what the best methodology to create lists in sharepoint 2010 for developers?

Question

while developing a solution on sharepoint what's the best method to create site lists is it: 1.Solution features in Visual studio 2.Sharepoint designer 3 the browser

considering code reusability and easier deployments.

Answer 1

Creating custom lists in Sharepoint designer is quite straightforward. Assuming you don't need any custom fields, this is a good place to start.

Create your definition here, and then export it as a template. You can then import this wsp into visual studio for further customizing. You can then deploy this as per any other package. It's also nice to have this inside VS so you can version control / etc.

Here is a good video link on doing the import:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/funkyonex/Importing-SharePoint-Solution-Packages-WSP-into-Visual-Studio-2010

Edit

This isn't quite correct. You'll have to save the site as a template (wsp) that you can then import into VS. You'll get a wizard that lets you choose the list(s) you want. It's a bit of a pain as you have to uncheck everything - there's no 'uncheck all' that I can see.