jQuery Library for SharePoint Web Services (SPServices) v0.7.1 Released

Today I’m releasing SPServices v0.7.1. If you are using an earlier version of SPServices, I strongly suggest that you upgrade to this version. Not only does it have some cool new stuff in it, I’ve managed to squeeze some considerable performance improvments out of some of the most used functions, like SPCascadeDropdowns and SPDisplayRelatedInfo. In my test environments, I see a noticeable improvement in both functions.

While v0.7.1 is only a point release and follows its sibling v0.7.0 quickly, it actually contains far more changes.

One of the cool new things is a new function called $().SPXmlToJson. I’ve gotten quite a few requests over the years for SPServices to output JSON rather than just XML. I’ve resisted to some degree because it wasn’t entirely clear how many people might use it. As jQuery has become a more and more common part of the SharePoint development toolset, it seemed to finally make sense to add it in. Keep in mind that I can’t ask SharePoint for JSON from the SOAP Web Services; they return XML. What SPXmlToJson does is take that XML output and convert it into JSON. Of course that introduces some overhead, so use it wisely. This first implementation is firmly aimed at GetListItems, but it will also work with other “flat” XML. As folks express a need for enhancements to the function, I’ll try to work on them.

Another nice enhancement is to allow you to request that SPCascadeDropdowns and SPDisplayRelatedInfo perform their logic using the item IDs rather than the item values. The latter is more the approach that SharePoint uses in many cases, but the former is a far more robust and database-like approach.

I’ve also added in some of the missing Web Service operations that people have asked for, including Lists.ApplyContentTypeToList, Lists.CreateContentType, Lists.DeleteContentType, Lists.GetListItemChanges, Lists.UndoCheckOut, Lists.UpdateContentType, SiteData.GetWeb, SiteData.GetSite, and SiteData.GetSiteUrl.

There are numerous other performance improvements and some edge condition bugs I’ve managed to fix.

I’ll be updating the documentation over the next day or so. Keep in mind that the documentation always represents the capabilities of the current version.

Here are the details on some of what is included in this release; see all items in the Issue Tracker here.

New Functionality

Alpha Issue Tracker Item Function Operation Description
ALPHA3-6 9755 $().SPXmlToJson NA Convert XML data to JSON
ALPHA11 9751 $().SPServices.SPDisplayRelatedInfo NA SPDisplayRelatedInfo Matching on ID Instead of Text
ALPHA11 633 $().SPServices.SPCascadeDropdowns NA SPCascadeDropdowns() – Using IDs on Query to populate child column rather than values

ALPHA13 – Streamlined SPXmlToJson. This is RC1 for the new function.

New Operations

Alpha Web Service Operation Options MSDN Documentation Issue Tracker Item
ALPHA1 Lists GetVersionCollection [WebURL], strlistID, strlistItemID, strFieldName Lists.GetVersionCollection Method 8322
ALPHA2 SiteData GetSite [WebURL] SiteData.GetSite Method 9718
ALPHA2 SiteData GetSiteUrl Url SiteData.GetSiteUrl Method 9718

ALPHA12 Lists.ApplyContentTypeToList, Lists.CreateContentType, Lists.DeleteContentType, Lists.GetListItemChanges, Lists.UndoCheckOut, Lists.UpdateContentType, SiteData.GetWeb

Bug Fixes and Efficiency

Alpha Issue Tracker Item Function Description
ALPHA2 9754 $().SPServices New Internal Function: siteDataFixSOAPEnvelope
ALPHA2 9744 $().SPServices.SPComplexToSimpleDropdown Bug in SPComplexToSimpleDropdown
ALPHA5 7705 $().SPServices.SPUpdateMultipleListItems SPUpdateMultipleListItems – Add completefunc
ALPHA6 9785 $().SPServices.SPFilterDropdown Extend SPFilterDropdown with CAMLQueryOptions or RecursiveAll
ALPHA7 9793 $().SPServices.SPCascadeDropdowns SPCascadeDropdowns Performance Tweaks
ALPHA7 9794 $().SPServices.SPDisplayRelatedInfo SPDisplayRelatedInfo Performance Tweaks
ALPHA8 7876 $().SPServices.SPCascadeDropdowns SPCascadeDropdowns – 1 parent; multiple children
ALPHA9 9810 $().SPServices.SPCascadeDropdowns SPCascadeDropdowns Shouldn’t Show Null Values
ALPHA9 9811 $().SPServices.SPComplexToSimpleDropdown completefunc not called in SPComplexToSimpleDropdown
ALPHA10 9789 $().SPServices.SPComplexToSimpleDropdown SPComplexToSimpleDropdown when column is not required

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5 Comments

  1. Awesome job.

    I’m looking for a way to use SharePoint OOB web services or custom ones, from a PhoneGap application, using jQuery Mobile.

    Since PhoneGap uses a single file approach using the file:/// protocol, I’m wondering if your library could work to authenticate against any SharePoint services, or custom ones deployed to the ISAPI folder…

    Thanks,
    Nicolas

    1. Nicolas:

      I haven’t done any mobile development myself, but I know that at least several others have used SPServices when they have done so.

      M.

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