Get Offer Counts For Categories

Get Offer Counts for Categories

The Get Offer Counts for Categories endpoint allows clients to retrieve the number of available offers for each specified category. This is useful for populating category filters with offer counts or providing insights into which categories currently have active offers. Each category in the request receives its own count in the response.

Prerequisites

Before making an API call to get offer counts for categories, ensure that the necessary user-level session token has been obtained. This token is required to authenticate API requests and can be acquired by following the User Client Level Authentication.

Steps to Implement

1. Construct the API Request

   • Purpose: Retrieve a count of offers for each requested category.
   • Endpoint Reference: Get offer counts for categories
   • Usage: Make a GET request to the following endpoint:
     • GET /api/v1/offers/counts/categories
   • Query Parameters:
     • categories (array of strings, required): A list of category names for which offer counts should be retrieved. Example:
       • categories=Dining&categories=Shopping&categories=Travel

2. Process the Response

   • Purpose: To display a per-category breakdown of offer availability.
   • Response Body: A successful (200 OK) response will return a JSON object containing each requested category and its corresponding count of matching offers.
   • Error Handling:
     • 400 Bad Request: Returned if the categories parameter is missing or improperly formatted
     • 500 Internal Server Error: Indicates a server-side issue occurred while processing the request
     • All error responses will include an error_code and a user-friendly error_message

Key Considerations

1. Categories Are Required: This endpoint requires at least one category to be specified; requests with no categories will return a 400 error.
2. Consistent Category Naming: Make sure the categories passed match the system’s expected category identifiers. Use the same values used in the filter parameter of the Get Offers endpoint.
3. Client-Side Mapping: The response maps each requested category to its corresponding offer count. If a category has no offers, the count will be 0.

Best Practices

• Use for Dynamic UI Elements: Display the returned counts alongside category labels or tabs to give users real-time context.
• Batch Requests: If your UI shows multiple categories at once, request all relevant categories in a single call to reduce network overhead.
• Validate Input: Ensure your frontend does not send empty or misspelled category names to avoid errors or inaccurate results.
• Retry on Failure: In case of a 500 response, implement retry logic with backoff for improved reliability during load spikes or service interruptions.