Configure Blue Prism to use Interact
Blue Prism and Interact communicate through the Blue Prism Interact Remote API. To use this API, the Interact API Service release file should be imported into Blue Prism, this includes a Web API Service and VBO. Once imported it will need to be updated with the appropriate base URL and authorization codes to enable secure communication.
If you upgrade Interact to a new release, you must import the latest release file into Blue Prism. The Interact API Service release file is available on the Blue Prism Portal.
To configure Blue Prism to use Interact, you need to:
- Set up a service account in Hub and generate a secret key.
- Import the Interact API Service VBO into Blue Prism.
- Set up the credentials for the Interact Web API service account in Blue Prism.
- Configure the Interact API Service to enable Blue Prism to communicate with Interact.
Set up a service account
To set up the Interact Remote API credentials in Blue Prism, a secret key is required. This is generated from the associated service account in Hub for use with the Interact Remote API. If you lose the key, you can regenerate another key from the service account. For more information, see Service accounts.
If you do not have a service account set up for the Interact Remote API, you can create a service account:
- In Blue Prism Hub, on the Service accounts page, click Add account.
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Enter a unique ID and a friendly name, for example, InteractRemoteAPI.
Do not use InteractRemoteClient. This name is allocated internally in the system.
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Under Permissions, select Interact Remote API.
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Click Create service account.
The Add a service account dialog displays with a generated secret key. You will need to enter this key into the Blue Prism interactive client when configuring the associated credential.
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Copy the generated secret key to your clipboard ready to paste into the Blue Prism interactive client.
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Click OK to close the dialog.
The Service accounts page displays with the newly created account shown.
Import the VBO
- Download the Interact API Service release file from the Blue Prism Portal.
- In Blue Prism, select File and click Import > Release / Skill and follow the prompts to import the release file into Blue Prism. For more information, see Import a file.
Set up credentials in Blue Prism
- Log into the Blue Prism interactive client, select System and then click Security > Credentials. See Security > Credentials for additional information.
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Click New.
The Credential Details dialog displays.
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On the Application Credentials tab of the Credential Details dialog:
- Enter a name.
- Change the Type to OAuth 2.0 (Client Credentials).
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In Client ID, enter the ID that you used to create the service account above in Configure Blue Prism to use Interact, for example, InteractRemoteAPI.
- In Client Secret, enter the secret key that was generated for the service account.
- On the Access Rights tab of the Credential Details dialog, set up the required access permissions.
- Click OK.
Configure the Interact API Service
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In Blue Prism, select System and then click Objects > Web API Services.
The Objects - Web API Services screen displays. For example:
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Select Interact Management and click Edit Service.
The Web API: Interact Management screen displays.
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On the Web API: Interact Management opening screen, in Base URL, enter the URL for your organization's Interact API service. This was defined during the installation of Interact.
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Select Common Authentication in the navigation tree, then complete the following:
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Ensure that Authentication Type is set to OAuth 2.0 (Client Credentials)
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In Authorization URI, enter the Authentication Server URL in the format:
<Authentication Server URL>:<port if specified during install>/connect/token
For example, https://authentication.blueprism.com:5000/connect/token
Or, if the default port was used, https://authentication.blueprism.com/connect/token.
If you have upgraded from a version earlier than 4.3, your system will still be using IMS. In this case, you should enter the information in the format:
<IMS URL>:<port if specified>/connect/token
For example, https://ims.blueprism.com:5000/connect/token.
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In Credential, select the credential you created in Set up credentials in Blue Prism.
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- Click OK to save and complete the setup of the Web API Service.
Overview of the web service actions
The web service has defined actions. These actions are available within the Utility - Interact API Blue Prism VBO along with a number of additional actions which map to the web service. The actions are:
Interact Web API |
Blue Prism VBO: Utility - Interact API |
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Get Submission |
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Get Form Schema |
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Create Submission |
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Edit Submission Field Value |
Edit <Type> Field Value, where the type is: |
Update Config |
Change Field State to Optional Change Field State to Mandatory |
Update Status |
Move Submission to History Tab Move Submission to Approved Tab |
Raise Submission |
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Get Users by Form Name |
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Upload File |
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Get Role ID by Role Name |
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Get Roles by Form Name |
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Get Submission By Transaction |
Get Submission By Transaction ID – Used internally by Create Submission, Raise Submission and Raise Submission to Role to return submission ID back to the digital workers. |
Raise Submission to Role |
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Edit Submission Field Value by Transaction ID |
Get Transaction ID – Used internally by Edit Horizontal Rule Padding and Edit Paragraph Field Value. |
The actions are called from the Utility - Interact API VBO so, after the initial configuration of the URL and authorization codes, the Web Service does not need to be amended. Each of the actions within the Utility - Interact API VBO are explained in the next section.
If you are using Active Directory and you want to use the Create Submission and Raise Submissions actions using the Interact Remote API, your users must be directly assigned to the Interact roles in Hub for the actions to function correctly. These actions do not support the use of Active Directory security groups. However, if you want to configure roles to use security groups, you can use the Raise Submission to Role action.
The following table summarizes the actions that rely on user information either in the inputs or outputs, and their compatibility with Active Directory:
Supports the use of Active Directory security groups with Interact roles |
Supports direct assignment of Active Directory users to Interact roles |
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Raise Submission to Role |
Create Submission Raise Submission Raise Submission to Role Get Users by Form Name Get Roles by Form Name |
For information on configuring roles, see the Blue Prism Hub administrators guide.