RSpace Blog

February 28, 2017

RSpace API

FAIR Data

Download attachment

associated with this post

It’s been a while since the dev team last  blogged, so we thought it about time for an update. In this post, I’ll cover some aspects of the RSpace API which we made available for the first time in 1.41.

The RSpace API is a  much-requested feature. People want to get their data programmatically out of RSpace, and also create research records automatically, for example from data generated by lab equipment.

In this first release, the API is read-only and covers a basic set of functionality to search and retrieve documents, and download attachments.

How to get started? Everything is explained in our API Getting Started Guide. In brief, you just need to generate an API key for your account on your profile page and you’re good to go. Every RSpace instance has its interactive documentation at URL path /public/apiDocs. So if you’re using our Community version, go to https://community.researchspace.com/public/apiDocs. You can either just read the documentation, or authenticate with your key and test out making API calls to your own data.

If you’d like some inspiration on what the API can do for you, please have a look at some of the projects in our Github group. We’ve been creating some example code in Python, Java and Groovy to perform the following tasks:

  • Searching documents
  • Getting documents created from a particular form, in CSV format.
  • Producing paginated lists of documents.
  • Downloading attached files.

Regular RSpace users might be aware that over the last few months we’ve been adding integrations with popular data repositories such as Figshare and  Dataverse. Now that RSpace has it’s own API, it’s pretty simple to pull documents and attachments out of RSpace and send them to Figshare programmatically  – here’s some code to illustrate this.

We’d be very keen to get any feedback on the API or its usage, or new endpoints you’d like added. Clearly, being able to post new data to create RSpace documents is a priority and we’ll be developing this over future releases. As the API matures we’ll also implement OAuth-based authentication to enable more fine-grained access control.

Thanks for reading, and of course we’re always delighted to receive any feedback or pull requests.

Richard Adams

RSpace is a fully integrated sample management and electronic lab notebook solution. Build a record of your research in an ELN that connects with the research tools you already use: request a demo or contact us to learn more.

June 5, 2023

RSpace achieves SOC 2 Type 2 Certification

News

Research Space is proud to announce that it has achieved SOC 2 Type II! The certification has been awarded after a rigorous assessment of our security protocols, policies, and practices.

Read more

May 30, 2023

On Machine-actionable Data Management Plans in RSpace

Integrations

How we're using the RDA's common standard on machine-actionable DMPs to enrich the flows of data into and out of RSpace.

Read more

November 12, 2022

RSpace wins ‘Best Tool’ at NFDI4Ing Conference!

News

RSpace won the award for 'best tool' (RDM Software Solution) at the annual NFDI4Ing conference on "Unifying the Understanding of RDM in Engineering Science" which took place between October 26th and 27th, 2022! Find out more...

Read more

October 7, 2022

Clustermarket: Manage Equipment with Ease!

Integrations

Find out exactly how the new Clustermarket integration can save you time and effort when it comes to managing, scheduling and working with equipment! In this post we cover three reasons why you should be using this powerful integration as well as a three minute video on how to get started!

Read more