XML API TIPS: Principals-delete with Obfuscation

New in Adobe Connect 9.8 is user information obfuscation with the principals-delete API.

The principals-delete API (original web service documentation) now supports an additional parameter that will allow Administrators to obfuscate (permanently de-identify) the user’s information in the database when the user is deleted.  The information that is obfuscated  includes the personally identifiable information like name, email address, and login. Without this additional parameter specified in the API call, the principals-delete API works as it always has, in that it will simply disable the user in the database, but the user’s name, email address, and login remain in tact.

The new parameter works as below:

https://{connectURL}/api/xml?action=principals-delete&principal-id=xxxxxxx&obfuscate=true

where:

principal-id=  – the principal-id of the user you want to delete
‘obfuscate=true’ – to delete the user AND permanently obfuscate their information in the database

** note: the default behavior is ‘obfuscate=false’.  It is not required to specify an obfuscate value unless you are setting it to ‘true’.

Response:

<results>
<status code="ok"/>
</results>

Additionally, there is only one obfuscate parameter that is passed with the API call.  Because the principals-delete API allows multiple principal-ids to be passed in the same request (to delete multiple users at once), it is important to understand that all principal-id values sent with a request will take the same obfuscate parameter value.  If there are differences between users in whether they are going to be de-identified or not, then the solution is to call this API once for regular users (default obfuscate=false) and once with the principal-id list that needs de-identification (obfuscate=true).

An example of a request for 3 users to be deleted and have their information obfuscated:

https://{connectURL}/api/xml?action=principals-delete&principal-id=xxxxxxx&principal-id=xxxxxxxx&principal-id=xxxxxxxx&obfuscate=true