NavigationTerm.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl() returns value using SSOM, but returns NULL using CSOM

Question

I'm using Managed Metadata Navigation and I'm trying to access it using CSOM. The problem I'm having is that I can't get the friendly URLs for the terms.

If I run this code using the Server Side Object Model, the call to NavigationTerm.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl() returns the web relative friendly URL as expected.

using (SPSite site = new SPSite("http://sp2013"))
{
    SPWeb web = site.RootWeb;

    NavigationTermSet navigationTermSet = TaxonomyNavigation.GetTermSetForWeb(web, "GlobalNavigationTaxonomyProvider", true);

    foreach (NavigationTerm term in navigationTermSet.Terms)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(term.TaxonomyName + " - " + term.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl());

        foreach (NavigationTerm childTerm in term.Terms)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(" -- " + childTerm.TaxonomyName + " - " + childTerm.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl());
        }
    }
}

If I run this code using Client Site Object Model, the call to NavigationTerm.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl() returns NULL.

using (ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContext("http://sp2013"))
{
    NavigationTermSet navigationTermSet = TaxonomyNavigation.GetTermSetForWeb(clientContext, clientContext.Web, "GlobalNavigationTaxonomyProvider", true);

    clientContext.Load(navigationTermSet, x => x.Terms);
    clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

    foreach (NavigationTerm term in navigationTermSet.Terms)
    {
        clientContext.Load(term, x => x.Terms);
        clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

        Console.WriteLine(term.TaxonomyName + " - " + term.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl().Value);

        foreach (NavigationTerm childTerm in term.Terms)
        {
            clientContext.Load(childTerm, x => x.Terms);
            clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

            Console.WriteLine(" --- " + childTerm.TaxonomyName + " - " + childTerm.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl().Value);
        }
    }
}

Any ideas what is wrong with the CSOM code or how I can get the friendly urls for the terms?

Answer 1

Ensure you run this call GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl such as below:

var friendlyUrl = term.GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl();

Before your call to:

clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

Then use the friendlyUrl in your output:

Console.WriteLine(" --- " + childTerm.TaxonomyName + " - " + friendlyUrl);

---

Small side note: The method GetWebRelativeFriendlyUrl returns a type ClientResult<T>. In order for the variable to be populated, you need to call ctx.ExecuteQuery() after the declaration. (where ctx is the established ClientContext.)