Support for text/XML and SOAP Protocol

The API Client now supports the text/xml content type, allowing for seamless integration of XML-based data into API requests and responses. This enhancement enables users to effectively interact with APIs that require XML-formatted data or supply XML responses.

To use the text/xml content type in the Astera Client, you can now send and retrieve data in XML format. This content type allows you to exchange data using XML-based representations.

XML, being a widely adopted format for hierarchical data structuring, supplies a standardized approach for representing and exchanging information between various systems. With the text-xml content type in the API Client, users can make SOAP API requests in integration flows.

Use Case

To start, let’s make an API request using text/xml content type in the API Client, which allows you to send and retrieve data in XML format.

1. To start, drag-and-drop the API Connection and API Client objects onto the Dataflow.

1. Configure the API Connection with the Base URL and Authentication.

We are calling a SAP Success Factor API as an example.

1. Next, open the properties of the API Client object and select the configured shared connection from the drop-down.

1. Choose the POST method and define the resource to be appended after the base URL.

1. To define an xml input and output, select the input and output content types as text/xml.

1. Proceed to the next screen to define any parameters.

Note: Since SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) request usually does not have any parameters, we would skip this screen.

1. Click Next to navigate to the Input Layout screen.

On the Input Layout screen click on Generate Layout by Providing Sample Text and supply the raw xml content to be sent in the request.

Click Generate to automatically create the layout for the request, allowing you to supply any default values or supply mappings from the preceding flow.

1. Click Next and you will be led to the Output Layout screen.

Here, there are two options to create a layout, by supplying sample text or running a request to generate the layout.

1. Right-click on the API Client object and select Preview Output.

In the Data Preview window, we can see the following result:

This concludes seamlessly integrating XML SOAP API requests and responses, enabling smooth data exchange and integration with APIs.