Incoming Webhooks

Overview

WorkflowGen features an incoming webhook application that allows users to interact with WorkflowGen from external sources by exchanging JSON payloads using HTTP POST requests. The application supports multiple types of operations.

Technical requirements

In addition to the standard WorkflowGen installation, the following components are required:

• IIS URL Rewrite

• Node.js version 8.11.3

• iisnode

• Visual C++ Redistributable Note: This library is required if you encounter the error The specified module could not be found regarding the edge and edge-js libraries when accessing the /wfgen/graphql, /wfgen/hooks, or /wfgen/scim web apps.

For security reasons, it is strongly recommended to enable the HTTPS protocol on your IIS server.

For information on the installation procedure, see the WorkflowGen Technical Guide.

Configuration

Maximum query content length

The maximum query content length for incoming webhooks can be set by configuring the maxAllowedContentLength property in the WorkflowGen web.config file. The following example shows how to configure this property as 1 MB (note that the value should always be specified in bytes, so the value in the example is 1,024,000 bytes). The default value is 30,000,000 bytes.

<system.webServer> 
    <security> 
        <requestFiltering> 
            <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="1024000" /> 
        </requestFiltering> 
    </security> 
</system.webServer>

Performance tuning

WorkflowGen is installed with the following default webhooks settings (located under iisnode in \wfgen\hooks\web.config):

nodeProcessCountPerApplication="1"
maxConcurrentRequestsPerProcess="1024"

With these settings, only one node.exe instance will handle HTTP requests. This should be sufficient in most cases, but you can optimize performance if needed by adjusting these values based on the number of potential concurrent requests.

Create an incoming webhook application

To create a new incoming webhook application in your WorkflowGen application, click the Add Application button on the Applications page. Then, choose Incoming webhook from the Application type drop-down list, enter the Name and Description, and click Save.

The Applications page will now display your incoming webhook application information, including the application URL. This is the URL you should use to send WorkflowGen incoming webhooks. The last component of this URL corresponds to a token that WorkflowGen will use to identify your incoming webhooks.

You should fill in the Impersonate username textbox with the WorkflowGen username you use to perform your desired operations. Be aware that your impersonated user must have your asked-operation-required rights to complete the action; if not, you will receive a security error on your response payload. As well, if the impersonate username is not set, the workflow engine service default identity will be used (as defined in the Security section on the Integration tab in the Configuration Panel).

Important notes

• The generated URL and its associated token must remain private and not exposed to end-users in client-side (in JavaScript, for example). You should treat the token with the same level of security as you would a password.

• If the token used in the incoming webhook URL is missing or invalid, a 404 status code will be returned. If the associated user is invalid, archived, or inactive, a 403 status code will be returned. In both cases, the response will contain a descriptive error message.

Send data in JSON

The incoming webhook application receives your HTTP POST request payload formatted as a JSON object.

Using the URL provided, you can post HTTP requests from external applications (e.g. Postman) to WorkflowGen in order to execute the available operations in your WorkflowGen application. For operations that require you to provide an object ID, the object ID value can be retrieved by using the GraphQL API. In most cases, object numbers can be used instead of IDs in operation payloads.

In case of an error, you will get a response payload providing error details such as:

{
  "error": "Advantys.Workflow.ServiceFacade: CreateRequest error: A process ID or name is required"
}

Curl example

The requests should respect the structure shown in this example, where operation refers to the name of the operation to execute, and args contains the input node that groups all of the request parameters to perform the operation.

To create a new request, the processName parameter is required. The processVersion parameter is optional and is used to find the correct process you want to use to create your request.

curl -u yourusername -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1
    }
  }
}' http://localhost/wfgen/hooks/yourtoken

Response payload

The response payload will be structured as follows:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzI4",
  "number": 10,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Parameters

Parameter	Description
processName	Process name (required)
processVersion	Process version, used to find the correct process you want to use to create the request
clientMutationId	This parameter will be null if the request creator did not define it in the request payload
requestId	ID of newly created request
number	Number of newly created request
onBehalfOf	This parameter contains the delegator ID; however, if the request was not created in delegation mode, its value will be null
onBehalfOfUserName	This parameter contains the delegator username; however, if the request was not created in delegation mode, its value will be null

System access users

Some operations (such as CancelAction and UpdateRequestDataset) require users to have system access to perform the operations. This can be configured in the System operations allowed users field under Security on the Integration tab in the Configuration Panel.

Request operations

Create a request

Note: To create a new request from the webhooks API, make sure that sub-process mode is enabled with public access on the target process. (See the Process form section in the WorkflowGen Administration Guide for more information.)

