Damjan's Corner: ironpython

Update 2020: This post is related to the old, IronPython version of SPCoder. For the new, C# version of SPCoder, please check this link.

I've been developing code for MS SharePoint since year 2004. SharePoint was evolving with every new version since then, but all the versions had one thing in common and that is the lack of an "easy" way to manipulate its object model. By "easy" here I mean visual, fast, scriptable. There is no tool where developer/admin could write some code in a visual environment directly on server, using full SharePoint object model, execute it, share it, etc.

There are a lot of very useful blogs out there where SP developers share a solution to a problem solved by writing simple console application which usually has 5-10 lines of code in which they call a couple of methods from SP object model. I also wrote a number of console apps like that in different situations and it was always taking me a lot of time.. firing up a dev machine with visual studio, writing code/compiling/testing on dev machine, publishing app to server and executing. Of course if you have to change anything you have to go through the procedure of write/compile/test/publish/execute again...

Ok, you certainly get my point by now :) So, my solution to this problem was to write a tool which you can use to interactively work with SharePoint's object model. It is called SPCoder, it is free to use and you can download it from https://spcoder.codeplex.com.

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SPCoder uses IronPython for accessing SharePoint's object model. It works on server and foundation versions of SharePoint 2007, 2010 and 2013. Here is the screenshot of SPCoder in action:

You don't have to have any previous knowledge of IronPython in order to use SPCoder. In fact SPCoder has very useful features which you can use without any coding (Describer and Property viewer). The documentation of all the SPCoder's features can be found here: https://spcoder.codeplex.com/documentation

Here are a couple examples on what can be done with SPCoder:


#download all files from the SP library to a local folder
local = "C:\Temp\Imgs"
for i in list.Items:
    f = i.File    
    binary = f.OpenBinary()    
    stream = IO.FileStream(local + "/" + f.Name, IO.FileMode.Create)
    writer = IO.BinaryWriter(stream)
    writer.Write(binary)
    writer.Close()


#add users to a security group if usernames are located in the SP list 
gr = web.SiteGroups["group_name"]
for l in list1.Items:
    u = web.EnsureUser(l["UserId"])
    gr.AddUser(u)


#change the content type for all items in the list
ct = list2.ContentTypes["ct_name"]
for i in list2.Items:  
    i["Content Type"] = ct.Name;
    i["Content Type ID"] = ct.Id.ToString();
    i.SystemUpdate()

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The important thing to note here is that these example scripts will work on any SP server, you just need to drag'n'drop appropriate objects to SPCoder context window and name them like web, list, list1 and list2 (which SPCoder does by default for these types of objects).

If you want to try SPCoder, please first take a look at this Quick Tutorial. It will take you just a few minutes but it will give you all you need for start.

Thursday, January 09, 2014

SPCoder

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