Seeking API Response How-To

By: Michael Clark | Asked: 06/26/2022
ForumsCategory: How-toSeeking API Response How-To
Michael ClarkMichael Clark asked 2 years ago
Hi. I'm wondering if anyone here would care to share a practical how-to on handling an API response.  Specifically, this line in the KB is what i'm looking for help on:
$returned_id = $response['body']['CHANGEME']; // this line will change based on the API you are sending to
In many cases, the response body, is usually a structured JSON payload with key:value pairs. So if the API I'm pinging returns status OK (200) with
'{"fname":"Jane","lname":"Jameson"}'
How do I change the line above, the "$returned_id=$response.." part so I can save "Jane" to a field?   Thanks in advance!
Question Tags:
2 Answers
Best Answer
Dan MabyDan Maby answered 2 years ago
I came up against a similar issue, so sharing the solution that worked for me in case anyone else ends up here.  In the docs, it provides the following example: 
$returned_id = $response["body"]["CHANGEME"]; // this line will change based on the API you are sending to
In my case, I wanted to get the post_id from the returned response given when successfully connecting to another Formidable Form on a separate site. I used json_decode to convert the response, this is an example of the resulting code: 
add_action("frmapi_post_response", "frm_save_api_response", 10, 3);
/**
 * Formidable Forms - API save a value from the response
 *
 * @since 1.0
 * @url https://formidableforms.com/knowledgebase/frm_api_post_response/#kb-save-a-value-from-the-response
 **/
function frm_save_api_response($response, $entry, $form_action)
{
  $body = json_decode($response["body"], true); // convert the response
  $returned_id = $body["post_id"]; // this line will change based on the API you are sending to

  if ($returned_id) {
	FrmProEntryMeta::update_single_field([
	  "entry_id" => $entry->id,
	  "field_id" => 25, // change to the ID of the field to change
	  "value" => $returned_id,
	]);
  }
}
elbe phant replied 2 years ago

Thanks, this works perfect for my. I changed ["post_id"] to ["id"] to store the returned entry id from api post call.

Michael ClarkMichael Clark replied 1 year ago

Dan! Really appreciate you sharing a simple, real use case and being very specific about the example. This gave me a far greater practical understanding *in the context of the sample code found in the FF knowledgebase*. Since I'm not a proficient coder, and am left to decipher and experiment, this your example made this more intelligible for me. Thank you!

Victor Font answered 2 years ago
The answer depends on how you are calling the API. If you are calling the API through AJAX, you use "var results = JSON.parse(response);" to convert the returned JSON into an associative array. In PHP, you use json_decode to convert the response to an associative array.
Michael ClarkMichael Clark replied 2 years ago

Calling the API through Formidable's very handy API plugin, trying to understand how to tell frm_api_post_response what I want and where to store it

add_action( 'frmapi_post_response', 'frm_save_api_response', 10, 3 );
function frm_save_api_response( $response, $entry, $form_action ) {

$returned_id = $response['body']['CHANGEME']; // this line will change based on the API you are sending to

if ( $returned_id ) {
FrmProEntryMeta::update_single_field( array(
'entry_id' => $entry->id,
'field_id' => 25, // change to the ID of the field to change
'value' => $returned_id,
) );
}
}

Victor Font replied 2 years ago

From the fact that $response['body']['CHANGEME'] is an associative array, my guess is Formidable converts the Json response before passing it into the callback. Have you examined the value of $response?

Michael ClarkMichael Clark replied 2 years ago

Yep. When I look at the logs, I can see the JSON response. in the body, I can see the name:value pairs. Just don't know enough to understand how to write what I value from the JSON payload I want to save in the CHANGEME part. So, if the name: in the JSON is {"fname":"Jane","lname":"Jameson"}, and I want the value of fname, what do I put in place of the CHANGEME in the example code?

Victor Font replied 2 years ago

The logs capture the raw response from the API call. It does not show you the value of the $response associative array after Formidable creates it an passes it as a filter parameter to your callback. You need to examine the contents of $response in PHP using a debugger that allows you to set a breakpoint and suspend code execution so you can visualize all the callback parameters.

If you're not using a real time debugger like Kint or Xdebug, use either of the PHP functions print_r() or var_dump().

https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.print-r.php
https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.var-dump

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