Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops REST APIs

How to start or stop recording of a session in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

August 16, 2023

Contributed by:

Use REST APIs to start or stop recording of a session in your Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops site. Follow the prerequisites and examples to get started with this API. You can make API requests using the PowerShell code, C# code, Python, or any tool that supports invoking the REST API.

Prerequisites to start or stop recording of a session

Read the Learning journey for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops APIs section to ensure that you have the bearer token.
Get siteid from How to get site id API.
Get id of the session to be recorded from How to perform an advanced search for sessions API.
Install the session recording environment. For more information, see Session Recording
Invoke the API described in this document from a client host or from the API exploration tab to start or stop recording a virtual app or desktop session.

Start or stop recording of a session using any REST API tool

Learn from the following example to get recording status of a session using any REST API tool.

Session Recording enables IT personnel to monitor and examine user activity. It also supports internal controls for regulatory compliance and security monitoring. Similarly, Session Recording also aids in technical support by speeding problem identification and time-to-resolution.

Request to start recording a session

POST https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{id}/$startRecording HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Authorization: CWSAuth bearer=<token-from-prerequisites>
Citrix-CustomerId: loy6oujtu6a4
Citrix-InstanceId: 22ded57c-0306-47e4-b6e8-fed6252759e1
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Request to stop recording a session

POST https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{id}/$stopRecording HTTP/1.1
Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
Authorization: CWSAuth bearer=<token-from-prerequisites>
Citrix-CustomerId: loy6oujtu6a4
Citrix-InstanceId: 22ded57c-0306-47e4-b6e8-fed6252759e1
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Response to start or stop recording a session

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
citrix-transactionid: 44399a9e-18ea-4c16-b549-811fa252c7b6
content-length: 1746
content-Type: application/json; charset=utf-8
date: Tue,15 Mar 2022 08:07:17 GMT

