by Eugene Tolmachov (SherpaDesk IT Developer)
To API or not to API? That is the question.
The theme and purpose of this week's "Developer's Corner" is to cover all the most important facts (i.e., everything you need to know about SherpaDesk's API) in order to use it effectively.
But first things first.
What Is An API?
APIs (application program interface) are extremely useful for getting data from another data source on the internet. Like the way you can see Twitter's feed on 3rd party news sites.
Let’s say you want a pizza delivered to your home. You may use a mobile app to contact an online delivery service to order and pick up your pizza. That delivery service doesn't make the pizza. It just receives your order and then relays that information to the pizza store.
This is an example of a data being shared across multiple platforms to perform a service. This is how APIs work. Programmers use what is known as 'API calls' to help transfer data from one system to the next (see below).
Developer's Corner:
SherpaDesk API Documentations
Check out our SherpaDesk API wiki:
Join our SherpaDesk API Google Support Group:
Participate in our SherpaDesk API Playground:
How Can The SherpaDesk API Help Your Business?
Mobile App
Our SherpaDesk Mobile App is built completely on APIs. This is a good place to start learning how to get use out of our API.
(The SherpaDesk app can be found in the iOS App Store, in Google Play, in the Chome Web Store and also on our website.)
Custom Applications
Some SherpaDesk customers have used our API to create fast auditing systems, like barcode scanning to read assets with our Asset Management tool.
Custom reports
Some SherpaDesk clients have used our API to build custom reporting system to get Timelogs, Tickets or other Info. Some have even added widgets that create new tickets.
Important about API limits
Be aware of the request limits of our API.
You can get a maximum of 250 records in one response. By default, you only get 25 records.
We will enforce to use maximum 250 records per page
from 1st August 2019!
Please use Content-Range header to create paging.
Also we allow only a maximum of 10 concurrent requests, with a max of 30 requests in the last 5 seconds to prevent DDoS attacks.
You can also get a maximum of 100 records in one response. By default, you only get 25 records.
Complete info about paging and limits available here.
Integrations
You can create a SherpaDesk API request with any programming language. JavaScript users can use methods like the Fetch API and jQuery’s Ajax method.
System administrator users can use VB script or PowerShell.
Programmers can use .Net library (C#).
Response Formats
There are several ways to get a response from the SherpaDesk API:
JSON - JavaScript Object Notation
CSV - Comma-separated text
JSV - Java Object Notation format
and even XML
I hope you've found the information useful and we look forward to continuing to set up the SherpaDesk API as a valuable and versatile tool for developers to use and generate value for your business.
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