Sharepoint Moss Information Management

Unraveling the Mystery of Information Management Policy in SharePoint

Creating a custom Information Management Policy in SharePoint can be quite a perplexing task, especially when things don’t seem to work as expected. If you’ve ever faced issues where your policy only applies to the first item in your library, you’re not alone! Let’s delve into the problem and explore effective solutions to ensure your policy applies to all items seamlessly.

Understanding the Problem

You may find yourself in a situation where you’ve successfully set up your policy and registered an SPItemEventReceiver, only to discover that the ProcessListItem method doesn’t retroactively apply your policy to all existing items in the library. Instead, it only affects the first item. This can create confusion and lead to uncertainty about what is going wrong.

Common Signs of the Issue

  • The ProcessListItem method returns true, indicating that the item should be processed.
  • No exceptions are thrown, and the first item processes correctly.
  • Subsequent items are ignored, leading to incomplete implementation of your policy.

Troubleshooting Steps

To effectively tackle this issue, we can break down the troubleshooting process into clear steps:

Debugging with Visual Studio

  1. Development Environment: If you’re developing on the same machine, use Visual Studio to debug your code.
  2. Step Through the Code: Set breakpoints and step through the code line by line to observe the flow of execution.

Using WinDBG for Deeper Insights

If debugging with Visual Studio isn’t an option, consider using WinDBG. Here’s how:

  1. Attach WinDBG: Attach it to the SharePoint process before registering the policy.
  2. Set Breakpoints: Enable first chance exceptions by issuing the command: 
    sxe clr
  3. Monitor Exceptions: Watch for first chance exceptions and utilize the command !PrintException to diagnose issues.

Assessing Your ProcessListItem Logic

Evaluate the logic in your ProcessListItem method. It’s also helpful to simplify the function temporarily:

  • Test by returning true right away. This verifies that your method is working structurally and isn’t being bypassed for some reason.

Discovering the Root Cause

The culprit behind this issue is often related to modifying a collection while it is being iterated over. This means:

  • Avoid modifying the SPListItem directly: Instead of making changes to the passed SPListItem, create a separate variable that references the same object, making your updates there.

What Changed?

By following the above advice, many users have reported that their issues were resolved. Instead of modifying items directly in the ProcessListItem, managing a clone or a reference seems to prevent any unforeseen breaks in the processing flow.

Conclusion

So, if you find your custom Information Management Policy in SharePoint only applying to the first item, remember to check for exceptions, assess your debugging environment, and ensure you’re not inadvertently modifying objects while iterating. With a little bit of perseverance and the right tools, you can simplify the complexity surrounding your SharePoint policies and ensure they apply as intended across your library.

Arming yourself with these insights can dramatically enhance your development process in SharePoint. Happy coding!