SharePoint - Search Sites

Declaration

<AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="search_sites" SESSION="text (options)" 
QUERY="text" ROWLIMIT="number" RESULTDATASET="text" />

Description: Retrieves available sites/sub-sites from a SharePoint server and populates a dataset with the results.

NOTE: This activity is not compatible with SharePoint 2007 or older versions. As an alternative, you can use the Get site(s) activity which is compatible with SharePoint 2007 or older.

Practical Usage

Used to get information regarding SharePoint sites and sub-sites. This activity supports building search queries using:

  • Keyword Query Language (KQL) - KQL is the default query language for building search queries. Using KQL, you specify the search terms or property restrictions that are passed to the SharePoint search service.
  • FAST Query Language (FQL)- FQL is a structured query language that supports advanced query operators. You can use FQL when you want to create complex queries that you want to pass programmatically to the SharePoint search service.

Connection Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Connection

---

---

---

---

Indicates where this activity's SharePoint credentials should originate from. This is a design-time parameter used only during task construction, thus, contains no properties or markups. The available options are:

  • Host - Specifies that a custom set of credentials will be entered for this activity. This option is normally selected if only a single SharePoint activity is required to complete the operation.

  • Session - Specifies that credentials should derive from a session created in a previous Create session step. This allows several activities to be linked to a specific session, eliminating redundancy. Multiple sessions can exist within a single task, allowing several SharePoint operations to be automated simultaneously.

Session

Text

Yes if Connection set to Session

SharePoint

Session1

SESSION="mySession1"

The name of the session to associate this activity with. This parameter is active only if the Connection parameter is set to Session. The default value is SharePointSession1.

NOTE: Use the End Session activity to end an active SharePoint session.

Version

Text (options)

Yes if Connection set to Host

SharePoint 2010

  1. VERSION="sharepointonline"

  2. VERSION="sharepoint2010"

  3. VERSION="sharepoint2007"

The SharePoint version to associate with this session. The available options are:

  • SharePoint Online - A cloud-based service, hosted by Microsoft as an alternative to installing and deploying SharePoint Server on premises.

  • SharePoint 2010 and newer (default) - SharePoint version 2010 or newer - includes SharePoint Foundation 2010/2013 and SharePoint Server 2010/2013.

  • SharePoint 2007 and older - SharePoint 2007 version - includes Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3 edition and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS 2007) edition.

NOTE:  Some SharePoint activities are only supported in SharePoint 2010 or newer.

Site

Text

Yes

(Empty)

SITE="http://myServer/tech"

An existing SharePoint site to associate with this session. SharePoint sites are, functionally, ASP.NET 2.0 web applications that are served using IIS and a SQL Server database as a data storage back end. Active only if the Version parameter is set to SharePoint Online or SharePoint 2010 and newer.

Authentication type

Text (options)

No

Basic

  1. AUTHTYPE="form"

  2. AUTHTYPE="anonymous"

  3. AUTHTYPE="basic"

  4. AUTHTYPE="digest"

  5. AUTHTYPE="proprietary"

  6. AUTHTYPE="ntlm"

The method of authentication to use. Certain parameters become active depending on which authentication method is selected. Authentication types vary depending on the SharePoint version. Below lists available authentication methods and their compatibility.

  • Default - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Form - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Anonymous - Compatible withSharePoint 2010 or newer.

  • Basic - Compatible withall SharePoint versions.

  • Digest - Compatible withSharePoint 2007 or older.

  • Proprietary - Compatible withSharePoint 2007 or older.

  • None - Compatible withSharePoint 2007 or older.

  • NTLM - Compatible withSharePoint 2007 or older.

