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Call HTTP endpoint

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When to use this Flow type

Use this Flow type to call an HTTP endpoint and optionally send a user-defined payload. It is designed for fire-and-forget scenarios where you don’t need to process or extract data from the response.

For example:

  • Triggering a webhook

  • Sending a notification

  • Calling an API endpoint with a DELETE, POST, or PUT request without waiting for or using the response

IMPORTANT: This Flow type does not perform ETL or handle responses.

If you need to:

  • Extract data from the API response

  • Transform and load data into API

  • Save the response to a file or database

  • Work with paginated APIs or batch records

See: What you can do with web services in Etlworks

Note: Process

Step 1. Create an HTTP Connection that points to the API endpoint.

Step 2. When creating a Connection, define the Payload or skip to the next step.

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To call the HTTP endpoint asynchronously, set the property Maximum Asynchronous HTTP Calls to a value greater than zero (zero is the default).

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Step 3. Start creating a new Flow on the Flows page by clicking +, and typing in HTTP. Select Call HTTP endpoint.

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Step 4. Select the Flow and enter an optional payload.

Note: If you already entered the payload in the Connection created in step 2 or there is no payload to send, you don't have to enter the payload here.

Tip: You can use {tokens} as part of the payload. Tokens will be automatically substituted on the values of the global variables at run time.

Example:

{
  "id": "{id}",     
  "user": "{user}",
  "firstName": "{first_name}",
  "lastName": "{last_name}",
  "dob": "{dob}"
}

There are two options for setting tokens:

  1. Setting global variables using JavaScript.
  2. Executing Flow in a loop, for example, database loop.

Step 5. Optionally enter the JavaScript or Python program in the Script field. This program will be executed before sending a payload to the HTTP endpoint. You can use it to set the global variables that can be used as {parameters} in the Payload or {tokens} in the HTPP Connection. You can also use it to conditionally disable the Flow. 

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