How to Implement Incoming Web Hooks - Question from a Bubble Newbie

Wappler General How To
#1

Hello there Wapplers!

Antony here… I’m totally new to your world, having developed my app in Bubble and slowly come to realise that I need more performance and flexibility than Bubble can offer me right now…

I’ve watched loads of Wappler videos, scan read lots of the docs and done background investigation of what AWS offers as a hosting provider.

My app is a business management database with an event booking form, and my first move will be to bring the booking form over from Bubble to Wappler, while keeping the business management application in Bubble.

I’m convinced that Wappler can do what I need, with one exception…

Incoming Web Hooks.

So by this I mean the ability of another app to asynchronously make an api call to my Wappler app, and my Wappler app to take some action based on that incoming information. Those calls would be coming from my Bubble app, and from Stripe.

As I read the API documentation, I don’t see any reference to Wappler’s ability to handle this… but clearly this is a server action not a client one, so I guess in the Wappler world this is a capability I need to seek in my database host? What is nice about Bubble is it is all just built in…

So could someone please advise me how I can implement incoming web hooks, and whether I will need to dive into some PHP or other code to do that… and if there are any examples, that would be amazing.

Thank you all in advance, and I look forward to being part of your community!

Best wishes,
Antony.

#2

You can use the server connect actions for that, with a recent update it also supports json posts from stripe correctly. And if you are missing a feature in server connect then you can always request it here in the forums.


#3

Hi there @patrick,
Thanks for your quick response!
I believe I will need to authenticate with Bubble using oAuth2… Is this possible?

Thanks,
Antony

#4

@Antony, this might help you out. Example of using the API Auth2

You would need to look at Bubble’s API to see how they handle authorization.

#5

Thanks @scott… It sounds like this can all work then.
It is going to be a few months before I get time to work on this, but at least I know this is a viable route!
Best wishes,
Antony.

#6

Oh, one more question…

Are there any known limitations in the API interface I should be aware of?

Particularly in terms of data structures or data types…

If some of my data is an array of other data, does that work in terms of both get/put API requests and incoming web hooks?

Or will some of the data need to be flat?

Are some data types challenging to implement?

Might I need to resort to writing PHP here and there?

#7

Absolutely! Wappler can work with almost any API, the issue is how the API handles things. There are so many ways that APIs handle information and how they can be authorized that the Wappler team can not provide a tutorial for all of them. However, if you begin working on it and have issues, please post the details of what the issues are. You will probably be asked for the specific errors you are encountering and how you have the page set up.

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#8

Great question and one that I ran into when I was working with the Authorize.Net API. Some of the data was flat and some of the data was an array or nested inside other data. So, I had to seek out help on how to handle it with Wappler and ended up separating the API data into different tables using repeats and breaking up the data into a way that can be inserted into the database.

#9

And was that all manageable graphically in Wappler or did you have to write some code?

#10

Most of it was graphical, but there was some code work because of the way the authorization was handled. This was one of the topics where it was discussed. Server Action API Authorization Help

But it was nothing too terrible.

#11

Sure, so just updating some JSON?

#12

That’s all I have had to do to date and should be all that is needed, unless you encounter an API that is just weird. LOL

Facebook API was one that did not involve any code work, but it was just a pain to set up because of how their API works, OAuth2 Facebook Login How To Assistance

#13

Hey @scott, thanks for all you guidance!
Where are you based?
I’m in the UK…
Best wishes,
Antony.

#14

I’m in the U.S. :us:

#15

Hey Antony,

Great to see you over here! In a nutshell, I would be shocked if there is something you can’t do here in Wappler that you’ve previously done in Bubble. And I’ll go out on a limb and say I would be equally shocked if you did find a major gap, and is not filled by the Wappler team within a couple weeks. It has been my experience that my api work has been made easier, more standardized, and reliable than my Bubble apps.

–Ken

#16

Hey Ken…

Thanks for your message!

Yes, good to see you here too… I read through a lot of your posts, and sensed you were pretty happy! It’s going to be a slow changeover, but one I am excited about. I’ve seen you’ve been quite active in API work here, so glad to hear you are still happy!

Yes, the pricing issue, the speed, and the constant introduction of bugs without a decent way of rapidly reporting them has finally got too much for me… and I’m really excited about the chance to try something new, fast, exciting and flexible. Am delighted to hear you are happy here… that makes a huge difference.

Speak soon!

All the best,
Antony.

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#17

Hi Antony,

Good to see you around.

Worst case scenario in Bubble you are royally screwed because of the closed platform. There are things you just can’t do. Even if you have all the money in the world.

Worst case scenario in Wappler you can always add your own code or pay someone to code it for you. Frontend and backend code. It is all there available for you.

And that is a huge difference. It will help you sleep better knowing that with knowledge or money you can fix it. Two things you can actually control.

So everything that can be programmed can be done on your website. The great majority of things can be done out-of-the-box with Wappler and for the others you still have options: coding, paying or requesting the feature here.

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#18

Hey @JonL…

Great to receive your response… I’m feeling very welcomed by old Bubble friends!

Definitely, sleeping better at night is my aim… Bubble is potentially a winner with the right attitude of the management, but sadly I just don’t feel safe in their hands.

As you say, the flexibility is what I crave. I actually relish a little bit of coding here and there to get the job done.

I’m really looking forward to the Wappler journey…

All the best,
Antony.

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