Username

Text

Yes

(Empty)

USERNAME="theUserName"

A valid SharePoint username. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Password

Text

Yes

(Empty)

PASSWORD="encryptedText"

A valid SharePoint password. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Domain

Text

Yes

(Empty)

DOMAIN="myServer"

The domain that the username (specified in the Username parameter) belongs to. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Certificate

Text

No

(Empty)

CERTIFICATE="C:\Temp\file.cer"

The (DER encoded) certificate to use for SharePoint authentication. This parameter may or may not be active depending on which option is selected under the Authentication type parameter.

Ignore invalid certificate

Yes/No

No

No

IGNOREINVALIDCERTIFICATE="yes"

If set to YES, specifies that invalid server certificates that are detected will be automatically ignored. Set to NO by default.

Timeout (seconds)

Number

No

600

TIMEOUT="500"

The total number of seconds allowed to connect to the SharePoint server, otherwise a time out error is generated. The default value is 600 seconds.

Proxy type

Text (options)

No

Default

  1. PROXYTYPE="none"

  2. PROXYTYPE="http"

The proxy type to use. Required for SharePoint connections that pass through a proxy server. The available options are:

  • System default (default) - Points to the default proxy used by the system.

  • None - No proxy authentication required.

  • HTTP - Proxytype is HTTP.

Use authentication

---

---

---

---

If enabled, specifies that proxy authentication is required, enabling authentication-based parameters (disabled by default). This is a design-time parameter, therefore, contains no properties or markups. It is active only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.

Proxy server

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYSERVER="proxy.host.com"

The host name (server.domain.com) or IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) of the proxy server. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.

Proxy username

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYUSERNAME=username

The proxy username to authenticate with. This parameter is available only if the Use Authentication parameter is enabled.

Proxy password

Text

No

(Empty)

PROXYPASSWORD="encrypted"

The proxy password to authenticate with. This parameter is available only if the Use Authentication parameter is enabled.

Proxy port

Number

No

8080

PROXYPORT="8080"

The port that should be used to connect to the proxy server. The default port is 808. This parameter is available only if the Proxy type parameter is set to HTTP.

Site Parameters

Property

Type

Required

Default

Markup

Description

Query

Text

Yes

(Empty)

QUERY="text"

The KQL or FQL query. This activity supports building search queries using:

  • Keyword Query Language (KQL) - KQL is the default query language for building search queries. Using KQL, you specify the search terms or property restrictions that are passed to the SharePoint search service.

  • FAST Query Language (FQL) - FQL is a structured query language that supports advanced query operators. You can use FQL when you want to create complex queries that you want to pass programmatically to the SharePoint search service.

Create and populate dataset with SharePoint site information.

Text

Yes

(Empty)

RESULTDATASET="dataset_name"

The name of the dataset to create and populate with information regarding the sites that are retrieved.

Row limit

Number

Yes

50

ROWLIMIT="100"

Sets the row limit for the number of items to display in a view.

Trim duplicates

Yes/No

No

Yes

TRIM="NO"

Specifies whether duplicate items should be removed from the search results. If set to YES (default), duplicates will be removed. If set to NO, duplicates will remain in the search results.

Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.

Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)

On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)

Datasets

A dataset is a multiple column, multiple row container object where every column represents a particular variable, and each row corresponds to a given member of the dataset in question. This activity creates and populates a dataset containing specific fields (rows) in addition to the standard dataset fields. The table below describes these fields (assuming the dataset name assigned was theDataset).

Name

Type

Return Value

theDataset.Write

Text

A 32-bit integer that specifies the Write security setting.

theDataset.Title

Text

The title of the SharePoint site.

theDataset.SiteName

Text

The name of the site.

theDataset.Path

Text

The path to the site (e.g., /sites/can/fs).

theDataset.IsDocument

Boolean

Yes if the item is a document. No if not.

theDataset.Author

Text

The author of the document.

Example

The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.

Description: Get SharePoint site(s) and store information in dataset "myListItems". Session is "SharePointSession3".

<AMSHAREPOINT ACTIVITY="get_sites" 
RESULTDATASET="mysites" PROVIDER="session_based" 
SESSION="mySharePointSession" />