List API for Advance List Stopped Returning Values

Lindsey Bryant
Lindsey Bryant
Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper
in SKY Developer General Discussions

We rely heavily on List Single API that allows us to send over a list id to then return data from BBEM to populate in our ODS tables:

https://developer.sky.blackbaud.com/api#api=school&operation=V1ListsAdvancedByList_idGet

Last week, we ran into an issue where a report that hasn't been adjusted stopped working. We rebuilt it and now it's fine. Today, I noticed the same thing happening on a separate report.

@Stephen Boyle I remember an update in this section being mentioned last week during the Product briefing. Is this potentially something that is inadvertently being impacted with some future work?

I did submit a blackbaud case (020625912) to track it, but I really don't have the bandwidth to rebuild advance lists for multiple instances.

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Answers

  • Nick Marchese
    Nick Marchese
    Kudos 1 Name Dropper Facilitator 1

    Hey @Lindsey Bryant. I haven't noticed the same issues with my extensions or usage of the List Single endpoint but did hear from one other person about this (coincidence?). I'm curious if @Stephen Boyle or Support has any specific insights for you. If I can try and help troubleshoot, feel free to email me here (nick@collarcityconsulting.com). Thanks!

  • Lindsey Bryant
    Lindsey Bryant
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper

    @Nick Marchese thanks for the reply. I guess we will see what happens here. We have 3 BBEM instances, all of which have numerous advance list setup, so I'm really not looking forward to rebuilding them. I'm hoping we can get an answer soon especially since there is no other way to get this data out of BBEM and it's end of term for us.

  • Brent Halsey
    Brent Halsey
    Second Anniversary Facilitator 1

    I started experiencing issues with this same API around the same time. I have AirByte calling 2 lists and they are erroring, resulting in 429. I've opened a ticket with no luck so far. I also have an AWS script pulling a list in a Lambda function, it began failing around the same time. After some troubleshooting, I increased the timeout from 30 seconds to 90 seconds, and the list returns successfully (averaging 45 seconds for 1,700 rows of constituent data, about 1mb of data). This used to run in just a couple of seconds. I suspect my errors in AirByte may be related to increased response time on the list API, but the 429 error locks me out of troubleshooting it and there doesn't appear to be a way to reset it. (*My 429 is not rate limited, it is due to error, Input was fully read, but some streams did not receive a terminal stream status message. If the destination did not encounter other errors, this likely indicates an error in the source or platform. Streams without a status message). My BB case is 020638979.

  • Lindsey Bryant
    Lindsey Bryant
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper

    Thanks, @Brent Halsey. I unfortunately haven't had much luck with support either. I did escalate the case yesterday and I'm hoping that we will make some progress here. My advance list returns around 30,000 rows in one of our instances and errors out. However, the exact same advance list with 80,000 rows returns with no issues. I'm going to try and add some pagination to help with the timing, but it's frustrating none the less. My case is 020625912.

  • Brent Halsey
    Brent Halsey
    Second Anniversary Facilitator 1

    I re-read this thread and realized you 'rebuilt' the list, and it started working, so I tried copying my lists that stopped working and using the copy, and that worked! Unsettling for sure, but at least back in business for now!

  • Lindsey Bryant
    Lindsey Bryant
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper

    Glad that helped! Unfortunately for us, we have 3 instances of BBEM and some of our advance list are quite complex and need to match outlines exactly as we load them into our data warehouse.

  • Johan Guzman
    Johan Guzman
    Fourth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    Just commenting that i've been experiencing the same thing. 429's where the only fix is to duplicate the list. Also investigating other weirdness around these lists around wrong values or duplicate records, but don't have any concrete info yet.

  • Lindsey Bryant
    Lindsey Bryant
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper

    @Johan Guzman we found got to the bottom of the issue with the advance list. At some point, we hit our max number of APIs and we needed someone in support to reset it. It only impacted this one advance list. We have a service account that we configured that executes all the APIs, so it wasn't for the account but just this one specific list.

    I hope this helps others who may encounter this problem.

  • Alexander Taft
    Alexander Taft
    Facilitator 1 First Anniversary

    Our API usage is very small at the moment (typically fewer than 20 calls/day), but I too have been hit in the last few days with a mysterious 429 on a daily list pull script. It started the next run after a 500 error, so wondering if I am in some sort of penalty box with no timer? As I understand it, a typical 429 should throw a retry parameter, but mine does not. I'd rather not rebuild the list only to have it fail again if there is something systemic.



  • Lindsey Bryant
    Lindsey Bryant
    Third Anniversary Kudos 2 First Reply Name Dropper

    @Alexander Taft reach out to support, tell them the API you're using the List ID, that you got the 500 error and now are getting the 429 error and you believe the issue is that you need the list reset as it's still showing you're over the limit. If you include the username that is executing the call, the error message and the system, that should hopefully be enough.

    It probably won't get resolved immediately but keep on top of it, and if you need, escalate it. That was how I got it resolved. Good luck!

  • Alexander Taft
    Alexander Taft
    Facilitator 1 First Anniversary

    Thanks Lindsey- I am doing so now.

    The documentation is vague on "wait a short period of time." Is anyone aware if there is there a way to avoid the penalty box after a server side 500 error? It seems to fail exactly at the 60 second execution threshhold.

    We use this particularly script for active attendance monitoring and reporting (something I am working on getting into a shareable state if anyone is interested!) so its daily functional running is critical.

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