Object Model
Common Fields
API objects have a type
field indicating their object type. Each object in the API may be given an identifier, indicated via its id
field, and will typically be addressable via a URI. Many objects will also have a created_at
field indicating the object's creation date as a UTC Unix timestamp.
{
"type": "contacts",
"id": "456456456456",
"created_at": 1392241887,
"custom_attributes": {
"note": "some extra information"
}
}
Dates and Timestamps
All temporal fields in the API are encoded as Unix timestamps in seconds and are by definition always treated as UTC. The most common time fields in the API are created_at
and updated_at
.
Parameter | Description |
---|---|
created_at | The time the object was created. In most, but not all cases, this is the time the object was created according to the API server. |
updated_at | The time the object was last updated according to the API server. |
Optional Fields
Unpopulated optional data is returned as follows:
- Number, String and Boolean types may be returned as having
null
values. - Arrays and Objects may be returned as empty (
[]
{}
)
In general clients should be able to handle null and empty fields.
Metadata and Custom Attributes
Some object types, such as Events, Users and Companies, have a metadata
or custom_attributes
field that allows clients to set custom-defined data about an object.