REST ListData service and anonymous authentication

Question

I’ve been trying to use ListData.svc to get a REST feed from a list (actually a pages library) using something like:

http://SharePoint/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/Pages?$orderby=NewsArticleDate&$filter=(2010 eq year(NewsArticleDate)) and (06 eq month(NewsArticleDate)) and (ContentType eq 'News Article')

It all works great and our front-end developers have been able to combine this feed with JQuery and put together a good looking display with asynchronous filtering to dynamically update the REST url and resend. Our problem comes when trying to use this with anonymous mode…

By turning on anonymous access (anonymous users can browse to the list items) this feed simply returns an error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Is it just not possible to use this service in anonymous mode?

Answer 1

I recognise I posted this question a while ago now, but having just seen Jim's answer it reminded me of something I'd seen a couple of months ago...

In the August Cumulative Update for SharePoint 2010 Foundation one of the areas it mentions a fix for is:

Anonymous users cannot use Language Integrated Query (LINQ) to query data in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010. Additionally, the anonymous users are prompted for user credentials when they use LINQ to query data.

I remember discussing this at the time with a colleague and we believed that by fixing this underlying LINQ issue, the REST anonymous access should also now be ok. I haven't revisited this to confirm but I hope this helps.

Answer 2

What happens if you get rid of the filter?

It doesn't seem like a very user-friendly error, so I can't imagine this behaviour being by design :)

Do you get a proper ASP.NET error page with stracktrace etc?

Answer 3

I am able to recreate the error on a standard SharePoint 2010 Foundation RTM build, with the ADO.NET update for Server 2008 R2 (had to apply this before ListData.svc would load).

Looks like this isn't intended for anonymous access at all.

Answer 4

I got the same result as James: works with authenticated access only.

Alex, you are referring to the ListData Web service in SP2007 and SP2010: _vti_bin/DspSts.asmx. The OP is talking about the new REST service (SP2010 only): _vti_bin/listdata.svc

Answer 5

It could be that SPWebApplication.ClientCallableSettings.AnonymoutRestrictedTypes collection applies to REST the same way it applies to the ClientOM.

Try this (PowerShell):

$app = Get-SPWebApplication "http://your.anonymous.site"

$app.ClientCallableSettings.AnonymousRestrictedTypes.Remove([microsoft.sharepoint.splist], "GetItems")

$app.Update()

Answer 6

Could it be a simple permission issue? I appears that you need to grant Browse User Information permission to the anonymous account to allow it.