Flows
Flows are acyclic directed graphs of operational flow-nodes which are composed
of inputs, logic, and outputs. They are used by Endpoints, which require
them for their runtime functionality of taking inputs and turning them
into responses when an Endpoint is hit. Flows are written as .json files and located within the /flows directory of your app. Flows have a runtime context which can be
written to and read from by individual flow-nodes. This is how data is
passed around in the flow. When running a flow via an endpoint, the data
passed to the endpoint will propagate to the flow.
Beginning with API Builder Tools 3.0, flows can be created and configured using the API Orchestration flow editor. For additional information, see API Builder Flows.
Flow context
The Flow context is where data is temporarily stored at runtime while a Flow is being executed. This allows flow-nodes to share information, by reading data from the context before execution using their parameters and writing data to the context after execution using JSONPath selectors. If a flow is used by an endpoint which has certain parameters defined, these will also be accessible to flow-nodes from the flow context.
Flow input
If a flow is executed from an endpoint, any parameters defined by the endpoint
and correctly passed to the endpoint upon execution will be accessible
from the flow context from the JSONPath selector: $.params
For example, a header parameter called enabled would be accessible from $.params.enabled. If a request is made with a parameter which is not defined in the endpoint’s
swagger, it will not be accessible from the flow.