OLD API FAQ

Welcome to the FAQ page. Here we will try to answer your most common questions about this feature.  If you cannot find your question from the list provided, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page in the ‘Comment’ section with your relevant question and we will update the list if applicable.

What type of API is it?

The Wisenet API is a RESTful web service.

How do I get permission to access the Wisenet API?

Access to the Wisenet API requires authentication using a Wisenet user account that has been granted Wisenet User access. Otherwise an Access Denied (401) error will occur. The Portal Admin can grant users these permissions.

How do I access the Wisenet API?

The Wisenet API hostname for your company will be in the following format:

Note: The xxx is the three letter code assigned to your company. (This is the first 3 characters of your Wisenet student ID numbers/ Client RefInternal Numbers. E.g. if your students have numbers like STZ00001R then your code is STZ)

Why do I get an Access Denied error when I go to my Wisenet API hostname address?

Probably because you haven’t passed any credentials for authentication.

Here are the ways you can access the Wisenet API that allow you to pass credentials:

1. Postman (see next FAQ)
2. From the command line using cURL
3. Writing your own code. Eg C#, PHP etc

Is there a User Interface for the Wisenet API?

Web services do not have any UI as such, however we recommend to use an API Client such as Postman. Learn more about Postman

How can I experiment with the Wisenet API without messing up my data?

Wisenet will provide you with a Test Environment containing demo Wisenet data for testing the Wisenet API. Operations on the data in this database will not affect your live Wisenet data. Do not use this testing database for storing valuable data, as at some point, the testing database may be reset to its original state.

When querying the test database via the Wisenet API, you just need to change the 3 letter code to the test environment value:

Note: The xxx is the three letter code assigned to your test environment.

Can I log in to my test database via the Wisenet UI?

Yes. You can login to Wisenet by clicking on the LRM icon of the test environment profile in the Wisenet Portal page.

Do not use this test database for storing valuable data, as at some point, the test database may be reset to its original state.

What is the format of the data that is returned from the Wisenet API?

Responses can be request in XML or JSON format. Set the Accept header on your request to specify the response format you need.

How many calls can I make to the Wisenet API?

There are usage limits for API calls and if you have exceeded your quota you will receive error code 403 (Forbidden). The limit is 1000 calls per 24 hour sliding window per organisation.

What programming languages does the Wisenet API support?

You can use any language you like as long as it supports making calls to RESTful web services.

Where do I report bugs and outages?

Login to the Wisenet Portal and create a new support item. Make reference to the Wisenet API in the description of your support request.

I have received Timeout/Internal Server Error for API calls, what should I do?

Your total response size could be too large therefore limit the number of returning rows by:

1. Paging – use Skip and Take parameters
2. Using If Modified Since header

I have received 204 response code from server when I performed PUT or POST command, why not 200?

204 response means Operation completed, no data returned. It’s typical for update operations.

Please see section “10.2.5 204 No Content” in http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html

If you add to endpoint to which you send data ?reload=true like in /Students/Student/59/NextOfKin?reload=true you should receive back object that was read from DB AFTER update operation and 200 response code.

Where can I find more information on the Wisenet API?

Refer to the API Resources page for more information.