Step by Step Guide to Building a Jotform API Integration in Ruby

Aug 1, 2024 • 5 minute read

Introduction

Hey there, fellow Ruby enthusiast! Ready to supercharge your forms with Jotform's API? You're in for a treat. Jotform's API is a powerhouse, letting you do everything from fetching form submissions to creating forms on the fly. And guess what? We've got a nifty Ruby gem to make it all a breeze.

Prerequisites

Before we dive in, make sure you've got:

A Ruby environment that's good to go
A Jotform account with an API key (if you don't have one, hop over to Jotform and grab it)

Installation

Let's kick things off by installing the jotform-api gem. It's as simple as:

gem install jotform-api

Authentication

Now, let's get you authenticated. It's just one line of code:

client = JotForm.new("YOUR_API_KEY")

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key, and you're golden.

Basic API Operations

Fetching Forms

Want to see all your forms? Easy peasy:

forms = client.get_forms
forms.each { |form| puts form["title"] }

Retrieving Form Submissions

Grab those submissions like a pro:

submissions = client.get_form_submissions("FORM_ID")
submissions.each { |sub| puts sub["answers"] }

Creating a New Form

Feeling creative? Let's make a new form:

new_form = client.create_form(
  questions: [{ type: "control_textbox", text: "What's your name?" }]
)
puts "New form created with ID: #{new_form['id']}"

Advanced Operations

Updating Form Properties

Time to give your form a makeover:

client.update_form_properties("FORM_ID", { title: "My Awesome Updated Form" })

Deleting Submissions

Spring cleaning? Here's how to delete a submission:

client.delete_submission("SUBMISSION_ID")

Working with Form Fields

Add a new field to your form:

client.add_form_question("FORM_ID", {
  type: "control_dropdown",
  text: "Choose your favorite color",
  options: "Red|Blue|Green"
})

Error Handling

Don't let errors catch you off guard. Wrap your API calls in a begin/rescue block:

begin
  # Your API call here
rescue JotForm::APIError => e
  puts "Oops! #{e.message}"
end

Best Practices

Mind the rate limits! Jotform's API is generous, but don't go overboard.
When fetching lots of data, use pagination to keep things snappy.

Example Project

Let's put it all together with a script that fetches today's submissions and sends you an email summary:

require 'jotform-api'
require 'date'
require 'mail'

client = JotForm.new("YOUR_API_KEY")
today = Date.today.to_s

submissions = client.get_form_submissions("FORM_ID", {
  filter: { "created_at:gt": today }
})

summary = submissions.map { |s| s["answers"]["1"]["answer"] }.join(", ")

Mail.deliver do
  from    '[email protected]'
  to      '[email protected]'
  subject "Today's Form Submissions"
  body    "New submissions: #{summary}"
end

Conclusion

And there you have it! You're now armed and ready to wield the power of Jotform's API with Ruby. Remember, this is just scratching the surface. Dive into the Jotform API documentation for even more possibilities.

Now go forth and create some form magic! 🚀✨