Requirements to allow our own .net application's A...

johnjohn123 · ‎02-22-2022

I want to create one or more custom connector inside Power automate,to allow users to easily integrate with our own application's APIs. now i watched this video:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBLO1mAioY0

and from what i understand is that there are specific standards that our APIs must compile with to be able to use them inside custom connectors, am i correct?

For example in our own API you can create an item inside our system, by doing the following:-

1) Call this url https://ourOWNApp.com/api/v2/Item/Create

2) In the http post request pass the json data containing the item info + authentication token inside the http Authorization header.

so can we use our API as-is inside the connector? or we need to modify its specifications?

Second question, if we are able to create a custom connector inside Power automate, then can we use this connector as-is for our Power Apps custom connectors as well?

Third question, as our APIs provides 35 services that can be called, so is it more feasible (at least on phase 1) to specify a general connector so it allow us to authenticate to our APIs by passing the authorization token, then rely on sending raw JSON to our system? rather than creating 35 actions? in other words to build something similar to the "SharePoint Send HTTP Request flow" .. where we just authenticate to SharePoint then call the SharePoint Rest APIs as we want?? is this point valid?

Thanks

DGerbel · ‎02-23-2022

Hello John,

I don't know too much about the custom connectors, but I do have some experience with it. So, I can try to help you.

1.

so can we use our API as-is inside the connector? or we need to modify its specifications?

You don't have to change anything in the definition of your API. If I understand you correctly, you have some concerns about your authentication type. The custom connectors can be configured to use API Keys for the authentication as well.

When creating a custom connector, at the step “Security”, you should then select the authentication type “API Key” and specify a few parameters like Parameter Name or Parameter Location (in your case it should be “Header”).

You can read more about custom connectors and supported authentication types here.

2.

Second question, if we are able to create a custom connector inside Power automate, then can we use this connector as-is for our Power Apps custom connectors as well?

I'm not really sure if I understand your question correctly.

But, all the custom connectors, regardless of where they were created, in Power Automate or in Power Apps, can be used in both.

3.

Third question, as our APIs provides 35 services that can be called, so is it more feasible (at least on phase 1) to specify a general connector so it allow us to authenticate to our APIs by passing the authorization token, then rely on sending raw JSON to our system? rather than creating 35 actions? in other words to build something similar to the "SharePoint Send HTTP Request flow" .. where we just authenticate to SharePoint then call the SharePoint Rest APIs as we want?? is this point valid?

Hm. I definitely understand it wrong.

I believe every request needs to be authenticated. Likewise, I suppose, “SharePoint Send HTTP Request” uses also O365 credentials of a user currently logged in, but implicitly.

Sorry, unfortunately, I don't currently know how it could be possible to implement your scenario.

And you don't have to create all 35 actions manually. The custom connector can also be created from Postman Collection or OpenAPI file.

Kind regards,

Denis

johnjohn123 · ‎02-23-2022

@DGerbel Ok thanks a lot for the reply,,, i am still confused on those points, if you can advice on them:-

When creating a custom connector, at the step “Security”, you should then select the authentication type “API Key” and specify a few parameters like Parameter Name or Parameter Location (in your case it should be “Header”).

So since each client will have a separate API Key, so can we make this API key configurable/defined by end users? similar how you create a connection with “SharePoint Send HTTP Request” where you login using a username/password. So can we enable users to add the API key when they want to use our custom connector, or this API key need to be hard-coded and shared among all clients?

You don't have to change anything in the definition of your API.

but for example when we want to create a custom connector and we chose "OAuth2", we need to pass info such as Scope & Redirect URL, which are not available inside all APIs (at-least not inside ours APIs):-

And you don't have to create all 35 actions manually. The custom connector can also be created from Postman Collection or OpenAPI file.

seems interesting ,, any available documentation on how to do so? Thanks

Final question.

On Phase-one:- i am planning to create a custom connector with those features:-

1) Uses API Key as way for authentication

2) Implement something similar to how “SharePoint Send HTTP Request” works,, where it is a general way to call any API actions.

On Phase-Two:-

1) Add the support for OAuth2 beside API Key

2) Implement dedicated actions for our APIs. for example if we take SharePoint connectors as an example, you can create an item using the available "Create list item" action or you can take the long journey of doing so using “SharePoint Send HTTP Request”?? what do you think about my plan (Phase-1 & Phase-2 ) from a technical perspective?

Thanks again for your helpful reply.

DGerbel · ‎02-23-2022

Hello John,

So can we enable users to add the API key when they want to use our custom connector, or this API key need to be hard-coded and shared among all clients?

No, it doesn't need to be hard-coded. If you select the authentication type “API Key” at the Security step, then when creating a new connection for the custom connector, you will be prompted to enter an API key. So, each customer has to create their own connection for your custom connector and specify an API Key.

Of course, your API must be able to deal with different API Keys from your customers and to authenticate them all.

but for example when we want to create a custom connector and we chose "OAuth2", we need to pass info such as Scope & Redirect URL, which are not available inside all APIs (at-least not inside ours APIs):-

You are absolutely right. If you select OAuth2, then you have to change your API to support this authentication type. For every authentication type, the API has to support it.

I said it in reference to your use case as you described it initially: REST API used API Key authentication.

seems interesting ,, any available documentation on how to do so? Thanks

When creating a custom connector, one has different ways to do it:

Under the following link, you can find more information about how to create a custom connector.

If you already have a Postman collection you use for testing or a Swagger documentation in your API, then you just need to export a Postman collection or an OpenAPI description respectively and create a connector from it.

Regarding your development roadmap, I cannot say too much. Everything depends on your function/non-functional requirements and maybe other criteria. If you have a reason to implement first the API Key authentication and later switch to OAuth2, then it's probably a valid approach. (:

Kind regards,

Denis

johnjohn123 · ‎02-23-2022

@DGerbel thanks for your valuable reply,,, now i had a meeting with the customer, and they mentioned that their

APIs supports OAuth2... so we are going to use this method over API key.. but i am a bit confused on how this will work on reality? i mean what we need to provide for the OAuth2.0 when creating/building the custom connector and what the end user need to provide when they want to use this custom connector?

Thanks