The Desk Ruby Gem

A Ruby wrapper for the Desk.com API

Installation

gem install desk

What's new in 1.0.0?

Completely rewritten for Desk.com API v2

For those upgrading from API v2 (Desk gem v0.3.x), check out the transition guide

Help! I'm getting: "Did not recognize your engine specification. Please specify either a symbol or a class. (RuntimeError)"

You'll need to explicitly require a JSON library. We recommend yajl-ruby.

Overview

Desk.com's API v2 follows a standard structure for (almost) every endpoint (see the last section of the examples for the irregularities). Each endpoint impliments some, or all, of the following actions: list, search, show, create, update and delete. Additionally, some endpoints impliment sub-endpoints that utilize the same list of actions.

The endpoint actions, and sub-endpoint actions, are implimented as methods in the following way:

[action]_[endpoint] or [action]_[endpoint]_[sub-endpoint]

http://dev.desk.com/API/cases
The cases endpoint is a great example. It impliments the list, search, show, create and updated actions. It additionally impliments sub-endpoints for messages, replies, notes and attachments related to cases. See the above link for more information.

For the Case endpoint, the create action would look like:

Desk.create_case(args)

For the Reply sub-endpoint under Cases, the update action would look like:

Desk.update_case_reply(case_id, reply_id, args)

Take note, as reflected in the Desk.com API documentation, that the list and search actions change the plurality of the endpoint or sub-endpoint. Such as:

Desk.search_cases
Desk.list_case_replies(case_id)

Aliases

For ease of use, the list and show endpoint and sub-endpoint methods have aliases that drop the action. These translate as follows:

list_[endpoint plural]                 => [endpoint plural]
show_[endpoint]                        => [endpoint]

list_[endpoint]_[sub-endpoint pluaral] => [endpoint]_[sub-endpoint plural]
show_[endpoint]_[sub-endpoint]         => [endpoint]_[sub-endpoint]

For the Case endpoint and Reply sub-endpoint that would look like:

Desk.cases
Desk.case(case_id)
Desk.case_replies(case_id)
Desk.case_reply(case_id, reply_id)

Additionally, for endpoints that impliment the search action, the list and list alias will intelligently use the correct API action for the provided arguments. Meaning, all of the following are valid:

Desk.cases
Desk.cases(:page => 2)
Desk.cases(:status => "new,open")
Desk.cases(:status => "new,open", :page => 2, :per_page => 10)

Responses

While the raw API responses are available (see below), results are by default translated into cleaner, more accessible Ruby objects, allowing the following:

cases = Desk.cases
cases.each do |c|
  puts c.priority
  puts c.status
end

For actions like show, create and update the endpoint fields are accessible in the object root, such as:

c = Desk.case(case_id)
puts c.priority
puts c.status

Additionally, the new "_links" in API v2 are easily accessible in this way as well. Because each link (like self, first, next, etc) contain a fully formated API callback, we're able to directly load the results of that link and return the resulting object. This allows for clean, simple code like the following to page though all the avaiable cases:

cases = Desk.list_cases
while cases
  cases.each do |c|
    # do something with each case
  end
  cases = cases.next
end

Or to easily access a case's assigned user and assigned group:

c = Desk.show_case(case_id)
user_object = c.assigned_user
group_object = c.assigned_group

Raw Responses

While almost all of the Desk.com API results are accessible, in some form, using the simple object keys above the raw results are still avaiable via the "raw" key. This allows for:

c = Desk.show_case(case_id)
puts c.raw["_links"]["self"]["class"]

Usage Examples

require "rubygems"
require "desk"

# All methods require authentication. To get your Desk OAuth credentials,
# register an app in the Desk.com admin for your account at http://your-domain.desk.com/admin
Desk.configure do |config|
  config.support_email = "help@example.com"
  config.subdomain = YOUR_DESK_SUBDOMAIN
  config.consumer_key = YOUR_CONSUMER_KEY
  config.consumer_secret = YOUR_CONSUMER_SECRET
  config.oauth_token = YOUR_OAUTH_TOKEN
  config.oauth_token_secret = YOUR_OAUTH_TOKEN_SECRET
end

######
# List examples
######

# List cases
Desk.cases

# List customers
Desk.customers

# List site settings
Desk.site_settings

# List twitter users
Desk.twitter_users

# List article translations
Desk.article_translations(1)

# List case notes
Desk.case_notes(12345)

######
# Search examples
######

# Search articles
Desk.articles(:text => "happy", :topic_ids => "1,2,4")

# Search cases
Desk.cases(:since_id => 12345)

# Search companies
Desk.companies(:q => "acme")

# Search customers
Desk.customers(:last_name => "Smith", :custom_field => "IS 5416")

######
# Show examples
######

# Get a specific custom field
Desk.custom_field(1)

# Get a specific facebook user
Desk.facebook_user(1234)

# Get a specific case
Desk.case(12345)

# Get a specific twitter account
Desk.twitter_account(2)

######
# Create examples
######

# Create a new phone case
Desk.create_case(
  :type => "phone",
  :subject => "Creating a case via the API",
  :priority => 4,
  :status => "open",
  :labels => [ "Spam", "Ignore" ],
  :_links => {
    :customer => {
      :href => "/api/v2/customers/1",
      :class => "customer"
    },
    :assigned_user => {
      :href => "/api/v2/users/1",
      :class => "user"
    },
    :assigned_group => {
      :href => "/api/v2/groups/1",
      :class => "group"
    },
    :locked_by => {
      :href => "/api/v2/users/1",
      :class => "user"
    },
    :entered_by => {
      :href => "/api/v2/users/1",
      :class => "user"
    }
  },
  :message => {
    :direction => "out",
    :body => "Please assist me with this case",
  }
)

