Fields

Driver supports all field types available in Swimlane platform with automatic validation and coercion to best Python representations of field values.

TrackingIdField

The “Tracking Id” field is always readonly, and exists on all records from all apps

assert record['Tracking Id'] == 'RA-7'

try:
    record['Tracking Id'] = 'New Tracking ID'
except ValidationError:
    assert record['Tracking Id'] == 'RA-7'

TextField

Supports automatic str type coercion for non-string types

Not all types are supported. Here are some examples of valid values:

  • Number: “24352435234”, 2343

  • Text: “24352435234”, “Henry”

  • Date: “24352435234” as a DateTime ONLY

  • Tracking Id: “23452435234”, “SW-132”

Assume the example below has a record with a text field “Severity” with the value “7”:

# Coerce to int, add, and automatically set back to str type in field
assert record['Severity'] == '7'

# Update value, setting the text field to an int
record['Severity'] = int(record['Severity']) + 1

# Value has been coerced to a string
assert isinstance(record['Severity'], str)
assert record['Severity'] == '8'

NumericField

Number type enforcement validation. Supports any subclass of numbers.Number

assert isinstance(record['Numeric'], numbers.Number)

try:
    record['Numeric'] = 'Not a Number'
except ValidationError:
    record['Numeric'] = 5

assert record['Numeric'] == 5

DatetimeField

Full support for all valid Swimlane datetime subtypes:

  • Date & Time

  • Date

  • Time

  • Timespan

All datetime values throughout driver are returned as Pendulum objects.

Fields can be set to appropriate datetime types or respective Pendulum instances, and will always be converted to corresponding Pendulum type matching the field subtype.

Datetime subtypes (not including Timespan) can be set to full datetime instances, and any extraneous information will be discarded.

Timezone support is automatic, and can mostly be ignored when using Pendulum instances. All instances returned from server are set to UTC.

Date & Time

Full specific date & time field

Returns pendulum.DateTime instances

datetime_field_value = record['Datetime']

# Drop-in replacement and extension of Python's builtin datetime
assert isinstance(datetime_field_value, datetime.datetime)
assert isinstance(datetime_field_value, pendulum.Pendulum)

assert datetime_field_value.year == 2017
assert datetime_field_value.month == 4
assert datetime_field_value.day == 10
assert datetime_field_value.hour == 16

# Set to a datetime/pendulum instance
# See warning below
record['Datetime'] = now = pendulum.now().replace(microseconds=0)

# Fail on generic timestamp/string (not enough context to guarantee consistent behavior)
try:
    record['Datetime'] = '2017-05-11 11:10:09'
except ValidationError:
    pass

assert record['Datetime'] == now

Warning

Mongo only supports millisecond resolution, datetimes returned from Swimlane API lose nanosecond resolution, leading to potentially slightly inconsistent datetimes before and after saving a record.

For consistency, nanoseconds are automatically stripped from datetimes when the field is set to a datetime with nanosecond precision.

Field equality comparisons with pendulum.now() or other datetime instances with nanosecond resolution will not be accurate unless the nanoseconds are manually removed from the compared datetime.

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.987654
now = pendulum.now()

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.987000
record['Datetime'] = now

assert record['Datetime'] != now

For guaranteed equality checks, simplest solution is to remove the microsecond component entirely when setting the field value in cases where sub-second resolution isn’t important.

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.000000
now = pendulum.now().replace(microsecond=0)

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.000000
record['Datetime'] = now

assert record['Datetime'] == now

Manual rounding or less/greater than comparisons are necessary in cases where millisecond resolution is necessary

## Rounding comparison

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.987654
now = pendulum.now()

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.987000
record['Datetime'] = now

# 2017-09-20 12:34:56.987000
rounded_now = now.replace(
    microsecond=math.floor(now.microsecond / 1000) * 1000
)

assert record['Datetime'] == rounded_now


## Proximity comparison

# 0.000654
assert abs((record['Datetime'] - now).total_seconds()) < 0.001

Date

Date of year with no time component (2017-06-01).

Returns pendulum.Date instances

date_field = record['Date']
assert isinstance(date_field, datetime.date)
assert isinstance(date_field, pendulum.Date)

# Set to full datetime, time portion is dropped and Date instance is always returned
record['Date'] = pendulum.now()
assert isinstance(record['Date'], pendulum.Date)

# Set to just date
record['Date'] = pendulum.now().date()
assert isinstance(record['Date'], pendulum.Date)

Time

Time of day with no date component (12:34:56).

