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Query Xero WorkflowMax Data from Node.js



The API Server exposes Web services that allow connectivity to your data. Use the OData endpoint of the CData API Server to execute CRUD queries to Xero WorkflowMax data from Node.js.

The CData API Server, when paired with the ADO.NET Provider for Xero WorkflowMax, exposes Xero WorkflowMax data (or data from any of 200+ other ADO.NET Providers) as an OData endpoint, which can be queried from Node.js using simple HTTP requests. This article shows how to use the API Server to request JSON-formatted Xero WorkflowMax data in Node.js.

Set Up the API Server

Follow the steps below to begin producing secure Xero WorkflowMax OData services:

Deploy

The API Server runs on your own server. On Windows, you can deploy using the stand-alone server or IIS. On a Java servlet container, drop in the API Server WAR file. See the help documentation for more information and how-tos.

The API Server is also easy to deploy on Microsoft Azure, Amazon EC2, and Heroku.

Connect to Xero WorkflowMax

After you deploy the API Server and the ADO.NET Provider for Xero WorkflowMax, provide authentication values and other connection properties needed to connect to Xero WorkflowMax by clicking Settings -> Connections and adding a new connection in the API Server administration console.

To connect to the WorkflowMax API, obtain an APIKey and AccountKey from Xero. This can only be done by contacting Xero support (https://www.workflowmax.com/contact-us).

After obtaining an API Key and Account Key, set the values in the APIKey and AccountKey connection properties. Once these are set, you are ready to connect.

You can then choose the Xero WorkflowMax entities you want to allow the API Server access to by clicking Settings -> Resources.

Authorize API Server Users

After determining the OData services you want to produce, authorize users by clicking Settings -> Users. The API Server uses authtoken-based authentication and supports the major authentication schemes. Access can also be restricted based on IP address; all IP addresses except the local machine are restricted by default. You can authenticate as well as encrypt connections with SSL.

Consume Xero WorkflowMax OData Feeds from Node.js

OData feeds are easy to work with in Node.js. You can use the HTTP client in Node.js to request JSON-formatted data from the API Server's OData endpoint. After making the request, you can construct the body of the response and call the JSON.parse() function to parse it into records.

The code below will make an authenticated request for Clients data. The example URL below applies a simple filter that searches for records with a value of Cynthia in the Name column.

var http = require('http'); http.get({ protocol: "http:", hostname: "MyServer.com", port: MyPort, path: "/api.rsc/Clients?$filter=" + encodeURIComponent("Name eq 'Cynthia'"), auth: 'MyUser:MyAuthtoken' }, function(res) { var body = ''; res.on('data', function(chunk) { body += chunk; }); res.on('end', function() { console.log(body); var jsonData = JSON.parse(body); }); }).on('error', function(e) { console.log("Error: ", e); });