CamlQuery does not seem to return the value from LookupColumn

Question

The below code work for all the Columns except for Publication which is a Lookup.

The If publicationField is ALWAYS Null...ideas?

      // Assume the web has a list named "ADMPANewsAlertsWebAPI". 
        List announcementsList = clientContext.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(SharePointConnector.sp_NewsAlerts_list);

        // This creates a CamlQuery that has a RowLimit of 100, and also specifies Scope="RecursiveAll" 
        // so that it grabs all list items, regardless of the folder they are in.                 
        CamlQuery CamlQuery = new CamlQuery();
        string qs =
            "<View><ViewFields>" +
                "<FieldRef Name='to' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='url' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='subject' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='Title' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='source' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='Created' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='userid' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='Category' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='comments' />" +
                "<FieldRef Name='Publication' />" +
            "</ViewFields></View>";
        CamlQuery.ViewXml = qs;

        ListItemCollection items = announcementsList.GetItems(CamlQuery);

        // Retrieve all items in the ListItemCollection from List.GetItems(Query). 
        clientContext.Load(items);
        clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

        var list = new List<Business.Entities.api.newsalert>();
        foreach (ListItem listItem in items)
        {
            var foo = new Business.Entities.api.newsalert();
            foo.to = listItem["to"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["to"].ToString();
            foo.url = listItem["url"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["url"].ToString();
            foo.subject = listItem["subject"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["subject"].ToString();
            foo.title = listItem["Title"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["Title"].ToString();
            foo.source = listItem["source"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["source"].ToString();
            foo.timestamp = Offset(Convert.ToDateTime(listItem["Created"].ToString()));
            foo.userid = listItem["userid"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["userid"].ToString();
            foo.categories = listItem["Category"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["Category"].ToString();
            foo.comments = listItem["comments"] == null ? String.Empty : listItem["comments"].ToString();

            var publicationField = listItem["Publication"] as FieldLookupValue[];

                if (publicationField != null)  //<--- This line always Null
                {
                    foreach (var lookupValue in publicationField)
                    {
                        var publication_Value = lookupValue.LookupValue;
                        var publication_Id = lookupValue.LookupId;

                        foo.publication = publication_Value;
                    }
                }
            list.Add(foo);
        }

Answer 1

First of all, it looks the Publication field is a Lookup field with Multiple Allow multiple values.

So I simulated your code on my side and found out the following

• There is no issue in CAML Query.
• You can retrieve multiple lookup field values as the below code.
• The Lookup publicationField field is always null in case it actually don't have a value.

Retrieve the Multiple Lookup field value and bind it to Grid view

            CamlQuery camlQuery = new CamlQuery();
            camlQuery.ViewXml = "<View><ViewFields><FieldRef Name='Title' /><FieldRef Name='Publication' /> </ViewFields></View>";
            Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListItemCollection collListItem = oList.GetItems(camlQuery);
            clientContext.Load(collListItem);
            clientContext.ExecuteQuery();
            DataTable dtAudit = new DataTable();
            dtAudit.Columns.Add("Multi-Lookup-FieldValue", typeof(System.String));
            foreach (Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ListItem oListItem in collListItem)
            {
                var publicationField = oListItem["Publication"] as FieldLookupValue[];

                if (publicationField != null)
                {

                    foreach (var lookupValue in publicationField)
                    {
                        DataRow dRow = dtAudit.NewRow();
                        var publication_Value = lookupValue.LookupValue;
                        var publication_Id = lookupValue.LookupId;
                        dRow["Multi-Lookup-FieldValue"] = publication_Value;
                        dtAudit.Rows.Add(dRow);
                    }
                }

            }

            GridView1.DataSource = dtAudit;
            GridView1.DataBind();

Output

---

Base on my code and the attached output, it should be working on your side, So try to do the following:

• Make sure that Lookup publicationField field has a value.
• Try to replace my code on your side and debug it.

---

Regarding the Lookup field value without multiple values you should use the following:

    publicationField = listItem["Publication"] as FieldLookupValue;
       if (publicationField != null)
          {
             foo.publication = publicationField.LookupValue;

          }