I wrote this step-by-step guide to help my clients configure a DBVT custom project in Community Server, where another developer or the client's IT staff takes over management of the site. While the instructions are specific to how I deliver projects, it covers all of the aspects of adding a project to the CS SDK. I have included an accompanying screenshot with each instruction.
1) Download the SDK. It's a good idea to be sure the build version of the SDK is the same used in the custom project. As of this writing, the latest Community Server build is 3.1.20917. The Community Server SDK is located on the cs.org Complete List of Downloads page.
2) Unzip the downloaded SDK to the folder where it will be managed going forward, or where you'll want the Visual Studio solution located in other words.
3) Before we do anything else with the SDK or the custom project, let's create the SQL database. Depending on the project, you will either create a new database from the SDK using the script and instructions in the /SqlScripts folder, or restore from a project production, staging or development database backup.
4) Back to the SDK, the Visual Studio solution is now located in the /source folder. Open "Community Server 20.sln." Collapse all of the projects and set CommunityServerWeb20 as the startup project. Build the Solution. Keep Visual Studio open.
5) Copy the .ZIP of the DBVT Class Library Project to the /source folder. In Visual Studio, add the DBVT project to the solution. Step 1. Step 2. The solution with the addition of the DBVT project now looks like this.
6) You will also have received a .ZIP containing the files and folders that were added or modified in the Community Server web project area. Copy these files to /source/web. It's fine to leave Visual Studio open during this step.
7) Now add a reference to the DBVT custom project. Build the CommunityServerWeb project. It's not necessary to rebuild the solution.
8) Update the connectionstrings.config file located in the /web root folder.
9) It's time to create the website. What we'll be doing is setting the /web folder as the root directory of the site.
Load the new site and you will see a mirror of the production site. You may encounter a permission-related provider error depending on your server SQL and IIS user setup, and certain additional steps like configuring email settings for your environment may be required, but otherwise you're home.