URL API Calls - IN / In No Paren Structures

In this post I want to talk about valid and invalid ways of sending API calls with the parameter values for In / In No Paren types. If you are sending parameter values for the IN / IN NO PARENTHESIS parameter type, you will need to use pipes ( | ) to escape out each value if any of your data has a comma in it.

Example Data WITHOUT comma: "ABC, DEF, BridgeWorks VDM"

Example Data WITH comma: "ABC, DEF, BridgeWorks, VDM"

Example Regular API:

https://webreports.bridgeworksllc.com:444/api/FinishedReport?report=Users.vdm&Connection=Northwind WebReports&Type=Finished%20Report&Parameters=Parameter?EmployeeID=('1','3','4','7','9') 

Example Escaped Out Values:

https://webreports.bridgeworksllc.com:444/api/FinishedReport?report=Users.vdm&Connection=Northwind WebReports&Type=Finished%20Report&Parameters=Parameter?EmployeeID=('1'|,|'3'|,|'4'|,|'7'|,|'9') 

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IMPORTANT NOTE: When using IN / IN No Parenthesis, older views/calls can still use "," instead of "|,|", but may have an issue if any data has a comma in it.

• Valid Example - Comma in Data (IN Type): ('IN'|,|'MA'|,|'BridgeWorks, VDM')

• Invalid Example - Comma in Data (IN Type): ('IN','MA','BridgeWorks, VDM')

Multi Value Example for Dates, Strings or Numerics with a property Type of "IN"

• When the parameter's Type is set to "IN" the WebReports API expects the following format for Strings values: Parameter?CallType=('IN'|,|'MA'|,|'UM')

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: ('IN','MA','UM')

• When the parameter's Type is set to "IN" the WebReports API expects the following format for Date values: Parameter?CallDate=('2016-09-01'|,|'2016-09-02'|,|'2016-09-03')

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: ('2016-09-01','2016-09-02','2016-09-03')

• When the parameter's Type is set to "IN" the WebReports API expects the following format for Numeric values: Parameter?CallType=(10|,|20|,|30)

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: (10,20,30)

Multi Value Example for Dates, Strings or Numerics with a property Type of "IN No Parenthesis"

• When the parameter's Type is set to "In No Parenthesis" the WebReports API expects the following format for Strings values: Parameter?CallType='IN'|,|'MA'|,|'UM'

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: 'IN','MA','UM'

• When the parameter's Type is set to "In No Parenthesis" the WebReports API expects the following format for Date values: Parameter?CallDate='2016-09-01'|,|'2016-09-02'|,|'2016-09-03'

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: '2016-09-01','2016-09-02','2016-09-03'

• When the parameter's Type is set to "In No Parenthesis" the WebReports API expects the following format for Numeric values: Parameter?CallType=10|,|20|,|30

  • Calls with no comma in the values/data can use: 10,20,30