Create an item in Tridion 2011 using Core Service - tridion

Question

In Tridion 2011 I want to use the Core Service equivalent of UpdateXml to create new Tridion objects in a generic way. I intend to create new Components, Pages and later on Folders and Structure Groups. It works quite well using UpdateXml but I am having a problem with casting the RepositoryLocalObject (or another generic-type object) to a ComponentData object with the Core Service. My Core Service code is much longer (and growing by the second).
Error message when I try to access on object-type specific property:
Error 9 'Tridion.ContentManager.CoreService.Client.RepositoryLocalObjectData' does not contain a definition for 'Content' and no extension method 'Content' accepting a first argument of type 'Tridion.ContentManager.CoreService.Client.RepositoryLocalObjectData'
Would a possible solution be to create an extension method?
Tridion TOM API:
Function CreateNewItemCopy(organizationalItemUri, itemType, title, xml,
directory, filename)
Dim newItem : set newItem = tdse.GetNewObject(itemType, organizationalItemUri)
newItem.UpdateXml(xml)
newItem.Title = title
if(itemType = 64) then ' page
newItem.FileName = filename
elseif(itemType = 4) then ' sg
newItem.Directory = directory
end if
newItem.save(true)
CreateNewItemCopy = newItem.id
set newItem = nothing
End Function
Tridion 2011 Core Service
*Updated Code Based on Excellent Answer Below
private ItemType GetTridionItemType(RepositoryLocalObjectData source)
{
string itemType = source.GetType().Name;
switch (itemType)
{
case "ComponentData":
return ItemType.Component;
case "PageData":
return ItemType.Page;
}
return ItemType.UnknownByClient;
}
private string CreateNewItemCopy(string title, RepositoryLocalObjectData source,
string filename)
{
ItemType tridionItemType = GetTridionItemType(source);
string orgItemUri = source.LocationInfo.OrganizationalItem.IdRef;
var newItem = client.Copy(source.Id, orgItemUri, true, new ReadOptions());
newItem.Title = title;
if (tridionItemType == ItemType.Page)
{
PageData pageData = newItem as PageData;
pageData.FileName = filename;
client.Update(pageData, new ReadOptions());
}
else
{
client.Update(newItem, new ReadOptions());
}
return newItem.Id;
}
*Original Code
private string CreateNewItemCopy(string title, RepositoryLocalObjectData source,
string filename)
{
string newItemUri = "";
try
{
ItemType tridionItemType = GetTridionItemType(source.Id);
string orgItemUri = source.LocationInfo.OrganizationalItem.IdRef;
if (tridionItemType == ItemType.Component)
{
ComponentData sourceComp = source as ComponentData;
ComponentData newComponent = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType,
orgItemUri) as ComponentData;
newComponent.Title = title;
newComponent.Metadata = source.Metadata;
// ** Only Component has .Content and SchemaRef
newComponent.Content = sourceComp.Content;
newComponent.Schema.IdRef = sourceComp.Schema.IdRef;
client.Create(newComponent, null);
newItemUri = newComponent.Id;
}
else if (tridionItemType == ItemType.Page)
{
PageData sourcePage = source as PageData;
PageData newPage = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType,
orgItemUri) as PageData;
newPage.Title = title;
newPage.Metadata = source.Metadata;
// ** Only Page has .Filename
newPage.FileName = filename;
client.Create(newPage, null);
newItemUri = newPage.Id;
}
else // I would really like to handle all things here - but have problems with
// item-specific mandatory properties, such as Schema, Filename, and Dir
{
var newGenericTridionItem = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType,
orgItemUri) as RepositoryLocalObjectData;
newGenericTridionItem.Title = title;
newGenericTridionItem.Metadata = source.Metadata;
//if(GetTridionItemType(newGenericTridionItem.Id) == ItemType.Page)
// newGenericTridionItem.filename;
client.Create(newGenericTridionItem, null);
newItemUri = newGenericTridionItem.Id;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
return newItemUri;
}
private ItemType GetTridionItemType(string uri)
{
const int itemTypeComp = 16;
const int itemTypePage = 64;
const int itemTypeSG = 4;
const int itemTypeFolder = 2;
int itemTypeInt = GetTridionItemTypeId(uri);
switch (itemTypeInt)
{
case itemTypeComp:
return ItemType.Component;
break;
case itemTypePage:
return ItemType.Page;
break;
case itemTypeSG:
return ItemType.StructureGroup;
break;
case itemTypeFolder:
return ItemType.Folder;
break;
}
return ItemType.UnknownByClient;
}
private int GetTridionItemTypeId(string uri)
{
const int itemTypeComp = 16;
string[] uriParts = uri.Split('-');
if (uriParts.Length == 2) // comp, tcm:9-1234
{
return itemTypeComp;
}
else // other, tcm:9-456-64 for a page...
{
int itemTypeId = Int32.Parse(uriParts[2]);
return itemTypeId;
}
}

Answer 1

I have slightly adjusted your code and now it's working:
private string CreateNewItemCopy(string title, RepositoryLocalObjectData source, string filename)
{
string newItemUri = "";
try
{
ItemType tridionItemType = GetTridionItemType(source);
string orgItemUri = source.LocationInfo.OrganizationalItem.IdRef;
if (tridionItemType == ItemType.Component)
{
ComponentData sourceComp = source as ComponentData;
ComponentData newComponent = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType, orgItemUri) as ComponentData;
newComponent.Title = title;
newComponent.Metadata = source.Metadata;
// ** Only Component has .Content and SchemaRef
newComponent.Content = sourceComp.Content;
newComponent.Schema.IdRef = sourceComp.Schema.IdRef;
newItemUri = client.Create(newComponent, new ReadOptions()).Id;
}
else if (tridionItemType == ItemType.Page)
{
PageData sourcePage = source as PageData;
PageData newPage = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType, orgItemUri) as PageData;
newPage.Title = title;
newPage.Metadata = source.Metadata;
// ** Only Page has .Filename
newPage.FileName = filename;
newItemUri = client.Create(newPage, new ReadOptions()).Id;
}
else //I would really like to handle all things here - but have problems with item-specific mandatory properties, such as Schema, Filename, and Dir
{
var newGenericTridionItem = client.GetDefaultData(tridionItemType, orgItemUri) as RepositoryLocalObjectData;
newGenericTridionItem.Title = title;
newGenericTridionItem.Metadata = source.Metadata;
//if(GetTridionItemType(newGenericTridionItem.Id) == ItemType.Page)
// newGenericTridionItem.filename;
newItemUri = client.Create(newGenericTridionItem, new ReadOptions()).Id;
}
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
throw;
}
return newItemUri;
}
private ItemType GetTridionItemType(RepositoryLocalObjectData source)
{
string itemType = source.GetType().Name;
switch (itemType)
{
case "ComponentData":
return ItemType.Component;
case "PageData":
return ItemType.Page;
}
return ItemType.UnknownByClient;
}
But I still don't understand why do you want to do it this way and not use simple Copy method?