Search API Connector Documentation

Print

Quick Start

Last Updated On
byAna
< Knowledge Base

For this quick start, we’ll walk through how to use the API Connector add-on for Google Sheets, using an example request from API Connector’s API request library.

SUPER QUICK START>>To get started immediately, just copy and paste the following example URL into the API URL Path, set an output sheet and click Run:

https://itunes.apple.com/search?term=radiohead

That’s it! But if you’d like more detail, read on for step by step instructions.

Contents

Before You Begin

Click here to install the API Connector add-on from the Google Marketplace.

Step 1: Open the Sidebar

After installing the plugin in Google Sheets, click Add-ons > API Connector > Open

Step 2: Add a New Request

Once the sidebar opens, click Add New to start a new request.

Step 3: Choose an API Request URL

If you already have an API URL in mind you can paste that in, otherwise let’s search the built-in API library for open APIs. Open APIs don’t require any kind of authentication so they’re good to start with.

Enter the keyword “open” and choose any API that looks interesting. The request you select will automatically populate the URL field.

Some APIs require that you fill in a value, which will be noted with brackets, e.g. https://itunes.apple.com/search?limit=200&term={keyword}. The brackets are there just to show you it requires your input; don’t include the brackets in your request URL.

Step 4: Choose a Destination Sheet

Choose where you’d like to send the response data. If you selected a request from the library, the destination sheet will be preset for you. You can keep this name or edit it if you prefer.

quickstart-img3

Step 5: Name and Run

Give your request a name and click Run. You should now be able to see data from your API request in your own sheet.

Step 6: Customize Your Request

Now, go forth and enter in your own API requests! Experiment with different API URLs (this beginner-friendly list of open APIs is a good place to start), or follow the documentation to:

API Connector Demo Video

Check here for an introduction to API Connector in video form:

Questions?

Please leave a comment below or in the API Connector user community. You’ll receive a response shortly!

Previous Frequently Asked Questions
Next Troubleshooting

14 thoughts on “Quick Start”

  1. hello there.
    I’m using an API in a site called Bling. I’m trying to get all my products on google sheets.
    The resquest runs without any error, but it only gets the first 100 products (1st page on the system website)
    There is something I can do about it?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • Hi Urian, API Connector displays all records returned from the API. Most likely your API limits the number of records in a single response (this is called “pagination”). There’s some info on this in the troubleshooting documentation, but basically you need to check Bling’s API documentation for how to receive additional records. There’s probably some query string you need to adjust to receive the next 100.

      Reply

    • When you work with GraphQL APIs, you add parameters to a “query” query string (documentation). For example if we’re pulling from the Countries GraphQL API, the graphQL query looks like this:

      { country(code: "BR") {
    name
    native
    emoji
    currency
    languages {
      code
      name
    }  } }

      You can run this in API Connector like this:
      1) Add that whole block into your sheet, say cell A1 of sheet called Input
      2) Now in cell A2, add the following formula: =ENCODEURL(A1). This will encode the whole query so we can add it to the end of the URL.
      3) Now in API Connector, enter the following API Request URL: https://countries.trevorblades.com/?query=+++Input!A2+++
      4) Click Run and you’ll see the results populate your sheet.

      Reply

  5. Thank you for this, this was so useful.
    When I run my request, no matter the configuration, it only produces maximum 26 rows of data – significantly less than there actually are in Facebook. Could you please help? Thank you!

    Reply

  6. At the moment my Google Sheet has columns “data » actions » 1 » action_type” and “data » actions » 1 » value”. This makes linking to Google Data Studio quite difficult because it doesn’t simply say “ad_name – 3 link_clicks” for example.

    Is there a way to update the output so there is a designated column for each “action_type” e.g. “link_clicks”, and then the value, as is the case with “data » impressions”?

    I appreciate any help.

    Reply

Leave a Comment

Table of Contents