Inbound Webhooks

Overview

This page outlines how to create and manage your Inbound Webhooks.

Calling a Webhook

The webhook URL is open, there are no authentication headers or cookies required.

Simply execute a POST request with the correct body.

Full technical details:

Response

The DataStation may respond with the following status codes:

Creating an Inbound Webhook

To create an inbound webhook, navigate to the Inbound Transfers tab, and select Add Inbound Transfer.

1. Add General Information

Fill out the general information for the webhook. Specifically, just give the webhook a friendly name.

2. JSON Schema

Next, you'll need to paste in a JSON Schema document. This is not a "sample" of the data, this is a JSON object that must contain specific fields which represent your object.

A SQL analogy which applies here: A JSON Object document is like DML (an INSERT statement), whereas a JSON Schema document is like DDL (a CREATE TABLE statement).

Schema Validation

Every time the webhook endpoint is called, the incoming payload is validated against this schema.

If the schema does not match (e.g. a field marked as required is omitted, or a data type is incorrect), the caller will receive a 400 Bad Request response, and the body will contain the reason for the error.

Sample

Below is a sample JSON Schema document. You can modify this one to suit your needs.

There are also a number of online utilities that will generate JSON Schema documents from sample objects which you can find by searching for JSON Schema Generator online.

{
    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
        "firstName": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "lastName": {
            "type": "string"
        },
        "date": {
            "type": "string",
            "format": "date"
        },
        "dateTime": {
            "type": "string",
            "format": "date-time"
        },
        "count": {
            "type": "integer"
        },
        "amount": {
            "type": "number"
        }
    },
    "required": [
        "firstName",
        "lastName",
        "date",
        "dateTime"
    ]
}

Once you have pasted in your JSON Schema document, press Next Step.

Troubleshooting Tip

If you receive an error on this page, you will need to check to make sure your JSON Schema document is valid using a JSON Schema parser tool.

No Nested Objects

At this time, the DataStation does not support nested arrays or objects. (All top-level properties must be primitive types such as string, integer, number, boolean, etc.)

The third party wishing to call a DataStation webhook must be able to send a flat list of properties without any nested objects or arrays.

3. Perform an Action

Once you have validated your JSON Schema document, you will see a dropdown with a list of actions. Select the action you'd like to perform when the webhook is called.

Action Ideas

Got an idea for a webhook action? Please e-mail our support team with your suggestion – we'd love to hear about it!

Insert Activity Records OR Multi-instance Standalone Panel Records (EMS only)

This action type will allow you to insert an activity record into iMIS OR if you are on EMS you can insert either Activity or Panel records.

Field Mapping

You will see a list of Activity or Panel fields on the left, as well as the list of properties which were part of your JSON Schema document from the previous step.

To complete the field mapping, you may enter the following items into the Value field:

• Static text

• A JSON property

• A combination of static text and JSON properties

To enter a static value, simply type into the Value field. To insert a JSON property, click on the blue variable identifier to have it inserted automatically, or manually type $$propertyName$$.

You may combine static text and property names. For example:

• In the example above the Activity Type has been statically set to "TEST", so that the third party does not need to send it each time.

• The Category has been prefixed with "DATE:", followed by the date passed in from the webhook body.

  • Example: DATE:2021-05-26

• The Note has been templated so that it will insert as: "First name: _____, Last name: _____", with the appropriate values being inserted dynamically.

  • Example: First name: Homer, Last name: Simpson

• The TransactionDate has been set to the date/time from the webhook body.

Activity Required Fields

Activity insertions require the following fields at a minimum:

• Activity Type

• ID

• TransactionDate (If not passed in, will default to the current date/time.)

Panel Required Fields

None

If the activity/panel insertion fails for any reason, the webhook caller will receive a 500 Internal Server Error response.

4. Save the Webhook

Once finished, press Save to save the webhook definition.

You'll be returned to the webhook listing screen, and the DataStation will generate your webhook URL/endpoint in the listing table.

You can press the clipboard icon to copy the webhook URL.

Editing an Inbound Webhook

To edit an inbound webhook, press the edit pencil icon on a webhook record.

Once on the Edit screen, you can navigate to the different sections by clicking on each of the section headers. You can also press Next Step to simply advance through the wizard.

Deleting an Inbound Webhook

On the webhook list view, press the delete icon.