REST Web Service package
- Updated: 2024/08/23
REST Web Service package
Use the actions in the REST Web Service package as methods (DELETE, GET, PATCH, POST, or PUT) to send requests to and receive responses from an API.
Working with REST Web Service actions
- Enter the URI: A unique address for an API resource.
-
Proxy
configuration: To set the proxy, select the
System or Custom tab from
Proxy configuration.
Option Description System System proxy is the proxy configured on the bot runner machine where the bot is running.
If this option is selected, the Bot Agent uses the system proxy.Custom This option allows you to configure custom proxy settings within the actions of REST Web Service. For example, if a REST API is required to be routed through a different proxy other than the system proxy, you can select the Custom option and provide proxy details within the REST actions.
Provide the following details:
- Host: The host name or IP address of the proxy
- Port: The port number of the proxy
- Username (Optional): The username used for the proxy authentication
-
Password (Optional): The
password used for the proxy authenticationNote: If the proxy to be configured is authenticated proxy, then you must provide authentication credentials in the Username and Password fields.
For Host, Port, Username, and Password fields, choose from Credential, Variable, or Insecure string tab :- Credential: Use a value available in the credential vault.
- Variable: Use a variable that stores a credential value in a user-defined variable.
- Insecure string: Manually specify the value that you want to use.
-
Authentication Mode: There are three supported
authentication modes:
- No Authentication: Use this option to access the endpoints that does not require authentication to access their servers.
- Control Room user token: The REST Web Service actions uses the token generated while you logged in the Control Room to access the endpoints.
- Basic: Basic is the simplest way to authenticate users. When you select this option, you will enter the username and password. This technique uses a header called Authorization, with a base64 encoded representation of the username and password entered.
- Logged-in AD User: Active Directory (AD) users that are authorized to access the related API are authenticated through AD. No credentials are required in the request.
- Windows NT LAN Manager (NTLM) Authentication (AD User): A challenge/response authentication method that allows clients to provide their user name and password as encrypted credentials or plain text. We recommend that you use credentials that are stored in the Automation Anywhere Credential Vault.
- OAuth2 - Control Room managed: When you integrate
OAuth with the Control Room, you can centrally manage and securely store
tokens that are used to authenticate with third-party providers. You must
configure the web service and make note of the authentication details (such
as such as client ID, client secret, authorization URL, and so on) to use
the OAuth connection in the Control Room. For more details, see Configure OAuth connections in Control Room
The following video shows how to use OAuth connection in REST Web Service:
- Header: Not all methods require a header. Headers represent the metadata associated with the request.
-
Content type: When a header contains a content type,
it defines the content negotiation between the client and the server. REST Web Service
actions support the following content types:
-
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
: Encode the parameters in the URL. -
JSON (application/json)
: Enter a JSON request body. -
XML (application/xml)
: Enter an XML request body. -
Text (text/plain)
-
XML (text/xml)
-
HTML (text/html)
-
multipart/form-data
:- Send binary data, in most cases for uploading files to the server.
- FileStream: The FileStream can be read after assigning it to a
variable. For instance, you can read a FileStream assigned to a
variable in an OneDrive location. For more information, see Assign file action.
Custom
Custom
: Add custom content that does not fall under the standard content type. For example, when you are migrating from v.11.x to Automation 360, the following value does not fall under any of the standard content types: application/vnd.whispir.message-v1+json
-
-
Add
substitution: Allows you to enter variables in the REST
request body. A variable is a symbolic representation of data, and it
enables you to access a value without having to enter it manually wherever
you need it. For example, consider the following REST body
request:
In the above request body, you can replace the variables enclosed within double braces by clicking Add substitution and adding the required values.{ "name":"{{name}}", "email":"{{email}}", "status":"Active" }
-
Advanced options:
- Capture failure response: Select the check box to capture the failure response except for the Success/Ok response. The failure response details are captured in the response body.
- Allow insecure connection when using https: Select the check box to allow insecure connection when using https.
- Accept
Cookies: Select the check box to automatically capture
session cookies from server responses.
- Capture: When enabled, the feature captures session cookies included in server responses.
- Secure Storage: Captured cookies are encrypted within process memory, ensuring they are never permanently stored and are inaccessible outside your automation session.
- Reuse: Cookies are automatically included in subsequent REST calls, eliminating manual cookie handling and improving automation reliability.
- Multiple Cookie Handling: The feature seamlessly handles multiple cookies returned by the server, ensuring all necessary authentication credentials are included.
- Destruction: Captured cookies are automatically destroyed when the automation session ends or the bot finishes execution, ensuring data security and privacy.
Note: The captured cookies are specific to the domain they originate from and will not be automatically used for subsequent REST calls made to different domains. This means cookies captured fromdomainA.com
will not be utilized for requests todomainB.com
.
- Wait for action to complete: You can set a time-out value when you send a REST request and receive a response. When performing actions such as POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, and GET, in the Wait for action to complete field, you can specify the wait time (in milliseconds). By default, the wait time is 60000 milliseconds.
-
Output variable: The response output is captured in a
dictionary variable. A dictionary variable is a key-value pair. Use the
response header name as key to return the header value, or "Body" as the key
to return the response body.Note: The response key with its value is available in the dictionary variable to display the response status of the REST API.To obtain a list of the header names for the API resource, perform these steps:
- Insert a Loop action after the REST Web Service action.
- Select the For each key in the dictionary iterator.
- In the Dictionary variable field, select the variable that holds the REST Web Service action output.
- Assign the value of each key to
$prompt-assignment$
. - Insert a Log To File action.
- Provide the file path to a text file to hold the list of header names.
- Insert
$prompt-assignment$
in the Enter text to log field. - Select the Overwrite existing file option.
- Click Save.
When you run the bot, it prints the header names from the API resource to the selected file.
Passing values securely
- URI
- Custom headers
- Body: For the
application/x-www-form-urlencoded
content type, click Add parameter to select the value from the Credential Vault.For all other content types, select the Select credential as parameters option and click Pick.
Actions in the REST Web Service package
Action | Description |
---|---|
Delete method | Removes the resource that is identified by the URI. |
Get method | Retrieves information identified by parameters included in the URI.
There is no Content type for the GET method
because all the parameters are passed as part of the URI. Limitations and characteristics of the GET method include the following:
See Using the Get method. |
Patch method | Modifies the resource that is identified by the URI. |
Post method | Creates a new resource in the URI.
|
Put method | Updates or replaces a resource based on parameters passed in the URI or body. See Using the Put method. |
Proxy support
If your device is configured with a proxy, all outbound requests from this package are routed through the proxy server. See Connect Bot Agent to a device with a proxy.