Side-Loading

Overview

Side-loading allows you to retrieve related records as part of a single request. For example, normally a request to /tickets.json returns ticket resources with a structure similar to:

{
  "tickets": [
    {
      "requester_id": 7,
      ...
    },
    ...
  ]
}

To fetch the requester's data, you must then make another request to /users/7.json.

Using side-loading, you can fetch a partial user resource along with the ticket in a single request. To make the request, add an include parameter containing a comma-separated list of resources to load. Examples:

.../tickets.json?include=users,groups

.../tickets/1.json?include=users,groups

The response will include a top-level array of associated data under the appropriate resource key.

{
  "tickets": [
    {
      "requester_id": 7,
      ...
    },
    ...
  ],
  "users": [
    {
      "id": 7,
      "name": "Bob Bobberson",
      ...
    }
  ]
}

Special Sideloads

Abilities

A resource may have an additional abilities sideload that describes what the current user can do with the resource. Example:

GET /api/v2/users/me.json?include=abilities

{
  "user": {
    "active": true,
    "alias": null,
    "created_at": "2012-05-08T01:04:47Z",
    ...
  },
  "abilities": [
    {
      "can_edit": true,
      "can_edit_password": true,
      "can_manage_identities_of": true,
      "can_verify_identities": false,
      "url": "http://example.zendesk.com/api/v2/users/11.json",
      "user_id": 11
    }
  ]
}

Comment events

A ticket event stream can have a comment_events sideload that includes the ticket comments. The data returned is embedded in the child_events property rather than in a separate array. For more information, see Sideloading in Incremental Ticket Event Export.

Open Ticket Count

A user can have a open_ticket_count sideload that specifies the total number of open tickets assigned to the user.

GET /api/v2/users/me.json?include=open_ticket_count

{
  "user": {
    "id": 10001,
    "active": true,
    "alias": null,
    "created_at": "2012-05-08T01:04:47Z",
    ...
  },
  "open_ticket_count": {
    "10001": 10
  }
}

For more information, see Sideloading related records.

Searches

Search supports sideloads. However, you must specify the type of records searched in the include query parameter to sideload data related to that record type. Specify the type and sideload using the following syntax:

include={type}({sideload})

For example, the following request searches for a user and specifies the type users to sideload the user's identities:

/api/v2/search.json?query=email:[e-mail]&include=users(identities)​

The following request searches for tickets and specifies the type tickets to sideload the tickets' user and SLA data:

api/v2/search.json?query=type:ticket%20billing&include=tickets(users,slas)

See the table in Supported Endpoints for the supported sideloads for different record types.

Supported Endpoints

The following Support API resources support side-loaded records:

Support API resource	Side-loaded records
Tickets	brands, custom_statuses, users, groups, organizations, last_audits, metric_sets, dates, sharing_agreements, comment_count, incident_counts, ticket_forms, metric_events (single ticket), slas (single ticket)
Ticket Fields	users
Ticket Forms	ticket_fields
Audits	users, organizations, groups, tickets
Requests	users, organizations
Users	organizations, abilities, roles, identities, groups, open_ticket_count
Groups	users
Group Memberships	users, groups
Automations	app_installation, permissions, usage_1h, usage_24h, usage_7d, usage_30d
Macros	app_installation, categories, permissions, usage_1h, usage_24h, usage_7d, usage_30d
Triggers	app_installation, permissions, usage_1h, usage_24h, usage_7d, usage_30d
Views	app_installation, permissions
Organizations	abilities
Support addresses	brands
View Execution / Previewing	The following are automatically side-loaded if applicable: group, organization, users
Search	Records related to type of records searched (mainly tickets, users, orgs). See Searches

The following Help Center API resources support side-loaded records:

Help Center API resource	Side-loaded records
Categories	translations
Sections	categories, translations
Articles	users, sections, categories, translations
Article comments	users, articles, translations
Posts	users, topics
Post comments	users, posts
Subscriptions	users, articles, sections
Votes	users, articles, translations