Webhook Connector - CData Arc Documentation

Webhook connectors support exposing a public API endpoint.

Key Capabilities

Public API endpoint exposure for HTTP POST and PUT data ingestion with modern authentication mechanisms
User-based rate limiting and concurrent request management with CORS support
HMAC signature authentication for enhanced security and custom response event scripting
Sample request templates for XML Map connector integration and workflow automation

Overview

Webhook connectors enable data to enter the CData Arc flow via HTTP POSTs and PUTs. Each Webhook connector exposes an endpoint in the application where external clients can send XML and JSON payloads. These payloads are written to an output file and passed along to the next connectors in the flow. You can specify a sample request in the Webhook connector to simplify the process of transforming data that is POSTed to the endpoint. When an XML sample is specified, and the Webhook connector is connected to an XML Map connector in the flow, the XML Map connector automatically detects the expected structure of XML files posted to the endpoint. You can then use the XML Map connector Node Value Editor to map this structure into a target XML structure.

Connector Configuration

This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.

Settings Tab

Connector Details

Settings related to the core operation of the connector.

Setting	Description
Connector Id	The static, unique identifier for the connector.
Connector Type	Displays the connector name and a description of what it does.
Connector Description	An optional field to provide a free-form description of the connector and its role in the flow.
Webhook Endpoint	The generated URL (based on the connector name) where the endpoint is exposed.

Advanced Settings

Setting	Description
Local File Scheme	A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros.
Incoming Headers	A comma-separated list of HTTP header names to read from incoming requests and promote as message headers.
Enable HMAC Authentication	Check Enabled to use HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code) signature authentication to verify the authenticity and integrity of webhook requests. See HMAC Authentication for details.
HMAC Signature Header	The signature header value. By default this is `x-cdata-hmac-signature`, but you can customize it.

Header names in Incoming Headers are matched case-insensitively. Only headers listed here are promoted; headers present on the request but not declared in the setting are not surfaced as message headers. If a declared header is not present on a request, the request is still processed and the message header is left empty.

Request Details Tab

Supply an XML or JSON template representing the expected structure of incoming data. The primary benefit of specifying a sample request is when you connect the Webhook connector to an XML Map connector in the flow. Use XML Map connectors when the API data needs to be converted into some other format, like an EDI document or a database insert. The XML Map connector detects the XML structure of the sample request and uses this as the Source File for the XML Map connector. Upload the XML structure representing the target format as the Destination File, then use the Node Value Editor to convert the source structure into the destination.

Users Tab

The Users tab lets you:

Create users with their associated authtokens and OAuth 2.0 credentials
Define POST and/or PUT privileges
Specify how many requests each user can make per hour
Specify how many concurrent requests are permitted

You can add, edit, and delete users on this tab. See Add or Edit Users for details on each field.

The request settings here override settings in the Default Rate Limits section of the Server tab.

Server Tab

Trusted IP Addresses

Default Rate Limits (Per User)

Settings restricting the number of requests allowed, if no values have been provided on the Users tab.

Setting	Description
Max Requests Per Hour	The limit to the number of requests a single user can issue in an hour.
Max Concurrent Requests	The limit to the number of concurrent requests a user can issue.

Settings governing the use of CORS to serve cross-origin resources.

Setting	Description
Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS)	Whether or not CORS is enabled. The rest of these options are only available when you check this box.
*Allow all domains without ''**	If enabled, domain origins are not restricted to a specific list.
Access-Control-Allow-Origin	The comma-delimited list of domain origins to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
Access-Control-Allow-Credentials	Whether or not user credentials such as cookies are allowed in cross-origin requests. Included as an HTTP response header.
Access-Control-Allow-Methods	The comma-delimited list of methods to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
Access-Control-Allow-Headers	The comma-delimited list of headers to allow. Included as an HTTP response header.
Access-Control-Max-Age	The maximum duration (in seconds) that Access-Control response header values can be cached.

Advanced Settings

Setting	Description
Authtoken in URL	Check this to allow the connector to pass the authtoken in query string parameters for authentication. See Using Auth Tokens as Query String Parameters for more information.

