How to get random user profiles in SharePoint 2013 restful api?

Question

In SharePoint 2013 restful api, is there a way to put in the url for user profiles, that you want say 5 random items from the target list? I don't want to download the whole thing and then take 5 random things from that.

Thanks

Answer 1

I am not aware of OData supporting any random like methods. I fear you need to do this in at least two http requests. For example:

1. Fetch the Id of the users on the site. The filter ignores the system account.

   /_api/Web/SiteUserInfoList/Items?$select=Id&$filter=Id lt 1073741823
   

2. Next step is to pick out random people.

   var items = d.results.items,
       numPeople = 5,
       peopleIds = [];
   
   // if we don't have enough people we simply select all the Ids available
   if (items.length < numPeople) {
       for (var i = 0; i < items.length; i++) {
           peopleIds.push(items[i].Id);
       }
   
   // otherwise we loop until we have the amount of people we want
   } else {
       while (peopleIds.length < numPeople) {
           var person = items[Math.floor(Math.random() * items.length)];
           // make sure the Id doesn't exist from before
           if (peopleIds.indexOf(person.Id) === -1) {
               peopleIds.push(person.Id);
           }
       }
   }
   

3. Last step is to use the selected Ids to query the rest of the profile information we need.

   // using join and the Ids to build the filter
   '/_api/Web/SiteUserInfoList/Items?$filter=Id eq ' + peopleIds.join(' or Id eq ')
   

I realize this isn't ideal if you have thousands of users. But limiting the selected data to a minimum, then doing the randomization logic, then fetching the specific users we wish to know about might just do it.

I guess it will never happen, but in case there are no users, I'd add some sanity checks along the way, especially on the last step.