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzI4",
  "number": 1728,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

A parameter's array can be included in the createRequest operation payload. Be aware that a data with the same name and data type must previously exist in the process for each parameter in the array to store the parameter's value. The following example shows how to send parameters corresponding to the four supported data types (TEXT, NUMERIC, DATETIME, and FILE).

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1,
      "parameters": [
        {
          "name": "TEXT",
          "textValue": "My text parameter"
        },
        {
          "name": "NUMERIC",
          "numericValue": 5
        },
        {
          "name": "DATE",
          "dateTimeValue": "2017-02-23T20:46:00Z"
        },
        {
          "name": "FILE", 
          "fileValue": {
            "name": "TestFile.txt",
            "contentType": "text/plain",
            "size": 616,
            "url": "file:///c:/TestFile.txt",
            "updatedAt": "2017-02-21T15:06:38Z"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzY1",
  "number": 1765,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
processName	String	Process name (required)
processVersion	Int	Process version, used to find the correct process you want to use to create the request
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
isTest	Boolean	Indicates if the process is in test
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier that is used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person, with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
processId	Base64-encoded string	Process identifier with the pattern [Process:1] where 1 is the process identifier from the database
parameters	Array	Array of parameters (see Parameter definitions)

Update a request dataset

A request dataset context can be updated by adding a parameter array. In this case a request number or a request ID should be provided.

This operation requires users to have system access to perform it. This can be configured in the System operations allowed users field under Security on the Integration tab in the Configuration Panel.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "updateRequestDataset",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "number": 1750,
      "parameters": [
        {
          "name": "NEW_PARAMETER",
          "textValue": "My parameter"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "updateRequestDataset",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "UmVxdWVzdDoxMDAw",
      "parameters": [
        {
          "name": "NEW_PARAMETER",
          "textValue": "My parameter"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzIx",
  "parameters": [
    {
      "name": "NEW_PARAMETER",
      "textValue": "My parameter"
    }
  ]
}

For more information on FILE parameter manipulations when sent within incoming webhook payloads, see the File upload section.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
number	Int	Request number
id	Base64-encoded string	Request identifier with the pattern [Request:1] where 1 is the request identifier from the database
parameters	Array	Array of parameters (see Parameter definitions)

Cancel a request

You can cancel a request by using the request number or the request ID.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "cancelRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "number": 1728
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "cancelRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzI4"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzI4",
  "number": 1728,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
number	Int	Request number
id	Base64-encoded string	Request identifier with the pattern [Request:1] where 1 is the request identifier from the database
notifyParticipant	Boolean	Indicates if participant members have to be notified
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier that is used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person, with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database

Action operations

Complete an action

To complete an action, provide the request number and the action number, or the action ID.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "completeAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 1765,
      "number": 1,
      "parameters": [
        {
          "name": "NEW_PARAMETER",
          "textValue": "My parameter"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "completeAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NTktLS0x"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionId": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NTktLS0x",
  "number": 1,
  "requestNumber": 1759,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

To complete an action, a parameter array can be included in the request payload arguments.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "completeAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 1765,
      "number": 1,
      "parameters": [
        {
          "name": "NEW_PARAMETER",
          "direction": "IN",
          "type": "TEXT",
          "textValue": "My parameter"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionId": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NjUtLS0x",
  "number": 1,
  "requestNumber": 1765,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
requestNumber	Int	Request number
number	Int	Action number
activityName	String	Activity name
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
isTest	Boolean	Indicates if the process is in test
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier that is used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person, with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
id	Base64-encoded string	Action identifier with the pattern [Action:1---2] where 1 is the request identifier from the database and 2 is the action identifier from the database
parameters	Array	Array of parameters (see Parameter definitions)

Cancel an action

To cancel an action, provide the request number and the action number, or the action ID. The following conditions must be met:

• The viewer and the user (if they don't share the same identity, as in delegation mode) must have access to the request.

• The action must be open.

• The action must have a cancel or default exception defined in the transition.

• The viewer is:

  • an administrator or process folder manager OR

  • a supervisor with cancellation rights OR

  • the action assignee.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "cancelAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 1759,
      "number": 2
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "cancelAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "QWN0aW9uOjEwMDAtLS0x"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionId": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NTktLS0y",
  "number": 2,
  "requestNumber": 1759,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
exception: { message source	String	Exception: Exception message Exception source
id	Base64-encoded string	Action identifier with the pattern [Action:1---2] where 1 is the request identifier from the database and 2 is the action identifier from the database
number	Int	Action number
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
requestNumber	Int	Request number
type		Cancellation type: CANCEL: Cancellation exception ERROR: Error exception

Cancel a request's actions by name

All of the actions with the same name in a request can be cancelled at the same time by using their name in this operation payload. The following conditions are met:

• The viewer and the user (if they do not share the same identity, as in delegation mode) must have access to the request.

• The action must be open.

