Add column to SharePoint Online 2013 list via Powershell v3 - sharepoint

Question

Can anybody tell me how to do this? None of the examples I have found seem to work.
My site is https://blah.sharepoint.com/technology and my list is called 'pfa'. I want to add some text columns.
I DO have connectivity with SharePoint Online via my Powershell, as I have managed to get some results back from various commands.
Thanks.

Answer 1

How to provision field in SharePoint Online via CSOM in PowerShell
CSOM API comes with:
FieldCollection.Add method - adds a field to the field
collection
FieldCollection.AddFieldAsXml method - creates a field based on
the specified schema, Boolean value, and field options
to add a list or site column.
The example below demonstrates how to add GeoLocation field into Contacts List:
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.Runtime")
function Provision-Field([Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext]$Context,[string]$ListTitle,[string]$FieldSchema)
{
$list = $Context.Web.Lists.GetByTitle($ListTitle)
$List.Fields.AddFieldAsXml($FieldSchema,$true,[Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.AddFieldOptions]::AddFieldToDefaultView)
$Context.Load($List)
$Context.ExecuteQuery()
}
$UserName = "username#contoso.onmicrosoft.com"
$Password = Read-Host -Prompt "Please enter your password" -AsSecureString
$URL = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/"
$Context = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.ClientContext($URL)
$Credentials = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.SharePointOnlineCredentials($UserName,$Password)
$Context.Credentials = $Credentials
Provision-Field $Context "Contacts" "<Field Type='Geolocation' DisplayName='Location'/>"
How to provision field in SharePoint Online via REST in PowerShell
Endpoints:
http://<site url>/_api/web/fields('<field id>')
http://<site url>/_api/web/lists(guid'<list id>')/fields('<field id>')
The article Consuming the SharePoint 2013 REST API from PowerShell describes how send HTTPS requests to SharePoint REST web services.
Using the Invoke-RestSPO function from the article, the following example demonstrates how to add Note field to List using REST API in PowerShell:
Function Add-SPOField(){
Param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[String]$WebUrl,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[String]$UserName,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$False)]
[String]$Password,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[String]$ListTitle,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[String]$FieldTitle,
[Parameter(Mandatory=$True)]
[System.Int32]$FieldType
)
$fieldMetadata = #{
__metadata = #{'type' = 'SP.Field' };
Title = $FieldTitle;
FieldTypeKind = $FieldType;
} | ConvertTo-Json
$Url = $WebUrl + "_api/web/Lists/GetByTitle('" + $ListTitle + "')/fields"
$contextInfo = Get-SPOContextInfo $WebUrl $UserName $Password
Invoke-RestSPO $Url Post $UserName $Password $fieldMetadata $contextInfo.GetContextWebInformation.FormDigestValue
}
. ".\Invoke-RestSPO.ps1" #InInvoke-RestSPO function
$UserName = "username#contoso.onmicrosoft.com"
$Password = Read-Host -Prompt "Please enter your password"
$WebUrl = "https://contoso.sharepoint.com/"
Add-SPOField -WebUrl $WebUrl -UserName $UserName -Password $Password -ListTitle "Documents" -FieldTitle "Comments" -FieldType 3
References
Fields REST API reference
Consuming the SharePoint 2013 REST API from PowerShell

Answer 2

Here is someone who created a list with the CSOM through PowerShell with SharePoint Oneline http://www.hartsteve.com/2013/06/sharepoint-online-powershell/
The PowerShell stuff for SharePoint online is limited to some basic admin tasks only. When you used the CSOM in PowerShell, you can do a lot more.