node.js

Creating a webhook receiver with Node.js

Node.js is a Javascript runtime that allows you to quickly build and deploy web applications. We will be using Node.js to deploy a simple application that listens on a local port for POST requests (our webhook payloads), and then writes those payloads to a textfile on disk.

Step One: Install Node.js

Before you begin, ensure you have installed Node.js version 8.x 👈

Once installed, you can confirm the version by typing node -v in your command prompt.

Step Two: Clone or download this repository

Once you have cloned/downaloded this repository, you will want to copy the server.js into your main folder.

Step Three: Obtain your certificate and update server.js

All communication between Portal and your webhook receiver must be done over HTTPS. You will need to add a valid certificate to your application's folder.

Then update the following line in the server.js file:

const options = {
  pfx: fs.readFileSync('your_certificate.pfx'),
  passphrase: 'certificate password'
};

Save the file and you are ready to go!

Step Four: Launch your receiver

Go to your command prompt and launch the application:

cd <application's path>
node server.js

The application will be running on port 8001. You can now use this URL as your payload URL parameter.

Any payloads received will be written to the response.txt file.

Now what?

Well that's up to you! Extend this application to parse through the incoming JSON, and look for specific operations or items. Tie this into your existing workflows and processes that rely on key events in portal to take place.