Business API Design Specification - Update Announcement

A Business API is a set of logical actions centered around a main data object. These actions can range from simple CRUD operations to complex workflows that implement intricate business logic.

While the term “API” traditionally refers to an interface that allows software systems to interact, in Mindbricks a Business API represents a broader concept. It encapsulates a business workflow around a data object, going beyond basic CRUD operations to include rich, internally coordinated actions that can be fully designed and customized.

This document provides an in-depth explanation of the architectural design of the updateAnnouncement Business API. It is intended to guide backend architects and developers in maintaining the current design. Additionally, frontend developers and frontend AI agents can use this document to understand how to properly consume this API on the client side.

Main Data Object and CRUD Operation

The updateAnnouncement Business API is designed to handle a update operation on the Announcement data object. This operation is performed under the specified conditions and may include additional, coordinated actions as part of the workflow.

API Description

Admins/managers update a scheduled/cancelled announcement. Not allowed if already sent. If sendTime changes to now or past, triggers sent event and status update on save.

API Frontend Description By The Backend Architect

API Options

API Controllers

A Mindbricks Business API can be accessed through multiple interfaces, including REST, gRPC, WebSocket, Kafka, or Cron. The controllers listed below map the business workflow to a specific interface, enabling consistent interaction regardless of the communication channel.

REST Controller

The updateAnnouncement Business API includes a REST controller that can be triggered via the following route:

/v1/announcements/:announcementId

By sending a request to this route using the service API address, you can execute this Business API. Parameters can be provided in multiple HTTP locations, including the URL path, URL query, request body, and request headers. Detailed information about these parameters is provided in the Parameters section.

MCP Tool

REST controllers also expose the Business API as a tool in the MCP, making it accessible to AI agents. This updateAnnouncement Business API will be registered as a tool on the MCP server within the service binding.

API Parameters

The updateAnnouncement Business API has 8 parameters that must be sent from the controller. Note that all parameters, except session and Redis parameters, should be provided by the client.

Business API parameters can be:

Regular Parameters

Name Type Required Default Location Data Path
announcementId ID Yes - urlpath announcementId
Description: This id paremeter is used to select the required data object that will be updated
title String No - body title
Description: Announcement subject/title (short display name).
body Text No - body body
Description: Announcement content body (markdown/HTML string).
targetDepartmentIds ID[] No - body targetDepartmentIds
Description: Department userGroup IDs (auth:userGroup.id) to target recipients. Null/empty means all departments. Used for scoping announcements to groups. — Array parameter: must be sent as a JSON array (e.g. ["a","b"]) even with a single value (["a"]). Bare scalars fail validation.
audienceUserIds ID[] No - body audienceUserIds
Description: Explicit user IDs (auth:user.id) to target (optional, null=all applicable). Used for targeting specific individuals only if needed. Supercedes departments if set. — Array parameter: must be sent as a JSON array (e.g. ["a","b"]) even with a single value (["a"]). Bare scalars fail validation.
sendTime Date Yes - body sendTime
Description: Scheduled send time for the announcement (UTC). Immediate if now/past, future means scheduled/pending delivery. Used for status logic.
visibleUntil Date No - body visibleUntil
Description: Optional. Announcements are visible until this date (expiry). If null, visible for a platform-defined default duration (e.g., 30/90 days, or forever).
status Enum Yes - body status
Description: Announcement status: scheduled (future, unsent); sent (visible/delivered); cancelled (withdrawn by admin/manager); status changes control delivery/event publishing.

Parameter Transformations

Some parameters are post-processed using transform scripts after being read from the request but before validation or workflow execution. Only parameters with a transform script are listed below.

No parameters are transformed in this API.

AUTH Configuration

The authentication and authorization configuration defines the core access rules for the updateAnnouncement Business API. These checks are applied after parameter validation and before executing the main business logic.

While these settings cover the most common scenarios, more fine-grained or conditional access control—such as permissions based on object context, nested memberships, or custom workflows—should be implemented using explicit actions like PermissionCheckAction, MembershipCheckAction, or ObjectPermissionCheckAction.

Login Requirement

This API requires login (loginRequired = true). Requests from non-logged-in users will return a 401 Unauthorized error. Login is necessary but not sufficient, as additional role, permission, or other authorization checks may still apply.

Ownership Checks

Role and Permission Settings

Where Clause

Defines the criteria used to locate the target record(s) for the main operation. This is expressed as a query object and applies to get, list, update, and delete APIs. All API types except list are expected to affect a single record.

If nothing is configured for (get, update, delete) the id fields will be the select criteria.

