Reference: WQL REST API

Administrator Guide

Download PDF

Use the WQL REST API to return:

A list of data sources and data source filters.

Details about a specific data source.

The primary business objects for a specific data source.

Fields in a data source.

The related business object for a specific field.

You can use the information from the response to construct a WQL request in:

The

query

parameter of the

GET /data

endpoint.

The request body of the

POST /data

endpoint.

Before you construct your request, you can make calls with the

GET /dataSources/

and

GET /dataSources/{ID}

endpoints to verify the correct alias names to use.

See Reference: WQL Aliases.

Both tenanted hosts and the Workday Cloud Platform (WCP) API Gateway support WQL requests. Depending on where you make WQL requests from, the base URL that you use differs.

WQL Request Source	Base URL to Use
Workday tenanted host	https://{hostname}/api/wql/{version}/{tenant}
WCP API Gateway	https://api.workday.com/wql/{version}

GET /data

Returns the data from a WQL query. Use this request for queries with less than 2,048 characters. You can only view data you have security access to. You execute WQL using the

query

parameter.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/data?query={myquery}

Example query:

{baseURL}/data?query=SELECT location, max(yearsOfService) FROM allWorkers GROUP BY location

Example JSON response:

{
"total": 152,
"data": [
    {
        "location": {
            "descriptor": "Academic Location WATS 1",
            "id": "5403216f5ef810381796f3bb216504f5"
        },
        "max(yearsOfService)": "20"
    },
    ...
]
}

Workday clears cached WQL query results after 30 minutes. To clear the cache manually, you can add

offset=0

to your query. Example:

{baseURL}/data?offset=0&query=SELECT firstName, location FROM allWorkers

POST /data

Returns the data from a WQL query. Use this request for queries between 2,048 and 16,000 characters. You can only view data you have security access to. You execute WQL using the

query

parameter. Place the

query

parameter and query in the request body of the API call.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/data/

Example request body:


{
"query" : "SELECT location, max(yearsOfService) FROM allWorkers GROUP BY location"
}

Example JSON response:

{
"total": 152,
"data": [
    {
        "location": {
            "descriptor": "Academic Location WATS 1",
            "id": "5403216f5ef810381796f3bb216504f5"
        },
        "max(yearsOfService)": "20"
    },
    ...
]
}

GET /dataSources

Returns:

A collection of data sources for use in a WQL query.

The primary business object for the data sources.

Indexing information of the data sources.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/dataSources/

Example query:

{baseURL}/dataSources

Example JSON response:

{
  "total": 1722,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dcb7628d000d",
      "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
      "alias": "indexedInProgressWorkerCalibrationPlacements",
      "description": "Accesses a ~worker's~ in progress ~worker~ calibration event as the primary business object and the ~worker's~ attributes as the secondary business object. Returns the calibrated values specific to a ~worker~ for an in progress Calibration event.",
      "primaryBusinessObject": {
        "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
        "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dd177601000e"
      },
     "dataSourceIndexType": "Indexed"
    },
  ……
  ]
}

Example query with optional filter. Returns indexed data sources when filter ‘SourceIndexType’ = Indexed is used.:

{baseURL}/dataSources?SourceIndexType=Indexed

Example JSON response:

{
  "total": 35,
  "data": [
    {
      "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dcb7628d000d",
      "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
      "alias": "indexedInProgressWorkerCalibrationPlacements",
      "description": "Accesses a ~worker's~ in progress ~worker~ calibration event as the primary business object and the ~worker's~ attributes as the secondary business object. Returns the calibrated values specific to a ~worker~ for an in progress Calibration event.",
      "primaryBusinessObject": {
        "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
        "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dd177601000e"
      },
     "dataSourceIndexType": "Indexed"
    },
  ……
  ]
}

GET /dataSources/{ID}

Returns a data source for the specified ID for use in a WQL query. The request also returns the primary business object for the data source.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/dataSources/‹datasource_wid›

Example query:


{baseURL}/dataSources/aae24a47e36110000a37dcb7628d000d

Example JSON response:

