Bomgar™ API Programmer's Guide

Session Generation

PDF Version (549KB)   Email This Item

External Key (TicketID)

The external key is a text string sent to the Bomgar Box to be logged as a property of a particular support session. This key typically originates from software separate from the Bomgar software. It does not need to be a unique value but usually is. The external key can be specified in one of two ways.

Manual Entry
The support representative who has ownership of a Bomgar session can manually assign a key value from within the representative client. If enabled, the Summary tab of a session displays that session's external key. Click the Edit External Key button to modify this value.

Programmatic Assignment
The second, more useful way of designating an external key is from within the URL sent to the Bomgar Box by the customer client. Only the front-end support request currently supports specifying an external key. The front-end support request generates an HTTP request similar in format to the following example:

https://support.example.com/download_customer_connector.ns?issue_menu=1&customer_name=John%20Doe&customer_company=Company%20Name&customer_company_code=1234&customer_desc=I%20need%20support&external_key=1234&id=1

Note the external_key parameter specified in the request above. If an external key is specified in this manner, the representative client will automatically populate its external key field with the given value.

The API also allows creation of a custom web site or application that can be used instead of the public site to establish a support session. Code within this custom software must generate HTTP requests in the format displayed in the example above to initiate the session and pre-populate the external key within the representative client.

The id value must be the unique numeric ID of an issue, which is generated when the issue is created on the Support Teams page under the Configuration tab of the /login administrative interface. You can obtain a list of valid issue IDs by running a get_support_teams command as detailed in the Command API section of this guide.

Using the External Key

Once a support session has an external key associated with it, you can use the reporting API to generate XML session data containing the external key. This provides the means for middleware to be developed to provide a relationship between Bomgar's reporting data and the correlating ticketing system's ticket numbers.

<< Previous | Next >>

The Adobe® logo is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.