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HTTP Task

The HTTP task provides a basic HTTP/RESTful client that allows you to call RESTful endpoints. It is provided automatically by Concord, and does not require any external dependencies.

RESTful endpoints are very commonly used and often expose an API to work with an application. The HTTP task allows you to invoke any exposed functionality in third party applications in your Concord project and therefore automate the interaction with these applications. This makes the HTTP task a very powerful tool to integrate Concord with applications that do not have a custom integration with Concord via a specific task.

The HTTP task executes RESTful requests using a HTTP GET, PUT, PATCH, POST, or DELETE method and returns HTTP response objects. The response object can be stored in an out parameter for later usage.

The HTTP Task automatically follows redirect URLs for all methods if the response returns status code 301. To disable this feature, set the followRedirects task parameter to false.

Usage and Configuration

As with all tasks you can invoke the HTTP task with a short inline syntax or the full task syntax.

The simple inline syntax uses an expression with the http task and the asString method. It uses a HTTP GET as a default request method and returns the response as string.

- log: "${http.asString('https://api.example.com:port/path/test.txt')}"

The full syntax is preferred since it allows access to all features of the HTTP task:

- task: http
  in:
    method: GET
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    response: string
    out: response
- if: ${response.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${response.content}"

All parameters sorted in alphabetical order.

  • auth: authentication used for secure endpoints, details in the Authentication section;
  • body: the request body, details in Body;
  • connectTimeout: HTTP connection timeout in ms. Default value is 30000 ms;
  • debug: boolean, output the request and response data in the logs;
  • followRedirects: boolean, determines whether redirects should be handled automatically. Default is true. Allows automatic redirection for all methods if not explicitly set to false;
  • headers: add additional headers, details in Headers;
  • ignoreErrors: boolean, instead of throwing exceptions on unauthorized requests, return the result object with the error;
  • method: HTTP request method, either POST, PUT, PATCH, GET, or DELETE. Default value is GET;
  • out: variable to store the HTTP response object;
  • proxy: HTTP(s) proxy to use (see the example);
  • query: request query parameters, details in Query Parameter;
  • request: type of request data string, json, or file, details available in Request type;
  • requestTimeout: request timeout in ms, which is the maximum time spent waiting for the response;
  • response: type of response data string, json, or file received from the endpoint, details in Response type;
  • socketTimeout: socket timeout in ms, which is the maximum time of inactivity between two data packets. Default value is -1, which means that the default value of the Java Runtime Environment running the process is used - common value is 60000 ms;
  • url: complete URL in string for HTTP request;

Authentication

The auth parameter is optional. When used, it must contain the basic nested element which contains either the token element, or the username and password elements.

Basic auth using token syntax:

  auth:
    basic:
      token: value

In this case, the value is used as Basic authentication token in the Authorization header:

Authorization: Basic value

Basic auth using username and password syntax:

  auth:
    basic:
      username: any_username
      password: any_password

In this example, username and password values will be formatted according to standard basic authentication rules:

Authorization: Basic base64(username + ":" + password)

To avoid exposing credentials in your Concord file, replace the actual values with usage of the Crypto task.

Use valid values for basic authentication parameters. Authentication failure causes an UnauthorizedException error.

Body

The HTTP method type POST, PUT and PATCH requires a body parameter that contains a complex object (map), json sourced from a file, or raw string.

Body for request type json:

  request: json
  body:
    myObject:
      nestedVar: 123

The HTTP task converts complex objects like the above into a string and passes it into the body of the request. The converted string for the above example is { "myObject": { "nestedVar": 123 } }.

The HTTP task accepts raw JSON string, and throws an incompatible request type error when it detects improper formatting.

Body for Request Type file:

  request: file
  body: "relative_path/file.bin"

Failure to find file of the name given in the referenced location results in aFileNotFoundException error.

Body for Request Type string:

  request: string
  body: "sample string for body of post request"

Headers

Extra header values can be specified using headers key:

  headers:
    MyHeader: "a value"
    X-Some-Header: "..."

Query Parameters

Query parameters can be specified using query key:

  query:
    param: "Hello Concord"
    otherParam: "..."

Parameters are automatically encoded and appended to the request URL.

Request Type

A specific request type in request is optional for GET method usage, but mandatory for POST and PUT. It maps over to the CONTENT-TYPE header of the HTTP request.

Types supported currently:

  • string (converted into text/plain)
  • json (converted into application/json)
  • file (converted into application/octet-stream)
  • form (converted into application/x-www-form-urlencoded)
  • formData (converted into multipart/form-data)

Response Type

response is an optional parameter that maps to the ACCEPT header of the HTTP request.

Types supported currently:

  • string (converted into text/plain)
  • json (converted into application/json)
  • file (converted into application/octet-stream)

HTTP Task Response

Objects returned by the HTTP task contain the following fields:

  • success: true if status code belongs to success family
  • content: json/string response or relative path (for response type file)
  • headers: key-value pairs of response headers
  • statusCode: http status codes
  • errorString: Descriptive error message from endpoint

Examples

Following are examples that illustrate the syntax usage for the HTTP task.

Full Syntax for GET or DELETE Requests

- task: http
  in:
    method: GET # or DELETE
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    response: json
    out: jsonResponse
- if: ${jsonResponse.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${jsonResponse.content}"

Full Syntax for POST, PATCH or PUT Requests

Using a YAML object for the body:

- task: http
  in:
    request: json
    method: POST # or PATCH or PUT
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    body: 
      userObj:
        name: concord
    response: json
    out: jsonResponse
- if: ${jsonResponse.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${jsonResponse.content}"

Using raw JSON for the body:

- task: http
  in:
    request: json
    method: POST # `PATCH`, `PUT`
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    body: |
      {
        "myObject": {
           "nestedVar": 123
        }
      }
    response: json
    out: jsonResponse
- if: ${jsonResponse.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${jsonResponse.content}"

Full Syntax for Multipart Form

Using multipart form for the body

- task: http
  in:
    request: formData
    method: POST
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    body:
      field1: "string value" # text/plain part
      field2: "@myFile.txt" # application/octet-stream part with a filename
      field3:
        type: "text/plain"  # manually specify the content-type of the part
        data: "string value"

Full Syntax for Secure Request

Using Basic Authentication with an existing value:

- task: http
  in:
    auth:
      basic:
        token: base64_encoded_token
    method: GET
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    response: json
    out: jsonResponse
- if: ${jsonResponse.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${jsonResponse.content}"

Using Basic Authentication with a username and a password:

- task: http
  in:
    auth:
      basic:
        username: username
        password: password
    method: GET
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    response: json
    out: jsonResponse
- if: ${jsonResponse.success}
  then:
   - log: "Response received: ${jsonResponse.content}"

Proxy Usage

- task: http
  in:
    method: GET
    url: "https://api.example.com:port/path/endpoint"
    proxy: "http://proxy.example.com:8080"

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