For those of you that use API explorer daily like me, you know it’s a bit tedious when you want to copy API’s, especially between experiences.
One small, but very helpful feature would be to right click on your API from the Interface Asset panel, and select “Copy Share Link”.
This will allow you to easily copy the share link to your clipboard, open a new instance of API Explorer, and start with pre-created template.
I know there is ‘history’ in API Explorer, but when you use many API’s or clear cache, the one you want is not always there. It’s also more difficult to know which one you are copying because they are not named in the history panel.
Copy API share link to the clipboard! How nice would that be!
Some trick that may help is to open 2 Composers side-by-side, copy your API-Explorer-generated-IA from one Experience in Composer #1 and Paste it in the other in Composer #2.
@AlexB, I really hope I misunderstood your request and you’re not gonna say “Oh no Seb, how could I miss this before”, but let me try it…
In the API Explorer, next to the “Create Interface Asset” button, you have a Share button. That creates a link you can reuse in another API Explorer, in another XP, or even in a regular web browser.
If I missed your point, I’ll owe you a beer, else… just add one to the list
Seb
PS: don’t ask me when we introduced this share button, you won’t like the answer (Day 1 of API Explorer)
PS2: I never use myself, which is probably why you never heard me talking about it. Usually, I would edit the IA in API Explorer I need to copy, that brings it to the top of the history list. Then when creating a new IA with API Explorer, I just use the last entry in the history.
Hey @Seb,
Yup, I’m well aware of the share button. In fact, that’s what my whole post is about! LOL
The issue is this. To use the share button - you have to open API explorer, wait for the call to finish, copy the link, close API explorer, open a new API explorer, paste the link, then do your edits. It seems like an unnecessary process to open API explorer “just” to get that share link. Plus, it causes issues with two composers.
Can’t we just right click on the API in the Interface assets, and have a button that says “Copy Share Link”.
Not only would that small thing save a TON of time, but if you’re copying between two Composers at the same time, you don’t need to worry about all the errors from having two API explorers open at the same time.
YES, thanks Seb! This looks like a nice work around for the time being.
Can you confirm that this doesn’t cause the ‘duplicating’ issue that is written in the api explorer documentation? (the issue is that if you right click the IA and duplicate, the copied IA is still linked to the first, mirroring all changes)
I just want to make sure this isn’t going to cause any new problems. I’ll also do a little testing on my end. Thanks again for the suggestion!
@Seb Hey - just a heads up, that using this method in the SAME XP causes the duplication error!
For those that see this post, I believe @Seb’s method will work when copying between two different XP’s, but do NOT use this method to drag and drop the IA file into the same XP! This will cause both API instances to mirror each other, which can cause issues if you make any changes.
I accidentally had this issue a few days ago and broke a bunch of bindings and buttons.
So I’m kinda back to my original post here. It’d be really nice to copy the Share Link right from the IA. That seems to be the safest way to duplicate API’s into the same and different XP’s, while saving time.
I tried to be as explicit as I could, but yes, the last method I provided was indeed only for copying 1 IA between 2 XPs.
Do not use this method to copy 1 IA in an XP that already has the IA (= duplicate an IA), it won’t work.
Don’t try to drag&drop twice the same IA in a new XP, since it’ll be exactly the same case, trying to duplicate an IA.
As of today, the only way to truly duplicate an API Explorer generated IA in one XP it to open API Explorer, either use the history link or paste the share link you got from your exiting IA, and hit the create button from within the API Explorer.
