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  • 1.  Add record from external application using AddRecord API

    Posted 01-16-2018 19:35
    I'm relatively new to using APIs in my app, so forgive me if this is a REALLY simple thing. But basically I'm trying to put together a table that when a user "adds" a record by entering an order number into a field on the form, an API makes a call to an external app (that I've verified accepts API calls) and retrieves info for that order number, then adds it to the record, then displays it to the user. So the Quick Base app is basically functioning as a search/retrieve interface for the external application, in addition to logging all search requests.

    Is this even possible? And if so, where should I start?


  • 2.  RE: Add record from external application using AddRecord API

    Posted 01-16-2018 20:07
    I've used zapier.com to accomplish similar tasks. Essentially, zapier is a point-and-click integration engine that connects any two web-accessible apps that both have APIs. For some apps, including Quick Base, they pre-built some typical intergations. For your purposes you would probably build a "zap" with these "tasks" (zapier lingo for an integration with these steps):
    1. Every 15 minutes, zapier queries Quick Base to see if there is a new row (record) in your table.
    2. A webhook Get queries your external app with URL that contains fields from the Quick Base record.
    3. A filter continues only if the webhook was successful.
    4. A webhook makes a call to your table in Quick Base, with a=api_editrecord and field-values written from data found in step 2
    5. Optionally, you might use another filter as the final "task" to check whether the Quick Base api response exactly matches "No error"
    One limitation is that zapier limits the number of zaps per 15-minute interval to about 100. Post a reply here if you'd like some ideas for working around this problem.

    Finally, a totally different strategy would be to copy (some portion of) your order data into a Quick Base table using "connected data" ... To get an idea how this might work, start creating a new table "using connected data" and see if any of the options might work (e.g., your relevant order data gets dumped periodically to a CSV file somewhere.) Again, write back here if this seems more promising than zapier.