# Create a new label
Desk.create_label(
  :name => "MyLabel",
  :description => "A Test Label",
  :types => [ "case", "macro" ],
  :color => "blue"
)

# Create a new topic
Desk.create_topic(
  :name => "Social Media",
  :allow_questions => true,
  :in_support_center => true
)

######
# Update examples
######

# Update a customer
Desk.update_customer(123,
  :first_name => "Johnny",
  :emails => [
    { :type => "work", :value => "johnny@acme.com" },
    { :type => "other", :value => "johnny@other.com" }
  ],
  :custom_fields => { :level => "super" }
)

# Update an integration URL
Desk.update_integration_url(10, :enabled => false)

# Update a macro
Desk.update_macro(5, :name => "Macro 5")

######
# Delete examples
######

# Delete a case
Desk.delete_case(12345)

# Delete a label
Desk.delete_label(2)

# Delete a macro
Desk.delete_macro(10)

######
# Sub-endpoint examples
######

# Get the original message for a specific case
Desk.case_message(12345)

# Get the cases for a specifc filter
Desk.filter_cases(8)

# Output all replies for a specific case
Desk.case_replies(12345).each { |r| puts r.body }

# Update the translation for a specific topic
Desk.update_topic_translation(1, "ja", :name => "The Japanese Translation")

# Delete a specifc attachment for a specific case
Desk.delete_case_attachment(12345, 10)

######
# _link helper examples
######

# Output the original message and all replies using the _link helpers
c = Desk.case(12345)
puts c.message.body
c.replies.each { |r| puts r.body }

# Output all article subjects, who created them and who last updated them
Desk.articles.each do |a|
  puts a.subject
  puts "Created at: #{a.created_at} by #{a.created_by.public_name}"
  puts "Updated at: #{a.updated_at} by #{a.updated_by.public_name}"
end

# For all customers who have been created since 01/01/2013, output the
# original message for all cases for those customers
Desk.customers(:since_created_at => 1385856000).each do |customer|
  customer.cases.each do |c|
    puts c.message.body
  end
end

######
# Helper methods
######

# Add an address, email and phone
# number to an existing customer
customer = Desk.customer(12345)
customer_add_address(customer, "12545 Riata Vista Cir, Austin, TX 78727", "work")
customer_add_email(customer, "ruby@desk.com")
customer_add_phone_number(customer, "123-456-7890", "other")

# Delete a specific address, email and
# phone number from an existing customer
customer = Desk.customer(12345)
customer_delete_address(customer, "12545 Riata Vista Cir, Austin, TX 78727")
customer_delete_email(customer, "ruby@desk.com")
customer_delete_phone_number(customer, "123-456-7890")

# Delete all addresses and phone
# numbers of a specific type
customer = Desk.customer(12345)
customer_delete_address(customer, "work")
customer_delete_phone_number(customer, "other")

# The delete helpers also support mixing
# and matching multiple items
customer = Desk.customer(12345)
customer_delete_address(customer, "work", "other", " "12545 Riata Vista Cir, Austin, TX 78727")
customer_delete_email(customer, "ruby@desk.com", "gem@desk.com")
customer_delete_phone_number(customer, "work", "123-456-7890", "908-456-321")

######
# "non-standard" examples
######

# Get a case url
Desk.case_url(12345)

# Get the history for a sepcific case
Desk.case_history(12345)

# Show insights meta data
Desk.insights_meta

# Create insights report
Desk.create_insights_report(
  :resolution => "days",
  :min_date => "2013-12-01",
  :max_date => "2013-12-16",
  :dimension1_name => "*",
  :dimension1_values => "*",
  :dimension2_name => "*",
  :dimension2_values => "*"
)

# Show the daily system message
Desk.system_message

# Basic authentication with username and password; not recommended

Desk.configure do |config|
  config.support_email = "help@example.com"
  config.subdomain = YOUR_DESK_SUBDOMAIN
  config.consumer_key = YOUR_CONSUMER_KEY
  config.consumer_secret = YOUR_CONSUMER_SECRET
  config.auth_method = Desk::Authentication::Methods:BASIC
  config.basic_auth_username = YOUR_USERNAME
  config.basic_auth_password = YOUR_PASSWORD
end

Contributing

In the spirit of free software, everyone is encouraged to help improve this project.

Here are some ways you can contribute:

by using alpha, beta, and prerelease versions
by reporting bugs
by suggesting new features
by writing or editing documentation
by writing specifications
by writing code (no patch is too small: fix typos, add comments, clean up inconsistent whitespace)
by refactoring code
by closing issues
by reviewing patches

All contributors will be added to the HISTORY file and will receive the respect and gratitude of the community.

Submitting an Issue

We use the GitHub issue tracker to track bugs and features. Before submitting a bug report or feature request, check to make sure it hasn't already been submitted. You can indicate support for an existing issuse by voting it up. When submitting a bug report, please include a Gist that includes a stack trace and any details that may be necessary to reproduce the bug, including your gem version, Ruby version, and operating system. Ideally, a bug report should include a pull request with failing specs.

Submitting a Pull Request

Fork the project.
Create a topic branch.
Implement your feature or bug fix.
Add documentation for your feature or bug fix.
Run bundle exec rake doc:yard. If your changes are not 100% documented, go back to step 4.
Add specs for your feature or bug fix.
Run bundle exec rake spec. If your changes are not 100% covered, go back to step 6.
Commit and push your changes.
Submit a pull request. Please do not include changes to the gemspec, version, or history file. (If you want to create your own version for some reason, please do so in a separate commit.)

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