What is an API?
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API is an Acronym for Application Programming Interface
- APIs are used by software programmers to build software applications
- APIs come in different forms
- .dll (dynamic link libraries)
- Javascript
- Web Services
Family Suite API
- The Family Suite API is a REST Web API that customers can use to perform pre-defined operations against their data
- REST stands for Representational State Transfer. This means that the API is based on HTTP Methods to access the API by way of URL encoded parameters or transmitting JSON or XML data
- HTTP Methods are defined by and called with HTTP “Verbs”
- POST – Creates/Saves Data or performs complex operations
- GET – Retrieves Data
- PUT – Update/Replace Data
- PATCH – Update/Modify Data
- DELETE – Deletes Data
- The Family Suite API’s documentation can be viewed on the Swagger page
- The documentation is organized by Domain which is a category of data, e.g. Families, Organizations
- Under each domain is the list of operations that can be performed in the Domain
- Get Families
- Get Families/Groups
- Get Organizations
API Documentation
Note: Click the down carrot to expand each HTTP Verb to explore the values and data structure for each request.
Testing API Endpoints
- Before the API can be called to retrieve data, the Token/Authenticate endpoint needs to be called with the API key provided by ParishSOFT
- For the best experience testing the API we recommend using Postman
- Click the + in the tab region of Postman
- Change the request type to POST
- Enter the URL https://fsapi.parishsoft.app/api/Token/Authenticate
- Click the Headers tab and add a KEY value of Content-Type and a VALUE of application/json
- Click the Body tab
- Under Body tab ensure the raw and JSON options are selected
- Add API key to the text area below as shown here
- Click the Send button
- The API should return a 200 OK response with a JWT (Javascript Web Token). This value will be required for subsequent calls to the API.
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