Question

I have some code that inserts a list item into a list…

I then have this code

  SPFolder folder = web.Folders["Lists"].SubFolders[list.RootFolder.Name].SubFolders["Attachments"].SubFolders[item.ID.ToString()];

                foreach (SPFile file in folder.Files)
                    {
                        string attachmentName = this.downloadedMessageID + ".xml";
                        if (file.Name == attachmentName)
                        {
                            SPFieldUrlValue value = new SPFieldUrlValue();
                            value.Description = this.downloadedMessageID + ".xml"; 
                            value.Url = this.SiteAddress + file.Url;
                            item["ZFO"] = value; 
                        }
                    }

this is fine except for one problem… before this code actually works… I need to call the item.update() method to save the item to SharePoint…

But as you can see there is more work to do … after item.update is called…

So this means… I have

   work
   item.update();
   more work
   item.update(); 

The problem I am having is I really want just

  work
  item.update(); 

So that in any event of failure the whole thing will fail at once or pass at once…. (almost like a SQL transaction).

So whats preventing me from doing this is – I need to set a hyperlink to one of the fields in the list item, this will be to an attachment in the list attachments collection.

Is there any way I can predict this address without having saved the list item to MOSS?

Answer 1

An attachment path depends on the item ID, and I don’t believe your item will have an ID until you save it. Have you considered storing the attachments in a document library instead, linked by the field you’re trying to set?

Transactional operation isn’t exactly SharePoint’s strong suit.