SharePoint Online List View Operations, Using PnP Core CSOM Library

Introduction

In this article, you will learn about list view operations performed on SharePoint Online, using PnP Core CSOM library.

The main advantage of using PnP Core libraries is the reduced code to get the required information. The required object can be retrieved with a very small piece of code, once the client context is set.

Prerequisite

PnP Core CSOM documentation can be found on the office site here.

PnP Core CSOM library packages can be downloaded here.

The code, given below, is being tested, using Visual Studio console application. Once the console application is created, the packages can be installed, using Install-Package SharePointPnPCoreOnline command on Package Manager console of Visual Studio. Once installed, the references and packages will be imported to the solution.

The references used in the sample are given below-

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client
OfficeDevPnP.Core

Connect to SharePoint online site

The Authentication Manager is used to retrieve the client context of the site. To connect to SharePoint Online site, the below method is used.

GetSharePointOnlineAuthenticatedContextToken

The parameters required are -

SharePoint Online site URL
Tenant UserId
Tenant Password (or secured string)

The following operations explain the list view methods in details.

Create List View

The list view can be created using PnP Core library. The steps involved are -

Input the site detail, user details for authentication, existing list name, and new view name.
Authenticate and get the client context of the site.
Get the list by using GetListByTitle method with the list name.
Then, create view by passing the input parameters like View name, View type, View fields, row limit, query.
Output the required result on the console.

The code snippet, given below, shows the list view creation operation, using existing list.

// Input Parameters
string siteUrl = "https://nakkeerann.sharepoint.com";
string userName = "[email protected]";
string password = "***";
// PnP component to set context
AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
try
{
// Get and set the client context
// Connects to SharePoint online site using inputs provided
using (var clientContext = authManager.GetSharePointOnlineAuthenticatedContextTenant(siteUrl, userName, password))
{
// List Name
string listName = "TestList";
// Get List
List list = clientContext.Site.RootWeb.GetListByTitle(listName);
// Input for creating view
string viewName = "customview";
string[] viewFields = { "Title", "Author" };
bool defaultView = true;
// Creates New View
View newView = list.CreateView(viewName, ViewType.None, viewFields,30, defaultView, null, false, false);
// Output
Console.WriteLine("The view has been created.");
Console.WriteLine("View Name : " + newView.Title);
Console.WriteLine("View ID : "+newView.Id);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error Message: " + ex.Message);
Console.ReadKey();
}

Retrieve List View

The list view can be retrieved using two ways with PnP Core library - by name and by Id.

By Name

The list view can be retrieved by the view name, using PnP Core library. The steps involved are -

Input the site detail, user details for an authentication, list name and view name.
Authenticate and get the client context of the site.
Get the list by using list retrieval method.
Then, retrieve the view by view name.
Output the required result on the console.

The code snippet, given below, shows the list retrieval operation using list view name.

// Input Parameters
string siteUrl = "https://nakkeerann.sharepoint.com";
string userName = "[email protected]";
string password = "***";
// PnP component to set context
AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
try
{
// Get and set the client context
// Connects to SharePoint online site using inputs provided
using (var clientContext = authManager.GetSharePointOnlineAuthenticatedContextTenant(siteUrl, userName, password))
{
// Input Parameters
// List Name
string listName = "TestList";
// View Name
string viewName = "customview";
// Get View By Name
View view = clientContext.Site.RootWeb.GetListByTitle(listName).GetViewByName(viewName);
// Output
Console.WriteLine("View Url : " + view.ServerRelativeUrl);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error Message: " + ex.Message);
Console.ReadKey();
}

By Id

The list view can be retrieved by the view Id, using PnP Core library. The steps involved are,

Input the site detail, user details for an authentication, list name and view name.
Authenticate and get the client context of the site.
Get the list by using list retrieval method and then retrieve the view object by view Id.
Output the required result on the console.

The code snippet, given below, shows the list view retrieval operation using list view Id.

// Input Parameters
string siteUrl = "https://nakkeerann.sharepoint.com";
string userName = "[email protected]";
string password = "***";
// PnP component to set context
AuthenticationManager authManager = new AuthenticationManager();
try
{
// Get and set the client context
// Connects to SharePoint online site using inputs provided
using (var clientContext = authManager.GetSharePointOnlineAuthenticatedContextTenant(siteUrl, userName, password))
{
// Input Parameters
// List Name
string listName = "TestList";
// View Id
Guid viewId = new Guid("xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx");
// Get View By Id
View view = clientContext.Site.RootWeb.GetListByTitle(listName).GetViewById(viewId);
// Output
Console.WriteLine("View Name : " + view.Title);
Console.WriteLine("View Url : " + view.ServerRelativeUrl);
Console.WriteLine("View Id : " + view.Id);
Console.ReadKey();
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
Console.WriteLine("Error Message: " + ex.Message);
Console.ReadKey();
}

Note - To test the code, press F5 and wait for the console.

Summary

Thus, you have learned how to add and retrieve list view to/from the SharePoint Online list, using PnP Core CSOM Component library.