2022.2

9. If, during this time, the timeout has expired (if the process takes more than 120 seconds), the
HTTP service returns a "timeout" to the client, but the process stills finishes on its own. When the
process finishes, the return file is ignored by the HTTP service.
Point 7 is critical to understand, as it has an impact on what the client receives. If a process receives a
file that is split into multiple parts and each of these parts generates and output, the last split's output
will be sent to the client. If the last output task generates a PostScript file for printing, this PostScript is
returned to the client.
In most cases, what is returned is what remains after the last task, but only if this task's processing is
done in PlanetPress Workflow. For example, if the data file is a text file and this file is sent to Plan-
etPress Image using the Image connector, it is a text file that is returned, not the output of the Imaging.
Similarly, ending a process with the Delete task does not return an empty file, it returns the actual data
file.
Actually the most used way of returning a response is this: generate an HTML file using either "Create
File" on page297 or "Load External File" on page386, then use the "Delete" on page546 task as a last
output. The HTML is thus returned to the client.
Example HTTP Workflows
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"HTTP PDF Invoice Request" below (GET)
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"HTTP brochure request" on page227 (Customer Information+ POST)
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"Capture Web Manager Workflow" on page236 (Capture + HTTP)
HTTP PDF Invoice Request
This straightforward workflow simply receives a GET request from a browser, loads an existing PDF
invoice from a folder on the hard drive, and returns it to the browser. To do this, a client (or a web ser-
vice) would request the following page:
http://ppworkflowserver:8080/getinvoice?in=INV999999
Breakdown of this URL:
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http:// : transfer protocol. This could be HTTPS if the SSL certificates are activated in the pref-
erences.
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ppworkflowserver : name of the machine. This could also be an IP (192.168.1.123) or a full
domain name (www.myserver.com), depending on the connectivity between the client and Plan-
etPress Workflow Server.
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:8080 : The default PlanetPress Workflow HTTP Port, set in the preferences.
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/getinvoice : The HTTP Action Name, as set in the HTTP Server Input task.
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