CAML query returns all items instead of one

Question

I am querying a list to return only items matching a certain title, but the query returns all items. It seems I built or execute the query the wrong way:

/*
SP is an alias for Microsoft.SharePoint.Client
SP = using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client
*/
var list = clientContext.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listTitle);

 SP.CamlQuery query = new SP.CamlQuery();
 string qs = String.Format("<Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name=\"Title\"></FieldRef><Value Type=\"Text\">{0}</Value></Eq></Where></Query>", listItemTitle);
 query.ViewXml = qs;

 SP.ListItemCollection oCol = list.GetItems(query);
 clientContext.Load(oCol);
 clientContext.ExecuteQuery();
 SP.ListItem item = oCol[0];

 clientContext.Load(item, i => i.File);
 clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

Based on the query oCol should only contain 1 Item, since the titles are definitly unique, but it returns 58 results (all items) and therefor the item at oCol[0] is not the correct one.

Please note: I was getting the Item and file by Id before, but the client wants a way to enter an error-prone string, so I need to use CAML.

How can I correct this?

Answer 1

You are missing the <View> tags in your ViewXml (see example here)

It should be

 string qs = String.Format("<View><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name=\"Title\"></FieldRef><Value Type=\"Text\">{0}</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>", listItemTitle);
 query.ViewXml = qs;

In case of an invalid ViewXml, SharePoint returns all items (in the client API). In the client API, as opposed to server-side API, you create the full view instead of just setting the Query property

Answer 2

Change your query like :

 CamlQuery query = new SP.CamlQuery();
    query.ViewXml = "@<View><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='Title' /><ValueType='Text'>{Title Text Here}</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>"; 
    var itemts= list.GetItems(query);