Composite endpoints

Composite endpoints can be defined which all for multiple APIs to be called in sequence and for outputs from one API to be passed as an input to a subsequent API.

After a composite endpoint is defined, it can be called from a Link map, or flow like any other endpoint, but the action of calling it will make multiple API calls, one to each of the APIs defined in the sequence.

Example use cases for composite endpoints include:
  • Call a logon API to get an authorization token, and use that token in a subsequent call.
  • Call an API to look up the identifier of a particular record, and then perform some operation on that record.
The typical steps for defining a composite endpoint are as follows:
  1. Define an endpoint (Endpoint 1) that defines one or more output parameters, extracting values from the response data or response headers.
  2. Define an endpoint (Endpoint 2) that has an input parameter with the same name as the output parameter of endpoint 1. This parameter should be specified in the URL, a query parameter, a header, or the body of the request.
  3. Define a composite endpoint that has Endpoint 1 as the first endpoint, and Endpoint 2 as the second endpoint.

The Link user interface provides a validate function that ensures that for any input parameter of an endpoint, there is an output parameter from an earlier API call with the same name.