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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}.

Field Description Example Value

Name Name given to the HTTP Node. This will be displayed on the actionflow canvas. BankHolidays

HTTP Method The HTTP method. A drop-down field containing: GET, POST, GET or POST, HEAD, PUT, DELETE, other. If other is specified a text box will allow the entering of a custom value which is not empty and contains only uppercase letters. Get

URL

A template that computes the URL of the request.

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

https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays.json

Body

The body is optional for an HTTP message but if it is provided then it is used to carry the HTTP request data. If a body is provided then usually Content-Type and Content-Length headers lines specify the nature of the body associated.

In PhixFlow if this evaluates to whitespace only then it is not included in the request.

The body expects literal values, or expressions encapsulated within ${} syntax, for example ${in.MyValue}. The value referenced in the Body must be mapped into the HTTP node.

//JSON Example

[{

"Name": "${in.name}"

}]

Error Expression An optional JEP expression to determine if the response is an error and so sent on the error output. The expression will have access to the input record (in) and the mapped output response (_result).

Log Traffic Logs the response of the HTTP request.

Maximum HTTP Log Length

Restricts the size of the log traffic.

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.

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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 Point	Description
Out	Contains the resulting record of the request.
Error	Contains the resulting record of the request where it satisfies the error expression specified on the HTTP Node.

Adding and Editing

To add a new output path, in the section toolbar click Insert excerpt_add_addnopaneltrue to open a new output path and set the expression; see Output Connection Points.

To edit an existing output path, double-click it in the list to open its properties.

To remove an output path, select one and in the section toolbar click Insert excerpt_delete_deletenopaneltrue.

Configuration

The configuration of each output connection point is identical:

Field	Description	Example
Name	Name of the output	out
Output Type	A drop-down field containing: String, Raw Data, JSON.	String
Skip Invalid Records	Skip attributes which are considered invalid.	enabled
Default Charset	A drop-down field containing character set options including utf-8.	utf-8
Path	The JSON path to apply. If empty this will default to '$' which matches the entire object.	// $ returns everything, this syntax traverses down two levels using two full // stops. `$..events`
JSON Lenient	When enabled this removes JSON specification restrictions, allowing for a degree of leniency in malformed JSON data. When disabled the JSON will be treated strictly.	enabled
Attributes	Contains the attributes which hold the values returned by the Output Connection Point. Result values are obtained using the keyword _result followed by the attribute name.	`_result.status`

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:

body: The content returned by a successful request. For example, JSON content.

contentType: The type of response provided by the target HTTP request. For example, application/json; charset=utf-8.

status: the returned status code.For example, 200.

status message: the returns status message. For example, OK.

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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 , see Secret Key and Local Secret.

Retry

Retry allows automatic reattempting of the the HTTP connection under the conditions 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 not be the desired solution.

Expressions 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.

Field	Description
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

Field

Description

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.

Learn More

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.

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Learn More

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

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Key

Overview

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Basic Settings

Input Connection Points

Output Connection Points

Adding and Editing

Configuration

Output Record

Headers

Secret Key Details

Retry

Description

Advanced

More Options > Run Action

Page Comparison

Versions Compared

Old Version 23

New Version Current

Key

Overview

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Basic Settings

Input Connection Points

Output Connection Points

Adding and Editing

Configuration

Output Record

Headers

Secret Key Details

Retry

Description

Advanced

More Options > Run Action

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