Here is a sneak-peak of the InfoBurst® API to be presented in the Report Bursting, Scheduling, Delivery & Administration track in InfoBurst User Conference – IBIS 2013.
Over 5 years ago we started to think about a new InfoBurst. One that would take the years of experience that we’ve gathered since InfoBurst launched, and re-think the core architecture for speed, scalability, and flexibility. Many of our customers wanted to be able to fire off bursts and control XDMs from other applications and processes. At the time, we did have limited ability in InfoBurst, but never anything granular. So from Day 1, we architected InfoBurst Enterprise with the mindset to really unlock InfoBurst’s potential. That was when the application programming interface for InfoBurst was born. For the first time at the InfoBurst User Conference, we are excited to be giving an overview of the application programming interface (API). Then you too can imagine what can be done by unlocking the power of InfoBurst Enterprise.
So what can be done with the InfoBurst Enterprise API exactly? Everything! The entire product feature suite is exposed over the API. The current flash based user interface makes SOAP calls to the server to perform all of the interactions. Also we have IBShell console application that also leverages the same SOAP calls. This means customers can integrate InfoBurst Enterprise into their existing internal software to take their InfoBurst Enterprise implementation to the next level.
How easy is it? Well, it’s actually fairly simple. Majority of the calls will require an authentication token. To get one, simply use the GetLogonToken soap command with a valid username and password for InfoBurst Enterprise. Then you can execute various other commands under the security context of the token. So we’ve logged into the system, but what do we do if we wanted to execute a burst? All you’ll need is the burst ID to execute the Burst_Execute command. You can get an ID number for a burst in various ways. You can “browse” through the folder structures until you come upon the burst. But most commonly for quick integration you can leverage our GetObjectInfoByTypeAndPath to translate the path of the burst to it’s ID number.
During the presentation we will be diving in much deeper, going over the “ins and outs” of the API. We’ll be going over the basic security model, Client/Server programming considerations, storing user specific settings, as well as considerations when working with the complex objects of InfoBurst, bursts and xml data caches and much more!
That’s it for now on this sneak-peak. I hope to put something up later on about the IBShell presentation as well along with the other talks I’ll be hosting. I’m very excited for our first ever InfoBurst User Conference. Not only will this topic be discussed, but many more in a very open format. Check it our on our InfoBurst User Conference webpage. I’ll be looking forward to seeing you there! You can register for the InfoBurst User Conference online just by clicking on the “Register” button at limitlessbi.com.