SPContentTypeCollection.BestMatch method

Searches the collection and returns the content type identifier (ID) that is the nearest match to the specified content type ID.

Namespace:  Microsoft.SharePoint
Assembly:  Microsoft.SharePoint (in Microsoft.SharePoint.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Function BestMatch ( _
    contentTypeId As SPContentTypeId _
) As SPContentTypeId
'Usage
Dim instance As SPContentTypeCollection
Dim contentTypeId As SPContentTypeId
Dim returnValue As SPContentTypeId

returnValue = instance.BestMatch(contentTypeId)

public SPContentTypeId BestMatch(
    SPContentTypeId contentTypeId
)

Parameters

• contentTypeId
  Type: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeId

  A content type ID to match.

Return value

Type: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentTypeId
The value of the Id property for the content type with the closest match to the value of the specified content type ID. If the search finds two matches, the shorter ID is returned. For example, if 0x0101 is the argument, and the collection contains both 0x010109 and 0x01010901, the method returns 0x010109.

Remarks

Use this method to determine if a collection contains a child of a known content type. Keep in mind, however, that when a site content type is copied to a list, the content type in the list gets a new content type ID in the following form.

site content type ID + “00” + 32-character hexadecimal GUID

For more information, see Content Type IDs.

Examples

The following example shows a console application that iterates through the lists in a Web site and determines whether or not the content type collection of each list contains a descendant of a specified content type.

Imports System
Imports Microsoft.SharePoint

Module ConsoleApp
   Sub Main()
      Using siteCollection As SPSite = New SPSite("https://localhost")
         Using webSite As SPWeb = siteCollection.OpenWeb()

            ' Get a content type id to search for.
            Dim contentTypeId As SPContentTypeId = SPBuiltInContentTypeId.Task

            For Each list As SPList In webSite.Lists
               If ListContains(list, contentTypeId) Then
                  Console.WriteLine("The {0} list uses the content type.", list.Title)
               End If
            Next list


         End Using
      End Using
      Console.Write(vbCrLf + "Press ENTER to continue...")
      Console.ReadLine()
   End Sub

   Function ListContains(ByVal list As SPList, ByVal id As SPContentTypeId) As Boolean
      Dim matchId As SPContentTypeId = list.ContentTypes.BestMatch(id)
      Return matchId.IsChildOf(id)
   End Function

End Module

using System;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

namespace Test
{
   class ConsoleApp
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         using (SPSite siteCollection = new SPSite("https://localhost"))
         {
            using (SPWeb webSite = siteCollection.OpenWeb())
            {
               // Get a content type id to search for.
               SPContentTypeId contentTypeId = SPBuiltInContentTypeId.Task;

               foreach (SPList list in webSite.Lists)
               {
                 if (ListContains(list, contentTypeId))
                    Console.WriteLine("The {0} list uses the content type.", 
                                       list.Title);
               }
            }
         }
         Console.Write("\nPress ENTER to continue...");
         Console.ReadLine();
      }

      static bool ListContains(SPList list, SPContentTypeId id)
      {
         SPContentTypeId matchId = list.ContentTypes.BestMatch(id);
         return matchId.IsChildOf(id);
      }
   }
}

The application prints the following output to the console.

The Tasks list uses the content type.

Press ENTER to continue...

See also

Reference

SPContentTypeCollection class

SPContentTypeCollection members

Microsoft.SharePoint namespace

GetUsages

Other resources

Introduction to Content Types

Site and List Content Types

Base Content Type Hierarchy