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Overview

Use a 

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 to make HTTPS requests to external APIs;

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Basic Settings

Expects literal values or expressions encapsulated within ${} syntax, for example ${in.MyValue}.

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Input Connection Points

Can Accept a single

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The grid contains a list of all input connection points and their type.

  • To add a new input connection point, in the section toolbar click 
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     to open a new input connection point and set its properties; see Input Connection Points.
  • To edit an existing input connection point, double-click it in the list to open its properties.
  • To remove an input connection point, select one and in the section toolbar click 
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Output Connection Points

The grid contains a list of output connection points, by default this will be out and error.

Output Connection PointDescription
OutContains the resulting record of the request. 
ErrorContains the resulting record of the request where it satisfies the error expression specified on the HTTP Node. 

Output Record

An HTTP Node has two output connection points out and error. An HTTP Node is triggered for each input record and will generate one output record which will be sent on either the out or error output. 

The resulting record contains the attributes specified by the output connection point, successful records are passed down the out connection point and records containing an error are passed down the error connection point. The stricture of the records by default is as follows:

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Tip

Connect to a JSON Node or XML Node to the output connection to interpret the response into individual records.

Headers

Are typically used to specify information for the request such as character sets, session tokens or passwords. Headers can make use of the Secret Key Details see below. For more information see HTTP Header

For example,

  • Name: Content-Type
  • Value:  text/xml; charset=UTF-8


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See HTTP Action Configuration for an example.

Secret Key Details

Secret Keys allow sensitive data such as passwords or security tokens to be encrypted and stored in the PhixFlow Database.

Secret keys have a name which they can be referenced by using the syntax ${_datasource.keyName}. For full details on secret keys, see Secret Key and Local Secret.

Retry

Retry allows automatic reattempting of the the HTTP connection under certain conditions, as specified by the Retry Expression. For example:

  • A transmission error or timeout occurs

  • Specific status codes are returned

  • Specific response body or headers are returned

Tip

Care should be taken if setting an automatic retry in response to a timeout as it may not always be appropriate, e.g. if the HTTP action causes a job to be started on a target system, receiving a timeout does not mean that the job was not started, therefore retrying (and possibly starting multiple processes or updates on a target system) might be the wrong solution.

Expressions can use _result to access the last response and tracking information. The initial requests will get a partially populated _result record. Using _result allows the action to modify the request, such as to follow redirects or links, or submit a token returned by the previous request.

FieldDescription
Retry Expression

The default is false.

Enter an expression that when it evaluates to true, the connection will be reattempted, instead of continuing through the Actionflow.

When a Retry Expression is entered, the following options are available:
Retry Interval Expression (ms)

The default value is 1000

Enter an expression that when it evaluates to an integer, it determines the amount of time between attempted requests.

Maximum Retries

The default value is 3

This is the maximum number of times the HTTP action will try the HTTP connection before continuing. This must be an integer between 1 and 60.

Description

We recommend that you always enter a description to explain the purpose of this item.

Advanced

FieldDescription
Connection Timeout (s)The maximum time to wait to while attempting to create a connection, measured in seconds. The default for this is set to 300 seconds.
Response Packet Timeout (s)The maximum time to wait between responses from the data packets, measured in seconds. The default for this is set to 180 seconds.
Prioritise throughput over ordering

When this option is ticked records are processed in parallel to optimise performance. This means the order records are processed is nondeterministic.

When unticked (default), records are processed in the order they are provided.

More Options > Run Action

Individual

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action nodes can be run in isolation from the rest of the Actionflow, using the
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option, found under the
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menu on the HTTP action's Properties. See Running Actions and Actionflows.


Learn More

For links to all pages in this topic, see Actionflow Properties