Understanding api query better - $expand

Question

So im totally new with msgraph api graph explorer.

I believe my question might be towards oData. Im not sure.

How can i understand the API better?

So i wanted to see the names of the items in my onedrive. so i tried using the below call:

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/xxx/list/items

I was not able to see the folders.

I had to do alot of googling and found a site where someone mentioned this below call:

https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/xxx/list/items?$expand=driveItem

My question is, how was i basically suppose to know this 'driveItem' existed in the first place? When i called:
https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0/drives/xxx/list/items

There was no indication there was a driveItem thing to expand.

What other 'things' are there besides driveItem that i can expand?

How can i see them all?

Answer 1

Hello @OldButYoungDev

Thanks for reaching out!

To list drives for a target user, please refer this List Drives documentation.

Endpoint- GET /me/drives or GET /users/{user-id}/drives

To list children of a Drive (driveItems), please refer this documentation. The below endpoints will first List children in the root of the current user's drive and post that you can select any ItemId and expand their children.

Endpoint- GET /me/drive/root/children followed by GET /me/drive/items/{item-id}/children

Hope this helps.

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Answer 2

Hi @OldButYoungDev , here is the documentation of microsoft graph api expand parameter you can refer to: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/query-parameters#expand-parameter.
Hope this helps, wish you all the best.

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