Create a Component and save it in a particular Folder with TOM Interop (Tridion 2009)

Question

i'm trying to create a new component using the TOM.NET API. i managed to find a block of code which seems to fit with my expectations but i have some questions:

        TDSE tdse = new TDSE();
        tdse.Impersonate(@"tridion\aramet");
        tdse.Initialize();

        Component myNewComp = new Component();
        myNewComp.Title = "hello";
        myNewComp.Schema = 
        myNewComp.Content = 
        myNewComp.OrganizationalItem = 
        myNewComp.Save(true);

1. What is the right syntax to set the Schema property (the tcm of my schema )
2. Problem with the Content property (is this supposed to be a XDocument ? what about the structure?)

   Error 1 'Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDS.Component' does not contain a definition for 'Content' and no extension method 'Content' accepting a first argument of type 'Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDS.Component' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) C:\Users\aramet\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\APITOMNET\APITOMNET\WebForm1.aspx.cs 23 23 APITOMNET

3. OrganizationalItem property seems to be used to provide the folder in which i want my component to be saved, what is the right syntax ?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Answer 1

In SDL Tridion 2009, you need to use the TOM (Interop) API to create new items, this differs from the TOM.NET API (since the TOM.NET API in 2009 was read-only).

So you have to work from the TDSE like this:

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDS;  
using Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDSDefines;
using ItemType = Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDSDefines.ItemType;

{
  TDSE tdse = new TDSE();
  tdse.Impersonate(@"domain\user");
  tdse.Initialize();

  // read Schema tcm:1-3-8
  Schema schema = (Schema)tdse.GetObject("tcm:1-3-8", EnumOpenMode.OpenModeView, Constants.URINULL, XMLReadFilter.XMLReadData);

 // create new Component, in Folder tcm:1-2-2
  Component comp = (Component)tdse.GetNewObject(ItemType.ItemTypeComponent, "tcm:1-2-2", Constants.URINULL);

  comp.Title = "new title";
  comp.Schema = schema;
  // etc. follow the examples in the TOM API guide, don't mix this with the TOM.NET API

  comp.Save(true);
  if (comp.Info.IsCheckedOut)
  {
     comp.CheckIn();
  }

  // release objects
  ReleaseCom(schema);
  ReleaseCom(comp);
  ReleaseCom(tdse);
}

private static void ReleaseCom(object instance)
{
  if (instance != null)
  {
    try
    {
      Marshal.ReleaseComObject(instance);
    }
    catch
    {
      /* log potential memory leak */
    }
  }
}

You really need to only look at the TOM API guide, and don't even include the TOM.NET DLLs as references in our project, since that will just confuse you.

Note the Component class used in your example and mine are different, I'm using a Tridion.ContentManager.Interop.TDS.Component, and that is also what you need to use. Don't use a Tridion.ContentManager.CommunicationManagement.Component, since that will be a read-only object.

For more examples on how to work with the TOM API, you could take a look at the old powertools, these are written in ASP VBScript, and you will need to translate that to TOM Interop (C#), but it should already give you a general idea.