Problem making fields 'required' when provisioning using XML

Question

I am provisioning a SharePoint site column using the object model and an xml string as follows:

using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://myserver"))
        {
            using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
            {
                string schemaXML = "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-16\"?>" +
                                   "<Field ID=\"b6299a44-4a49-4f52-b2df-b938c15bf927\" Name=\"MyField\" Type=\"DateTime\" Required=\"True\" ReadOnly=\"False\" DisplayName=\"My Field\"" +
                                   " StaticName=\"MyField\" ShowInNewForm=\"TRUE\" ShowInDisplayForm=\"TRUE\" ShowInEditForm=\"TRUE\" ShowInListSettings=\"TRUE\" ShowInVersionHistory=\"TRUE\" ShowInViewForms=\"TRUE\" />";

                web.Fields.AddFieldAsXml(schemaXML);
                web.Update();
            }
        }

As you can see I have set the 'Required' attribute to be true as I want to force that the Site Column should always contains data.

However after I run this code and look at the settings of the Site Column it is NOT set to required. I have used SharePoint Manager and switched it to 'required' in the settings page and it does change the 'required' attribute. I can't see any obvious problems in my provisioning xml, can anyone shed any light on why this might be happening?

Thanks, Alex

Answer 1

I haven't had any issues with this in the past. Looking at some of my code vs your code. The only thing I'm really seeing is that for required you put in True instead of TRUE. See my code below that I know works:

<Field Type=\"Choice\" DisplayName=\"Target\" Required=\"TRUE\" Format=\"Dropdown\" FillInChoice=\"FALSE\" Name=\"Target\" ColName=\"nvarchar4\"><Default>None</Default><CHOICES><CHOICE>None</CHOICE><CHOICE>New Window</CHOICE></CHOICES></Field>

I'm also curious why you need the ID field specified.

Answer 2

Not a specific answer to your question but when xml is involved I use the UI to do what ever I need then use SPManager2007 (from codeplex) to examine the xml.

Answer 3

EDIT: My theory below here is incorrect. Steve Lineberry came with the right answer. Required="TRUE" should be capitalized.

If I am right, "Required" is one of those properties that only applies to fields on a list.

Same counts for ShowInDisplayForm, ShowInNewForm, ShowInEditForm, etc.

The act of associating a ContentType with a List essentially copies the fields from the ContentType onto the list.

On my current project I am programmatically Creating an SPList, then I associate my ContentType with that SPList, then I get the SPField from SPList.Fields, then I set properties on the SPField and finally I call SPField.Update()