In this article, we are going to see the steps to create an index to a SharePoint field using C#. Indexing is a data structure which is used to quickly locate and access the data in the database table. The Client-Side Object Model (CSOM) is used internally for these operations.

Why Indexed columns?

Step 1

Open Visual Studio, go to File -> New -> and select Project.

SharePoint

Step 2

In Templates select Visual C#, select Console App (.Net Framework) and giveappropriate name in name text box and then click ok button

SharePoint

Step 3

Step 4

Open the program.cs file and type the below code

Program.cs

  1. using System;
  2. using System.Collections.Generic;
  3. using Microsoft.SharePoint.Client;
  4. namespace SPField_Indexing {
  5. class Program {
  6. static void Main(string[] args) {
  7. try {
  8. SPHelper sphelper = new SPHelper();
  9. string url = "", userName = "", password = "";
  10. Console.WriteLine("Please enter site url:");
  11. url = Console.ReadLine();
  12. Console.WriteLine("Please enter username:");
  13. userName = Console.ReadLine();
  14. Console.WriteLine("Please enter password:");
  15. password = Console.ReadLine();
  16. if (url != null && userName != null && password != null) {
  17. sphelper.doIndexing(url, userName, password);
  18. }
  19. } catch (Exception) {
  20. throw;
  21. }
  22. }
  23. }
  24. class SPHelper {
  25. public void doIndexing(string SiteUrl, string UserName, string Password) {
  26. OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager authMgr = new OfficeDevPnP.Core.AuthenticationManager();
  27. using(var clientContext = authMgr.GetSharePointOnlineAuthenticatedContextTenant(SiteUrl, UserName, Password)) {
  28. if (clientContext != null) {
  29. //Give list name to select the list
  30. string listName = "HubflyTeam";
  31. //Give the filed names to be indexed
  32. List < string > FieldName = new List < string > () {
  33. "NameHF",
  34. "LocationHF"
  35. };
  36. List list = clientContext.Web.Lists.GetByTitle(listName);
  37. clientContext.Load(list);
  38. clientContext.ExecuteQuery();
  39. foreach(string fields in FieldName) {
  40. Field field = list.Fields.GetByTitle(fields);
  41. field.Indexed = true;
  42. field.Update();
  43. clientContext.ExecuteQuery();
  44. }
  45. Console.WriteLine("SharePoint Field Indexed Successfully!");
  46. Console.ReadLine();
  47. }
  48. }
  49. }
  50. }
  51. }
Step 5

Run the project using the F5 function key. Enter the Site URL, Username and Password to access the SharePoint Site,

SharePoint

Step 6

Open the list setting like the below Snapshot.

SharePoint

Drag down and click Indexed columns like the below snapshot,

SharePoint

That's it, SharePoint Field has been indexed successfully.

SharePoint

Thus, you have seen steps to create SharePoint field index programmatically using C# code. Feel free to fill up the comment box below if you need any assistance.