Getting Started with Webhooks
With Skillable, you can create and deliver engaging and effective learning experiences for your students or employees. But what if you want to integrate Skillable with other applications or services that you use, like an LMS, to automatically receive data based on Lab instance, Lab Profile, Course or Classroom events and more? For example, what if you want to automatically change assignments when a user transfers their lab to another user? Or what if you want to notify an Instructional Designer when the Lab Profile that they’ve been working on has changed?
This is where webhooks come in handy. Webhooks are a way of sending real-time data from one application to another whenever a specific event occurs. Since webhooks put the communications responsibility on the server, rather than the client, they act like reverse, or push, APIs.
Best Practices For Implementing Webhooks
Webhooks, like API endpoints, provide an easy method of retrieving data or notifications of events. Follow these best practices to get the most of your webhook configurations.
Webhooks, unlike APIs, do not require a request. Configure the webhook to activate on the most appropriate event for the best results.
Always ensure that the receiving URL is properly configured and available. If you receive an error when you navigate to the receiving URL you will not receive the webhook payload.
Be careful when configuring the Delay, Timeout and Maximum Retries as this can cause confusion when multiple webhooks are configured or triggered at the same time.
What are webhooks and why do you need them?
A webhook is essentially a user-defined HTTP callback that is triggered by an event. For example, let’s say you have an application that tracks when people check into your class using the online form. You want to be able to greet users by name and offer them a complimentary e-book download when they check in as a perk. What a webhook does is notify you any time someone checks in, so you can run any processes that you have in your application once this event is triggered. The data is then sent over the web from the application where the event originally occurred, to the receiving application that handles the data.
Webhooks are an incredible tool that saves you a lot of work and time. They allow you to automate tasks, sync data, and integrate different applications without having to write complex code or poll for updates. They also enable real-time communication and feedback between your applications and your users.
Webhooks vs. APIs
You might be wondering how webhooks are different from APIs, and when to use one over the other. Like Webhooks, APIs are also a way of exchanging data between applications, but they work in a different way. APIs are based on requests and responses, where the client (the application that wants data) sends an HTTP request to the server (the application that has data) and waits for the server to respond with the data. This means that the client must initiate the communication and has to keep asking for data until the server responds.
Webhooks, on the other hand, are based on events and callbacks, where the server (the application that has data) sends an HTTP request to the client (the application that wants data) as soon as an event occurs. This means that the server initiates the communication, and only sends data when there is something new or relevant to share.
The main difference between webhooks and APIs is that webhooks are push-based, while APIs are pull-based. Webhooks push data to the client as soon as it is available, while APIs pull data from the server only when the client requests it.
The primary characteristics of Webhooks includes:
Push-based so you receive data as events happen without having to continually request it.
Event-driven responses provide Real-time results as they happen.
Server-Initiated communications reduce the bandwidth needed to provide real-time data.
Less code is required to set up webhooks and process the return data.
Depending on your use case and preferences, you might choose webhooks or APIs or both to connect your applications. For example, if you want to get real-time updates from an application that has frequent changes, you might use webhooks. If you want to get specific data from an application that has infrequent changes, you might use APIs.
Webhooks: Available for both Skillable TMS and Skillable Studio
We are excited to announce that Skillable now supports webhooks for both the Training Management System, or TMS, and Studio environments. This means that you can easily integrate Skillable with any Learning Management System, or LMS, as well as other applications or services that support webhooks.
With Skillable webhooks, you can:
Automate workflows and tasks related to your online training platform.
Sync data between Skillable and other applications or services.
Integrate Skillable with your existing systems and tools.
Enhance your learning analytics and reporting.
And much more!
We hope you find Skillable webhooks useful and beneficial for your online training platform. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions on how we can improve our webhooks and our platform in general. Please feel free to reach out to your Skillable representative.