HarePoint Explorer for SharePoint - Browser of the object model
 

Browser of the object model

The browser of object model displays the structure of any .NET object using the .NET Reflection technology.

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Browser of object model

Browser window consists of two sections.

In the left window part, there is a tree that shows detailed information of an object. The root node symbolizes the object itself. When the program is launched, browser window with the root nodes is opened. The first node shows the condition of the Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm object type (object for work with SharePoint farm), the second one –  Microsoft.SharePoint.Upgrade.SPManager (object that provides essential information about configurational database of SharePoint). Name of root object is formed vie the function ToString() function.

The root node of the object consists of:

  1. Detailed list of public properties sorted in alphabetical order.
  2. List of hidden properties (private, protected, internal).
  3. Lists of public and hidden constructors.
  4. Lists of public and hidden fields.
  5. Lists of public and hidden methods.
  6. Information about type of root object.
  7. List of interfaces realized by object.
  8. List of child objects (objects inherited from Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject). Such objects are marked with the icon in the tree.

Each node in the tree can be flagged in order to select the necessary nodes for further use in the script (see usage of script window).

All objects which realize the IEnumerable interface, are displayed in bold font style. Besides child nodes listed above, they also contain node Collection Items, in which the list of objects obtained by search in collection via methods of interface IEnumerator is located. Class System.String is exclusion as objects of this type are present everywhere.

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In the right section of the browser window, you can find a set of tabs, and each one contains the standard list of properties. The set of tabs includes:

  1. General tab. Contains object properties that can be changed. Moreover, under object properties, a large text field is located, where the object is represented in the string form, received via the ToString() method.
  2. Property tab of object type. Contains properties of the object type, selected in the tree.
  3. Tab contains information about type of property, field or method declared in description of the root object type.

Example. In the image shown above, the Parent property of the Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPTimerService object type is selected. In the description of the SPTimerService class, you can see that the Parent property returns the SPPersistedObject object type – this type is presented exactly in the last tab. In our specific case, the Parent property returns the SPFarm object type inherited from SPPersistedObject – that is why the SPFarm type is presented in the second tab.

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This program feature is useful, if properties return null values – you can always see what can be returned.

If more detailed examination of any object is needed, it can be opened in a separate browser window via the Open in new window context menu item.

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Open in new window

To simplify access to objects such as SPFarm, SPManager, SPTimerService, SPWebApplication, SPSite and SPWeb, you can automatically generate scripts to get them in your future work. For that, use the context menu item Add to stored.

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Add to stored

Also, objects like SPSite and SPWeb can be accessed from the Internet browser by selecting Open in Internet Browser from the context menu.

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Open in Internet Browser

Change the values of the corresponding fields in the tab General to change the object properties. You should confirm changes to number of objects (eg, SPWeb) by selecting Save changes from the context menu.

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Save changes