CS 16.2 REST API--Updating a Category. Parameters vs. Body

Paul Gullas

I'm using CS 16.2 and Postman.

The Swagger documentation for PUT (api/v1/nodes/{id}/categories/{category_id}/) says this:

Implementation Notes

Updates attributes values on the specified category and node. Use of the 'body' parameter to pass in structured JSON is recommended, where the format is body : {"[category_id]_[category attribute id]":[value], ...}

Example:
body : {"14822_2":"abc","14822_3":1234}

However, if I put a JSON in the body, it doesn't actually update anything. My sample JSON:

{
"4772314_2": "My text value",
"4772314_3": 5,
"4772314_4": "December",
"4772314_5": "2022"
}

The only way I can get this to work (so far), is if I enter values such as the below as parameters:

id: <dataID>
category_id: 4772314
4772314_2: My Text value
4772314_3: 5
4772314_4: December

Doing this will update the attributes in Content Server. It ignores whatever is in the body of the request.

A few things:

a) why do id & category_id have to be entered as query parameters when they are already in the path? (api/v1/nodes/{id}/categories/{category_id}/). It gives me a "Parameters are required for PUT, POST and PATCH methods" error if I leave out the parameters.

b) why doesn't it work if I pass the Category & Attribute info in the body instead of the parameter?

We really need better code samples for the REST API. The few code samples that we were given for CWS were great and very helpful in getting us started. With the REST API, I'm just wasting a lot of time searching through a bunch of "0 reply" threads here on the forum.

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Comments

dluo

Thanks for the information. The same problem exists for CS 10.5. The document is confusing by showing the same calling structure for category update and add a new category (only type is different). But actually the attribute parameters are expected in different location. Your post saves me a lot time to find the correct format.

dluo

Well, further test shows the format suggested by CS 16 document (highlighted by OP) is working for both "add a category" and "update category". Just each attribute need to be listed directly under 'body', the same place id and category_id are listed. The API document seem to imply the attruibutes to be added as a separate group ("categories" as found in some sample code in this forum), but this format only works for "add a category" actually.

Jatinder_Panesar

I use a PUT method for /api/v2/nodes/996113/categories/63668

and use

id:996113
category_id:63668
63668_2:1234

This is what i see in Postman

{
"links": {
"data": {
"self": {
"body": "",
"content_type": "",
"href": "/api/v2/nodes/996113/categories/63668",
"method": "PUT",
"name": ""
}
}
},
"results": {}
}

But teh Category doesn't get updated on the folder. Any idea?

HFCDev

One thing that hasn't changed in CS even in the latest is that the underlying CGI code (cs.exe) doesn't understand JSON requests. Try setting the content type of your request to application/x-www-form-urlencoded or multipart/form-data. You might have more luck. Also I seem to recall that I had to put various params both in the URL and in the request body for POST/PUT requests, but I can't remember for certain.

-Hugh

Ferdinand Prantl

CS does not accept the content type "application/json" of PUT or POST request bodies. It accepts only "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" or "multipart/form-data". The following request will not work:

  PUT .../api/v1/nodes/1234/categories/5678  Content-Type: application/json  {"5678_2":123,"5678_3":"hello world"}

If the request needs a flat list of parameters, you can pass them url-encoded and &-delimited as a workaround:

  PUT .../api/v1/nodes/1234/categories/5678  Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded  5678_2=123&5678_3=hello%20world

If the request needs a hierarchical list of parameters, you will need another workaround. You can pass them stringified in a single paramerter - "body":

  PUT .../api/v1/nodes/1234/categories/5678  Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded  body=%7B%225678_2%22%3A123%2C%225678_3%22%3A%22hello%20world%22%7D

If you work in JavaScript, you can prepare the request body by:

  data = {"5678_2":123,"5678_3":"hello world"}  body = 'body=' + encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify(data))

If you use $.ajax, it will perform the encoding for you:

  data = {"5678_2":123,"5678_3":"hello world"}  $.ajax({    method: 'PUT',    url: '.../api/v1/nodes/1234/categories/5678',    data: {body: JSON.stringify(data)},    ...  })

If you want to reuse your code in a bigger application, you can create a helper function with this workaround. It is what CS Smart UI does (connector.makeAjaxCall, UploadableMixin).

  data = {"5678_2":123,"5678_3":"hello world"}  connector.makeAjaxCall({    method: 'PUT',    url: '.../api/v1/nodes/1234/categories/5678',    data: data  })

Ferdinand Prantl

a) They do not. Please,m remove them. Only attributes as key-value pairs are expected in the request body. The server may ignore unexpected parameters today, but it might fail in the future.

b) You passed a JSON object instead of encoded form data. Use form data encoding, please. JSON content type is not accepted in request bodies for CS REST API.

HFCDev

I can confirm that this approach is still the only way to pass that information in CS 16.2.5 andf 16.2.9.

-Hugh