Question

Everytime I instantiate a PortalSiteMapProvider instance it always defaults to the Root Web Site Collection.

I want to be able to acquire a site map from a different collection from an application page.

Because of this, the context defaults to the root web since this application page resides under _layouts and is not hosted under any site collection.

How do I acquire an instance to a site collection other than the root web from an application page?

Thanks.

Answer 1

You can’t read another site collection’s hierarchy through a PortalSiteMapProvider. E.g., if you are in Site Collection A, PSMP will only traverse A’s tree, not B. You have to be in B to traverse B.

A workaround I implemented was to write a simple web service that runs in a site collection and takes a path as a parameter. It reads its own PSMP and writes an XML tree from that point in the hierarchy. Calling the web service living in SC-B from code running in SC-A is extremely fast, especially since the PSMP can rip through B’s structure so quickly.

Edit:

Here are instructions for creating a web service in WSS3/MOSS.

Here is some totally non-functional code to get you headed in the right direction:

//method exposed through the web service public XmlDocument GetTree(string path) {     PortalSiteMapProvider psmp = PortalSiteMapProvider.GlobalNavSiteMapProvider;     SiteMapNode node = psmp.FindSiteMapNode(path);     return BuildXmlFromNode(node); }  private XmlNode BuildXmlFromNode(SiteMapNode node) {     XmlDocument xml = new XmlDocument();     reutrn BuildXmlFromNode(node, xml); }  //recurses down the sitemapnode children private XmlNode BuildXmlFromNode(SiteMapNode node, XmlNode xml) {     XmlElement element = doc.CreateElement('Node')     element.SetAttribute('title', node.Title);     element.SetAttribute('url', node.Url);      xml.AppendChild(element);      foreach(SiteMapNode childNode in node.ChildNodes)     {         BuildXmlFromNode(childNode, element);     }      return xml; } 

Please note if you don’t set a limit on the number of recursions and your site map hierarchy is very deep and/or wide, this could produce a HUGE xml document. Use with caution!