(Cloud) Tip of the Day: Azure Active Directory GraphApi

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Today’s Tip…

Microsoft Azure Active Directory Graph API Client library provides easy to use functionality for your applications to programmatically access your directory information from Azure Active Directory.

To install Microsoft Azure Active Directory Graph Client Library, run the following command in the Package Manager Console

PM> Install-Package Microsoft.Azure.ActiveDirectory.GraphClient

You can do some pretty cool stuff in Azure Active Directory using Graph API such as…

  • Queries: You can query information in your directory such as company information, contacts, users, groups, roles, subscriptions, and directory metadata. For more information, see Azure AD Graph API Common Queries
  • Write: You can use the Graph API to perform create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) operations on directory data and objects such as users, groups, contacts, and applications. For more information, see Windows Azure AD Graph REST API Reference.
  • Differential Query: If you want to check for changes in a directory between two time periods without having to make frequent queries to the Graph API, you can make a differential query request. This type of request will return only the changes made between the previous differential query request and the current request. For more information, see Azure AD Graph API Differential Query.
  • Directory Extensions: If you are developing an application that needs to read or write unique properties for directory objects, you can register and use extension values by using the Graph API. For example, if your application requires a Skype ID property for each user, you can register the new property in the directory and it will be available on every user object. For more information, see Azure AD Graph API Directory Schema Extensions.