API stands for Application Programming Interfaces and can be integrated into workflows to connect with external systems and pull or send data to services.
An API is a set of rules and protocols that allow different software applications to communicate with each other. It defines the methods and data formats that applications can use to request and exchange information.
It effectively acts as a bridge between two systems, enabling them to talk to each other.
Examples of APIs
- Google Maps API: allows developers to integrate Google Maps into their applications or websites
- Twitter API: allows developers to access twitter data, post tweets, or interact with users account
- Spotify API: allows developers to access Spotify's music library, create playlists and control playback within third-party applications
Key steps for API Integration in Alteryx
- Understand the documentation
- Authentication: authentication tokens are pieces of data used to verify the identity of a user or application when accessing an API or system
- Handling Responses: API responses are often JSON or XML which therefore need to be parsed using JSON Parse Tool or XML Parse Tool
- Error Handling: this can be set up to catch failed API cals
- Rate Limiting: APIs have rate limits, meaning there is a maximum number of requests you can make in a certain period
Benefits of using APIs
- Data connectivity: pulls data from a wide variety of services
- Automation
- Flexibility: customise API calls and handle responses