SharePoint Event Receiver types

There are basically two types of event receivers: Synchronous and Asynchronous e
vent receivers.Synchronous event receivers are also known as Before event receiver
s. They are used to perform some custom action before an event occurs. In this c
ase, there is a flexibility of cancelling the event on some conditions so that t
he event that gets initiated will not occur.
Asynchronous event receivers are also known as After event receivers. They are use
d to perform some custom action after an event occurs. These events are asynchro
nous because they need not happen immediately after the event is performed. They
can happen sometime later also, unlike synchronous event receivers which occur
immediately before an event occurs.
3. Classes of Event Receivers
There are fundamentally five classes for Event Receivers for SharePoint 2007.
Microsoft.SharePoint.SPEmailEventReceiver : This provides event handling wheneve
r a user sends an email to a list on which e-mail feature is enabled
Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeatureReceiver : This provides event handling whenever
is feature is acted upon
Microsoft.SharePoint.SPItemEventReceiver : This provides event handling whenever
any action is performed on a list item
Microsoft.SharePoint.SPListEventReceiver : This provides event handling whenever
a list definition is modified like adding or deleting columns and modifying exi
sting columns.
Microsoft.SharePoint.SPWebEventReceiver : This provides event handling whenever
a site or a site collection is deleted or moved
Each of the classes has some virtual methods which are to be over-ridden to perf
orm our custom action. Those methods are as follows.
3.1 Site Level Events
Methods under the class SPWebEventReceiver handle site level events. A brief ove
rview of those methods is as follows.
Site Deleted This occurs after a site collection is deleted.
Site Deleting
This occurs before a site collection is being deleted.
Web Deleted This occurs after a website has been deleted completely. This is an
asynchronous after event.
Web Deleting This occurs before a website is deleted. This is a synchronous befo
re event.
Web Moved
This occurs after an existing website is moved. This is an asynchronou
s after event.
Web Moving This occurs before a website is moved. This is a synchronous event.
3.2 List Level Events
Methods under the class SPListEventReceiver handle list level events. A brief ov
erview of those methods is as follows.
Field
Field
Field
Field
Field
Field

Added
This occurs after a field link is added to a list.
Adding This occurs when is field is being added to a content type.
Deleted
This occurs after a field is deleted from a list.
Deleting This occurs when a field is being deleted from a list.
Updated
This occurs after a field is updated in a list.
Updating This occurs when a field is being updated in a list.

3.3 Item Level Events

Methods under the class SPItemEventReceiver handle item level events. A brief ov
erview of those methods is as follows.
ItemAdded
This occurs after a new item is added to a list. This is an asynchrono
us after event.
ItemAdding This occurs before an item is added to a list. This is a synchronous
before event.
ItemAttachmentAdded
This occurs after an attachment is added to a list. This is
an asynchronous event.
ItemAttachmentAdding This occurs while an attachment is being added to a list.
ItemAttachmentDeleted
This occurs after an attachment is removed from an item.
ItemAttachmentDeleting This occurs while an attachment is being removed from an
item.
ItemCheckedIn
This occurs after an item is checked in.
ItemCheckedOut This occurs after an item is checked out.
ItemCheckingIn This occurs while an item is being checked in.
ItemCheckingOut
This occurs while an item is being checked out.
ItemDeleted This occurs after an item is deleted from its list.
ItemDeleting This occurs while an item is being deleted from its list.
ItemFileConverted
This occurs when the type of file is being converted.
ItemFileMoved This occurs after a file is moved.
ItemFileMoving This occurs while a file is being moved.
ItemUncheckedOut This occurs after un-checking an item in a list.
ItemUncheckingOut
This occurs while an item is being unchecked.
ItemUpdated This occurs after an item is updated.
ItemUpdating This occurs while an item is being updated.
Remote Event Receivers
3.4 Feature Events
Methods under the class SPFeatureReceiver handle events related to feature. A br
ief overview of those methods is as follows.
FeatureActivated
This occurs after a
FeatureDeactivating
This occurs when
FeatureInstalled This occurs after a
FeatureUninstalling
This occurs when

feature is activated.
a feature is being deactivated.
feature is installed.
a feature is being uninstalled.

3.5 Email Events

Method under the class SPEmailEmailEventReceiver handles the event related to em
ail. A brief overview of the method is as follows.
EmailReceived This occurs after an email message has arrived (to an email enable
d list).
4. Binding the Event Receivers
For the event receivers to receive an event, they should be bound to the corresp
onding objects. This binding can be done in three ways.
Using a feature
Using a content type
Using WSS object model
4.1 Using Feature
In the feature, the elements.xml file should be as follows.
<Elements xmlns= http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/ >

<Receivers ListTemplateId= 100 >

<Receiver>
<Name>VideoAddedEventReceiver</Name>
<Type>ItemAdded</Type>
<SequenceNumber>20000</SequenceNumber>
<Assembly>MyProject.MyModule.Events, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKey
Token=0b231a5ff63cd9fa</Assembly>
<Class>MyProject.MyModule.Events.VideoAddedEventReceiver</Class>
<Data></Data>
<Filter></Filter>
</Receiver>
..
</Receivers>
</Elements>
Any number of receivers can be bound through one feature.
Limitation: Site level events cannot be registered/bound through the feature bec
ause we cannot associate a ListTemplateId with a site.
4.2 Using Content Type
In a content type, the elements.xml file should be as follows.
<Elements xmlns= http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/ >
<ContentType ID= id Name= name Group= GroupName Description= Description of content type
sion= 0?>
<FieldRefs>
<FieldRef ID= FIELD ID Name= FIELD NAME />
</FieldRefs>
<XmlDocuments>
<XmlDocument NamespaceURI= http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/events >
<spe:Receivers xmlns:spe= http://schemas.microsoft.com/sharepoint/events >
<Receiver>
<Name> VideoAddedEventReceiver </Name>
<Type> ItemAdded </Type>
<SequenceNumber>20000</SequenceNumber>
<Assembly> MyProject.MyModule.Events, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKe
yToken=0b231a5ff63cd9fa </Assembly>
<Class> MyProject.MyModule.Events.VideoAddedEventReceiver</Class>
<Data></Data>
<Filter></Filter>
</Receiver>
</spe:Receivers>
</XmlDocument>
</XmlDocuments>
</ContentType>
</Elements>
The same limitation of using feature applies to content type also because a conten
t type cannot be associated with a site.
Sequence Number determines when the event receiver should get executed in case i
f more than one event receivers are about to be executed. An event receiver with
greater sequence number gets executed after its counterpart with lesser sequenc
e number.

4.3 Using WSS object model

The below is a sample code how an event receiver is bound with a list.
public override void FeatureActivated(SPFeatureReceiverProperties properties)
{
SPWeb web = properties.Feature.Parent as SPWeb;
web.Lists[ Video Library ].EventReceivers.Add(
SPEventReceiverType.ItemAdded,
MyProject.MyModule.Events, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0b231
a5ff63cd9fa ,
MyProject.MyModule.Events.VideoAddedEventReceiver );
}
In the above code, the custom class VideoAddedEventReceiver of type ItemAdded is bou
nd with a list named Video Library .
5. Unbinding SharePoint Event Receiver
Event receiver bound with the help of content type cannot be unbound.
If the event receiver was bound with the help of a feature, deactivating the fea
ture would unbind the event receiver from its associated object.
If the event receiver was bound using WSS object model,
1. Move to the object (site collection or website or list) to which the event re
ceiver is bound.
2. Retrieve the event receiver definition of the intended event receiver.
3. EventReceiverDefinitionObject.Delete().
4. Call the update of that object (site collection or website or list).