Updating Existing Data via Web Services
Many myAvatar Web Services use the existing filing processes used by the myAvatar forms to add and edit data in the database, resulting in consistency between data filed via both methods. This means that when updating and existing row of data, the filing process for each web service may behave differently for the myAvatar fields represented.
When editing an existing row of data via a web service, it is recommended to either pass to the web service all data in the row you wish to retain to ensure that data is not cleared by the web service call. If that is not easily accomplished, we recommend testing the behavior of the specific web service fields to ensure data is not inadvertently edited or removed. In some cases, not passing in a value to a field when editing an existing row will clear the data previously filed there.
Clearing Fields Via A Web Service
When editing an existing row of data, if the web service does not clear a field of its data and it’s not passing in a value for that field's web method parameter, chose a method to explicitly tell the web service to clear the field value. Below are the typical options utilized:
- Pass in a string with two double quotes. In many programming languages (Java, C, etc.), that string can be defined by "\"\""
- Pass in a string with a single NULL character (ASCII code 0). This string can usually be defined by "\0" in many programming languages.