Add webparts to pages via PowerShell

This week I created some webparts. Those webparts must be added to more than 1000 pages in SharePoint. It’s an awful job to do it manually, so I created a script in PowerShell that do the job for me

Code Snippet

1. Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
2. Start-SPAssignment -Global    # This cmdlet takes care of the disposable objects to prevent memory leaks
3.  
4. function AddCustomWebPart($web,$page,[string]$webpart_nameSpace,[string]$webpartTitle,[int]$index)
5. {
6.     $comment = $webpartTitle + " WebPart Added"
7.  
8.     $webpartmanager=$web.GetLimitedWebPartManager($page.Url,  [System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.PersonalizationScope]::Shared)
9.     
10.     $wpsOnPage = $webpartmanager.WebParts | % { $_ }
11.     foreach($wp in $wpsOnPage)
12.     {
13.         if($wp -ne $null)
14.         {
15.             if($wp.Title -eq $webpartTitle)
16.             {
17.                 Write-Host "webpart " $wp.Title " exists on page. "
18.                 $webpartmanager.DeleteWebPart($webpartmanager.WebParts[$wp.ID]);
19.             }
20.         }
21.     }
22.     
23.     $webpart = new-object $webpart_nameSpace
24.     $webpart.ChromeType = [System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.PartChromeType]::Default;
25.     $webpart.Title = $webpartTitle
26.     $webpart.Width = "300px"
27.     
28.     $webpartmanager.AddWebPart($webpart, "RightColumn", $index);    
29. }
30.  
31. function CheckInAndPublishPage($comment)
32. {
33.     " Checking in page"
34.     $page.CheckIn($comment)
35.  
36.     # Publish
37.     if($page.listItem.ParentList.EnableMinorVersions -eq $true -and $publishingPage.ListItem.File.MinorVersion -ne 0)
38.     {
39.             " Publishing"
40.             $page.listItem.File.Publish($comment)
41.     }
42.  
43.     # If moderation is being used handle the approval    
44.     if ($page.listItem.ParentList.EnableModeration)
45.     {
46.  
47.         $modInformation = $page.listItem.ModerationInformation
48.         
49.         " Moderation on, Current Status: " + $modInformation.Status
50.  
51.         # Check for pending approval
52.         if($modInformation.Status -ne [Microsoft.SharePoint.SPModerationStatusType]::Approved)
53.         {
54.             " Approving"
55.             $page.ListItem.File.Approve($comment)
56.         }
57.     }
58. }
59.  
60. $webUrl = "http://intranet/sites/subweb/"
61. $web = Get-SPWeb $webUrl
62.     
63. $list = $web.Lists["Pagina's"]
64. Write-Host $list.Title
65. $pages = $list.Items
66.  
67. foreach($item in $pages)
68. {
69.     $page =  [Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.PublishingPage]::GetPublishingPage($item)
70.     Write-Host "Page Url: " $item.Url
71.     Write-Host "Page ContentType: " $item.ContentType.Name
72.     
73.     $page.CheckOut()
74.         
75.     AddCustomWebPart $web $page "SharePoint.Intranet.WebParts.Bijlagen" "Bijlagen" 3
76.     AddCustomWebPart $web $page "SharePoint.Intranet.WebParts.ProcesbeschrijvingBijlagen" "Procesbeschrijving bijlagen" 4
77.     
78.     CheckInAndPublishPage("Bijlage webparts toegevoegd.")
79. }
80.  
81. # Clean up
82. $web.Close()
83.  
84. Write-Host Done.
85.  
86. # Add an empty line
87. Write-Host ""
88.  
89. # Clean up
90. Write-Host "Cleaning up..."
91. Stop-SPAssignment -Global
92. Remove-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
93.  
94. Write-Host "Press any key to continue ..."
95. $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")

Isn’t it wonderful? The script also check if the webpart is already on the page or not. If it’s already added than it will be deleted and added again to respect the order of the webparts. For some reason SharePoint doesn’t respect the order.

If someone knows why SharePoint ignores the order of the webparts feel free to let me know.