• The action must have a cancel or default exception defined in the transition.

• The viewer is:

  • an administrator or a process folder manager OR

  • a supervisor with cancellation rights OR

  • the action assignee.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "cancelRequestActionsByName",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 4399,
      "activityName": "Initiates"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionIds": [
    "QWN0aW9uOjQzOTktLS0x",
    "QWN0aW9uOjQzOTktLS0y",
    "QWN0aW9uOjQzOTktLS0z"
  ],
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
activityName	String	Activity name
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
exception: { message source	String	Exception: Exception message Exception source
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
requestNumber	Int	Request number
type		Cancellation type: CANCEL: Cancellation exception ERROR: Error exception

Assign an action

To assign an action, provide the request number and the action number, or the action ID; you must also provide the assigneeUserName or the assigneeId.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "assignAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 1751,
      "number": 2,
      "assigneeUserName": "johnsmith"
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "assignAction",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "QWN0aW9uOjEwMDAtLS0x",
      "assigneeId": "QXNzaWduZWU6MQ=="
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionId": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NTEtLS0y",
  "number": 2,
  "requestNumber": 1751,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
assigneeId	Base64-encoded string	User identifier of the person assigned to the action with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
id	Base64-encoded string	Action identifier with the pattern [Action:1---2] where 1 is the request identifier from the database and 2 is the action identifier from the database
number	Int	Action number
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
requestNumber	Int	Request number

Cancel an action assignment

To cancel an action assignment, you should provide the request number and the action number, or the action ID.

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "cancelActionAssignment",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "requestNumber": 1751,
      "number": 2
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "cancelActionAssignment",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "QWN0aW9uOjEwMDAtLS0x"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "actionId": "QWN0aW9uOjE3NTEtLS0y",
  "number": 2,
  "requestNumber": 1751,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
id	Base64-encoded string	Action identifier with the pattern [Action:1---2] where 1 is the request identifier from the database and 2 is the action identifier from the database
number	Int	Action number
onBehalfOf	Base64-encoded string	User identifier used by the user to perform the mutation on behalf of another person with the pattern [User:1] where 1 is the user identifier from the database
requestNumber	Int	Request number

End-user operations

Create a favorite

The incoming webhook application lets users add processes and views to their favorites lists using the process or view IDs.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "createFavorite",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "itemId": "UHJvY2VzczoxMTA="
    }
  }
}

The above code will create a favorite using the process or view description, but adding a custom description is also possible, as shown in the following example:

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "createFavorite",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "itemId": "UHJvY2VzczoxMTA=",
      "description": "My custom description"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "favorite": {
    "id": "RmF2b3JpdGU6MjA=",
    "ownerId": "VXNlcjox",
    "description": "My custom description",
    "type": "PROCESS",
    "itemId": "UHJvY2VzczoxMTA=",
    "onBehalfOf": null
  }
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
description	String	Favorite description
itemId	Base64-encoded string	Favorite item identifier with the pattern [Favorite:1] where 1 is the favorite identifier from the database

Update a favorite

The incoming webhook application lets users update an existing favorite process or view by using its favorite ID.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "updateFavorite",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "UHJvY2VzczoxMTA=",
      "description": "Updated description"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "favorite": {
    "id": "RmF2b3JpdGU6MTQ=",
    "ownerId": "VXNlcjox",
    "description": "Updated description",
    "type": "PROCESS",
    "itemId": "UHJvY2VzczoxMTA=",
    "onBehalfOf": null
  }
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
description	String	Favorite description
itemId	Base64-encoded string	Favorite item identifier with the pattern [Favorite:1] where 1 is the favorite identifier from the database

Delete a favorite

The incoming webhook application lets users delete an existing favorite process or view from their favorites list by using its favorites ID.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "deleteFavorite",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "RmF2b3JpdGU6MTQ="
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
itemId	Base64-encoded string	Favorite item identifier with the pattern [Favorite:1] where 1 is the favorite identifier from the database

Add a comment

The incoming webhook application lets users add comments to requests.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "addComment",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "subjectId": "UmVxdWVzdDo0MzY1",
      "message": "This is my comment"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "commentId": "Q29tbWVudDo0MzY1LS0tMg=="
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
message	String	New comment message
subjectId	Base64-encoded string	Identifier of the object to which the comment with be added with the pattern [Request:1] where 1 is the request identifier from the database

Remove a comment

The incoming webhook application lets users remove comments from requests.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "removeComment",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "id": "Q29tbWVudDo0MzY1LS0tMg=="
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": null
}

Properties

Property	Type	Description
clientMutationId	String	Client mutation identifier
id	Base64-encoded string	Comment identifier with the pattern [Comment:1---2] where 1 is the request identifier from the database and 2 is the comment identifier from the database

Parameter definitions

These parameters define single data values used in the Create a new request, Update a request dataset, Complete an action, and Complete a form action operations.

