Saving Time and Effort with the QuickBase APISergio Haro

How does this help you?

Integration – Export/Import data from external sources (SQL / MS Access)

– Automate data entry

– Mash-ups (Add QuickBase data to other websites)

– See upcoming presentations ‘Connecting QuickBase with Databases’ and ‘Website Integration with QuickBase ‘

Custom Business Logic– Pull data to perform custom logic

– Insert calculated data back

Custom UI– Build your own app or website with QuickBase as your backing store

– Bypass the native UI to simplify or expand its capabilities

Jump-Start with SDK @ code.intuit.com

Browser-Based• JavaScript

- Good for db-pages (beware of cross-domain policy if using on external websites)- http://intuitlabs.com/apps/yql-and-intuit-quickbase (Getting around cross-domain)- See upcoming sessions ‘Magic Buttons’ and ‘Building a QuickBase Mobile Application’

Scripting Languages• Ruby

- http://www.ruby-lang.org- Object-oriented scripting language- Write scripts in your favorite text editor- See upcoming session ‘Integrating with QuickBase Web Services’

• VB- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/- Build VB scripts in Visual Studio (Windows only)

• Perl- http://www.perl.org/- Write scripts in your favorite text editor

General Programming Languages• C#

- http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/- Build C#apps in Visual Studio (Windows only)

• Java- http://java.sun.com/- Build Java apps with your favorite IDE (Eclipse, NetBeans, etc)

How does it work?

You QuickBase

HTTP (GET or POST)

XML

HTTP Request

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main

HTTP Request

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main

• HeadersHost: www.quickbase.comUser-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflateAccept-Charset: UTF-8,*Keep-Alive: 300Connection: keep-alive

HTTP Request

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main

• HeadersHost: www.quickbase.comUser-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3Accept: text/html,application/xhtml+xml,application/xml;q=0.9,*/*;q=0.8Accept-Language: en-us,en;q=0.5Accept-Encoding: gzip,deflateAccept-Charset: UTF-8,*Keep-Alive: 300Connection: keep-alive

• Bodyfoobar=true&type=unknown

Components of an API Call

1. Scope• Set in the URL• Dependent on Action

Components of an API Call

1. Scope

2. Action to perform

3. Parameters for action

Scope

1. Main– https://www.quickbase.com/db/main

2. App– https://www.quickbase.com/db/{app_id}

3. Table– https://www.quickbase.com/db/{table_id}

Components of an API Call

1. Scope

2. Action to perform• Set in the URL, Headers, or Body

Action

• HeaderQUICKBASE-ACTION: API_AddRecord

• URLQuery string: “a=API_AddRecord”https://www.quickbase.com/db/b4ds?a=API_AddRecord

• Body <qdbapi>

<action>API_AddRecord</action></qdbapi>

Components of an API Call

1. Scope

2. Action to perform

3. Parameters for action• Set in the URL and/or Body• Dependent on action• Encoded as XML or Form

Parameters for Action (API_FindDBByName)

Parameter: Valuedbname: Test APIticket: kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6apptoken: asfkhlk35rnl4nn

XML Parameters

<qdbapi><dbname>test API</dbname><ticket>kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6</ticket><apptoken>asfkhlk35rnl4nn<apptoken>

</qdbapi>

XML Parameters

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main

• HeadersContent-Type: application/xmlContent-Length: 76QUICKBASE-ACTION: API_FindDBByName

• Body<qdbapi>

<dbname>test API</dbname><ticket>kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6</ticket><apptoken>asfkhlk35rnl4nn<apptoken>

</qdbapi>

Form Parameters

dbname=test%20API&ticket=kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6&apptoken=asfkhlk35rnl4nn

Form Parameters

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main

• HeadersContent-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencodedContent-Length: 76QUICKBASE-ACTION: API_FindDBByName

• Body dbname=test%20API&ticket=kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6&apptoken=asfkhlk35rnl4nn

GET Request

• URLPOST http://www.quickbase.com/db/main?a=API_FindDBByName&dbname=test%20API&ticket

=kiedzc4rtab8gqdr6&apptoken=asfkhlk35rnl4nn

• HeadersContent-Type: text/html

• Body

What will I get back?

