DocuSign REST API: Correcting a document & too many api calls

0
votes

Scenario:

My application dynamically generates a contract (PDF) on-the-fly through the use of some base language and replacement variables from user data. That pdf is then sent to the DocuSign REST API with the list of recipients/signers/tabs which handles delivery of the agreement to the various parties.

Issue:

At times during the negotiation process for the contract, users may need to make edits to the agreement. My application has a correction interface where they're able to regenerate the original PDF and then have an action that allows them to update the existing envelope.

To perform these corrections, I'm currently using the following API Calls for a single correction:

  1. getEnvelope to retrieve the current status and make sure the envelope hasn't been voided, completed, etc.
  2. deleteEnvelopeDocuments to remove all existing documents.
  3. updateDocuments to send the base64 encoded document to the envelope.
  4. updateEnvelope to send the recipients back to the envelope because they're deleted as a result to #2.

These 4 API calls feel like a mistake to me because if any one of them fails for whatever reason, the entire process fails. In addition, the processing time for the back-and-forth is also a consideration even though I could delegate that to a queue'd background process.

My Question (I know, finally)

Is there a better way to do what I'm trying to do? Perhaps I can skip #1 and just catch an exception thrown by DocuSign when attempting to update a completed / voided envelope. What I'm really interested in knowing is if I can consolidate #2-4 into a single call somehow. The API doesn't feel super clear on corrections and also doesn't send any notifications when an envelope is updated via the API.

1
docusignapi

1 Answers

1
votes

I think this can be done with two API calls instead of four.

You can make a PUT call to replace a document

PUT .../envelopes/<envID>/documents/1

This API replaces an existing document, there's no need to do 2+3 separately.

This would eliminate the need to do #4 as well, because the tabs (not recipients as you stated) are not going to be removed if you don't delete the document but simply update it.