More SharePoint scripting with F#

F# Interactive mode in Visual Studio is a great way to interactively script SharePoint objects. I'd almost compare this to using sql query editor against a database. I can write the SharePoint code in Visual Studio and have all the code completion and type checking features. I can select the portion of the source code and execute it by pressing Alt+Enter. It's pretty sweet. Combine this with queries built with CAML statements, I can basically do ad hoc queries against SharePoint objects. I don't know any other tool in the SharePoint tool suite that can do this. I can easily imagine a SharePoint management studio tool built with customized Visual Studio plugins that provide a way to explore the SharePoint objects graphically similar to what SQL Server Management Studio does for SQL Server database and uses F# to manipulate SharePoint similar to how SQL manipulates the database.

Here are some example scripts adapted from the book Inside Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 by Ted Pattison and Daniel Larson

#light
#I @"C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ISAPI"
#r @"Microsoft.SharePoint.dll"

open System
open Microsoft.SharePoint

// Utility functions to convert SPxCollection to seq<SPx>
let SPListToSeq (splist:SPListCollection) =       
    seq { for i in 0 .. (splist.Count-1) -> splist.get_Item(i)}

let SPFieldToSeq (splist:SPFieldCollection) =       
    seq { for i in 0 .. (splist.Count-1) -> splist.get_Item(i)}

let SPListItemToSeq (splist:SPListItemCollection) =       
    seq { for i in 0 .. (splist.Count-1) -> splist.get_Item(i)}

let SPContentTypeToSeq (splist:SPContentTypeCollection) =       
    seq { for i in 0 .. (splist.Count-1) -> splist.get_Item(i)}
    
let site = new SPSite("http://localhost/")
let web = site.OpenWeb()

// Add new SharePoint List called "F# SharePoint News
let id = ("F# SharePoint News",
          "List for news on F# and SharePoint items.",
          SPListTemplateType.Announcements)
         |> web.Lists.Add
let list = web.Lists.[id]
list.OnQuickLaunch <- true
list.Update()

// Add news item to the newly created SharePoint List
let newItem = list.Items.Add()
newItem.["Title"] <-"Check for expired items today!"
newItem.["Body"] <- "We're are expiring this today and see if our query works!"
newItem.["Expires"] <- DateTime.Now 
newItem.Update()


// Checking all items in "F# SharePoint News" list that expires today
let queryClause = 
 @"<Where>
      <Eq>
         <FieldRef Name='Expires' />
         <Value Type='DateTime'><Today /></Value>
      </Eq>
 </Where>"

let query = new SPQuery(ViewFields = @"<FieldRef Name='Title'/><FieldRef Name='Expires'/>",
                        Query=queryClause) 

let mylist = web.Lists.["F# Sharepoint News"]
SPListItemToSeq (mylist.GetItems(query))
|> Seq.iter (fun x -> printf "%s\n" x.Title)

// Checking available content types
SPContentTypeToSeq web.AvailableContentTypes
|> Seq.iter (fun x -> printf "%s\n\tDescription = %s\n\tID=%s\n" x.Name x.Description (x.Id.ToString()))

web.Close()
site.Close()