Configure your flows to perform API requests

After configuring a Custom integration you’re now ready to use it within your Web flow to perform API requests during user interactions. In this guide, you will learn how to use the Custom integration block within Truora’s Flow builder through a practical example.

Before beginning

• If this is your first time exploring our Customs integrations feature, you’ll need to understand how to set up an integration for your external API service before proceeding with this guide. We strongly recommend reading our Custom integrations guide to better understand how these integrations work. The integration configured in that guide will also be used as an example in this one.

  • If you’re unfamiliar with Web flows, we recommend reading the guide on how to Create a Web flow using Truora’s flow builder.

To summarize, the integration mentioned above contains two actions:

• Create user validation: This action receives a username provided by the user, makes a request to the API, which sends an OTP code to the user’s email, and returns a Validation ID if the user exists. This Validation ID will be the input for the next action.
• Validate code: This action receives the Validation ID from the first action, along with the OTP code entered by the user, and makes an API request to validate the code.

Flow structure

For this guide’s purposes, we’ll create a Web flow that follows this simple process:

1. The user accesses the Web flow through a Web process link, which starts the flow execution.

2. The user is prompted to enter their username

3. The flow makes an API request using the provided username as input to the Create user validation action of the Custom integration.

4. The Create user validation action responds with the status of the API request. If successful, it returns a Validation ID, and an OTP Code is sent to the user’s registered email.
   
   4.1. If the request fails, the flow follows a fallback path to allow the user to continue the validation through an alternative method.
   
   

5. The user is prompted to enter the OTP Code received by email.

6. The flow makes an API request using the provided OTP Code and the Validation ID as inputs to the Validate code action of the Custom integration.

7. The Validate code action responds with the validation status.
   Based on this result, the user is informed about the outcome of the validation, and the flow then ends.

The following image shows the complete Web flow. Scroll horizontally to view each step of the flow execution. In the upcoming sections, we’ll walk you through how to configure each of these steps using the Flow builder.

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Creating the flow

Setting up the template

1. Log into the Dashboard, and click the Open button in the Digital Identity Verification product.

   

2. Click on My flows and then on the Create new flow button.

   

3. Select the web communication channel and click on the Continue button.

   

4. Now, in the tab Process using our flowbuilder’s drag & drop system, we will proceed to organize the next steps into sections that follow the flow structure mentioned before.

   

Adding the Data Authorization step

Unlike WhatsApp flows, Web flows are not triggered by Inbound or Outbound messages. Instead, they are accessed through a Web process link.

To start the Web flow, drag and drop the Data Authorization block from the Frequent Blocks section in the sidebar as the first step of the flow.

This block is used to inform the end user that their data will be processed as part of the verification flow and to request their authorization before continuing.

Asking for the Username

We need the user to provide their username in a message, so the second block in our flow will be an open question.

1. Drag and drop an Open Question from the Frequent Blocks in the sidebar and connect it with the Data authorization block.
2. Set a Title for this block. For example, “userinput”. A variable with this title will store the user’s answer.
3. Enter the question for the user. For example, “Please enter your Username: “

Creating the validation with our Custom Integration

Next, we’ll send an API request using the provided username (userinput) as an input to the Create user validation action.

1. Add a Custom Integration Block: Drag and drop a Custom integration block from the Advanced Blocks section in the sidebar and connect it with the Open Question block from the previous step. Note: If your account has no custom integrations, you won’t be able to select this block.

2. Configure the Integration Block: Click on the block to display its menu and fill in the required fields:
   • Integration: Select your created Custom integration from the dropdown menu. For this example, we selected Integration Test - User Login, which was set up in the Custom integrations guide.
   • Credential: Select your created credential from the dropdown menu. In this example we only have 1 credential, so it’s straightforward.
   • Action: Select the action of the Custom integration from the dropdown menu. For this step of the flow, we’re using the Create user validation action.
   • Message (Optional): Enter the message that the user will receive before making the request to the external API. For example, “Checking your username…”.
   • Inputs: Click on Add Inputs. Set or select the Variables for your inputs and click Save. In this example the action receives only the Username as an input, so we’ll use the Open Question variable created in the previous step, “userinput (Variable)”.
     
     To reference this variable, type @ in the input field and select it from the list of available variables.
     
     The variable appears in the list because the Open Question block is connected to the Custom integration block.
   • Outputs: No action needed here, but take note of the following in the Outputs section:
     • There are two default outputs for this block: “Custom integration status” and “Request status code”.
     • The “Request status code” output will be used in the next step to evaluate whether the user exists.
     • The “Validation ID” output (created when setting up the Custom integration) will be used as an input in the last Custom integration block of this example.

