Step by Step Guide to Building a Formidable Forms API Integration in C#

Introduction

Hey there, fellow developer! Ready to supercharge your C# project with Formidable Forms? You're in the right place. We're going to walk through building a robust API integration that'll have you managing forms like a pro in no time. Let's dive in!

Prerequisites

Before we get our hands dirty, make sure you've got:

• Visual Studio or your favorite C# IDE
• .NET Core 3.1 or later
• A Formidable Forms API key (grab one from your account settings)

Got all that? Great! Let's roll.

Setting up the project

Fire up Visual Studio and create a new C# project. We'll be using a console app for this guide, but feel free to integrate this into your existing project.

Now, let's grab the packages we need. Open up the Package Manager Console and run:

Install-Package Newtonsoft.Json
Install-Package RestSharp

These will handle our JSON parsing and HTTP requests, respectively.

Authenticating with the API

First things first, let's set up our base client:

using RestSharp;

public class FormidableFormsClient
{
    private readonly RestClient _client;
    private readonly string _apiKey;

    public FormidableFormsClient(string apiKey)
    {
        _apiKey = apiKey;
        _client = new RestClient("https://api.formidableforms.com/v1/");
    }

    // We'll add more methods here soon!
}

Implementing core API functionalities

Now, let's add some methods to interact with the API:

public async Task<string> GetForms()
{
    var request = new RestRequest("forms", Method.GET);
    request.AddHeader("Authorization", $"Bearer {_apiKey}");
    var response = await _client.ExecuteAsync(request);
    return response.Content;
}

public async Task<string> GetEntries(int formId)
{
    var request = new RestRequest($"forms/{formId}/entries", Method.GET);
    request.AddHeader("Authorization", $"Bearer {_apiKey}");
    var response = await _client.ExecuteAsync(request);
    return response.Content;
}

public async Task<string> CreateEntry(int formId, Dictionary<string, string> fields)
{
    var request = new RestRequest($"forms/{formId}/entries", Method.POST);
    request.AddHeader("Authorization", $"Bearer {_apiKey}");
    request.AddJsonBody(fields);
    var response = await _client.ExecuteAsync(request);
    return response.Content;
}

Error handling and response parsing

Let's add some error handling and JSON parsing:

using Newtonsoft.Json.Linq;

private T ParseResponse<T>(string content)
{
    try
    {
        return JObject.Parse(content).SelectToken("data").ToObject<T>();
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        throw new Exception("Failed to parse API response", ex);
    }
}

Now update our methods to use this:

public async Task<List<Form>> GetForms()
{
    var content = await GetFormsRaw();
    return ParseResponse<List<Form>>(content);
}

Building a simple wrapper class

Let's wrap it all up in a nice, easy-to-use class:

public class FormidableFormsApi
{
    private readonly FormidableFormsClient _client;

    public FormidableFormsApi(string apiKey)
    {
        _client = new FormidableFormsClient(apiKey);
    }

    public async Task<List<Form>> GetForms() => await _client.GetForms();
    public async Task<List<Entry>> GetEntries(int formId) => await _client.GetEntries(formId);
    public async Task<Entry> CreateEntry(int formId, Dictionary<string, string> fields) => await _client.CreateEntry(formId, fields);
}

Testing the integration

Time to put our code to the test! Here's a simple unit test to get you started:

[TestMethod]
public async Task TestGetForms()
{
    var api = new FormidableFormsApi("your-api-key");
    var forms = await api.GetForms();
    Assert.IsNotNull(forms);
    Assert.IsTrue(forms.Count > 0);
}

Best practices and optimization

Remember to implement rate limiting to avoid hitting API limits. Consider caching responses for frequently accessed data to improve performance.

Conclusion

And there you have it! You've just built a solid Formidable Forms API integration in C#. With this foundation, you can expand to cover more API endpoints, build more complex form management systems, or even create a full-fledged form builder in your C# application.

Remember, the key to mastering any API integration is practice and exploration. So go forth and build something awesome! Happy coding!