Setting CretedBy, modifiedBy etc. in event receiver - access denied for Contribute users

Question

I'm trying to move documents set with as much history data as possible from one library to another through event receiver triggered by user setting an appropriate attribute. While executing a method

toDS.Folder.Files.Add(urlOfFile, file, properties, createdBy, modifiedBy, timeCreated, timeLastModified, checkInComment, overwrite)

I get exception E_ACCESSDENIED

If I use

toDS.Folder.Files.Add(urlOfFile, file, properties, true)

it executes properly, but it does not reproduce history data. If I use admin account, the call to a method setting history data succeeds. I would like all Contribute uses to be able to use this functionality. What should I do? I am not skilled in Sharepoint administration.

Answer 1

You could use the SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges method which uses impersonation i.e means to execute the code, it has higher access (application pool account) than the logged-in actual user.

Example:

SPSite  site = new SPSite("siteURL");

SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
{
    //using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb())
    //{
        //string user = web.CurrentUser.Name;
        //Operations that need high level access.
   //} 

 Inject all your code here.

});

Refer to the below articles for how to use this:

Impersonation and Elevation of Privilege

When and How to Use Run With Elevated Privileges (RWEP) in SharePoint

How to use SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges in event receiver Example ?

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;
using System.Security.Permissions;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Security;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities;
using Microsoft.SharePoint.Workflow;

namespace SharePoint.Development.EventReceivers
{
    ///
    /// List Item Events
    ///
    public class ItemCheckedInEventReceiver : SPItemEventReceiver
    {
        private string newDocumentUrlExample = "http://newfilelocation/document.doc";

        public override void ItemCheckedIn(SPItemEventProperties properties)
        {
            base.EventFiringEnabled = false; // Disable event receiver firing so that we do not accidentally kick off a different thread
            try
            {
                // Check if user has a certain set of permissions, i.e. can they delete items? if not, then we will have to RunWithElevatedPrevileges
                if (properties.Web.DoesUserHavePermissions(properties.UserLoginName, SPBasePermissions.DeleteListItems))
                {
                    SPFile file = properties.ListItem.File; // Get the file
                    file.MoveTo(newDocumentUrlExample); // Move it to the new location
                }
                else
                {
                    RunWithElevatedPrivileges(properties, newDocumentUrlExample); // User doesn't have required permissions and therefore the code must be executed with Elevated perms.
                }
            }
            catch (Exception exception)
            {
                // Write exception to ULS and Event Logs
            }
            finally
            {
                base.EventFiringEnabled = true;
            }
        }
        public static void RunWithElevatedPrivileges(SPItemEventProperties properties, string newURL)
        {
            try
            {
                SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate ()
                {
                    // Everything executed here will be executed under the AppPool account and will have full permissions.. so becareful!!
                    using (SPSite site = new SPSite(properties.SiteId))
                    {
                        using (SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb(properties.Web.ID))
                        {
                            SPList list = web.Lists[properties.ListId];
                            SPListItem listItem = list.Items.GetItemById(properties.ListItemId);
                            SPFile file = listItem.File;
                            file.MoveTo(newURL);
                        }
                    }
                });
            }
            catch (Exception exception)
            {
                // Write exception to ULS and Event Logs
            }
        }
    }

Reference:

Execute Code In SharePoint With Elevated Privileges