REDCap is a database development tool built on MySQL. Visit
project-redcap.org for more information. REDCap
provides an API through which data, the data dictionary, files, and
project information can be accessed. The
redcapAPI package facilitates the use of these functions and
simplifies the work needed to prepare data for
analysis.
As much as possible, I've tried to adequately document redcapAPI.
Some topics did not seem well-suited to documenting in the typical R
help files. Additional tips and discussion are available at the
package wiki at
https://github.com/nutterb/redcapAPI/wiki. These topics include
"Getting started with redcapAPI",
"Setting Rights to Grant API Access", "Export data from REDCap" and a
detailed description of the REDCap API
parameters and how they are implemented in R. I expect most
documentation improvements to be placed on
the wiki.
Please refer to your institution's REDCap API documentation as a primary resource of what is available. Different versions of REDCap support different features--your REDCap API documentation will address the features specific to your version of REDCap.
redcapAPI wouldn't be possible without the efforts of Jeffrey
Horner, Will Gray, and Jeremy Stevens at
Vanderbilt University. Their work in developing the redcap
package (http://github.com/vubiostat/redcap)
was invaluable in helping me understand the API. A few of their functions
(redcapConnection,
fieldToVar, exportMetaData, and exportRecords) are
included in redcapAPI largely unaltered.
Many thanks also go to Will Beasley of University of Oklahoma for his
development of the REDCapR package
https://github.com/OuhscBbmc/REDCapR. Will introduced me to the
httr package--which improved the use
of messages from the API--and to the idea of batching API calls to reduce
the likelihood of servers timing out.