{"id":228,"date":"2014-03-10T17:48:17","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T21:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fkylewright.com\/?p=228"},"modified":"2021-01-30T12:26:42","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T20:26:42","slug":"sharepoint-list-web-services-via-powershell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fkylewright.com\/wordpress\/2014\/03\/sharepoint-list-web-services-via-powershell\/","title":{"rendered":"SharePoint List Web Services via PowerShell"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Project: Migrating Data from Legacy System to SharePoint<\/h2>\n

I recently completed a data migration project to migrate an aging Domino database to a custom site collection in SharePoint 2010. The data itself was processed in two stages: first via LotusScript to extract it from the Domino database, and then via built-in SharePoint web services to import it into the new SharePoint site collection.<\/p>\n

Environment Limitations<\/h3>\n

The caveat in my scenario, however, is that my highest level of access to the SharePoint environment was site collection administrator. I did not have farm administrator rights, and requesting temporary rights was out of the question.<\/p>\n

This ruled out the use of the SharePoint server-side object model, as well as the SharePoint Management Console cmdlets via PowerShell<\/a>, which was by far the most favorable and straightforward approach to importing the data. This also ruled out several third-party tools, but those would have added additional cost to a project that I was already managing with zero budget.<\/p>\n

Instead, I consumed the out-of-the-box SharePoint web services<\/a> via PowerShell to process my data using the limited tools available. This post describes how I utilized a few list services to update list items and upload file attachments.<\/p>\n

The Data to Import<\/h3>\n

I constructed new SharePoint lists to mirror the Domino database schema and then imported all of my text-based data into the new lists using datasheet views. This left me with skeleton list items that were missing dynamic content from the Domino database (i.e. rich-text data and file attachments). These items were exported from Domino using LotusScript into a directory structure based on the internal unique Domino document ID.<\/p>\n

To add a layer of complexity, the Domino data had to be merged with a few thousand existing list items in SharePoint. In some cases, there were duplicate items, so my PowerShell script logic was designed to handle those duplicates in a graceful manner (by merging fields and archiving one of the duplicates). To handle the tens of thousands of exported file attachments from the Domino database, I designed script logic to re-attach them to the parent items in the new SharePoint site lists after successfully matching them based on the Domino document ID. I used PowerShell’s exceedingly simple filesystem cmdlets<\/a> to enumerate the Domino export directory and match the name of each subfolder (the Domino document ID) to an imported list item on the SharePoint list. Once matched, the files in that subfolder were attached to the SharePoint list item and some fields updated to indicate that the item has been processed already by the script.<\/p>\n

My Toolbox<\/h3>\n