How to get 'Layout' for a work item type from DevOps API?

Question

I need to fetch layout info for work items. I'm familiar with the following API https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/processes/layout/get?view=azure-devops-rest-5.1 but I always get the same error back from it, reading "VS403115:You cannot modify form layout information for work item types ... in process ... as these work item types are locked."

While I understand what the error means, I'm just trying to READ the layout data, rather than modify it. I did double check that the request is a GET, and I tried different versions of the API (4.x, 5.x)

Answer 1

You get this error is because you are trying to get layout for a default process template. This API is using to get the full work item form layout for a process using inherited customization.

If you try to get layout for a inherited process template, you'll get a successful response.

The following link explains this API:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/azure/devops/processes/layout?view=azure-devops-rest-5.0