Many web services require the use of a path parameter to complete a request. For example, the Teamwork Add Time Entry endpoint requires a project id to be able to add time an invoice: base_url/invoices/{id}/lineitems.json. If we entered the project id path parameter directly in the url, the endpoint will only work for one project. SmartConnect can dynamically switch out this value with values from a data source using a rest variable.

Setting up the process

I’m going to assume you already have a web service setup and working. The next step is to add a Variable from the Rest Service Maintenance page.

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Next, we add the variable in place of the path parameter on the Service Action endpoint. Variables are enclosed in double square brackets.

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The last step is to set the variable to be mappable so it can be replaced with mapped values from our data source.

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Now, when setting up an integration process using this Service Action, you will have a mappable variable shown in red because the path parameter is a required value. This will replace the path parameter with any values you have in your source data.

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This is powerful if you need to dynamically change out a path parameter for a value coming from your source data. Next time we will take it a bit further and incorporate the use of global variables in service entities and actions.

If you have any more questions, please reach out to us at sales@eonesolutions.com