Table of Contents
WEB REQUEST
Category: Workflow / External
Description
This action sends a single HTTP request to a web server and receives a response. A configured Web Location connector is required.
Supports all HTTP methods - GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS, CONNECT, TRACE, PATCH.
To simplify development and debugging, the action has a preview pane that shows the raw HTTP request that would be sent as well as a response preview.
Use cases
This action is intended for interactions with REST APIs, cloud applications, and websites.
Action settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Connector/Base URL* | Select or create a Web Location connector, or enter the base URL for the request. Select between "Connector" and "Base URL" using the selector to the left of the input field. |
| Request method | Select the request method. Options: GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, DELETE, CONNECT, OPTIONS, TRACE, and PATCH. |
| Path* | See "Path setting", below. |
| Add URL parameters* | Check to insert parameters into the URL. See "URL parameters", below, for details. |
| Body* | See "Request Body settings", below. |
| Headers* | See "Request Headers settings", below. |
| Response* | See "Response settings", below. |
* Setting can be specified using a parameter.
Path setting
The URL path is appended to the endpoint URL specified in the Web Location connector. EasyMorph parameters can be inserted into the path using curly braces if needed. Alternatively, the entire path can be specified with a parameter.
Examples:
| Web Location endpoint | Web Request path | Actual HTTP request URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| https://example.com/api/v3 | products | https://example.com/api/v3/products | |
| https://example.com/api/v3 | product/123 | https://example.com/api/v3/product/123 | |
| https://example.com/api/v3 | product/{ProductID} | https://example.com/api/v3/product/123 | Assuming {Product ID} = 123 |
URL parameters
URL parameters can be specified as name-value pairs. They will be encoded and appended as a URL query. Value can be omitted, if needed. In this case, only the name will be appended to the URL query.
Example:
| Web Location endpoint | Web Request path | Name | Value | Actual HTTP request URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| https://example.com/api/v3 | orders | year | 2019 | https://example.com/api/v3/orders?year=2019 |
If a Web Location connector has permanent URL parameters specified they will be appended to all requests that are made using the connector. This can be used for scenarios where all requests should have an API key or secret specified.
Request Body settings
The request body can be specified in one of the following ways:
JSON
This body type is suitable for sending simple JSONs. The JSON object is constructed from a list of name-value pairs. Both name and value can be specified with a parameter. If the value itself is a JSON object/array it's inserted verbatim thus allow object nesting.
When this body type is selected header "Content-Type:application/json" is set automatically.
Example:
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | CA |
| Province | ON |
| Name | EasyMorph |
| Incorporated | 2014 |
| Tags | ["ETL", "analytics", "dataprep", "automation"] |
Resulting request body (JSON):
{
"Country":"CA",
"Province":"ON",
"Name":"EasyMorph",
"Incorporated":2014,
"Tags":["ETL", "analytics", "dataprep", "automation"]
}
Text
This body type specifies the body as a free-form text with parameters inserted if needed.
Form
This body type is equivalent to submitting a web form. Name-value pairs are encoded as if it was a web-form.
Header Content-Type is automatically set to "application/x-www-form-urlencoded".
Example:
| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Country | CA |
| Province | ON |
| Name | EasyMorph |
| Incorporated | 2014 |
Resulting request body:
Country=CA&Province=ON&Name=EasyMorph&Incorporated=2014
File
The request body is read from the specified file and inserted verbatim. When Upload file (multi-part upload) is selected, additional parameters can be defined as well.
Request Headers settings
Additional request headers can be specified. Header names and values can be specified either explicitly or using parameters.
Note that header Content-Length is calculated and added to every request automatically.
If a Web Location connector has permanent headers specified they will be added to all requests that are made using the connector. This can be used for scenarios where all requests should have an API key or secret.
Response settings
There are 3 modes for how a response would be processed in the Web Request action:
Fail if HTTP error, otherwise ignore
In this case, if the response status is not an error (i.e. HTTP status codes 4xx or 5xx) then the response will be ignored. This is basically a "fire-and-forget" mode that is intended for submitting data and updates to remote endpoints.
Return response as the action result
In this mode, the response (error or not) is always received and transformed into a 1-row dataset in EasyMorph. The column names in such a dataset correspond to the response body, response status, and response headers (one column per header).
Fail if HTTP error, otherwise save response body into file
In this case, if the response status is not an error (i.e. HTTP status codes 4xx or 5xx) then the response body (only the body!) will be saved verbatim into the specified file.
Remarks
Cookies
Currently, there is no way to set HTTP cookies explicitly in the Web Request action. Under the hood, all cookies that come with responses to web requests are automatically stored in a cookie container that exists only during project execution. Cookies from the container are automatically appended to outgoing requests made using the same Web Location connector. If a project workflow includes calls/iterations, the cookie container is passed to called/iterated modules or projects which in turn can add new cookies to it. This can be used for cookie-based web sessions.
When project execution is finished, the cookie container is discarded. No cookies are stored in the project or Web Location connector.
When developing workflows with web requests it may be necessary to re-run parts of workflows. In this case, it is recommended to always start from the Web Request actions that do authentication so that the session cookies can be set under the hood.
Web Request automatically sends the User-Agent HTTP header ("User-Agent: EasyMorph 5.4") unless disabled in the Web Location connector.
Community examples
- Verifying address data with SmartyStreets API (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Table 1; Action position: 1)
- Example: use of Web Request and Iterate Web Request with the Community forum API (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1;
Table: Recently active users; Action position: 1) - Download multiple files from HTTPS and copy to folder, preserving file names (Project; Module: Main; Group: Tab 1; Table: Table 1; Action position: 1)
- How to send notifications to Microsoft Teams (Project; Module: Main; Group: Group 1; Table: Table 1; Action position: 1)