Is it feasible to programmatically change the name of a directory in SharePoint?

Question

To quickly summarise my question:

Is it feasible to programmatically change the name of a directory (with both files and sub-folders) in SharePoint? I am expecting that users will have files checked out on at least some occasions what I am attempting the rename.

The background:

I am currently contracting for a company that produces web based software (ASP.NET) with a configurable document management system. The system can be configured to use different underlying systems, with the most common environment being SharePoint (WSS 3).

I have been assigned a task to extend what has to now been a fairly simple system (simply output files into a fixed directory structure, occasionally read). Having never worked with SharePoint before I am doing some research on best practices, and am attempting to work out what is viable. At this stage I do not have access to a testing environment myself, so am limited to reading up online.

One request is to have the directory structure reflect the name (as one example) of the current client - so all documentation for a client will be in one place, and can be accessed externally via SharePoint or other compatible applications. The specification cites that if the name of the client changes then the directory structure should immediately update. My concern is that this will either directly cause errors (eg. Permission denied) or indirectly cause errors (loss of work for users who have externally checked out files).

As a follow up question if there are concerns with the above, is there a better way to implement the above? I have looked at suggesting the users use views to access the structure in SharePoint, however there is a concern from our BA that users will not be able to directly upload new files into this structure.

Thanks

Answer 1

The issue with Folders in SharePoint is that they are not really folders in the way you would expect of a file system. All files in a SiteCollection are stored in one big-assed table on the Database (checkout the AllDocs table).

I cannot categorically say it is safe to rename the folder without doing a bit of testing, I know that the folders "name" is not the key to accessing the document, despite it appearing to be based on the Url you see in the browser.

The best bet is to do a quick test, but I am pretty sure that your plan will not be a problem.