Best Practices

Best Practices in API

API Implementation Standards

1. Pre-Production Testing
   Always test and validate API requests in Postman or the built-in API Explorer before integrating them into the system.
   Test environments should mirror production configurations

2. Document Operations

   Operation	Endpoint	Special Requirements
   Add Document	/docadd	Requires meta tags
   Delete Document	/docdelete	UID must exist
   Update Metadata	/updatemetadata	Supports custom fields

   Critical Notes:
   File collection paths must use forward slashes (/) only.

   Form authentication works only through docadd for WEB collections in SearchBlox.

   Metadata is required when performing add operations.

3. Authentication & Headers
   SB-PKEY header is required for all requests
   API keys should follow these security practices:
   Rotated quarterly
   Store them securely and never place them in client-side code.
   Restrict access by IP address whenever possible.

4. Error Handling

   Code	Typical Resolution
   400	Validate JSON structure and required fields
   401	Verify SB-PKEY matches Admin Console
   404	Confirm collection/document exists
   500	Check server logs and retry with backoff

5. URL Validation
   Implement pre-flight checks for all provided URLs
   Reject malformed URLs before API submission

6. Advanced Recommendations
   Performance Optimization
   Batch processing: Limit to 100 documents/request
   Throttling: Implement 500ms delay between requests
   Connection reuse: Maintain persistent HTTP connectio

Troubleshooting Checklist

1. Verify SB-PKEY matches Admin Console
2. Confirm collection exists
3. Validate JSON payload structure
4. Check network connectivity to SearchBlox server
5. Review server logs for detailed errors

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Note:

• It is required to use SB-PKEY to attempt all SearchBlox REST API requests.
• SB-PKEY can be found on Dashboard->Administration->Users under the Private Key tab for each Admin role user.
• Admin role users will have access to Unique SB-PKEY.