Transfer List items with Attachments from SharePoint 2003 to an existing list in SharePoint 2007

Question

I have items in a list in a SharePoint 2003 site that I need to add to an existing list in a 2007 site. The items have attachments.

How can this be accomplished using PowerShell or C#?

Answer 1

I ended up using a C# program in conjunction with the SharePoint web services to accomplish this. I also used the extension methods (GetXElement, GetXmlNode) on Eric White's blog here to convert between XMLNodes and XElements which made the XML from SharePoint easier to work with.

Below is a template for most of the code needed to transfer list data, including attachments, from one SharePoint List (either 2003 or 2007) to another one:

1) This is the code moves attachments after a new item has been added to the target list.

// Adds attachments from a list item in one SharePoint server to a list item in another SharePoint server.
//   addResults is the return value from a lists.UpdateListItems call.
private void AddAttachments(XElement addResults, XElement listItem)
{
    XElement itemElements = _listsService2003.GetAttachmentCollection(_listNameGuid, GetListItemIDString(listItem)).GetXElement();

    XNamespace s = "http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/soap/";

    var items = from i in itemElements.Elements(s + "Attachment")
                select new { File = i.Value };

    WebClient Client = new WebClient();
    Client.Credentials = new NetworkCredential("user", "password", "domain");

    // Pull each attachment file from old site list and upload it to the new site list.
    foreach (var item in items)
    {

        byte[] data = Client.DownloadData(item.File);
        string fileName = Path.GetFileName(item.File);
        string id = GetID(addResults);
        _listsService2007.AddAttachment(_newListNameGuid, id, fileName, data);
    }
}

2) Code that iterates through the old SharePoint List and populates the new one.

    private void TransferListItems()
    {

        XElement listItems = _listsService2003.GetListItems(_listNameGuid, _viewNameGuid, null, null, "", null).GetXElement();

        XNamespace z = "#RowsetSchema";
        foreach (XElement listItem in listItems.Descendants(z + "row"))
        {
            AddNewListItem(listItem);
        }
    }

    private void AddNewListItem(XElement listItem)
    {
        // SharePoint XML for adding new list item.
        XElement newItem = new XElement("Batch",
            new XAttribute("OnError", "Return"),
            new XAttribute("ListVersion", "1"),
            new XElement("Method",
                new XAttribute("ID", "1"),
                new XAttribute("Cmd", "New")));

        // Populate fields from old list to new list mapping different field names as necessary.
        PopulateFields(newItem, listItem);

        XElement addResults = _listsService2007.UpdateListItems(_newListNameGuid, newItem.GetXmlNode()).GetXElement();

        // Address attachements.
        if (HasAttachments(listItem))
        {
            AddAttachments(addResults, listItem);
        }
    }

    private static bool HasAttachments(XElement listItem)
    {
        XAttribute attachments = listItem.Attribute("ows_Attachments");

        if (System.Convert.ToInt32(attachments.Value) != 0)
            return true;

        return false;
    }

3) Miscellaneous support code for this sample.

    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Windows.Forms;
    using System.Xml.Linq;
    using System.Net;
    using System.IO;

    // This method uses an map List<FieldMap> created from an XML file to map fields in the
    // 2003 SharePoint list to the new 2007 SharePoint list.
    private object PopulateFields(XElement batchItem, XElement listItem)
    {
        foreach (FieldMap mapItem in FieldMaps)
        {
            if (listItem.Attribute(mapItem.OldField) != null)
            {
                batchItem.Element("Method").Add(new XElement("Field",
                    new XAttribute("Name", mapItem.NewField),
                        listItem.Attribute(mapItem.OldField).Value));
            }
        }

        return listItem;
    }

    private static string GetID(XElement elem)
    {
        XNamespace z = "#RowsetSchema";

        XElement temp = elem.Descendants(z + "row").First();

        return temp.Attribute("ows_ID").Value;
    }

    private static string GetListItemIDString(XElement listItem)
    {
        XAttribute field = listItem.Attribute("ows_ID");

        return field.Value;
    }

    private void SetupServices()
    {
        _listsService2003 = new SPLists2003.Lists();

        _listsService2003.Url = "http://oldsite/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx";
        _listsService2003.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("username", "password", "domain");

        _listsService2007 = new SPLists2007.Lists();

        _listsService2007.Url = "http://newsite/_vti_bin/Lists.asmx";
        _listsService2007.Credentials = new System.Net.NetworkCredential("username", "password", "domain");

    }

    private string _listNameGuid = "SomeGuid";      // Unique ID for the old SharePoint List.
    private string _viewNameGuid = "SomeGuid";      // Unique ID for the old SharePoint View that has all the fields needed.
    private string _newListNameGuid = "SomeGuid";   // Unique ID for the new SharePoint List (target).

    private SPLists2003.Lists _listsService2003;    // WebService reference for the old SharePoint site (2003 or 2007 is fine).
    private SPLists2007.Lists _listsService2007;    // WebService reference for the new SharePoint site.

    private List<FieldMap> FieldMaps;   // Used to map the old list to the new list. Populated with a support function on startup.

    class FieldMap
    {
        public string OldField { get; set; }
        public string OldType { get; set; }
        public string NewField { get; set; }
        public string NewType { get; set; }
    }

Answer 2

I'd probably try implementing something with the web services - I know that for 2007 the attachment urls show up in the ows_Attachements attribute, and once you have that you can do a fairly standard download/upload. It's been a while since I did anything with 2003, but I don't think that's a new field.

If you have trouble getting the right data from 2003, you could always migrate the entire site to 2007 and then extract the data you want using the latest API.

Answer 3

Have you tried saving the list ("with content") as a template, save that file to the 2007 portal templates, then create a new list using that "custom" template? That won't work if the attachments and items total more than 10MB, and I'm not 100% sure that that'll work for 2003 > 2007. It should take < 10 minutes, so it's worth a try if you haven't already.

Answer 4

I had to create this project: http://sourceforge.net/projects/splistcp for a similar task, but in order to keep the modified and created time and user I had to use the local API on the destination. The benefit of your approach seems to be easier support for both 2003 and 2007 as the source.