Creating Folders programmatically in SharePoint 2013

Question

Currently I have code that creates a Folder in the Documents directory when run:

using (var context = new Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext(sharePointSite))
{
    context.Credentials = new Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials(user, password);

    Web web = context.Web;

    Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.List docs = web.Lists.GetByTitle(<upper level folder>);
    docs.EnableFolderCreation = true;

    docs.RootFolder.Folders.Add(folderName);

    context.ExecuteQuery();

    return true;
}

I am having troubles creating sub folders in folders that I have created using this code already. So like if I wanted to create a folder called Feb under Documents this would do that. But if I wanted to create a folder called Week 2 under the new folder Feb. It won't do that. I get this error:

{"List 'Feb' does not exist at site with URL 'https://my.sharepoint.com/sites/labels'."}

I realize that the problem is probably docs.RootFolder.Folders.Add(folderName); because Feb wouldn't be the root folder and when it looks for it an exception would be thrown.

So I was hoping that someone could help me out with some code to add sub folders to already created folders. I am using Visual Stuidos 2010 and can't upgrade to 2012 otherwise I would. I have the 2013 Microsoft.Sharepoint.Client dll's that can be referenced in VS 2010.

Answer 1

How to create Folder (including nested) via CSOM in SharePoint 2010/2013

/// <summary>
/// Create Folder client object
/// </summary>
/// <param name="web"></param>
/// <param name="listTitle"></param>
/// <param name="fullFolderUrl"></param>
/// <returns></returns>
public static Folder CreateFolder(Web web, string listTitle, string fullFolderUrl)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullFolderUrl))
        throw new ArgumentNullException("fullFolderUrl");
    var list = web.Lists.GetByTitle(listTitle);
    return CreateFolderInternal(web, list.RootFolder, fullFolderUrl);
}

private static Folder CreateFolderInternal(Web web, Folder parentFolder, string fullFolderUrl)
{
    var folderUrls = fullFolderUrl.Split(new char[] { '/' }, StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries);
    string folderUrl = folderUrls[0];
    var curFolder = parentFolder.Folders.Add(folderUrl);
    web.Context.Load(curFolder);
    web.Context.ExecuteQuery();

    if (folderUrls.Length > 1)
    {
        var subFolderUrl = string.Join("/", folderUrls, 1, folderUrls.Length - 1);
        return CreateFolderInternal(web, curFolder, subFolderUrl);
    }
    return curFolder;
}

Usage

 using (var ctx = new ClientContext("https://contoso.onmicrosoft.com/"))
 {
       ctx.Credentials = new Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials("username", "password");
       var folder = CreateFolder(ctx.Web, "Shared Documents", "FolderA/SubFolderA/SubSubFolderA");
 }

How to get Folder client object

public static Folder GetFolder(Web web, string fullFolderUrl)
{
    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(fullFolderUrl))
        throw new ArgumentNullException("fullFolderUrl");

    if (!web.IsPropertyAvailable("ServerRelativeUrl"))
    {
        web.Context.Load(web,w => w.ServerRelativeUrl);
        web.Context.ExecuteQuery();
    }
    var folder = web.GetFolderByServerRelativeUrl(web.ServerRelativeUrl + fullFolderUrl);
    web.Context.Load(folder);
    web.Context.ExecuteQuery();
    return folder;
}

Usage

var existingFolder = GetFolder(ctx.Web, "Shared Documents/FolderA/SubFolderA/SubSubFolderA");