Different JSON structure in form

Q&A
1

Hi,

I’m new to bonita and JSON, I read a lot of posts on the forum but found no relevant infos on my problem.

I’m using a REST GET connector to fetch some infos from a webservice.
I have a process variable of HashMap type to witch I affect the result of the REST GET with “bodyAsObject”.

If I test the webservice (with postman chrome extension), the JSON looks like :

{
    "organizations": [
        {
            "url": "https://xxx.zendesk.com/api/v2/organizations/7712313309.json",
            "id": 7712313309,
            "name": "xxx",
            "shared_tickets": true,
            "shared_comments": false,
            "external_id": null,
            "created_at": "2017-01-28T09:40:25Z",
            "updated_at": "2017-02-20T09:14:34Z",
            "domain_names": [
                "xxx.ch"
            ],
            "details": "",
            "notes": "",
            "group_id": null,
            "tags": [],
            "organization_fields": {}
        }
    ],
    "next_page": null,
    "previous_page": null,
    "count": 1
}

But if I display the process variable value in a text widget (for debug proposes), I have the following JSON :

{
  "case_id": "57019",
  "name": "zendeskTicketList",
  "description": "",
  "type": "java.util.HashMap",
  "value": "{next_page=null, organizations=[{url=https://xxx.zendesk.com/api/v2/organizations/7712313309.json, id=7712313309, name=xxx, shared_tickets=true, shared_comments=false, external_id=null, created_at=2017-01-28T09:40:25Z, updated_at=2017-02-20T09:14:34Z, domain_names=[xxx.ch], details=, notes=, group_id=null, tags=[], organization_fields={}}], count=1, previous_page=null}"
}

The part I need is considered like a string.

Any ideas ?

Thanks in advance for your help

2

Here is a solution that is a slight adjustment to what you already tried:

  • Define a new Business Object that will be used to store useful information that you get from the REST API call.
  • Add a business variable to your process definition using the previously created new business object. Leave the default value empty.
  • Use the REST connector to perform the REST API call.
  • In the last page of the connector configuration wizard, use the provided variable bodyAsObjectto create a new instance of a Business Object (using a Groovy Script) and map the script execution result to your business variable.
  • In your form, add a variable (e.g. named “myFormVar”) of type “External API” and set the URL to call to: ../{{context.myVar_ref.link}} (replace myVar with the name of your business variable).
  • Bind the form variable to a widget to display the value: myFormVar.myAttributeName

The other option that I would recommend is to directly call the REST API from the form. Simply add a variable of type “External API” and set the URL value to the REST API URL. Limitation of this solution is that the REST API must allow cross domain call.

I create an example that illustrate both solution with a public web service: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i0m2go43mjhcnqh/DemoRESTAPIFormDiagram-1.0.bos?dl=0

3

Hello,

Thanks a lot for you answer.

I will test asap and will let you know.

See you