---
title: Demo - How to Make Relationship Queries with DreamFactory’s REST API
description: Developers often ask how to query related data with DreamFactory’s REST API. For example, how do you fetch a record and its related children as JSON in a single API call?
image: https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/team-ben-May-07-2024-08-14-46-0485-AM.jpg
---

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[AI Data Gateway](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview)

[Overview Why DreamFactory exists](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/overview) [Data Gov, Comp, Security Policy enforcement at the API layer](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-data-governance) [Standard API Layer One contract for every backend](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/standard-api-layer) [API Gateway Functionality Routing, auth, rate limits, observability](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/api-gateway-functionality) [Deployment & Integration Self-hosted, cloud, hybrid](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/on-premise-deployment-and-integration) [Developer Productivity Auto-generated, never hand-coded](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/ai-development-accelerated) [AI App Architectures Patterns for RAG, agents, MCP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/ai-data-gateway/enterprise-ai-architectures)

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[AIOpenAI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/openai) [GGoogle Gemini](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/google-gemini) [CAnthropic Claude](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/anthropic-claude-landing) [LMeta Llama](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/meta-llama) [MMistral AI](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/mistral) [CoCohere](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/cohere)

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[Generate & Manage REST APIs From any database, in seconds](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/generate-rest-apis) [Features Security, scripting, self-hosted & more](https://www.dreamfactory.com/api-management/features) [API Generation The complete guide to auto-generated APIs](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/a-complete-guide-to-api-generation) [API Management Concepts, tools, and best practises](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools?_gl=1*jl0njh*_gcl_au*MjQzMjgwMTc3LjE3ODIzMjI3MzY)

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#### [Healthcare HIPAA-grade APIs across EHR, claims, and labs.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/healthcare)

#### [Financial Services Portfolios, partners, and portals on one layer.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/financial-services)

#### [Government Modernize mainframes without re-platforming.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/government)

#### [Manufacturing SAP, MES, and shop-floor data, governed.](https://www.dreamfactory.com/use-cases/manufacturing)

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C & SaaS

[Sf Salesforce](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/salesforce) [API REST / SOAP](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors/soap-to-rest)

[See all 30+ connectors](https://www.dreamfactory.com/connectors)

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# Demo - How to Make Relationship Queries with DreamFactory’s REST API

 by Terence Bennett

![calendar icon](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/raw_assets/public/dreamfactory/images/calendar-icon.svg) July 6, 2018

Table of contents

RECOMMENDED ARTICLES

- [A Complete Guide to API Generation](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/a-complete-guide-to-api-generation)
- [10 Best API Management Tools](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-management-a-brief-overview-of-api-management-concepts-and-tools)
- [Creating a Microsoft SQL Server API in Less Than 5 minutes with DreamFactory](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/creating-a-microsoft-sql-server-api-in-less-than-5-minutes-with-dreamfactory)
- [Hasura vs. DreamFactory: A Comprehensive Comparison](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hasura-vs-dreamfactory)
- [Build A Snowflake REST API in Less Than 5 Minutes](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/generate-a-snowflake-rest-api-in-less-than-5-minutes)

![BenBusse](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/team-ben-May-07-2024-08-14-46-0485-AM.jpg?width=147&height=98&name=team-ben-May-07-2024-08-14-46-0485-AM.jpg)

Developers often ask how to query related data with DreamFactory’s [REST API](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/the-reusable-rest-api-platform-strategy/). For example, how do you fetch a record and its related children as JSON in a single API call? In this post, we’ll demonstrate related data queries with a real example.

Also check out these related blog posts. [Why We Like Swagger for API Docs](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/why-we-like-swagger-for-api-docs/) covers how to use our live API docs to explore the API. To learn more about how Modus Create built the Address Book application with DreamFactory, check out the [DreamFactory & Modus Create Case Study](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/DreamFactory-Modus-Create-Case-Study).

Read more about Swagger security: [Share API Docs Securely](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/share-api-docs-securely/)

1. To follow along, you’ll first need a DreamFactory account. You can sign up for an account [here](https://www.dreamfactory.com/user/register).

2. Log in to your account, go to your DSP admin console, and click on the Applications tab on the left hand side.

![Swagger blog 1](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_1.png)

3. Click 'Import New App' in the upper right corner and choose the Address Book sample app. This contains related schema for both parent-child and related records via junction table relationships.

![Swagger blog 2](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_2.png)

Once you’ve imported the application, you can preview it in your DSP.

![Swagger blog 3](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_3.png)

Use your DSP admin user name and password to log in to the Address Book app and see the app.

![Swagger blog 4](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_4.png)

4. Go to the 'Manage Schema' and 'Manage Data' tabs to peruse the table layouts and sample data if you wish.

![Swagger blog 5](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_5.png)

The Contacts table stores basic information about each contact. ContactInfo stores contact information like phone, email, and address. A Contact can have many child ContactInfo records.

The ContactGroups table stores information about Groups. A Contact can belong to any number of Groups. ContactRelationships is a junction table that stores the associations between Contacts and Groups.

![Swagger blog 6](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_6.png)

5. Click 'API Documentation' to load Swagger REST API interface.

![Swagger blog 7](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_7.png)

Select 'schema' -> GET /schema/{table\_name} to expand.

![Swagger blog 8](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_8.png)

In the 'table\_name' field type 'Contacts' and click the 'Try it out’ button.

![Swagger blog 9](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_9.png?width=664&height=310&name=swagger_blog_9.png)

In the Response Body, you’ll see the field section and the related objects. Note the relationship names in the JSON (highlighted in red below) and the key value pairs that describe each relationship.

![Swagger blog 12](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_12.png)

6. Back in the main Swagger API Documentation, Select 'db' -> GET /db/{table\_name}.

![Swagger blog 10](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_10.png)

In the 'table\_name' field type 'Contacts'. In the 'ids' field enter a couple of ids from the sample data e.g. 1,3). In the 'related' field type 'ContactInfos\_by\_contactId,ContactGroups\_by\_ContactRelationships'. This will pull both the child info records and the groups related by junction. Click 'Try it out' and note the URL call and results.

![Swagger blog 11](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_11.png?width=668&height=446&name=swagger_blog_11.png)

The Request URLlooks like this, where ‘foo’ is the name of your own DSP.

https://dsp-foo.cloud.dreamfactory.com/rest/db/Contacts?ids=1%2C3&related=ContactInfos\_by\_contactId%2CContactGroups\_by\_ContactRelationships

Take a look at the Response Body and notice the JSON structure for child data, in this example multiple ways to contact a person. Also notice how the JSON encodes the associations between a Contact and zero or more Contact Groups to which the Contact belongs.

![Swagger blog 13](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/swagger_blog_13.png)

We hope this overview has shown you how to make sophisticated queries with DreamFactory’s REST API! Please comment if you have any feedback or questions.

Related reading: [What is API Access?](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/what-is-api-access/)

TAGS: [API Management,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/api-management-2) [Services,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/services) [Data Sources,](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/data-sources) [SOAP](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/tag/soap)

![Terence Bennett](https://blog.dreamfactory.com/hs-fs/hubfs/1624046620145.jpg?width=100&height=100&name=1624046620145.jpg)

Terence Bennett

Terence Bennett, CEO of DreamFactory, has a wealth of experience in government IT systems and Google Cloud. His impressive background includes being a former U.S. Navy Intelligence Officer and a former member of Google's Red Team. Prior to becoming CEO, he served as COO at DreamFactory Software.

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