Several Identifiers
If you’ve ever wondered why there is an S in the “Account Uid” column of Sites lists in Guarding Suite, and how you don’t see it anywhere else like with the API (which has client.id and client.customId) it’s because we have multiple identifiers:
The ID of a Client Site is always the database’s primary key, its unique identifier. This is exposed in the API.
The Custom ID is an optional field that is meant for integrations with foreign systems or to modify what ID value is displayed in TrackTik applications. It can be any value the security business needs to identify the site with an additional identifier. This is also exposed in the API.
But for front-end applications and functionality, there is a Profile UID, which can also be referred to as the Account Uid in column headings of Guarding Suite. This value equals the ID of the site by default and has an S prefix rendered in the UI. This identifier is not exposed in the API.
The Account Uid column’s data is variable. It can contain any of these 3 items:
- New site created: # + S + ID (#S815)
- Edited site, no Custom ID provided: # + ID (#765)
- Edited site, Custom ID provided: # + Custom ID (#GNH-1)
See the image below for examples of each within the UI:
The S stands for Site
When a new site is created via API or imported using the portal’s tools where their Profile UID is not defined, we fall-back to a value like S + ID for the Profile ID (Account Uid in Guarding Suite).
If you edit the site and save it, then the form is loaded by default with the ID value (without the S), and when saved the value of the Profile UID is persisted to the database, and the S disappear from the Account Uid column in Guarding Suite.
API Differences
The TrackTik API does not have the Profile UID exposed, but you don’t really need it. The Client Site’s primary key ID and Custom ID are both exposed.
Neither of these fields will ever contain # nor S prefixes as displayed in the Account Uid (Profile UID in the back-end) column of Guarding Suite.
You should also know that the field Unique ID in the Client Site profile editing is the Custom ID to the perspective of the API.
Unique ID == clients.customId