Advanced Tab

Message

Message settings determine how the connector searches for messages and manages them after processing.

Note: The settings below are deprecated and hidden by default. They appear only on connectors where they were previously enabled or configured to a non-default value. To retain copies of successfully processed files, right-click the connector in the flow, choose Show Success Path, and connect the success path to a File connector.

Setting	Description
Save to Sent Folder (Deprecated)	Copies files processed by the connector to the Sent folder. Disabled by default. Files saved to the Sent folder are not covered by Encryption at Rest.
Sent Folder Scheme (Deprecated)	Groups files in the Sent folder by the selected time interval. Only relevant when Save to Sent Folder is enabled.

Logging

Settings that govern the creation and storage of logs.

Setting	Description
Log Level	The verbosity of logs generated by the connector. When you request support, set this to Debug.
Log Subfolder Scheme	Instructs the connector to group files in the Logs folder according to the selected interval. The Weekly option (which is the default) instructs the connector to create a new subfolder each week and store all logs for the week in that folder. Leaving this setting blank tells the connector to save all logs directly in the Logs folder. For connectors that process many transactions, using subfolders helps keep logs organized and improves performance.
Log Messages	Check this to have the log entry for a processed file include a copy of the file itself. If you disable this, you might not be able to download a copy of the file from the Transactions tab.

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous settings are for specific use cases.

Setting	Description
Other Settings	Enables you to configure hidden connector settings in a semicolon-separated list (for example, `setting1=value1;setting2=value2`). Normal connector use cases and functionality should not require the use of these settings.

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

HMAC Authentication

HMAC (Hash-based Message Authentication Code) signature authentication is a cryptographic method that verifies the authenticity and integrity of webhook requests. It uses a shared secret key to generate a unique signature for each request, ensuring:

Request Authenticity: Confirms the request originated from a trusted source
Data Integrity: Verifies that the request payload hasn’t been tampered with during transmission
Replay Attack Prevention: Protects against malicious reuse of intercepted requests

This provides significantly stronger security compared to traditional authentication methods like basic authentication or API keys, which can be more easily compromised. Users with Professional or Enterprise licenses can enable HMAC signature authentication for incoming webhook requests.

Configuration

HMAC authentication is a global setting that applies to every user authorized to access the webhook.

Enable HMAC Authentication
1. Check Enable HMAC Authentication in the webhook connector settings.
2. Optionally, customize the HMAC Signature Header value (the default is x-cdata-hmac-signature).

Set HMAC Keys for Users

After enabling HMAC authentication:

Navigate to the Users tab of the webhook connector.
Configure the HMAC key each authorized webhook user:
1. An HMAC key is automatically generated for each user. You can override the auto-generated key with a custom value. Each user must use their assigned HMAC key to generate valid signatures for their webhook requests.

Auth Token Authentication

Users can access Webhook resources by providing authtokens with requests. Manage users and authtokens by adding or editing a user on the Users tab, and navigating to the Authentication tab. Before users can call the Webhook endpoint, you must also set trusted IP addresses for connections. Set these in the Trusted IP Addresses section of the Server tab. By default, all IP addresses are restricted.

Using Auth Tokens in Basic Authentication

Enter the user’s authtoken as the password when using Basic Authentication.

Using Auth tokens in the HTTP Header

Add the HTTP header x-{companyName}-authtoken with the authtoken as part of the HTTP request.

Using Auth Tokens as Query String Parameters

To allow the connector to pass the authtoken in query string parameters, check Allow authtoken in URL in the Advanced Settings section of the Server tab. After enabling this feature, you can specify the authtoken as the value of the @authtoken parameter, which you supply as part of the HTTP form-post data or as a query parameter.

OAuth 2.0 Authentication

Users can secure Webhook resources using OAuth 2.0 authentication. Manage users and OAuth credentials by adding or editing a user on the Users tab, and navigating to the Authentication tab.

Receiving Data

When data is uploaded to the webhook endpoint, the body of the web request is written as an output file and passed along to the next connector in the flow. This allows for a flexible method of invoking an Arc workflow via an external API call.

