Response field mapping

The response field mapping is where you select which fields should be imported from an application and how they map to the Airtable fields in your output table.
For each field, you can either import or filter it. For an imported field, you can set whether to map it to an existing field or create a new field in your output table.

Create the response field mapping

  • When creating a request for the first time, click "Save & Run" and the response field mapping modal will open.
  • This modal will have a list of all the possible fields you can import from the application and a preview of the first 100 records.
  • For each response field:
    • Choose whether to import it or filter it using
      .
    • Map it to an existing field by selecting
      then choosing a field with
      .
    • Map it to a new field by selecting
      , entering a field name in
      and selecting a field type with
      . Data Fetcher will automatically suggest field types based on the data.
  • You can also search for fields using the Find field input.
  • Click "Save & Run". Any new fields will be created and the data will be imported.

Refresh fields

When the API response changes, e.g. because you changed a parameter, you can refresh the fields available on the response field mapping. This will not use any of your monthly usage limits and your existing mapped fields will be preserved.
  • Click "Open field mapping".
  • Click "Refresh fields" in the top right corner. The new field should be available.

View the raw response

The fields and records on the Response field mapping have already been converted into tabular data. To view the actual JSON/ XML response that is returned by the API:
  • Click "Show response" in the top right of the modal. The response will show on the left-hand side.
    • For a JSON response, you can click on any value in the JSON response to toggle whether it is imported or not. You can also click on the
      next to a field name to go to that field in the response.
For paginated and Run on Multiple Record requests, it shows the response from only the first request.

Formula

If you need to transform a field's values before it reaches the output table, you can do this by specifying a formula for the field. You should reference the value as value , e.g. upper(value). A full list of formulas can be found here.
You can also test formulas quickly in our JavaScript Formula Playground.
  • Click on
    to open the field's settings.
  • Enter the formula in the input.
  • Click "Save".

Linked records in response field mapping

Data Fetcher can create and update linked records when a request is run.
For example, you might have a request that fetches users and another that fetches tasks, where each task has a user assigned (by user id). You want to create the links between the tasks table and the users table when the request is run.
To use an existing linked field:
  • Select
    then choose a linked field in your output table with
    .
  • By default, Data Fetcher will use the primary field in the linked table to find the record to link to. To change this, click
    then select a different field under Linked table field.
To create a new linked field:
  • Select
    , enter a field name in
    and change the field type to
    .
  • Click
    to open the field settings, and select a table to link to under Linked table.
When the request runs, Data Fetcher will create links to the linked table by looking for the response value in the linked table field. Anywhere it cannot find a record to link to, it will create a new record and link to that instead.
Data Fetcher can turn comma-separated values into multiple linked records. To enable this:
  • Click
    next to the field name to open the field settings
  • Under Allow multiple links, select "Allow".

Attachment field type

Data Fetcher can map a remote file URL (e.g. a PNG, SVG or PDF) in a response to an Airtable attachment field. To do this, select
for the type in the response field mapping.

Troubleshooting

  • Every time you change the data transformation, the response field mapping is refreshed.
  • Data Fetcher suggests data types by looking at the response data, but you can change these. E.g., it might suggest Number when in reality you want Currency.
  • Be careful when changing the data type from the suggested one, as it can lead to errors if the values cannot be converted. e.g. if the response returns "sdlf3421asd" in a field that you specified as Number Data Fetcher will fail when trying to update the field.