Group Operations In SharePoint 2016 Using PnP Core CSOM Library

PnP stands for Practices and Patterns, which is a community driven open source project, where Microsoft and community members have created an implementation pattern for Office 365 and SharePoint On-premises. One of the branches of the PnP development is in PnP Core CSOM Library.

PnP Core library provides CSOM extension methods for SharePoint 2016 add-in model development. Official documentation can be accessed from here. PnP Core library increases the productivity of the developers by abstracting the complex operations. In this article, we will see, how to use PnP core library on a remote desktop and work with SharePoint 2016, using a console Application.

In order to work with PnP Core library, we first have to install the NuGet Package Manager, which is explained in this article,

• Set Up PnP Core Component CSOM Library To Work With SharePoint 2016

Once the PnP Core Library is added, we can kick of the implementation, using a console Application.

Project structure

Create a console Application and add the references, given below:

• Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
• OfficeDevPnP.Core;

Scope of the article will be to perform the below group operations, using PnP Core CSOM Library:

• Creation of the group.
• Check if the group exists.
• Delete the group.

The code blocks for each operation will be given in the sub heading ‘Full Code’. It can be interchangeably placed within the Main function to test the working.

• Create an instance of the authentication manager, which will be used to create the client context.
  
  1. //Get instance of Authentication Manager
  2. OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager authenticationManager = new OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager();
  3. //Create authentication array for site url,User Name,Password and Domain
  4. string[] authArray =
  5. {
  6. "http://sharepoint2016/sites/HOL",
  7. "Priyaranjan",
  8. "password-1",
  9. "SharePointHOL"
  10. };
• Create Client Context by passing the authentication details to the authentication manager object.
  
  1. var clientContext = authenticationManager.GetNetworkCredentialAuthenticatedContext(authArray[0], authArray[1],authArray[2], authArray[3])
• Create the list, using the PnP extension method ‘AddGroup’.The parameters for the method are:
  
  
• Group Name.
• Group Description.
• Group Is Owner (bool): Sets the created group as the owner of the security group.
• 1. var groupDescription = "This group handles Blue Yonder Airlines payroll list permissions";
  2. clientContext.Site.RootWeb.AddGroup("Payroll", groupDescription,true);
  Output: After running the PnP CSOM script we get the success message in the console.
  
  
  
  We can check out the group in the People and Groups page.
  
  
  
  Full Code: The full code for creating the group, using PnP extension method is as follows:
  
  1. //Get instance of Authentication Manager
  2. OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager authenticationManager = new OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager();
  3. //Create authentication array for site url,User Name,Password and Domain
  4. string[] authArray = {
  5. "http://sharepoint2016/sites/HOL",
  6. "Priyaranjan",
  7. "password-1",
  8. "SharePointHOL"
  9. };
  10. try {
  11. //Create the client context
  12. using(var clientContext = authenticationManager.GetNetworkCredentialAuthenticatedContext(authArray[0], authArray[1], authArray[2], authArray[3])) {
  13. //create the new group using group creation information
  14. var groupDescription = "This group handles Blue Yonder Airlines payroll list permissions";
  15. clientContext.Site.RootWeb.AddGroup("Payroll", groupDescription, true);
  16. Console.WriteLine("Payroll Group has been created successfully");
  17. Console.ReadLine();
  18. }
  19. } catch (Exception ex) {
  20. Console.WriteLine("Exception : " + ex.Message);
  21. }