Volume-only Irrigation via the API (irrigationCalculationType = 2)

Volume-only Irrigation via the API (irrigationCalculationType = 2)

How do I use volume-only irrigation via the API?
Set:

irrigationCalculationType = 2

and provide the total volume of water added.


What controls the calculation when irrigationCalculationType = 2 is set?
The calculation is driven only by total water added. Pumping depth and horizontal distance are not used.


Why are pumping depth and horizontal distance present at all?
We recognise this is confusing.

When using volume-only irrigation, these fields:

  • are not available or editable in the web UI

  • do not influence the calculation

  • still appear in the exported JSON due to shared/legacy schema

This is not conceptually required for volume-only irrigation and is a known inconsistency.


Why does the API still require depth/distance units?
This is also unintuitive and not ideal.

Although the values for depth and distance are ignored, the API currently still requires the unit fields to be populated for the request to validate. This is a technical limitation rather than a reflection of the calculation logic.


What should API users do for now?
Until this is improved:

  • set irrigationCalculationType = 2

  • provide total water added

  • set depth and distance values to 0

  • include valid units for those fields

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