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U2U CAML Query Builder for SharePoint 2003 and SharePoint 2007 (Windows Version)
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Downloads
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For SharePoint 2007 and 2010, install latest version via
ClickOnce or
msi
For SharePoint 2003, download version 2.1.0.0
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Build and test CAML Queries for SharePoint interactively with the U2U CAML Query
Builder.
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CAML (Collaborative Application Markup Language) is an XML-based query language
that helps you querying, building and customizing Web sites based on Windows SharePoint
Services. The XML elements define various aspects of a WSS site.
The tool will help you build, test and execute your CAML Queries. Detailed documentation
is included in this document. This version of the tool only let you build CAML queries
for execution against lists.
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We provide you with 3 things:
- A Windows application you can use to connect to your portal or team site and build
your CAML query string in a WYSIWYG manner. (CamlBuilder.exe)
- A small assembly you can reference helping you with the execution of your CAML query
string within your code using the SharePoint object model. (U2U.SharePoint.CAML.Server.dll)
- A small assembly you can reference helping you with the execution of your CAML query
string within your code using the SharePoint web services. (U2U.SharePoint.CAML.Client.dll)
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Content of this User Guide
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What can you expect from this tool?
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With this tool you can easily build CAML queries for SPQuery in the SharePoint
object model and for querying and updating lists via the SharePoint web service
Lists.asmx. The user interface is very intuitive and is explained on the
next pages.
The tool can run on the server where you can build queries for both the SharePoint
object model and the SharePoint web services. You can also install the tool on a
client but in that case you can only build queries for the SharePoint web services
as you won't have access the SharePoint dlls.
From version 4.0.0.0, we have changed the environment, so it is possible to create
and work on multiple queries. Queries are opened in separate tabs.
CAML for creating views, list definitions, site definitions are NOT included in
this tool.
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A small example
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I will illustrate the use of the U2U CAML Query Builder using a small example of
an Employee list that was uploaded using the AdventureWorks MS Access database.
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Start the Application
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Double click the CamlBuilder.exe to start the query builder application. You have
to fill out the URL to your SharePoint site. You can set the necessary credentials.
Choose the mode you want to work in: if you run the application an the server where
SharePoint is installed you can opt to build the CAML query with the SharePoint
object model. If you have to run the application remotely from another machine or
if you want to build a query that should be passed to a method of a SharePoint web
service, you can choose to run against the SharePoint Web Services.
Click the Connect button to connect to the SharePoint site.
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Building a simple query
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A treeview with the available lists and libraries is displayed at the left side
of the application. Select the list for which you want to execute a query. You can
then click the Create query button or right-click and select the New Query menu
item from the context menu. The query tab is loaded in the right pane, its title
is the name of the selected list.
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The upper part of the query designer, lets you contruct the where and order by clause.
The lower part contains the generated CAML and lets you view the results from your
query if you click the Execute query button or hit F5
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Building the where clause
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The first combobox in the query designer, is used to coose which kind of where element
you want to construct. You can choose a "Filter", which will let you choose
a field operator and fill in a filtervalue, or you can choose "And" or
"Or", which will expand into 2 new filter controls. The following step
through shows you how to build a where clause starting from a simple filter.
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In the second combobox, you can select a field and the third combobox will let you
select an operator. As soon as you select a field a control will appear wich will
let you enter a filter value for the expression.
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As soon as the expression you have created is valid, the corresponding CAML is shown
in the editor window.
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If you want to add another expression, you can use the filter combobox to add an
expression by selecting "And" or "Or". In our example we will
search for all documents which have 'silver' in their Title and were created
after the 1st of september.
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Note that the first expression is preserved, and a new filter expression is added.
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Next, we select the Created field and we can select the date using a datetime picker.
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The Filter combobox can be used to add additional expressions. If we want to extend
our query, by searching documents which Title contains 'silver' or 'develop'
and were created after the 1st of september, we can use the first filter to select
"Or" and add a new expression.
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Order By
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If you want your list items returned sorted you can define an OrderBy clause.
Select a field from the listbox and check the Order By checkbox. Indicate whether
you want to sort in ascending order or in descending order. Take a look at the CAML
query that is displayed in the bottom part of your screen: an OrderBy node is added.
A the lower panel of the window, you will find the CAML query string written out
in full, dynamically changing as you add or remove fields to the sort order or the
criteria. As you notice, it is quite a challenge to construct this string without
the help of the builder.
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Testing your query
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The CAML query is displayed in the bottom part of the form. At the right of the
query you have a Test button. When you think your query is ready you can
test it out. If you choose to work with the SharePoint object model, the query will
be executed against an SPQuery object. If you choose to work with the SharePoint
web services, the query will be passed to the GetListItems method of the
Lists.asmx web service. (You will learn more about this method in the section
"Building a CAML Query for the SharePoint Lists Web Service").
The result is shown in a datagrid in the result tab in the bottom part of the form:
You can change the query by hand in the query editor and click the Test button
again. The changed query will be executed.
Use the Refresh button to rebuild the original query.
You can copy the query string to the clipboard and paste it in your development
environment where you need the query.
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Clearing your query
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If you messed up your query or you want to try it another way, you can clear your
query by clicking the Clear button in the upper right corner of the form.
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Saving your query
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The U2U CAML Query Builder allows you to store the query as a file. Just use the
File | Save File menu item and save it on your file system.
The query is saved in a file with a .caml extension together with necessary
information like the url of the SharePoint site, the list name on which the query
was build ad what type of query was build.
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Open your query
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When opening the application afterwards, you can load your settings and continue
with your work.
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