Learn About Copying List, List Fields And List Items Using CSOM

In this blog you will learn about copying List, List Fields and List Items using CSOM.

In this SharePoint blog, we are going to see how we can clone/copy a list, list fields and list items within a single site programmatically using .Net client object model (CSOM) in SharePoint Online.

 

Before we start, we need to create a console application in Visual Studio. We must refer to the piece of code & snapshot provided below for better understanding of the operation of program.

 

Step 1

 

First we need to input Site URL & the credentials for site and the List name which we want to copy.

 

 

Step 2

 

Set the credentials for site.

 

Step 3

 

Creating the destination List by referring to the base ID of source list.

 

Step 4

 

Creating the field for destination list and adding the field value from the field collection of source list.

 

Step 5

 

Retrieving all the items from the source list and adding it to the corresponding field of destination list.

static void Main(string[] args) {
    #region[Variables]
    string siteURL = string.Empty;
    string username = string.Empty;
    string password = string.Empty;
    string sorList = string.Empty;
    string newList = string.Empty;
    #endregion
    #region[Constant Variables]
    const string ctSiteURL = "Provide a valid source Site URL: ";
    const string ctUsername = "Enter username: ";
    const string ctPassword = "Enter password: ";
    const string ctSorList = "Enter the exist source Listname: ";
    const string ctNewList = "Enter the new Listname you want to create: ";
    #endregion
    #region[SP Variables]
    Web spWeb = null;
    List spSrcList = null;
    List spNewList = null;
    FieldCollection spFieldColl = null;
    #endregion
    #region[ConsoleMessages]
    Console.Write(ctSiteURL);
    siteURL = Console.ReadLine();
    Console.Write(ctUsername);
    username = Console.ReadLine();
    Console.Write(ctPassword);
    password = Console.ReadLine();
    Console.Write(ctSorList);
    sorList = Console.ReadLine();
    Console.Write(ctNewList);
    newList = Console.ReadLine();
    #endregion
    using(ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext(siteURL)) {
        SecureString securstr = new SecureString();
        foreach(char ch in password) {
            securstr.AppendChar(ch);
        }
        ctx.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials(username, securstr);
        spWeb = ctx.Web;
        ctx.Load(ctx.Web);
        spSrcList = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(sorList);
        ctx.Load(spSrcList);
        ctx.ExecuteQuery();
        spNewList = CreateSPList(ctx, spWeb, spSrcList, newList);
        spFieldColl = CopySPListFields(ctx, spSrcList, spNewList);
        CreateSPListItems(ctx, spSrcList, spNewList, spFieldColl);
        Console.WriteLine("The list" + " " + newList + " " + "Translated Successfully");
        Console.ReadLine();
    }
}
/// <summary>
/// This function is used to create the list in destination site
/// based on source site list information
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ctx"></param>
/// <param name="web"></param>
/// <param name="srcList"></param>
/// <param name="newList"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
private static List CreateSPList(ClientContext ctx, Web web, List srcList, string newList) {
    #region[Variables]
    ListCreationInformation destList = null;
    List spNewList = null;
    int baseid = -1;
    #endregion
    try {
        baseid = srcList.BaseTemplate;
        destList = new ListCreationInformation();
        destList.Title = newList;
        destList.TemplateType = baseid;
        web.Lists.Add(destList);
        spNewList = ctx.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(destList.Title);
        ctx.Load(srcList);
        ctx.ExecuteQuery();
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Console.WriteLine(ex.Message);
    }
    return spNewList;
}
/// <summary>
/// This function is used to copy the fields/columns from source list to
/// destination list
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ctx"></param>
/// <param name="spSrcList"></param>
/// <param name="spNewList"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
private static FieldCollection CopySPListFields(ClientContext ctx, List spSrcList, List spNewList) {
    #region[Variables]
    FieldCollection spFieldColl = null;
    string xmlValue = string.Empty;
    #endregion
    try {
        spFieldColl = spSrcList.Fields;
        ctx.Load(spFieldColl);
        ctx.ExecuteQuery();
        foreach(Field field in spFieldColl) {
            try {
                if (!field.Hidden) {
                    xmlValue = field.SchemaXml;
                    spNewList.Fields.AddFieldAsXml(xmlValue, true, AddFieldOptions.AddToDefaultContentType);
                    spNewList.Update();
                    ctx.ExecuteQuery();
                }
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Console.WriteLine(e);
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Console.WriteLine(ex);
    }
    return spFieldColl;
}
/// <summary>
/// This function is used to create the List items in destination list
/// </summary>
/// <param name="ctx"></param>
/// <param name="spSrcList"></param>
/// <param name="spNewList"></param>
/// <param name="spFieldColl"></param>
private static void CreateSPListItems(ClientContext ctx, List spSrcList, List spNewList, FieldCollection spFieldColl) {
    #region[Variables]
    CamlQuery spCamlQuery = null;
    ListItemCollection spListItems = null;
    ListItemCreationInformation spItemCreateInfo = null;
    ListItem spNewItem = null;
    #endregion
    try {
        spCamlQuery = new CamlQuery();
        spCamlQuery.ViewXml = "<View/>";
        spListItems = spSrcList.GetItems(spCamlQuery);
        ctx.Load(spListItems);
        ctx.ExecuteQuery();
        foreach(ListItem item in spListItems) {
            try {
                spItemCreateInfo = new ListItemCreationInformation();
                spNewItem = spNewList.AddItem(spItemCreateInfo);
                spNewItem["Title"] = item["Title"];
                spNewItem.Update();
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();
                foreach(Field field in spFieldColl) {
                    try {
                        if (!field.Hidden) {
                            spNewItem[field.Title] = item[field.Title];
                            spNewItem.Update();
                        }
                    } catch (Exception e) {
                        Console.WriteLine(e);
                    }
                }
                ctx.ExecuteQuery();
            } catch (Exception e) {
                Console.WriteLine(e);
            }
        }
    } catch (Exception ex) {
        Console.WriteLine(ex);
    }
  }
 }
}

After running the code, we can see the destination list is created in the site content of the Site which we have provided while running the program.

 

Figure-1

 

Figure-2

 

 

Figure 1 - This figure shows how the source list was created.

 

Figure 2 - This figure shows how the destination list is created after running the above code.