Integrating an Internal Web Service [WSDL]

Overview

Webservice references represent web services that can be integrated into a flow in a number of ways. To add a web service within the portal, navigate to the folder System > Integrations > External Services, select Add WebService Reference button, and supply the necessary details. Navigate to this document to learn about how to view the WSDL description for a service.

To call a web service method as part of a flow, in the Flow Designer, locate the appropriate component under Integration > External WebServices > [WebService Reference Name], and place it in a flow in the workspace.

Example

This example will engage one of the platform's built-in web services (Account Services) as though it were an external web service.

Begin by defining Account Services as an external web service. In the portal, navigate to the folder System > Integration > External Services and select Add WebService Reference.

In the resulting Add ExternalWebServicesReference dialog, define the settings for our web service reference, beginning with the Name - "AccountServiceWSDL"

Next, define the URL for the web service, this is the link found in the WSDL Description.
Because the Account Service web service is defined by WSDL, select the checkbox for Specify WSDL. WSDL-defined web services are able to describe the methods that users can use. See the benefit of this ability while designing a flow.

For now, note that selecting Specify WSDL raises two new fields - WSDL > SourceType and WSDL > From URL - which are automatically defaulted to industry-standard values. Other web service configurations may differ, so be sure to consult the appropriate API references before adding new references.

This completes the external web service reference configuration. Select Save Service Reference to save the changes.

The reference Account Service is now ready for integration with a flow.

Begin building a flow in a Designer Folder. Create a new flow named External Web Services Flow and open it for editing. This opens the example flow in the Flow Designer.

In the Steps panel, expand the category Integration > External WebServices > Account Services. Using the reference created earlier, the platform has contacted the Account Services web service and retrieved a list of available methods. Each method is represented as a step which can be used in a flow.