Sharepoint 2010 list schema deployment

I have create a list schema definition and list instance in VS2010. I have a feature that deploys both list definition and instance, plus a feature stappler which actives the new feature for each new sub site.

My list definition schema.xml is:

 <Fields>
  <Field Name="StartDate" Type="DateTime" Required="FALSE" DisplayName="Start Date" StaticName="StartDate" ID="9ea1256f-6b67-43b0-8ab7-1d643bf8a834" SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3" ColName="datetime1" RowOrdinal="0" />
  <Field Name="EndDate" Type="DateTime" Required="FALSE" DisplayName="End Date" StaticName="EndDate" ID="900503fa-4ab1-4938-be75-b40694ab97b6" SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3" ColName="datetime2" RowOrdinal="0" />

I deploy successfully and create a new site using my site definitions, list gets created successfully all things work.

Now i want to add another field to my list, i go back to visual studio 2010 edit list definition schema.xml and add another field in Metadata fields section.

The schema.xml is now:

    <Fields>
  <Field Name="StartDate" Type="DateTime" Required="FALSE" DisplayName="Start Date" StaticName="StartDate" ID="9ea1256f-6b67-43b0-8ab7-1d643bf8a834" SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3" ColName="datetime1" RowOrdinal="0" />
  <Field Name="EndDate" Type="DateTime" Required="FALSE" DisplayName="End Date" StaticName="EndDate" ID="900503fa-4ab1-4938-be75-b40694ab97b6" SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3" ColName="datetime2" RowOrdinal="0" />

  <!-- New Field -->

  <Field Name="TestRedeploy" Type="Text" Required="FALSE" DisplayName="TestRedeploy" StaticName="TestRedeploy"  RichText="True" Sortable="FALSE" ID="A5656659-CD3E-4C84-AEAC-554DCE25434B" SourceID="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/v3" ColName="ntext3" RowOrdinal="0" />
</Fields>

I build and deploy successfully, but when i go in list settings to check if new column was added i find that all columns have been deleted. Can you help me figure out how to deploy new columns with schema.xml ?

Solution

You should try to reinstall the feature that deploys your list

Go to sharepoint 2010 management console and write

install-spfeature -path "feature folder name in 14'hive" -force

after this make an IISRESET and reload the page. This should be enough for the field to be visible.

By the way you should never include colname and rowordinal values in your xml. These will be provided automatically by sharepoint when field is deployed. One problem that you might face with current deployment is that there is already a list field mapped to colname="ntext3".