table introspection suggestion

[AlexandreWonderwalls]

Hello, I'm currently looking in the code. And I'm wondering why we don't use "https://api.airtable.com/v0/meta/bases/appXXXX/tables" to get the table structure and define associated fields. I think this is more realable than the current method:

# Attempts introspection by looking at data.
        # This is super not reliable
        # as Airtable removes the key if the value is empty.
        else:
            # This introspects the just first row in the table.
            if peek_rows is None or peek_rows == 1:
                field_values = {
                    k: [v] for k, v in self._table_api.first()["fields"].items()
                }
            # Or peek at specified number of rows

Is there any technical limitation to use the api?

[cancan101]

The metadata API is 100% the right way to do this. That API was added recently (2022-11-15). The library here should be updated to use that approach instead of any current approaches.

We do need to use personal access tokens or OAuth rather than an Airtable API key to access this API.

[AlexandreWonderwalls]

Do you think that you will implement the new approach is the in the near future?

[cancan101]

I don't have any immediate plans to do this. That being said, I would be more than happy to review any PRs that are put up.