How do I use the Sharepoint Web Service to get a list of documents from .NET?

Asked 4/7, 2011 at 15:30 Answered 17/3, 2013 at 7:36

Solved c#.net winforms sharepoint sharepoint-2007

Technologies: Winforms, .NET, C#, Sharepoint Web Services

I'm currently writing a winform desktop application that is supposed to access a specific list of Sharepoint documents and custom input variables (From a Sharepoint Document Library)

http://www.infoq.com/articles/swanson-moss-web-services

This website gave me a good understanding of what web services are available, but I can't figure out from here how to access what I want.

Using the website.com/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx and website.com/_vti_bin/Dws.asmx as my web references.

com.website.Lists splist = new Project.com.website.Lists();
com.website1.Dws spData = new Project.com.website1.Dws();

splist.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("username", "password", "domain");
splist.GetList("My_list");

This was my first attempt at connecting, and it gives me a SOAPException (that's the extent of the details I can give)

Not sure if this is needed, but there are more that one sharepoint sites hosted at "website.com" (The one I'm trying to access is "website.com/sites/mysite" ) Does that change things?

I'm just trying to find out if I'm on the right track on using this service, or if I've got it all wrong

EDIT 1: leavig the original question so people understand what's going on.

@CBono: The article you linked was a great help on getting started on getting started. (I can't upvote yet :( ) I've managed to get the list, but formatting, or getting AT the data is proving difficult. Here's what was provided:

query.InnerXml = "<Where><Gt><FieldRef Name=\"ID\" />" + "<Value Type=\"Counter\">3</Value></Gt></Where>";
viewFields.InnerXml = "<FieldRef Name=\"Title\" />"; 
queryOptions.InnerXml = "";

But my results looks like this:

