Solved: REST API not accepting credentials

afarley · ‎Apr 28, 2017

I'm trying to read and update property values using the REST API guide. I'm using Postman to test the following query:

GET [xxxxxx]/Thingworx/Things/HouseThing/Properties

I've specified my ThingWorx login credentials under HTTP Basic Auth parameters in Postman but the API is returning 401 Unauthorized. Am I supposed to have a different set of credentials for this authentication?

***************

Updates:

I did have to create a new user (see the Users link on the left-side of the Composer window). Too bad this isn't mentioned under the REST API tutorial, or the Foundation tutorial, or the Quickstart tutorial. I couldn't see any indication from the API or the instructional documentation about the different types of ThingWorx credentials.

Now I'm having a different issue: when I run this query,

http://34.192.26.37/Thingworx/Things/HouseThing/Properties

I expect to see a list of the same properties that I see when I visit the "Properties" link under the HouseThing Composer view. In fact, I don't see *any* of the HouseThing parameters. The API response is as follows (why doesn't it show the address/temperature/light properties?):

<HTML>

<HEAD>

<TITLE>Property Listing For HouseThing</TITLE>

</HEAD>

<BODY>

<BR/>

<H1>Property Listing For HouseThing</H1>

<TABLE>

<TR>

<TH>value</TH>

</TR>

</TABLE>

</BODY>

</HTML>

posipova · ‎May 02, 2017

Do you have necessary permissions set up on the user you are running the call from?

View solution in original post

posipova · ‎May 02, 2017

Do you have necessary permissions set up on the user you are running the call from?

afarley · ‎May 04, 2017

This was the issue. I had to go to "Security->Runtime" under HouseThing and add the newly created user. Thanks!

posipova · ‎May 04, 2017

Awesome, thanks for the update!

jlittle · ‎May 02, 2017

When putting together REST calls with ThingWorx, the API will assume that data should be returned in HTML format unless you specify a different format using the "Accept" header. For example, you can get the result back in JSON format by adding:

Accept: application/json

To your Postman request. This will return the results in a JSON object. Similar can be done for XML:

Accept: application/xml

Your response above does list the properties on the entity, just in HTML format.

It is a bit strange that you're not receiving any values. Have you configured the properties as persistent and set a value?

afarley · ‎May 04, 2017

Yep, they were configured as persistent and had a value set. The issue was user permissions. I am able to successfully get parameters in both HTML and json format now. Thanks!