Presented at SharePoint TechFest on May 17, 2012. All rights reserved.

1. REST API and
Client Object
Model for
SharePoint
Developer
Ram Yadav
Sr Consultant
Microsoft Corp.
MCM : SharePoint 2007/2010

2. Agenda
 Overview of accessing Data in SharePoint
 Client Object Model
 .NET Client Object Model
 JavaScript and Client Object Model
 REST & WCF Data Services

3. First , How it was 2007 and what
we have now in 2010 for
Accessing Data in SharePoint

4. Accessing Data in 2007

5. Web Services
Web services are available
for use
_vit_bin/Lists.asmx
_vit_bin/Sites.asmx
_vit_bin/Webs.asmx
….
…..

6. Why Client OM
 Disadvantages of Web Services
 Web Services can be complicated
 Difficult to call from JavaScript
 Often custom wrapper services are created
 Customers solve the same problem over and over
again

7. Accessing Data in 2010

9. Accessing data using REST

10. Integrating with SharePoint
 Web Services
 More coverage Web Services
Advanced Operations
SharePoint Server
 Client Object Model Operations
 Site, navigation
 security services Client OM
Advanced List
 Very flexible and straight forward Operations
Site Operations
 REST Security
 Easiest to use REST
 For fixed list schema Working with list
data,
fixed schema
 RPC
 http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms478653.aspx
 Server Side code , List View , Data View

11. How do I utilize client object model in my windows apps?
.NET Client object model

12. Getting Started: 3 things to know
1. ClientContext is the central object
clientContext =
new ClientContext(“http://mysite”);
2. Before you read a property, you have to
ask for it
clientContext.Load(list);
3. All requests must be committed in a batch
clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

13. Client Application Server
Sequence of Client.svc
commands:
command 1;
command 2; Execute commands
command 3; in the batch:
context.ExecuteQuery(); command 1;
command 2;
command 3;
Process results Send results back

14. Equivalent Objects
Server .NET Managed Silverlight JavaScript
(Microsoft (Microsoft.SharePoint (Microsoft.SharePoint (SP.js)
.SharePoint) .Client) .Client.Silverlight)
SPContext ClientContext ClientContext ClientContext
SPSite Site Site Site
SPWeb Web Web Web
SPList List List List
SPListItem ListItem ListItem ListItem
SPField Field Field Field
Member names mostly the same from server to client
(e. g., SPWeb.QuickLaunchEnabled = Web.QuickLaunchEnabled)

15. .Net CLR Client OM
 Provides
easy access from remote .NET clients to
manipulate SharePoint data
 Can be utilized from managed code – also from
office clients etc.
 Assemblies
 Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.dll (281kb)
 Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime.dll (145kb)
 To Compare: Microsoft.SharePoint.dll – 15.3MB

16. .NET Client OM Code Example 1
ClientContext clictx = new ClientContext("http://intranet.contoso.com");
Site s1 = clictx.Site;
Web w1 = clictx.Site.RootWeb;
clictx.Load(s1);
clictx.Load(w1);
clictx.ExecuteQuery();
var lists1 = clictx.LoadQuery(w1.Lists);
clictx.ExecuteQuery();
var lists2 = clictx.LoadQuery(w1.Lists.Include(l => l.Title));
clictx.ExecuteQuery();
var query1 = from l1 in w1.Lists where l1.Title != null select l1;
clictx.ExecuteQuery();

17. Client Object Model
ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext(“http://mysite”);
Web web = ctx.Site.RootWeb;
ctx.Load(web);
ctx.Load(web, w => w.Title, w => w.Description);
ctx.Load(web, w => w.Title,
w => w.Lists .Include(l => l.Fields
.Include(f => f.InternalName,
f => f.Group)));

18. Uploading file example

19. Client Object Model
Authentication
Uses Windows Authentication by default
Can be configured for Claims Based Authentication
ctx.AuthenticationMode = ClientAuthenticationMode.FormsAuthentication;
ctx.FormsAuthenticationLoginInfo = new
FormsAuthenticationLoginInfo("loginName", "password");

