When switching the development model from SharePoint server OM to SharePoint Apps (CSOM), there is one important feature that we are missing: the User Profile Changes API (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ms517376(v=office.14).aspx ).

In an on premise environment there is still a way to implement this using server OM but in cloud environments there is no way to do it.

Apparently the only way of synchronizing SharePoint user profiles or handle user profile changes in the App model is doing a brute-force full scan using CSOM, which is a much less performant approach. Is this the way how MS currently recommends to face this business requirement?

We have tried the workaround of consuming the http://xxxx-admin.sharepoint.com/vtibin/UserProfileChangeService.asmx from the App context, but it was not successful.

Please consider adding this functionality to the PeopleManager module, or provide a workaround to get subscribed to user profile changes.

Here’s an idea I had a while ago based on a conversation I had with some of the other SharePoint MVPs: expose the REST endpoints and documentation right in the UI for those who have the appropriate permissions. It could be a little icon at the bottom of any page where there are relevant end points. All content is security trimmed anyway, so no one is going to see an endpoint they can’t use (though if they can fathom the docs they can know what endpoints there are available).

Think about it:

You’re on a List Settings page, and you can see the endpoint for that

You’re on a workflow status page…

You’re in Central Admin on the Create Site Collection page…

You’re on a Term Set Administration page…

You’re on a List View page…

All of the APIs are more obtuse than they need to be. In many cases, the docs are either very long-winded without explaining basic operations or just content stubs. By adding these direct connections from the matching UI pages, it would:

Satisfy the developer needs for easy to understand documentation

Educate appropriate [power] users about how to talk to the devs about what they want

Potentially get telemetry to Microsoft about what people want in the APIs and their docs

There’s far too much of the “I can’t look it up in the dictionary until I know how to spell it already” going on with the APIs in SharePoint in general – going back to the SOAP Web Services and beyond. The platform needs to be more open, not less. Adding these direct links to the REST endpoints and their docs would be an incredibly powerful step in that direction.

(Taken from my blog post at http://sympmarc.com/2014/08/01/renegade-idea-expose-rest-endpoints-in-the-sharepoint-ui/)

We use the following call to create a site field:

    $.ajax({

        url: appweburl + "/_api/SP.AppContextSite(@target)/web/fields?@target='" + hostweburl + "'",

        type: "POST",

        data: JSON.stringify({

            '__metadata': { 'type': 'SP.Field' },

            'FieldTypeKind': fieldType, 'InternalName': fieldInternalName, 'Title': fieldDisplayName, 'Group': fieldGroup, 'Required': fieldRequired, 'Hidden': fieldHidden

        }),

        headers: { "accept": "application/json;odata=verbose", "content-type": "application/json;odata=verbose", "X-RequestDigest": $("#__REQUESTDIGEST").val() },

        success: function (data) { console.log("Custom field successfully created");},

        error: function (err) { alert(JSON.stringify(err)); }

    })

However, the internal name is not set to the parameter fieldInternalName. It seems that the internal name is also set to the display name and suffix. Would it be possible to specify the internal field name via REST?

Thanks!