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This page is for a data modeller who needs to load data from an external source via HTTP.

Overview

An HTTP collector reads data from a HTTP Datasource. The collector defines how the data needed from the datasource is extracted to be used in PhixFlow.

To add a new HTTP collector to an analysis model:

Go to the model's toolbar → Create group.
Click
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to expand the menu.
Drag a
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onto the analysis model.

To add an existing HTTP collector to an analysis model, in the model diagram toolbar:

Go to the model toolbar → List group.
Click
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to expand the menu.
Click
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to open the list of available collectors.
Drag an HTTP collector into the analysis model.

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Table Values in a HTTP Collector

To drive the lookups made by a HTTP collector from a table, the two must be connected using a lookup pipe. For example, a URL for a server can either be captured or calculated in an attribute called "ServerURL". The URL is then passed via a lookup pike to the HTTP collector to be used in its URL Expression.

If the pipe is called in, here is how the URL Expression would be written on the HTTP collector:
{substring(in.ServerUrl,9)}

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Basic Settings

Field

Description

Name

Enter the name of the HTTP collector.

Enabled

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when the configuration is complete and the collector is ready to be used.

Send Message

Define details of the HTTP request sent to the HTTP Datasource to get the data required.

Field Description

HTTP Request Method

Excerpt

Select one of the following HTTP methods to use for the request:

GET or POST
GET
POST
DELETE
OPTIONS
PUT
PATCH

We recommend that you select a method but if you do not, PhixFlow uses GET or POST by default. If the Send Message → Statement Expression:

evaluates to null or empty string, PhixFlow uses GET
is not empty, PhixFlow uses POST.

For information, see the w3schools page about HTTP methods.

URL

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The HTTP collector follows any HTTP redirections and returns the final response.

Statement Expression

An expression to generate the data that will be sent by the collector to the datasource. Expressions should be embedded in ${value}

Examplex

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<?xml version ="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE CORPORATE DASHBOARD "corpDash.dtd">
<results user="%USERNAME%" password="%PASSWORD%">
	<monthlyTotals region=${'"' + Region + '"'} division=${'"' + Division + '"'}>
		<totalBilled>${'"' + TotalBilled + '"'}</totalBilled>
		<totalCollected>${'"' + TotalCollected + '"'}</totalCollected>
	</monthlyTotals>
</results>

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title	JSON Statement

{
	user: '${user}',
	code:  ${'{size: "big"}'}
	price: ${price},
	currency: '${currency}'
}

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HTTP Headers

This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the HTTP headers defined for this collector. To add a HTTP header to the list, click

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. PhixFlow opens a new HTTP Header properties tab. To remove a HTTP header, use the

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in the toolbar.

Some headers will be set to default values if not provided. Automatically added headers may not appear in the debug log. The Content-Length header will be added to all requests and cannot be overridden by providing a value.

Response

Defines the data response type/format that will be returned and the desired location of the data.

Please see Response Examples for how the returned data can be used and evaluated in the corresponding attribute expressions.

Field

Description

Return Type

Select the data type expected as the response from the API call:

String: response type will return the full data as a string value. This is available using the value in a subsequent table.
XML: response type allows an XPath Expression to be specified in order to retrieve just specified sections of the data into XML structures. XML response types also support XML namespaces. The Xml Namspaces tab will be available when this response type is chosen.
HTML: response type allows an XPath Expression to be specified in order to retrieve just specified sections of the data into XML structures.
JSON: response type allows a (JSON) Path expression to be specified in order to retrieve the desired JSON values.

XPath or JSONPath

Available when Return Type is XML, HTTP or JSON.

The expression used to resolve or filter the data that comes back in the selected format.

Note
Use XPath namespaces syntax for XML response types only.

Lenient

Allows for leniency in the interpretation of the JSON data returned by an API. This help interpret poorly formed JSON data.

XML Namespaces

Available when Return Type is XML or HTTP. This section has a toolbar with standard buttons. The grid contains a list of the namespaces defined in an XML response.

To add a namespace to the list, click

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. PhixFlow opens a new XML Namespace property pane. To remove a namespace, use the

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in the toolbar.

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Advanced

Field

Description

HTTP Datasource

Select the HTTP datasource that this collector will collect from. For how to add a new one, see HTTP Datasource. To select from a list, click

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.

Datasource Instance Expression

The datasource to which this collector is connected may list multiple instances from which the data may be accessed. Each HTTP datasource instance is identified by a unique string. This expression should evaluate to a string which allows the collector to determine the specific instance to use. If the expression is blank then the collector will assume that there is only one instance and will use that one by default. If there is more than one instance and no expression is provided here then an error will be thrown during analysis since the collector will be unable to determine which source to use.

Timeout (secs)

The number of seconds to wait for a response from the corresponding HTTP datasource before a timeout is recorded.

Collector Icon

Enter the path for an image file that has been uploaded to the PhixFlow database. PhixFlow displays this icon in controls when the HTTP collector is used.

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In PhixFlow version 11 onwards, an icon can be set by uploading an

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or using an image already uploaded to the application. If this field is left blank, PhixFlow checks for an icon set on the associated HTTP Datasource and uses that icon, and if that too is empty, then the default icon is used.

