Change Query Does Not Have Editor, EditorEmailHint, or EditorLoginName Fields Populated

[adamfisher]

I'm attempting to generate a change report similar to the change history report that's built into Admin center but not exactly like it. I'm trying to output the list of changes occurring each week.

So I need to figure out:

1. How to dynamically update the timestamp on the change token? Do I just update the last segment which appears to be a timestamp?
2. How do I get the editor fields to be included in the change query response?

This is the code I have so far:

ChangeTokenOptions changeToken = new("CHANGE_TOKEN_HERE");

IList? watchPath = await _sharePointContext.Web.Lists.GetByServerRelativeUrlAsync(WatchPath);

IList<IChange> allChanges = await watchPath.GetAllChangesAsync(new ChangeQueryOptions()
{
	Add = true,
	Move = true,
	Restore = true,
	DeleteObject = true,
	RecursiveAll = true,
	Item = true,
	FetchLimit = 2000,
	IgnoreStartTokenNotFoundError = true,
	ChangeTokenStart = changeToken
});

List<IChange> changes = allChanges
	.Where(c => c.ChangeType != ChangeType.SystemUpdate
				&& c is IChangeItem changeItem
				&& changeItem.IsPropertyAvailable<IChangeItem>(p => p.ListId)
				&& changeItem.IsPropertyAvailable<IChangeItem>(p => p.ItemId))
	.ToList();

The problem is all of the editor fields are null when you try to determine who made the change. The example code below returns a single empty string for editors and a single null record for the edtiorsEmailHints. The editorLoginNames complains "Property EditorLoginName was not yet loaded".

var editors = allChanges.Select(c => ((IChangeItem)c).Editor).Distinct().Order().ToList();
var editorEmailHints = allChanges.Select(c => ((IChangeItem)c).EditorEmailHint).Distinct().Order().ToList();
var editorLoginNames = allChanges.Select(c => ((IChangeItem)c).EditorLoginName).Distinct().Order().ToList();

[adamfisher]

I did try iterating over each item and seeing if I could just access the "Author" or "Editor" fields instead but not sure if this is ideal over just getting values back for the editor fields on the actual change item?

foreach (IChange change in changes)
{
	IChangeItem changeItem = (IChangeItem) change;

	IList? list = await _sharePointContext.Web.Lists.GetByIdAsync(changeItem.ListId,
		p => p.Fields.QueryProperties(
			p => p.InternalName,
			p => p.FieldTypeKind,
			p => p.TypeAsString,
			p => p.Title));

	IListItem item = await list.Items.GetByIdAsync(changeItem.ItemId,
		li => li.FieldValuesAsText,
		li => li.File.QueryProperties(f => f.Name, f => f.ServerRelativeUrl),
		li => li.Folder.QueryProperties(f => f.Name, f => f.ServerRelativeUrl));

	if (item == null)
	{
		continue;
	}

	// These contain user models but most fields on them are null
	var author = list.Fields.AsRequested().FirstOrDefault(p => p.InternalName == "Author");
	var editor = list.Fields.AsRequested().FirstOrDefault(p => p.InternalName == "Editor");
}

[adamfisher]

I came up with a hacky approach to this that involves checking a variety of places for an editor name and then falling back to the author's (creator) name on the item I looked up (denoted by item) if the changeItem did not contain an editor which it never does.

// Editor
if (changeItem.IsPropertyAvailable<IChangeItem>(p => p.Editor) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(changeItem.Editor))
{
	EditorName = changeItem.Editor;
}
else if (!isFolder && item.File.ModifiedBy != null)
{
	EditorName = item.File.ModifiedBy.Title;
}
else if (item.FieldValuesAsText.Values.TryGetValue("Editor", out object? editor))
{
	EditorName = editor as string;
}
else if(item.FieldValuesAsText.Values.TryGetValue("Author", out object? author))
{
	EditorName = author as string;
}

// EditorEmail
if (changeItem.IsPropertyAvailable<IChangeItem>(p => p.EditorEmailHint) && !string.IsNullOrEmpty(changeItem.EditorEmailHint))
{
	EditorEmail = changeItem.EditorEmailHint;
}
else if (!isFolder && item.File.ModifiedBy != null)
{
	EditorEmail = item.File.ModifiedBy.Mail;
}