API Format in Actions Project

Motivation

This blog focusses on the concept and usability of API Formats within an Action of the Actions Project.

Parent Blog

Actions Editor – Feature List, Usage and Maintenance of Actions Project

Concept and Need

Actions Project allows the citizen developer to add a format type to the parameters of the input/output tables. The format can be chosen from the API Format column of these tables. These API formats help to understand the specific data-type format for the parameter that is to be passed to invoke the API.

API Formats are introduced to bridge the gap between the date/time formats that the Action Designer expects and the formats that are internally accepted by the API.

Example:

1. Click on the API Format selection box of the specific Action Parameter for which a format needs to be specified as shown in figure 1.

Figure 1: Expanding API Format selection box

2. Choose the appropriate format from the API Format selection box. This change will be reflected as shown in figure 2.

Figure 2: Select a specific API Format for an Action Parameter

3. Add a value based on the format selected as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Input a Value corresponding to the API Format selected

Behavior for Input and Output API Format

When an API format is selected for input parameters, the Action Service will expect a consumer value, and the service will convert them to the specified format types to make the API call.

When an API format is selected for output parameters, the Action Service will convert the response from the selected format type and return the result to the citizen developer in the form of a consumer value.

These behaviors are illustrated in figure 4.

Figure 4: Behavior of Input and Output API Formats

Supported API Format types

As of now, Actions Project supports the following API formats:

Disabled or Empty API Format

The Action Designer will sometimes encounter a disabled format selection box or would not see the format selection box at all. This is because API formats are not supported for some parameter types.

Figure 5: Showcasing disabled or empty API Format

The following table details the relationship between the parameter type and API format:

Blog Reference

• Part 1 of the Blog Series: Actions Project – Major Changes including the Actions Editor Available Now !!
• Part 2 of the Blog Series/Parent Blog: Actions Editor – Feature List, Usage and Maintenance of Actions Project

Thanks for reading and I hope it helped to understand the concept of API Formats in Actions Project. Please feel free to leave a comment if there are any questions and I would be happy to receive any feedback.