whate we have to do is, need to take the whole site/site collections backup and restore it in the production environment.

here i did this process in the SharePoint 2013 On Premises environment .

yes , we have to uninstall the K2 Application from the App Catalog site for the whole Site Collection before taking the backup .

and once the backup is taken we can activate the K2 application again to the same site collection which will give us back all the K2 SmartForms , SmartObjacts , WorkFlows we were having previously in the site.

and as i explained in the previous replies then we can take the Package of each lists from dev and we can Deploy it to the respective lists in the production environment.

and i did all this in On Premises environment and i could succeed with this Process.

Thanks ,

Esaki

Thanks for the response Esaki. I've got a support call with K2, but what you have done sounds appropriate for us. I was worried about the uninstall, but you have made me more confident to go ahead with it now.

Jon.

Notes on deploying K2 Appit application from a multiple list SharePoint site

I roughly followed these steps when deploying my Appit application that I had built in a SharePoint site with multiple related lists from the development (DEV) environment to production (PROD). The app contained Smart Objects, Smart Forms and Appit Workflows. Because of the multiple related lists, it is important to consider which order you deploy the lists in and whether to include references or the actual items (probably safer to include the items on all lists).

You cannot move the SharePoint lists as separate templates, as they will not retain the relationships (lookup columns).

1. Package all lists that have K2 Appit artefacts (have been enabled for the Appit application). It is probably better to include dependent items if you are creating a new instance of the production site.
2. Uninstall Appit from the DEV site using the option in the 'K2 Appit for SharePoint' app, accessed in the site contents. I did it from the actual site rather than the site collection; I don't know whether this applied to the whole site collection anyway.
3. Create site solution from DEV site:
   1. Save site as template (site settings)
   2. Go to solutions gallery (DEV top level site settings > Web Designer Galleries > Solutions), click created solution (template) which will give the option to save as file.
4. Create PROD site from the solution:
   1. In the 'PROD top level site settings > solutions' upload the solution file. Activate the solution.
   2. Create the PROD subsite using the new template (found in the custom tab) in the required location in the PROD site collection.
5. Deploy Appit packages:
   1. In the 'K2 Appit for SharePoint' app settings for the PROD site collection choose the  'Activate Site Collection' option.
   2. Give the appropriate K2 permissions for the site (https://help.k2.com/kb001806).
   3. Deploy the packages for each list (https://help.k2.com/onlinehelp/k2appit/userguide/current/Default.htm#PackageAndDeploy/DeployAPackage.htm).
6. Re-activate Appit in DEV.

I am still dealing with the some fall-out from in the forms (e.g. the drop-down control that uses a Smart Object is not displaying the fields in the list that I would expect). I will update this post when I have worked through this with K2 Support.

Hi Jon,

Thank you for Sharing this usefull info.

Thanks,

Esaki