CAPA 4.3.02 Restful API

[IanRich]

Hi,

 

I just installed CAPA 4.3.02 in my Sandbox environment, and I was taking a look at the new built-in Restful API.

 

One of the things I noticed was that the Start a Process API accepts only an ID value to start the process

https://capa-automation.***.***:8443/api/rest/v1/processes/{ID}/start

 

Currently I have been using the SOAP API to start processes from my other applications.  The SOAP API uses the path of the process to start.  So I was able to use the /v1/processes to convert the path to the ID, and provide the ID to the /processes/{ID}/start to start the process.

 

However, the SOAP API also allows you to pass additional parameters as part of the call.  This is critical to me, as I usually am passing specific variables to the process when I trigger it.

 

I can't find anything in the documentation about passing additional parameters to the job as part of the /start API.

 

Just curious if anyone else has started playing with it.

 

chivi06

Thanks,

Ian

[Vanessa CHAPLAIS]

Hi,

 

I too would like to know if we shall need ID with Restful API in version 4.3 SP2 . We also need to pass arguments in StartRequest.

 

We haven't installed this version for the moment.

 

We have been using the previous REST API , and we  used to start process with

http:/...../node/rest/CA:00074_CA:00074:01/_ops/Start

 

and in request we send something like that

 

<StartRequest
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:type="p1:StartRequest"
xmlns:p1="http://ns.ca.com/2011/09/pam-ops" >
<EntityID>
<MdrElementID>'.$path.'</MdrElementID>
</EntityID>'
.$args
.'</StartRequest>'

 

 

If the path is the ID, we already use it, but if ID is another data than the path, where do we find ID of a task ?

Thanks,

Vanessa

[chivi06]

Hi Ian,

 

As part of the new REST implementation, we have migrated to ID's since they are unique (primary key) and also in alignment with REST standards. However, as mentioned you have other services to retrieve ID's for a specific resource.

The other use case you mentioned, i.e. passing additional parameters while starting a process seems to be a defect. Could you please raise a support ticket and my team could help you with the resolution at the earliest.

Thanks for your cooperation.

 

Regards

Vinay

[IanRich]

Thanks Vinay,

 

I have opened up support case: 00751520, Potential defect in the 4.3.2 RESTful API start function.

[rob.mccoy]

I'm looking at 4.3.02 as well. The documentation isn't very helpful - where does one find the ID of an unstarted process? And how does one pass parameters to a process from a REST call?

[IanRich]

Hi Rob,

 

1) To get the ID of a process you want to start, you need to request the OID from CAPA via the REST API

 

For example:

   https://SERVERPATH:PORT/api/rest/v1/processes

   Returns you a list of all the processes in your environment

 

To narrow it down a little, you can specify a path:

   https://SERVERPATH:PORT/api/rest/v1/processes?path=/Sandbox/Ian_Sandbox/IanSBX

   This would return you just a list of all the processes in that path

You could then take the OID from that query and use it in the REST request via:  /v1/processes/{ID}/start 

 

2) Passing parameters from a REST call currently isn't available, I opened a case for this, and they replied that they have created a fix for this, and will be released as Hot Fix 1 for 4.3 SP2.

 

Hope this helps,

Ian

[rob.mccoy]

Oh man. I'm going to need that fix.

[chivi06]

Hi Rob, Ian,

 

We have planned for a HF on PAM 4.3.2 which is expected to be released end of this month. You can coordinate with our support team for more details around this.

 

Thanks

Vinay

[chivi06]

Hi Rob, Ian,

 

Our team has fixed the above use case and a Hot fix is currently available for PAM 4.3.2. Please talk to our L1 support team and they could provide you the required media.

 

Thanks

Vinay

[Michael Niebuhr]

This has now been fixed in a publically available cumulative patch pack for 4.3 sp2.

 

WIN-CA PAM 4.3 SP02 CP01

Fix #RO98201

 

This fix can be downloaded from the support.ca.com Solutions download page.

 

 

[Vanessa CHAPLAIS]

Hi,

I have another question.

Can we start a process in "suspended mode" with OpenApi ? I don't find how to do this.

[IanRich]

Hi,

 

Do you mind if I ask what exactly you are trying to accomplish by starting the job in "suspended mode" ?

[Vanessa CHAPLAIS]

Hi,

 

I mean to start it "suspended" like we can do by right clicking on process in library tab and click on "start suspended".

 

The goal is to be able to start the process with OpenAPi (with parameters) and to let someone put a break point somewhere in the process before starting the  execution.

(We don't want to have a break point each time)

 

Maybe we can do otherwise ?

[IanRich]

Hi,

 

Ok, I understand what you would like (and I understand you may have your reasons for wanting to do that).

 

I thought it was an interesting thought experiment, so I came up with a simple way for you to do it.

 

Create a Boolean process variable called something like Process.StartSuspended, whose default value is False.

 

The first operator in your process can be an evaluate expression which checks to see if the value is true, if it isn't (by default) the process would execute normally.  But if you have passed a value of Process.StartSuspended = True via the REST API to start the job, it would trigger a PUT REST API command to CAPA to suspend the job.

 

So basically your PUT operator pre-execution code would be something like:

Process[OpName].TestURL = "https://servername:port/api/rest/v1/processinstances/" + Process.RuntimeROID + "/suspend";

 

This would pass the current job's ROID to the API and tell it to suspend (itself), I then added a small delay of 30 seconds just in case the API command takes a few seconds to kick in.

 

From my tests, this seemed to work pretty quickly, and the jobs were suspended.

 

Hope this helps!

Ian

[Vanessa CHAPLAIS]

Thanks Ian, I'm going to do like that.