Axway Flow SDK

The Axway Flow SDK (axway-flow-sdk) is a standalone utility that enables the creation of custom flow-nodes for API Builder flows. By offering the Axway Flow SDK as a standalone utility, new flow-nodes can be developed and consumed in API Builder without upgrading the version.

Features

The Axway Flow SDK has the following content:

• CLI tool for starting a new flow-node project
• SDK for building custom modules for API Builder flows

Install

The following command installs the Axway Flow SDK.

Use the Axway Flow SDK

The following generates a new flow-node starter project in the current directory. You can customize the starter project to meet your requirements.

The generated starter project name is prefixed with the required nodehandler- prefix.

The starter project is heavily commented to simplify the process of customizing it. It also comes with the eslint configuration and the mocha unit tests incorporated to help you ensure the quality of your custom flow-node.

Sample encodeURI flow-node

As an example of how to write a flow-node, we will examine creating a flow-node that URI encodes a string.

Create the project

Customize the flow-node definition in the index.js file

To explain what occurs in the index.js file, we will break the file down piece by piece.

1. Describe the flow-node, name, description, category, and icon:

   The name is the text that is displayed in the Flow Editor. The default icon is a placeholder (a star) that should be replaced with a graphic that represents the action of the flow-node. The icon is displayed at 28 pixels x 28 pixels. The category is the section in the Flow Editor tool panel where the flow-node is contained.

   

2. Add a method to the flow-node and describe its parameters:

   A method called encode, that is displayed in the Flow Editor as Encode URI, was added. The encode method has a single parameter. If there was more than one parameter, we would repeat the .parameter(name, schema) block. The second value in the parameter method is a JSON Schema that describes the parameter type.

   

3. Describe the possible outputs from the method:

   The outputs section defines the possible outcomes of the flow-node. In this simple case there is just one output; however, flow-nodes can have multiple outputs with different return types. For example, this flow-node could have added an error output to indicate that encoding failed.

4. Define the implementation:

   The action() expects a function that will be passed the request details parameter and a callback object parameter.

Customize the flow-node method implementation

To simplify management of the code, the starter project puts the implementation of the methods in the action.js file. There is not a requirement to follow this pattern, you can structure your project how best suits your needs.

This is a simple scenario, but it highlights the main features. The parameters for the flow-node method are accessed under the req.params parameter. In this example, the parameter for the encode method is defined as uri:

The logic checks that the parameter is set. If uri is not set, it fires a generic error callback.

These errors are not handled and will abort the flow execution. In general, avoid doing this for any expected error scenarios. If there are known error situations, it is better to define an output for those scenarios and allow the flow designer the flexibility to specify what to do when an error occurs.

If uri is set, the fallback for the next output is fired. The name of this callback will match the name of the output defined in the method. For example, if you defined an output encoderError, then there would be a callback cb.encoderError(). The encoded string is passed to the callback as the methods output value.

Unit test your flow-node

The starter project includes automatically generated unit tests in the ./test directory of your project. The tests are for example purposes and will need to be customized to your specific use case. The SDK provides a mocknode that allows for mock invocations of your flow-node methods.

Use mocknode to test error callback existence - valid argument

This example uses mocha to check that the specification is defined well enough to pass the uri argument to the method. It also mocks the callback using the defined output of the specification and ensures that the method invokes the correct callback.

Using mocknode to test error callback existence - invalid argument

This example is similar to the previous example, except that the method will invoke a cb('invalid argument') when given an undefined parameter.

Testing that validity of the flow-node specification

The Axway Flow SDK tries to prevent the creation of invalid flow-node specifications, but there are some edge cases where it may be possible to generate a flow-node specification that is invalid at runtime. To detect this, the generated specification should be validated as part of your unit tests.

Local API Builder test

While unit testing is important, it is also necessary to be able to install the custom flow-node into your local API Builder application for testing. This can be achieved by packing the module locally:

This will create a tgz archive (nodehandler-encodeuri-1.0.0.tgz) that can then be installed into your Arrow application.

