What is a HTTP Action?

HTTP actions perform HTTP(S) requests to external APIs and return the response.

Creating HTTP Actions

1. Click and drag the  HTTP icon from the toolbar onto the canvas
2. Enter a name for the HTTP action, then select Create Action
3. In the HTTP action  Properties on the right, populate the following details:

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, DELETE, OPTIONS, PUT, PATCH.	Get
URL Template	A template that computes the URL of the request. If using the URL to pass across parameters, care should be taken to ensure that the values are appropriately URL encoded.	https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays.json https://server/phixflow/api/1/action/App/Api/trigger?field=abc
Body Template	Optional. If this 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 ${in.MyValue}.	//JSON Example {     "Industry": "${in.Industry}" }
Error Expression	Optional. A JEP expression to determine if the response is an error and if so, send on the Error Output Connection Point. The expression will have access to the input record (in) and the mapped output response (_result).	_result.isError
Log Traffic	Toggle on  to log the response of the HTTP request in the System Console, e.g. see an error returned, or see the output before specifying a path. Use this when testing but switch off once testing is completed.
Maximum HTTP Log Length	Available if Log Traffic is toggled on . Restricts the size of the log traffic.	1000
Use Raw URL	Toggle on  to send the URL Template value in exactly the format it is provided to the HTTP Node. If toggled off PhixFlow will transpose values to form a valid URL, such as replacing spaces with %20.
HTTP Configuration	See HTTP Configuration

4.  Apply and Close all settings

5. Hover over the  HTTP action on the canvas to see the output connection points

Output Connection Points

A HTTP action has two outputs. A HTTP request will be triggered for each input record and generate one output record, which will be sent on either the out or error output. 

The response from the server (headers and body) will be treated as the result record.

The output records contain 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 structure of the records by default are 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
• statusMessage: The returned status message, for example, OK
• cookies: Returns an array of cookie name, domain, etc.
• isError: Returns true if the response contains a 400+ error code
• headers: Returns an array of header values
• statusFamily: Returns the status family code, for example if status returns 202, then statusFamily will return 200
• transmissionError: Returns true if the request failed, e.g. timed out

• • See below example where an Actionflow HTTP action is calling a PhixFlow API Endpoint

Headers

Headers are typically used to specify information for the request, such as character sets, session tokens or passwords. Headers can reference Secret Key Details, see below, using the syntax ${_datasource.SecretKey}

For example,

• Name: Authorization
• Expression: ${_datasource.MyKey}

Secret Key Details

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

Running HTTP Actions

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

Worked Example

Here is a worked example using the Retail Data (available from the Learning Centre) and JSON data from the UK government website (https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays.json).

In this example, we are using:  

• A Shop Shipping screen containing a grid of Orders data, a grid of Order Lines data, an area containing a Date form field and buttons  - this screen was created using the Multi-Tile template
• A Shop Shipping Popup screen containing a grid of the bank holiday data  - this screen was created using the Tile no Buttons template

Identify Bank Holiday Dates

In this example, we'll create an Actionflow that retrieves bank holiday dates in the UK from the government website in JSON format and map this onto a screen in a grid. 

Table Setup

1. Create a new  Table on your  ERD to save the bank holiday data to, and ensure it contains the following attributes:
   1. Name: UID
      1. Type: String
      2. Length: 50
      3. Expression: _NULL
   2. Name: Name
      1. Type: String
      2. Length: 200
      3. Expression: _NULL
   3. Name: Date
      1. Type: Date
         1. Leave the Expression field blank
   4. Name: Country
      1. Type: String
      2. Length: 50 
         1. Leave the Expression field blank

HTTP Action Setup

1. On the Shop Shipping screen, add an Actionflow to the  ("GetDates") button 

2. Select Click to Connect and choose On Click

3. Drag a  HTTP action onto the canvas and give it a suitable name - this will be used to retrieve the bank holidays from the government JSON URL

4. Drag the  input connection point node onto the HTTP action

5. Click on the  HTTP action to open its Properties

   1. HTTP Method: GET
   2. URL: https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays.json

   
   

6. Drag a  JSON action onto the canvas and give it a suitable name - this will be used to convert the JSON data into data suitable for our bank holiday table
7. Connect the out connector from the HTTP node to the JSON node

   1. Map across attribute, body
      

       Checkpoint

      

      
      

JSON Action Setup

1. Click on the  JSON action to open its Properties
   1. Input Expression: in.body
   2. Path: $..events

   3. Output Attributes:
      

      Name: Country, Type: String

      _result.^.^.division

      
      

      Name: Date, Type: Date

      toDate(_result.date, "yyyy-MM-dd")

      Name: ID, Type: String

      toString(_result.date, "yyyyMMdd") + substring(_result.^.^.division, 1,1)

      Name: Title, Type: String

      _result.title

2. Hover over the JSON action and select out
3. Create a  Save action
   1. Primary Table: The Bank Holidays table you created earlier
   2. Map across the JSON attributes to their relevant attributes on the Save action
      
       How?

      

4. Hover over the Save action and choose out

5. Create an  Open Screen action to open the Shop Shipping Popup screen

    Checkpoint

   

Screen Setup

1. Open the Shop Shipping Popup screen
2. Click on  Attributes in the toolbar, then select the Bank Holidays table you created earlier
3. In the Available Attributes selector, select all attributes and drag them onto the screen, then choose to display the data as a  Grid

Testing

1. Close all open screens and reopen the Shop Shipping screen
2. Click the  button to run the Actionflow
3. If the Actionflow is working, the Shop Shipping Popup screen should open containing all of the bank holiday data from the government website

Background Filter and Default Sort Order

Tidy up your Shop Shipping Popup screen by hiding the UID column on the grid, adding a Default Filter to show only bank holidays in the future, and Default Sort Order to show the most recent bank holidays first.