As we continue to showcase our international RCS experts, this week Mike Pfeiffer, RCS Asia/PAC Support Manager, joined us to discuss APIs. Each one of RCS’ products feature their own custom API that users can tap into to create additional workflows. As technology and distribution endpoints evolve, many engineers have begun to design unique workflows through these API calls in order to achieve a greater goal. In this video, we discussed where to find Aquira, Zetta, and GSelector APIs, including some real life user API requests.
Let’s start with the Aquira API, which can be found via the Aquira API URL: http://SERVER_NAME/Aquira_WebAPI/swagger/docs/v1. Each product’s API contains specific workflows that are attached to various behaviors, like Get or Post. Get will use the API to retrieve the desired request, whereas Post will push or replace the field with specific values. It’s important to note that obviously any process in which we’re retrieving data isn’t harmful, but constructing an API call that will replace metadata, will do just what you want it to do. So be careful when building API workflows and if you’re not 100% confident regarding an API behavior, it’s always best practice to reach out to RCS Support to confirm you’re using the right operation. Mike provided the example of extracting revenue from Aquira, manipulating the data, and then importing the information into Sales Force. Again, API calls are very user and workflow specific. So, start by asking yourself what you want to happen, where, when, why, and the how is the API.
Moving onto Zetta, users can first enable the Zetta API from the Configuration | System | General and define a machine that will handle the API Services. Then, you can view the Zetta Swagger API from http://ZETTA_MACHINE:3139/zettaapi/swagger/index.html. Again, note the difference in behaviors through such calls as Get, Post, Delete, Patch and more. We’re experiencing more and more users requesting unique Zetta API calls, like overwriting audio or metadata. If you’re looking for the GSelector API, GSelector features a special GSelector Import Export GUI.exe, which can be found in your GSelector folder: C:\Program Files\RCS\GSelector\GSImportExportGUI.exe.
At the end of the day, when it comes to APIs and desired workflows, it’s a great idea to reach out to your local RCS contact to brainstorm possible solutions to your specific problem or request. Who knows, perhaps there’s another RCS user who’s already achieving your desired goal through something like RCS’ API.
Don’t forget that RCS is offering free one-on-one training sessions at many of this year’s radio conferences, including CRS. Simply reach out to marketing@rcsworks.com to request a time. We’re also looking for Beta users! To get your hands on the latest features from RCS, contact your local RCS contact to find out more. If you can’t make it Thursday’s RCS Live, you can always check out past videos on our RCS Live Archive here.