SharePoint Dragons

Setting default column values for content type columns, the equivalent of [Document Library] > Document Library Settings > Column Default value settings, was surprisingly hard to build in PowerShell. The main gotcha has to do with the fact that you can’t do this via the SPContentType type, instead, you have to do it via the more obscure MetadataDefaults type, located in the Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.dll. Here’s the script:

Cls
Write-Host “Initializing SharePoint PowerShell Environment”

$SnapIn = “Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell”
if ( get-pssnapin $SnapIn -ea “silentlycontinue”)
{
  Write-Host “Remove SharePoint snap-in” 
  remove-pssnapin $SnapIn
}
if ( get-pssnapin $SnapIn -registered -ea “silentlycontinue”)
{
  Write-Host “Add SharePoint snap-in” 
  add-pssnapin $SnapIn
}

Write-Host “Start Setting default value for content type column”

Add-Type -Path ‘c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\ISAPI\Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.dll’
$ProjectWeb = Get-SPWeb -Identity “http://demosrv/sites/Wilmie”
$List = $ProjectWeb.Lists[“1. Project Management”]

$ContentType = $List.ContentTypes[“TestContentType”]

$ColumnDefaults = New-Object -TypeName Microsoft.Office.DocumentManagement.MetadataDefaults $List                 
$ColumnDefaults.SetFieldDefault($List.RootFolder, “TestColumn”, “TestValue from PS”)
$ColumnDefaults.Update()

Write-Host “End setting default value”