Select By: A list of fields that must be matched exactly as part of the WHERE clause. This is not a filter — it is a required selection rule. In single-record APIs (get, update, delete), it defines how a unique record is located. In list APIs, it scopes the results to only entries matching the given values. Note that selectBy fields will be ignored if fullWhereClause is set.

The business api configuration has a selectBy setting: ‘[’']`

Full Where Clause An MScript query expression that overrides all default WHERE clause logic. Use this for fully customized queries. When fullWhereClause is set, selectBy is ignored, however additional selects will still be applied to final where clause.

The business api configuration has no fullWhereClause setting.

Additional Clauses A list of conditionally applied MScript query fragments. These clauses are appended only if their conditions evaluate to true. If no condition is set it will be applied to the where clause directly.


// Additional Clause Name : cannotUpdateSent

// condition
// No condition defined — clause is applied unconditionally

// clause object
{"status":{"$ne": "sent"}}

Actual Where Clause This where clause is built using whereClause configuration (if set) and default business logic.

runMScript(() => ({$and:[{id:this.announcementId},{"status":{"$ne": "sent"}},{companyId:this.companyId,isActive:true}]}), {"path":"services[7].businessLogic[1].whereClause.fullWhereClause"})

Data Clause

Defines custom field-value assignments used to modify or augment the default payload for create and update operations. These settings override values derived from the session or parameters if explicitly provided.", Note that a default data clause is always prepared by Mindbricks using data property settings, however any property in the data clause can be override by Data Clause Settings.

An update data clause populates all update-allowed properties of a data object, however the null properties (that are not provided by client) are ignored in db layer.

Custom Data Clause Override

{
    status: runMScript(() => ((() => { const send = new Date(this.sendTime); const now = new Date(); return (send.getTime() <= now.getTime() + 60000 && this.status !== 'cancelled') ? 'sent' : this.status; })()), {"path":"services[7].businessLogic[1].dataClause.customData[0].value"}),
   
}

Actual Data Clause

The business api will use the following data clause. Note that any calculated value will be added to the data clause in the api manager.

{
  title: this.title,
  body: this.body,
  targetDepartmentIds: this.targetDepartmentIds ? this.targetDepartmentIds : 
                 ( this.targetDepartmentIds_remove ? sequelize.fn('array_remove', sequelize.col('targetDepartmentIds'), this.targetDepartmentIds_remove) : (this.targetDepartmentIds_append ? sequelize.fn('array_append', sequelize.col('targetDepartmentIds'), this.targetDepartmentIds_append) : undefined)) ,
  audienceUserIds: this.audienceUserIds ? this.audienceUserIds : 
                 ( this.audienceUserIds_remove ? sequelize.fn('array_remove', sequelize.col('audienceUserIds'), this.audienceUserIds_remove) : (this.audienceUserIds_append ? sequelize.fn('array_append', sequelize.col('audienceUserIds'), this.audienceUserIds_append) : undefined)) ,
  sendTime: this.sendTime,
  visibleUntil: this.visibleUntil,
  status: runMScript(() => ((() => { const send = new Date(this.sendTime); const now = new Date(); return (send.getTime() <= now.getTime() + 60000 && this.status !== 'cancelled') ? 'sent' : this.status; })()), {"path":"services[7].businessLogic[1].dataClause.customData[0].value"}),
}

Business Logic Workflow

[1] Step : startBusinessApi

Manager initializes context, prepares request and session objects, and sets up internal structures for parameter handling and milestone execution.

You can use the following settings to change some behavior of this step. apiOptions, restSettings, grpcSettings, kafkaSettings, sseSettings, cronSettings

[2] Step : readParameters

Manager reads parameters from the request or Redis, applies defaults, and writes them into context for downstream milestones.

You can use the following settings to change some behavior of this step. customParameters, redisParameters

[3] Step : transposeParameters

Manager executes parameter transform scripts and derives any helper values or reshaped payloads into the context.

[4] Step : checkParameters

Manager validates required parameters, checks ID formats (UUID/ObjectId), and ensures all preconditions for update are met.

[5] Action : validateAudienceUpdate

Action Type: ValidationAction

Audience selection must remain valid (recipients set or default all).

class Api {
  async validateAudienceUpdate() {
    let isValid;
    try {
      isValid = runMScript(
        () =>
          this.targetDepartmentIds?.length > 0 ||
          this.audienceUserIds?.length > 0 ||
          true,
        {
          path: "services[7].businessLogic[1].actions.validationActions[0].validationScript",
        },
      );
    } catch (err) {
      throw new HttpServerError(
        `Validation 'validateAudienceUpdate' script failed: ${err.message}`,
        err,
      );
    }

    if (!isValid) {
      throw new BadRequestError(
        "Please select at least one target department/user or set as company-wide.",
      );
    }
    return isValid;
  }
}

[6] Step : checkBasicAuth

Manager performs login verification, role, and permission checks, enforcing tenant and access rules before update.

