REST Web Services: create-form Operation for Previewing Record State Before Submission

This article documents the create-form operation available in NetSuite's REST Web Services (/services/rest/record/v1/). No specific release version is stated in the source; the feature may have been introduced silently or across multiple releases. Verify availability in your target account before relying on it.

What it does

The create-form operation returns a record payload with every field prepopulated to its default value—including sourced/defaulted line-level data—without actually saving the record. This lets a REST client inspect exactly what NetSuite would set before the integration commits the write.

Key mechanics

• Media type header: Trigger the operation by setting Accept: application/vnd.oracle.resource+json; type=create-form on a POST request.
• Edit-form variant: For existing records, use Accept: application/vnd.oracle.resource+json; type=edit-form on a PATCH request to preview changes without saving.
• Query parameters: Supports the same parameters as a standard GET: expand, expandSubResources, and fields. Sublists and subrecords are not expanded by default.
• Transformation support: Works with the !transform endpoint. For example, POST /record/v1/salesorder/{id}/!transform/itemfulfillment with the create-form header returns a prefilled item fulfillment sourced from the sales order—analogous to clicking "Fulfill" in the UI.

Response structure

The response includes HATEOAS links that tell the client how to proceed:

• Create flow: A rel: "create" link pointing to a standard POST endpoint for final submission.
• Transform flow: A rel: "transform" link pointing to the transformation POST endpoint.
• Edit flow: A rel: "edit" link for committing the PATCH.

The body contains the full record JSON with all fields populated by NetSuite's sourcing and defaulting logic.

Example: transform a sales order into an item fulfillment

POST /services/rest/record/v1/salesorder/1/!transform/itemfulfillment with header Accept: application/vnd.oracle.resource+json; type=create-form and an empty body {}. The response returns all item fulfillment fields sourced from sales order 1, including line items and their IDs, without creating the fulfillment record.

Example: preview a new sales order

POST /services/rest/record/v1/salesorder with the create-form header and a partial body such as {"entity":{"id":107},"discountitem":{"id":1}}. NetSuite returns the full sales order with all defaults applied on top of the supplied values.

Metadata

The OpenAPI/Swagger metadata at /services/rest/record/v1/metadata-catalog exposes every transformation endpoint that supports create-form. Look for operations whose requestBody.content includes the application/vnd.oracle.resource+json; type=create-form media type.

What to do

1. Audit existing integration code that creates or transforms records via REST. If you currently guess at default values or perform a separate GET after creation to discover defaults, the create-form operation can replace that pattern and reduce round-trips.
2. Use create-form for transformations (e.g., sales order → invoice, sales order → item fulfillment) to replicate UI sourcing logic. This avoids hard-coding field values that NetSuite would normally populate automatically.
3. Use edit-form for updates when you need to preview the effect of a PATCH before committing. Send a PATCH with the edit-form header, inspect the response, then follow the rel: "edit" link to submit.
4. Expand sublists explicitly — they are collapsed by default. Add expandSubResources=true or use the expand parameter to include line-level detail.
5. Note: The source does not specify the NetSuite release in which this operation was introduced. Confirm support in your account's REST API metadata catalog before deploying to production.