Roll Your Own API

Content API's getTagInfo method is great, but it didn't always exist (and still returns one answer for one request). This technique lets you combine S-tags, conditionals, RPN, etc. and make a custom RESTful endpoint that returns the exact data in the exact format you need.

The Problem

Consider this scenario: you're on a participant's page, and want to generate a simple statement for when the user is logged in...

Hey Joe, you've raised $200! If you have any offline donations, send them to Mail Address.

...but for whatever reason, you want to get that statement through a fetch/XHR request. You can do it with the Luminate Online REST API, but you'll need to call, parse, and combine results for:

• Joe's fundraising results: getParticipantProgress...might want to put a conditional check on there so you don't sound excited if the amount is $0.
• Event details: Via getTeamraisersByInfo
• Joe's name: getUser. Good thing only Joe is seeing your message, since this isn't availble for the public. getParticipants Would tell you, but now you have to hope that cons_id isn't past the page limit.

Woof.

S-Tags Were Easier

Realistically, there's really no reason you'd use an API there. S-Tags would be much simpler...

Hey [[S1:first_name]], you've raised [[E48:[[S334:fr_id]]-[[S334:cons_id]]:dollars]]! If you have any offline donations, send them to [[E42:[[S334:fr_id]]:local-officemailing-address]].

...and the tag approach would also give you access to event settings (either C-Tags or [[E47:[[S334:fr_id]]:ctag_file:ctag_type:ctag_name]]), team information ([[E43:[[S334:fr_id]]:item:[[[E48:[[S334:fr_id]]-[[S334:cons_id]]:team-id]]]]]), and other fun things.

Roll-Your-Own API for the Best of Both Worlds

What if you could build your own API endpoint, passing it [[S334:px]] to idenfity the constituent and [[S334:fr_id]] to identify the teamraiser? Depending on what you want to do, it'd consolidate all those earlier LO API calls into a single request, avoid certain permission checks, and let you use S130 to remix the data into the format you'd like!

Heck, you wouldn't be limited to processing CMS/CRM data. Roll-Your-Own API is really just leveraging LO's ability to run conditional statements based on URL parameters, session variables, and system functions. You could use it to build a clock, parse a custom dictionary, or offer canned responses to specific keywords.

In this Repo

Focusing less on reusable code, and more on examples to get your wheels turning.

• Group Scroller: Getting normally-private LO group data, without an authorization workflow.
  • Converts S-Tag content into simple JSON/JSONP output, for use off-site or in your own scripts. Instead of dealing with authorization, you could could just ask for a secret phrase or rely on your IP whitelist in Luminate.
  • Simple wordpress plugin turned implementation into a shortcode instead of asking content editors to figure out AJAX.
• Scavenger Hunt: Using LO for arbitrary data.
  • Last year's bbDevDays scavenger hunt for the world's most interesting man -- a simple quiz that just checked a list of keywords.
  • No CRM or event data, just hard-coded text strings, pulled by a Javascript form that updates the page without reloading the site.
• TeamRaiser Details: Consolidating multiple REST API calls into one, getting results that usually aren't available and letting LO conditional statements process results instead of Javascript.
  • A call intended to return a simple statement to an off-site script (i.e. a bot in Slack)
  • Building your own "get event details by ID" API method for building an "upcoming events" list, or getting everything needed for a TeamRaiser landing page (without multiple API requests).