I have been working on a SharePoint project that currently requires over a hundred SharePoint lists to contain the data.  Each list consists of the columns from a Content type plus the data from a singe BDC entity.
To set that lot up by hand (which out of the box is the only way) would be far too time consuming. All of my lists exist at the root site level so that each of my various subsites may access them.

This code will create the list with all of the columns from the Content Type and all of the columns from the BDC Entity.  It then updates the default view of the list to show all of these.

This code does use one class that microsoft has marked as do not use in your own application.  But since it is the only way that I have found to get this to work….

Identifying the required using clauses is left as an exercise to the reader.

using System;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.Linq;

using System.Text;

using System.Xml;

using Microsoft.SharePoint;

using Microsoft.Office.Server;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.MetadataModel;

using Microsoft.Office.Server.ApplicationRegistry.Infrastructure;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal;

using Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls;

 

namespace AddSharePointBDCListNS

{

   

    /// <summary>

    /// This console application will add a SharePoint list to a site based upon a content type and a bdc entity.

    /// The content type will contain the key field for the bdc data so that the bdc data can be removed and replaced.

    /// </summary>

    class Program

    {

        /// <summary>

        ///

        /// </summary>

        /// <param name=”args”></param>

        static void Main(string[] args)

        {

           

            if (args.Length != 8)

            {

                Console.WriteLine(“AddSharePointBDCList http://site:1234 listName ssp contentType CoreInstance core.Trade_BigList_v TradeRef Trade”);

            }

            else

            {

                try

                {

                    AddSharePointBDCList(args[0], args[1], args[2], args[3], args[4], args[5], args[6], args[7]);

                }

                catch (Exception ex)

                {

                    Console.WriteLine(ex);

                }

            }

           

        }

 

        static string ObtainBdcFields(string application,

                                      string entity,

                                      string entityTitle)

        {

            LobSystemInstance instance = ApplicationRegistry.GetLobSystemInstanceByName(application);           

            Entity requiredEntity = instance.GetEntities()[entity];

 

            List<string> rawField = new List<string>();

 

            foreach (Field field in requiredEntity.GetFinderView().Fields)

            {

                rawField.Add(field.Name);

            }

 

            rawField.Sort();

            StringBuilder fieldList = new StringBuilder();

            bool isFirst = true;

            foreach (string field in rawField)

            {

                if (!isFirst)

                {

                    fieldList.Append(“:”);

                }

                isFirst = false;

                fieldList.Append(field);

            }

            return fieldList.ToString();

        }

       

        /// <remarks>

        /// This is serious black belt sharepoint.  It required a lot of trial and error to get this far.

        /// I would like to be able to simply pass the application and the entity but have run out of time.

        /// </remarks>

        ///<summary>

        ///<param name=”siteUrl”></param>

        ///

        ///</summary>

        static void AddSharePointBDCList(string siteUrl,

                                         string listName,

                                         string ssp,

                                         string contentType,

                                         string bdcSystemInstance,

                                         string bdcEntity,

                                         string bdcField,

                                         string bdcDisplayField)

        {

            SPSite site;

            try

            {

                site = new SPSite(siteUrl);

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                throw new Exception(“Unable to find site (” + siteUrl + “)”, ex);

            }

           

            SPWeb web = site.OpenWeb();           

 

            SPContentType newCT;

            try

            {

                newCT = web.ContentTypes[contentType];

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                throw new Exception(“Unable to find content type (” + contentType + “)”, ex);

            }

 

            // I have moved these here since it will prevent a list being created if any of the data is wrong.

            try

            {

                SqlSessionProvider.Instance().SetSharedResourceProviderToUse(ssp);

            }

            catch(Exception ex)

            {

                throw new Exception(“Unable to find SSP (” + ssp + “)”, ex);

            }

 

            string rawFields;

 

            try

            {

                rawFields = ObtainBdcFields(bdcSystemInstance, bdcEntity, bdcDisplayField);

            }

            catch (Exception ex)

            {

                throw new Exception(“There is something wrong with at least one of the following:: bdcSystemInstance: ” + bdcSystemInstance + ” bdcEntity: ” + bdcEntity + ” bdcDisplayField: ” + bdcDisplayField , ex);

            }

 

            /* At this point we have all of the data that we need to recreate the lists! */

 

            // You can’t create a list based upon a user-defined content type but you can do this:

            // Add a generic list

            Guid listGuid = web.Lists.Add(listName, listName, SPListTemplateType.GenericList);

            // … Why that did’nt return the list I’ll never know, use the guid instead

            SPList list = web.Lists[listGuid];

 

            // Now mess with the content types:

 

                    SPContentType old = list.ContentTypes[0];

                    list.ContentTypes.Add(newCT);

                    list.ContentTypes.Delete(old.Id);

                    list.Update();

 

            // Now add the missing fields to the view.

            SPView view = list.DefaultView;

                    foreach( SPField field in newCT.Fields)

            {

                                if (!view.ViewFields.Exists(field.InternalName))

                {

                                            view.ViewFields.Add(field);

                }

            }

            view.Update();

 

 

         /* I think that this is now minimal */

         const string contentTemplate = @”<Field Type=’BusinessData’

         DisplayName='{0}’

         Required=’FALSE’         

         StaticName='{0}’

         BaseRenderingType=’Text’

         Name='{0}’

         RowOrdinal=’0′

         SystemInstance='{1}’

         Entity='{2}’

         BdcField='{3}’

         Profile=’/_layouts/ProfileRedirect.aspx?Application={1}&amp;Entity={2}&amp;ItemId=’

         HasActions=’True’

         RelatedField='{4}’         

         RelatedFieldWssStaticName='{4}’         

         AddFieldOption=’AddToDefaultContentType, AddFieldToDefaultView’

         />”;

 

 

            string fieldContent = string.Format(contentTemplate,

                                  bdcDisplayField,                           //0

                                  bdcSystemInstance,                         //1

                                  bdcEntity,                                 //2

                                  bdcField,                                  //3

                                  bdcEntity.Replace(“.”,”_x002e_”) + “_ID”  //4

                                  );

           

            string fieldName = list.Fields.AddFieldAsXml(fieldContent);

            list.Update();

 

            // … You would think that this would be enough, you now need to convince the bdc column to save the

            // bdc specific details.

 

            BusinessDataField busField = list.Fields[fieldName] as BusinessDataField;

            busField.SystemInstanceName = bdcSystemInstance;

            busField.EntityName = bdcEntity;

            busField.BdcFieldName = bdcField;

 

            string[] names = rawFields.Split(new char[1] { ‘:’ });

            busField.SetSecondaryFieldsNames(names);

           

            busField.Profile = string.Format(“/_layouts/ProfileRedirect.aspx?Application={0}&amp;Entity={1}&amp;ItemId=”, bdcSystemInstance, bdcEntity);

            busField.HasActions=true;

 

            busField.Update();           

            list.Update();

                       

            // Lets see if the bdc fields can now be added…

            foreach (SPField field in list.Fields)

            {

                if (!view.ViewFields.Exists(field.InternalName))

                {

                    if (!field.Hidden)

                    {

                        view.ViewFields.Add(field);

                    }

                }

            }

           

            view.Update();

             

        }

    }

}