Download Tool issue with POST json payload and quotes and & chars

Hi,

I am trying to use the Download Tool to POST a json payload to a REST endpoint.

The tool works unless there is a double quote or & in the json payload in which case the endpoint returns "Unable to parse the JSON" response. I have tried escaping the double quote but it still does not work.

example of the payload is :

{ "note": { "description": "this is a test with chars & \" present", "show_to_requester": false, "mark_first_response": false, "add_to_linked_requests": false }}

I have used Postman to perform the POST with exactly the same payload and the call works as expected without an error.

If i completely remove the characters then the POST works.

Has anyone else experienced this or found a way to make it work.

thanks in advance

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mceleavey

Hi @DY1 ,

I have not come across this before. Just a quick check, how are you building the JSON field? Are you using the JSOB Build tool? This will build it in the correct format. If so, and the format is still creating a problem, is it a problem to simply remove the characters from the field being posted before it gets to the download tool?

apathetichell

Is this the same content-type that postman is using? application/x-www-form-urlencoded? - not application/json? - having said that this stuff is pretty specific and extra " or { can throw things.

TheOC

hey @DY1

Have you tried the 'Take Query String/Body from Field' option instead of 'and values from these fields'?

Is this a publicly available api by any chance?

Cheers,
TheOC

DY1

Hi @apathetichell, yes the content type is identical to that used in Postman.

DY1

Hi @TheOC , unforunately its not a public API. I have tried quite a number of approaches but none seem to work other than simply removing the characters completely

DY1

Hi @mceleavey , i have manually created the json however i have checked it by passing it thought he Json Parse tool and it parses fine, it appears to be something specific to the Download Tool.

TheOC

hey @DY1

I've used the Json build tool to create the string - in theory this should convert it correctly.

Can you please try the attached, as the input to your download tool? You will need to include the URL too.

Hopefully it helps,
TheOC

DY1.yxmd

TheOC

I think the issue is that you need to escape both the '\' and the ' " ', shown by the jsonbuild output:

Cheers,
TheOC

DY1

Hi @TheOC , thanks for taking the time to do this. taken the workflow you created and modified the input so that it just has the double quote rather than the escaped version. the output from the first parse tool is exactly what i am manually creating which still results in an error. the second parse tool escapes all of the quotes in the whole json string which doesnt work.

TheOC

hey @DY1

No worries - sorry it hasn't resolved your issue so far - i was just wanting to try the json build as a double check for the escape characters.

This is a bit of an awkward one, especially with not having access to the API. What is the error message exactly? If the request is being made - but you are receiving the error from the site - you could try using fiddler to see the request (and compare against postman request)

Hope this helps,
TheOC

DY1

@TheOC the response message is "Unable to parse the JSON". As you say, very hard to be able to diagnose/test theories without access. I have tried fiddler and cannot really see whats going wrong to be honest.

thanks for taking the time.

jcagle

This worked for me:
add a header in the Headers tab of the Download tool with the name "Content-Type" and a value of "application/json" (without the quotes).

alteryx_json_payload.png

mrdoughnutssalt

Just came across this topic as I was facing the same issues that the REST API endpoint could not parse the JSON format. What solved it for me was changing the payload type. In the payload tab, I chose the option "Take Query String/Body from Field" and then selected the field containing my the compact formatted JSON string

JohnWood

I am having a related issue. Works in Postman but not Alteryx. I pass (date range) filter parameters on the payload tab but they are ignored and returns the default latest 15 mins of records.

Verakso

For what it worth, I had the exact same problem, that's why I came here.

In postman, my json body is posted as "raw",

2024-01-18 18_37_49-New Request - My Workspace.png

So to do the same in the Download Tool, well - then this worked for me

2024-01-18 18_38_51-Alteryx Designer x64 - New Workflow1_.png

EDIT:
Forgot to mention, that I also set the headers to this:

2024-01-18 18_43_41-Alteryx Designer x64 - New Workflow1_.png

deepakantony329

Thanks @Verakso Mine worked after adding "Accept" to Header.

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