Improved Azure AD Graph API and Client libraries for .Net, Android, iOS and much more!

First published on CloudBlogs on Jan, 06 2015
Howdy folks, We're starting off the year with two pieces of news for developers writing apps for Azure AD:

1.       A new set of Azure AD Graph client libraries for .Net, Android and iOS

2.       An updated version of the Azure AD Graph REST API (version 1.5)

Client libraries for Android, iOS and more

Among the many new features that were showcased recently at TechEd Europe 2014, the one we are the most excited about is the new Office 365 REST APIs and SDKs , that make it easy for developers to build applications for .Net, Android and iOS . To compliment that announcement, we've released a new version of Azure AD Graph API, along with a new Azure AD Graph client library (version 2.0).  This new library has the same consistent signature as the Office 365 client libraries, and is supported on the same platforms. So now, Visual Studio developers can write applications that use AD Authentication Library, Graph and Office 365 APIs using C# code, targeting Windows Phone, Windows Store, and MVC web apps. But wait - there's more! Through Xamarin, that same code can now target Android and iOS. Additionally, as well as native Graph client libraries on both Android and iOS, we now have support for integrated development environments outside of Visual Studio!  Android developers, you can now preview connecting your applications to cloud services like Graph and Office 365, using IntelliJ or Android Studio , just like .Net developers do with Visual Studio.  To find out more please see our more extensive blog post on Azure AD Graph client library 2.0

Azure AD Graph REST API version 1.5

Underpinning our new Graph API client library are a number of updates to our next version of Azure AD Graph API, api-version=1.5.  With this release we've opened up a new set of scenarios for developers:

1.      Authorize access to your applications based on group claims or application specific roles claims present in tokens. Through Graph API you can now:

a.       Configure the group membership claims issuance policy for an application

b.      Define roles specific to your application.  These roles can be chosen when assigning the application to users, groups or service principals, either programmatically or through the Azure Management Portal.  When the user signs in to the application the user token will contain a roles claim with any of the application roles the user was assigned to - either directly or indirectly through group assignment.

2.       Expose your application as a web API secured by Azure AD by defining OAuth2.0 permission scopes.  These permission scopes may then be chosen by client applications that call your web API.

3.       Directory Extensions is now released for General Availability, with a new additional capability that differential query will now respond with any changes to schema extended properties too.

To find out more please see our more extensive blog post on Azure AD Graph api-version=1.5 I hope those of you who are developers will find these enhancement to the Azure AD Graph API and client library useful! And as always, we'd love to receive any feedback or suggestions you have.   Best Regards, Alex Simons (Twitter: @Alex_A_Simons ) Director of Program Management Microsoft Identity and Security Services Division