Confusing NotionAPI Validation Error (Javascript)

Question

I am submitting the following object with my request to notion.pages.create():

{
    parent: {
        type: 'database_id',
        database_id: databaseID
    },
    properties: {
        Name: { 
            title: [ {
                    type: 'text',
                    text: {
                        content: 'Expense1',
                        link: null
                    },
                    annotations: {
                        bold: false,
                        italic: false,
                        strikethrough: false,
                        underline: false,
                        code: false,
                        color: 'default'
                    },
                    plain_text: 'Expense1',
                    href: null
            } ] 
        },
        Date: { date: { start: '2023-06-23' } },
        Amount: { number: 9.56 },
        Subcategory: []
    }
}

The Name is my title property, Date is a date, Amount is a dollar number, and Subcategory is a relation (Category is a rollup so I am omitting it in the request).

I get this error on my request:

"@notionhq/client warn: request fail {
  code: 'validation_error',
  message: 'body failed validation. Fix one:\n' +
    'body.properties.Name.id should be defined, instead was `undefined`.\n' +
    'body.properties.Name.name should be defined, instead was `undefined`.\n' +
    'body.properties.Name.start should be defined, instead was `undefined`.'
}

This is confusing to me as it conflicts with the way that the API docs describe how to fill in each property type. Also, when I change the order of the properties, the same error comes up (for example, it says 'body.properties.Amount.id should be defined...' instead of body.properties.Name). Anyone have any insight?

I tried changing the order of the objects and checking over my syntax to match the API docs several times, but to no avail.

Maybe the API documentation is out of date? Can you link to the documentation you're reading? — Andy, Jul 02 '23 at 14:08
@Andy https://developers.notion.com/reference/page-property-values — Jack O'Connor, Jul 02 '23 at 14:10
Note: I've never used the NotionAPI but at a glance: ["If the new page is a child of an existing database, the keys of the properties object body param must match the parent database's properties."](https://developers.notion.com/reference/post-page) - it sounds like the db is enforcing the validation not the API, and you're missing property values that your db is expecting? — Andy, Jul 02 '23 at 14:19
@Andy thank you for your help! I retrieved my database properties from the API and more strictly followed it and it worked (for anyone who may be experiencing similar issues: biggest difference was that each property received an id as specified by the database.properties attributes) — Jack O'Connor, Jul 02 '23 at 14:34
You should add that as a (detailed) answer, and then mark it correct to give yourself the reward :) — Andy, Jul 02 '23 at 14:47

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 03 '23 at 15:19

So as an update for anyone who's having similar issues:

First of all, the suggestions in the Notion API's error messages were not helpful for me. I ended up resolving the problem by querying my database for some of the existing rows and mimic'ing their structure. Basically like this:

import { Client } from "@notionhq/client"
const notion = new Client({ auth: process.env.NOTION_KEY })

const result2 = await notion.databases.query({ database_id: expensesID });
console.log(result2.results[0].properties);

{
  parent: {
    type: 'database_id',
    database_id: databaseID
  },
  properties: {
    Date: { id: '%5CINz', type: 'date', date: { start: '2023-06-23', end: null, time_zone: null } },
    Amount: { id: 'T%3AsA', type: 'number', number: 9.56 },
    Subcategory: {
      id: 'vxSu',
      type: 'relation',
      relation: [Array],
      has_more: false
    },
    Name: { id: 'title', type: 'title', title: [
  {
    type: 'text',
    text: {
      content: 'Expense1',
      link: null
    },
    annotations: {
      bold: false,
      italic: false,
      strikethrough: false,
      underline: false,
      code: false,
      color: 'default'
    },
    plain_text: 'Expense1',
    href: null
  }
] }
  }
}

Note that the main difference is that each property has an 'id' prop and a 'type' prop. The order of the properties did not matter. Hope this helps someone!

Confusing NotionAPI Validation Error (Javascript)

1 Answers1