Returns pendulum.Time instances

time_field = record['Time']
assert isinstance(time_field, datetime.time)
assert isinstance(time_field, pendulum.Time)

# Set to full datetime, date portion is dropped and Time instance is always returned
record['Time'] = pendulum.now()
assert isinstance(record['Time'], pendulum.Time)

# Set to just time
record['Time'] = pendulum.now().time()
assert isinstance(record['Time'], pendulum.Time)

Warning

Time instances do not respect timezone information, and should always be provided in UTC.

Recommend using full Pendulum datetime instances when working with Time fields. When using full datetimes, the timezone is respected before dropping the date portion.

Timespan

Time period (2 hours, 4 minutes, 15 seconds).

Returns pendulum.Duration instances

timespan_field = record['Timespan']
assert isinstance(timespan_field, datetime.timedelta)
assert isinstance(timespan_field, pendulum.Duration)

Note

Only subtype that cannot handle datetime/Pendulum instances. Must use datetime.timedelta or pendulum.Duration instances instead.

ValuesListField

Enforces valid selection options available in UI.

Single Select

Single-select mode values are accessed and set directly

# Valid option enforcement
record['Status'] = 'Open'

try:
    record['Status'] = 'Not a valid option'
except ValidationError:
    record['Status'] = 'Closed'

assert record['Status'] == 'Closed'

Multi Select

Uses a cursor that behaves similar to a standard list to provide selection functionality and value enforcement.

# Uses cursor for multi-select support with support for select, deselect, iteration, etc.
vl_cursor = record['Values List']
assert len(vl_cursor) == 2

# Adding the same value multiple times is ignored
vl_cursor.select('Option 3')
assert len(vl_cursor) == 3
vl_cursor.select('Option 3')
assert len(vl_cursor) == 3

# Remove element raises exception if not already added
vl_cursor.deselect('Option 3')
assert len(vl_cursor) == 2

try:
    vl_cursor.deselect('Option 3')
except KeyError:
    assert len(vl_cursor) == 2

# Respects field's valid options and types, raising ValidationError for invalid values
try:
    vl_cursor.select('Not a valid option')
except ValidationError:
    assert len(vl_cursor) == 2

Field can be set directly to any iterable, overwriting current selection entirely

vl_original_values = list(record['Values List'])

record['Values List'] = []
assert len(record['Values List']) == 0

# All elements must pass validation, or entire set operation fails
try:
    record['Values List'] = ['Option 1', 'Not a valid option']
except ValidationError:
    assert len(record['Values List']) == 0

record['Values List'] = vl_original_values
assert len(record['Values List']) == 2

ListField

Text and numeric list field. Uses a TextListFieldCursor or a NumericListFieldCursor depending on the field type to enforce min/max item count restrictions, min/max character/word limits, and numeric range restrictions.

Cursor works exactly like a normal primitive Python list with added validation around any methods modifying the list or its items, and when overriding the field value entirely.

# Cursor behaving like a list
text_list_cursor = record['Text List Field']

# Iteration
for value in text_list_cursor:
    print(value)

# Modification
text_list_cursor.reverse()
text_list_cursor.insert(0, 'new value')

# Index/slice
assert text_list_cursor[0] == 'new value'

# Contains
assert 'new value' in text_list_cursor

# Type validation
# Failing validation will not modify the field value
original_values = list(text_list_cursor)
try:
    text_list_cursor.append(123)
except ValidationError:
    assert len(original_values) == len(text_list_cursor)

# Replacement
# Can be set directly to a new list of values
record['Text List Field'] = ['new', 'values']

# Any invalid values will abort the entire operation
try:
    record['Text List Field'] = ['text', 456]
except ValidationError:
    assert list(record['Text List Field']) == ['new', 'values']

UserGroupField

Returns UserGroup instances (current API limitation)

usergroup = record['Group']

assert isinstance(usergroup, UserGroup)
assert usergroup.id == '58de1d1c07637a0264c0ca71'
assert usergroup.name == 'Everyone'

# UserGroup comparisons with specific User/Group instances
assert usergroup == swimlane.groups.get(name='Everyone')

Set User, Group, or UserGroup

assert isinstance(swimlane.user, User)

record['User'] = swimlane.user

assert record['User'] == swimlane.user

Value must be a UserGroup instance or extension; Usernames, IDs, display names, etc. are all ambiguous

record['UserGroup'] = swimlane.user

try:
    record['UserGroup'] = 'Everyone'
except ValidationError:
    # Will not work, string is ambiguous and not a valid value
    pass

assert record['UserGroup'] == swimlane.user

Note

Field support both single-select and multi-select modes like values lists.

Uses similar cursor as values list for multi-select, works exactly the same but for UserGroup objects instead of strings.

