Broker API

The primary means of accessing and application data is through the user interface of the web platform, which has been the focus of the entire guide up to this point: a user logs into an account on the cloud service, accesses data visually through reports, and submits data to the system by populating a visual form. 's Broker API provides an alternative means of accessing an account: it authenticates existing account users, can run existing data queries to return their results in XML responses to requests, and can execute account forms. This enables to be used as a link in a chain of web services; a client could rely on to do data collection and analytics, but then have a different service extract that data using the Broker API and do further data processing, visualization, or storage.

Use of this API requires that an account already exist and be configured to a certain level. After all, the API validates requests using existing user credentials, so if no user exists, no request can be validated. Furthermore, a user can only access or modify data over the API using reports and forms that have already been defined within an account, so the API is useless if the account lacks these structures. Specifically, there are three main ways in which an account must be configured for use over the Broker API.

1. A user must be granted the Access Broker API permission in order for their credentials to pass validation on the API.
2. A report view must use the API report designation in order to be available on the API; only Table, Map, and Gauge views can assume this designation.
3. The Mobile App Menu must be configured to contain every report or form users must access through the API.

To call a REST API method, you need to make a request using the HTTPS protocol to this URL:

https://server.name/sc-nexus-api/rest/broker/METHOD

The following sub-sections explain exactly how to make requests to the Broker API, and what to expect in response.