SharePoint List – Column name

Column names in SharePoint lists, doesn’t changes internally while modifying. Rather it changes the name in view alone. (SQL table as list & views as user views). Whenever we access the list item value programmatically, the display name is used to refer the field.

SPList li=new SPList();

SPItem item =li.Items[0];

item.Fields[strdisplayname].GetFieldValue();

But in some cases like adding event receiver to the list the internal name o f the field name (Underlying name) is used. It can be found by right clicking the column name and noting the url.

http://xxx/Docs/_layouts/FldEdit.aspx?List=%7B7B782235%2DDBCC%2D49D1%2D907E%2D85F3C434CA47%7D&Field=Status

The name might sometime look like Database_x0020_Name which need to be xml decoded at time of programming. Use xml decoding like this

XmlConvert.DecodeName(properties.ListItem.Fields[“Fieldname”].StaticName)

Happy programming.