How can I download files automatically with a web service?

To download files automatically, call our RESTful web service, PAScoresDwnld. There are two ways to trigger your IT system to call the web service to download a file:

Use the notification email as the trigger. Emails containing the file name are sent automatically whenever a new file is posted. You can also generate the emails manually from the portal for development and testing.
If you prefer, you can look for new files by using the web service to get a file directory listing periodically.

In both cases, the web service uses your credentials (the same credentials you use to sign in to the reporting portal) and the data file name to return the presigned URL. The presigned URL enables the transfer of the file to your IT system.

We recommend requesting the presigned URL by passing both login credentials and file name through the web service in one step. However, if you prefer, you can obtain the presigned URL by first using your username and password to request an access token and then using the access token and file name to request the presigned URL.

Security measures:

The presigned URL is active for only 15 seconds.
The transporting encryption is accomplished by SSL/TLS/HTTPS.
There is no client-side encryption enforced once the file is downloaded, so take all necessary steps to secure this file appropriately and meet your institution's security standards.

Note: The notification email has embedded html span tags. These tags can be used to identify and extract the file name from the email notification. Span tags use this format: <span id='fileName'> filename.txt </span>.