Influence Resource Representation

Adding parameters to the request influences the resource representation and makes it easier to use and consume large results. By default, a server returns a default set of fields specific to a resource. You can use parameters to return the exact fields you need and control the amount of data that the server returns in a response. For example, when you want to view a subset of fields, instead of all the fields.

The request body of a generic search API supports the following parameters:

  • response to return a minimal response.

  • expand to include child resources.

  • fields to include specific fields.

  • aliases adds an alias to a field name.

  • defaultoverride overrides the default resource representation and returns what you place in the fields parameter.

  • excludereferenceresources overrides the default resource representation and returns the direct fields, and the linked resources that you place in the fields, and the expand parameters.

Please note that when using defaultoverride with the value true, it ignores anything in the expand parameter.

Following is an example of using parameters in an HTTP request body to influence what a response displays:

POST http://[hostName]:[portNumber]/[api-context-root]/generic/persons/search

Body :

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01').and.name.eq('Doe')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "fields": "officeAddress|homeAddress"
  }
}

Minimal Response

In a machine-to-machine communication scenario, the client may not be interested in the resource representation of the created or updated resource. Knowing whether the response was processed successfully or not is sufficient to know. This can be determined using the HTTP status code. Sending the response costs server resources and network bandwidth. This overhead can be prevented by including the parameter "response" in the Accept header.

Accept: application/vnd.oracle.insurance.resource+json; response=minimal

Currently, the "response" parameter supports only the value "minimal". When "response=minimal" is present, the "expand" and "fields" parameters are ignored.

The minimal response in JSON format:

{}

Expand

The expand parameter expands the root and child items in a hierarchy for a resource. The application supports the following values for the expand parameter:

  • Display child resources of all resources in a list:

    {
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "expand": "<subresource 1>,<subresource 2>...<subresource n>"
  }
}

  • Expands all first-child resources of all resources:

    {
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "expand": "subResources"
  }
}

  • Expand all root and child resources in a hierarchy of all resources:

    {
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "expand": "all"
  }
}

For example, consider a hierarchy of resources:

claim
  claimLineList (first-level child resource)
    claimLineDiagnosesList (second-level child resource)
  claimDiagnosesList (first-level child resource)
  claimPendReasonList (first-level child resource)

Displays the following results after using the expand parameter:

Table 1. Expand
Expand value ClaimLine Included? ClaimLineDiagnosis Included? ClaimDiagnosis Included? ClaimPendReason Included?

not specified

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

No

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

claimLineList

Yes

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

claimLineList|claimDiagnosesList

Yes

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Yes

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

claimLineList|claimLineList.claimLineDiagnosesList

Yes

Yes

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

subResources

Yes

Only id, objectVersionNumber and link

Yes

Yes

all

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes
If a resource has a child resource, any request to the resource displays links to the first-level child resources. You can use the expand parameter to display more details of a child resource.

Including Dynamic Fields

The use of expand parameter includes dynamic fields:

  • The use of "expand" ="all" includes all dynamic fields of the resources and child resources

  • Including dynamicData keyword in your request includes all dynamic fields of the resource.

Not specifying any value to expand excludes all dynamic fields.

Including Dynamic Records

The use of expand parameter includes dynamic records:

  • To view a specific dynamic record in the representation, you can add the value "<dynamicRecordFieldUsage> to expand

  • The use of "expand" ="all" includes all dynamic records of the resources and child resources

  • Including dynamicData keyword in your request includes all dynamic records of the resource.

Not specifying any value to expand excludes all dynamic records.

Consider the following data structure where both claim and claimLine have dynamic fields and records.

claim
  claimLineList (child resource)

The following table shows how expand and dynamicData work together:

Table 2. Including Dynamic Records
Expand Value Dynamic Fields or Records of Claim Shown? Dynamic Fields or Records of ClaimLine Shown?

not specified

No

No

dynamicData

Yes

No

claimLineList

No

No

claimLineList|dynamicData

Yes

Yes

subResources

Yes

No

Improve API Performance by Switching from expand=all to Specific Fields

We recommend specifying specific fields instead of using expand=all in your API requests to improve performance. This change can enhance efficiency and reduce unnecessary data retrieval.

