Update / copy View from another View

[LukasSchauffele]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to copy a 'View' from a central template SharePoint site to hundreds of 'project sites'. I've encountered a few issues and would appreciate any guidance.

Here's what I've tried so far:

1. Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate Command:

I used the Invoke-PnPSiteTemplate command, but it copies the entire list, which causes other issues. I couldn't find a handler that only copies views.

2. Get-PnPView / Set-PnPView Command:

I attempted to use Get-PnPView to retrieve the view from the template. However, I could only get the Title, not the actual XML query that makes up the view:

PS > $templateView | Select-Object -Property *     

Aggregations              : 
AggregationsStatus        : 
AssociatedContentTypeId   : 
BaseViewId                : 
CalendarViewStyles        : 
ColumnWidth               : 
ContentTypeId             : 
CustomFormatter           : 
DefaultView               : False
DefaultViewForContentType : 
EditorModified            : 
Formats                   : 
GridInitInfo              : 
GridLayout                : 
Hidden                    : 
HtmlSchemaXml             : 
Id                        : f5960698-266b-45c8-bd04-8d0173c6ad39
ImageUrl                  : 
IncludeRootFolder         : 
ViewJoins                 : 
JSLink                    : 
ListViewXml               : 
Method                    : 
MobileDefaultView         : 
MobileView                : 
ModerationType            : 
NewDocumentTemplates      : 
OrderedView               : 
Paged                     : 
PageRenderType            : 
PersonalView              : False
ViewProjectedFields       : 
ViewQuery                 : 
ReadOnlyView              : 
RequiresClientIntegration : 
RowLimit                  : 
Scope                     : 
ServerRelativePath        : 
ServerRelativeUrl         : /sites/ProjectTemplate-DefaultProject/SalesBids/Forms/Doc status SUPERSEDED.aspx
StyleId                   : 
TabularView               : 
Threaded                  : 
Title                     : Doc status SUPERSEDED
Toolbar                   : 
ToolbarTemplateName       : 
ViewType                  : 
ViewData                  : 
ViewFields                : {DocIcon, LinkFilename, Modified, Editor…}
ViewType2                 : 
VisualizationInfo         : 
Context                   : PnP.Framework.PnPClientContext
Tag                       : 
Path                      : Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ObjectPathIdentity
ObjectVersion             : 
ServerObjectIsNull        : False
TypedObject               : Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.View

Direct XML Copy:

I tried copying the XML directly by exporting the template and finding the View, but the following command results in a broken view:

<View Name="{36A895D6-8774-4822-8CF1-EC6D0729901E}" MobileView="TRUE" Type="HTML" Scope="Recursive" DisplayName="Doc status SUPERSEDED" Url="{site}/Design/Forms/Doc status SUPERSEDED.aspx" Level="1" BaseViewID="1" ContentTypeID="0x" ImageUrl="/_layouts/15/images/dlicon.png?rev=47">
  <Query>
    <GroupBy Collapse="TRUE" GroupLimit="30">
      <FieldRef Name="DocumentCategory" />
    </GroupBy>
    <OrderBy>
      <FieldRef Name="FileLeafRef" />
    </OrderBy>
    <Where>
      <Eq>
        <FieldRef Name="DocumentStatus" />
        <Value Type="Text">Superseded</Value>
      </Eq>
    </Where>
  </Query>
  <ViewFields>
    <FieldRef Name="DocIcon" />
    <FieldRef Name="LinkFilename" />
    <FieldRef Name="Modified" />
    <FieldRef Name="Editor" />
    <FieldRef Name="DocumentCategory" />
    <FieldRef Name="DocumentStatus" />
    <FieldRef Name="AssignedTo" />
  </ViewFields>
  <RowLimit Paged="TRUE">30</RowLimit>
  <Aggregations Value="Off" />
  <JSLink>clienttemplates.js</JSLink>
  <ViewData />
</View>

$ViewQuery = @'
<Query>
  <GroupBy Collapse="TRUE" GroupLimit="30">
    <FieldRef Name="DocumentCategory" />
  </GroupBy>
  <OrderBy>
    <FieldRef Name="FileLeafRef" />
  </OrderBy>
  <Where>
    <Eq>
      <FieldRef Name="DocumentStatus" />
      <Value Type="Text">Superseded</Value>
    </Eq>
  </Where>
</Query>
'@

Set-PnPView -List "Sales and Bids" -Identity "Doc status SUPERSEDED" -Values @{ViewQuery=$ViewQuery} -Connection $siteConnection

I'm also looking for a way to change the URL of a view programmatically. In the GUI, I can change the name before .aspx to update its URL. However, when I tried setting the ServerRelativeUrl using the following command:

Set-PnPView -List $list -Identity $siteView.Id -Values @{ServerRelativeUrl=$newUrl} -Connection $siteConnection

I received this warning:

WARNING: Setting property 'ServerRelativeUrl' to '/sites/6f1a0a968f/SalesBids/Forms/Doc status SUPERSEDED.aspx' failed with exception 'Property set method not found.'. Value will be ignored.

I feel like I'm missing something obvious. Any suggestions on how to achieve this without copying the entire list or ending up with a broken view?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[waaromikniet]

Could you try without the <Query> tag?

$ViewQuery = @'
  <GroupBy Collapse="TRUE" GroupLimit="30">
    <FieldRef Name="DocumentCategory" />
  </GroupBy>
  <OrderBy>
    <FieldRef Name="FileLeafRef" />
  </OrderBy>
  <Where>
    <Eq>
      <FieldRef Name="DocumentStatus" />
      <Value Type="Text">Superseded</Value>
    </Eq>
  </Where>
'@

Set-PnPView -List "Sales and Bids" -Identity "Doc status SUPERSEDED" -Values @{ViewQuery=$ViewQuery} -Connection $siteConnection