How can I update a list without having my code run on the SharePoint server?

Question

I can reference Microsoft.SharePoint.dll in Visual Studio in order to compile my C# or VB.NET code. I've found that I will still need to copy the compiled code to the server and deploy it there.

From my research, in order to access MOSS from a different machine, I will need to use web services instead of the Microsoft.SharePoint.dll. However, web services cannot do all the functions that the dlls can do (e.g. Adding list to the right hand side collection).

So, my questions are:

1. Do I need to use web services in order to create, update, and delete list items from a non-SharePoint server?
2. Are there any good examples for basic web services CRUD operations?

Answer 1

@Andy and @Colin have a lot of good general information. In your case, you want to use the web services. Check out How to: Update List Items. IMO, the only challenging part is making sure you create your XML correctly to send to Lists.UpdateListItems:

Create:

<Method ID="1" Cmd="New">
    <Field Name="Title">Added item</Field>
</Method>

Update:

<Method ID="2" Cmd="Update">
    <Field Name="ID">6</Field>
    <Field Name="Title">Modified sixth item</Field>
</Method>

Delete:

<Method ID="3" Cmd="Delete">
    <Field Name="ID">5</Field>
</Method>

Many more good examples: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/lists.lists.updatelistitems%28v=office.12%29.aspx

Answer 2

I assume that you're talking about SharePoint 2007. In SharePoint 2010 there is an additional API (the "Client Side Object Model") that lets you run C# code that isn't on your server.

Asking what you can and cannot do with SharePoint's object model is a bit vague. It is huge; answering that question would take years. There is reasonable documentation on MSDN.

It's a similar issue with the web services. There is also documentation on MSDN. You're right though, they don't expose all the same functionality as the object model. I've had to write and add my own web services to SharePoint sometimes because of this - that's a fairly common activity.

Regarding doing CRUD operations on lists and libraries from a remote machine - well, with SharePoint 2007 you're pretty much stuck with the Web Services. If you're using SharePoint 2010, though, you've then also got the choices of the Client Object Model for C#, or you could use the REST web services, which are pretty neat.

Perhaps if you posted a question that's a bit more about what you're trying to achieve?

Answer 3

In short, you can't. The Server side DLL's in SharePoint require that the code is executed on a machine with an active SharePoint instance, and then also that that instance is part of the same farm that you are "talking to" in your code.

In SP2007, the only options are:

• Use the OOTB Web Services

• Create your Own (WCF) Web ice and deploy that to a SharePoint machine. Then use that service in your client program. This is the most versatile, as it allows you to fully control what is available to your client, as well as still take advantage of any part of the SharePoint Server side API through your custom (WCF) Web Service

• In SP2010, the 2nd option is also possible

• In SP2010 you can use the CLient Object Model through either compilable code (i.e. C#, VB etc.) or JavaScript