How can I use Workflow to send an HTTP request?

[abidoss]

Hello, please, has anyone been able to send a PDF file via the workflow? I'm unable to send my file to the external API, and there are no errors in the log file. However, I can send it using JavaScript.

[yuri]

Hi, In newer versions of Advanced Pack, there is a field "Payload from variable". You can assign the whole PDF file content to a variable (in an Execute Formula Script action before) and send it via workflow.

You can also compose any payload using formula.

[abidoss]

thank you for your response. However, I would prefer if there is already an example. I already have the Advanced pack. My idea is to send the PDF file to the API, receive a result, and then store it in a text field.

[Kharg]

How would you assign the whole pdf content?

just by using the field name? like

 $pdf = file;

or is it something like

$pdf = fileContent;

?

I am not able to find a way to do it

[yuri]

There's no way to read file contents from the attachment entity at the moment. One would need to create a simple formula function for this. I planned to add such a function.

[Kharg]

Would be really useful for situations like this

[jacao]

Hi everyone,

I'm really interested in this thread because I need to implement an integration with an external system that requires, among other things, sending files from Espo via an HTTP REQUEST. The external API expects the file content in JSON format, encoded in Base64. The encoding function is available through a free plugin (https://devcrm.it/product/custom-formulas-for-espocrm/), but I can't figure out how to pass the file content (from the Attachment entity) into a variable within a Workflow.

I found a similar thread on the forum (https://forum.espocrm.com/forum/deve...ttachments-api), but it uses the external ext\file\contents() function, which isn’t available in my environment, and I can't find any information about it.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.

[Kharg]

Doesn’t seem that the formula exists.

I created an entrypoint to do this, but I can convert it into a formula and release an extension maybe.

[rabii]

Hey jacao

You can create a custom formula function to get the file content and send it over through. Here is the code for a function formula i have used in the past.

1 - Create the php class under Espo\Custom\Core\Functions\ExtGroup\FileGroup\Cont entsType.php

<?php

namespace Espo\Custom\Core\Formula\Functions\ExtGroup\FileGroup;

use Espo\Entities\Attachment;
use Espo\Core\Formula\ArgumentList;
use Espo\Core\Formula\Exceptions\Error;
use Espo\Core\Formula\Functions\BaseFunction;
use Espo\Tools\Attachment\Service;
use Espo\Core\Di;

use Exception;

class ContentsType extends BaseFunction implements
    Di\EntityManagerAware,
    Di\InjectableFactoryAware
{
    use Di\EntityManagerSetter;
    use Di\InjectableFactorySetter;

    public function process(ArgumentList $args)
    {
        if (count($args) < 3) {
            $this->throwTooFewArguments(3);
        }

        $args = $this->evaluate($args);

        $entityType = $args[0];
        $id = $args[1];
        $fileId = $args[2];

        if (!$entityType || !is_string($entityType)) {
            $this->throwBadArgumentType(1, 'string');
        }

        if (!$id || !is_string($id)) {
            $this->throwBadArgumentType(2, 'string');
        }

        if ($fileId && !is_string($fileId)) {
            $this->throwBadArgumentType(3, 'string');
        }

        $em = $this->entityManager;

        try {
            $entity = $em->getEntity($entityType, $id);
        }
        catch (Exception $e) {
            $this->log("Message: " . $e->getMessage() . ".");

            throw new Error();
        }

        if (!$entity) {
            $this->log("Record {$entityType} {$id} does not exist.");

            throw new Error();
        }


        try {

            /** @var Attachment $attachment */
            $attachment = $em->getEntity(Attachment::ENTITY_TYPE, $fileId);
        }
        catch (Exception $e) {
            $this->log("Message: " . $e->getMessage() . ".");

            throw new Error();
        }

        if (!$attachment) {
            $this->log("Record Attachment {$id} does not exist.");

            throw new Error();
        }

        $service = $this->injectableFactory->create(Service::class);

        try {

            $fileData = $service->getFileData($attachment->getId());
        }
        catch (Exception $e) {
            $message = $e->getMessage();
            $this->log("Error while getting. Content: {$message}." , 'error');

            return false;
        }

        return (object) [
            'content' => base64_encode($fileData->getStream()),
            'name' => $attachment->getName(),
            'type' => $attachment->getType(),
        ];
    }
}​

2 - Then create the mapping class for the formula function under Espo\Custom\Resources\metadata\app\formula.json

{
    "functionList": [
        "__APPEND__",
        {
            "name": "ext\\file\\contents",
            "insertText": "ext\\file\\contents(ENTITY_TYPE, ENTITY_ID, FILEID)",
            "returnType": "object"
        }
    ],
    "functionClassNameMap": {
        "ext\\file\\contents": "Espo\\Custom\\Core\\Formula\\Functions\\ExtGroup\\FileGroup\\ContentsType"
    }
}​  ​ 

and this how you can use it see attached screen shot.

I hope this helps

[Kharg]

Since you already did all the job, do you mind if I package this into an extension? I would also include my entrypoint probably.

[rabii]

Of course feel free to do it