I am using an API called htmldocs to generate a pdf based on data from the bot. Now I want to provide the user a link, so he can click on it. Unfortunately the variable is not changing at all when I do it from the code cell. The api needs a few seconds to respond and when I do console.log() it logs the url correctly, but it does not save it to my variable. Please help. My code:

javascript
const API_KEY_HTMLDOCS = '...'

axios
  .post(
    'https://api.htmldocs.com/v1/api/generate',
    {
      projectId: '...',
      path: 'index.html',
      context: {
        business: 'test'
      }
    },
    {
      headers: {
        'Content-Type': 'application/json',
        Authorization: 'Bearer ' + API_KEY_HTMLDOCS
      }
    }
  )
  .then((response) => {
    console.log(response.data.url)
    workflow.pdf_url = response.data.url
  })
  .catch((error) => {
    console.log(error)
  })

stupid question but what happens if you add single quotations to the variable

basically this would save a string, but in this case it is not saving anything. The variable stays empty..

gotcha, but it's printing the correct url to your logs?

yes it is

oh, strange, thanks for spelling it out like this

do you know a fix? Seems for me like a kind of obvious thing, because I assume lots of bot builders need to set a variable based on an API call.. or is there a workaround you could recommend? If you don't know, could you maybe tag someone who could know the solution?

I'm having the same problem! Can't set variable from api call. It console logs but doesn't set in workflow.variable

Thanks for the answer, but for me it still does not work. Am I doing something wrong?

javascript
const API_KEY_HTMLDOCS = '...'

const generatePDF = async () => {
  try {
    const response = await axios.post(
      'https://api.htmldocs.com/v1/api/generate',
      {
        projectId: '...',
        path: 'index.html',
        context: {
          business: 'test'
        }
      },
      {
        headers: {
          'Content-Type': 'application/json',
          Authorization: `Bearer ${API_KEY_HTMLDOCS}`
        }
      }
    )

    console.log(response.data.url)
    workflow.pdf_url = response.data.url
  } catch (error) {
    console.error(error)
  }
}

generatePDF()
`

There's an alternative wait syntax... Axios is a popular JavaScript library used to make HTTP requests, and "waiting" in this context usually refers to handling asynchronous operations. When you make a request with Axios, it returns a promise. This promise allows you to "wait" for the request to complete before proceeding with other code, which is crucial for getting data from a server before you try to use that data in your application. Here are a couple of ways to handle the waiting in Axios: 1. **Using

.then()

and

.catch()

methods**: After sending a request, you can use these methods to handle the response and errors respectively. The code execution inside these methods will only run after the Axios promise resolves, ensuring that you have the data you need before it executes.

javascript
   axios.get('https://example.com')
       .then(response => {
           console.log('Data:', response.data);
       })
       .catch(error => {
           console.error('Error:', error);
       });

2. **Using async/await**: This is a more modern syntax to handle promises. You can mark a function as

async

, which allows you to use

await

to pause the function’s execution until the promise resolves. This makes your asynchronous code look and behave a little more like synchronous code, which can be easier to understand and manage.

javascript
   async function fetchData() {
       try {
           const response = await axios.get('https://example.com');
           console.log('Data:', response.data);
       } catch (error) {
           console.error('Error:', error);
       }
   }
   fetchData();

In both cases, the code execution "waits" at the point of the request until the server responds, and then it proceeds with the returned data or handles any errors. This waiting is crucial for working with any asynchronous API calls in JavaScript.

but haven't I used the second option in my code? It looks correct to me.

Need one the BP dev team to verify as although it should, it appears not to as when uses to retrieve api data, it doesn't set workflow.variables!

you know anyone who could take a look over it?

Sadly no, just hoping someone will be proactive from the team whilst everyone gets over GPT 4o #DEV #Urgent

also hope so.. Other ideas that would work fow me would be: - directly print the url to the chat once it is loaded (don't know, how..) - download the pdf from the link and attach it to an email which is sent via sendgrid api (already setup sendgrid, but I am too stupid to download the file and attach it as a pdf...)

Reading your requirements, why don't you just email the user the pdf, using make or Zapier

I have done it like this as a workaround, but I think that it still would be nice to have the possibility of changing the variables from execute code cards after an API Call