Data uploaded to the endpoint is not validated in the Webhook connector, and should be validated later in the flow if necessary.

Custom Responses

Ordinarily, the Webhook connector accepts the post data with a token response that the request was accepted, but you can customize the response by using the Response event, where the _request, _httpheaders, _response, and _message special items are available. When specified, the connector expects the custom response to be provided through the _response item. You can also use the Response event to push custom output items using the following attributes:

Filename: The filename of the output message to pass down the flow.
Data: The data to include in the message that is passed down the flow. For binary data, use the Base64Data attribute instead.
Base64Data: The Base64-encoded data to include in the message that is passed down the flow.
HeaderNames#: A list of header names to include on the message that is passed down the flow. Use the HeaderValues attribute to specify values for these headers at the matching index.
HeaderValues#: A list of header values to include on the message that is passed down the flow. These values are used for the header names defined at the matching index in the HeaderNames list.
Logs#: A list of log entries to include in the logs for the transaction.

Response Examples

To push a file containing the body of the webhook request, with a custom filename and header, down the flow, the ArcScript in the Response event might look like this:

<arc:set attr="out.Filename" value="MyCustomFilename.xml" />
<arc:set attr="out.Data" value="[_message.body]" />
<arc:set attr="out.HeaderNames#1" value="MyHeader1" />
<arc:set attr="out.HeaderValues#1" value="MyHeader1Value" />
<arc:push item="out" />

For most cases, the Incoming Headers setting on the Settings tab is the simplest way to surface incoming request headers as message headers. If you need custom logic or a custom response, you can also do this in the Response event. To surface a header on the incoming request as a header on the message that is passed down the flow, the ArcScript in the Response event might look like this:

<arc:set attr="_message.header:MySpecialHeader" value="[_httpheaders.MyWebhookHeader]" />
<arc:set attr="_response.header:Content-Type" value="application/xml" />
<arc:set attr="_response.write" value="<Status>Successfully processed message with MySpecialHeader=[_message.header:MySpecialHeader]</Status>" />

With the ArcScript above in the Response event, a client can send a request similar to the following:

POST https://localhost/connector/Webhook1/webhook.rsb HTTP/1.1
content-type: application/xml
X-{siteNameShort}-Authtoken: 1s7U4w0a2P3l8v9W3l0q
MyWebhookHeader: Hello World!

<Items>
  <Webhook>Hello World!</Webhook>
</Items>

and receive the following response:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Connection: close
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2021 19:16:13 GMT
X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
Content-Type: application/xml
Content-Length: 81
Server: Jetty(9.4.z-SNAPSHOT)

<Status>Successfully processed message with MySpecialHeader=Hello World!</Status>

​Key Capabilities

​Overview

​Connector Configuration

​Settings Tab

​Connector Details

​Advanced Settings

​Request Details Tab

​Users Tab

​Server Tab

​Trusted IP Addresses

​Default Rate Limits (Per User)

​Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

​Advanced Settings

​Advanced Tab

​Message

​Logging

​Miscellaneous

​Alerts Tab

​SLAs Tab

​HMAC Authentication

​Configuration

​Set HMAC Keys for Users

​Auth Token Authentication

​Using Auth Tokens in Basic Authentication

​Using Auth tokens in the HTTP Header

​Using Auth Tokens as Query String Parameters

​OAuth 2.0 Authentication

​Receiving Data

​Custom Responses

​Response Examples

​Macros

​Examples

Key Capabilities

Overview

Connector Configuration

Settings Tab

Connector Details

Advanced Settings

Request Details Tab

Users Tab

Server Tab

Trusted IP Addresses

Default Rate Limits (Per User)

Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

Advanced Settings

Advanced Tab

Message

Logging

Miscellaneous

Alerts Tab

SLAs Tab

HMAC Authentication

Configuration

Set HMAC Keys for Users

Auth Token Authentication

Using Auth Tokens in Basic Authentication

Using Auth tokens in the HTTP Header

Using Auth Tokens as Query String Parameters

OAuth 2.0 Authentication

Receiving Data

Custom Responses

Response Examples

Macros

Examples