Advice Content Types

Our RESTful API understands and communicates in JSON. Consumers must send the Accept header with the desired and appropriate MIME type.

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Advice Formats

The API will always return JSON but the Advice content contained within can be plain text, plain text with AttributedString definitions, or HTML. Markdown is coming soon.

Since the API always returns JSON, the default Content-Type is application/json. In this default configuration, plain text will be the format for Advice content fields (which include question, explanation, headline, summary, etc.).

To change the format of the Advice content within the API, use a custom Accept header as demonstrated below.

Plain Text (default)

The following MIME types (including the two custom ones) are equivalent for retrieving plain text.

  Accept: application/json
  Accept: application/vnd.taffrail.json
  Accept: application/vnd.taffrail.json+text      <- preferred

Example of plain text Advice using this header:

{
  "headline": "Because your income is above $198,000, you are not eligible for a Roth IRA and should consider a Traditional IRA instead."
}

Plain Text with AttributedString Support

To request text with a list of attributions for use in AttributedString structs (found in iOS and Android, among others), use the +attrstring modifier on the Accept header as follows. Note that the plain text field will always be returned, and a new fieldName_attributes field appears.

  Accept: application/vnd.taffrail.json+attrstring

Example of Advice using this header.

{
  "headline": "Because your income is above $198,000, you are not eligible for a Roth IRA and should consider a Traditional IRA instead."
  "headline_attributes": [{
    "range": {
        "indexStart": 8,
        "indexEnd": 37,
        "length": 29
    },
    "variable": "Roth_Income_Menu_Single",
    "value": "your income is above $198,000",
    "type": "backlink",
    "id": "oRzEh5HLrP8i3c_PXltzV"
  }]
}

Notes on the attribution objects:

• The range property's object contains the start, end, and length of the attribution.
• The id property's value is the Variable ID, for cross-referencing the Variables list.
• If a type property exists in the fieldName_attributes items, its value will be either backlink or formulaic.
  • If the type is backlink, that indicates a phrase is associated with a Variable in an Input Request. In the example above, "income is above $198,000" would be linked to the Input Request that assigns Roth_Income_Menu_Single.
  • If the type is formulaic, that indicates a Variable was found in the string and it does not have an associated Input Request. You can choose to attribute or style the Variable or not.

If there are no attributions in a string, the fieldName_attributes property will not exist.

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Backlinks

A Backlink is used to link a Variable in Advice text to the question where the user could modify the input.

Read more about Backlinks.

HTML

To request formatted HTML, use the +html modifier on the Accept header as follows. Note that the plain text field will always be returned, and a new _html field appears.

  Accept: application/vnd.taffrail.json+html

Example of Advice using this header.

{
  "headline": "Because your income is above $198,000, you are not eligible for a Roth IRA and should consider a Traditional IRA instead."
  "headline_html": "Because <a href=\"#Roth_Eligibility\" data-variable-id=\"EbAx0DxX9Bm490AALrEPV\" class=\"taffrail-var\"><taffrail-var data-type=\"Freetext\" data-variable-name=\"Roth_Eligibility\" data-variable-id=\"EbAx0DxX9Bm490AALrEPV\" data-raw-value=\"Income too high for a Roth\">your income is above <taffrail-var data-type=\"Number\" data-format=\"$0,0\" data-variable-name=\"IRS_Limit_Roth_MFJ_Income_Low\" data-variable-id=\"Bj09EXCZkhOiKxdsa4UaL\" data-raw-value=\"198000\">$198,000<\/taffrail-var><\/taffrail-var><\/a>, you are not eligible for a Roth IRA and should consider a Traditional IRA instead.\n"
}

If the HTML response includes a hyperlinked element, that indicates the linked phrase is associated with a Variable in an Input Request. In the example above, "your income is above $198,000" would be linked to the Input Request that assigns Roth_Eligibility. It is the responsibility of the HTML renderer to attach appropriate events to show the linked Input Request to the user.

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Backlinks

A Backlink is used to link a Variable in Advice text to the question where the user could modify the input.

Read more about Backlinks.

Markdown

Unparsed (raw) Markdown syntax support is coming in a future release.

Raw

To request unformatted raw Advice content without variable values resolved, use the +raw modifier on the Accept header as follows. This format is only useful when debugging or when implementing a custom interface and parsing engine.

  Accept: application/vnd.taffrail.json+raw

Example of Advice using this header.

{
  "headline": "Because your income is above {{IRSLimitRothMFJIncome_Low}}, you are not eligible for a Roth IRA and should consider a Traditional IRA instead."
}