SharePoint

Query SharePoint with .NET

sweisfeld — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:52:08 GMT

I was attending the SharePoint Developers Group Meeting (http://www.dspdg.org) last week and the presenter, Ty Anderson, of http://www.cogentcompany.com & http://www.officedeveloper.com demoed using MS Access as a shim to bridge the communication between a VSTO application and a SharePoint List. I thought the idea was cool so I threw together this quick sample for your consideration. Note: I have not tested this in a multi-user environment, nor would I recommend this when performance is a high priority. Regardless it is very cool!

Step 1: Create your list in SharePoint: Here you can see my TestList, it has one column called title.

Step 2: Create the MS Access shim. Click Actions then “Open with Access”.

This will create an “.accdb” file.

Step 3: Write .NET code to query the MS Access database

First thing I will need is a connection string, in my app.config file:

   1:  <connectionStrings>

   2:  <add name="ConnectionKey"

   3:       connectionString="Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0;Data Source=TestList.accdb;"

   4:       providerName="System.Data.OleDb"

   5:       />

   6:  </connectionStrings>

Now some simple DataAccess code to query the database:

   1:  DataSet ds = new DataSet();

2:

   3:  //get the config info from the app.config file

   4:  ConnectionStringSettings myConnectionSettings = ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionKey"];

   5:  DbProviderFactory myProvider = DbProviderFactories.GetFactory(myConnectionSettings.ProviderName);

6:

   7:  using (DbConnection myConnection = myProvider.CreateConnection())

   8:  using (DbCommand myCommand = myProvider.CreateCommand())

   9:  using (DbDataAdapter da = myProvider.CreateDataAdapter())

  10:  {

  11:       myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionSettings.ConnectionString;

  12:       myCommand.Connection = myConnection;

  13:       myCommand.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;

  14:       myCommand.CommandText = "SELECT * FROM [TestList]";

  15:       da.SelectCommand = myCommand;

  16:       da.Fill(ds);

  17:  }

  18:  ds.WriteXml("results.xml");

I can even Insert New records into the list:

   1:  using (DbConnection myConnection = myProvider.CreateConnection())

   2:  using (DbCommand myCommand = myProvider.CreateCommand())

   3:  {

   4:       myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionSettings.ConnectionString;

   5:       myCommand.Connection = myConnection;

   6:       myCommand.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;

   7:       myCommand.CommandText = "INSERT INTO [TestList] (Title) VALUES ('This is a test')";

   8:       myCommand.Connection.Open();

   9:       myCommand.ExecuteNonQuery();

  10:  }

Moreover, I can even do Updates:

   1:  using (DbConnection myConnection = myProvider.CreateConnection())

   2:  using (DbCommand myCommand = myProvider.CreateCommand())

   3:  {

   4:       myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionSettings.ConnectionString;

   5:       myCommand.Connection = myConnection;

   6:       myCommand.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;

   7:       myCommand.CommandText = "UPDATE [TestList] SET Title = 'This is a update test' WHERE Title = 'This is a test'";

   8:       myCommand.Connection.Open();

   9:       myCommand.ExecuteNonQuery();

  10:  }

and I can even do Deletes:

   1:  using (DbConnection myConnection = myProvider.CreateConnection())

   2:  using (DbCommand myCommand = myProvider.CreateCommand())

   3:  {

   4:       myConnection.ConnectionString = myConnectionSettings.ConnectionString;

   5:       myCommand.Connection = myConnection;

   6:       myCommand.CommandType = System.Data.CommandType.Text;

   7:       myCommand.CommandText = "DELETE FROM [TestList] WHERE Title = 'This is a update test'";

   8:       myCommand.Connection.Open();

   9:       myCommand.ExecuteNonQuery();

  10:  }

That is it, now your .NET code can work with SharePoint data, and best of all NO CAML to write!!!

SHAREPOINT DESIGNER 2007 IS NOW FREE!

sweisfeld — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 05:35:23 GMT

Need I say more? http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=baa3ad86-bfc1-4bd4-9812-d9e710d44f42

SharePoint WebServices are your friend

sweisfeld — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:50:00 GMT

Ever wanted access to that treasure trove of information available in SharePoint lists scattered across your enterprise? Ever wanted to provide a quick and dirty UI for users to enter data, but need to have programmatic access to the data? Use SharePoint! SharePoint provides WebServices that give you access to just about everything you can think of (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms954015.aspx). For the purposes of this article I am going to use the Lists WebService to 1) get data from a list, 2) Add an item to the list and 3) Delete an item from the list.

