REST API

Overview

A REST API is an application programming interface that conforms to the constraints of REST (representational state transfer) architectural style and allows for interaction with RESTful web services.

REST APIs work by fielding requests for a resource and returning all relevant information about the resource, translated into a format that clients can easily interpret (this format is determined by the API receiving requests). Clients can also modify items on the server and even add new items to the server through a REST API.

Cinchy v5.5 added support for the URL_ESCAPE and JSON_ESCAPE functions to be used in REST API data syncs anywhere a "parameter" could be utilized (Ex: Endpoint URL, Post Sync Script, etc.). These functions escape parameter values to be safe inside of a URL or JSON document respectively.

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Before you set up your data sync destination, make sure to configure your Source.

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The REST API destination supports batch and real-time syncs.

Destination tab

The following table outlines the mandatory and optional parameters you will find on the Destination tab (Image 1).

Destination details

The following parameters will help to define your data sync destination and how it functions.

Parameter	Description	Example
Destination	Mandatory. Select your destination from the drop-down menu.	REST API

Column Mapping

The Column Mapping section is where you define which source columns you want to sync to which destination columns. You can repeat the values for multiple columns.

Parameter	Description	Example
Source Column	Mandatory. The name of your column as it appears in the source.	Name
Target Column	Mandatory. The name of your column as it appears in the destination.	Name

API Specification

You can use this section to help define your API Specifications. The options available to you are:

• Retry Configuration
• REST API Source
• Insert Specification
• Update Specification
• Delete Specification

You can learn more about these options in Appendix A - API Specifications.

Post Sync Scripts

Cinchy v5.5 introduced the ability to pass parameters from a REST response into post sync scripts during both real-time and batch data syncs, allowing you to do more with your REST API data.

Read more about this feature here.

Filter

You have the option to add a destination filter to your data sync. Please review the documentation here for more information on destination filters.

Next steps

• Define your Sync Actions.
• Add in your Post Sync Scripts, if required.
• Define your Permissions.
• If you are running a real-time sync, set up your Listener Config and enable it to begin your sync.
• If you are running a batch sync, click Jobs > Start a Job to begin your sync.

Appendix A - API Specifications

Retry configuration

Retry Configuration automatically retries HTTP Requests on failure based on a defined set of conditions. A single retry configuration is defined for the REST API target, and applies to all requests configured in the Insert, Update, and Delete specifications. This capability provides a mechanism to recover from transient errors such as network disruptions or temporary service outages.

caution

Note: the maximum number of retries is capped at 10.

To set up a retry configuration:

1. Under the REST API destination tab, select API Specification > Retry Configuration

2. Select your Delay Strategy.

• Linear Backoff: Defines a delay of approximately n seconds where n = current retry attempt.
• Exponential Backoff: A strategy where every new retry attempt is delayed exponentially by 2^n seconds, where n = current retry attempt.
  • Example: you defined Max Attempts = 3. Your first retry is going to be in 2^1 = 2, second: 2^2 = 4, third: 2^3 = 8 sec.

3. Input your Max Attempts. The maximum number of retries allowed is 10.

4. Define your Retry Conditions. You must define the conditions under which a retry should be attempted. For the Retry to trigger, at least one of the "Retry Conditions" has to evaluate to true.

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Retry conditions are only evaluated if the response code isn't 2xx Success.

Each Retry Condition contains one or more "Attribute Match" sections. This defines a Regex to evaluate against a section of the HTTP response. The following are the three areas of the HTTP response that can be inspected:

• Response Code
• Header
• Body

If there are multiple "Attribute Match" blocks within a Retry Condition, all have to match for the retry condition to evaluate to true.

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The Regex value should be entered as a regular expression. The Regex engine is .NET and expressions can be tested by using this online tool. In the below example, the Regex is designed to match any HTTP 5xx Server Error Codes, using a Regex value of 5[0-9][0-].
For Headers, the format of the Header string which the Regex is applied against is {Header Name}={Header Value}. For example Content-Type=application/json.

Request specifications

Insert specification

Select either:

• Conditional Flow
• Request
  • HTTP Method: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
  • Endpoint URL: Refers to where this request will be made to and inserted.

Update specification

Select either:

• Conditional Flow
• Request
  • HTTP Method: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
  • Endpoint URL: Refers to where this request will be made to and updated.

Delete specification

Select either:

• Conditional Flow
• Request
  • HTTP Method: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
  • Endpoint URL: Refers to where this request will be made to and deleted.

Request subsections

Request Headers

For more information, see the page about request headers.

Files

Use this to upload a file to the target API.

Body

Use this section to add body content.

Variables to Extract

You can choose to specify variables to extract from your REST response.

Parameter	Description	Example
Name	The name of the variable you wish to extract.	Value
Extract vale from	The response area you want to extract from	Response Body, Response Header
Path in Response	The path to the above variable.	$.headers.variable
Header Vale Regex	Expression using .NET regex to capture a single value. See .NET Regular Expressions for more info.	([^\/]+$)

For more information, please see the Variables page.