SP2010 Add/Update multi-select lookup column REST

Question

I have a list named CAG_QUESTION with a multi select lookup column to a list named CAG_REFERENCES. I have been unable to get an update to work that includes the lookup column. I thought I needed to pass an array of the CAG_REFERENCES Ids.

Here is the code I have.

var itemProperties = {
    ReferenceLookup: {
        results: [{
                "__metadata": { type: "Microsoft.SharePoint.DataService.CAG_REFERENCESItem" },
                Id: 33
            },
            {
                "__metadata": { type: "Microsoft.SharePoint.DataService.CAG_REFERENCESItem" },
                Id: 23
            }]
    }
};


updateListItem(myWebUrl(), "CAG_QUESTION", 184, itemProperties,
    function() {
        console.log('Success Guardian ... Success.');
    },
    function(error) {
        console.log(JSON.stringify(error));
    }
);

It fails with a payload must represent a valid array format for collections error.

{"readyState":4,"responseText":"{\r\n\"error\": {\r\n\"code\": \"\", \"message\": {\r\n\"lang\": \"en-US\", \"value\": \"Error processing request stream. The payload must represent a valid array format for collections.\"\r\n}\r\n}\r\n}","status":400,"statusText":"Bad Request"}

Answer 1

Its sad this was never answered here. But for the lurkers here it is.

Adding selections to a multivalue lookup field using REST

Here's the necessary format for your data payload:

var data = JSON.stringify({
    MultiLookupColumnName:[
        { 
            __metadata: { 
                uri: "http://yoursiteurl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/LookupListName(1)"
            }
        },
         { 
            __metadata: { 
                uri: "http://yoursiteurl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/LookupListName(2)"
            }
        }
    ]
});

This example assumes that your lookup column is named MultiLookupColumnName, that the list that your lookup column is looking up against is entitled LookupListName, and that you want to set your multi-lookup field to lookup to the items with IDs 1 and 2.

In your code, you would use that data variable in place of your itemProperties variable.

For the sake of completeness, here's a full example without jQuery:

var idOfItemToUpdate = 1;
var url = "/serverRelativeUrl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/YourListName("+idOfItemToUpdate+")"
var data = JSON.stringify({
    MultiLookupColumnName:[
        {__metadata:{uri:"http://yoursiteurl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/LookupListName(1)"}},
        {__metadata:{uri:"http://yoursiteurl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/LookupListName(2)"}}
    ]
});
var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("POST",url,true);
xhr.setRequestHeader("X-HTTP-Method", "MERGE");
xhr.setRequestHeader("If-Match", "*");
xhr.setRequestHeader("Content-Type","application/json");
xhr.send(data);

Removing selections from a multivalue lookup field using REST

Note that to remove a value from the multi-selection lookup field, you'll need to use a different operation. The above operation only adds to the selected values.

To remove a selected value from the field, use a DELETE operation like so:

var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
xhr.open("DELETE",
    "/serverRelativeUrl/_vti_bin/ListData.svc/YourListName(1)/$links/MultiLookupColumnName(2)",
    true);
xhr.send();

That code would remove the lookup value with an item ID of 2 from the field named MultiLookupColumnName on the item with an ID of 1 on the list named YourListName.

(Can you diagram that sentence?)

Footnote: Callback functions without jQuery

I used XMLHttpRequest for the above examples, but I don't want that to cause you any headaches down the road.

If you decide to use the built-in XMLHttpRequest instead of a jQuery/AJAX wrapper, you can use its onreadystatechange event and pass it a callback function like so:

xhr.onreadystatechange = function(){
    if(xhr.readyState == 4){
        myCallbackFunction(xhr.status, xhr.responseText);
    }
};

function myCallbackFunction(status, text){
    // decide what to do based on the status
}

This answer brought over from Stack where it was answered by Thriggle