SharePoint Error: The server does not allow messages larger than 2097152 bytes

Question

I have web service that point to sharepoint 2013 Office 365. I use the client object model. I am trying to update the xml file which stores 4 attachments in it. When I do this when I have large binary data in the xml file I get the following error :

Message

The request message is too big. The server does not allow messages larger than 2097152 bytes.

I realize I am probably going to have to seperate the attachments from the xml file but currently my infopath form stores them there. Is there a way I can increase the request length or maybe chunk up saving or something. I really just modifying one node and it won't work unless I update the xml. Thanks . Code Below.

My Code:

ListItem docReq = GetDocRequestLight(docRequestID, businessID);
string fPath = (string)docReq["FileRef"];
using (FileInformation fInfo = Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.File.OpenBinaryDirect(ctx, fPath))
{
    XmlDocument xmlDoc = new XmlDocument();
    xmlDoc.Load(fInfo.Stream);
    XmlNamespaceManager xmlNameSpaceMgr = new XmlNamespaceManager(xmlDoc.NameTable);
    xmlNameSpaceMgr.AddNamespace("my", DocReqXmlNameSpace);

    // Get Parent Node
    XmlNode node = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode(GetXPathFromItemKey(velmaKey), xmlNameSpaceMgr);

    DateTime outDate;
    bool outBool;
    if (DateTime.TryParse(newValue, out outDate))
        node.InnerText = outDate.ToString("yyyy-MM-dd");
    if (Boolean.TryParse(newValue, out outBool))
        node.InnerText = newValue;

    // Update Statuses
    XmlNode statusIDNode = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode(DocReqStatusIDFieldXPath, xmlNameSpaceMgr);
    statusIDNode.InnerText = updatedStatus.ID.ToString();
    XmlNode statusNode = xmlDoc.SelectSingleNode(DocReqStatusFieldXPath, xmlNameSpaceMgr);
    statusNode.InnerText = updatedStatus.Name.ToString();

    // Save File
    docReq.File.SaveBinary(new FileSaveBinaryInformation()
    {
        Content =   Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(xmlDoc.OuterXml),
    });

    ctx.ExecuteQuery();

Answer 1

SharePoint has its own limits for CSOM. Unfortunately, these limits cannot be configured in Central Administration and also cannot be set using CSOM for obvious reasons.

When googling for the issue, mostly a solution is given by setting the ClientRequestServiceSettings.MaxReceivedMessageSize property to the desired size.

Call the following PowerShell script from SharePoint Management Shell :

$ws = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService 
$ws.ClientRequestServiceSettings.MaxReceivedMessageSize = 209715200 
$ws.Update()

This will set the limit to 200 MB.

However, in SharePoint 2013 Microsoft apparently added another configuration setting to also limit the amount of data which the server shall process from a CSOM request (Why anyone would configure this one differently is beyond me...). After reading a very, very long SharePoint Log file and crawling through some disassembled SharePoint server code, I found that this parameter can be set via the property ClientRequestServiceSettings.MaxParseMessageSize.

We are now using the following script with SharePoint 2013 and it works great:

$ws = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService]::ContentService 
$ws.ClientRequestServiceSettings.MaxReceivedMessageSize = 209715200 
$ws.ClientRequestServiceSettings.MaxParseMessageSize = 209715200 
$ws.Update()  

Hope that saves some people a headache!

Answer 2

I have just encountered this issue in SharePoint 2013 and after looking through the docs it states:

Content property on the FileCreationInformation class. Maximum file size that can be uploaded is 2 MB. Time-out occurs after 30 minutes. Use to upload files that are less than 2 MB only.

However if you set the ContentStream property, you don't hit the same document size limit. The documentation states:

ContentStream property on the FileCreationInformation class. No file size limits. Time-out occurs after 30 minutes. Recommended for: - SharePoint Server 2013. - SharePoint Online when the file is smaller than 10 MB.

There are some other options detailed within the documentation, but hopefully this will help other people that have encountered this very same problem.