Question
This page defines the Question resource.
Questions are queries asked to a person. When people answer questions, Answer resources are created to store their answer. Examples of questions include “Do you support John Doe for City Council?” or “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barak Obama is handling his job as president?”
Sections
Endpoints and URL structures
OSDI does not specify specific endpoints and link structures for compliant systems to use. Rather, because OSDI is a HAL+JSON API, endpoints and structures are defined in the links section of each returned resource, starting with the API Entry Point link.
HAL’s link structure lets an API consumer move through API levels, resources, and collections by parsing and following links. While most systems will not change the value of their links often and obey RESTful design principles, the value of each link when that resource is retrieved is the only canonical value, and it can change at any time.
The link relation label for a Question resource is osdi:question for a single Question resource or osdi:questions for a collection of Question resources.
Fields
The field names for this resource, with standard names, punctuation and capitalization, and values where appropriate.
Note: As with the entire OSDI specification, the specific fields a compliant system implements will vary between each system, as will the fields each system requires when creating or updating resources, which fields are writeable, and the operations you are allowed to perform on each resource.
Common Fields
A set of common fields that appear on all resources is included first, for reference.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| identifiers | strings[] | A unique string array of identifiers in the format [system name]:[id]. See the general concepts document for more information about identifiers. |
| created_date | datetime | A read-only property representing the date and time the resource was created on the local system. |
| modified_date | datetime | A read-only property representing the date and time the resource was last modified on the local system. |
Control Headers
An “osdi:control” JSON object may contain common OSDI control headers which can be used on an OSDI POST, PUT, PATCH, Helper or other function calls to modify server behavior. Read More
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| return_response | boolean | Defaults to true, if specified as false, the operation does not need to return the resource representation in the response |
Question Fields
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| origin_system | string | A human readable identifier of the system where this question was created. (ex: “OSDI System”) |
| name | string | The name of the question. Intended for administrative display rather than a public title, though may be shown to a user. |
| title | string | The title of the question. Intended for public display rather than administrative purposes. |
| description | string | A description of the question, usually displayed publicly. May contain text and/or HTML. |
| summary | string | A text-only single paragraph summarizing the question. Shown on listing pages that have more than titles, but not enough room for full description. |
| question_type | string | The format of the question. One of “Paragraph”, “SingleChoice”, or “MultiChoice”. “SingleChoice” means only one of several possible responses is accepted for any given answer, and “MultiChoice” means one or more of several possible responses is possible for any given answer. |
| responses | QuestionResponse[] | The list of acceptable responses for this question, if question_type is “SingleChoice” or “MultiChoice”. For example, if the question is “What is your most important issue?”, possible responses might be “Environment”, “Health Care”, “Economy”, etc… |
Related Objects
These JSON hashes included in the table above are broken out into their own tables for readability, rather than independent resources with their own endpoints.
Question Responses
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| response.key | string | An alphanumeric identifier which uniquely identifies this response among other responses for this question. A single question resource may not have two or more responses with the same key. |
| response.name | string | The name of the question response. Intended for administrative display rather than a public title, though may be shown to a user. |
| response.title | string | The title of the question response. Intended for public display rather than administrative purposes. |
Links
The links associated with this resource, available in the links section of the resource. Links that are part of the OSDI spec are typically prefixed with the osdi: namespace to aid in curie matching and readability.
Note: As with the entire OSDI specification, the specific links a compliant system supplies will vary between each system. In addition, systems may choose to embed a linked resource directly in the response in addition to linking to it in the links section, using the standard _embedded syntax described in the general overview documentation.
| Name | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| self | Question* | A self-referential link to the question. |
| creator | Person* | A link to a single Person resource representing the creator of the question. |
| modified_by | Person* | A link to a Person resource representing the last editor of this question. |
| answers | Answers[]* | A link to the collection of Answer resources for this question. |
Related Resources
Scenarios
The scenarios below show some common Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) operations that can be performed on this resource, as well as any resource-specific behaviors worth highlighting. The following examples are for informational purposes. The authoritative resource definitions are above in the Fields tables and should be followed in the event of a conflict with the examples.
Scenario: Retrieving a collection of Question resources (GET)
Question resources are sometimes presented as collections of questions. For example, calling the questions endpoint will return a collection of all the questions stored in the system’s database associated with your api key.
Request
GET https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/
Header:
OSDI-API-Token:[your api key here]
Response
200 OK
Content-Type: application/hal+json
Cache-Control: max-age=0, private, must-revalidate
{
"total_pages": 10,
"per_page": 25,
"page": 1,
"total_records": 250,
"_links": {
"next": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions?page=2"
},
"osdi:questions": [
{
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0bc3"
},
{
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/a91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0bc3"
},
{
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/1efc3644-af25-4253-90b8-a0baf12dbd1e"
},
//(truncated for brevity)
],
"curies": [
{
"name": "osdi",
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/docs/v1/{rel}",
"templated": true
}
],
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions"
}
},
"_embedded": {
"osdi:questions": [
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0bc3",
"foreign_system:1"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"name": "Volunteer Question",
"title": "Do you want to volunteer?",
"description": "<p>Do you want to volunteer? It will only take a few hours of time per week.</p>",
"summary": "Volunteer question for canvass",
"question_type": "SingleChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "Y",
"name": "yes",
"title": "Yes"
},
{
"key": "M",
"name": "maybe",
"title": "Maybe"
},
{
"key": "N",
"name": "no",
"title": "No"
}
],
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0bc3"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0bc3/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/c945d6fe-929e-11e3-a2e9-12313d316c29"
}
}
},
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:a91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"name": "Issues question",
"title": "Which questions do you care about?",
"description": "<p>Which issues do you care about? Select all that apply.</p>",
"summary": "Issues the person cares about",
"question_type": "MultiChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "hc",
"name": "healthcare",
"title": "Health care"
},
{
"key": "env",
"name": "environment",
"title": "Environment"
},
{
"key": "ec",
"name": "economy",
"title": "Economy and jobs"
}
],
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/a91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/a91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/c945d6fe-929e-11e3-a2e9-12313d316c29"
}
}
},
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:1efc3644-af25-4253-90b8-a0baf12dbd1e"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T20:44:13Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T20:44:13Z",
"name": "Why the respondant wants to get involved.",
"title": "Why do you want to get involved with our organization?",
"question_type": "Paragraph",
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/1efc3644-af25-4253-90b8-a0baf12dbd1e"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/1efc3644-af25-4253-90b8-a0baf12dbd1e/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
}
}
},
//(truncated for brevity)
]
}
}
Scenario: Scenario: Retrieving an individual Question resource (GET)
Calling an individual Question resource will return the resource directly, along with all associated fields and appropriate links to additional information about the question.
