SPField Class

The SPField class represents a field in a list on a SharePoint Web site.

System.Object

   Microsoft.SharePoint.SPField

Public Methods

The following table shows the public methods of the SPField class and a brief description of each.

Name	Description
ToString	Returns the title of the field.
Update	Updates the database with changes made to the field.

Public Properties

The following table shows the public properties of the SPField class, the data type of each property, and a brief description of each.

Name	Data Type	Description
AuthoringInfo	String	Gets the descriptive string used in pages for editing fields to identify the field and its purpose.
CanToggleHidden	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether the column can be hidden through the user interface.
DefaultFormula	String	Gets or sets the default formula for a calculated field.
DefaultValue	String	Gets or sets the default value for the field.
Description	String	Gets or sets the description for the field.
Direction	String	Gets or sets the direction of the reading order for the field.
DisplaySize	String	Gets or sets the display size for the field.
FieldReferences	String[]	Gets a string array that contains the names of fields referenced in a computed field.
Filterable	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether the field can be filtered.
FilterableNoRecurrence	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether a view filter for a view that does not expand recurring events can be created on a field that does not allow filtering.
FromBaseType	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether the field derives from a base field type.
Hidden	Boolean	Gets or sets a Boolean value that specifies whether the field is displayed in the list.
IMEMode	String	Gets or sets the Input Method Editor (IME) mode bias to use for the field.
InternalName	String	Gets the internal name used for the field.
ParentList	Microsoft.SharePoint.SPList	Gets the parent list that contains the field.
ReadOnlyField	Boolean	Gets or sets a Boolean value that specifies whether values in the field can be modified.
Reorderable	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether values in the field can be reordered.
Required	Boolean	Gets or sets a Boolean value that determines whether the field requires values.
SchemaXml	String	Gets or sets the schema that defines the field.
Sealed	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that indicates whether other fields can be derived from the field.
Sortable	Boolean	Gets a Boolean value that determines whether the field can be sorted.
Title	String	Gets or sets the display name for the field.
Type	Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFieldType	Gets or sets the type of the field.
TypeAsString	String	Gets the type of the field as a string value.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are safe for multithreaded operations. Instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Remarks

Use the Fields property of either the SPList class or the SPListItem class to return an SPFieldCollection object that represents the collection of fields for a list or list item. Use an indexer to return a single field from this collection. For example, if the collection is assigned to a variable named myFields, use myFields[index] in C#, or myFields(index) in Visual Basic .NET, where index is either the index number of the field in the collection or the display name of the field.

Setting properties of the SPField class and of its inheriting classes requires that the Update method be called for changes to take effect in the database.

For information about the fields used by default in a native SharePoint list, see Field Tables for Default Lists.

Example

The following code example iterates through all the lists in all the subsites under a site and, if it finds a list with a specified name, updates the title, default value, and description for a field.

This example requires using directives (Imports in Visual Basic) for both the Microsoft.SharePoint and Microsoft.SharePoint.WebControls namespaces.

Requirements

Namespace: Microsoft.SharePoint

Platforms: Microsoft Windows Server 2003

Assembly: Windows SharePoint Services (in Microsoft.SharePoint.dll)

Security: Code Access Security