Feature map - Connect
The best way to view a feature map is on the Start Screen in Tag. There is an interactive graph view and links to all the described apps. Download Tag now to see how it works.
Some of the feature map content related to the Connect app is included below. A list of available feature maps can be found here.
Connect app features
The Connect app lets you tap into thousands of free and commercial online services. These services are called web APIs, and this app lets you call them manually and/or prepare to automate with them.
Connectors are used to save web API calling instructions. They can be exported to a file and shared with others. They can also be used to import data into pipelines (Automate app) or forms (Scribe app).
Many web APIs require that you register and receive a security token (often called apikey) to include in your calls. The apikey mechanism provides an easy and secure way to handle this process.
One of the best places to find web APIs is the RapidAPI website. Tag has some features that work great with RapidAPI.
The Connect app is part of Tag's free Community subscription and can be used at no charge. Any charges you incur by calling web APIs must be paid outside of Tag.
Connect app samples
Click on the arrow icon (hover your mouse over the "standards" topic in the feature graph) to review a list of all samples that work in the Connect app.
If you find a sample of interest, you can jump directly to the Samples app to download it.
apikey
Securely handle user credentials during web API calls.
How does it work?
The apikey mechanism provides a way to access securely-stored user credentials when making web API calls. The term apikey refers to any secret token assigned to you by a web API vendor, that gets embedded into an API call.
User credentials are often embedded into API calls using the URL or headers attached to the call. The credentials token used to confirm caller identity is simply a string of 5-50 random characters. These are usually copied from account settings within a web API vendor's website.
Tag lets you store apikey tokens in the preferences panel. Simple name the apikey (using any name) and paste the token provided by the API vendor. The names used in these preferences will display in a pick list within the Connect app. The preferences panel stores the tokens in a secure user folder on the local computer - no copy is sent to the cloud or any external location.
When calling an API using a connector, Tag scans the URL and headers for the string "<apikey>". If that string is found, it gets replaced by the apikey stored in your preferences that matches the vendor selected in the pick list.
This mechanism makes it possible to securely share connectors with other people who do not have the same apikey tokens. The connector will only contain "<apikey>" strings, and will rely on the user to provide a token in the connector preferences panel.
More info
connector
Web API instructions can be saved as connectors for reuse.
How does it work?
The Connect app lets you save web API connection information as a named connector. 1 connector is used to make 1 API call.
The instructions saved in a connector include the http URL, method (GET to read, or POST to upload and read result), and headers.
Connectors can access user credentials that are securely stored on your local computer. This is done using the apikey mechanism to support secure sharing of connectors between different people.
The result returned by web APIs varies by format. The most common format by far is JSON, with XML coming in a distant second. The XML+JSON editor lets you view API results, and convert between formats if possible.
The Automate and Scribe apps both use saved connectors. Pipelines use them to read input content (instead of reading a file). Scribe forms use them to import data into forms.
Connectors can be imported and exported in the preferences panel.
More info
rapid-api
RapidAPI is a hub for discovering web APIs.
What is it?
The RapidAPI website provide many services related to Web APIs, including a large directory (40,000+ APIs) and search function.
One of their best services is common API registration. This means a single apikey from RapidAPI allows you to call thousands of the APIs they have listed, although some require you to register directly with the API vendor.
Another useful RapidAPI feature is code snippets. This is available on all API endpoint pages and lets you copy code to call the API for several programming languages. Tag lets you create a new connector by pasting a RapidAPI code snippet for (HTTP) HTTP/1.1 into a dialog. This is a great way to avoid having to deal with URLs and headers directly.
Web APIs are the backbone of many mobile apps. Tag lets you do more with API results when you call them from a pipeline, and offers the possibility of automating the whole process.
More info
web-api
Access external services hosted on the web.
How does it work?
API stands for Application Programming Interface. A web API is simply an API for the web. APIs do work for you on a remote server, and can be free or subject to fees.
There are tens of thousands of web APIs available now and more are coming online every month. RapidAPI is one of many ways to discover APIs that you can call from Tag.
The Connect app lets you experiment with different APIs and save instructions for the ones you want to remember. The instructions are saved in connectors, which can exported for backup and to share with others. The Automate and Scribe apps can also use connectors to retrieve content or data.
Most web APIs perform a GET request, which simply reads something produced by the remote service. Some APIs support POST requests, which let you upload a file as input to the service (e.g., upload a website address and receive a QR Code that contains it).
Some APIs require a security token to call, which you receive after registering with the vendor and possibly paying a fee. The apikey mechanism provides a convenient way to manage security tokens. Other methods of user authorization are possible (e.g., the Automate app's tag:google step provides secure access to the extensive Google API using an OAuth 2.0 login).
More info
xml+json
A data editor that supports multiple formats.
How does it work?
There are several pipeline steps that access external data including web APIs and SQL databases. The Scribe and Connect apps also provide ways to import data in a similar way.
The XML+JSON editor was created to handle this data in a consistent way. It contains 3 views of the same data using 3 formats (XML, JSON and text), where the text view always shows raw markup. The XML and JSON views use a tree to display data and work much the same.
When moving between XML and JSON formats, data is automatically converted. There are 2 ways to convert either way (XPath and Jackson) which can handle many situations. Note that there are some XML documents (e.g., XHTML) which do not convert properly to JSON using the Jackson approach.
A common scenario is converting JSON returned by a web API to XML, which can be processed further by pipeline or logic instructions. XML offers a much wider range of processing options, which makes this functionality quite important.