Request
GET https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa
Header:
OSDI-API-Token:[your api key here]
Response
200 OK
Content-Type: application/hal+json
Cache-Control: max-age=0, private, must-revalidate
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"name": "Issues question",
"title": "Which questions do you care about?",
"description": "<p>Which issues do you care about? Select all that apply.</p>",
"summary": "Issues the person cares about",
"question_type": "MultiChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "hc",
"name": "healthcare",
"title": "Health care"
},
{
"key": "env",
"name": "environment",
"title": "Environment"
},
{
"key": "ec",
"name": "economy",
"title": "Economy and jobs"
}
],
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/c945d6fe-929e-11e3-a2e9-12313d316c29"
}
}
}
Scenario: Creating a new question (POST)
Posting to the question collection endpoint will allow you to create a new question. The response is the new question that was created. While each implementing system will require different fields, any optional fields not included in a post operation should not be set at all by the receiving system, or should be set to default values.
Request
POST https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/
Header:
OSDI-API-Token:[your api key here]
{
"identifiers": [
"foreign_system:1"
],
"name": "Issues question",
"title": "Which questions do you care about?",
"description": "<p>Which issues do you care about? Select all that apply.</p>",
"summary": "Issues the person cares about",
"question_type": "MultiChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "hc",
"name": "healthcare",
"title": "Health care"
},
{
"key": "env",
"name": "environment",
"title": "Environment"
},
{
"key": "ec",
"name": "economy",
"title": "Economy and jobs"
}
]
}
Response
200 OK
Content-Type: application/hal+json
Cache-Control: max-age=0, private, must-revalidate
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"name": "Issues question",
"title": "Which questions do you care about?",
"description": "<p>Which issues do you care about? Select all that apply.</p>",
"summary": "Issues the person cares about",
"question_type": "MultiChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "hc",
"name": "healthcare",
"title": "Health care"
},
{
"key": "env",
"name": "environment",
"title": "Environment"
},
{
"key": "ec",
"name": "economy",
"title": "Economy and jobs"
}
],
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/c945d6fe-929e-11e3-a2e9-12313d316c29"
}
}
}
Scenario: Modifying a question (PUT)
You can update a question by calling a PUT operation on that question’s endpoint. Your PUT should contain fields that you want to update. Missing fields will be ignored by the receiving system. Systems may also ignore PUT values, depending on whether fields you are trying to modify are read-only or not. You may set an attribute to nil by including the attribute using nil for value.
Note: Modifying members of an array separately is not supported. To change the contents of an array, first GET the current contents and then PUT back only those you wish to keep.
Request
PUT https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa
Header:
OSDI-API-Token:[your api key here]
{
"name": "First canvass issues question",
"title": "Which issues do you care about?"
}
Response
200 OK
Content-Type: application/hal+json
Cache-Control: max-age=0, private, must-revalidate
{
"identifiers": [
"osdi_sample_system:d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
],
"origin_system": "OSDI Sample System",
"created_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"modified_date": "2014-03-20T21:04:31Z",
"name": "First canvass issues question",
"title": "Which issues do you care about?",
"description": "<p>Which issues do you care about? Select all that apply.</p>",
"summary": "Issues the person cares about",
"question_type": "MultiChoice",
"responses": [
{
"key": "hc",
"name": "healthcare",
"title": "Health care"
},
{
"key": "env",
"name": "environment",
"title": "Environment"
},
{
"key": "ec",
"name": "economy",
"title": "Economy and jobs"
}
],
"_links": {
"self": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa"
},
"osdi:answers": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d91b4b2e-ae0e-4cd3-9ed7-d0ec501b0baa/answers"
},
"osdi:creator": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/65345d7d-cd24-466a-a698-4a7686ef684f"
},
"osdi:modified_by": {
"href": "https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/people/c945d6fe-929e-11e3-a2e9-12313d316c29"
}
}
}
Scenario: Deleting a question (DELETE)
You may delete a question by calling the DELETE command on the question’s endpoint.
Request
DELETE https://osdi-sample-system.org/api/v1/questions/d32fcdd6-7366-466d-a3b8-7e0d87c3cd8b
Header:
OSDI-API-Token:[your api key here]
Response
200 OK
Content-Type: application/hal+json
Cache-Control: max-age=0, private, must-revalidate
{
"notice": "This question was successfully deleted."
}