Getting data from a public REST service

In this tutorial, we try to call a public REST service from a task in Bonita. The public service is available on https://www.boredapi.com/api/activity. This service returns a response in JSON format. We will create a business process (using Bonita) with a simple task. On this task, we create a connector that calls this service and parse the returned response.

1. Using Bonita Studio, create a workflow as following.
   
   
   
2. Set the details of the activities as following.
   
   

   Name	Type
   Find something to do	Service
   Get full response	Human
   Get details	Human

3. Select the Pool. In Data tab, declare the following global process variables.
   
   

   Name	Data type
   response	Text
   activity	Text
   type	Text
   participants	Integer
   price	Double
   link	Text

1. At the Find something to do activity, select Execution→Connectors in.
2. REST connector should already exist in your Bonita studio if you have already do the previous tutorial. If not, click on Access the bonita marketplace to install it.
3. Once the installation is complete, click on Add. Select REST from the left panel and GET from the right panel, then Next.
   
   
   
4. Name the connector as RestService_Connector, then Next.
   
   
   
5. Set the GET URL to https://www.boredapi.com/api/activity, then Next.
   
   
   
6. Keep clicking Next until reaching the Output Operations step shown below.
   
   
   
7. Select the variable response from the first list to store the service response. Click on the pencil icon to edit the second list parameter.
8. Set the script name to getResponse then add the following java code to the script editor.
   
   

   bodyAsObject.toString()

9. Click OK.
   
   
   
10. Select the variable activity from the first list. Click on the pencil icon to edit the second list parameter. Set the script name to getActivity and add bodyAsObject.activity to the script editor as following.
    
    
    
11. By the same way, add the following parameters.
    
    

    First List	Script name	Java code to add in the script editor
    type	getType	bodyAsObject.type
    link	getLink	bodyAsObject.link
    price	getPrice	bodyAsObject.price
    participants	getParticipants	bodyAsObject.participants

1. Click on Finish.
   
   
   

1. At the Get full response activity, we will design a simple form to visualize the service response. To do this, click on the activity, then Execution → Form. In Target Form, create a new Form called FullResponseForm.
2. In the form page, drag and drop a Text area. Set its Label to Response as following.
   
   
   
3. In the FullResponseForm page, click on create a new variable and fill the parameters as follows, then Save.
   
   
   
4. Set the value of the Response text area to response.value.
   
   
   
5. Save then close the form.
6. At the Get details activity, we will design a simple form to visualize the service response in detail. Click on the activity, then Execution → Form. In Target Form, create a new Form called DetailsForm.
7. In the form page, drag and drop 5 Text area labelled : Activity, Type, Participants, Price and Link.
   
   
   
8. Select the Activity text area. Set its Value to activity.value.
   
   
   
9. Select the Activity text area then create new variable. Fill in the parameters as follows, then Save.
   
   
   
10. By the same way, change the Value and create new variable for each of the 4 other text areas. Follow the table below to set variable parameters.
    
    

    Text Area	Value	variable Name	variable Type	variable API URL
    Type	type.value	type	External API	../API/bpm/caseVariable/{{task.caseId}}/type
    Participants	participant.value	participants	External API	../API/bpm/caseVariable/{{task.caseId}}/participants
    Price	price.value	price	External API	../API/bpm/caseVariable/{{task.caseId}}/price
    Link	link.value	link	External API	../API/bpm/caseVariable/{{task.caseId}}/link

1. Save the form, then close it.

1. Save the process, then Run.
2. Start the Pool.
3. Refresh the Task List. Now, you can see the service response in JSON format in the Response text area.
4. Take the Get full response from your Task list, then submit.
   
   
   
5. Now, you can see the service response in details.
   
   
   
6. The service invited me to “Organize my pantry”, a “busy work” with only “one participant”. What about you! Which activity did it propose to you?