How to handle blank cells through the API

Jerry

Hi Everyone,

 

I have a concern regarding the API. I am currently accessing the API through PHP (5.6) curl calls. 

 

The concern I have is regarding the blank cells. I have tried validating the cells through their property [VALUE] as described by the documentation. However, I am unable to properly parse through blank cells. In PHP I have tried using property_exists() and isset() methods but they all fail to identify cells with blank [VALUE]

 

Is there a better way to check and validate if the retreived cell is blank or not? 

 

Any input would be greatly appreciated. 

 

Thank you

Scott McAllister

Hi Jerry,

 

There are actually two different types of blank cells. There are blank cells that have never had a value, or have no history. And there are cells that are currently blank, but have held a value sometime in the past.

 

Cells with no history don't exist according to the API. 

Blank cells that have a history return a columnId and type, but no value or displayValue. 

 

For example, say we have a row with three columns. The cells array for that row returned from the API would look something like this:

 

      "cells": [

        {

          "columnId": 7903811353241476,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": "0011a000004ca5ZAAQ",

          "displayValue": "0011a000004ca5ZAAQ"

        },

        {

          "columnId": 585461958764420,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": "Global Media",

          "displayValue": "Global Media"

        },

        {

          "columnId": 2635295230322564,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": 4.0,

          "displayValue": "4"

        }

      ]

 

In the next row, the middle cell is currently blank, but has a history. The cells array for that row would look like:

"cells": [

        {

          "columnId": 7903811353241476,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": "0011a000004ca5YAAQ",

          "displayValue": "0011a000004ca5YAAQ"

        },

        {

          "columnId": 585461958764420,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER"

        },

        {

          "columnId": 2635295230322564,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": 3.0,

          "displayValue": "3"

        }

      ]

 

Then, in the last row, the third column has a blank cell with no history. So its cell array would look like:

      "cells": [

        {

          "columnId": 7903811353241476,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": "0011a000004ca5XAAQ",

          "displayValue": "0011a000004ca5XAAQ"

        },

        {

          "columnId": 585461958764420,

          "type": "TEXT_NUMBER",

          "value": "Acme",

          "displayValue": "Acme"

        }

      ]

 

So, isset() would work in the situation where the blank cell had a history. However, you would need to take a different approach for the blank cells with no history.

 

To check for blank cells with no history, I would recommend looping over the columns in a row and checking if the cell for that column exists first, and then checking to see if the cell value isset().

 

Jerry

Hi Scott,

 

Thanks for the advice. I will be sure to look into it. 

 

Sincerely,

 

Jerry