{
    "Id": "313b84bb-2b66-4393-ad7b-3e08dccb4fd0",
    "Uid": 9,
    "ApplicationsInUse": [],
    "AppState": "Desktop",
    "AppStateLastChangeTime": "3/15/2022 7:41:46 AM",
    "FormattedAppStateLastChangeTime": "2022-03-15T07:41:46Z",
    "Brokering": {
        "AutonomouslyBrokered": false,
        "DurationMilliseconds": 249,
        "Time": "3/15/2022 7:41:15 AM",
        "FormattedTime": "2022-03-15T07:41:15Z",
        "UserName": "XF4B5\\Administrator",
        "UserSid": "S-1-5-21-3498310158-745772606-2686472752-500"
    },
    "Client": {
        "DeviceId": "WR_pp-gSk41sXlCJjiAJ",
        "HardwareId": "2C771263",
        "IPAddress": "10.12.14.48",
        "Name": "testpc",
        "Platform": "Windows",
        "ProductId": 1,
        "ReceiverIPAddress": "103.14.252.249",
        "ReceiverName": "WR_pp-gSk41sXlCJjiAJ",
        "Version": "22.2.0.4525"
    },
    "Connection": {
        "ConnectedViaHostName": null,
        "ConnectedViaIP": "10.108.96.166",
        "ConnectionMode": "Brokered",
        "LaunchedViaHostName": "",
        "LaunchedViaIP": null,
        "Protocol": "Hdx",
        "SecureIcaActive": false,
        "SmartAccessTags": []
    },
    "ContainerScopes": [
        {
            "Scopes": [
                {
                    "Id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
                    "Uid": null,
                    "Name": "All",
                    "Description": null,
                    "IsBuiltIn": true,
                    "IsAllScope": true,
                    "IsTenantScope": false,
                    "TenantId": null,
                    "TenantName": null
                }
            ],
            "ScopeType": "MachineCatalog"
        },
        {
            "Scopes": [
                {
                    "Id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
                    "Uid": null,
                    "Name": "All",
                    "Description": null,
                    "IsBuiltIn": true,
                    "IsAllScope": true,
                    "IsTenantScope": false,
                    "TenantId": null,
                    "TenantName": null
                }
            ],
            "ScopeType": "DeliveryGroup"
        }
    ],
    "EstablishmentDurationMilliseconds": 30607,
    "EstablishmentTime": "3/15/2022 7:41:46 AM",
    "FormattedEstablishmentTime": "2022-03-15T07:41:46Z",
    "IsAnonymousUser": false,
    "IsHidden": false,
    "LogoffInProgress": false,
    "LogonInProgress": false,
    "Machine": {
        "Uid": 1,
        "AgentVersion": "2109.0.0.31047",
        "AllocationType": "Random",
        "ApplicationsInUse": null,
        "AssignedUsers": null,
        "AssociatedUsers": null,
        "AzureAdJoinedMode": "Unknown",
        "ContainerScopes": null,
        "ControllerDnsName": null,
        "DeliveryGroup": {
            "Id": "ca0d41c4-700b-49b1-aad9-42db9dcbee59",
            "Uid": 1,
            "Name": "WinOS"
        },
        "DeliveryType": null,
        "Description": null,
        "DesktopConditions": null,
        "DnsName": "W2K22-VDA.lab01",
        "Hosting": {
            "HostedMachineId": null,
            "HostedMachineName": null,
            "HostingServerName": null,
            "LastHostingUpdateTime": null,
            "FormattedLastHostingUpdateTime": null,
            "HypervisorConnection": {
                "Id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000",
                "Uid": null,
                "Name": null
            },
            "ImageOutOfDate": false
        },
        "InMaintenanceMode": false,
        "DrainingUntilShutdown": false,
        "IPAddress": "10.108.56.131",
        "IsAssigned": null,
        "MachineType": "Physical",
        "LastConnectionFailure": null,
        "LastConnectionTime": null,
        "FormattedLastConnectionTime": null,
        "LastConnectionUser": null,
        "LastDeregistrationReason": null,
        "LastDeregistrationTime": null,
        "FormattedLastDeregistrationTime": null,
        "LastErrorReason": null,
        "LastErrorTime": null,
        "FormattedLastErrorTime": null,
        "LoadIndex": null,
        "MachineUnavailableReason": "Unknown",
        "OSType": "Windows 2022",
        "OSVersion": null,
        "PersistUserChanges": "OnLocal",
        "PowerActionPending": null,
        "PowerState": "Unknown",
        "ProvisioningType": "Manual",
        "PublishedApplications": null,
        "PublishedName": null,
        "RegistrationState": null,
        "ScheduledReboot": "Unknown",
        "SessionClientAddress": null,
        "SessionClientName": null,
        "SessionClientVersion": null,
        "SessionConnectedViaHostName": null,
        "SessionConnectedViaIP": null,
        "SessionCount": null,
        "SessionLaunchedViaHostName": null,
        "SessionLaunchedViaIP": null,
        "SessionProtocol": null,
        "SessionSecureIcaActive": null,
        "SessionSmartAccessTags": null,
        "SessionStartTime": null,
        "FormattedSessionStartTime": null,
        "SessionState": null,
        "SessionStateChangeTime": null,
        "FormattedSessionStateChangeTime": null,
        "SessionSupport": "MultiSession",
        "SessionUserName": null,
        "Sid": null,
        "SummaryState": "InUse",
        "WillShutdownAfterUse": null,
        "WindowsConnectionSetting": null,
        "Zone": {
            "Id": "41d64c14-03ac-4aba-9e0a-436d50e50fea",
            "Uid": null,
            "Name": "My Resource Location"
        },
        "SupportedPowerActions": null,
        "FaultState": "Unknown",
        "ContainerMetadata": null,
        "Tags": null,
        "UpgradeType": null,
        "UpgradeState": null,
        "UpgradeDetail": null,
        "Id": null,
        "MachineCatalog": {
            "Id": "818f479e-ac7b-46eb-a08c-435b26407ee3",
            "Uid": 1,
            "Name": "W2K22"
        },
        "Name": "XF4B5\\W2K22-VDA"
    },
    "SessionType": "Desktop",
    "StartTime": "3/15/2022 7:41:45 AM",
    "FormattedStartTime": "2022-03-15T07:41:45Z",
    "State": "Active",
    "StateChangeTime": "3/15/2022 7:41:46 AM",
    "FormattedStateChangeTime": "2022-03-15T07:41:46Z",
    "UntrustedUserName": "lab01\\administrator",
    "User": {
        "DisplayName": "",
        "SamName": null,
        "SamAccountName": null,
        "CommonName": null,
        "PrincipalName": "",
        "Oid": null,
        "Sid": "S-1-5-21-3498310158-745772606-2686472752-500",
        "GroupSids": null,
        "DenyOnlySids": null,
        "PasswordCanExpire": null,
        "DaysUntilPasswordExpiry": null,
        "IsBuiltIn": null,
        "IsGroup": null,
        "Name": "XF4B5\\Administrator",
        "StreetAddress": null,
        "City": null,
        "State": null,
        "Country": null,
        "Mail": null,
        "TelephoneNumber": null,
        "HomePhone": null,
        "Mobile": null,
        "Enabled": null,
        "Locked": null,
        "PropertiesFetched": 0,
        "Claims": null,
        "Directory": null,
        "Domain": null,
        "Forest": null,
        "Guid": null,
        "DistinguishedName": null,
        "CanonicalName": null,
        "PossibleLookupFailure": false,
        "DirectoryServer": null
    }
}
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Start or stop recording of a session using PowerShell

Learn from the following example to start or stop recording of a session using any PowerShell code.

function StartSessionRecording {
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $customerid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $siteid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $sessionid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $bearerToken
    )
    $requestUri = [string]::Format("https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{0}/`$startRecording", $sessionid)
    $headers = @{
        "Accept" = "application/json";
        "Authorization" = "CWSAuth Bearer=$bearerToken";
        "Citrix-CustomerId" = $customerid;
        "Citrix-InstanceId" = $siteid;
   }

