Basic question on APIs

Kim Ethridge 2

Just a really basic question. We use LO Advocacy along with the rest of the LO platform. If we aren't trying to implement something on a different platform, such as a WordPress site, does the API provide any benefits to customizing our site? Or is it only for when you're linking/integrating with a non-LO platform?


Kim

Sally Heaven

Hi Kim,


The API for LO Advocacy is best used when integrating an advocacy form into an external website (such as Wordpress) or when programming an interaction with another application on the back end (like generating a map to show where people live who have responded to the campaign). There's not a compelling reason to use it when the wizard-created web form will work just as well, and the built-in validation and functionality on the regular form will make your completion rate higher. For example, the takeaction API doesn't integrate with dynamic/interactive web forms in Congress. It's also easier to implement CAPTCHA on the regular forms if you choose to do so.


--Sally

Kim Ethridge 2

Thank you, Sally! The map example helps me understand better.

--Kim