SPList.GetChanges method (SPChangeToken)

Returns a collection of changes starting from a particular point in the change log.

Namespace:  Microsoft.SharePoint
Assembly:  Microsoft.SharePoint (in Microsoft.SharePoint.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
Public Function GetChanges ( _
    changeToken As SPChangeToken _
) As SPChangeCollection
'Usage
Dim instance As SPList
Dim changeToken As SPChangeToken
Dim returnValue As SPChangeCollection

returnValue = instance.GetChanges(changeToken)

public SPChangeCollection GetChanges(
    SPChangeToken changeToken
)

Parameters

• changeToken
  Type: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPChangeToken

  The starting date and time. To start at the beginning of the change log, set this value to a null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

Return value

Type: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPChangeCollection
The changes that have occurred in the list since the date and time specified by changeToken.

Exceptions

Exception	Condition
SPException	changeToken refers to a time before the start of the current change log.

Remarks

You can get an SPChangeToken object to pass as an argument to this method by extracting one from the ChangeToken property of the last change returned by a previous call to the GetChanges method. Or, you can use the SPChangeToken constructor to create a new change token.

Note

By default, the change log retains data for 60 days. You can configure the retention period by setting the ChangeLogRetentionPeriod property.

Examples

The following example is a console application that demonstrates how to get all changes in the log. The program loops while getting changes in batches and breaks out of the loop when it retrieves a collection with zero members, signifying that it has reached the end of the list.

using System;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

namespace Test
{
   class ConsoleApp
   {
      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         using (SPSite siteCollection = new SPSite("https://localhost"))
         {
            using (SPWeb webSite = siteCollection.OpenWeb())
            {
               // Get a list.
               SPList list = webSite.Lists[0];

               int total = 0;
               SPChangeToken token = null;

               // Get the first batch of changes.
               SPChangeCollection changes = list.GetChanges(token);

               // Loop until we reach the end of the log.
               while (changes.Count > 0)
               {
                  total += changes.Count;

                  // Go get another batch.
                  token = changes.LastChangeToken;
                  changes = list.GetChanges(token);
               }

               Console.WriteLine("Total of {0:#,#} changes to {1} list", total, list.Title);
            }
         }
         Console.Write("\nPress ENTER to continue...");
         Console.ReadLine();
      }
   }
}

Imports System
Imports Microsoft.SharePoint

Module ConsoleApp
   Sub Main()
      Using siteCollection As SPSite = New SPSite("https://localhost")
         Using webSite As SPWeb = siteCollection.OpenWeb()

            ' Get a list.
            Dim list As SPList = webSite.Lists(0)

            Dim total As Integer = 0
            Dim token As SPChangeToken = Nothing

            ' Get the first batch of changes.
            Dim changes As SPChangeCollection = list.GetChanges(token)

            ' Loop until we reach the end of the log.
            While changes.Count > 0

               total += changes.Count

               ' Go get another batch of changes starting where we left off.
               token = changes.LastChangeToken
               changes = list.GetChanges(token)

            End While

            Console.WriteLine("Total of {0:#,#} changes to {1} list", total, List.Title)

         End Using
      End Using

      Console.Write(vbCrLf + "Press ENTER to continue...")
      Console.ReadLine()

   End Sub
End Module

See also

Reference

SPList class

SPList members

GetChanges overload

Microsoft.SharePoint namespace

Other resources

Using the Change Log