<rs:data ItemCount="4" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset">
     <z:row ows_Title="" ows_Deal_x0020_ID="4055.00000000000" ows_MetaInfo="8;#Subject:SW| Deal ID:DW|4055.00000000000 vti_parserversion:SR|12.0.0.6545 _Category:SW| SVP Approved?:IW|1 vti_author:SR|DD\\admin vti_approvallevel:SR| vti_categories:VW| vti_modifiedby:SR|DD\\admin vti_assignedto:SR| Keywords:SW| vti_cachedcustomprops:VX|vti_approvallevel vti_categories Subject Deal\\ ID vti_assignedto Keywords vti_title _Author _Category Quarter-End\\ Date ContentType SVP\\ Approved? _Comments ContentTypeId:SW|0x0101004E1C496569BCDF42912D848E8085351A ContentType:SW|Document vti_cachedtitle:SR| vti_title:SR| _Author:SW| Quarter-End Date:SW|2008-10-31T00:00:00Z _Comments:SW| " ows__ModerationStatus="0" ows__Level="1" ows_Last_x0020_Modified="8;#2011-07-04 16:21:56" ows_Quarter_x002d_End_x0020_Date="2008-10-31 00:00:00" ows_ID="8" ows_owshiddenversion="3" ows_UniqueId="8;#{6594AD67-6954-4641-BDA5-8FECEDCCEAD8}" ows_FSObjType="8;#0" ows_Created_x0020_Date="8;#2011-07-04 16:20:00" ows_ProgId="8;#" ows_FileLeafRef="8;#Deal Name Q1.doc" ows_Modified="2011-07-04 16:21:55" ows_FileRef="8;#sites/site1/deals/Deal Name Q1.doc" ows_DocIcon="doc" ows_Editor="605;#Doe, John" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" />
     <z:row ows_Title="" ows_Deal_x0020_ID="4576.00000000000" ows_MetaInfo="9;#Subject:SW| Deal ID:DW|4576.00000000000 vti_parserversion:SR|12.0.0.6545 _Category:SW| SVP Approved?:IW|1 vti_author:SR|DD\\admin vti_approvallevel:SR| vti_categories:VW| vti_modifiedby:SR|DD\\admin vti_assignedto:SR| Keywords:SW| vti_cachedcustomprops:VX|vti_approvallevel vti_categories Subject Deal\\ ID vti_assignedto Keywords vti_title _Author _Category Quarter-End\\ Date ContentType SVP\\ Approved? _Comments ContentTypeId:SW|0x0101004E1C496569BCDF42912D848E8085351A ContentType:SW|Document vti_cachedtitle:SR| vti_title:SR| _Author:SW| Quarter-End Date:SW|2011-01-31T00:00:00Z _Comments:SW| " ows__ModerationStatus="0" ows__Level="1" ows_Last_x0020_Modified="9;#2011-07-04 16:22:37" ows_Quarter_x002d_End_x0020_Date="2011-01-31 00:00:00" ows_ID="9" ows_owshiddenversion="3" ows_UniqueId="9;#{0AD9B000-3736-4B7B-9182-57C270824B8A}" ows_FSObjType="9;#0" ows_Created_x0020_Date="9;#2011-07-04 16:22:08" ows_ProgId="9;#" ows_FileLeafRef="9;#Deal Name Q4.doc" ows_Modified="2011-07-04 16:22:37" ows_FileRef="9;#sites/site1/deals/Deal Name Q4.doc" ows_DocIcon="doc" ows_Editor="605;#Doe, John" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" />
     <z:row ows_Title="" ows_Deal_x0020_ID="80003.0000000000" ows_MetaInfo="10;#Subject:SW| Deal ID:DW|80003.0000000000 vti_parserversion:SR|12.0.0.6545 _Category:SW| SVP Approved?:IW|0 vti_author:SR|DD\\admin vti_approvallevel:SR| vti_categories:VW| vti_modifiedby:SR|DD\\admin vti_assignedto:SR| Keywords:SW| vti_cachedcustomprops:VX|vti_approvallevel vti_categories Subject Deal\\ ID vti_assignedto Keywords vti_title _Author _Category Quarter-End\\ Date ContentType SVP\\ Approved? _Comments ContentTypeId:SW|0x0101004E1C496569BCDF42912D848E8085351A ContentType:SW|Document vti_cachedtitle:SR| vti_title:SR| _Author:SW| Quarter-End Date:SW|2011-01-31T00:00:00Z _Comments:SW| " ows__ModerationStatus="0" ows__Level="1" ows_Last_x0020_Modified="10;#2011-07-04 16:23:15" ows_Quarter_x002d_End_x0020_Date="2011-01-31 00:00:00" ows_ID="10" ows_owshiddenversion="3" ows_UniqueId="10;#{07543C39-F299-4085-82CE-F059257796EA}" ows_FSObjType="10;#0" ows_Created_x0020_Date="10;#2011-07-04 16:22:56" ows_ProgId="10;#" ows_FileLeafRef="10;#Deal Name Q3.doc" ows_Modified="2011-07-04 16:23:15" ows_FileRef="10;#sites/site1/deals/Deal Name Q3.doc" ows_DocIcon="doc" ows_Editor="605;#Doe, John" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" />
     <z:row ows_Title="" ows_Deal_x0020_ID="3319.00000000000" ows_MetaInfo="11;#Subject:SW| Deal ID:DW|3319.00000000000 vti_parserversion:SR|12.0.0.6545 _Category:SW| SVP Approved?:IW|1 vti_author:SR|DD\\admin vti_approvallevel:SR| vti_categories:VW| vti_modifiedby:SR|DD\\admin vti_assignedto:SR| Keywords:SW| vti_cachedcustomprops:VX|vti_approvallevel vti_categories Subject Deal\\ ID vti_assignedto Keywords vti_title _Author _Category Quarter-End\\ Date ContentType SVP\\ Approved? _Comments ContentTypeId:SW|0x0101004E1C496569BCDF42912D848E8085351A ContentType:SW|Document vti_cachedtitle:SR| vti_title:SR| _Author:SW| Quarter-End Date:SW|2009-10-31T00:00:00Z _Comments:SW| " ows__ModerationStatus="0" ows__Level="1" ows_Last_x0020_Modified="11;#2011-07-04 16:23:55" ows_Quarter_x002d_End_x0020_Date="2009-10-31 00:00:00" ows_ID="11" ows_owshiddenversion="3" ows_UniqueId="11;#{E51AB6A9-DDE1-4F66-8E44-EDFA3D0AFF7F}" ows_FSObjType="11;#0" ows_Created_x0020_Date="11;#2011-07-04 16:23:27" ows_ProgId="11;#" ows_FileLeafRef="11;#Deal Name Q2.doc" ows_Modified="2011-07-04 16:23:55" ows_FileRef="11;#sites/site1/deals/Deal Name Q2.doc" ows_DocIcon="doc" ows_Editor="605;#Doe, John" xmlns:z="#RowsetSchema" />
</rs:data>

and I have nooooooo idea how I'd use CAML to break that apart. (Also, I'm using Sharepoint Server 2007, not 2010

Pattipattie answered 4/7, 2011 at 15:30 Comment(0)

Not sure if this is needed, but there are more that one sharepoint sites hosted at "website.com" (The one I'm trying to access is "website.com/sites/mysite" ) Does that change things?

