Resolve “The property does not exist on type 'SP.ListItem'. Make sure to only use property names that are defined by the type” error when posting field values using SharePoint REST api

When I tried to update field data of a document in a document library using REST api I got Bad Request (400) error message. Surprisingly this was the same code which is working on my office 365 environment. Following is the full error message

“The property 'ContentTypeId' does not exist on type 'SP.ListItem'. Make sure to only use property names that are defined by the type”

Following is the code I used to update the document

1. var updateUrl = "http://sp13/sites/dev/_api/Web/GetFileByServerRelativeUrl('/Sites/dev/Lists/DOA/Test/CSM.docx')/ListItemAllFields";
2.  
3. $.ajax(
4. {
5.    'url': updateUrl,
6.    'method': 'POST',
7.    'data': JSON.stringify({
8.        '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.ListItem' },
9.        'ContentTypeId': '0x0101005C9775F3130F7A498C5C8CF69C1750AE03'
10.    }),
11.    'headers': {
12.        'accept': 'application/json;odata=verbose',
13.        'content-type': 'application/json;odata=verbose',
14.        'X-RequestDigest': $('#__REQUESTDIGEST').val(),
15.        'X-Http-Method': 'MERGE',
16.        "If-Match": "*"
17.    },
18.    'success': function (data) {
19.        alert('success');
20.    },
21.    'error': function (err) {
22.        alert('error');
23.    }
24.   }
25. );

The reason for above error is that the type attribute is not compatible in this scenario. I need to provide the exact entity name instead of generic SP.ListItem.

How can I find the entity name for the list? it is very easy. I just need to provide following request.

http://sp13/Sites/dev/_api/lists/getbytitle('DOA')

Following is the entity name that I should use in my code

Following is the modified code that works on my on premises environment as well

1. var updateUrl = "http://sp13/sites/dev/_api/Web/GetFileByServerRelativeUrl('/Sites/dev/Lists/DOA/Test/CSM.docx')/ListItemAllFields";
2.  
3. $.ajax(
4. {
5.    'url': updateUrl,
6.    'method': 'POST',
7.    'data': JSON.stringify({
8.        '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Data.DOAListItem' },
9.        'ContentTypeId': '0x0101005C9775F3130F7A498C5C8CF69C1750AE03'
10.    }),
11.    'headers': {
12.        'accept': 'application/json;odata=verbose',
13.        'content-type': 'application/json;odata=verbose',
14.        'X-RequestDigest': $('#__REQUESTDIGEST').val(),
15.        'X-Http-Method': 'MERGE',
16.        "If-Match": "*"
17.    },
18.    'success': function (data) {
19.        alert('success');
20.    },
21.    'error': function (err) {
22.        alert('error');
23.    }
24.   }
25. );

Get “Multiple lines of text” field value using SharePoint 2013 REST services

If we get list item from SharePoint REST services, we may get unexpected results for “Multiple lines of text” fields. Let’s take the scenario given below. I used following service to get results.

https://sp13/sites/dev/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('r')/items(4)

Instead of the field value we may get a escaped html string like below.

The reason for this behavior is that the column is enabled for rich text. If we want to keep the rich text input, we may need to escape the string using RegEx for some JavaScript functionality. For an example we can use following script to display expected comment in a textbox.

tmpComment = data.d.AGMComment != null ? data.d.AGMComment.replace("'", "") : "";

$('#txtApprovalComments').val($(tmpComment).text());

But if we don’t need the rich text behavior we can simply make the column to accept only plain text.

After modifying column settings as shown above, following will be the output from the same service call

SharePoint 2013 Visual Studio based workflow - customize task approval email to include link to respective task

In SharePoint 2013 workflow architecture is drastically changed when compared with SharePoint 2010. Some new activities like “HttpSend” are introduced to the platform and some activities are improved a lot. On the other hand some scenarios became very hard to implement.

Let’s assume that we have a SharePoint 2013 Visual Studio based workflow and need to assign a task to a user. We expect the notification email to contain the link to respective task. isn’t it ?

In SharePoint 2010 it was very easy to include the task url in the mail. But that is not the case anymore. It’s not possible to include the task url in the default mail. Instead it is sent like below which is not user friendly.

In this post I’ll show a workaround to resolve the problem. Following are the steps we need to perform

1. Add “SingleTask” activity and configure necessary parameters

2. Modify WaitForTaskCompletion property to false

This will avoid the “SingleTask” activity to wait until the approval. Furthermore change “WaiveAssignmentEmail” property value to “Yes” which avoids the notification email.

3. Compose an email manually

In this email I’ll include a link to assigned task. To get the guid of task list, I will use “GetTaskListId” activity. Furthermore I’ll get the task id from “SingleTask” activity output.

