SharePoint API: A Client-side Object Model

One common issue (see question #2) that developers using Microsoft's SharePoint platform are faced with is that the SharePoint object model can only be used when the application is run on a server in the SharePoint farm.

The following is code that demonstrates using HubKey's Client-side API for SharePoint. This API wraps many of SharePoint Server 2007's Web Services (Lists Web Service, Webs Web Service, etc.) to provide a familiar object model that can be used on remote client machines without having to process XML requests and responses. In this case the code from the MSDN article How to: Upload a File to a SharePoint Site from a Local Folder was copied verbatim, and it compiles and runs successfully on a client computer, even though the SharePoint DLLs are not referenced or installed.

Update: You can download a demo copy of the API - click here for information.

Update II: The API now includes a demo application - see this post for details.

using System;

using System.IO;

// Using HubKey.Web.Services.SharePoint in place of Microsoft.SharePoint

using HubKey.Web.Services.SharePoint;

namespace HubKey.DevelopmentHole

{

    class Program

    {

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

            Program program = new Program();

            program.RunDemo();

        }

        public void RunDemo()

        {

            string webUrl = "http://remoteserver";

            SPSite site = new SPSite(webUrl);

            SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();

            //create a new document library

            Guid id = web.Lists.Add("Temp Doc Lib", "A temp document library.", SPListTemplateType.DocumentLibrary);

            SPList list = web.Lists[id];

            //add a field

            list.Fields.Add("Upload Source", SPFieldType.Text, false);

            list.Update();

            string fileUrl = webUrl + "/Temp Doc Lib/New Folder/test.txt";

            string localFileName = @"D:\Temp\test.txt";

            string localFileContents = "A temp file uploaded by HubKey's SharePoint client-side API.";

            File.WriteAllText(localFileName, localFileContents);

            //Upload the file using the API code from 'How to: Upload a File to a SharePoint Site from a Local Folder'

            //see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms454491.aspx

            UploadFile(localFileName, fileUrl);

            //Check out

            SPFile file = web.GetFile(fileUrl);

            file.CheckOut();

            //update the title and new upload source field by using the file's SPListItem property...

            file.Item["Title"] = "A temp title";

            file.Item["Upload Source"] = "HubKey's SharePoint client-side API.";

            file.Item.Update();

            //Check in

            file.CheckIn("Checked in by HubKey's SharePoint client-side API");

            //Get the file contents

            string serverFileContents = web.GetFileAsString(fileUrl);

            System.Diagnostics.Debug.Assert(string.Equals(localFileContents, serverFileContents));

            //Tidy up

            list.Delete();

        }

        public void UploadFile(string srcUrl, string destUrl)

        {

            if (!File.Exists(srcUrl))

            {

                throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("{0} does not exist",

                    srcUrl), "srcUrl");

            }

            SPWeb site = new SPSite(destUrl).OpenWeb();

            FileStream fStream = File.OpenRead(srcUrl);

            byte[] contents = new byte[fStream.Length];

            fStream.Read(contents, 0, (int)fStream.Length);

            fStream.Close();

            EnsureParentFolder(site, destUrl);

            SPFile file = site.Files.Add(destUrl, contents);

            SPFolder folder = file.ParentFolder;

        }

        public string EnsureParentFolder(SPWeb parentSite, string destinUrl)

        {

            destinUrl = parentSite.GetFile(destinUrl).Url;

            int index = destinUrl.LastIndexOf("/");

            string parentFolderUrl = string.Empty;

            if (index > -1)

            {

                parentFolderUrl = destinUrl.Substring(0, index);

                SPFolder parentFolder

                    = parentSite.GetFolder(parentFolderUrl);

                if (!parentFolder.Exists)

                {

                    SPFolder currentFolder = parentSite.RootFolder;

                    foreach (string folder in parentFolderUrl.Split('/'))

                    {

                        currentFolder = currentFolder.SubFolders.Add(folder);

                    }

                }

            }

            return parentFolderUrl;

        }

    }

}