Callout Rules
By defining callout rules the services provided by external components can be called from within the policy processing flow. The Callout is triggered during the processing of a policy when it encounters a callout rule. Essentially a callout can be set up by specifying the definition of the callout interface plus the conditions under which it is to be executed; together they form the callout rule. The callout interface works by sending a web service request and receiving and processing the response. By using the flexibility of dynamic logic, any externally authored XML schema definition can be adhered to.
The setup of callout rules is a combination of functional setup in a UI page of Policies and technical setup in the Policies properties file [1]. Presented below are the fields of the functional setup.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
Code |
The identifying code of the callout rule (this code is used in the specification of technical configuration parameters in the Policies properties file) |
Description |
The description of the callout rule |
Source |
The source of the policy: Integration Point, User Interface or Either |
Condition |
The dynamic logic condition that is executed to determine if the callout rule must be executed for a policy |
Function |
The dynamic logic function that is executed to handle the callout |
Process flow |
The process flow to which this callout rule is restricted |
Exclude from Validation? |
Is the callout rule excluded from the validation process? |
Enabled? |
Is the callout rule enabled? |
The use of a policy callout rule can be restricted to a single policy process flow. If the rule’s process flow has no value, the callou rule can be used in any process flow.
Because response logic is always specified (within the function), the external component is required to send back a response including a message body (for example, not just a HTTP 200 status code).