Type references

In Axway API Builder, it is possible to reference other types. For example, types can be loaded from ./schemas, registered from models, or registered from service connectors. Any registered schema can be referenced whenever a schema is required.

API Reference

axway-flow-sdk~NodeBuilder

Kind: Inner class of axway-flow-sdk

• NodeBuilder
  • .add(key, [options])
  • .method(key, [options])
  • .parameter(name, schema, [required])
  • .output(key)
  • .action(handler)

nodeBuilder.add(key, [options])

Adds a new flow-node specification and prepares the NodeBuilder to accept the following specification operations:

• .method(key, [options])
• .output(key, [options])

The key parameter is used to uniquely identify the specification and represents a distinct instance of a flow-node for the flow editor. The key will be used as the name unless the name option is provided. The new flow-node will appear in the general category by default, or under the provided category option.

The icon option can be a bmp, jpeg, png, gif, tiff, or svg file. The .method option is used to add method(s), and the .output option is used to define an output. The .action option is used to define an action function and finish the specification.

Kind: Instance method of NodeBuilder

Returns: Current NodeBuilder object

Access: Public

Example:

nodeBuilder.method(key, [options])

Adds a new method to the current flow-node specification and prepares the NodeBuilder to accept the following method operations:

• .parameter(name, schema, [required])
• .action(handler)

The .add(key, [options]) must be called prior to adding a method.

The key uniquely identifies the method for the flow-node and will be used as the name unless the name option is provided.

Kind: Instance method of NodeBuilder

Returns: Current NodeBuilder object

Access: Public

Example:

nodeBuilder.parameter(name, schema, [required])

Adds a new parameter to the current method. Any number of parameters can be added to a method.

The .method(key, [options]) must be called prior to adding a parameter.

The name uniquely identifies the parameter, and the schema is a valid JSON Schema definition (both draft-04 and draft-06 are supported).

Kind: Instance method of NodeBuilder

Returns: Current NodeBuilder object

Access: Public

Example:

nodeBuilder.output(key)

Adds a new output to the current method. Any number of outputs can be added to a method, but for usability-sake, you should limit this.  The output represents one of the possible callback routes for your method. For example, if your method tested prime numbers, then one output might be prime, and the other not-prime.

The .method(key, [options]) must be called prior to adding an output.

The key uniquely identifies the output route. The schema is a valid JSON Schema definition (both draft-04 and draft-06 are supported). If a schema is not provided, then the output type is effectively any type.

The context is a valid JSON Path and is used as the default by the flow editor. When the output is invoked, the configured context is where the output value will be written.

Kind: Instance method of NodeBuilder

Returns: Current NodeBuilder object

Access: Public

Example:

nodeBuilder.action(handler)

Assigns an action handler to the current method. The method can only have one action handler. Assigning an action will terminate the current method definition.

Kind: Instance method of NodeBuilder

Returns: Current NodeBuilder object

Access: Public

Example:

axway-flow-sdk~init(module) - NodeBuilder

Axway API Builder SDK for creating custom flow-nodes to work with flows.

Kind: Inner method of axway-flow-sdk

Returns: NodeBuilder - A newly constructed NodeBuilder object 

Example:

axway-flow-sdk~handler: function

A handler function to perform the flow-node method's action. The function will receive all of the provided parameters in req.params.  If any parameters are not provided or are at the wrong time, or some have defaults, your function will need to handle those situations. On success, your function should invoke the named output. On error, your function should invoke a callback with a non-null err value.

Kind: Inner type definition of axway-flow-sdk

Access: Public

Example:

Example:

axway-flow-sdk~flowCallback: function

A callback function that your method handler must invoke.

Kind: Inner type definition of axway-flow-sdk

Access: Public

axway-flow-sdk~Request: object

The request object.

Kind: Inner type definition of axway-flow-sdk

Properties: