Paging through non-paged results in MS Graph API

Paging through non-paged results in MS Graph API

When using the Microsoft Graph API to retrieve data, you may encounter situations where the result set is too large to be returned in a single response. In such cases, the API uses a technique called paging to split the results into multiple pages. This article will guide you on how to handle paging through non-paged results in the MS Graph API.

Understanding Paging in MS Graph API

Paging is a mechanism used by the MS Graph API to divide large result sets into smaller pages. Each page contains a subset of the total results and includes a link to the next page. By following these links, you can retrieve all the data in a paginated manner.

When you make a request that returns multiple results, the API response will include a @odata.nextLink property. This property contains the URL to the next page of results. To retrieve the next page, you need to make another request to this URL.

Handling Paging in MS Graph API

Now, let's see how you can handle paging when working with the MS Graph API.

1. Make an initial request to the API endpoint to retrieve the first page of results. For example, if you are querying for a list of users, you would make a request to https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users.

  GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users
  Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
  

2. Check if the API response contains a @odata.nextLink property. If it does, it means there are more pages to retrieve.

  {
    "@odata.nextLink": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users?$skiptoken=..."
  }
  

3. If a @odata.nextLink property is present, make another request to the URL specified by the property value to retrieve the next page of results.

  GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users?$skiptoken=...
  Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
  

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until there are no more pages to retrieve. Each time you make a request to the @odata.nextLink URL, you will receive the next page of results.

Example: Paging through User data

Let's consider an example where you want to retrieve a list of all users in your organization using the MS Graph API.

  GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users
  Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
  

The API response will contain a list of users along with a @odata.nextLink property if there are more users to retrieve.

  {
    "value": [
      {
        "id": "user1",
        "displayName": "John Doe"
      },
      {
        "id": "user2",
        "displayName": "Jane Smith"
      },
      ...
    ],
    "@odata.nextLink": "https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users?$skiptoken=..."
  }
  

To retrieve the next page of users, make a request to the @odata.nextLink URL.

  GET https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/users?$skiptoken=...
  Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
  

Continue making requests to the @odata.nextLink URL until there are no more pages to retrieve.

Conclusion

Paging through non-paged results in the MS Graph API allows you to retrieve large result sets in a manageable manner. By following the @odata.nextLink links provided in the API responses, you can easily navigate through the pages and retrieve all the data you need. Remember to handle paging appropriately in your code to ensure you retrieve the complete result set.