Do the following steps to identify API calls that use the expand=all and log them for analysis:

  1. Enable detailed logging with a POST request to generic/loggers/ with the following JSON payload:

{
    "logger": "ExpandAllLogs",
    "logLevel": "TRACE",
    "duration": 200
}

This configuration will log API calls that use expand=all for 200 minutes.

  1. Review the logged data periodically to identify which API calls are using expand=all.

  2. Replace expand=all with specific fields in those API calls to optimize performance.

This proactive approach helps optimize your system’s performance by reducing unnecessary data retrieval and improving API response times.

Fields

The fields parameter returns the fields you specify in a request. As an alternative to the default response, adding the fields parameter returns the exact fields you specify in the request with the parameter.

The id field is present in every response, regardless of the field being mentioned in the fields parameter.

The following code returns the code of a message resource:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "fields": "message.code"
  }
}

You can use the bar symbol (|) to specify multiple fields. The following is a request that uses the fields parameter for multiple values:

{
  "resource":  {
     "q": "code.eq('ABC')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
     "fields": "code|totalCoveredAmount|brand.code"
  }
}

The response to the above request:

{
  "claim": {
    "id": "123",
    "code": "ABC",
    "totalCoveredAmount": 123.45,
    "brand": {
      "links": [
        {
          "code": "brandCode"
          "href": "http://[hostName]:[portNumber]/[api-context-root]/generic/{referenceCollection}/{id}",
          "rel": "canonical"
        }
      ]
    },
    "claimLineList": [{
        "id": "123",
        "sequence": 1
      }, {
        "id": "124",
        "sequence": 2
      }]
  }
}

The following is a response to a request without the fields parameter:

{
  "claim": {
    "id": "123",
    "code": "ABC",
    "totalClaimedAmount": 123.45,
    "brand": {
      "links": [
        {
          "href": "http://[hostName]:[portNumber]/[api-context-root]/generic/{referenceCollection}/{id}",
          "rel": "canonical"
        }
      ]
    },
    "claimLineList": [{
        "id": "123",
        "sequence": 1
      }, {
        "id": "124",
        "sequence": 2
      }]
  }
}

Compare the two responses to see the effect the fields parameter has on the request:

  • The totalClaimedAmount field is absent in the first response as the request did not specify the totalClaimedAmount field in the fields list

  • The code of the brand is present only in the first response.

All the fields of the claim line (child resource) are present in both responses and the id field is always present.

The two responses show that when you use the fields parameter in a request, the response contains only the specified fields.

The request returns the default representation of a resource if you include nothing in the fields section. The fields parameter works as the expand parameter for a linked resource.

Restrictions

The fields parameter only influences linked resources at the first level. So, using "fields"="payerCode.payer.code" in a request does not return the value of payer.code.

The following entities are exceptions to this rule and have expandable linked resource implementation:

  • Person

  • Country

  • ClaimForm

  • ServiceAddress

  • RenderingAddress

  • CountryRegion

  • ServiceDefinition

  • ProductServiceDefinition

  • Provider:IndividualProvider and OrganizationProvider

  • Premium Billing Allocation

  • Commission Result Lines

  • Activities and their subtypes (Global Activities/Financial Transaction Set Activities/Group Account Activities/Contract Activities).

  • Macros (Bulk update definition and dynamic logic)

  • Locationtypegroups

Include Flex Code Fields

The fields parameter displays Flex Code fields in the following manner:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "fields": "<propertyName>.<flexCodeFieldUsage>"
  }
}

Consider a Flex Code definition "TARGET_GROUPS" has three Flex Code field usages:

  • A code (target group code) field, which is a key

  • A description (target group description) field

  • A size (target group size) field.

Consider a "group" flex code that uses the Flex Code definition "TARGET_GROUPS". To view the size field, the request body looks like this:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "fields": "group.size"
  }
}

Include or Exclude Insurable Entities

The fields parameter shows the fields of an insurable entity. Following is a sample request body that shows the value of the maximumSpeed field of a insurable car entity:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "code.like('BMW%')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "fields": "car.maximumSpeed"
  }
}

Aliases

You can give an alias to fields when using expand and fields parameters. Using an alias reduces the payload length when there are many entries in a request.