From those elements I’ll construct the url of the assigned task

e.g.: “http://sp13/sites/dev/DOAApprovalForm.aspx?List="+taskListId.ToString()+"&ID="+taskItemId+"

Then I’ll construct the email body as I wish

1. "<html><body style='font-size:11pt;font-family:Segoe UI Light,sans-serif;color:#444444;'><div>Contract comment is : " + contractComment+ " </br>Please approve this <a href="+siteUrl + "SitePages/DOAApprovalForm.aspx?List="+taskListId.ToString()+"&ID="+taskItemId+">Task</a></div></body></html>"

 

4. Handle Approve or Reject actions using a “Pick” activity

We will use “WaitForFieldChange” activity to pause the workflow until user presses Approve or Reject buttons. Since there are two possible values in the pausing field we need to use a “Pick” activity

 

5. As mentioned earlier, we will use “WaitForFieldChange” activities on both branches, configured for “TaskOutcome” field.

For the first “WaitForFieldChange” activity, the FieldValue is set to “Approved” and for the other one it is “Rejected”

6. I’ll update the taskOutcome with respective values to continue the workflow

This will allow us to modify email as we wish and pause the workflow until the task is approved or rejected

Open a div in SharePoint modal dialog

Sometimes we need to load a div in modal popup instead of a page. Following is an example code that we can use in such scenarios.

In this scenario I use a modal popup to load file upload control in the same page.

1. function Opendialog(ctType) {
2.   SP.SOD.executeOrDelayUntilScriptLoaded(function () {
3.     var element = document.createElement('div');
4.     element.innerHTML = '<input type="file" id="documentUpload" accept="*" /><input id="btnUpload" type="button" value="Upload" onclick="UploadFile(\'' + ctType + '\')"; />';
5.  
6.     SP.UI.ModalDialog.showModalDialog({
7.      html: element,
8.      title: 'Document Upload',
9.      allowMaximize: false,
10.      showClose: true,
11.      dialogReturnValueCallback : Function.createDelegate(null, CloseCallback),
12.      autoSize: true
13.     });
14.    }, "SP.js");
15. }
16.  
17. function CloseCallback(result, target) {
18.    location.reload(true);
19. }

SharePoint 2013 - Generate document with data using server object model

When we provide a content management solution with SharePoint, often we need to generate reports or documents using existing data. To generate reports we can use SSRS with “SharePoint List” as the data source. But, how can we generate a word document in a given template?

In this article I will show how to generate a word document with data using SharePoint server object model. To explain the concept I will implement following scenario.

• Generate contract approval summary document from a template
• Fill approvers section from list fields

Following are the steps we need to follow.

1. Create a content type and associate with list fields

I’ve created the content type with necessary fields in visual studio and deployed to the farm.

2. Associate the content type to a document library and go to advanced settings to change the document template

we will navigate to advanced settings and upload an empty word document (e.g.: template.docx)

3. Click on edit template and modify the document to build the template

To add dynamic content, we will use quick parts section of the document. As you can see, the content type fields are available in the quick parts section. we will embed those fields to our document accordingly

Then we will save changes

4. Use following code to create document

1. var web = SPContext.Current.Web;
2. web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
3.  
4. var tplurl = listItem.ParentList.ContentTypes["Contract Approval Summary"].DocumentTemplateUrl;
5. byte[] stream = web.GetFile(tplurl).OpenBinary();
6.  
7.  
8. var itemProperties = new Hashtable();
9. itemProperties.Add("AGMName", agmName);
10. itemProperties.Add("RegionalControllerName", regionalName);
11. itemProperties.Add("RVPName", rvpName);
12.  
13. listItem.ParentList.RootFolder.Files.Add(listItem.DisplayName + " Approval Summary.docx", stream, itemProperties, true);
14. web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;

That will create the document with required fields.Those fields will be embedded to the document as per the template

Programmatically add tasks to timeline in SharePoint 2013 Tasks list

In a previous post I described about the new Timeline feature in SharePoint 2013. But tasks are not added to the timeline automatically, which is a huge drawback. As a result we need to create the task and it to the timeline manually as below.

From this post I will explain how to add tasks to timeline automatically. There are two options to derive at a solution. They are,

• Using JavaScripts
• Using an Event Receiver

In this article I will show a way to implement the task using Item Added event receiver configured to Tasks list type. Following are two logical steps included in the solution.

1. Set required properties in the tasks list

In the RootFolder of a particular Tasks list, there are three properties relevant to the Timeline control. When we create the list, those properties are not automatically set. As a result we have to set those three properties, namely,

• TimeLineDefaultView
• TimeLineAllViews
• TimeLine_TimeLine

2. Get xml document in TimeLine_TimeLine property, and add required nodes

We have to add xml nodes to “tskSet” and “mlSet” sections to represent the task which is to be displayed in Timeline control.

