Forum Discussion

mfeltscher's avatar
mfeltscher
Expert
11 years ago

Using Third-party API in custom component

Hi there.   I'm currently working on a custom component where I have to load data from a third-party API. Is there any way this can be done using FreeMarker without the need of an endpoint?   I'm...
  • NicoB's avatar
    NicoB
    11 years ago

    Hi mfeltscher 

    Yes, you can get in touch with our Lithium representative for your organization which will begin the Professional Services engagement.

    Unfortunately I do not have an ETA for when and if the http.client will be made available to custom components.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Nico

nathan's avatar
nathan
Executive

Unfortunately at the moment external web services can only be accessed within endpoints, and endpoints cannot be accessed by custom components, and so it is not possible to access an external web service inside custom components. I suggest you read this thread for more details:

http://community.lithium.com/t5/Developers-Discussion/How-do-you-call-an-endpoint-from-freemarker/m-p/97464

 

The only work around I am aware of is to use JavaScript (AJAX) - you can use it to access the third-party API directly, or alternatively use a custom end-point as a proxy.

 

There's a pretty good example of this here:

http://community.lithium.com/t5/Developers-Knowledge-Base/Using-the-http-client-Context-Object-to-Integrate-with-a-Third/ta-p/91640

NicoB's avatar
NicoB
Lithium Alumni (Retired)
11 years ago

Hi @mfeltscher

indeed it's not possible to use http.client in a component so as Nathan was saying the only option is by using an endpoint but this leaves the only option of accessing such external data on the client side.

If this is a show stopper issue for you you might want to engage with our Professional Services team which should be able to find a solution to tackle this requirement.

A solution could consist of making the data extracted from the external service, available as a Freemarker context variable.

 

 

Thanks,

Nico