Updating SharePoint List View For Multiple Lists In Site, Site collection Or List Of Sites With Remote PowerShell

Recently, we did eRoom to SharePoint 2013 migration with the help of Metalogix. When you migrate eRoom content to SharePoint, Metalogix eRoom console by default add ‘MigrationSourceUrl’ column to every list and library created during migration. This column contains source eRoom object URL from where this object is migrated. The value in this column is useful from mapping perspective and link correction perspective. In Metalogix you can't avoid creating this column in target SharePoint. Though in our case, end user don’t want to see this column by default in SharePoint. So we decided to hide this column from ‘Default’ list/library view after migration is complete. This was again a task which involves lot of manual efforts. Ultimate choice was to create PowerShell script which could be re-used now and in future. What if it is Remote PowerShell? It provides added advantage that you don’t have to login to CA box and run the script and also no burden on your server.

Pre-requisite:

• Client side Remote PowerShell.
• A .csv file if script needs to run on multiple sites (SPWeb).
• User credentials who has administrative access to the sites/environment.

Details

The script first understands the target SharePoint scope like Site Collection, Site or List of Sites based on user inputs. It also tries to understand if current user has access to the target SharePoint environment. Based on user inputs, it takes various approaches to get list of webs and list of Lists.

CLS
Write-Host "`t ----------------------------------------------------------------"
Write-Host "`t Hide Migration Source URL column from List View for eRoom Migration SharePoint Sites"
Write-Host "`t ----------------------------------------------------------------"

Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "`t `t Choose target SharePoint environment"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t `t 1. Office 365"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t `t 2. SharePoint 2013"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t `t 3. SharePoint 2010"
$envChoice = Read-Host "Select an option 1-3 "
switch($envChoice)
{
    1{$targetScope = "Office365"}
    2{$targetScope = "SharePoint2013"}
    3{$targetScope = "SharePoint2010"}

}

Write-Host
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "`t Select the scope of the script excution"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t 1. Site"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t 2. Web"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t 3. List of Web (CSV Path Input)"
$scopeChoice = Read-Host "Enter your choice"
#User Credentials
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "`t `t Do you have access to "$targetScope " environment"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t `t 1. Yes"
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t `t 2. No. Provide alternate user credentials (domain\login)"
$accessChoice = Read-Host "Select an option 1-2"
Write-Host "accessChoice:"$accessChoice
switch($accessChoice)
{
    1{$accessScope = "HasAccess"}
    2{$accessScope= "NoAccess"}
    default{$accessScope ="HasAccess"}
}

$credentials = $null
#Getting user credentials
if($accessScope -eq "NoAccess")
{
    $credentials = Get-Credential -Credential (whoami)
}

$IsSite = $false
$csvFilePath = $null
$csvSPWebList =  @()


switch ($scopeChoice)
{
    1 { $scope = "Site"}
    2 { $scope ="Web"}
    3 { $scope = "WebList"}
}

if($scope -eq "Site")
{
    $targetUrl = Read-Host "Enter Site Collection Url"
    if($targetScope -eq "Office365")
    {

        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -IsOnline $true -IsSite $true
    }
    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2013")
    {
        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $true

    }
    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2010")
    {
        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $true -Is2010 $true

    }

}
elseif($scope -eq "Web")
{
    $IsSite = $false
    $targetUrl = Read-Host "Enter Web Url"
    if($targetScope -eq "Office365")
    {

        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -IsOnline $true -IsSite $false
    }
    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2013")
    {
        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $false

    }
    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2010")
    {
        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $targetUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $false -Is2010 $true

    }
}

If script understands that the scope is a list of sites (SPWeb), it requests the path of .csv file which contains Url to each site (SPWeb). It reads the .csv file and work on each site.

elseif($scope -eq "WebList")
{
    $IsSite = $false
    while($csvFilePath -eq $null)
    {
        try
        {
            #reading .csv file
            $csvFilePath = Read-Host "Enter path of .csv file which contains SPWeb Urls"
            $csvContent = Import-Csv -Path $csvFilePath -ErrorAction Stop
            if($csvContent -ne $null)
            {
                Write-Host "No. of Entries found:"$csvContent.Count

                foreach($entry in $csvContent)
                {
                    $csvWebUrl = $entry.WebUrl
                    Write-Host "Processing Web:"$csvWebUrl

                    if($targetScope -eq "Office365")
                    {

                        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $csvWebUrl -IsOnline $true -IsSite $false
                    }
                    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2013")
                    {
                        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $csvWebUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $false

                    }
                    elseif($targetScope -eq "SharePoint2010")
                    {
                        Hide-MigrationSourceUrl -WebUrl $csvWebUrl -UserCredential $credentials -IsSite $false -Is2010 $true

                    }

                }
            }

        }
        catch
        {
            $csvFilePath = $null
            Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error:"$_.Exception.Message "Please try again."
            Write-Host
        }
    }

}

Hide: MigrationSourceUrl is PowerShell function, which use Client Side SharePoint PowerShell module and creates SharePoint Client Context, Client Site object and Client web object.

function Hide-MigrationSourceUrl
{
  [CmdletBinding()]
  Param
  (
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,Position=0, HelpMessage='Enter Url of the site')]
    [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
    [System.Uri]$WebUrl,
    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=1, HelpMessage='Is URL of Site or Web? Enter:$true/$false')]
    [Bool]$IsSite = $false,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=2, HelpMessage='Enter credentials which has access to the site')]
    [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]$UserCredential,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=3, HelpMessage='Is it SharePoint Online site? Enter:$true/$false')]
    [Bool]$IsOnline = $false,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=4, HelpMessage='Is it SharePoint 2010 site? Enter:$true/$false')]
    [Bool]$Is2010 = $false,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=5, HelpMessage='Enter SharePoint Online UserName if it is SharePoint Online site')]
    [String]$OnlineUsername,

