How To Create Web Part Page In SharePoint 2013/2016/2019 Programmatically Using CSOM

Basically, CSOM has not exposed any inbuilt functions which will help us in creating web part page template in SharePoint 2013/2016/2019. By using CSOM functions we can create wiki pages, modern pages and also publishing page but we cannot create web part pages.

Basically, CSOM does not expose any inbuilt functions which can help us in creating web part page templates in SharePoint 2013/2016/2019. By using CSOM functions, we can create wiki pages, modern pages and also publishing pages,  but we cannot create web part pages.

 

In this blog post, I am going to use “Web Browser Control” to achieve this task.

 

By using “Web Browser Control”, we can create a webpart page in the destination page library. As we all know, we can create the web part pages by navigating to this URL - “<Site Url>+ /_layouts/15/spcf.aspx” page and there, we are selecting the webpart page name, page layout type, destination library, and then clicking the ‘Create’ button internally to create the page in the destination library location.

 

So in this blog post, I am going to share all code details for how you can invoke the “/_layouts/15/spcf.aspx” page and then how you can set parameters and then submit the page by using “Web Browser Control”.

 

In this example, I am using a WPF application so my design page will have the extension as .xaml.

 

Point 1

 

We have to add a web browser control in the design page, and please make it hidden by default as we are going to use it internally, so the end user cannot see this control.

 

Please refer to the below mentioned code for adding “WebBrowserControl” in design or “.xaml” page.

// adding WebBrowser control in design page
<WebBrowser x:Name="WebBrowserControlCreatePage" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Height="10" Width="10" Visibility="Hidden"/>;
Design Page
<Window x:Class="WpfApp1.MainWindow"
   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
   xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
   xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
   xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
   xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApp1"
   mc:Ignorable="d"
   Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800">
<Grid>
   <Label x:Name="lblStatus" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"></Label>
   <WebBrowser x:Name="WebBrowserControlCreatePage" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Height="10" Width="10" Visibility="Hidden"/>
</Grid>
</Window>

Point  2

 

In the code behind, we have to use the “WebBrowser” control by its “x:Name” as mentioned in the desing page. (E.g x:Name=”WebBrowserControlCreatePage” )

using System;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Threading;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using mshtml;
namespace WpfApp1 {
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MainWindow: Window {
        bool _isPageLoadedSuccessfully = false;
        string _webPartPageName = string.Empty;
        public MainWindow() {
            InitializeComponent();
            //Please enter the site url where you want to create the web part page
            string siteUrl = "http://siteurl";
            //Please enter a valid user name for authentication
            string userName = "Testuser";
            //Please enter valid password for the above user
            string password = "password";
            string headers = string.Empty;
            //const string HTTP = "http://";
            if (userName.Contains("\\")) userName = userName.Split('\\')[1];
            // please enter page name you want to create
            this._webPartPageName = "CreateNewWebPartPage";
            //By navigation to the below url we can create the page programmatically
            Application.Current.Dispatcher.Invoke((Action) delegate {
                headers = "Authorization: Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(userName + ":" + password)) + Environment.NewLine;
                if (siteUrl.StartsWith("http://")) this.WebBrowserControlCreatePage.Navigate(String.Format("http://{0}:{1}@" + siteUrl.TrimEnd('/').Replace("http://", "") + "/_layouts/15/spcf.aspx", userName, password), null, null, headers);#
                region Navigate to the above refered location
                HideScriptErrorPopUp(this.WebBrowserControlCreatePage);
                this.WebBrowserControlCreatePage.LoadCompleted += WebBrowserControlCreatePage_LoadCompleted;#
                endregion
            });
            this.lblStatus.Content = "Please wait...Creating page";
        }#region HideScriptErrorPopUp
        private void HideScriptErrorPopUp(WebBrowser webbrowser) {
            try {
                System.Reflection.FieldInfo fldInfo = typeof(WebBrowser).GetField("_axIWebBrowser2", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic);
                if (fldInfo == null) return;
                object obj = fldInfo.GetValue(webbrowser);
                if (obj == null) return;
                obj.GetType().InvokeMember("Silent", BindingFlags.SetProperty, null, obj, new object[] {
                    true
                });
            } catch {}
        }#endregion
        // This event will execute after webbrowser control loaded the refered location successfully
        # region WebBrowserControlCreatePage_LoadCompleted
        private void WebBrowserControlCreatePage_LoadCompleted(object sender, System.Windows.Navigation.NavigationEventArgs e) {
            HTMLDocument htmlDocument = null;
            try {
                if (!this._isPageLoadedSuccessfully) {
                    htmlDocument = (HTMLDocument) WebBrowserControlCreatePage.Document;
                    CreateWebPartPage(htmlDocument);
                }
            } catch {}
        }
        // This funtuion will create the webpart programmatically using webbrowser
        private void CreateWebPartPage(HTMLDocument htmlDocument) {
            IHTMLElementCollection iHtmlElementColl = null;
            try {
                if (!this._isPageLoadedSuccessfully) {
                    iHtmlElementColl = htmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("input");
                    foreach(IHTMLElement iHtmlElement in iHtmlElementColl) {
                        try {
                            if (iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id") != null & amp; & amp; iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id").ToString().Contains("onetidListTitle")) iHtmlElement.setAttribute("value", this._webPartPageName, 1);
                        } catch {}
                    }
                    iHtmlElementColl = htmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("select");
                    foreach(IHTMLElement iHtmlElement in iHtmlElementColl) {
                        try {
                            if (iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id") != null & amp; & amp; iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id").ToString().Contains("onetidWebPartPageTemplate")) {
                                var dropdown = ((IHTMLElement) htmlDocument.all.item("WebPartPageTemplate"));
                                var dropdownItems = (IHTMLElementCollection) dropdown.children;
                                foreach(IHTMLElement option in dropdownItems) {
                                    // Header, Footer, 3 Columns
                                    option.setAttribute("selected", "selected");
                                    break;
                                }
                            }
                            if (iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id") != null & amp; & amp; iHtmlElement.getAttribute("id").ToString().Contains("onetidDocLibIDSelect")) {
                                var dropdown = ((IHTMLElement) htmlDocument.all.item("List"));
                                var dropdownItems = (IHTMLElementCollection) dropdown.children;
                                foreach(IHTMLElement option in dropdownItems) {
                                    var value = option.getAttribute("value").ToString();
                                    // Please select required library
                                    if (option.innerHTML.ToLower() == "site pages") {
                                        option.setAttribute("selected", "selected");
                                        break;
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        } catch {}
                    }
                    iHtmlElementColl = htmlDocument.getElementsByTagName("input");
                    foreach(IHTMLElement iHtmlElement in iHtmlElementColl) {
                        try {
                            if (iHtmlElement.getAttribute("value") == "Create") {
                                //Internally clicking the OK button to create page
                                iHtmlElement.click();
                                this._isPageLoadedSuccessfully = true;
                                Thread.Sleep(5000);
                                this.lblStatus.Content = "Page Created Successfully";
                                break;
                            }
                        } catch {}
                    }
                }
            } catch {}
        }
    }
}

After the label is changed to “Page Created Successfully”, you can manually check the “Site Pages” library and there, you can find the newly-created webpart page as shown in the below screenshot.