2022 - Q3 Newsletter

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This edition will cover the following topics:

• 2022 - Q3 Newsletter
  • Scheduled Maintenance
    • Authentication Security Release - Oct / Nov 2022
    • GedcomX Update Available Now
    • Authentication Identity Provider (IdP) - Coming Soon
  • 2022 Changes
    • GedcomX PersonInfo attributes to be deprecated

Scheduled Maintenance

Authentication Security Release - Oct / Nov 2022

A security patch for the FamilySearch authentication service is anticipated for Production release November 2022. This maintenance release is not anticipated to impact Partner applications and websites. To validate the functionality of new account creation and authentication, please set aside time to test your application in the Integration and Beta environments starting mid-October 2022. More exact dates for these releases will be communicated in coming weeks.

Please refer to FamilySearch Authentication Guide for guidelines on testing the Authentication method appropriate for your application. If your testing reveals issues, don't hesitate contacting devsupport@familysearch.org.

GedcomX Update Available Now

The new version of GedcomX (2.147.0) is now released and available in Maven. The FamilySearch API currently supports these new and deprecated fields in Integration and Beta and will support them in Production the first week in October.

Authentication Identity Provider (IdP) - Coming Soon

The FamilySearch authentication service is planning to support identity providers (IdP) from FaceBook, Google, and Apple by the end of the year. Partners who would like to also utilize IdP for authentication to FamilySearch can be enabled to do so in 2023. Please look for a new Authentication Guide in December for how to leverage this new technology for your users.

2022 Changes

GedcomX PersonInfo attributes to be deprecated

The PersonInfo object (see https://www.familysearch.org/developers/docs/api/types/json_PersonInfo) associated with Person objects will be modified and available for testing the first week in October. The current attributes will be deprecated effective immediately and removed sometime in 2023. Two new Boolean attributes will be added.

• privateSpaceRestricted Boolean (DEPRECATED)
• readOnly Boolean (DEPRECATED)
• visibleToAll Boolean (NEW) – set to TRUE if all FamilyTree users can view this Person
• canUserEdit Boolean (NEW) – set to TRUE if the current authenticated user can write changes for this Person data to FamilyTree