I get asked quite often – what are the required content place holders I need to put into my sharepoint masterpage, so that it doesnt keep failing when I remove all of them?
Well, there’s actually a very good description of each content placeholder, what it is used for, etc within the WSS SDK. Generally what I do is set up a blank masterpage template which contains all of the required content placeholders, stored within a div with a display:none CSS attribute applied, and slowly bring in the placeholders as I need them.
UPDATE: Microsoft also have an MSDN article on how to create a minimal master page here. (or see bottom of post).
Here’s the list:
The following table describes the content placeholders contained in the Windows SharePoint Services default master page and what each of the placeholders represents on the page.
| Name of Content Placeholder | Description |
| PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead | Additional content that needs to be within the <head> tag of the page, for example, references to script in style sheets |
| PlaceHolderBodyAreaClass | Additional body styles in the page header |
| PlaceHolderBodyLeftBorder | Border element for the main page body |
| PlaceHolderBodyRightMargin | Right margin of the main page body |
| PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator | Shows a date picker for navigating in a calendar when a calendar is visible on the page |
| PlaceHolderFormDigest | The “form digest” security control |
| PlaceHolderGlobalNavigation | The global navigation breadcrumb |
| PlaceHolderHorizontalNav | Top navigation menu for the page |
| PlaceHolderLeftActions | Bottom of the left navigation area |
| PlaceHolderLeftNavBar | Left navigation area |
| PlaceHolderLeftNavBarBorder | Border element on the left navigation bar |
| PlaceHolderLeftNavBarDataSource | Data source for the left navigation menu |
| PlaceHolderLeftNavBarTop | Top of the left navigation area |
| PlaceHolderMain | Page’s main content |
| PlaceHolderMiniConsole | A place to show page-level commands, for example, WIKI commands such as Edit Page, History, and Incoming Links |
| PlaceHolderNavSpacer | The width of the left navigation area |
| PlaceHolderPageDescription | Description of the page contents |
| PlaceHolderPageImage | Page icon in the upper left area of the page |
| PlaceHolderPageTitle | The page <Title> that is shown in the browser’s title bar |
| PlaceHolderSearchArea | Search box area |
| PlaceHolderSiteName | Site name |
| PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass | Additional styles in the page header |
| PlaceHolderTitleAreaSeparator | Shows shadows for the title area |
| PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb | Main content breadcrumb area |
| PlaceHolderTitleInTitleArea | Page title shown immediately below the breadcrumb |
| PlaceHolderTitleLeftBorder | Left border of the title area |
| PlaceHolderTitleRightMargin | Right margin of the title area |
| PlaceHolderTopNavBar | Top navigation area |
| PlaceHolderUtilityContent | Extra content that needs to be at the bottom of the page |
| SPNavigation | Empty by default in Windows SharePoint Services. Can be used for additional page editing controls. |
| WSSDesignConsole | The page editing controls when the page is in Edit Page mode (after clicking Site Actions, then Edit Page) |
Xml
Copy Code<%-- Identifies this page as a .master page written in Microsoft Visual C# and registers tag prefixes, namespaces, assemblies, and controls. --%> <%@ Master language="C#" %> <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <%@ Import Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="SPSWC" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="SharePoint" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="WebPartPages" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingWebControls" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.WebControls" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingNavigation" Namespace="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.Navigation" Assembly="Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c" %> <%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="Welcome" src="~/_controltemplates/Welcome.ascx" %> <%@ Register TagPrefix="wssuc" TagName="DesignModeConsole" src="~/_controltemplates/DesignModeConsole.ascx" %> <%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingVariations" TagName="VariationsLabelMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/VariationsLabelMenu.ascx" %> <%@ Register Tagprefix="PublishingConsole" TagName="Console" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingConsole.ascx" %> <%@ Register TagPrefix="PublishingSiteAction" TagName="SiteActionMenu" src="~/_controltemplates/PublishingActionMenu.ascx" %> <%-- Uses the Microsoft Office namespace and schema. --%> <html> <WebPartPages:SPWebPartManager runat="server"/> <SharePoint:RobotsMetaTag runat="server"/> <%-- The head section includes a content placeholder for the page title and links to CSS and ECMAScript (JScript, JavaScript) files that run on the server. --%> <head runat="server"> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder runat="server" id="head"> <title> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageTitle" runat="server" /> </title> </asp:ContentPlaceHolder> <Sharepoint:CssLink runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderAdditionalPageHead" runat="server" /> </head> <%-- When loading the body of the .master page, SharePoint Server 2007 also loads the SpBodyOnLoadWrapper class. This class handles .js calls for the master page. --%> <body onload="javascript:_spBodyOnLoadWrapper();"> <%-- The SPWebPartManager manages all of the Web part controls, functionality, and events that occur on a Web page. --%> <form runat="server" onsubmit="return _spFormOnSubmitWrapper();"> <wssuc:Welcome id="explitLogout" runat="server"/> <PublishingSiteAction:SiteActionMenu runat="server"/> <PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer id="authoringcontrols" runat="server"> <PublishingConsole:Console runat="server" /> </PublishingWebControls:AuthoringContainer> <%-- The PlaceHolderMain content placeholder defines where to place the page content for all the content from the page layout. The page layout can overwrite any content placeholder from the master page. Example: The PlaceHolderLeftNavBar can overwrite the left navigation bar. --%> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderMain" runat="server" /> <asp:Panel visible="false" runat="server"> <%-- These ContentPlaceHolders ensure all default SharePoint Server pages render with this master page. If the system master page is set to any default master page, the only content placeholders required are those that are overridden by your page layouts. --%> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderSearchArea" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleBreadcrumb" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftNavBar" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderPageImage" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderBodyLeftBorder" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderNavSpacer" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderTitleLeftBorder" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderTitleAreaSeparator" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder ID="PlaceHolderMiniConsole" runat="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderCalendarNavigator" runat ="server" /> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderLeftActions" runat ="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderPageDescription" runat ="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyAreaClass" runat ="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderTitleAreaClass" runat ="server"/> <asp:ContentPlaceHolder id="PlaceHolderBodyRightMargin" runat="server" /> </asp:Panel> </form> </body> </html>
Great post Matty – I’ve always wondered which ones are required. It’s painful when you miss one
Grant,
good list!
just spotted a little mistake… PlaceHolderTitleInTitleArea should be PlaceHolderPageTitleInTitleArea
best regards
jennifer