Verifying the username and asking for the code

Next, we’ll need to check the “Request status code” from the previous Custom integration block. If the request is successful (i.e., the user exists), we’ll proceed by asking the user for the OTP Code that was sent to their registered email, otherwise, if the request fails, we’ll end the chat and notify the user with “User not found”.

1. Add a Condition Block: Drag and drop a Condition block from the Advanced Blocks section in the sidebar and connect it with the previous Custom integration block.
2. Configure the Condition Block: Click on the block to display its menu, and in Set the conditions click on the default condition to edit it:
   • If this…: Select “Variable” since we’ll check the status of a variable.
   • With value: Choose the name of the variable to check. For our example, we’ll select “Request status code” which is generated by the connected Custom integration block.
   • Has the following condition: Choose a comparison operator. In our example, we’ll select “is equal to”.
   • Fulfills: Enter the value to compare against the variable. In this example, we’ll set it to “200”, which represents a successful “Request status code” response from the API.

3. Handle unsuccessful request with a fallback path: If the API request is not successful, the flow should continue through an alternative verification path instead of ending immediately.

   • Connect the else (red) arrow of the Condition block to the Phone Validator block.
   • Configure the phone validation module to allow the user to verify their phone number by receiving a verification code through SMS or WhatsApp.
   • After the phone verification is completed, connect the Phone Validator block to the Get validations result advanced block, which informs the user about the outcome of the validation.

4. Ask for the OTP Code if request is successful: Drag and drop an Open Question from the Frequent Blocks in the sidebar and connect it to the “if” green arrow of the Condition block.
   • Set a Title for this block, for example “usertoken”. A variable with this title will store the user’s answer.
   • Enter the question for the user, for example, “Please enter the CODE sent to your registered email.”

Validating the code with our Custom Integration

Next, we’ll send an API request using the OTP Code (usertoken) provided by the user and the “Validation ID” output from the Create user validation action as inputs to the Validate code action.

1. Add a Custom Integration Block: Drag and drop a Custom integration block from the Advanced Blocks section in the sidebar and connect it with the Open Question block from the previous step.

2. Configure the Integration Block: Click on the block to display its menu and fill in the required fields:
   • Integration: Select your created Custom integration from the dropdown menu. For this example, we selected Integration Test - User Login, which was set up in the Custom integrations guide.
   • Credential: Select your created credential from the dropdown menu. In this example we only have 1 credential, so it’s straightforward.
   • Action: Select the action of the Custom integration from the dropdown menu. For this step of the flow, we’re using the Validate code action.
   • Message (Optional): Enter the message that the user will receive before making the request to the external API. For example, “Validating your code…”.
   • Inputs: Click on Add Inputs. Set or select the Variables for your inputs and click Save. In this example, the action receives two inputs:
     • OTP Code: We’ll use the Open Question variable created in the previous step, “usertoken (Variable)”. This variable is automatically recognized in the list because the Open Question block is connected to our Custom integration block.
     • Validation ID: We’ll use the “Validation ID (Variable)” output from the Create user validation action.
   • Outputs: No action needed here, but take note of the following in the Outputs section:
     • There are two default outputs for this block: “Custom integration status” and “Request status code”, which you can use for other purposes. We won’t use any of these at this point.
     • The “Validation status” output (created when setting up the Custom integration) will be used in the final steps to validate the login process in our example flow.

Showing the login process status to the user

In the Web flow example, the result of the login process is determined by the response returned by the Validate code action from the Custom integration.

Once the validation request is executed, the flow continues directly to a Get validations result advanced block.

This block is responsible for notifying the user about the outcome of the verification—whether the validation was successful or not—based on the result returned by the integration. After the result is displayed to the user, the Web flow ends.

Testing the completed Web flow

The final step is to test the flow. After you have saved and published the flow, follow these steps:

1. Click on Save and Publish.
2. Click on Test Conversation in the top-right corner of the editor.
3. Configure the redirect URL that will be used after the flow has been completed:
   • In the URL to redirect after user finish the flow field, enter a valid URL.
   • The URL must include the full protocol (for example, https://).
   • Invalid or incomplete URLs (such as http without a domain) will be rejected.
4. Click Continue. You will be redirected to the Web process link, which starts the Web flow and allows you to test the full user experience.

Example Interactions with the Chatbot

• Nonexistent username provided - Fallback phone validation:

  

Conclusion

By following this guide, you’ve learned how to leverage custom integrations within our flow builder to enable users to interact with your services via Web. Whether you’re connecting to your internal systems or third-party APIs, custom integrations provide a powerful way to extend your chatbot’s capabilities.

As we continue to enhance our platform, keep an eye out for upcoming improvements and new features that will make it even more versatile and user-friendly.

Related guides

If you want to learn how to use Custom integrations with external services inside our Flow Builder for WhatsApp flows, check out the following guide:

• Configure your flows to perform API requests