How Do I Rename a List Instance's Field's StaticName in FeatureUpdating?

Question

I am creating a custom WSP in Visual Studio. This solution has several custom content types with custom fields as well as a list instance with content types enabled. Unfortunately, i need to change the static name of a few of my fields & deploy to several different servers.

I have tried the following code:

Feature.Web.Template.xml

<Feature xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/">
    <UpgradeActions>
        <VersionRange BeginVersion="0.0.0.0" EndVersion="1.0.0.1">
            <CustomUpgradeAction Name="RenameField">
                <Parameters>
                    <Parameter Name="FieldID">{060A9145-5D22-4D6C-A049-2438D8E0CDD8}</Parameter>
                    <Parameter Name="NewName">ProductDescription</Parameter>
                </Parameters>
            </CustomUpgradeAction>

            <CustomUpgradeAction Name="RenameField">
                <Parameters>
                    <Parameter Name="FieldID">{FBDDC10E-4872-4A4D-98C1-E2FD19658D24}</Parameter>
                    <Parameter Name="NewName">DiscussionAccessOther</Parameter>
                </Parameters>
            </CustomUpgradeAction>
        </VersionRange>
    </UpgradeActions>
</Feature>

Feature.EventReceiver.cs

public override void FeatureUpgrading(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties, string upgradeActionName, System.Collections.Generic.IDictionary<string, string> parameters)
{
    SPWeb web = (SPWeb)properties.Feature.Parent;

    switch ( upgradeActionName ) {
        case "RenameField":
            RenameField(web, new Guid(parameters["FieldID"]), parameters["NewName"]);
            break;
    }
}

protected void RenameField(SPWeb web, Guid fieldId, string newName) {
    if ( web.Fields.Contains(fieldId) ) {
        RenameField(web.Fields[fieldId], newName);
    }

    foreach ( SPList l in web.Lists ) {
        if ( l.Fields.Contains(fieldId) ) {
            RenameField(l.Fields[fieldId], newName);
        }

        if ( l.ContentTypesEnabled ) {
            foreach ( SPContentType ct in l.ContentTypes ) {
                if ( ct.Fields.Contains(fieldId) ) {
                    RenameField(l.Fields[fieldId], newName);
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

private void RenameField(SPField field, string newName) {
    field.StaticName = newName;
    field.Update();
}

This updates the field in the field gallery, but not the list instance. What am i missing?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Couple of things:

1. You should be updating SPContentType.FieldLinks, and not SPContentType.Fields. The latter is only a construct that represents the merge between the field's list definition and any specific modifications for that content type in that list.

2. Try using SPField.Update(boolean) to propagate changes down the hierarchy from the site-level definitions.