How to Automate SharePoint Record Updates

Question

So we have an inventory list with details about each item, mostly drop down menus and check boxes, some comments and descriptions. These records are in SharePoint. Sometimes we need to update multiple items in there in addition to a large number of other steps and I am trying to automate most of these steps including the updates to their SharePoint record. What is the best way to go about this in PowerShell from any remote computer?

Would I connect to the database, find the record and and update the record there? Is there an easier way? I tried finding PowerShell CLI tools for SharePoint but I don't see them available anywhere.

For example, I might want to update this field here:

EDIT:

Here's the code I've tried but it does nothing at all for some reason, not even an error which means it's finding the list but... It's returning 0 items found for whatever reason.

class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Get the context
        ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://sp.mydomain.com/sites/ts/it/ITG");
        // Get the list
        List recordsList = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("ServerInventory_Official-List");
        // Get specific item by id number
        CamlQuery query = CamlQuery.CreateAllItemsQuery();
        ListItemCollection items = recordsList.GetItems(query);
        context.Load(items);
        context.ExecuteQuery();
        Console.WriteLine("Number of items: " + items.Count);
        foreach (ListItem listItem in items)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(listItem["HostName"]);
            if (listItem["HostName"].ToString() == "myserverhostname")
            {
                listItem["ActiveFlag"] = "Decommissioned";
                Console.WriteLine("This Happened");
            }
        }

    }
}

Answer 1

Here's a basic approach. This could be made more robust by passing variables to -ArgumentList in the Invoke-Command and then setting variables inside the script.

Invoke-Command -ComputerName SEVERNAME -Verbose -ScriptBlock {
  $VerbosePreference='Continue'

  if((Get-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null)
  {
    Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -Verbose
  }

  $Web = Get-SPWeb http://your.sp.web.url
  $List = $Web.Lists.TryGetList("LISTNAME")
  # By ID
  $ListItem = $List.GetItemByUniqueId("UNIQUEID")
  # By Title - Or any field as long as it is unique - if not unique, handle with a loop
  # $ListItem = $List.Items | ? {$_["Title"] -eq "UNIQUE TITLE"}

  $ListItem["ActiveFlag"] = "Decommissioned"

  $ListItem.Update()
}

Example with args

$FlagValue = "Decommissioned"
$IdsToUpdate = "10","13","11"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName SEVERNAME -ArgumentList $FlagValue,$IdsToUpdate -Verbose -ScriptBlock {
  $FlagValue = $args[0]
  $IdsToUpdate = $args[1]

  $VerbosePreference='Continue'

  if((Get-PSSnapin "Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $null)
  {
    Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -Verbose
  }

  $Web = Get-SPWeb http://your.sp.web.url
  $List = $Web.Lists.TryGetList("LISTNAME")

  foreach($Id in $IdsToUpdate)
  {
    $ListItem = $List.GetItemByUniqueId("UNIQUEID")
    $ListItem["ActiveFlag"] = $FlagValue
    $ListItem.Update()
  }
}

You could easily pass in list names and other variables that you might get outside of the scriptblock itself.

Hope this helps.

If you don't have accesss to the SharePoint Servers, this same thing can be accomplished with CSOM in a Console Application.

// Get the context
ClientContext context = new ClientContext("http://your.sp.web.url");
// Get the list
List recordsList = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle("LISTNAME");
// Get specific item by id number
ListItem item = recordsList.GetItemById(ID);
// Change item & Update
item["ActiveFlag"] = "Decommissioned";
item.Update();
// ExecuteQuery
context.ExecuteQuery();

You can build a loop similar to the one in the powershell above. You may want to look at PnP materials for more ideas.

Ref: Basic Operations Using CSOM