Add WebPart to publishing page in Synchronous ItemAdded Event Receiver

Question

I'm trying to add a webpart to a publishing page after the page is created, so I've created an Event Receiver, the problem is, if I make the Event Receiver Synchronous (As it should be) the code executes successfully but the webparts are not added to the page, the only way I have found that works is making the event receiver async and do a Thread.Sleep before making the changes.

This is the code:

public override void ItemAdded(SPItemEventProperties properties){
base.ItemAdded(properties);

try
{
    this.EventFiringEnabled = false;//Disable any other events while our event is beeing executed

    //Thread.Sleep(2000);

    var fileUrl = properties.ListItem.File.Url;
    var webUrl = properties.Web.Url;

    SPSecurity.RunWithElevatedPrivileges(delegate()
    {
        using (var site = new SPSite(webUrl))
        {
            using (var web = site.OpenWeb())
            {
                bool unsafeUpdates = web.AllowUnsafeUpdates;
                web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;

                var file = web.GetFile(fileUrl);
                var wpManager = file.GetLimitedWebPartManager(PersonalizationScope.Shared);

                if (wpManager.WebParts.Count == 0)
                {
                    var idx = 0;

                    ...add webparts

                    file.Update(); //I've also tried with web.Update()
                }

                web.AllowUnsafeUpdates = unsafeUpdates;
            }
        }
    });
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
    //Exception occurred
    properties.Cancel = true;//We cancel the event
    properties.Status = SPEventReceiverStatus.CancelWithError;//Set appropriate status
    properties.ErrorMessage = ex.Message;//Set the error message
}
finally
{
    this.EventFiringEnabled = true;//Regardless if the exception occurred or not, we have to enable earlier disabled events
}

}

Is there something wrong? how can I make the event receiver to work synchronously?

Answer 1

OP: "how can I make the event receiver to work synchronously?"

All of the "...-ed" event receivers are defined asynchronously, and all of the "...-ing" event receivers are defined synchronously. This is by design.

See Event Handlers - Part 1: Everything you need to know about Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) Event Handlers by Brian Wilson

The before events are synchronous to allow you to pause the flow of code execution. This is so you can grab a hold of the object and make changes before the code continues on to the original command (add the item, update the item, add the web, etc.).

Once the object exists, the after events allow you to change the data that is present asynchronously. These events are defined asynchronously so that the normal execution of code within SharePoint can continue while the work in your event receiver occurs on a different thread. These events can be asynchronous without a problem since the "action" working on the object has already completed and we aren't trying to affect the properties of the object while the new or edited data is en route to SharePoint.

Edit:

You may be able to define an asynchronous event synchronously by defining the receiver's Synchronization property in your elements.xml:

<Receivers>
    <Receiver>
         ...
         <Synchronization>Synchronous</Synchronization>
    </Receiver>
</Receivers>

I haven't tried to override the default receiver behavior in this manner, but found this as a proposed solution on Getting BeforeProperties and AfterProperties in Event Receivers

Answer 2

I did it like Escobar5 in his last comment above in Sharepoint 2013 and it worked. You get the first ItemUpdated by checking 'properties.Versionless'. This is only true during the first ItemUpdated on page creation.

...
if (properties.Versionless)
      {
        try....