List versioning detect field level changes

Question

I need to detect changes with each on each item update, )but i don't want to use the before, after properties )

My question is:

If i enable list versioning can i diff 2 versions to detect changes, what would be the performance impact? (storage, versions retrieval)

Thanks!

Answer 1

It depends on which technique you plan to use:

• Event Handlers - use ItemUpdating having properties object contains the collections BeforeProperties and AfterProperties that helps you to find out what has changed for your item, i.e. compare properties.BeforeProperties[].ToString() with properties.AfterProperties[].ToString(). You can also modify the value of the fields in AfterProperties to affect what is actually stored in the list.

• SPD Workflows - use the Activity "Wait for field change" and the you could compare the 2

If you need to handle it across versions use something similar to

 if ((item.Versions!= null) && (item.Versions.Count > 0))
        {
                     SPListItemVersionCollection versions = item.Versions;
//work with through the colection

}