Reading and Writing Data Using the WebinarGeek API

Hey there, fellow JavaScript aficionados! Ready to dive into the world of WebinarGeek API integration? Let's get our hands dirty with some code and explore how to sync data for a user-facing integration. Buckle up!

Introduction

WebinarGeek's API is your ticket to programmatically managing webinars and participant data. Whether you're building a custom dashboard or integrating webinar functionality into your app, this API has got you covered.

Authentication

First things first, let's get you authenticated. You'll need to grab your API credentials from the WebinarGeek dashboard. Once you've got those, here's how you set up a quick axios instance:

const axios = require('axios');

const api = axios.create({
  baseURL: 'https://api.webinargeek.com/v1',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${YOUR_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  }
});

Reading Data

Fetching Webinar Info

Want to grab details about a specific webinar? Here's how:

async function getWebinar(webinarId) {
  try {
    const response = await api.get(`/webinars/${webinarId}`);
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching webinar:', error);
  }
}

Retrieving Participant Data

Need to fetch participants? Let's paginate through them:

async function getParticipants(webinarId, page = 1) {
  try {
    const response = await api.get(`/webinars/${webinarId}/participants`, {
      params: { page, limit: 100 }
    });
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error fetching participants:', error);
  }
}

Writing Data

Creating New Webinars

Time to create a webinar programmatically:

async function createWebinar(webinarData) {
  try {
    const response = await api.post('/webinars', webinarData);
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error creating webinar:', error);
  }
}

Updating Webinar Details

Need to tweak that webinar? No problem:

async function updateWebinar(webinarId, updateData) {
  try {
    const response = await api.patch(`/webinars/${webinarId}`, updateData);
    return response.data;
  } catch (error) {
    console.error('Error updating webinar:', error);
  }
}

Syncing Data

Implementing Webhook Listeners

Let's set up an Express endpoint to catch those sweet, sweet webhooks:

const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.post('/webhooks', express.json(), (req, res) => {
  const event = req.body;
  console.log('Received webhook:', event);
  // Process the event
  res.sendStatus(200);
});

Handling Real-time Updates

Process that webhook payload like a boss:

function processWebhook(event) {
  switch (event.type) {
    case 'participant.registered':
      // Handle new registration
      break;
    case 'webinar.started':
      // Update webinar status
      break;
    // Add more cases as needed
  }
}

Error Handling and Rate Limiting

Don't let those pesky errors get you down. Implement some retry logic:

async function apiCallWithRetry(apiCall, maxRetries = 3) {
  for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
    try {
      return await apiCall();
    } catch (error) {
      if (error.response && error.response.status === 429) {
        // Rate limited, wait before retrying
        await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000 * (i + 1)));
      } else if (i === maxRetries - 1) {
        throw error;
      }
    }
  }
}

Optimizing Performance

Cache those responses to keep things speedy:

const NodeCache = require('node-cache');
const cache = new NodeCache({ stdTTL: 600 }); // 10 minutes

async function getCachedWebinar(webinarId) {
  const cacheKey = `webinar_${webinarId}`;
  let webinar = cache.get(cacheKey);
  if (!webinar) {
    webinar = await getWebinar(webinarId);
    cache.set(cacheKey, webinar);
  }
  return webinar;
}

Testing and Debugging

Always test in the sandbox environment first! And don't forget to log those API calls:

api.interceptors.request.use(request => {
  console.log('Starting Request', request);
  return request;
});

api.interceptors.response.use(response => {
  console.log('Response:', response);
  return response;
});

Conclusion

And there you have it! You're now armed with the knowledge to build a robust WebinarGeek integration. Remember to keep an eye on those rate limits, cache when you can, and always handle errors gracefully.

Happy coding, and may your webinars be ever engaging!