How to: Delete a Managed Property

Article
10/16/2013

The Schema object in the Enterprise Search Administration object model provides access to the managed properties configured for the search service of a Shared Services Provider (SSP). For more information about the Schema object, see Managing Metadata.

The following procedure shows how to programmatically delete a managed property using the Enterprise Search Administration object model in a console application.

To delete a managed property from a console application

In your application, set references to the following DLLs:
- Microsoft.SharePoint.dll
- Microsoft.Office.Server.dll
- Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.dll
In your console application's class file, add the following using statements near the top of the code with the other namespace directives.
```
using Microsoft.SharePoint;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration;
```

Create a function to write out usage information to the console window.

static void Usage()
{
  Console.WriteLine("Delete Managed Properties Sample");
  Console.WriteLine("Usage: DeleteManagedPropertiesSample.exe  PropertyName");
}

In the Main() function of the console application, add code to check the number of items in the args[] parameter; it must equal 1. If it does not, then call the Usage() function defined in Step 3.
```
if (args.Length != 1)
{
Usage();
return;
}
```
Retrieve the value specified in the args[] parameter, to be used to specify the name of the managed property to delete.
```
string strName = args[0];
```
To retrieve the Schema object for the SSP's search context, add the following code. For more information about ways to retrieve the search context, see How to: Return the Search Context for the Search Service Provider.
```
/*
Replace <SiteName> with the name of a site using the SSP
*/
string strURL = "http://<SiteName>";
Schema sspSchema = new Schema(SearchContext.GetContext(new SPSite(strURL)));
```
Retrieve the collection of managed properties by using the following code.
```
ManagedPropertyCollection properties = sspSchema.AllManagedProperties;
```

Determine if the collection of managed properties includes the property specified.

if (properties.Contains(strName))
{
   Console.WriteLine(strName + " property does not exist.  Delete failed.");
   return;
}

If the Contains method returns true, loop through the managed properties, and for each one, check to see if the Name property matches the value of strName.
```
foreach (ManagedProperty property in properties)
{
    if (property.Name == strName)
    {
```

Next, confirm that the property can be deleted by checking the value of the DeleteDisallowed property.

if (property.DeleteDisallowed)
{
   Console.WriteLine("DeleteDisallowed enabled for " + strName + ".  Delete failed.");
   return;
}

If the DeleteDisallowed property returns false, call the DeleteAllMappings method, and then call the Delete method for the property.
```
   property.DeleteAllMappings();
   property.Delete();
   Console.WriteLine(strName + " deleted.");
   return;
 }
}
```

Example

Following is the complete code for the console application class sample.

Prerequisites

Ensure a Shared Services Provider is already created.

Project References

Add the following Project References in your console application code project before running this sample:

Microsoft.SharePoint
Microsoft.Office.Server
Microsoft.Office.Server.Search

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration;
using Microsoft.SharePoint;

namespace DeleteManagedPropertiesSample
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            try
            {
                if (args.Length != 1)
                {
                    Usage();
                    return;
                }
                string strName = args[0];

 /*
Replace <SiteName> with the name of a site using the SSP
*/
   string strURL = "http://<SiteName>";

                Schema sspSchema = new Schema(SearchContext.GetContext(new SPSite(strURL)));
                ManagedPropertyCollection properties = sspSchema.AllManagedProperties;
                if (!properties.Contains(strName))
                {
                    Console.WriteLine(strName + " property does not exist.  Delete failed.");
                    return;
                }
                foreach (ManagedProperty property in properties)
                {
                    if (property.Name == strName)
                    {
                        if (property.DeleteDisallowed)
                        {
                            Console.WriteLine("DeleteDisallowed enabled for " + strName + ".  Delete failed.");
  return;
                        }

                        property.DeleteAllMappings();
                        property.Delete();
                        Console.WriteLine(strName + " deleted.");
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString());
            }
        }

        private static void Usage()
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Delete Managed Properties Sample");
            Console.WriteLine("Usage: DeleteManagedPropertiesSample.exe  PropertyName");
        }
    }
}

How to: Delete a Managed Property

To delete a managed property from a console application

Example

Prerequisites

Project References

See Also

Tasks

Concepts

Additional resources