Quick Start: Das Keyboard Q REST API

Das Keyboard Q devices RGB LEDs are very simple to program.

Copy the `shell` code below and paste it into a bash compatible terminal to start experimenting (Windows, Linux or macOS).

Q Cloud
Localhost

BACKEND_URL="https://q2.daskeyboard.com"

HEADERS=(-H "X-API-KEY: $API_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json")

URL="$BACKEND_URL/api/1.0/signals"

curl "${HEADERS[@]}" -X POST -d  '{
  "zoneId": "KEY_Q",
  "color": "#FF0000",
  "effect": "SET_COLOR",
  "pid": "DK5QPID",
  "clientName": "Shell script",
  "message": "Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/",
  "name": "New Q app version available"}' $URL

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Edit Script

var backendUrl = 'https://q2.daskeyboard.com';

var headers = {
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
    "X-API-KEY": "$API_KEY"
  }

// Library to make simplified HTTP client requests
// if not installed run npm install request
var request = require('request');

// Construct the signal to send
var signal = {
    'zoneId': 'KEY_Q',
    'color': '#FF0000',
    'effect': 'SET_COLOR',
    'pid': 'DK5QPID',
    'clientName': 'Node script',
    'message': 'Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/',
    'name': 'New Q app version available'
};
// HTTP POST request to the cloud
request.post({
    url: backendUrl + '/api/1.0/signals',
    headers: headers,
    body: signal,
    json: true
}, function (error, response) {
    // OK
    if (response && response.statusCode == 200) {
        console.log('response', response.body);
    }
        // OK from API response
    if(response && response.statusCode != 200){
        console.error(response.body);
    }
    // OK
    if (error) {
        console.error(error);
    }
});

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Edit Script

backendUrl = 'https://q2.daskeyboard.com'

headers = { "Content-type": "application/json","X-API-KEY": "uS3qbfUi5sFNq2GU1j7EaAQkgdft0Zwg"}

import json
# sudo pip install request
import requests

# Construct the signal to send
signal = {
    'zoneId': 'KEY_Q',
    'color': '#FF0000',
    'effect': 'SET_COLOR',
    'pid': 'DK5QPID',
    'clientName': 'Python script',
    'message': 'Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/',
    'name': 'New Q app version available'
}


signal_json = json.dumps(signal)

# sending the signal

res_signal = requests.post(backendUrl + '/api/1.0/signals', data=signal_json, headers=headers)

# checking the response
if res_signal.ok:
    print "OK"
    print res_signal.text
else:
    print "Error: " + res_signal.text

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Edit Script

BACKEND_URL="http://localhost:27301"

HEADERS=(-H "Content-Type: application/json")

URL="$BACKEND_URL/api/1.0/signals"

curl "${HEADERS[@]}" -X POST -d  '{
  "zoneId": "KEY_Q",
  "color": "#FF0000",
  "effect": "SET_COLOR",
  "pid": "DK5QPID",
  "clientName": "Shell script",
  "message": "Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/",
  "name": "New Q app version available"}' $URL

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Edit Script

var backendUrl = 'http://localhost:27301';

var headers = {
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  }

// Library to make simplified HTTP client requests
// if not installed run npm install request
var request = require('request');

// Construct the signal to send
var signal = {
    'zoneId': 'KEY_Q',
    'color': '#FF0000',
    'effect': 'SET_COLOR',
    'pid': 'DK5QPID',
    'clientName': 'Node script',
    'message': 'Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/',
    'name': 'New Q app version available'
};
// HTTP POST request to the cloud
request.post({
    url: backendUrl + '/api/1.0/signals',
    headers: headers,
    body: signal,
    json: true
}, function (error, response) {
    // OK
    if (response && response.statusCode == 200) {
        console.log('response', response.body);
    }
        // OK from API response
    if(response && response.statusCode != 200){
        console.error(response.body);
    }
    // OK
    if (error) {
        console.error(error);
    }
});

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Edit Script

backendUrl = 'http://localhost:27301'

headers = { "Content-type": "application/json"}

import json
# sudo pip install request
import requests

# Construct the signal to send
signal = {
    'zoneId': 'KEY_Q',
    'color': '#FF0000',
    'effect': 'SET_COLOR',
    'pid': 'DK5QPID',
    'clientName': 'Python script',
    'message': 'Q App version 3 is available. Download it at https://www.daskeyboard.io/get-started/download/',
    'name': 'New Q app version available'
}


signal_json = json.dumps(signal)

# sending the signal

res_signal = requests.post(backendUrl + '/api/1.0/signals', data=signal_json, headers=headers)

# checking the response
if res_signal.ok:
    print "OK"
    print res_signal.text
else:
    print "Error: " + res_signal.text

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Edit Script

NOTE: Examples uses Linux-style shell command line. It is also available on Windows:

shell command line is available when installing Linux Subsystem for Windows 10: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install-win10.
or when using git bash which is available here: https://gitforwindows.org/.

Key Q concepts: How it works

In order to control the RGB LEDs of a Q device, a user must send authenticated HTTP JSON requests to a Q REST API.

Q cloud services https://q2.daskeyboard.com/ provides a REST API that talks to Q devices. Alternatively, one can also write a script that directly interacts with a Q device via your workstation (i.e.: http://localhost:/#port…).

Therefore there are two ways to send a signal to a Q device:

From the Q cloud:

Your script on any computer --> Q clould service --> Q desktop app on your computer --> Q enabled device

Directly from your machine:

Your script on your computer --> Q desktop app on your computer --> Q enabled device

The example in this document uses the Q cloud service.

Getting a Q cloud API key

Since Q cloud service requires authenticated requests, you need to get an API key.

To get it, first signup for an account at https://q2.daskeyboard.com then find your API key here: https://q2.daskeyboard.com/signup/edit

Next steps

As seen in this simple example, once authenticated, it is very easy to send a signal to a Q device. Ready to program your dashboard keyboard? Head over to the full API documentation: Q cloud documentation