VCF Automation Orchestrator allows you to define endpoints for API integration in the inventory as RestHosts using the HTTP-REST plugin. Once a RestHost is defined, it is then possible to authenticate and perform HTTP web requests on the endpoint (GET, POST, etc).

HttpRestClient is designed to enhance this experience by doing all the heavy lifting when performing these requests, such as handling of different content types, error handling and retry logic.

Here are some of the benefits and features of using the HttpRestClient:

• Provides support for the following HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD;
• Retries a failed connection (default to 5 attempts) with a delay specified in seconds (defaults to 10 seconds);
• Option to specify the expected response codes (defaults are set per method);
• Option to retry on 500 status code (default enabled);
• Automatic handling of “application/x-www-form-urlencoded” content;
• Option to set Accept Type header (defaults to application/json);
• Option to set Content Type header (defaults to Accept Type);
• Automatic URI and URI Component encoding (detects if existing encoding is present);
• Obfuscates secrets in content from log output that match password/secret/refreshToken;

The HttpRestClient serves as the backbone for API integration between VCF Automation Orchestrator and the API endpoint.

You can download my HttpRestClient module as a package here or as native JS here.

Using the HttpRestClient

Using the HttpRestClient in an Action or Workflow simply requires the following to import the module:

As a variable:

var rest = new (System.getModule("com.simplygeek.rest").HttpRestClient())(restHost);

As an object property:

this.rest = new (System.getModule("com.simplygeek.rest").HttpRestClient())(restHost);

Parameters:

A new instance of the HttpRestClient class will be created and exposed by the variable ‘rest‘ that can be used to perform the required API calls. Note that ‘rest‘ can be changed to any value you require.

Supported Methods

To use HttpRestClient to perform an API call, use one of the following methods:

GET

rest.get(uri, acceptType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

POST

rest.post(uri, acceptType, content, contentType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

PUT

rest.put(uri, acceptType, content, contentType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

PATCH

rest.patch(uri, acceptType, content, contentType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

DELETE

rest.delete(uri, acceptType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

HEAD

rest.head(uri, acceptType, expectedResponseCodes, headers) → {*}

Parameters:

Returns the request response object.

Responses

Each method will return the RESTResponse object. I felt it would be easier to leave it to the developer to decide how to handle the response. This way, you can decide if you want the content in string format, retrieve headers, or both. Look at my examples to see how responses are handled.

Examples

The following are some examples of using the HttpRestClient.

GET Example

var rest = new (System.getModule("com.simplygeek.rest").HttpRestClient())(restHost);
var mediaType = "application/json";
var uri = "/api/v2/tokens/";
var expectedResponseCodes = [200];

var response = rest.get(
    uri,
    mediaType,
    expectedResponseCodes
);
var responseContent = JSON.parse(response.contentAsString);

POST Example

var rest = new (System.getModule("com.simplygeek.rest").HttpRestClient())(restHost);
var mediaType = "application/json";
var uri = "/api/v2/tokens/";
var expectedResponseCodes = [201];
var content = {
    application: applicationId,
    scope: scope
};

var response = rest.post(
    uri,
    mediaType,
    content,
    mediaType,
    expectedResponseCodes
);
var responseContent = JSON.parse(response.contentAsString);

DELETE Example

var rest = new (System.getModule("com.simplygeek.rest").HttpRestClient())(restHost);
var mediaType = "application/json";
var sessionId = "abcde";
var uri = "/api/v2/tokens/" + sessionId + "/";
var expectedResponseCodes = [204];

rest.delete(
    uri,
    mediaType,
    expectedResponseCodes
);

Thanks for reading, and please let me know if you have any suggestions for improving this service.