Code Snippet: Create an External Content Type Using the Administration Object Model
SharePoint 2010
Published: May 2010
NoteStart Visual Studio and create a C# Console application project. Select .NET Framework 3.5 when you create the project.
From the View menu, click Property Pages to bring up the project properties.
In the Build tab, for the Platform target, select Any CPU.
Close the project properties window.
In Solution Explorer, under References, remove all project references except for System and System.Core.
Add the following references to the project:
Microsoft.BusinessData
Microsoft.SharePoint
System.Web
Replace the autogenerated code in Program.cs with the code listed at the end of this procedure.
Replace the <siteUrl> string value with a valid SharePoint site name. Also, set the LobSystemInstance parameters as per your external system.
Save the project.
Compile and run the project.
using System; using System.Linq; using Microsoft.BusinessData.MetadataModel; using Microsoft.BusinessData.Runtime; using Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SharedService; using Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.Administration; using Microsoft.SharePoint; using Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration; namespace Microsoft.SDK.SharePoint.Samples.Bdc.CreateEntity { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { // Get the Catalog for the SharePoint site BdcService service = SPFarm.Local.Services.GetValue<BdcService>(String.Empty); SPSite site = new SPSite("<siteUrl>"); SPServiceContext context = SPServiceContext.GetContext(site); AdministrationMetadataCatalog catalog = service.GetAdministrationMetadataCatalog(context); // Create a new Contact Model // NOTE: Assume that the "ContactModel" Model // does not already exist. Model contactModel = Model.Create( "ContactModel", true, catalog); // Make a new Contact LobSystem // NOTE: Assume that the "AdventureWorks" LobSystem // does not already exist. LobSystem adventureWorksLobSystem = contactModel.OwnedReferencedLobSystems.Create( "AdventureWorks", true, SystemType.Database); // Make a new AdventureWorks LobSystemInstance. LobSystemInstance adventureWorksLobSystemInstance = adventureWorksLobSystem.LobSystemInstances.Create( "AdventureWorks", true); // Set the connection properties. adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "AuthenticationMode", "PassThrough"); adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "DatabaseAccessProvider", "SqlServer"); adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "RdbConnection Data Source", "MSS2010"); adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "RdbConnection Initial Catalog", "AdventureWorks"); adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "RdbConnection Integrated Security", "SSPI"); adventureWorksLobSystemInstance.Properties.Add( "RdbConnection Pooling", "true"); // Create a new Contact Entity. Entity contactEntity = Entity.Create( "Contact", "AdventureWorks", true, new Version("1.0.0.0"), 10000, CacheUsage.Default, adventureWorksLobSystem, contactModel, catalog); // Set the identifier to the ContactID column. contactEntity.Identifiers.Create( "ContactID", true, "System.Int32"); // Create the Finder Method, // i.e. the method to return all rows. CreateReadListMethod(catalog, contactEntity); // Create the Specific Finder Method, // i.e. the method to return one row. CreateReadItemMethod(catalog, contactEntity); // Validate the Contact Entity. ActivationError[] activationErrors = contactEntity.Validate(); // Check if the validation failed. if (activationErrors.Count() == 0) { // The validation was successful so publish the Contact Entity. contactEntity.Activate(); Console.WriteLine("Created Contact Model"); } else { // The validation failed so display the validation errors. Console.WriteLine("Contact Model was not created and" + " failed with the following errors:"); foreach (ActivationError item in activationErrors) { Console.WriteLine(item.ToString()); } } // Wait for any key to be hit before exiting the program Console.ReadKey(); } private static void CreateReadListMethod( AdministrationMetadataCatalog catalog, Entity contactEntity) { // Create the Finder method Method getContactsMethod = contactEntity.Methods.Create( "GetContacts", true, false, "Contact"); // Specify the query getContactsMethod.Properties.Add( "RdbCommandText", "SELECT TOP(@MaxRowsReturned) [ContactID], [LastName]," + " [Phone], [EmailAddress] FROM [Person].