Create field in SharePoint programmatically using CSOM (Not with XML)

Question

Is it possible to create fields in SharePoint with CSOM, not using XML?

I've seen many examples using XML, but none with just setting properties for the field programmatically?

fields.Add(new **FieldCreationInformation** {
    InternalName = "Test",
   etc..
});

Answer 1

That's doable, in the following example is introduced a FieldCreationInformation class:

[XmlRoot("Field")]
public class FieldCreationInformation
{
    [XmlAttribute("ID")]
    public Guid Id { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute()]
    public string DisplayName { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute("Name")]
    public string InternalName { get; set; }

    [XmlIgnore()]
    public bool AddToDefaultView { get; set; }


    //public IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, string>> AdditionalAttributes { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute("Type")]
    public FieldType FieldType { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute()]
    public string Group { get; set; }

    [XmlAttribute()]
    public bool Required { get; set; }


    public string ToXml()
    {
        var serializer = new XmlSerializer(GetType());
        var settings = new XmlWriterSettings();
        settings.Indent = true;
        settings.OmitXmlDeclaration = true;
        var emptyNamepsaces = new XmlSerializerNamespaces(new[] { XmlQualifiedName.Empty });

        using (var stream = new StringWriter())
        using (var writer = XmlWriter.Create(stream, settings))
        {
            serializer.Serialize(writer, this, emptyNamepsaces);
            return stream.ToString();
        }
    }



    public FieldCreationInformation()
    {
        Id = Guid.NewGuid();
    }

}

and then extension method for creating a new field:

public static class FieldCollectionExtensions
{
    public static Field Add(this FieldCollection fields, FieldCreationInformation info)
    {
        var fieldSchema = info.ToXml();
        return fields.AddFieldAsXml(fieldSchema, info.AddToDefaultView, AddFieldOptions.AddFieldToDefaultView);
    }
}

Usage

var fieldInfo = new FieldCreationInformation();
fieldInfo.FieldType = FieldType.Geolocation;
fieldInfo.InternalName = "ContactsLocation";
fieldInfo.DisplayName = "Contacts Location";
ctx.Site.RootWeb.Fields.Add(fieldInfo);
ctx.ExecuteQuery();

Answer 2

When I add fields with CSOM/JSOM I use the method on the FieldCollection AddFieldAsXml. This requires you to build a string of xml with all of the properties for the desired field, but it works. I included an excerpt of the related cpde below:

Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Web web = _context.Web;
FieldCollection fields = web.Fields;
_context.Load(fields);
_context.ExecuteQuery();

Field field = fields.FirstOrDefault(f => f.StaticName == _staticName);

if (field == null)
{
    Field createdField = fields.AddFieldAsXml(xml, false, AddFieldOptions.AddToNoContentType);
    _context.Load(createdField);
    _context.ExecuteQuery();

}

Similar code is used if you would like to add a field directly to an existing list.