Overview of Record Action and Macro APIs

NetSuite records offer two alternatives for executing native NetSuite logic: a user either clicks a UI button or runs a script that calls the API corresponding to the button. These script and UI alternatives both produce the same results. Macro and action APIs make scripting easier and more flexible. These APIs are supported for all SuiteScript 2.x client and server script types. Macro and action APIs also can lower governance usage because they can execute complex business logic in one API call instead of multiple API calls. Governance is charged per action, and the cost depends on the action type. For macros, no governance is charged, because changes executed by macros are saved as part of record submits.

Record actions provide a convenient way to update the state of one or more records that are in view mode. Changes that the execution of an action API makes to records are persisted in the database immediately. You don't need to consider required roles, permissions, or other conditions for a record action to execute. The conditions required to execute an action are embedded in the record action API. If the conditions aren't met, the action doesn't execute. Approve and reject are two example use cases for record actions. These actions can be applied to a single record or to multiple records of the same type, as a bulk process. When an approve or reject action is executed on a record, the approval status of the record is saved immediately.

Record macros provide an automated way to execute business logic on a record as it is edited. Changes that the execution of a macro API makes to a record are not persisted until the record is saved. An example use case for a record macro is a preview of the calculated tax amount for a sales order’s items. This macro API executes after items are entered on a sales order. It results in the display of the calculated tax amount on the sales order. However, the tax amount is not saved until the record is saved. A macro API is applied only to one single record at a time. When you save changes to a record, it may trigger changes to related records.

You'll need to use two types of APIs to work with record macros and actions in your scripts:

• Generic APIs that let you get and run actions or macros:

  • Record action APIs are part of the N/action Module. They include generic members for getting and executing actions on a record type. For details, see N/action Module.

  • Record macro APIs are part of the N/record Module. They include generic members for getting and executing macros on a record type. For details, see Record Object Members and Macro Object Members.

• Individual APIs that implement specific logic on a specific record type:

  • A limited number of Individual actions for specific record types are supported. For details, see Supported Record Actions.

  • A limited number of individual macros for specific record types. For details, see Supported Record Macros.

General Notices