Allow Non-Scheduled Collection

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to run the HTTP collector as part of any ad-hoc analysis run that requires this data. If not, it will only run as part of a scheduled Task Plan.

Use Raw URL

If enabled the URL Template value is sent in exactly the format it is provided to the HTTP Node. If not enabled PhixFlow will transpose values to form a valid URL, such as replacing spaces with %20.

Log Traffic

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Note
PhixFlow always logs HTTP responses and requests for HTTP collectors, whatever is set here.

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Response Examples

This example uses the following example data.

XML Data

Standard

Code Block

language	xml

<root> 
	<main page="PF Main Page"> 
		<title name="PF Title">PF Title Text
			<datarow> 
				<data initials="AA">Alistair Andrews</data>
				<data initials="BB">Bert Brown</data> 
			</datarow> 
		</title> 
	</main> 
</root>

With Namespace

Code Block

language	xml

<root xmlns:h="http://example.com/schema"> 
	<main page="PF Main Page"> 
		<h:title name="PF Title">PF Title Text
			<h:datarow> 
				<h:data h:initials="AA">Alistair Andrews</data>
				<h:data h:initials="BB">Bert Brown</data> 
			</h:datarow> 
		</h:title> 
	</main> 
</root>

HTML Data

Code Block

language	xml

<html>
	<body nodename="Html Body"> 
		<table> 
			<tbody> 
				<tr> 
					<td initials="AA">Alistair Andrews</td> 
					<td initials="BB">Bert Brown</td> 
				</tr> 
			</tbody> 
		</table> 
	</body> 
</html>

JSON

Code Block

language	xml

{
	"main_page": {
		"page": "PF Main Page",
		"title" : {
			"name" : "PF Title Text,
			"data" : [
				{"initials": "AA", "value" : "Alistair Andrews"},
				{"initials": "BB", "value" : "Bert Brown"}
			]
		}
	}
}

The data is being pointed to by either HTTP datasources or XML/HTML File collectors respectively.

The following table shows the different types of responses that can be returned from an HTTP Collector and how these can be used in the corresponding attribute expressions. A HTTP Collector response type of XML/HTML will mimic the responses from XML/HTML Collectors respectively.

Response Type Path Expression Explanation

String n/a A String response should be referenced in the attribute expressions as in.value Note that in.value will contain the complete string data referenced above.

XML

/root/main/title

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This path expression will bring back all elements matching the XPath expression including the parent/grandparents and all child elements/subelements.

The following examples show how to reference the returned xpaths html/xml data structure in attribute expressions:-

Xpath element attributes: in.name -> returns 'PF Title'
Xpath parent attributes: in.^.page -> returns 'PF Main Page'
Xpath child attributes: listToString(in.datarow.data.initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
Xpath child attribute text values: listToString(in.datarow.data.value) -> returns 'Alistair Andrews,Bert Brown'

Note the use of

^ to traverse to the immediate parent element.
to traverse to the immediate child element within:
- XPath uses /
- Attribute expressions use the dot notation .
the listToString function to handle multiple matching child elements/attributes.

Namespaces

XML documents containing namespaces are supported.

Within path expressions they are referred to using semicolons.
- /root/main/h:title
Within attribute expressions a $ is used instead of the normal : namespace notation
- Xpath element attibutes: in.h$name -> returns 'PF Title''
- Xpath child attributes: listToString(in.h$datarow.h$data.h$initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
- Xpath child attribute text values: listToString(in.h$datarow.h$data.value) -> returns 'Alistair Andrews,Bert Brown'

Note
The namespace prefix used here '`h`' must be configured in the XML Namespace.

HTML

/html/body/table

Note
Namspaces are not supported in the Xpath expression for HTML response types.

This Path expression will bring back all elements matching the xpath expression including the parent/grandparents and all child elements/subelements.

The following examples show how to reference the returned xpaths html/xml data structure in attribute expressions:-

Xpath parent attributes: in.^.nodename -> returns 'Html Body'
Xpath child attributes: listToString(in.tbody.tr.td.initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
Xpath child attribute text values: listToString(in.tbody.tr.td.value) -> returns 'Alistair Andrews,Bert Brown'

Note the use of:

^ to traverse to the immediate parent element.
the listToString function to handle multiple matching child elements/attributes.
the optional html <tbody> tags. If these are not in your html data, then PhixFlow will insert them to conform with the HTML standards. Therefore when using absolute XPath expressions, the tbody tags need to be included even if they are not present in the incoming HTML data. That means /html/title/table/tr should be replaced with /html/title/table/tbody/tr or use //tr
The same applies when referencing parent/child nodes within the attribute expressions.

JSON

$.main_page.title

This path expression will bring back all elements matching the jsonpath expression including the parent/grandparents and all child elements/subelements.

The following examples show how to reference the returned jsonpath data structure in attribute expressions:-

Immediate properties text value: in.name-> returns 'PF Title Text'
Parent properties: in.^.page -> returns 'PF Main Page'
Array properties: listToString(in.data.initials) -> returns 'AA,BB'
Array index in.data.initials.1 → returns 'AA'

Note the use of:

^ to traverse to the immediate parent element.
the listToString function to handle multiple matching child elements/attributes.
Array indexes can be used, these are 1 based.

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Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Analysis Models for Batch Processing Data.

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