Retrieve All Lists With Specific Name Using Powershell

Question

I have a powershell script that I am trying to use to add a column (Created) to a specific view in a specific list in multiple webs. The list exists in every sub web. The view exists in every list. There are hundreds of sub webs that I need to traverse through.

So far I have the following but it is not finding any lists that match the $listname even though the lists exist:

$site = Get-SPSite "http://sharepoint/sitecollection"
$column = "Created"
$listname = "My List Name"
$viewname = "My View Name"

$site | Get-SPWeb -limit all | ForEach-Object {

# Get All Lists Where Title Is ...
            $lists = $_.Lists | where {
                            $_.Title -eq $listname
            }

            write-output (" Lists Count : " + $lists.Count)

# Loop libraries
for ($i = 0; $i -lt $lists.Count; $i++)
{
    try
    {
        # Get current view
                                            $view = $lists[$i].Views[$viewname]

        if($view)
        {
            # Delete if already exist
            while($view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($column))
            {
                                                                            write-output (" Deleting Column From: " + $site.ToString())
                $view.ViewFields.delete($column)
                $view.Update()
            }

            # Add column
            if(!$view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($column))
            {  
                                                                            write-output (" Adding Column To: " + $site.ToString())
                $view.ViewFields.add($column)
                $view.Update()
            }
        }
    }
    catch [Exception]
    {
        write-output ("  Error: " + $_.Exception.ToString())
    }
}
}

$site.Dispose()

How can I get all the lists with a specific name in multiple sites?

Answer 1

Here is the script I came up with to solve my own question below. Posting it in the hope that it helps somebody else trying to solve similar problem.

# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# SCRIPT: ADD-COLUMNTOVIEW.PS1
# DATE: 2013-09-30
# PURPOSE: ADD A COLUMN TO A SPECIFIED VIEW IN A SPECIFIED LIST IN MULTIPLE WEBS WITHIN A SITE COLLECTION.
# PARAMETERS: 1. SITE COLLECTION URL; 2. COLUMNNAME; 3. LISTNAME; 4. VIEWNAME
# MODIFICATIONS: 
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------

function Add-ColumnToView
{
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$Url,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$ColumnName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$ListName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
[string]$ViewName
) # END PARAMS

if ($Url)
{
    $site = Get-SPSite $Url

    if ($site)
    {
        # GET THE SUB WEBS IN SITE COLLECTION   
        $allWebs = $site.allwebs

        # LOOP THROUGH EACH SUB WEB
        foreach ($spweb in $allWebs) 
        {   
            try
            {
                # FIND THE LIST MATCHING THE $LISTNAME
                $list = $spweb.GetList($spweb.Url + "/Lists/" + $ListName)

                # CHECK IF THE LIST OBJECT EXISTS
                if ($list)
                {
                    # GET THE SPECIFIC VIEW
                    $view = $list.Views[$ViewName]

                    # CHECK IF THE VIEW OBJECT EXISTS
                    if($view) 
                    {
                        # DELETE IF ALREADY EXIST
                        while($view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($ColumnName))
                        {
                            write-host (" Deleting Column From: " + $spweb.Url) -foregroundcolor yellow
                            $view.ViewFields.delete($ColumnName)
                            $view.Update()
                        }

                        # ADD COLUMN
                        if(!$view.ViewFields.ToStringCollection().Contains($ColumnName))
                        {   
                            write-host (" Adding Column To: " + $spweb.Url) -foregroundcolor green
                            $view.ViewFields.add($ColumnName)
                            $view.Update()
                        }
                    }
                }
            }   
            catch [Exception]
            {
                write-host ("  Error: " + $_.Exception.ToString()) -foregroundcolor red
            }
        }
    }
    else
    {
        write-host ("  Error: " + "Site Collection Not Found.") -foregroundcolor white
    }
    $site.Dispose()
}
else
{
    write-host ("  Error: " + "Site Collection URL Not Specified.") -foregroundcolor white
}
} #END FUNCTION ADDCOLUMNTOVIEW

Answer 2

Can you try $_.Lists[$listname] instead of $lists = $_.Lists | where { $_.Title -eq $listname }

Alternatively you can also try retrieving the List by URL, $_.GetList("/Lists/My Contacts")

Answer 3

Are you using the Internal name of the list or the display name of the list?.

You can have a list, say "MarketProduct", as internal name of the list but the display name could be "Market Product" so you should access the list as follows

$myweb = Get-SPWeb -Identity http://your_site.com
$list = $myweb.Lists["InternalNameOfTheList"]