Creating a Document Library using SharePoint 2013 REST API

Introduction

The SharePoint 2013 environment adds the ability to remotely interact with SharePoint sites using REST. So you can talk to SharePoint objects using any technology that supports standard REST capabilities. In this way, SharePoint data can be accessed anywhere and everywhere.

List of REST Access Points

The following is a list of access points that provide entry into granular access points.

Site

http://server/site/_api/site
Web

http://server/site/_api/web
User Profile

http:// server/site/_api/SP.UserProfiles.PeopleManager
Search

http:// server/site/_api/search
Publishing

http:// server/site/_api/publishing

List of REST End Points

The following is a list of end points that are the most commonly used on a SharePoint list.

http://server/site/_api/web/lists
http://server/site/_api/lists/getbytitle('listname')
http://server/site/_api/web/lists(‘guid’)
http://server/site/_api/web/lists/getbytitle(‘Title’)

In this article, let's see how to create a SharePoint Document Library using the REST API. The following code is tested in my SP 2013 online environment.

Step 1: Before writing your code, please ensure that you have sufficient permission to access cross-domain requests. So I have given full permission to all the contents listed below.

Tenant	Full Permission
Site Collection	Full Permission
Web	Full Permission
List	Full Permission

permission

In SharePoint 2013, use POST to create entities such as lists and sites. The

Step 2: Navigate to App.js file Copy the following code and Paste it.

Code

'use strict';
var hostweburl;
var appweburl;
// This code runs when the DOM is ready and creates a context object which is
// needed to use the SharePoint object model
$(document).ready(function () {
//Get the URI decoded URLs.
hostweburl =
decodeURIComponent(
getQueryStringParameter("SPHostUrl"));
appweburl =
decodeURIComponent(
getQueryStringParameter("SPAppWebUrl"));
// Resources are in URLs in the form:
// web_url/_layouts/15/resource
var scriptbase = hostweburl + "/_layouts/15/";
// Load the js file and continue to load the page with information about the list top level folders.
// SP.RequestExecutor.js to make cross-domain requests
// Load the js files and continue to the successHandler
$.getScript(scriptbase + "SP.RequestExecutor.js", execCrossDomainRequest);
});
// Function to prepare and issue the request to get
// SharePoint data
function execCrossDomainRequest() {
// executor: The RequestExecutor object
// Initialize the RequestExecutor with the app web URL.
var executor = new SP.RequestExecutor(appweburl);
var listName="CustomLibrary";
// Issue the call against the app web.
// To get the title using REST we can hit the endpoint:
// appweburl/_api/web/lists/getbytitle('listname')/items
// The response formats the data in the JSON format.
// The functions successHandler and errorHandler attend the
// sucess and error events respectively.
executor.executeAsync(
{
url: appweburl + "/_api/SP.AppContextSite(@target)/web/Lists?@target='" + hostweburl + "'",
method: "POST",
body: "{ '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.List' }, 'BaseTemplate': 101,'Description': '" + listName + "', 'Title':'" + listName + "'}",
headers: {"content-type": "application/json; odata=verbose"},
success: contextSuccessHandler,
error: contextErrorHandler
}
);
}
// This function prepares, loads, and then executes a SharePoint query to get
// the current users information
//Utilities
// Retrieve a query string value.
// For production purposes you may want to use
// a library to handle the query string.
function getQueryStringParameter(paramToRetrieve) {
var params =
document.URL.split("?")[1].split("&");
for (var i = 0; i < params.length; i = i + 1) {
var singleParam = params[i].split("=");
if (singleParam[0] == paramToRetrieve)
return singleParam[1];
}
}
//Retrieve the form digest value.
//Store the value of the form digest.
function contextSuccessHandler(data) {
alert("List Created Successfully");

Screenshot

Code Walkthrough

A. Post Method in REST API

A SharePoint 2013 REST service supports sending POST commands that include object definitions to endpoints that represent collections. For example, you could send a POST command that included a new list object definition in ATOM to the following URL, to create a SharePoint list:

executor.executeAsync(
{
url: appweburl + "/_api/SP.AppContextSite(@target)/web/Lists?@target='" + hostweburl + "'",
method: "POST", body: "{ '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.List' }, 'BaseTemplate': 101,'Description': '" + listName + "', 'Title':'" + listName + "'}",
headers: {"content-type": "application/json; odata=verbose"},
success: contextSuccessHandler,
error: contextErrorHandler

B. Request Executor.JS

The cross-domain library lets you interact with more than one domain in your remote app page through a proxy. SP.RequestExecutor.js acts as a cross-domain library to fetch or create a SharePoint list from your APP domain.

function execCrossDomainRequest() {
// executor: The RequestExecutor object
// Initialize the RequestExecutor with the app web URL.
var executor = new SP.RequestExecutor(appweburl);
var listName="CustomLibrary";
}

Summary

I hope this article helps you.

5 Comments

Join the conversation! Your thoughts help the community grow.

Humayun Kabir Mamun10y ago
Nice...
Johanna Forsberg12y ago
Great article! Is there a way to update the title of the Document library? If I have a library called Documents, and want to change that name to "Feedback" for example?
Lakshmanan Sethu Sankaranarayan12y ago
Thank you for reading my article. I will check and get back to you Julian.
- Karsten Held11y ago
  I have the same task of creating document libraries from custom templates (document libraries already populated with folders/files). Is there a solution?
Julián Andrés Henao Taborda12y ago
Is there any way to create the document library with an existan list template. I've trying to do it for a while and I can't find the way. Thanks.