    $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $requestUri -Method POST -Headers $headers -ContentType "application/json"
    return $response
}
$customerId = "customer1"
$siteId = "61603f15-cdf9-4c7f-99ff-91636601a795"
$sessionId = "56f1cbf3-1cc6-40cd-9c82-c95633ba88bb"
$bearerToken = "ey1.."
$response = StartSessionRecording $customerid $siteid $sessionId $bearerToken 

function StopSessionRecording {
    param (
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $customerid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $siteid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $sessionid,
        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)]
        [string] $bearerToken
    )
    $requestUri = [string]::Format("https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{0}/`$stopRecording", $sessionid)
    $headers = @{
        "Accept" = "application/json";
        "Authorization" = "CWSAuth Bearer=$bearerToken";
        "Citrix-CustomerId" = $customerid;
        "Citrix-InstanceId" = $siteid;
    }

    $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $requestUri -Method POST -Headers $headers -ContentType "application/json"
    return $response
}

$customerId = "customer1"
$siteId = "61603f15-cdf9-4c7f-99ff-91636601a795"
$sessionId = "56f1cbf3-1cc6-40cd-9c82-c95633ba88bb"
$bearerToken = "ey1.." 
$response = StopSessionRecording $customerid $siteid $sessionId $bearerToken 
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Start or stop recording of a session using C# code

Learn from the following example to start or stop recording of a session using any C# code.

public static async Task<string> StartSessionRecording(
    string customerid,
    string siteid,
    string bearerToken,
    string sessionid)
{
    var requestUri = $"https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{sessionid}/$startRecording";
    using (var client = new HttpClient())
    {
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.ParseAdd("application/json");
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Citrix-CustomerId", customerid);
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Citrix-InstanceId", siteid);
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("User-Agent", "c# App");
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("CwsAuth", "bearer=" + bearerToken);

        var response = await client.PostAsync(requestUri, null);

        if (response != null)
        {
            var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            return content;
        }

        return null;
    }
}
var task = StartSessionRecording(customerId, siteid, bearerToken, sessionid);
var result = task.Result;
string jsonFormat = JValue.Parse(result).ToString(Formatting.Indented);

public static async Task<string> StopSessionRecording(
    string customerid,
    string siteid,
    string bearerToken,
    string sessionid)
{
    var requestUri = $"https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{sessionid}/$stopRecording";
    using (var client = new HttpClient())
    {
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Accept.ParseAdd("application/json");
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Citrix-CustomerId", customerid);
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("Citrix-InstanceId", siteid);
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Add("User-Agent", "c# App");
        client.DefaultRequestHeaders.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("CwsAuth", "bearer=" + bearerToken);

        var response = await client.PostAsync(requestUri, null);

        if (response != null)
        {
            var content = await response.Content.ReadAsStringAsync();
            return content;
        }

        return null;
    }
}
var task = StopSessionRecording(customerId, siteid, bearerToken, sessionid);
var result = task.Result;
string jsonFormat = JValue.Parse(result).ToString(Formatting.Indented);
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Start or stop recording of a session using Python

Learn from the following example to start or stop recording of a session using any Python code.

import requests 

def StartSessionRecording(bearerToken, customerid, sessionid, siteid):
    request_uri = "https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{0}/$startRecording".format(sessionid)
    headers = {
                'Authorization': 'CWSAuth Bearer=%s' % bearerToken,
                'Citrix-CustomerId': customerid,
                'Citrix-InstanceId': siteid,
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
                'Accept': 'application/json'
              }

    response = requests.post(request_uri, headers = headers)

    return response.json()

def StopSessionRecording(bearerToken, customerid, sessionid, siteid):
    request_uri = "https://[DdcServerAddress]/cvad/manage/Sessions/{0}/$stopRecording".format(sessionid)
    headers = {
                'Authorization': 'CWSAuth Bearer=%s' % bearerToken,
                'Citrix-CustomerId': customerid,
                'Citrix-InstanceId': siteid,
                'Content-Type': 'application/json',
                'Accept': 'application/json'
              }

    response = requests.post(request_uri, headers = headers)

    return response.json()
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The official version of this content is in English. Some of the Cloud Software Group documentation content is machine translated for your convenience only. Cloud Software Group has no control over machine-translated content, which may contain errors, inaccuracies or unsuitable language. No warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, is made as to the accuracy, reliability, suitability, or correctness of any translations made from the English original into any other language, or that your Cloud Software Group product or service conforms to any machine translated content, and any warranty provided under the applicable end user license agreement or terms of service, or any other agreement with Cloud Software Group, that the product or service conforms with any documentation shall not apply to the extent that such documentation has been machine translated. Cloud Software Group will not be held responsible for any damage or issues that may arise from using machine-translated content.

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Resources

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops REST APIs OpenAPI Specification

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How to start or stop recording of a session in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

August 16, 2023

Contributed by:

August 16, 2023

Contributed by:

How to start or stop recording of a session in Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops

Prerequisites to start or stop recording of a session

Start or stop recording of a session using any REST API tool

Request to start recording a session

Request to stop recording a session

Response to start or stop recording a session

Start or stop recording of a session using PowerShell

Start or stop recording of a session using C# code

Start or stop recording of a session using Python

Resources

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops REST APIs OpenAPI Specification

In this article

Resources

Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops REST APIs OpenAPI Specification