column names are very misleading when read by API.
old column names show most the time
I even have a column named “88e444bcfc9b51bc30d8390928197b50”: “Yes”,
any advice on this? what can we do?
just found this thread also discussing the above issue.
That’s the internal column name that is assigned by Glide when you create the column. It is guaranteed to never change, which means that your API calls will continue to work when you forget and rename your columns. You should thank Glide for this 
3 Likes
Yeah it was very confusing at first, but i guess it makes sense if you think about it.
It keeps the first name that the column was created under. If you were to change the name in your glide table, it wouldn’t dynamically change in whatever program you are using, effectively breaking the link.
so if your column name was “Grapes” then you change it to “Red Grapes”, and wherever you inputed your api code would still be stuck on the “Grapes” and wouldn’t know that you changed the column name.
It just sucks figuring this out so later in the process because i’ve been changing column names left right and centre, so some really make 0 sense. From now on, i am a bit more cautious about names i enter from the getgo.
For sure, thank you Glide for everything
but I’m not that sure I called my column
88e444bcfc9b51bc30d8390928197b50 when i first created it 
i can also see
339c8b8308862bb94125deaf9fb1b5e5
3601146c4e948c32b6424d2c0a7f0118
694e8d1f2ee056f98ee488bdc4982d73
30baf0837b1972f86bc7492024cef370
so who is who !! 
I might be very wrong, but at first glance I’d have to wish my api calls wouldn’t work rather than me having to deal with these names
surely there must be some other way to do this.
That’s not what I suggested. Every column has two names - the name you give it and the name that Glide refers to it as. Which is what that is. The Glide “internal” column name, which never changes.
I know it can be a bit confusing, and there also seems to be no rhyme or reason as to why sometimes you see one and other times you see the other. One of life’s little mysteries that can probably only be answered by the Glide Engineering Team 
2 Likes
any idea what happens when a column type is changed in Glide and we use API to update a value there?
So many times we create columns and they are saved to text by mistake or by Glide. A few seconds later we update it to number.
I know we update column types way less than column names. but if the type matters in firebase, then I think the same logic should follow with column names. Just send them to the latest name or inform the user that API couldn’t access that column name?
The API doesn’t include any column type specifier, so it’s up to you to ensure that you’re passing the correct data type when updating a value.
If you don’t, then as far as I can see Glide will do it’s best to deal with whatever you send. The actual results vary depending on column types.
Maybe, but that’s not a question that I can answer.
2 Likes
It’s great that it never changes, however I would also like my column names to be what I have specified as the column name in the first place. At the moment we don’t have any control over what this column name is going to be.
I have an API integration with multiple Glide Apps. If I copy one app or from a template this all keeps working fine. However when I have an update to my API and I have for example a new API field (a new column in Glide). In that case I would need to create a new column for all my apps, and now when I need to do that the column header in each app has a different name …
curl --request POST 'https://api.glideapp.io/api/function/mutateTables' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer [API-KEY]' \
--data-raw '{
"appID": "[APPID]",
"mutations": [
{
"kind": "add-row-to-table",
"tableName": "native-table-YKFuJt67rydEXiIVMYJO",
"columnValues": {
"vin": "vin",
"Image": "Image",
"License Plate": "License Plate",
"make": "make",
"Logo": "Logo",
"model": "model",
"year": "year",
"7lCQV": "Color",
"createdOn": "createdOn",
"lastUpdatedOn": "lastUpdatedOn",
"location__latitude": "location__latitude",
"location__longitude": "location__longitude",
"odometer": "odometer",
"fuel__range": "fuel__range",
"fuel__amountRemaining": "fuel__amountRemaining",
"fuel__percentageRemaining": "fuel__percentageRemaining",
"tirePressure__backLeft": "tirePressure__backLeft",
"tirePressure__backRight": "tirePressure__backRight",
"tirePressure__frontLeft": "tirePressure__frontLeft",
"tirePressure__frontRight": "tirePressure__frontRight",
"5Nyqq": "locationTime",
"uxFC5": "odometerTime",
"aLZMJ": "fuelTime",
"de3PX": "tirePressureTime",
"vWEoz": "Demo car",
"FFSeK": "API Compatible Endpoints",
"mataO": "Delete car?",
"pESFU": "Charger Access",
"HcWyp": "Row owner",
"4HUF3": "evChargingStatus__isPluggedIn",
"94U1A": "evChargingStatus__State",
"ARwj1": "evBatteryInfo__range",
"dahIe": "evBatteryInfo__percentageRemaining",
"KjNZB": "evBatteryCapacity",
"DXqcN": "chargingStatusTime",
"vwLHT": "batteryInfoTime"
}
}
]
}'
@Tim_Gestels - you shared your API Key and App ID in public there, which is not the best idea. I took the liberty of obfuscating those for you.
yeah, I get that. Not the best. There are plenty of improvements that could be made to the Glide API, but I don’t think that’s a priority at the moment. Maybe later in the year… 
1 Like
Hi Darren, thanks!
Good reflexes, it’s just a dummy app WIP for the moment so no worries.
Is there a way to refresh the API key?
Or I would probably need to duplicate the app?
Best regards,
Tim
The API key applies to the team, so all Apps in the same team share the same key.
As far as I’m aware there is no way to generate a new key, but if you reach out to Glide Support they might be able to help.
oh damn.
I thought this would be seperate for each app.
But better to learn sooner than later.
To prevent others from making the same mistake Glide should definitely add this kind of information to their documentation and training video’s: Glide • Security Center
And also allowing to change an API key seems a quite essential security feature to me.
I’ll ask support to change it.
1 Like