AttachmentsField

Returns a cursor managing iteration existing attachments.

attachments = record['Attachment']
assert isinstance(attachments, AttachmentCursor)

for attachment in attachments:
    # Yields Attachment instances
    assert isinstance(attachment, Attachment)
    assert attachment.filename == '5f09afe50064b2bd718e77818b565df1.pcap'
    assert attachment.file_id == '58ebb22907637a0b488b7b17'
    assert isinstance(attachment.upload_date, datetime)

    # Retrieve file bytes as BytesIO stream (file-like object)
    stream = attachment.download()
    assert isinstance(stream, BytesIO)
    content = stream.read()
    assert len(content) > 0

Upload new attachment with a given filename and a file-like object

# Read file from disk and add as new attachment
with open('/path/to/file', 'rb') as file_handle:
    record['Attachment'].add('filename.txt', file_handle)

# Create new attachment from data already loaded into a file-like object
# Useful when attaching data already read from disk or when that file data is used multiple times
from io import BytesIO

with open('/path/to/file', 'rb') as file_handle:
    data = file_handle.read()

record['Attachment'].add('filename.txt', BytesIO(data))

Example showing adding a request response body as an attachment

from io import BytesIO
import requests

response = requests.get('http://httpbin.org/json')

record['Attachment'].add('example.json', BytesIO(response.content))
record.save()

Note

Attachment is uploaded, and associated with record locally, immediately.

Association with attachment on server is not persisted until calling record.save().

Clear all attachments

assert len(record['Attachment']) == 1

del record['Attachment']
assert len(record['Attachment']) == 0

# Not cleared on server until saved
record.save()

ReferenceField

Returns ReferenceCursor with lazy retrieval of target app definition and referenced records as accessed.

Yields (and caches) Record instances when iterated over.

Note

Orphaned referenced records (records deleted but referenced not yet removed) are ignored, and automatically removed during iteration.

Saving a record after iterating over a reference field will remove those orphaned references on the server.

reference = record['Reference']
assert isinstance(reference, ReferenceCursor)

assert len(reference) == 3

for referenced_record in reference:
    assert isinstance(referenced_record, Record)
    assert referenced_record._app != app
    assert referenced_record._app == reference.target_app

Add or remove references to Records

other_app = swimlane.apps.get(name='Reference App')
ref_target_record = other_app.records.get(id='58e24e8607637a0b488849d4')

# Records added multiple times are ignored
record['Reference'].add(ref_target_record)
assert len(record['Reference']) == 4

record['Reference'].add(ref_target_record)
assert len(record['Reference']) == 4

# Remove reference. Raises exception if not already referenced
record['Reference'].remove(ref_target_record)
assert len(record['Reference']) == 3

Target app validation

# Cannot reference a record from an app that is not the reference field's target app
try:
    record['Reference'].add(record)
except ValidationError:
    assert len(record['Reference']) == 3

Override all references

# Can be set to a list of records directly
# Acts similar to values list, any invalid records cause the entire operation to fail
record['Reference'] = [ref_target_record]
assert len(record['Reference']) == 1

try:
    record['Reference'] = [ref_id, ref_target_record]
except ValidationError:
    assert len(record['Reference']) == 1

CommentsField

Cursor managing iteration and addition of comments

comments = record['Comments']
assert isinstance(comments, CommentCursor)
assert len(comments) == 1

for comment in comments:
    # Yields Comment instances
    assert isinstance(comment, Comment)
    assert isinstance(comment.message, str)
    assert isinstance(comment.user, UserGroup)
    assert isinstance(comment.created_date, datetime)
    assert isinstance(comment.is_rich_text, boolean)

# Add new comment
comments.comment('New comment message')

# Add new rich text comment
comments.comment('<p>New Comment</p>', rich_text=True)

# Not persisted until saved, but still listed on local record
assert len(comments) == 2
assert comments[1].message == str(comments[1]) == 'New comment message'

Note

Like attachments, comments are associated with a record only locally until calling record.save().

HistoryField

Returns a readonly RevisionCursor object that abstracts out retrieval of record history.

Each item in the RevisionCursor is a RecordRevision object, which performs additional requests to history API endpoints as accessed. See the “Resources” section of the documentation for more information about the RecordRevision object.

history = record['History']
assert isinstance(history, RevisionCursor)

# Get number of revisions
num_revisions = len(history)

# Iterate backwards over revisions
for idx, revision in enumerate(history):
    assert isinstance(revision, Revision)
    assert isinstance(revision.modified_date, datetime)
    assert isinstance(revision.user, UserGroup)
    assert num_revisions - revision.revision_number == idx

    # revision.version is a full Record instance, and fields can be accessed like a normal Record
    assert revision.version.id == record.id