Get Attendance Record Error on Attendance Type

Lindsey Bryant

For anyone that uses the Get Attendance Record API, please be aware there is a bug with the output of "attendance_type". It's configured as a boolean but needs to be an integer.

This will then allow you to hit the Attendance Type API to retrieve the correct description.

Right now, all of our attendance records are showing a value of 1, which equals "present", However, as I look through the description on the record api, I see comments of "Absent".

A BB Case has been submitted 020681438.

Stephen Boyle

https://community.blackbaud.com/discussion/comment/309525#Comment_309525

Hi Lindsey,

You are right to be confused by that field. It is poorly named and described in the endpoint. I can get the description updated to be a bit more helpful.

The endpoint in general is poorly made. The attendance_type in Attendance record (the get) denotes whether the entry is regular or future attendance. The attendance_type in the Types excused types indicates whether the reason (aka excuse type) counts as present, absence or tardy. That endpoint is on track to be rewritten in the new Academics API where we have the freedom to correct these things without breaking backward compatibility.

Lindsey Bryant

@Stephen Boyle can you look further into this support case: 020681438

The response though may be true, it doesn't make sense. I'm being told the "attendance_type" is associated if the attendance is "Future" dated an therefore working as expected.

If this is the case, then I see three options:

1. Add a new output so we can actually tie the type of attendance to each attendance record that this API returns.
2. (My vote). Switch the current output of "attendance_type" to match the API that returns the various attendance types and add a new output called "future_attendance" to indicate that it's a future attendance.
3. Add a "future" output to the Attendance Type API, which means you still have to switch the output from a boolean to integer. Ultimately, you can't be present or tardy for future attendance and I would think that if you were marked "absent" for a future class, when the data is pulled again, it would switch from "future" to "absent".

These are the most straight forward options to me and would reduce people reaching out to support or the community with the confusion of this API.

Lindsey Bryant

@Stephen Boyle thanks for the response and letting us know it will be fixed in some upcoming work. I ended up leveraging the Excused Type API to get to my final answer as a work around. Hopefully this works for others as well.