Absolutely it does! The web service URLs you have discovered are actually virtual, meaning that the URL pattern _vti_bin/Lists.asmx is available under EVERY SharePoint site. Whatever site your list lives in must be the starting point for your web service URL.

Thus, try: http://website.com/sites/mysite/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx

You might find MSDN's SharePoint Web Service Guidelines article helpful, too.

UPDATE #1:

CAML won't help you "break apart" your results. It's strictly a query/filter technology, and it looks like you're using it appropriately. It's up to you to tell us whether or not the result set you're getting back is what you expect. If you need help constructing more complicated CAML queries, I suggest downloading a copy of U2U's CAML Query Builder (but that's another topic).

So, on to the results. It's a little confusing to look at it, but there is some method to the madness. The columns you've set up on your list are all here (provided you're not constraining them in the CAML query, which is possible). You'll notice they use SharePoint's internal name for the column, prefixed with ows_. So, if you know the internal names, you can construct the XML attribute names and use XML classes, LINQ, or XSLT to dive into the results and get what you need. See my answer to another SO question for tips on divining SP's internal column names.

If it helps to know what I do in this situation, I simply build a POCO model class to represent one of my list items, and write a parser method to take SharePoint's XML results and return a collection of the model objects. I'm fond of LINQ to XML for this task.

Were you using SharePoint 2010, you could use the new Client Object Model classes and get better managed wrappers around working with SharePoint Sites, Lists, ListItems and such.

UPDATE #2:

Just for some color, I'm posting a sample of the code I use to parse SharePoint XML. Registrant in this example is a POCO model class I wrote to represent a SharePoint list item for a custom list. It's trivial and I won't bother posting it.

/// <summary>
/// Parses registrant XML returned from SharePoint's Lists web service into a collection 
/// of <see cref="Registrant"/> objects (root element = "listitems").
/// </summary>
/// <param name="xml">SharePoint XML</param>
/// <returns>Collection of Registrant objects, or null if no registrant data could be parsed.</returns>
public static List<Registrant> ParseSharePointXmlCollection( XElement xml ) {

  // Test: Not expected XML element or has no child elements
  if ( !xml.Name.LocalName.Equals( "listitems" ) || !xml.HasElements ) {
    return null;
  }

  List<Registrant> regList = null;

  XElement data = xml.Element( XName.Get( "data", "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" ) );
  if ( (data != null) && (data.HasElements) ) {

    regList = new List<Registrant>();

    IEnumerable<XElement> regXmlNodes = data.Elements( XName.Get( "row", "#RowsetSchema" ) );
    foreach (XElement regXml in regXmlNodes) {
      Registrant reg = ParseSharePointXml( regXml );
      if ( reg != null ) {
        regList.Add( reg );
      }
    }
  }

  return regList;
}

/// <summary>
/// Parses registrant XML returned from SharePoint's Lists web service into a single 
/// <see cref="Registrant"/> object (root element = "row").
/// </summary>
/// <param name="xml">SharePoint XML</param>
/// <returns>A Registrant object, or null if no registrant data could be parsed.</returns>
public static Registrant ParseSharePointXml( XElement xml ) {

  // Test: Not expected XML element or has no attributes
  if ( !xml.Name.LocalName.Equals( "row" ) || !xml.HasAttributes ) {
    return null;
  }

  Registrant reg = null;

  // Parse ID (if this fails, fail the whole operation)
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_ID" ) != null ) {
    reg = new Registrant();
    reg.ID = xml.Attribute( "ows_ID" ).Value;
  }
  else {
    return null;
  }

  // Parse First Name
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_First_x0020_N" ) != null ) {
    reg.FirstName = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_First_x0020_N" ).Value;
  }

