How do I get the value of a custom field dropdown for a specific card?

[geoffrey r_]

How do I get the values for custom field dropdowns on a card?

When I query for custom fields and they're dropdowns, this is what I get

    "customFieldItems": [{
            "id": "5fa07bddf31c3b69d32d7564",
            "idValue": "5fa079eb3c04d6016ef994e3",
            "idCustomField": "5fa079eb3c04d6016ef994e2",
            "idModel": "5fa07a2956c88531d9d125be",
            "modelType": "card"
        },

I'm guessing I need to do something with idValue, but I have no clue how. The API docs don't really go into detail on dropdown custom fields.

This is one with a custom field date, and it has a clear value.

        {
            "id": "5fa07be5ad5b1f1ef10b73fe",
            "value": {
                "date": "2020-10-22T16:00:00.000Z"
            },
            "idCustomField": "5fa073a5eedccb1a273b7db2",
            "idModel": "5fa07a2956c88531d9d125be",
            "modelType": "card"
        }

I don't understand why the difference.

[Cody C.]

You're right, that's not entirely clear! I think it has to do with making Dropdown values flexible if they're changed at a later date. You'll need to cross-reference the idValue with the "id" of that option from the dropdown.

You can get both using a request like this:

GET https://api.trello.com/1/cards/{cardID}?key=...&token=...&customFieldItems=true&customFields=true

 Then you can compare like this:

 "customFieldItems": [
{
"id": "5fb404d66fe67d43442e640c",
"idValue": "5fb404ce868b9d54b61e9958",
"idCustomField": "5fb404c715857a51e549b2dc",
"idModel": "5fa07e5ce3ee8a01a53f18a1",
"modelType": "card"
},

And checking that against the "options" in the customFields response:

 {
"id": "5fb404ce868b9d54b61e9958",
"idCustomField": "5fb404c715857a51e549b2dc",
"value": {
"text": "drop3"
},
"color": "none",
"pos": 49152
}

 Once you find the ID that matches the idValue, the text attribute will tell you the actual value of that Dropdown that's shown to the user.