Assure DQ

Can Assure 9.3 call an API outside of the Assure app to extract/capture a list of records from that source?  If it is able to do this, please provide the specific documentation on how this is done including any properties settings, plus instructions on control and layout setup.

Assure can connect to REST API endpoints via layouts. Information on installing and using this plugin are in the following articles:

REST API Web Service Layout Installation

Creating a Rest Web Services Layout

Several layouts can also have their Data Access Method option switched to "Networked Character/Byte Stream I/O" which allows HTTP/HTTPS locations to be used. For example, you can capture a Delimited file from a web server into a Delimited layout via this method. Depending on how your APIs are accessed and how the data is returned, a combination of these features can be used.

Is there a standard location for jar files?  Our IA.properties PLUGINS_DIR=  is blank.  Does a new folder/directory need to be created in components?  If so, what should this be called?

Usually it's created at <install_home>/plugins, but it can be at any location and name.

Are we able to use properties files similar to what we do for database connections?  If so, is this entered in the Rest API EndPoint text box?  When using a properties, can we set Use Basic Auth to true and not enter a userid/password?

Yes, this was added in Assure 9.2. For Web Service and External Service layouts, which includes the REST API layout, you can use the following syntax for your endpoint URL to reference a custom property file:

${@userprop_t('restapi.properties','base_rest_api_endpoint')}/api/v2/some_endpoint/

The expression is contained within ${ } and can be embedded within a text value. 

For user ID and passwords, you can use the Edit Network Credentials option within a Layout to create expressions via the UI. The ${ } notation isn't needed here, and the same type of logic to reference property files via userprop_t can be used.