There are no ready made functions for that. One approach would be to use the File node to read your flows file to get the data.
One issue you'll hit is that your flows file doesn't include the flow credentials. They are stored separately in a file alongside your flow file (same filename, but with _creds added) and you'd have to include both in the request. The ability to do this was only just added in 1.0.4 and the api docs haven't been updated to reflect it yet. If that is something you want to pursue, then I'll try to get the docs updated this week.
No - there is no way for different users to have different views. If one user deploys changes, the other user needs to merge them into their workspace before they can deploy anything. This prevents one user from overwriting another user's work. It isn't the nicest workflow and an area I want to improve.
@Chris this is off topic, so if you want to continue your part of the discussion, please do start a new topic. I will say the concept of locking flows is still just that - a concept. As for the x/y co-ordinates - if you are generating a flow without using the editor then its up to you to give your nodes suitable x/y co-ordinates.