The first step is to add two service references to Sharepoint. The first is to the Lists WebService (http://server/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx), and the second is to the Views WebService (http://server/_vti_bin/Views.asmx). Before you go and add the services references you need to ensure you have permissions to the service. You do this by putting the url to the asmx in the browser and adding "?WSDL" to the end. If you get a blank html page then you do NOT have permissions to that service, well at least for that node. In my environment I only have permissions to a sub site in SharePoint. To that end I had to point directly to the WebService for the SharePoint site that I have access to. For example the address that I have to use is (http://server/site1/subsite2/subsite3/subsite4/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx). So after you ensured you have the correct URL you can now add the service references to your project. Easy enough to do right click on the project in the solution explorer in VS.NET and select "Add Service Reference" (Note I am using VS.NET 2008).

Now that you have your 2 service references you need to check your WCF configuration in the app/web config file. Due to my environment I had to set it to the following:

1: <security mode="TransportCredentialOnly">

2:     <transport clientCredentialType="Ntlm" proxyCredentialType="None"

3:         realm="" />

4:     <message clientCredentialType="UserName" algorithmSuite="Default" />

5: </security>

The next step is to get the ID’s for the List and View that you want to pull the data for. The code below converts the name or title of the list/view into the ID. From what I read it is recommended that you use the ID’s however passing in the name to the web methods will work in most cases.

1:         private static string GetListID(string listName)

2:         {

3:             //Find the list we want

4:             string listID = null;

5:             ListsSoapClient ws = new ListsSoapClient();

6:             try

7:             {

8:                 XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(ws.GetListCollection().OuterXml);

9:                 listID = (from x in doc.Elements().First().Elements()

10:                           where x.Attribute("Title").Value.Equals(listName)

11:                           select x.Attribute("ID").Value).FirstOrDefault();

12:             }

13:             catch (TimeoutException timeout)

14:             {

15:                 //Handle the timeout exception.

16:                 ws.Abort();

17:             }

18:             catch (CommunicationException commException)

19:             {

20:                 // Handle the communication exception.

21:                 ws.Abort();

22:             }

23:

24:             Console.WriteLine("\n\nI found that List '{0}' has ID '{1}'", listName, listID);

25:             return listID;

26:         }

1:         private static string GetViewID(string viewName, string listID)

2:         {

3:             //Find the view we want

4:             string viewID = null;

5:             ViewsSoapClient ws = new ViewsSoapClient();

6:             try

7:             {

8:                 XDocument doc = XDocument.Parse(ws.GetViewCollection(listID).OuterXml);

9:                 viewID = (from x in doc.Elements().First().Elements()

10:                           where x.Attribute("DisplayName").Value.Equals(viewName)

11:                           select x.Attribute("Name").Value).FirstOrDefault();

12:

13:             }

14:             catch (TimeoutException timeout)

15:             {

16:                 // Handle the timeout exception.

17:                 ws.Abort();

18:             }

19:             catch (CommunicationException commException)

20:             {

21:                 //Handle the communication exception.

22:                 ws.Abort();

23:             }

24:

25:             Console.WriteLine("\n\nI found that View '{0}' has ID '{1}'", viewName, viewID);

26:             return viewID;

27:         }

With all the plumbing out of the way I can now call the service to retrieve all the data in my list.

   1:          private static XDocument GetListData(string listID, string viewID)

   2:          {

   3:              XDocument list_data = null;

   4:              ListsSoapClient ws = new ListsSoapClient();

   5:              try

   6:              {

   7:                  list_data = XDocument.Parse(ws.GetListItems(listID, viewID, null, null, null, null, null).OuterXml);

   8:                  var q = (from x in list_data.Elements().First().Elements().First().Elements()

   9:                           select new

  10:                           {

  11:                               Title = x.Attribute("ows_LinkTitle").Value,

  12:                               Field1 = x.Attribute("ows_Field1").Value,

  13:                               Field2 = x.Attribute("ows_Field2").Value

  14:                           });

15:

  16:                  Console.WriteLine("\n\nThe List has the following items");

  17:                  foreach (var r in q.ToList())

  18:                  {

  19:                      Console.WriteLine("{0}\t{1}\t{2}", r.Title, r.Field1, r.Field2);

  20:                  }

  21:              }

  22:              catch (TimeoutException timeout)

  23:              {

  24:                  // Handle the timeout exception.

