CSOM context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle fails on some lists

Question

CSOM context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle fails on some lists

jcs.ot 1

Hi,

My CSOM application throws ServerException when calling context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName) on some lists on a sharepoint.com site (created in 2013):

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerException: List 'Categories' does not exist at site with URL 'https://xxxxx.sharepoint.com'.
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRequest.ProcessResponseStream(Stream responseStream)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRequest.ProcessResponse()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRequest.ExecuteQueryToServer(ChunkStringBuilder sb)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRequest.ExecuteQuery()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientRuntimeContext.ExecuteQuery()

I use it to retrieve the list's Guid.
My app extracts all the lists' metadata from a site, I need the list Guid for tracking.

It used to work before (quite recently).
This occurs on what seems to be internal lists : Site assets, Categories, Style Library, Reusable Content, Site Pages, App Packages, Community Members and a few others

I have another developer sharepoint.com site created in 2021, I do not face this issue on the same lists names.
(CSOM api 15.0.0.0 on SharePoint online 16.0.22001.12006)

Any thoughts? Thanks!

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @jcs.ot ,
I Tested the following code and it runs well.

 var web = ctx.Web;  
            var list = web.Lists.GetByTitle("Categories");  
            ctx.Load(list);  
            ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
            Console.WriteLine(list.Id);  
            Console.ReadLine();

When you use getByTitle() you need to use the List's display name. The List 'Title' = List Display Name. The List 'Name' = List Internal Name. To find the display name look at what the list is called in the "Site Contents" page. The site url should be like https://xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/xxx but not https://xxxxx.sharepoint.com

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jcs.ot 1 Reputation point

2022-01-06T15:37:07.11+00:00

Hi @RaytheonXie_MSFT

This is the same code that is failing on one of my 2 sharepoint.com sites. It does not fail with my most recent sharepoint.com site.
I'm using the display name.

var list = context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);
context.Load(list);
context.ExecuteQuery();
return list.Id;

As those (failing) lists seem to be defined or sitting at the root level, I tried at the root site, still fails.
In the UI, I can see the list.Id in the URL from the list's settings page.

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ServerException: List 'Reusable Content' does not exist at site with URL 'https://xxxxxxxxxx.sharepoint.com'.
https://xxxxxxxxxx.sharepoint.com/ReusableContent/
https://xxxxxxxxxx.sharepoint.com/_layouts/15/listedit.aspx?List=4b6276c7%2D5c8d%2D4bc8%2Dbddf%2De136de569652
RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-07T01:27:22.617+00:00

Hi @jcs.ot ,
I noticed your URL is 'https://xxxxxxxxxx.sharepoint.com'. Is this your complete URL? Please confirm your url. It should be a site url like https://xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/xxx but not tenant url
jcs.ot 1 Reputation point

2022-01-07T11:43:49.79+00:00

Hi @RaytheonXie_MSFT

I have Lists at http://xxxx.sharepoint.com as well as in subsites. I'm extracting lists content for the whole hierarchy.
I retrieve the subsites from either the root (tenant) or a specific (sub)site using siteContext.Web.Webs
I then retrieve the available Lists from each site with

IQueryable<List> allListsQuery = (from thelist in web.Lists where (thelist.ItemCount > 0) select thelist);

With each list & list.Title, I retrieve its Guid, items, versions, documents and attachments - from SharePoint on-premise 2013, 2016, ... to SharePoint online.

This xxxxx.sharepoint.com fails on the extracted lists with xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/subsite but work with xxxxx.sharepoint.com/subsite
Some of the lists that fails at the root level (tenant) are also extracted in the subsites but do not fail (Style Asset is the only common list)

On my other sharepoint.com created recently, this works fine abcde.sharepoint.com/ & abcde.sharepoint.com/subsite and (without /sites). I have created custom lists on all levels with CSOM, lists extraction work well. Custom subsites are created without /sites. Subsites created with templates are created by default under /sites (no control) and are extracted using /sites
I've noticed that siteContext.Web.Webs from "/" retrieves only my custom sites, not the ones created under "/sites". When using "abcde.sharepoint.com/sites", login fails and I cannot discover the sites

Again, this behaviour is new. It's been working for years without issues.
RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-10T07:58:32.24+00:00

Hi @jcs.ot ,
Per my research and test GetByTitle can only be used in sites level. It can't be used in tenant or sites collection.
RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-13T08:25:19.98+00:00

Hi @jcs.ot ,
I am checking to see how things are going there on this issue.
jcs.ot 1 Reputation point

2022-01-13T10:32:22.86+00:00

oh, ok.
Then, do you know how to perform a similar request at this level ? (tenant / sites collection).
It works on some lists for example "Documents", "Data Library", custom lists but fails with lists such as "Community Members", "App Packages", "Site Assets", "Content and Structure Reports". I do not know what these lists are used for...

The idea is to make a snapshot of a site or sites collection. The data will not be used to duplicate or restore data to SharePoint.
RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-17T01:54:19.613+00:00

Hi @jcs.ot ,
Thanks for your time in advance.
Could you get into your sharepoint Site contents and the page will list all the lists and libraries you can access. Please check if there are lists such as "Community Members", "App Packages", "Site Assets", "Content and Structure Reports".
jcs.ot 1 Reputation point

2022-01-17T17:18:50.333+00:00

Hi @RaytheonXie_MSFT

Yes, they are all available from Site Contents:

I've checked the permissions, I have Full Control on these lists.

RaytheonXie_MSFT 40,471 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @jcs.ot ,
Please try the following code

ClientContext ctx = new ClientContext("https://xxx.sharepoint.com/sites/123");  
var strPassword = "abc";  
SecureString secureString = new SecureString();  
strPassword.ToList().ForEach(secureString.AppendChar);  
ctx.Credentials = new SharePointOnlineCredentials("******@xxx.onmicrosoft.com", secureString);  
Web site = ctx.Web;  
ctx.Load(site);  
ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
Console.WriteLine("Title: " + site.Title + "; URL: " + site.Url);  
  
var web = ctx.Web;  
var list = web.Lists.GetByTitle("listname");  
ctx.Load(list);  
ctx.ExecuteQuery();  
Console.WriteLine(list.Id);  
Console.WriteLine(list.Title);  
Console.ReadLine();

Answer 2

sadomovalex 3,636

looks like you created ClientContext object with url of the root site collection (xxxxx.sharepoint.com). If you want to load list from another site collection (e.g. from xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/subsite), you need to create ClientContext and pass url of this exact site collection (xxxxx.sharepoint.com/sites/subsite) but not url of the root site collection. ClientContext should be created for those site collection for which you work with.

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CSOM context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle fails on some lists

2 answers

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