API to download course content

Question

I have used the BDS API to get as far as Content Object schema Plugin extracts to download a CSV file of content:

ContentObjectId,OrgUnitId,Title,ContentObjectType, …

11111111,222222,File,Topic, …

Is there a way to programmatically download, via an API, the ContentObjectId from the OrgUnitId?

Victor.B.4864 · Answer

Hi Alistair,

Brightspace APIs typically return JSON responses containing metadata and references (such as content IDs or URLs). They do not directly provide bulk downloads of the underlying content files.

For a Content TopicHere, is an example of a JSON response:

{

"ActivityId": "https://ids.brightspace.com/activities/contenttopic/Brightspace-357754",

"IsExempt": false,

"DueDate": null,

"Description": {

"Text": "",

"Html": ""

},

"ParentModuleId": 244219,

"OpenAsExternalResource": null,

"TopicType": 1,

"Url": "/content/victor-folder/Media Library image as Iframe.html",

"StartDate": null,

"EndDate": null,

"IsHidden": false,

"IsLocked": false,

"IsBroken": false,

"ActivityType": 1,

"ToolId": null,

"ToolItemId": null,

"GradeItemId": null,

"AssociatedGradeItemIds": [],

"Id": 284475,

"Title": "Media Library image as Iframe?",

"ShortTitle": "",

"Type": 1,

"LastModifiedDate": "2026-03-23T13:01:55.363Z"

}

I hope this meets your needs. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Best regards,

Victor

Alistair.Y.947 · Answer

thanks Ashwin, does that allow me to download the actual content?

Ashwin.R.60 · Answer

Hello @Alistair.Y.947

Thankyou for reaching out to the Brightspace Community.

To programmatically retrieve ContentObjectId values for a given OrgUnitId, you can use the Brightspace Content API:

GET /d2l/api/le/(version)/{orgUnitId}/content/root/

and

GET /d2l/api/le/(version)/(orgUnitId)/content/modules/(moduleId)/structure/

These endpoints return all content modules, topics, and their ContentObjectIds.

You’ll find these under:

Valence API > Learning Environment (LE) > Content

https://docs.valence.desire2learn.com/reference.html

* Get root-level modules

GET /d2l/api/le/(version)/{orgUnitId}/content/root/
* Get the structure of a module (children, topics, submodules)

GET /d2l/api/le/(version)/{orgUnitId}/content/modules/{moduleId}/structure/
* Get topic details (files, links, metadata)

GET /d2l/api/le/(version)/{orgUnitId}/content/topics/{topicId}

These endpoint returns the entire hierarchical content structure including:

Id → ContentObjectId

Title

Type (Module, Topic, Link, etc.)

Child objects

From this response you can extract Id → ContentObjectId

Alternatively, you mentioned you're already pulling the Content Object Schema Plugin (BDS).

BDS is not a live API — it is an asynchronous data export — but it does provide:

ContentObjectId

OrgUnitId

Title

ContentObjectType

etc.

>How to use BDS:

Call Data Hub API to request the dataset download link

Download the CSV

Filter rows by OrgUnitId

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Ashwin Ravi