[Contact]"); // Set the command type getContactsMethod.Properties.Add("RdbCommandType", "Text"); // Set the additional property values so that this // External Content Type can be displayed // in SharePoint Designer. getContactsMethod.Properties.Add( "Schema", "Person"); getContactsMethod.Properties.Add( "BackEndObjectType", "SqlServerTable"); getContactsMethod.Properties.Add( "BackEndObject", "Contact"); // Create a Filter so that we can limit the number // of rows returned; // otherwise we may exceed the list query size threshold. FilterDescriptor limitRowsReturnedFilter = getContactsMethod.FilterDescriptors.Create( "RowsReturnedLimit", true, FilterType.Limit, null); limitRowsReturnedFilter.Properties.Add( "IsDefault", true); // Create the RowsToRetrieve input parameter. Parameter maxRowsReturnedParameter = getContactsMethod.Parameters.Create( "@MaxRowsReturned", true, DirectionType.In); // Create the TypeDescriptor for the MaxRowsReturned parameter. // using the Filter we have created. TypeDescriptor maxRowsReturnedTypeDescriptor = maxRowsReturnedParameter.CreateRootTypeDescriptor( "MaxRowsReturned", true, "System.Int64", "MaxRowsReturned", null, limitRowsReturnedFilter, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null, catalog); // Create the Contacts return parameter. Parameter contactsParameter = getContactsMethod.Parameters.Create( "GetContacts", true, DirectionType.Return); // Create the TypeDescriptors for the Contacts return parameter. TypeDescriptor returnRootCollectionTypeDescriptor = contactsParameter.CreateRootTypeDescriptor( "Contacts", true, "System.Data.IDataReader, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0," + " Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089", "Contacts", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.IsCollection, null, catalog); TypeDescriptor returnRootElementTypeDescriptor = returnRootCollectionTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "Contact", true, "System.Data.IDataRecord, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0," + " Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089", "Contact", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "ContactID", true, "System.Int32", "ContactID", new IdentifierReference("ContactID", new EntityReference("AdventureWorks", "Contact", catalog), catalog), null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "LastName", true, "System.String", "LastName", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "Phone", true, "System.String", "Phone", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "EmailAddress", true, "System.String", "EmailAddress", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); // Create the finder method instance MethodInstance readListMethodInstance = getContactsMethod.MethodInstances.Create( "GetContacts", true, returnRootCollectionTypeDescriptor, MethodInstanceType.Finder, true); // Set the default value for the number of rows // to be returned filter. // NOTE: The method instance needs to be created first // before we can set the default value. maxRowsReturnedTypeDescriptor.SetDefaultValue( readListMethodInstance.Id, Int64.Parse("200")); } private static void CreateReadItemMethod( AdministrationMetadataCatalog catalog, Entity contactEntity) { // Create the specific finder method Method getContactMethod = contactEntity.Methods.Create( "GetContact", true, false, "Contact"); // Specify the query getContactMethod.Properties.Add( "RdbCommandText", "SELECT [ContactID], [LastName], [EmailAddress]," + " [Phone] FROM [Person].[Contact]" + " WHERE [ContactID] = @ContactID"); // Set the command type getContactMethod.Properties.Add("RdbCommandType", "Text"); getContactMethod.Properties.Add( "Schema", "Person"); getContactMethod.Properties.Add( "BackEndObjectType", "SqlServerTable"); getContactMethod.Properties.Add( "BackEndObject", "Contact"); // Create the ContactID input parameter Parameter contactIdParameter = getContactMethod.Parameters.Create( "@ContactID", true, DirectionType.In); // Create the TypeDescriptor for the ContactID parameter contactIdParameter.CreateRootTypeDescriptor( "ContactID", true, "System.Int32", "ContactID", new IdentifierReference( "ContactID", new EntityReference("AdventureWorks", "Contact", catalog), catalog), null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null, catalog); // Create the Contact return parameter Parameter contactParameter = getContactMethod.Parameters.Create( "Contact", true, DirectionType.Return); // Create the TypeDescriptors for the Contact return parameter. TypeDescriptor returnRootCollectionTypeDescriptor = contactParameter.CreateRootTypeDescriptor( "Contacts", true, "System.Data.IDataReader, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0," + " Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089", "Contacts", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.IsCollection, null, catalog); TypeDescriptor returnRootElementTypeDescriptor = returnRootCollectionTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "Contact", true, "System.Data.IDataRecord, System.Data, Version=2.0.0.0," + " Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089", "Contact", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "ContactID", true, "System.Int32", "ContactID", new IdentifierReference("ContactID", new EntityReference("AdventureWorks", "Contact", catalog), catalog), null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "LastName", true, "System.String", "LastName", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "Phone", true, "System.String", "Phone", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); returnRootElementTypeDescriptor.ChildTypeDescriptors.Create( "EmailAddress", true, "System.String", "EmailAddress", null, null, TypeDescriptorFlags.None, null); // Create the specific finder method instance getContactMethod.MethodInstances.Create( "GetContact", true, returnRootElementTypeDescriptor, MethodInstanceType.SpecificFinder, true); } } }
