JSON REST Web Services Connector

Introduction

Description

This connector allows the integration with any Web Service able to consume and generate JSON documents through REST communication.

Managed System

Every commercial product or custom web application allows REST communication with JSON documents.

There are a lot of products that use this standard, for instance:

• JIRA.
• Oracle Field Service Cloud (OFSC).
• Office 365.
• Dropbox.

If your system is not in the previous list, it's possible to include it easily!

For more information to check if your system may be synchronized with this connector you do not hesitate to contact us through our Contact form

Prerequisites

It is needed a user with access and permissions to the endpoints and operations required in the scope of the integration.

Also, the documentation, specification, or tutorial of the implementation of the JSON REST Web Service is required to apply the mapping configuration.

Download and Install

This addon is located in the Connectors section and its name is REST (json) plugin.

You can visit the Addons Getting started page for more information about the installation process.

Agent Configuration

Basic

Generic parameters

After the installation of the addon, you may create and configure agent instances.

To configure this JSON REST Web Service Connector you must select "JSON Rest Webservice" in the attribute "Type" of the generic parameters section in the agents' page configuration.

For more information about how you may configure the generic parameters of the agent, see the following link: Agents configuration

Custom parameters

Below there are the specific parameters for this agent implementation:

---

Authentication method

None: no authentication is needed. There are no parameters to configure.

Basic: the username and password are sent with each request.

• User Name: user to authenticate.
• Password: the password of the user to authenticate.

Bearer token

• Bearer token: this token is provided by the application to which we are going to connect.

Token: calls the authentication URL with the POST method and with the username and password, and the response will be the token. It is no longer used.

• User Name: user to authenticate.
• Password: the password of the user to authenticate.
• Authentication URL: URL to retrieve the token for the server's authentication (for the "Token" method).

Token oAuth Client Credentials

• Authentication URL: URL to retrieve the token for the server's authentication (for the "Token" method).
• Token attr. output: the value is always access_token.
• Request parameters:
  • Client ID: it is like the user.
  • Client secret:  it is the password.
  • Scope: it is the permissions.

Token oAuth Password Grant

• User Name: user to authenticate.
• Password: the password of the user to authenticate.
• Authentication URL: URL to retrieve the token for the server's authentication (for the "Token" method).
• Token attr. output: the value is always access_token.
• Request parameters:
  • Client ID: it is like the user.
  • Client secret:  it is the password.
  • Scope: it is the permissions.
    

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Attribute mapping

This connector can manage users, accounts, roles, groups, and grants.

Note that any changes made to the methods will affect the properties and vice versa.

Methods

This agent allows you to define methods to be called using the defined properties. There are some default methods, but you can customize your own methods.

Default methods:

• load
• delete
• update
• insert
• select

For each method, the properties to set up are as follows:

Properties	Description
Path	A valid URL to call. This path must be the continuation of the Server URL for making calls.
Method	Available methods to call a Rest API (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH)
Encoding	The specific type of encoded data that will be used. There are three supported types: application/x-www-form-urlencoded application/json text/xml
XML Template	Applies only if it is text/xml. You need to write the name of the corresponding template defined on the XML Templates.
Parameters	Applies with application/x-www-form-urlencoded and application/json You must type which attributes, defined on the System attributes, will be sent.  If none are to be sent, you must write the hyphen character "-".   If nothing is typed, all parameters are sent.
Success HTTP Codes	The HTTP codes to be interpreted as OK, for example: 204 201 200 204,201,200 You can use blanks or commas to separate.
Failure HTTP Codes	The HTTP codes to be interpreted as Error.
Results	Gets the object or object list from the response received. You need to indicate a  JSON attribute name to check and get the data. If this element is not present, or empty, the connector will conclude the user does not exist yet. Complex scripts are also allowed, not only simple JSON attribute name.
Pagination URL	When the response gives us the URL of the next page to fetch, you must type the tag name of this attribute.
Pagination script	You can type a complex script to get the next call that has to be done. There are two available objects: response request: allows you to update the attributes and return true if you want to make a new call or false in another case
Condition script	Return false if you want to prevent a call.
Optional header	Use this property to send HTTP header(s). More than one header can be sent by adding multiple properties Optional Header1. The value of the header is "HEADER:VALUE", for instance, "Accept:application/json".

