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Webhook Connector

Version 23.3.8698

Webhook Connector

Webhook connectors support exposing a public API endpoint.

Overview

Webhook connectors enable data to enter the CData Arc flow via HTTP POSTs and PUTs. Each Webhook connector exposes an endpoint in the application where external clients can send XML and JSON payloads. These payloads are written to an output file and passed along to the next connectors in the flow.

You can specify a sample request in the Webhook connector to simplify the process of transforming data that is POSTed to the endpoint. When an XML sample is specified, and the Webhook connector is connected to an XML Map connector in the flow, the XML Map connector automatically detects the expected structure of XML files posted to the endpoint. You can then use the XML Map connector Expression Editor to map this structure into a target XML structure.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Connector Details

Settings related to the core operation of the connector.

  • Connector Id The static, unique identifier for the connector.
  • Connector Type Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
  • Connector Description An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
  • Webhook Endpoint The generated URL (based on the connector name) where the endpoint is exposed.

Sample Request

An XML or JSON template representing the expected structure of incoming data. See the Sample Requests section for details.

Users Tab

The Users tab lets you:

  • create users with their associated auth tokens
  • define POST and/or PUT privileges
  • specify how many requests each user can make per hour
  • specify how many concurrent requests are permitted

You can add, edit, and delete users on this tab.

Note: The request settings here override settings in the Default Rate Limits section of the Server tab.

Server Tab

Trusted IP Addresses

Settings defining which IP addresses are trusted.

  • Add Opens a modal to enter a new IP address range.
  • Edit Opens a modal to modify the selected IP address range.
  • Delete Deletes the selected IP address range from the list.

The following restrictions apply:

  • localhost cannot be modified or removed from the list.
  • Any IP addresses outside of the defined ranges are rejected.
  • Ranges are supported. For example, the entry 100.10.100.1-15 indicates that IP addresses between 100.10.100.1 and 100.10.100.15 are allowed.
  • Classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) notation is supported. For example, the entry 100.10.100.0/24 indicates that IP addresses between 100.10.100.0 and 100.10.100.255 are allowed.
  • Wildcard patterns are supported. For example, the entry 100.10.100.* indicates that IP addresses beginning with 100.10.100 are allowed.

Default Rate Limits (Per User)

Settings restricting the number of requests allowed, if no values have been provided on the Users tab.

  • Max Requests Per Hour The limit to the number of requests a single user can issue in an hour.
  • Max Concurrent Requests The limit to the number of concurrent requests a user can issue.

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

Settings governing the use of CORS to serve cross-origin resources.

  • Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) Whether or not CORS is enabled. The rest of these options are only available when you check this box.
  • Allow all domains without ‘*‘ If enabled, domain origins are not restricted to a specific list.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Origin The comma-delimited list of domain origins to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Credentials Whether or not user credentials such as cookies are allowed in cross-origin requests. Included as an HTTP response header.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Methods The comma-delimited list of methods to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
  • Access-Control-Allow-Headers The comma-delimited list of headers to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
  • Access-Control-Max-Age The maximum duration (in seconds) that Access-Control response header values can be cached.

Advanced Settings

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing. You can save messages to your Sent folder or you can group them based on a Sent folder scheme, as described below.

  • Save to Sent Folder A toggle that instructs the connector to keep a copy of sent messages in the Sent folder.
  • Sent Folder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Sent folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all sent files for the week in that folder. The blank setting instructs the connector to save all files directly in the Sent folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders can help keep files organized and improve performance.

Logging

  • Log Level The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
  • Log Subfolder Scheme Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. For example, the Weekly option instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. The blank setting tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
  • Log Messages Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Input or Output tabs.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

  • Other Settings Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, setting1=value1;setting2=value2). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Authentication

Users access Webhook resources by providing auth tokens with requests. Manage users and auth tokens on the Users tab.

Before users can call the Webhook endpoint, you also need to set trusted IP addresses for connections. Set these in the Trusted IP Addresses section of the Server tab. By default, all IP addresses are restricted.

Using Auth Tokens in Basic Authentication

Enter the user’s auth token as the password when using Basic Authentication.

Using Auth tokens in the HTTP Header

Add the HTTP header x-cdata-authtoken with the auth token as part of the HTTP request.

Using Auth Tokens as Query String Parameters

To allow the connector to pass the auth token in query string parameters, check Allow authtoken in URL in the Advanced Settings section of the Server tab.

After enabling this feature, you can specify the auth token as the value of the @authtoken parameter, which you supply as part of the HTTP form-post data or as a query parameter.

Receiving Data

When data is uploaded to the webhook endpoint, the body of the web request is written as an output file and passed along to the next connector in the flow. This allows for a flexible method of invoking an Arc workflow via an external API call.

Tip: Data uploaded to the endpoint is not validated in the Webhook connector, and should be validated later in the flow if necessary.

Sample Requests

The Sample Request field on the Settings tab lets you specify the XML or JSON structure expected for API calls to the webhook endpoint.

The primary benefit to specifying a sample request is when you connect the Webhook connector to an XML Map connector in the flow. Use XML Map connectors when the API data needs to be converted into some other format, like an EDI document or a database insert.

The XML Map connector detects the XML structure of the sample request and uses this as the Source File for the XML Map connector. Upload the XML structure representing the target format as the Destination File, then use the Expression Editor to convert the source structure into the destination.

Custom Responses

Ordinarily, the Webhook connector accepts the post data with a token response that the request was accepted, but you can customize the response by using the Response event, where the _request, _httpheaders, _response, and _message special items are available. When specified, the connector expects the custom response to be provided through the _response item.

For example, to surface a header on the incoming request as a header on the message that is passed down the flow, the ArcScript in the Response event might look something like this:

<arc:set attr="_message.header:MySpecialHeader" value="[_httpheaders.MyWebhookHeader]" />
<arc:set attr="_response.header:Content-Type" value="application/xml" />
<arc:set attr="_response.write" value="<Status>Successfully processed message with MySpecialHeader=[_message.header:MySpecialHeader]</Status>" />

With the ArcScript above in the Response event, a client can send a request similar to the following:

POST https://localhost/connector/Webhook1/webhook.rsb HTTP/1.1
content-type: application/xml
X-Arc-Authtoken: 1s7U4w0a2P3l8v9W3l0q
MyWebhookHeader: Hello World!

<Items>
  <Webhook>Hello World!</Webhook>
</Items>

and receive the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2021 19:16:13 GMT
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 81
Server: Jetty(9.4.z-SNAPSHOT)

<Status>Successfully processed message with MySpecialHeader=Hello World!</Status>