1. SharePoint Architect & Developer
Advanced REST API & SharePoint: Manage Permissions with Workflows (SharePoint Online, SharePoint Designer)
Nicholas Miller
SharePoint Architect & Developer

2. Agenda Brief Review of the Rest API & Web Services
Preparation for building Workflows using Web Services
Manage List/Library Item Permissions via Rest
Concept of Central Mapping List for User Access
Lessons Learned
Questions

3. Brief Review of the Rest API & Web Services

4. Examples of Rest API in IE Role Definitions (All Fields)

5. Examples of Rest API in IE Role Definitions (Select Properties)

6. Examples of Rest API in IE SharePoint List (All Properties)

7. Examples of Rest API in IE SharePoint List (Select Data)

8. Workflow Designer – Properties
“Call HTTP Web Service” Action
Address – String
RequestType – Built in selection for:
HTTP DELETE
HTTP GET
HTTP POST
HTTP PUT
RequestHeaders – Dictionary
RequestContent – Leave Blank on most Web Service Calls
ResponseContent – Dictionary
ResponseHeaders – Dictionary
ResponseCode - String
The variables for this action can be used extensively for debugging. After your web service call, you can yourself with this information to see what data was returned and any errors normally not seen. The Results are returned in JSON.

9. E-mail Example for Debugging

10. Preparation for building workflows using Web Services

11. Method to the Madness 60% Design, 30% Develop, 10% Deploy
T.O.T.B.  Think Outside The Box
Start with the “Pie in the Sky” for the Business User, as most project’s scope tends to creep
Map out Current and Future States
Identify sub-workflow processes (if needed)
Identify potential hazards
Embrace 3rd Party Applications for SharePoint
Plumsail (
Plumsail – Workflow Actions Pack (
SharePoint Designer 2013 Platform workflows only
30% Develop
Develop each part of the sub-workflow processes prior to developing main workflow to ensure success
Plan your logic cleanly
Use History List logging and s for debugging
10% Deploy
Deploy finished product into your production environment, test with business users, and walk-away successful

12. Method to the Madness 60% Design, 30% Develop, 10% Deploy Tips & Reminders
Stages, Steps, & Variables are your Best Friends!
Build & Set your variables first
RestURLs, Permission Levels, String-Variables for items retrieved from dictionaries, various dictionaries for the Call Action, String-Variables for Security/SharePoint Group IDs, etc.
Taking the time to build and use variables in your workflow in the beginning makes updating and trouble-shooting easy
Organize your Stages and Steps to keep actions together
Enable the “App Step” feature in your site, as you will need it
POST calls require the App Step
GET calls require NOT to be in an App Step

13. Method to the Madness 60% Design, 30% Develop, 10% Deploy Tips & Reminders
Use to debug the Rest Call
Build 1 Rest Call, and test until it is right, then Copy and paste the reminder of the calls, changing the variables
Log to the History list during initial development, but remove most of them when deploy to minimize the number of Outbound Workflow Service calls
Limit of 5,000 Outbound request to the Workflow Service, per workflow instance, per SharePoint Site in a 24-hour period (KB )
24-hour clock starts when the instance is created
Final Stage should be “Log End of Workflow”
This allows you to set the workflow status to “Complete”, along with entering any final logging

14. Manage List/Library Item Permissions via Rest

15. Move into SharePoint Designer and build out the workflow

16. Concept of Central Mapping Lists for User Access

17. Holiday Communities & Accesses
4 Districts
32 Regions
308 Communities
All Communities, Regions, and Districts have specific access requirements maintained by AD Security Groups. Having a mapping list with these groups populated makes using the Web Service action assigning specific access dynamic and automated across a multitude of SharePoint lists, Libraries, and customized InfoPath Forms.

18. Example of using Rest API in obtaining Specific District/Region/Community Access

19. Example of Permission Updates Using REST Lookup
Move into SharePoint Designer to show the workflow and demo in SPList

20. Lessons Learned

21. Use OneNote for quick reference Workflow Service throttling
Get_RequestHeaders dictionary specifics, RestURLs, frequently used Security and SharePoint Group IDs, Permission Level IDs (Role Definitions ), etc.
Workflow Service throttling
GET requests return batches of 100, so using loops and count actions are needed updating lists with more than 100 items.
Build 1 Web Service call, publish, and test with debugging
Ensure you have given your workflows the appropriate permissions
Iron out all the wrinkles with your first call from errors, getting items from dictionaries, etc.
Once satisfied, build out the other Web Service calls
Use Stages and Steps to group the types of calls
GET requests and Individual Items from that call
POST requests (in an App Step) together
Log to the history list at the end of each step to ensure the workflow is hitting all areas needed for the specific scenario

22. Questions???

23. Nicholas Miller SharePoint Architect & Developer Holiday Retirement