Operation values

Property	Type	Description
dateTimeValue	DateTime	Parameter datetime value
name	String	Parameter name
numericValue	Float	Parameter numeric value
textValue	String	Parameter text value
fileValue	Object	File values (see below)

File values

Property	Type	Description
content	Base64-encoded string	File content
contentType	String	File content type
description	String	File description
name	String	File name
size	Int	File size in bytes
updatedAt	DateTime	Identifies the date and time when the file was updated
upload	Upload	File upload
url	URI	File URL

File upload

As of version 7.2.0, the incoming webhook application supports the fileValue.updatedAt, fileValue.content, and fileValue.url fields when sending FILE parameters (as shown in the previous example).

The fileValue.updatedAt field should use the ISO 8601 date format.

File content

The fileValue.content field should contain the file content encoded in base64. In this case, the fileValue.url field is not required. You must set the maximum input file content size (see the Configuration section above for instructions on how to set these).

...
{
  "name": "FILE",
  "fileValue": {
      "name": "test.txt",
      "contentType": "plain/text",
      "size": 76,
      "updatedAt": "2017-03-15T15:02:00Z",                
      "content": "TG9yZW0gaXBzdW0gZG9sb3Igc2l0IGFtZXQsIGNvbnNlY3RldHVyIGFkaXBpc2NpbmcgZWxpdC4="
  }
}
...

File URL

The fileValue.url field contains the file URL. When working with FILE parameters, you must set the input file allowed folders and the maximum input file size (see the Configuration section above for instructions on how to set these).

The following path patterns are supported:

Local file should use the File URI scheme:

...
{
  "name": "FILE",
  "fileValue": {
      "name": "test.txt",
      "description": "test.txt",
      "contentType": "plain/text",
      "url": "file:///c:/temp/test.txt",
      "size": 4714,
      "updatedAt": "2017-03-15T15:02:00Z"
  }
}
...

Public file URL:

...
{
  "name": "FILE",
  "fileValue": {
      "name": "update.zip",
      "description": "update.zip",
      "contentType": "application/zip",
      "url": "http://download.workflowgen.com/product/latest/update.zip",
      "size": 4120858,
      "updatedAt": "2017-03-15T15:02:00Z"
  }
}   
...

Local host file URL:

...
{
  "name": "FILE",
  "fileValue": {
      "name": "test.txt",
      "description": "test.txt",
      "contentType": "plain/text",
      "url": "http://localhost:8081/test.txt",
      "size": 4714,
      "updatedAt": "2017-03-15T15:02:00Z"
  }
}
...

Delegation mode

Some of these operations can be done in delegation mode, by adding the onBehalfOfUserName (delegator username) or the onBehalfOf (delegator ID) arguments to the request JSON payload, such as in the following example:

Request payloads:

{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1,
      "onBehalfOfUserName": "wfgen_admin"
    }
  }
}

{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1,
      "onBehalfOf": "VXNlcjox"
    }
  }
}

In this case, the response payload will also contain the onBehalfOf and onBehalfOfUserName arguments.

{
  "clientMutationId": null,
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzI5",
  "number": 1729,
  "onBehalfOf": "VXNlcjox",
  "onBehalfOfUserName": "wfgen_admin"
}

In the case of CancelActionAssignment and UpdateRequestDataset operations, the delegation mode is not supported.

clientMutationId

clientMutationId is an optional argument that can be used by the requester to identify the execution of an operation. Its value is defined in the input payload (e.g. a UUID). If defined, the same value is returned by the operation.

Request payload:

{
  "operation": "createRequest",
  "args": {
    "input": {
      "processName": "2_LEVELS_APPROVAL",
      "processVersion": 1,
      "clientMutationId": "e9468d12-ca3e-4164-ba6c-2bb0843117d0"
    }
  }
}

Response payload:

{
  "clientMutationId": "e9468d12-ca3e-4164-ba6c-2bb0843117d0",
  "requestId": "UmVxdWVzdDoxNzY4",
  "number": 1768,
  "onBehalfOf": null,
  "onBehalfOfUserName": null
}

Known limitations

For file type data parameters, the URL must start with file://, and the path has to be available to the WorkflowGen server.

Performance optimization

The value of the nodeProcessCountPerApplication setting is set to 0 by default for the best performance in Node.js applications. This creates one node process based on the number of virtual processors that are configured. You can change this value at any time to a custom number of node processes; for example, nodeProcessCountPerApplication=2 will create two node processes independently of the number of virtual processors.

For more information, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/app-service-web-nodejs-best-practices-and-troubleshoot-guide#nodeprocesscountperapplication.