Connector provides integration with web services via REST or SOAP protocols
Codeless Platforms has released an updated version of its Web Service Connector tool, which allows BPA Platform to integrate with a wide number of commercial web services — both Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Representational State Transfer (REST) protocols – and automate the passing of data requests and retrieval between them.
A Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file can be used to describe the web service used, including GET, POST, PUT and DELETE. Any header or authentication requirements can be controlled or multiple operations joined together to form a single web call. The response received back from a web call can be directly passed to other steps in a task, which can be useful for data integration type scenarios.
The new release has addressed a number of issues found within the original tool and also added new features including the addition of:
- XML or JSON Control Available for POST and PUT Operations (REST)
A new UI control is available to determine whether the input document’s content is in XML or JSON format. This is only available when defining POST and PUT operations for REST web services.
- SupplementaryReference Support for ErrorData Object
The SupplementaryReference field is now exposed in the error XML consumed by succeeding task steps.
- Force Digest Authentication if it isn’t declared in the WSDL
If digest authentication is required by a SOAP web service, but hasn’t been declared in the WSDL, you can now force the Web Service Connector tool to use this.
- “user@domain” Support for Digest Authentication
Where digest authentication is used, user@domain is now a supported Username format.
Working with recordsets and XML documents
The Web Service Connector can consume a recordset or an XML document. You can also map exposed web service parameters to the supplied data source. At task run-time, you can use the BPA Platform Event Log to view the contents of the request and response payloads received with each web call.
The Web Service Connector tool is also able to output an XML document for each GET, POST, PUT and DELETE operation, depending whether the execution of the web call is successful at runtime. This XML can be used by subsequent steps in the task that can directly consume XML.
For REST web services, if an operation is retrieving XML or JSON, you must specify that the content is to be made available as an output to other steps in a task. For SOAP services, this is usually set within the WSDL.
To download the Web Service Connector, find out more about its functionality and get instructions for installation, visit the web page within the Partner Area.