Unify Certificate Generation and Regeneration APIs into a Single Endpoint

[awais786]

These apis can be converted into one single api.

Currently, we have three separate API endpoints for initiating certificate-related tasks:

edx-platform/lms/djangoapps/instructor/views/api_urls.py

Line 84 in 8fac3bc

path('enable_certificate_generation', api.enable_certificate_generation, name='enable_certificate_generation'),

enable_certificate_generation - enables or disables self-generated certificates for students.
start_certificate_generation – starts generation for all enrolled students.
start_certificate_regeneration – regenerates certificates based on provided certificate_statuses.

All endpoints perform similar operations (triggering background tasks for a course), but differ slightly in required input and logic. To simplify API usage, reduce duplication, and improve maintainability, we propose merging both endpoints into a single unified API.

Proposed Changes:

Introduce a unified API endpoint:
/certificate_task/<course_id>

Use a mode parameter in POST data to determine the action:

generate
regenerate
toggle


You'll also need to update the frontend code to replace all usages of the old endpoints with the new unified API.

[wgu-ram-chandra]

Hi @awais786,

Here is a refactor plan to resolve this issue:
We'll introduce a new unified API endpoint at /certificate_task that handles certificate toggling, generation, and regeneration using a mode parameter (toggle, generate, regenerate). To ensure backward compatibility, existing endpoints will be kept as-is for now.

Next Steps:
PR 1: Add unified API and duplicate existing test class with minor tweaks to support the new endpoint.
PR 2: Update frontend to use the unified endpoint and remove references to the legacy ones.

Let me know if there’s anything that should be adjusted!

Thanks!