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Calling REST API with Action

Zoltán Mikolás
  • Updated

The purpose of this Action example is to illustrate how to use an Action to call a web service. In this example we will query the Perfion API to get a JSON API token for further querying, see Perfion API Reference for more information about the Perfion JSON REST API. 

This example is provided as inspiration only. It must be adapted to your Perfion environment to work. Perfion Support does not assist with such adaptations. Please contact your Perfion Partner or your Perfion consultant if you need assistance.

To use this Action example you need to have the Perfion API installed and configured. You will also need to SHA256, Base64 encode your Perfion password, this can be done by creating a script to do so yourself or using an online tool. 

The example here can be execute in another action using the EXECUTE.ACTION command to retrieve the JSON API token for further querying in Perfion. 

A set of API actions for querying Perfion can be found for importing in the Excel file (APIActions.xlsx) attached at the bottom of this page. 

Sample data for building Action Map

Data must be adapted to your Perfion environment to work.

Action Map - From To Command Action Script Note
    SET      
  $body       The JSON body if you're doing a POST request
http://localhost:8080/token?         The URL of the API you want you call
GET $type       The request type
  $params      

URL params of the request. In this example:

username - Perfion user ID

password - SHA256, Base64 encoded Perfion password
    EXECUTE.SCRIPT   
string url = Make( "{=$API}" ) + Make( "{=$params}" );
string requestType = Make ( "{=$type}" );

Sources["url"] = url ;
string postData = Make("{=$body}");
string ret = "";

StreamWriter requestWriter;

var webRequest = System.Net.WebRequest.Create(url) as System.Net.HttpWebRequest;
if (webRequest != null){
webRequest.Method = requestType ;
webRequest.ServicePoint.Expect100Continue = false;
webRequest.Timeout = 20000;

webRequest.ContentType = "application/json";
//POST the data.
if(webRequest.Method.Equals("POST")) {
using (requestWriter = new StreamWriter(webRequest.GetRequestStream())) {
requestWriter.Write(postData);
}
}
}

System.Net.HttpWebResponse resp = (System.Net.HttpWebResponse)webRequest.GetResponse();
Stream resStream = resp.GetResponseStream();
StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(resStream);

ret = reader.ReadToEnd();
Sources["_response"] = ret;

Uses C#'s internal System.Net library to do a HTTP request at the specified API. 

If type = POST the $body will be used as request body.

Return the JSON response as a new data source "_response"
_response resp_table SELECT.JSON    

Selects the JSON response and transforms it into a Perfion neutral data table. 

Depending on the API and it's response you might need to configure this Command, see Perfion Action Mapping
resp_table resp_table SELECT.UNIQUE    

Perfions a select unique on the formatted response to make it possible to query in a calling action using 

Sources.FindValue("token","key","token");
  key     Value = "Key";  
access_tokebn token        
expiry_date exp_date        

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