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CollegiateLink Software -- Benefits/Pitfalls when using API in Cascade?

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jwaack

01 May, 2013 03:43 PM

Our organization is currently looking into a software, CollegiateLink, for use with our Student Life/Activities departments and I was wondering if anyone had used this service and incorporated it into their website using Cascade? If so, what were some benefits, tips, tricks, pitfalls you’ve discovered when doing so? Their website doesn't include much information regarding their Web Services API ... just that they have it available. Any information/experience you have with this software as it pertains to Cascade would be greatly appreciated.

1. 1 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 01 May, 2013 03:50 PM

   

   Hi,

   Although I did not use the CollegiateLink API within Cascade, I had written a PHP script that pulled down data using their API and generated static XML (ie cached the data) so that it could be consumed. This script ran on a schedule using a cron job.

   If this XML is public, you could consume it with Cascase using an Feed Block by providing the URL to the file.

   If you are interested, I could see if I can locate this script for you to give you a starting point.

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2. 2 Posted by jwaack on 01 May, 2013 03:54 PM

   

   That would be fantastic! Thanks for the assistance Ryan.

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3. 3 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 01 May, 2013 04:10 PM

   

   Not a problem at all. Here is a link to the code. The summary got a little weird so here is what is should say:

   • CLStudentOrgs.class.php - contains the core class to pull from CollegiateLink's API using cURL. Fill in the empty API constants at the top, this information is obtained from CollegiateLink.
   • collegiateLinkStudentOrgs.php - this code queries CollegiateLink for organizations (in this case student orgs only) and obtains the basic org information and category(ies); roster info is commented out but should work.

   Note: this code was written late 2011, but I am pretty sure it still works sine it's still in use.

   Please let me know if you have any questions.

   Thanks

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4. 4 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 07 May, 2013 12:10 PM

   

   Hi,

   Just wanted to follow up to see if you had a chance to view my recent comment. I hope you found the sample code to be a good starting point.

   Please let us know if you have any questions.

   Thanks.

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5. 5 Posted by jwaack on 07 May, 2013 02:33 PM

   

   Yes, very much. Thanks again for all your help.

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6. 6 Posted by Ryan Griffith on 07 May, 2013 03:46 PM

   

   Not a problem at all, thank you for following up, Glad to hear the sample code helped out.

   I'm going to go ahead and close this discussion, please feel free to comment or reply to re-open if you have any additional questions.

   Have a great day!

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7. Ryan Griffith closed this discussion on 07 May, 2013 03:46 PM.