The syntax to use the aliases parameter is:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "dateOfBirth.eq('1900-01-01')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "aliases": "<string1>^<alias1>|<string2>^<alias2>"
  }
}

Here is a request body that uses an alias to fetch claim.code, claimLineList.code, claimLineList.coveredAmount, and claimLineList.claimLineMessageList.message.code:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "code.like('CLA%')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "aliases": "claimLineList^cl|claimLineList.claimLineMessageList^clml",
    "fields": "code|cl.code|cl.coveredAmount|clml.message.code"
  }
}
You can use an alias when using the aliases parameter.

Defaultoverride

This value of the parameter is true or false.

The false value returns the default response. The true value returns items you mention in the fields or expand parameters.

The response does not show any links, id, objectVersionNumber, details, or references.

  • If this parameter is true, the server ignores the expand and excludereferenceresources parameters.

  • Using the link keyword returns a link to the resource.

  • When altering generic resource using new attributes, then you need to include the attributes in the request body.

Here is a sample request to access claims resource:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "code.like('CLA%')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "defaultoverride": "true",
    "fields": "id|code|claimLineList.code|link|claimLineList.link"
  }
}

This results in data for the following fields in the payload:

  • claim.id

  • claim.code

  • claim.links

  • claimLineList.code

  • claimLineList.links

Exclude Reference Resources

The value of this parameter can be true or false, with false as the default value. When the excludereferenceresources is set to:

  • false, returns the default response.

  • true, all the reference resources and child lists are excluded from the response, except those mentioned in the fields and expand parameters.

  • All the fixed (non-referential) fields for the resources are returned by default.

  • The excludereferenceresources can be used in conjunction with the fields and expand parameters (including dynamicData and subResources for expand parameter).

  • If the defaultoverride parameter is true, the server ignores the excludereferenceresources parameter.

  • With excludereferenceresources set to true, expanding a list resource does not automatically expand the child lists for that resource unless those are also part of the fields or expand parameters.

  • Links to the resource are always returned as part of the response.

Here is a sample request to access claims resource:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "code.like('CLA%')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "excludereferenceresources": "true",
    "fields": "claimForm.code",
    "expand": "claimLineList"
  }
}

This results in data for the following fields in the payload:

  • All fixed (non-referential) fields and links for the claim resource.

  • Code and links for claimform.

  • All fixed (non-referential) fields and links for the claimline resource.

Exclude Links

To exclude the links of the reference fields and child lists from the response, set the parameter exclude links to true in the request body. By default, all the operational links are returned.

Request Payload with excludelinks Attribute

Following is an example payload to set exclude links to true:

{
  "resource": {
    "q": "code.like('CLA%')"
  },
  "resourceRepresentation": {
    "excludereferenceresources": "true",
    "fields": "claimForm.code",
    "expand": "claimLineList",
    "excludelinks": true
  }
}

The response results in data for the following fields, which are requested in the payload:

  • All the fixed fields and links for claims resources.

  • id and code for claimForm.

  • All fixed fields for the claimline resource.

  • When excludelinks = true, the response contains operational links and the requested links under the fields parameter in the request.

  • When excludelinks = false or this parameter is absent, the behavior is as it is, and the response contains operational links and links of the reference property as well as the child list.

  • All the dynamic data links would be returned in the response irrespective of excludelinks = true or false.

Response with Operational Links Present at the Child List

In some cases, operational links are present within the child lists of the requested main resource data.

For example:

When the pend reasons for a claim have not yet been resolved in the claims resource, the claimpendreason resource will have a resolve link attached to the child list object.

When exclude links is set to true, and

  1. If the request payload does not request the respective child list with operational links, then no data with respect to the child list is returned by the response.

  2. The request payload requests some data under the child list; the response returns the operational links along with the requested data.

When any reference field or a child list data is requested through the request payload with excludelinks parameter set to true, it returns only the links that are requested in the payload; however, the id field of the reference property or the child list property aways returns in the response body.