Following is the sample code I used to execute above steps

1. var web = properties.Web as SPWeb;
2. var doc = new XmlDocument();
3. var taskList = web.Lists[properties.ListId];
4. var root = taskList.RootFolder;
5.  
6. if (root.Properties["Timeline_Timeline"] == null)
7. {
8. //Add timeline related properties
9. root.SetProperty("TimelineDefaultView", "Timeline");
10. root.SetProperty("TimelineAllViews", "Timeline");
11. //Add default xml to Timeline_Timeline property
12. root.SetProperty("Timeline_Timeline",@"<TLViewData><fmtSet><fmt id='0' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' t1='0' t2='1' type='0' /><fmt id='1' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' t1='2' t2='3' type='1' /><fmt id='2' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' t1='4' t2='5' type='2' /><fmt id='3' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' t1='6' t2='7' type='3' /></fmtSet><fltSet><ft id='{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}' uid='4294967295' uidSrc='1' onTL='0' fmt='1' y='4294967282' x='0' h='20' /></fltSet><tskSet><t id='{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}' uid='4294967295' uidSrc='1' onTL='0' fmt='0' ch='4294967295' /></tskSet><options dateFormat='255' panZoomT='9' ProjSummFmt='3' showDates='1' showProjSummDates='0' showToday='1' showTS='1' timelineHeight='133' timelineWidth='-1' timescaleT='8' todayT='10' /><mlSet>
13. <m id='{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}' uid='4294967295' uidSrc='1' onTL='0' fmt='2' y='35' x='0' /></mlSet><txtSet><style id='0' type='0' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='1' type='1' clr='FFEE2222' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='2' type='2' clr='FF999999' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='3' type='3' clr='FFB3B3B3' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI Light' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='4' type='4' clr='FF525051' thm='0001' sz='10' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='5' type='5' clr='FFB3B3B3' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI Light' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='6' type='6' clr='FF999999' thm='0001' sz='9' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='7' type='7' clr='FF999999' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='8' type='8' clr='FF999999' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='9' type='9' clr='FFFFA614' thm='0001' sz='8' font='Segoe UI Semibold' bold='1' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /><style id='10' type='10' clr='FFFFA72B' thm='0001' sz='10' font='Segoe UI Semibold' bold='0' ital='0' und='0' strk='0' /></txtSet></TLViewData>");
14. root.Update();
15. }
16.  
17. doc.LoadXml(root.Properties["Timeline_Timeline"].ToString());
18.  
19. //Create required xml nodes
20. var tElement = doc.CreateElement("t");
21. tElement.SetAttribute("id", "{" + properties.ListItemUniqueId.ToString() + "}");
22. tElement.SetAttribute("uid", properties.ListItemId.ToString());
23. tElement.SetAttribute("uidSrc", "1");
24. tElement.SetAttribute("onTL", "1");
25. tElement.SetAttribute("fmt", "0");
26. tElement.SetAttribute("ch", "4294967295");
27.  
28. var mElement = doc.CreateElement("m");
29. mElement.SetAttribute("id", "{" + properties.ListItemUniqueId.ToString() + "}");
30. mElement.SetAttribute("uid", properties.ListItemId.ToString());
31. mElement.SetAttribute("uidSrc", "1");
32. mElement.SetAttribute("onTL", "1");
33. mElement.SetAttribute("fmt", "2");
34. mElement.SetAttribute("y", "35");
35. mElement.SetAttribute("x", "0");
36.  
37. //Add created nodes to xml document
38. doc.SelectNodes("/TLViewData/tskSet/t")[doc.SelectNodes("/TLViewData/tskSet/t").Count - 1].AppendChild(tElement);
39. doc.SelectNodes("/TLViewData/mlSet/m")[doc.SelectNodes("/TLViewData/mlSet/m").Count - 1].AppendChild(mElement);
40. root.SetProperty("Timeline_Timeline", doc.OuterXml);
41. root.Update();
42.  
43. base.ItemAdded(properties);

After deploying the solution, tasks are added to the timeline automatically.

Get the display name of a value in person of group field from SharePoint 2013 "_api/web/lists" service

Let’s assume that we need to access a SharePoint list using built in web services. To do the task we can use a service like below.

http://sp13/sites/dev/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Regions')/items 

What happen if we have a “Person or Group” column in the list? We would get a result like below.



As you can see we get only the User Id instead of other properties like login name or display name.
To get those properties, we just need to expand respective properties as shown below.

http://sp13/sites/dev/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('Regions')/items?$select=Area_x0020_General_x0020_Manager/Name,Area_x0020_General_x0020_Manager/Title&$expand=Area_x0020_General_x0020_Manager/Id

Following is the result I got, which is what I expected