<?xml version="1.0" ?><qdbapi><action>API_FindDBByName</action><errcode>0</errcode><errtext>No error</errtext><dbid>57pa5vjf</dbid><dbname>Test API</dbname>

</qdbapi>

Example

09-15 02:49:58.550 I366aswux2 Process: Req: 0.013 [LB: 0.003 WS: 0.004 Q: 0.004] Bytes=[R: 0 W: 24957] Uid=56752832 OP=/db/main

• Date• Time• Request ID• Logging Function• Request Time• Load Balancer time• App Server time• Queue time• Bytes Read• Bytes Written• User ID• URL

Example

Main Script Tasks:1. Get lines from input2. Parse lines3. Calculate Statistics4. Upload Statistics

Example - Create Request

string action; // Get POST data string data = addRecord(stats, out action);

// Create HTTP Request string url = “http://www.quickbase.com/db/” + dbid; HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);

// Set HTTP Headers webRequest.Method = "POST"; webRequest.ContentType = "application/xml"; webRequest.Headers.Add("QUICKBASE-ACTION", action);

// Write Body byte[] postBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data); webRequest.ContentLength = postBytes.Length; Stream postStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream(); postStream.Write(postBytes, 0, postBytes.Length); postStream.Close();

Example - Create Body

// Create Root Document action = "API_AddRecord";

XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); XmlElement root = doc.CreateElement("qdbapi");

XmlElement child;

// Add Field child = doc.CreateElement("field"); child.SetAttribute("fid", "6"); child.InnerText = stats.webServerAverage.ToString(); root.AppendChild(child);

…

// Add App token child = doc.CreateElement("apptoken"); child.InnerText = "ye6wbdh59j7rbsf3txbd679ha7"; root.AppendChild(child);

doc.AppendChild(root);

StringWriter sw = new StringWriter(); XmlTextWriter tx = new XmlTextWriter(sw); doc.WriteTo(tx);

return sw.ToString();

Example - Create Request

string action; // Get POST data string data = addRecord(stats, out action);

// Create HTTP Request string url = “http://www.quickbase.com/db/” + dbid; HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);

// Set HTTP Headers webRequest.Method = "POST"; webRequest.ContentType = "application/xml"; webRequest.Headers.Add("QUICKBASE-ACTION", action);

// Write Body byte[] postBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data); webRequest.ContentLength = postBytes.Length; Stream postStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream(); postStream.Write(postBytes, 0, postBytes.Length); postStream.Close();

Example - Create Request

string action; // Get POST data string data = addRecord(stats, out action);

// Create HTTP Request string url = “http://www.quickbase.com/db/” + dbid; HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);

// Set HTTP Headers webRequest.Method = "POST"; webRequest.ContentType = "application/xml"; webRequest.Headers.Add("QUICKBASE-ACTION", action);

// Write Body byte[] postBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data); webRequest.ContentLength = postBytes.Length; Stream postStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream(); postStream.Write(postBytes, 0, postBytes.Length); postStream.Close();

Example - Create Request

string action; // Get POST data string data = addRecord(stats, out action);

// Create HTTP Request string url = “http://www.quickbase.com/db/” + dbid; HttpWebRequest webRequest = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);

// Set HTTP Headers webRequest.Method = "POST"; webRequest.ContentType = "application/xml"; webRequest.Headers.Add("QUICKBASE-ACTION", action);

// Write Body byte[] postBytes = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(data); webRequest.ContentLength = postBytes.Length; Stream postStream = webRequest.GetRequestStream(); postStream.Write(postBytes, 0, postBytes.Length); postStream.Close();

Resources

• Developer Resources– http://quickbase.intuit.com/developer/

• API Guide (old)– https://www.quickbase.com/up/6mztyxu8/g/rc7/en/

API’S YOU SHOULD KNOW

API_Authenticate

Parameters:

– username– password

API_AddRecord

Parameters:

– Field (name=“Field Name” or fid=“14”)– apptoken– ticket

API_EditRecord

Parameters:

– rid– Field (name=“Field Name” or fid=“14”)– apptoken– ticket

API_DoQuery

Parameters:

– query/qid/qname– clist– slist– apptoken– ticket