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Flow Service components

The Flow Service component provides a means by which a Boomi Flow service interacts with processes. The Flow Service component is independently deployable, enabling a single component to support all requests specifying a common endpoint.

Much of the back-end work you would otherwise have to program is automated, including:

  • Building and managing the connection

  • Converting common input fields into process properties (token, tenantId, stateId, callbackUri, culture, configurationValues, authorization, and so on)

  • Implementing callback logic

  • Limiting the byte size of web service requests and rejecting requests after the limit is reached

  • Managing timeouts so that when a process doesn’t return a response, the listener returns a wait response to

  • Creating a process execution ID for troubleshooting

note

If you create a process while adding configuration values, message actions, file resources, or data actions, it is named as follows: External Name plus “ - New Get Process.” Consider changing that name to one that is more descriptive.

Creating a Flow Service component

  1. On the Build page, click the plus icon in the sidebar to create a new component and select Flow Service.

  2. Create a name for the component.

  3. (Optional) If you want the component to be created in a specific folder, click Folder and select the desired folder.

  4. Configure the following tabs:

    General tab

    In the General tab, you can configure the followig settings:

    • External Name - Enter a unique name for the service.

    • Path to Service - The path for this flow service. Combine this path with the host name of the runtime to which it is deployed to determine the service URL. Clicking Copy copies the path to the system clipboard.

      To configure the flow service URL in Flow, paste the path into the URL field for the service and insert the host name of the runtime to which the Flow Service component will be deployed.

      For example, the URL for a flow service deployed to the USA East Integration Cloud is https://c01-usa-east-integrate.boomi.com<Path_to_Service>, which would equate to https://c01-usa-east-integrate.boomi.com/fs/SampleService for an External Name of SampleService.

    • Configuration Values - Configuration values identify account-specific information that is sent with each service request. Each configuration value sent from a flow with a service request becomes a dynamic process property in the Flow Services Server listener process that provides back-end processing for the requested action. These dynamic process properties are named inflowconfigurationvalues_<configuration_value_name> — for example, inflowconfigurationvalues_vendorId.

      To add a configuration value, click Add Configuration Value and configure the following:

    • Name - Unique name for the value.

    • Type - Data type of the value — Boolean, Datetime, Number, Password, or String. String is the default.

    • Required by Flow - If selected, this value is required in flows from which service requests originate. By default the value is not required.

    You can modify or delete configuration values after you add them.

    Message Actions tab

    Each message action defined for a service must be linked to a Flow Services Server listener process that provides back-end processing for that action.

    To add a message action, click Add Message Action and configure the following:

    • Name - Unique name for the action.

    • Description - Description of the action (optional).

    • Process - Selects or creates the process to which to link the action.

    You can modify or delete actions after you add them.

    File Resources tab

    A file resource must be defined for each file provider used with a service. Each file resource must be linked to two Flow Services Server listener processes, one for handling List Files requests and the other for handling Upload File requests.

    To add a file resource, click Add File Resource and configure the following:

    • Path - Unique path for the file resource.

    • List Files Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle List Files requests for the file resource.

    • Upload File Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle Upload File requests for the file resource.

    You can modify or delete file resources after you add them.

    Data Actions tab

    Data action object types must be defined for handling data action service requests. Each data action object type must be linked to a profile that specifies the object structure and to a Flow Services Server listener process for handling each type of request specifying an object of that type — Get, Query, Save, Delete — for which handling is required.

    To add a data action object type, click the Add Data Action Object Type and configure the following:

    • Object Type - Unique name for the object type.

    • Object Type Profile - Selects or creates a profile representing the object structure. The profile is stored as a flow Type.

    • Description - Description of the object type (optional).

    • Get Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle Get requests specifying an object of this type.

      In that process, the Flow Services Server connector sets the dynamic process property param_id to the value of the id field specified in the request. The param_id value is passed as a parameter to the outbound connector action on the data source. Once the connector action is completed and the specified object is received, a Return Documents step is used to pass the object to the flow.

    • Query Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle Query requests specifying an object of this type.

      The requesting flow optionally passes a query filter to that process in a JSON document. In the flow the filter is represented as a filtered List of the flow Type in which the Object Type Profile is stored.

      • If a filter is not present in the request, the outbound connector action retrieves all objects from the data source.

      • If a filter is present in the request, the Flow Services Server connector action in the Start step transforms the JSON document to an XML query filter. Subsequent processing may be necessary to transform that query filter into the filter format used in the outbound connector action on the data source.

      In either case, once the outbound connector action on the data source is completed and the query results are received, a Return Documents step is used to pass the data to the flow.

    • Save Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle Save requests specifying an object of this type.

      The requesting flow passes the object to be saved in a JSON document of the flow Type in which the Object Type Profile is stored. A map is typically used to transform the object to prepare it for the connector action on the data source.

    • Delete Process - Selects or creates the listener process to handle Delete requests specifying an object of this type.

      The requesting flow passes the object to be deleted in a JSON document of the flow Type in which the Object Type Profile is stored. A map is typically used to transform the object to prepare it for the connector action on the data source.

    You can modify or delete data action object types after you add them.

  5. Click Save to save the component.

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