Updating assets with the API

tcatgcsd

I want to automate the updating of our chromebook assets that are in WHD. I was looking at the API documentation and I believe it looks like the API could be used.

I can see how to do this manually with the template download and going through the application front end. When we do this through the application we only use a few of these fields on the template to update the data - basically trying to update the Status of the item as they get checked in/out, sent out for repairs, retired, etc. To do this via the application the sheet basically looks like below and the remaining fields are empty.

Asset No.	Asset Type	Manufacturer	Model	Version	Status	Serial Number	IP Address	Network Name	MAC Address	Location
111	Chromebook	Lenovo	Lenovo N22 Chromebook		Retired	abc123				Retired
222	Chromebook	Lenovo	Lenovo N22 Chromebook		Checked Out	efg345				High School
333	Chromebook	Lenovo	Lenovo 100e Chromebook		Available	hjk789				Middle School

I’m kinda new to APIs, and learning how to read API documentation. I figured out how to do a GET of an individual asset in JSON format, so this allowed me to “test” my connection (I'm connecting to the WHD API via a Google Apps script). Our database is SQL 2014, so no JSON,  so I’m trying to figure out from the WHD API documentation what exact fields I need to populate in the XML as what the API shows have way more fields for assets then the WHD template. I read the API documentation section about updating an asset is basically the same as creating an asset and it had a sample JSON file that I converted to XML (to explain where the below XML bit came from) and added the bits from above. Is this all I need? (I looked the status “5” up in the backend WHD Asset_status table to get the corresponding number for “retired”) - I hardcoded the “<type> fields like “Asset”:

<row>

  <id></id>

  <type>Asset</type>

  <assetNumber>111</assetNumber>

  <contractExpiration />

  <macAddress />

  <networkAddress />

  <networkName />

  <purchaseDate />

<serialNumber>abc123</serialNumber>

  <version />

  <assetstatus>

   <id>5</id>

    <type>AssetStatus</type>

  </assetstatus>

  <billingRate />

  <location>

    <id></id>

    <type>Location</type>

    <address />

    <city />

   <locationName>Retired</locationName>

    <postalCode />

    <state />

    <defaultPriorityTypeId />

  </location>

  <model>

    <id></id>

    <type>Model</type>

    <assetTypeId></assetTypeId>

    <manufacturerId></manufacturerId>

    <modelId></modelId>

   <modelName>Lenovo N22 Chromebook</modelName>

    <warrantyTypeId />

    <assettype>

      <id></id>

      <type>AssetType</type>

      <assetType>Chromebook</assetType>

    </assettype>

    <manufacturer>

      <id></id>

      <type>Manufacturer</type>

      <address />

      <city />

      <country />

      <fax />

      <fullName></fullName>

      <manufacturerid></manufacturerid>

      <name>Lenovo</name>

      <phone />

      <postalCode />

      <state />

      <url />

    </manufacturer>

  </model>

  <room />

  <warrantyType />

  <clients />

  <isSynchronizationDisabled />

  <isReservable />

  <leaseExpirationDate />

  <warrantyExpirationDate />

  <isNotesVisibleToClients />

  <isDeleted />

</row>

Thanks for your guidance/suggestions. I hope I have provided enough detail to understand what I am trying to understand.

tcatgcsd

Wanted to update this with the solution I used. I ended up being able to create a database link in the application from the webhelpdesk main menu. Setup > Assets > Discovery Connections and created a connection to a Database Table or View that contained the information that needed to be updated for the assets. So now when an asset is checked out or goes out for repair in our library system it gets updated to show that same status in webhelpdesk now too.