Switch-off API enrichment while in dev mode

This request is subsequent to this post.

  1. What is your feature/integration request?

For API enrichment I would like to be able to switch-off calculation while in dev mode.

  1. What problem would this feature/integration solve?

It would not waste credit on usage-based API services.

  1. How do you solve/workaround this problem today?

No workaround satisfy my requirements.

In the same objective, it would be nice if we could tick something to ignore blank cells.

Would be very useful !

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What a wonderful idea!!!

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Agreed! my flow does 2000 api calls with each run and whenever i change something (often unrelated to the api call) I will burn thousands of API credits just for some minor change. This is getting somewhat expensive :sob:

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I think my issue is related to this: I am using the enrich feature to create new customers and use the response in my next flow to write their new IDs back in a different system. Because the enrich step actually runs while you are editing the flow, my customer is created but the response with the ID is gone when I try to publish & run the whole flow since the customer already exists

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I just setup a “Pull from API” step which will go through 520 pages and has a limit of 3 pages per minute. Now, I’m sitting here waiting for 2,5 hours for the “calculating…” to be over. So I can run the flow, which will take another 2,5h…

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At the moment I use limit rows to only have a few.
But at the moment of publishing I need to remove that step and it means a minimum of twice the API calls necessary for the flow…

I guess your issue is that the workflow of Parabola needs to finish calculating the step during edit mode.

If I may, I think an on/off switch as follows:
Build mode: simulate step results for whole dataset using [number dropdown] API results.
and eventually a refetch of these results on request.

If activated, the step would query n results and randomly use those results as API response for the rest of the table during editing. Doing so, your whole flow process isn’t disturbed and we keep our API credits.

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Is there any update on this?
Losing 19k Google Places requests just to be able to save my edits…

Hi @Joachim_Brindeau,

Thanks for checking back in. There are no updates as of yet!

Our team has been busy making some major site and performance improvements, but we know this is a highly requested feature.

Once we have an update, I’ll be sure to follow up with additional information.

Really appreciate your patience here.

Thanks

Do you have any idea for a workaround (at least for runs after the first one)?
I’m trying to figure out a way. I was thinking this:

  1. Detect empty cells in columns x,y,z.
  2. If any of those are empty, push these rows (and these rows only) to API enrichment.
  3. Rebuild complete table.

Or simply put: “enrich if column [user input] is empty”

Thanks

Hi @Joachim_Brindeau,

Great question! I just suggested a workaround in this new community post. Feel free to reply with any questions in the new thread!

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Yes being able to turn off API calls during dev is crucial for anyone consuming API enrichments that cost them credits. Essentially you end up paying for 2 x the consumption.

3 Likes

Hello, any progress?
I want to implement API enrichment like dropcontact, serp APIs, etc. but they all work with credits.
Thanks for your great tool

If I may suggest a solution :
You could create a buffer between Parabola and the API we are querying.

User makes a new or revised API call = buffer forwards it to the API and saves the result.
User makes same API call = buffer does not forward the call and returns the saved result.

I’m not a developer but something like that would spare all the credit wasted.
Thanks

Hi @Joachim_Brindeau,

Thanks for checking in! Thanks for the suggestion as well. We don’t have any updates on this end, but we do know it’s a highly requested feature. I’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Are you able to make a request once, save the response, and then insert the JSON blob into an “Insert Text Column” step?

It’s a static workaround, but your data will be able to flow between the steps allowing you to complete your flow without using the “Enrich with an API” step. Once the template is set up, you could swap the “Enrich with an API” step back into your flow.

Thanks a lot for answering but I really struggle to understand.
Could you detail the steps one by one please?

Sure thing!

Step 1
Make a request to your API using the “Enrich with an API” step. Your first row will likely contain a JSON blob in a cell. Copy it to your clipboard.

{
  "object": {
    "a": "b",
    "c": "d",
    "e": "f"
  },
  "array": [
    1,
    2
  ],
  "string": "Hello World"
}

Step 2
Disconnect the “Enrich with an API” step. Add an “Insert text column” step. Give your new column a name (I recommend using the same name returned from the API), and paste that JSON blob into the Column value field.

Step 3
Use the Expand JSON step to parse your data.

You can now continue to process your data while building your flow. When you’re ready to publish your flow, connect the “Enrich with an API” step and remove the “Insert text column” step.

Let me know if that helps!

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Ah yes, unfortunately that didn’t help because I am wasting credits on errors.
I am enriching a 4k list of company numbers and whenever one is not found, I have to filter it out in the step prior and start the requests all over again.
So your idea is good to make edits to the flow, but without an ignore error step and/or a buffer like I described, I won’t be able to use Parabola to enrich.
So I am currently looking at Phantombuster to enrich the output of Parabola (means an additional subscription though).

But thanks a lot for the help!

1 Like

Hello,

I just wanted to know if this is on the product roadmap.
Otherwise, does anyone know a no-code alternative to parabola to enrich row by row a google sheet?

I’m a big fan of Parabola, the Webflow integration is the most irreplacable tool for me, all I need is to stop wasting all of my API credits. :grin:

Joachim