The Site Collection App Catalog provides a localized way to manage and deploy SharePoint Framework (SPFx) solutions, such as BindTuning themes and web parts, within a specific site collection. This offers granular control over which solutions are available in a particular site, making it ideal for specific scenarios.
Why use a Site Collection App Catalog?
Site Collection App Catalogs are suitable for scenarios where you need to restrict the installation scope of products. This method is often recommended when you are trialing BindTuning products or if you intend to set up a development environment.
Here's how BindTuning products interact with a Site Collection App Catalog:
Themes: Themes are deployed specifically to the Site Collection App Catalog and need to be activated on the sites within that collection.
Web Parts: Web Part solutions are deployed only within the selected site collection. They become available for use only when added to pages within that site collection.
Accessibility Tool: Our tool is deployed specifically to the Site Collection App Catalog and needs to be activated on the sites within that collection.
Flexibility: You can have one App Catalog per site collection, allowing for highly targeted deployments.
Priority: If the same solution is installed in both a Tenant App Catalog and a Site Collection App Catalog, the Site Collection App Catalog version will take priority within its scope.
Permissions required
To manage permissions for creating and using an app catalog in SharePoint Online, you'll need to ensure you have the appropriate roles and permissions. You'll need to be a SharePoint Administrator and a Site Collection Administrator for both the tenant app catalog and the target site collection.
How to create a Site Collection App Catalog
The method for creating a Site Collection App Catalog depends on how you are deploying BindTuning products:
Via BindTuning's Automated Platforms: When deploying themes or web parts via BindTuning's Online App or Desktop Application, the Site Collection App Catalog will be created automatically. This occurs provided the user performing the installation has the necessary permissions as outlined above.
Manual Deployment: If you are deploying BindTuning products manually, the Site Collection App Catalog needs to be created beforehand. This is done by utilizing either of the PowerShell scripts provided below:
SharePoint Online Management Shell
Connect-SPOService -Url "https://Contoso-admin.sharepoint.com"
Add-SPOSiteCollectionAppCatalog -Site “https://Contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/contoso”
SharePointPnP PowerShell
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://contoso-admin.sharepoint.com"
Add-PnPSiteCollectionAppCatalog -Site “https://Contoso.sharepoint.com/sites/contoso”
Tenant App Catalog vs. Site Collection App Catalog
The primary distinction lies in their scope: a Tenant App Catalog serves the entire SharePoint Online environment, while a Site Collection App Catalog is confined to a single site collection.
For a comprehensive guide on the Tenant App Catalog and its creation process, please refer to our article: Create a Tenant App Catalog (SharePoint Online).