  // Parse Last Name
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_Last_x0020_Na" ) != null ) {
    reg.LastName = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_Last_x0020_Na" ).Value;
  }

  // Parse Email
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_Email" ) != null ) {
    reg.Email = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Registrant_x0020_Email" ).Value;
  }

  // Parse Assistant Name
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_First_x0020_Name" ) != null ) {
    reg.AssistantFirstName = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_First_x0020_Name" ).Value;
  }
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_Name" ) != null ) {
    reg.AssistantLastName = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_Name" ).Value;
  }

  // Parse Assistant Email
  if ( xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_Email" ) != null ) {
    reg.AssistantEmail = xml.Attribute( "ows_Q_Asst_x0020_Email" ).Value;
  }

  return reg;
}

UPDATE #3:

Sample code to convert an XmlNode object to an XElement:

public static XElement GetXElement( this XmlNode node ) {
  XDocument xdoc = new XDocument();
  using ( XmlWriter xmlWriter = xdoc.CreateWriter() ) {
    node.WriteTo( xmlWriter );
  }
  return xdoc.Root;
}

Trituration answered 4/7, 2011 at 17:17 Comment(12)

This was a great start, I had tried doing that before, but I didn't think to change the .URL property seeing as the value in the app.config never changed. So I'm able to get the list, but the data I get back doesn't show any of the values listed in the Document Library "Datasheet" view. – Pattipattie 4/7, 2011 at 19:48

Are you using a CAML query to return information? If so, please post it (and contextual code of how you're building it/calling the Lists web service). If none of this makes sense, then I have some resources I can point you to. – Trituration 5/7, 2011 at 4:43

I've edited my original post to reflect my progress and where I've gotten stuck, but admittedly, CAML is confusing, and I'm not sure what to do with it. I know SO isn't an intro course, but this will be the only time I ever have to write an app to interact with sharepoint ever, so I just want it finished. – Pattipattie 5/7, 2011 at 14:24

hmm, so I guess I had exactly what I wanted, I'm just having difficulty breaking it apart. I've been trying to use .Attributes["Deal_x0020_ID"].Value but every time I do it says it doesn't have any attributes. (ps: I upvoted and made yours the answer since you've been a huge help) – Pattipattie 5/7, 2011 at 16:45

If I had to guess, it's an XML namespace problem. In my LINQ code, I have specify them. For example, to get a reference to the data element, I write: XElement data = xml.Element( XName.Get("data", "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset" )); However you're trying to access the XML, look for overloads or methods that allow specification of the namespace. – Trituration 5/7, 2011 at 18:2

Okay, I went ahead and posted some sample code that shows how I had to use namespaces during the parsing operations. Hope it makes sense and you find it useful! – Trituration 5/7, 2011 at 18:13

You're always one step ahead, trying your suggestion to navigate the below result (since I'm not able using XMLNodes) <rs:data ItemCount="4" xmlns:rs="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:rowset"> ` <z:row etc.../>` ` <z:row etc.../>` ` <z:row etc.../>` ` <z:row etc.../>` </rs:data> – Pattipattie 5/7, 2011 at 18:23

bah, now I think I'll have to ask a question about converting an XmlNode into an XElement just so I can use your code. :/ – Pattipattie 5/7, 2011 at 18:54

Lucky you... I happen to already have an example of that, too. Updated my answer. – Trituration 5/7, 2011 at 19:19

Instead of parsing the attributes on the row, you may get more value for adding the field you want into the viewFields xml. – Mirador 5/7, 2011 at 23:21

Go figure, two of the values I need aren't considered attributes, but are actually a part of the ows_MetaInfo....Now I have to parse a string to get at it :/ – Pattipattie 6/7, 2011 at 16:20

Yuck. In that case, you might look into @Nat's suggestion to use ViewFields. The MSDN entry for the Lists web service may help you out. – Trituration 6/7, 2011 at 17:40

In my line of work, I needed to do something similar to Harmon.ie's SharePoint add-on. They have a whole suite of features that integrate SharePoint and Outlook. I only needed to list documents in Outlook as a sidebar, so I tried to develop it by myself.
I tried adapting open-source code forum this project, but ended up way beyond my depth. You can use it for reference purposes, I'm sure it'll help you.

Howenstein answered 17/3, 2013 at 7:36 Comment(0)

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