{
  "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dcb7628d000d",
  "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
  "optionalParameters": [
    {
      "label": "Include ~Terminated~ ~Workers~",
      "alias": "includeTerminatedWorkers",
      "type": "Boolean"
    },
  ...
  ],
  "supportsEntryDate": false,
  "description": "Accesses a ~worker's~ in progress ~worker~ calibration event as the primary business object and the ~worker's~ attributes as the secondary business object. Returns the calibrated values specific to a ~worker~ for an in progress Calibration event.",
  "supportsEffectiveDate": false,
  "alias": "indexedInProgressWorkerCalibrationPlacements",
  "dataSourceIndexType": "Indexed",
  "requiredParameters": [
    {
      "label": "Calibration Node for nBox",
      "type": "Multi-instance",
      "alias": "calibrationNodeForNBox"
    }
  ],
  "fullAlias": "my::indexedInProgressWorkerCalibrationPlacements",
  "filterIsRequired": false,
  "primaryBusinessObject": {
    "descriptor": "Indexed In Progress ~Worker~ Calibration Placements",
    "id": "aae24a47e36110000a37dd177601000e"
  }
}

GET /dataSources/{ID}/fields

Returns the fields of a specific data source for use in a WQL query. The request also returns the related business object for each field.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/dataSources/‹datasource_wid›/fields

Example query:

{baseURL}/datasources/aae24a47e36110000a37dcb7628d000d/fields

Example JSON response:

{
 "total": 2967,
 "data": [
   {
     "id": "09d50672a44001ea5d41efcfd6419a00",
     "descriptor": "Trended Worker Org for Cost Center_Current_QA (tenant setup)",
     "alias": "cf_TrendedWorkerOrgForCostCenter_Current_QATenantSetup",
     "type": "Single instance",
     "relatedBusinessObject": {
       "descriptor": "Position Set",
       "id": "373872302e7e4afe96aa37c0dd93e53e"
     }
   },...
 ]
}

GET /dataSources/{ID}/fields/{subresourceID}

Returns details for a particular field when the ID for the field is specified as the

{subresourceID}

. The request also returns the related business object for each field.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/dataSources/‹datasource_wid›/fields/{subresourceID}

Example query:

{baseURL}/dataSources/7884e9fbf68c10000b2b632e6e0100f1/fields/bb4ed38524451000419c823f09ba1587

Example JSON response:

{
  "id": "bb4ed38524451000419c823f09ba1587",
  "descriptor": "ACA IRS 1094-C Reporting - ~Worker~ Included in Full Time Count for September",
  "type": "Boolean",
  "alias": "ACAIRS1094_CReporting_WorkerIncludedInFullTimeCountForSeptember",
  "requiredParameters": [
    {
      "alias": "yearForIRSReporting",
      "label": "Year",
      "type": "Single Instance"
    },
    {
      "type": "Single Instance",
      "alias": "companyWith1094_CCountDataAvailableForYearSelection",
      "label": "Company with 1094-c Count Data Available for Year Selection"
    }
  ],
  "optionalParameters": [
    {
      "type": "Single Instance",
      "alias": "month",
      "label": "Month"
    }
  ]
}

GET /dataSources/{ID}/dataSourceFilters

Returns the data source filters for a specific data source for use in a WQL query.

Syntax:

{baseURL}/dataSources/‹datasource_wid›/dataSourceFilters

Example query:

{baseURL}/dataSources/6d34556ff015100012a60a4bb1ce0b92/dataSourceFilters

Example JSON response:

{
"total": 6,
"data": [
    {
        "id": "432abca0a751100008144ff171b8000a",
        "descriptor": "Student Applications for Admissions Cohort Finalize Decisions",
        "alias": "studentApplicationsForAdmissionsCohortFinalizeDecisions",
        "optionalParameters": [
            {
                "type": "Single Instance",
                "description": "The Application Grouping for this Student Application.",
                "alias": "applicationGrouping"
            }
        ],
        "description": "Return Applications that are valid for Publication with this Cohort\n- has an Admissions Decision\n- Decisions Published Status is Confidential - For Internal Use Only\n- No Inactive Status"
    },
    ...
]
}

Concept: Workday Query Language (WQL)