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What is the impact to the SODA API JSON feed provided by socrata, when we add additonal columns to an existing dataset?

Will the developer notice, will their application quit working, etc.?

user3711696
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Since the Socrata JSON APIs reflect the schema of the dataset (i.e. the dataset columns), in general you should avoid changing the schema of a dataset (adding / removing /modifying columns). However, it is unlikely that adding a new column would break someone's app built on the API. The only thing adding a column does is add a field present in the API output, for example { ... "new_col" : "new col value", ... },

The only case I can think of where this would break someone's code written against the API is if they wrote their code such that it expected a specific number of columns or was dependent on the order of the columns. This would be a poor design of the application so it is quite unlikely to cause problems. On the other hand, if you change the API field name or data type of an existing column or remove a column there would be a strong possibility of breaking an app built on that API.

Adrian Laurenzi
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