Creating Client-side actions

Client-side actions provide a mechanism to launch out from the Cloud Pak for AIOps user interface in the user's browser to any third-party website.

The Client-side action provider allows you to build a URL from a core URL string and some optional parameters. It is highly recommended to use the HTTPS protocol, in order to have the communication encrypted and signed. If required in your environment, and if compliant with your company's security guidelines, you can also use the unencrypted HTTP protocol (for example, in some test scenarios). To run a client-side action, (for example, as an automated step within a runbook) click the Launch button. When running a client-side action, the parameters are replaced with the actual values, and the resulting URL is launched in a new browser tab. You can review the URL in the action output area and launch it again by clicking the displayed URL hyperlink.

Client-side actions are composed in the runbook back-end service but they are run in the browser context. Therefore, all runbooks that contain automated steps with client-side actions are considered as manual runbooks. Runbooks that are intended to be run fully automated must not contain client-side actions.

If the third-party website requires authentication, then it will typically ask to provide login credentials before opening the requested page. It is not recommended to use parameters within the client-side action to contain sensitive information (such as user passwords), as they can be seen in clear text in the resulting URL. As a result, password-style string parameters are not supported for client-side actions.

  1. To create a client-side action, click Actions > Create action and complete the following fields:.

  • Type:

    Select Client-side.

  • Name:

    Provide a name that describes what this action does. For example, IBM homepage search.

  • Description:

    Provide any helpful additional information so that the user can immediately understand which problem this action solves. For example, Search the IBM home page for the given subject.

  • Tags:

    Provide tags to filter actions. You can select any existing tags from the drop-down list and click the plus icon "+" to add them. To create a new tag, type the text into the field, select the text string displayed, and click the plus icon "+".

  • Action client URL:

    Configure the URL for your action. It is highly recommended to use the HTTPS protocol, so the API endpoint URL should start with "https://". Only if absolutely needed and if in compliance with your company's security guidelines, you can also use the HTTP protocol, so the API endpoint URL may start with "http://". You can use parameters. Parameter names must be prefixed with the $ character. For example, https://www.ibm.com/search?q=$query. Alternatively, specify a parameter that contains a full valid URL of the third-party website at the time when the client-side action is started. For example: $openTicketWebPageURL.

  • Action parameters:

    Add input parameters to run the action. Those input parameters can be referred in the URL. For example, a parameter query can be referred as $query. The parameter query can be defined as follows:

    • Name: query
    • Description: The subject to be searched on the IBM home page
    • Type: A single string value
    • Minimum length: 1
    • Maximum length: not selected
    • Password: not selected
    • Set a default value: selected
    • Default value: runbook

  1. Add the action to the runbook, see Adding actions.

  2. Run the runbook, see Run a runbook.