What is the Forge?
Shape's Forge is a tool that you can utilize to write, validate, and test queries you would make to the Shape API. The Forge will return the actual, live PPC data that results from your query. You can do this all before adding a single line of code to your company's PPC technology.
After you've written, tested, and validated that the queries you wrote return the data you need, you can click "View API Call" to have Shape display the call you will add to your solutions.
Finding the Forge
1. To get to the Forge, first, log in to Shape.
2. Click the ADI tab on the left-side navigation.
3. Click the API tab, and then select Query Builder from the drop-down menu.
Using the Forge
When you first navigate to the Forge, it may look like the image below:
1. At the bottom of the screen, where it says Query Variables, hover over the text. An arrow will appear. Drag it up to see the field where you will enter variables.
2. Next, click "DOCS" in the upper right-hand corner. This will expand Shape's Documentation Explorer, which displays available operations, fields (including definitions), and types for the Shape API.
3. Enter your auth_token (see directions on how to generate a Shape API auth token here) in the Query Variables.
Note: Your auth_token will be a series of numbers and letters. Make sure you enter your auth_token surrounded by quotation marks on each side.
4. Depending on the root object you are requesting, enter the appropriate code. For example, if your root object is an account, then your code would be code_account. Some other examples are:
code_company = Unique Company ID code generated by Shape
code_account = Unique account ID generated by an ad platform
code_campaign = Unique campaign ID generated by an ad platform
code_adgroup or code_adset = Unique ad group or ad set ID generated by an ad platform
NOTE: You can find these codes either in Shape or in ad platforms (depending on the object/description). Make sure you enter your "auth_token" and "code_" are surrounded by quotation marks on each side.
5. Enter your query into the section on the top left-hand side of the screen.
6. Click the blue triangle at the top of the screen to run the query.
7. If your query is successful, data will appear in the middle grey box. Validate that this is the data you expected to see.
Note: If you receive an error in the grey box, try rewriting your query or adjusting your query variables.