    [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,Position=6, HelpMessage='Enter SharePoint Online Password if it is SharePoint Online site')]
    [String]$OnlinePassword
  )

  Begin
  {
    Write-Host "Importing Module SPPS"
    Import-Module .\spps.psm1

  }
  Process
  {
    try
    {

        if($IsOnline)
        {
            Initialize-SPPS -siteURL $WebUrl -IsOnline $IsOnline
        }
        if($Is2010)
        {
            Initialize-SPPS -siteURL $WebUrl -UserCredential $UserCredential -Is2010 $Is2010
        }
        else
        {
            #SharePoint 2013
            Initialize-SPPS -siteURL $WebUrl -UserCredential $UserCredential
        }
        if($IsSite)
        {
            Write-Host "Processing as site"

            #getting subsite
            $w = Get-SPWebs -ctx $SPPS -spWeb $Web


            foreach($subWeb in $w)
            {

               #Write-Host $subWeb.ServerRelativeUrl
               Update-ListDefaultView -ParamWeb $subWeb
            }
        }
        else
        {
            Write-Host "Processing as Web"
            Update-ListDefaultView -ParamWeb $web
        }

    }

    catch [System.Net.WebException],[System.Exception]
    {
        Write-Host "Error:"$_.Exception.ToString()
    }

  }
  End
  {}
}

Once you have client context, it then calls another helper function which does actual finding target list and target list view which needs to be updated.

function Update-ListDefaultView
{
    [CmdletBinding()]
    [OutputType([int])]
    Param
    (

        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,
                   Position=0)]
        [Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Web]$ParamWeb
    )

    Begin
    {
    }
    Process
    {
        try
        {
            $ParamWebUrl = $ParamWeb.ServerRelativeUrl
            Write-Host -ForegroundColor DarkCyan "`t Processing Web:"$ParamWebUrl
            #Getting Lists
            $Lists = $ParamWeb.Lists
            $SPPS.Load($Lists)
            $SPPS.ExecuteQuery()
            #Filtering hidden list
            $Lists = $Lists | ?{$_.Hidden -eq $false}
            foreach($list in $Lists)
            {
                Write-Host
                Write-Host -ForegroundColor Blue "`t Processing List:"$list.Title
                try
                {
                    $listFields = $list.Fields
                    $SPPS.Load($listFields)
                    $SPPS.ExecuteQuery()
                }
                catch
                {
                    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error while loading List fields"$_.Exception.ToString()
                }
                #Checking if MigrationSourceURL field is part of the list
                #$migrationSourceUrlField = $null
                if($listFields -ne $null)
                {
                    try
                    {
                        $migrationSourceUrlField = $listFields | ?{$_.Title -eq "MigrationSourceUrl"}  -ErrorAction Stop
                    }
                    catch [System.InvalidCastException], [System.Exception]
                    {
                        Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error while checking if list contains MigrationSourceURL field"$_.Exception.ToString()
                    }
                    if($migrationSourceUrlField -ne $null)
                    {
                        #Migration Source Url Field Exists in the list or library
                        Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan "`t `t Processing default list view for:"$list.Title
                        $defaultListView = $null
                        try
                        {
                            $listViews = $list.Views
                            $SPPS.Load($listViews)
                            $SPPS.ExecuteQuery()
                        }
                        catch
                        {
                            Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error while loading views:"$_.Exception.ToString()
                        }
                        try
                        {
                            $defaultListView = $listViews | ?{$_.DefaultView -eq $true}
                        }
                        catch
                        {
                            Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error while loading default view:"$_.Exception.ToString()
                        }
                        if($defaultListView -ne $null)
                        {
                            try
                            {
                                $defaultViewFields = $defaultListView.ViewFields
                                $SPPS.Load($defaultViewFields)
                                $SPPS.ExecuteQuery()
                                Write-Host "`t `t Checking if default view has MigrationSourceURL field"

                                $fieldToDelete = $defaultViewFields | ?{$_.equals("MigrationSourceURL")}
                                if($fieldToDelete -ne $null)
                                {
                                    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Magenta "`t `t Removing MigrationSourceURL from "$defaultListView.Title " of list "$list.Title
                                    $defaultViewFields.Remove("MigrationSourceURL")
                                    $defaultListView.Update()
                                    $SPPS.ExecuteQuery()
                                    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green "`t `t MigrationSourceURL field successfully removed from "$defaultListView.Title " of list "$list.Title
                                }
                                else
                                {
                                    Write-Host -ForegroundColor Yellow "`t `t MigrationSourceURL field not found in view "$defaultListView.Title " of list "$list.Title
                                }
                            }
                            catch
                            {
                                Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error while updating default list view:"$_.Exception.ToString()
                            }

                        }


                    }
            }
        }
        }
        Catch [System.Exception]
        {
            Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "Error in Update-ListDefaultView:"$_.Exception.ToString()
        }
    }
    End
    {
    }
}

The above function is specific to my use case scenario. Your use case scenario might be different but can be easily tweaked to satisfy your needs.

In my scenario, I am finding all the lists for particular web (SPWeb) which contains ‘MigrationSourceUrl’ column. Then I found their default view. Once I had list default view, I then loaded all the ViewFields of that view. After that I saw if this view fields contains field I need to hide and if yes, I deleted that field from ViewFields collection.

The complete PowerShell script is attached with this article along with the sample .csv file. Your feedback will help me to correct any issues or improve the script.