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Getting Started

The Adobe Campaign Classic workflows module is a powerful tool that allows a user to orchestrate a full range of processes and tasks across all the other modules of the product. It is a comprehensive graphical environment that a user can design processes including segmentation, campaign execution, file processing, human participation, etc. 
 
Javascript can be performed in these workflow actions. As a partner, you can utilize the Javascript activity to use code to work within the workflow. One of these use cases is to utilize an external API. This article will highlight how this can be done.
 

Requirements

In order to work with the the Campaign Classic workflows with APIs, you will need:
  1. Access to an instance of Adobe Campaign Classic
  2. A Campaign Classic user that has been given API access rights
  3. Proficiency in the SOAP protocol
  4. Proficiency in Javascript
  5. An instance of Adobe Campaign Classic that has been whitelisted on the server and the firewall to interact with the external API
  6. Understanding of the Adobe Campaign Classic workflows module
  7. Understanding of the Adobe Campaign Classic workflow Javascript activity
  8. Knowledge of the Adobe Campaign Classic Javascript API documentation
  9. Access to an external API
 

Posting to an External API

In this article this example below will show how to post to an external API.

Full_Workflow.png

Most workflows will not be this simple, just as you can see here, we are utilizing a Javascript activity which then end continues to an end activity which completes the workflow.

All the code for the activity exists in the Javascript activity which is displayed below:

Code_Screenshot_2.png

The code is making an http request call using basic authentication, using a post method. After executing that post it runs through that response to determine if it was a successful or a failure, it then posts the results to the log.
 

Request

To make a request, the HttpClientRequest class is used. It follows HTTP client protocols. This is where the URL is placed for the external API.

Header

The API code in the HTTPClientRequest Header object is what is needed to make the calls authorization, set the content type, and do anything else for the parameters of the header.

Method

In order to execute the method needed in the HTTP protocol, the HTTPClientRequest Method object is required. In this example a POST is used, however GET, PUT, etc can be utilized as well.

Body

The body of the request is the critical piece in the example to actually sending the necessary data to the external API. This can be studied more throughly at the HTTPClientRequest Body object documentation.

Execute

The HTTPClientRequest class will not run without the execute object being called. This packages up everything that has been placed in the header, method, body, and any of the other methods, and runs it. A response object is returned to this call.

 

Printing to the log

The only way to see responses and items from the Javascript code is to print the output as the code runs into the workflow log system. An example of how this can be done is here.

Journal_Log.png

In the example above, the response of the tested HTTP request is printed to the log using the logInfo method.

To see the logInfo print outs, in a Campaign workflow, run the workflow, right click on your Javascript activity, click on Display logs. You now will be able to see all the responses to logInfo. To see an entire message, from this point, right click on the log screen, select Export ..., follow the wizard to select the fields wanted for the export, select a location for the file to drop, and then click Finish.

Best Practices

There are several best practices to keep in mind when working with the workflows module and the SOAP APIs.

  1. Not all customers will have access to the Campaign Classic SOAP API. The API is a separate feature offering that has an additional cost associated with it. If a customer would like to get access to this feature and understanding pricing they will need to work with their Adobe sales representative.
  2. The SOAP APIs only allow so many calls per day based on the customer's profile tier (this is explained in the product description as "Engine Calls"). Because of this limitation, your integration should utilize the SOAP API efficiently.
  3. Bulk actions should not be used with the SOAP API. If you are trying to work with a lot of data, it would be better to use the many bulk tools of the product.
  4. Campaign Classic is a server-client product that may be hosted by the customer themselves, by a partner service, or by Adobe Managed Services. In most cases an external API will need to be whitelisted to the Campaign server as well as whitelisted to that servers firewall. Please work with the customer's Campaign Classic host to configure this appropriately.

Resources

 
 

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