20. Client Object Model Limitations
 You still need to handle synch/update semantics
(change log could help)
 No elevation of privilege capabilities
 Requests are throttled
 .net CLR has sync method;
Silverlight CLR and Jscript are async

21. 21
Demo

22. The JavaScript Client Object
Model

23. Equivalent Objects
Server .NET Managed Silverlight JavaScript
(Microsoft (Microsoft.SharePoint (Microsoft.SharePoint (SP.js)
.SharePoint) .Client) .Client.Silverlight)
SPContext ClientContext ClientContext ClientContext
SPSite Site Site Site
SPWeb Web Web Web
SPList List List List
SPListItem ListItem ListItem ListItem
SPField Field Field Field
Member names mostly the same from server to client
(e. g., SPWeb.QuickLaunchEnabled = Web.QuickLaunchEnabled)

24. JavaScript Client OM
 JavaScript
Client OM is easily added to a SharePoint
ASPX page - reference:
 _layouts/sp.js
 Add this using <SharePoint:ScriptLink>
 All libraries crunched for performance
 Use un-crunched *.debug.js files with debug mode
 Method signatures can be different compared to
.NET and Silverlight
 Different data value types

25. JavaScript Client OM
 C:Program FilesCommon
FilesMicrosoft SharedWeb Server
Extensions14TEMPLATELAYOUTS
 SP.js (SP.debug.js)
 380KB (559KB)
 SP.Core.js (SP.Core.debug.js)
 13KB (20KB)
 SP.Runtime.js (SP.Runtime.debug.js)
 68KB (108KB)

26. JavaScript Client OM

27. 27
Java Script Client OM Demo

28. REST access to SharePoint data
REST & WCF Data Services

29. Why a RESTful Interface for SP?
 Why REST
 It is a natural fit for SharePoint data
 Item == resource
 Uniform interface and addressing scheme
 Low barrier of entry, interoperability
 Why WCF Data Services
 RESTful conventions & frameworks for data
 Builds on top of standard AtomPub
 Exactly the sort of convention we needed
 Consistent tools and client libraries

30. A RESTful Interface for Data
 Just HTTP
 Items as resources, HTTP methods (GET, PUT, …) to act
 Leverage proxies, authentication, ETags, …
 Uniform URL convention
 Every piece of information is addressable
 Predictable and flexible URL syntax
 Multiple representations
 Use regular HTTP content-type negotiation
 JSON and Atom (full AtomPub support)

31. Accessing data using REST

32. Operations
 Operations map to HTTP verbs
 Retrieve items/lists  GET
 Create new item  POST
 Update an item  PUT or MERGE
 Delete an item  DELETE
 These apply to links (lookups) as well
 SharePoint rules apply during updates
 Validation, access control, etc.

33. URL Conventions
List of lists …/_vti_bin/listdata.svc/
List listdata.svc/Employees
Item listdata.svc/Employees(123)
 Addressing lists and items
Single column listdata.svc/Employees(123)/Fullname
Lookup listdata.svc/Employees(123)/Project
traversal
Raw value listdata.svc/Employees(123)/Project/Title/$value
access
Sorting listdata.svc/Employees?$orderby=Fullname
Filtering listdata.svc/Employees?$filter=JobTitle eq 'SDE'
Projection listdata.svc/Employees?$select=Fullname,JobTitle
Paging listdata.svc/Employees?$top=10&$skip=30
Inline expansion listdata.svc/Employees?$expand=Project

34. 34
REST Demo

35. Summary
 Overview of accessing Data in SharePoint
 Client Object Model
 .NET Client Object Model
 JavaScript and Client Object Model
 REST & WCF Data Services

36. Integrating with SharePoint
 Web Services
 More coverage Web Services
Advanced Operations
SharePoint Server
 Client Object Model Operations
 Site, navigation
 security services Client OM
Advanced List
 Very flexible and straight forward Operations
Site Operations
Security
 REST
 Easiest to use REST
Working with list
 For fixed list schema
data,
fixed schema
 Server Side OM

37. Accessing Data in 2010

38. Accessing data using REST