Cannot "Set State/s, Cycle, Activate Scene" Outside of API Webpage Interface

Developing with LIFX
#1

Hi,

I have ran into a particular problem with using Set State, Set States, Cycle, Activate Scene.
It only seems to work on the webpage, but does not execute with POSTJSON.
(Working when I go to http://api.developer.lifx.com/docs/set-state & Fill in the values in “Try It Out”)

I can get the following to work on webpage and via https POST JSON:
Toggle Power
Breathe Effect
Pulse Effect

DO NOT WORK:
Set State
Set States
Cycle
Activate Scene
List Scenes
List Lights

Example of a working command (Pulse)

curl -k -H “Authorization: Bearer XXXX” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X POST -d ‘{“color”:“Blue”,“from_color”:“Green”,“period”:0.5,“cycles”:10,“persist”:false,“power_on”:true,“peak”:".25"}’ “https://api.lifx.com/v1/lights/label:XXX/effects/pulse”

Example of a NON WORKING commands (Set State, Activate Scene & List Scene)

curl -k -H “Authorization: Bearer XXXX” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X POST -d ‘{“power”:“on”,“color”:“Red”,“brightness”:1,“duration”:2}’ “https://api.lifx.com/v1/lights/all/state”
(I have also tried changing selector to “label:XXX” and “all”, still does not work)

curl -k -H “Authorization: Bearer XXXX” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X POST -d ‘{“duration”:5}’ “https://api.lifx.com/v1/scenes/scene_id:XXX/activate”

curl -k -H “Authorization: Bearer XXXX” -H “Content-Type: application/json” -X POST -d ‘{}’ “https://api.lifx.com/v1/scenes”

I get a 404 error for all.

Can anyone point me to the right direction on how I can get all commands to work just like they work on the API “Try It Out” webpages.

#2

I can’t answer your question directly, but if you open your browser’s developer tools and submit a working request you should be able to see precisely what is being sent by the browser - Chrome for example has excellent tools for this, and Firefox tools are pretty decent too.

#3

Okay I will try to see what it is sending. What am I looking for? Anything in particular?

(Plus the webpage results are fine and it works on it. It’s only not working when the set state etc. is sent via curl command.)

#4

Check the headers and request body to make sure you’re sending the same thing via curl.

#5

You’re very close. You just need to set the correct HTTP Method (Eg: PUT) for each endpoint.

For example, the /v1/lights/:selector/state endpoint only accepts PUT requests. If you make a POST request to this URL you’ll get a 404 - Not found because that endpoint doesn’t exist. The HTTP Method + URL make the signature of the endpoint.

curl -k -H "Authorization: Bearer XXXX" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X PUT -d '{"power":"on","color":"Red","brightness":1,"duration":2}' "https://api.lifx.com/v1/lights/all/state"

Give extra attention to the HTTP Method in the documentation. Each endpoint specifies which HTTP Method to use.

In the future we may consider returning a 405 - Method not allowed if the URL exists, but the HTTP Method is incorrect to give a better clue about what’s going on.