Load

Select

Insert

Update

Delete

Properties

In this agent, the configuration of the properties attributes is very important due to they define the functionality of the integration:

This agent has five families of properties:

These families are involved in the following processes:

These are the pictures of the mechanisms used to synchronize objects:

Sync object

Remove object

These are the properties attributes grouped by family:

Load

Select

Insert

Update

Delete

How to retrieve data from the response with the *Results properties

a) One level

If the JSON has one level you have to avoid the property
{
    "userName" : "soffid"
}

b) Two level

If the JSON has two levels you have to create the property *Result and put the name of the parent attribute, for example:
{
    "user" : {    
        "userName" : "soffid"
    }
}
And the property must be for example loadResults = user

c) More than two levels

If the JSON has more than two levels you have to create the property *Result and put the atributes in the next pattern

*Results = attribure1{"attribute2"}{"attribute3"}...

For example:
{
	"data" : {
        "user" : {    
            "userName" : {
                "string" : "soffid"
            }
        }
    }
}

And the property must be for example:

loadResults = data{"user"}{"userName"}

Attributes

You can customize attribute mappings, you only need to select system objects and the Soffid objects related, manage their attributes, and make either inbound and outbound attribute mappings.

You may map the attributes of the target system with the Soffid available attributes.

• For the target system attributes is required to be access to its specification.
• For the Soffid attributes, you may follow the next link.

For more information about how you may configure attribute mapping, see the following link: Soffid Attribute Mapping Reference

For instance:

As an example, below is how JSON connector will look like in order to manage JIRA accounts:

Triggers

You can define BeanShell scripts that will be triggered when data is loaded into the target system (outgoing triggers). The trigger result will be a boolean value, true to continue or false to stop.

Triggers can be used to validate or perform a specific action just before performing an operation or just after performing an operation on target objects. 

To view some examples, visit the Outgoing triggers examples page.

Load triggers

You can define BeanShell scripts that will be triggered when data is loaded into Soffid (incoming triggers). The trigger result will be a boolean value, true to continue or false to stop.

Triggers can be used to validate or perform a specific action just before performing an operation or just after performing an operation into Soffid objects. 

To view some examples, visit the Incoming triggers examples page.

Account metadata

Agents allow you to create additional data, on the "Account metadata" tab, to customize the accounts created for that agent. This additional information will be loaded with the agent's information, or calculated as defined in the mappings.
The additional data can be used in both mappings and triggers.

The attributes which you define here will be shown when you click on the proper account, on the Accounts Tabs at user page.

Operational

Monitoring

After the agent configuration you could check in the monitoring page if the service is running in the Synchronization Server, please go to:

• Start Menu > Administration > Monitoring and reporting > Syscserver monitoring

Tasks

Authoritative

If you are checked "Authorized identity source", an automatic task to load identities from the managed system to Soffid is available, please go to:

• Start Menu > Administration > Monitoring and reporting > Scheduled tasks

And you will something like "Import authoritative data from <AGENT_NAME>".

Reconcile

If you are configured the "Attribute Mapping" tab with some of our objects: "user, account, role, group or grant", an automatic task to synchronize these objects from the managed system to Soffid is available, please go to:

• Start Menu > Administration > Monitoring and reporting > Scheduled tasks

And you will do something like "Reconcile all accounts from <AGENT_NAME>".

Synchronization

Regarding the synchronization of the objects, there are two possible options:

• If you are checked the generic attribute "Read Only" in the "Basics" tab, only the changes in the managed systems will be updated in Soffid. We recommend these options until the global configuration of Soffid will be tested.
• If you are not checked the generic attribute "Read Only" in the "Basics" tab, all the changes in Soffid or the managed system will be updated in the other. Note that this synchronization must be configured in the "Attribute mapping" tab correctly.

For more information about how you may configure the generic parameters of the agent, see the following link: Agents configuration