  25:                  ws.Abort();

  26:              }

  27:              catch (CommunicationException commException)

  28:              {

  29:                  // Handle the communication exception.

  30:                  ws.Abort();

  31:              }

32:

  33:              return list_data;

  34:          }

I can also Add an item to the list:

   1:          private static void AddListItem(string listID)

   2:          {

   3:              //Add List Item

   4:              XElement new_item = new XElement("Batch",

   5:                  new XAttribute("OnError", "Continue"),

   6:                  new XAttribute("ListVersion", "1"),

   7:                  new XElement("Method",

   8:                      new XAttribute("ID", "1"),

   9:                      new XAttribute("Cmd", "New"),

  10:                      new XElement("Field",

  11:                          new XAttribute("Name", "Title"),

  12:                          "New Title"),

  13:                      new XElement("Field",

  14:                          new XAttribute("Name", "Field1"),

  15:                          "new field 1"),

  16:                      new XElement("Field",

  17:                          new XAttribute("Name", "Field2"),

  18:                          "new field 2")));

19:

  20:              ListsSoapClient ws = new ListsSoapClient();

  21:              try

  22:              {

  23:                  Console.WriteLine("\n\nAdding Item to the list . . .");

  24:                  Console.WriteLine(ws.UpdateListItems(listID, new_item.GetXmlElement()).OuterXml);

  25:              }

  26:              catch (TimeoutException timeout)

  27:              {

  28:                  // Handle the timeout exception.

  29:                  ws.Abort();

  30:              }

  31:              catch (CommunicationException commException)

  32:              {

  33:                  // Handle the communication exception.

  34:                  ws.Abort();

  35:              }

  36:          }

And delete an item from the list:

   1:          private static void DeleteListItem(string listID, string item_id)

   2:          {

   3:              ListsSoapClient ws = new ListsSoapClient();

   4:              try

   5:              {

   6:                  XElement delete_item = new XElement("Batch",

   7:                          new XAttribute("OnError", "Continue"),

   8:                          new XAttribute("ListVersion", "1"),

   9:                          new XElement("Method",

  10:                              new XAttribute("ID", "1"),

  11:                              new XAttribute("Cmd", "Delete"),

  12:                              new XElement("Field",

  13:                                  new XAttribute("Name", "ID"),

  14:                                  item_id)));

15:

  16:                  Console.WriteLine("\n\nDeleting Item to the list . . .");

  17:                  Console.WriteLine(ws.UpdateListItems(listID, delete_item.GetXmlElement()).OuterXml);

  18:              }

  19:              catch (TimeoutException timeout)

  20:              {

  21:                  // Handle the timeout exception.

  22:                  ws.Abort();

  23:              }

  24:              catch (CommunicationException commException)

  25:              {

  26:                  // Handle the communication exception.

  27:                  ws.Abort();

  28:              }

  29:          }

BTW the web service takes a XmlElement but I like working with the new XElement better. I altered an extension method Eric White wrote that does the conversion.

   1:          public static XmlElement GetXmlElement(this XElement element)

   2:          {

   3:              using (XmlReader xmlReader = element.CreateReader())

   4:              {

   5:                  XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();

   6:                  xmlDoc.Load(xmlReader);

   7:                  return xmlDoc.FirstChild as XmlElement;

   8:              }

   9:          }

There are a bunch of libraries out there to aid in this process. The one that has got me the most excited is LINQ to SharePoint http://www.codeplex.com/LINQtoSharePoint.

Explorer View in SharePoint

sweisfeld — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 21:07:00 GMT

Having a problem getting the Explorer View in SharePoint working, Microsoft has a service that needs to be running on your computer to facilitate that function. Make sure the WebClient service is started. Take a look at this KB article for more information (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/WindowsServer2003/Library/IIS/844f5e01-4b9e-4dac-897e-2a0bb33f28af.mspx?mfr=true).

Note: This doesn’t seem to affect IE 7, another reason to upgrade. . .