You can use the following settings to change some behavior of this step. authOptions

[7] Step : buildWhereClause

Manager constructs the WHERE clause used to identify the record to update, applying ownership and parent checks if necessary.

You can use the following settings to change some behavior of this step. whereClause

[8] Step : fetchInstance

Manager fetches the existing record from the database and writes it to the context for validation or enrichment.

[9] Step : checkInstance

Manager performs instance-level validations, including ownership, existence, lock status, or other pre-update checks.

[10] Step : buildDataClause

Manager prepares the data clause for the update, applying transformations or enhancements before persisting.

You can use the following settings to change some behavior of this step. dataClause

[11] Step : mainUpdateOperation

Manager executes the update operation with the WHERE and data clauses. Database-level events are raised if configured.

[12] Action : publishAnnouncementEventUpdate

Action Type: PublishEventAction

Publish sent event if update causes announcement to become sent (sendTime now or past, not cancelled).

class Api {
  async publishAnnouncementEventUpdate() {
    const message = {
      id: this.announcement.id,
      companyId: this.announcement.companyId,
      title: this.announcement.title,
      body: this.announcement.body,
      audienceUserIds: this.announcement.audienceUserIds,
      targetDepartmentIds: this.announcement.targetDepartmentIds,
      sendTime: this.announcement.sendTime,
      visibleUntil: this.announcement.visibleUntil,
    };

    // Publish event to the configured topic
    const _publisher = new ServicePublisher(
      "announcement.sent",
      message,
      this.session,
      this.requestId,
    );
    await _publisher.publish();
    return true;
  }
}

[13] Step : buildOutput

Manager assembles the response object from the update result, masking fields or injecting additional metadata.

[14] Step : sendResponse

Manager sends the response back to the controller for delivery to the client.

[15] Step : raiseApiEvent

Manager triggers API-level events, sending relevant messages to Kafka or other integrations if configured.

Rest Usage

Rest Client Parameters

Client parameters are the api parameters that are visible to client and will be populated by the client. Note that some api parameters are not visible to client because they are populated by internal system, session, calculation or joint sources.

The updateAnnouncement api has got 7 regular client parameters

Parameter Type Required Population
announcementId ID true request.params?.[“announcementId”]
title String false request.body?.[“title”]
body Text false request.body?.[“body”]
targetDepartmentIds ID false request.body?.[“targetDepartmentIds”]
audienceUserIds ID false request.body?.[“audienceUserIds”]
sendTime Date true request.body?.[“sendTime”]
visibleUntil Date false request.body?.[“visibleUntil”]

REST Request

To access the api you can use the REST controller with the path PATCH /v1/announcements/:announcementId

  axios({
    method: 'PATCH',
    url: `/v1/announcements/${announcementId}`,
    data: {
            title:"String",  
            body:"Text",  
            targetDepartmentIds:"ID",  
            audienceUserIds:"ID",  
            sendTime:"Date",  
            visibleUntil:"Date",  
    
    },
    params: {
    
        }
  });

REST Response

The API response is encapsulated within a JSON envelope. Successful operations return an HTTP status code of 200 for get, list, update, or delete requests, and 201 for create requests. Each successful response includes a "status": "OK" property. For error handling, refer to the “Error Response” section.

Following JSON represents the most comprehensive form of the announcement object in the respones. However, some properties may be omitted based on the object’s internal logic.

{
	"status": "OK",
	"statusCode": "200",
	"elapsedMs": 126,
	"ssoTime": 120,
	"source": "db",
	"cacheKey": "hexCode",
	"userId": "ID",
	"sessionId": "ID",
	"requestId": "ID",
	"dataName": "announcement",
	"method": "PATCH",
	"action": "update",
	"appVersion": "Version",
	"rowCount": 1,
	"announcement": {
		"id": "ID",
		"creatorId": "ID",
		"title": "String",
		"body": "Text",
		"targetDepartmentIds": "ID",
		"audienceUserIds": "ID",
		"sendTime": "Date",
		"visibleUntil": "Date",
		"status": "Enum",
		"status_idx": "Integer",
		"companyId": "ID",
		"isActive": true,
		"recordVersion": "Integer",
		"createdAt": "Date",
		"updatedAt": "Date",
		"_owner": "ID"
	}
}