Managing Config Data Object authentications

With Config Data Object authentication, you can perform the following tasks:

• View variables and values after the authentication is saved.
• Add new variables and values without recreating the authentication.
• Update existing variable keys and values directly in the Edit authentication dialog.
• Delete variables.

Understanding Config Data Object authentications

The Config Data Object authentication differs from traditional authentication in how it handles configuration data visibility and management.

Traditional authentication

Traditional authentication (such as Config Data) treat authentication data as a secure box not exposed to users. After you create the traditional authentication, the following restrictions apply:

• You cannot view variables and values in the Edit authentication dialog.
• You cannot update individual values.
• You must redefine the entire authentication object to make any changes.

Config Data Object authentication

The Config Data Object authentication provides greater flexibility by supporting retrievable keys and retrievable values. After you create the Config Data Object authentication, you can manage it in the following ways:

• You can view variable keys when you edit the authentication.
• Variable values remain hidden for security, but you can override them.
• You can update, add, or delete individual variables without recreating the authentication.

Creating a Config Data Object authentication

1. In your Concert Workflows instance, in the sidebar, click Authentications.
2. Click + Create authentication.
3. Enter a name and, optionally, a description.
4. In the Service field, select Config Data Object.
5. In the Data field, in the data object, specify your variable keys and values. Click + to add additional key-value pairs.
6. Click Create.

The new authentication is now available in the authentications list.

Editing a Config Data Object authentication

Deleting a Config Data Object authentication

1. In your Concert Workflows instance, in the sidebar, click Authentications.
2. Open the overflow menu for the authentication.
3. Select Delete.

Accessing configuration data from a workflow

In workflows, you can access configuration data stored in a Config Data Object authentication type by using the Get Config Data block. See the following example to learn more.

Example of creating and using configuration variables:

Step 1: Create a Config Data Object authentication with sample variables:

1. In your Concert Workflows instance, in the sidebar, click Authentications.
2. Click + Create authentication.
3. Enter the following information:
   • Name: GlobalConfig.
   • Description: Global configuration variables for workflows.
   • Service: Config Data Object.
4. In the Property section, under Data, add the following variables:
   • Variable: apiEndpoint, Value: https://api.example.com.
   • Variable: timeout, Value: 30.
5. Click Create.

Step 2: Create a workflow to access the configuration data:

1. In your Concert Workflows instance, in the sidebar, click Workflows.
2. Click Create workflow > Build manually.
3. Enter a name (for example, TestGlobalVariables) and description, then click Create.
4. In the workflow editor, in the side panel, open Common > Config Data.
5. Drag the Get Config Data block into the workflow.
6. In the block configuration, in the authKey field, select the Config Data Object authentication that you created.
7. In the Assign block, set the output of the Get Config Data block to $result.
   • For Variable, enter $result.
   • For Value, enter $GetConfigData_1.result.
8. Click Run to execute the workflow.

After the workflow runs successfully, check the output and verify that the $result variable displays the configuration variables and their values in JSON format:

{ 
"apiEndpoint": "https://api.example.com", 
"timeout": "30"
}

 

Step 3: Edit the authentication and add a new variable:

1. In your Concert Workflows instance, in the sidebar, click Authentications.
2. Locate the GlobalConfig authentication.
3. Open the overflow (three-dot) menu and select Edit.
4. Click Update.
5. Add a new variable that is called retryCount and set its value to 3.
6. Click Save.

Step 4: Run the workflow again and verify the updated values:

1. Open the TestGlobalVariables workflow.
2. Click Run to execute the workflow again.
3. Check the output of the $result variable.
   The output now displays the updated variables and values:

   
   {
   "apiEndpoint":"https://api.newexample.com",
   "timeout": "30",
   "retryCount": "3"
   }

   For more information about workflows, see Using workflows.

Relationship to FaaS Terraform and FaaS Ansible authentications

The Config Data Object authentication extends this retrievable-structure pattern to a general-purpose authentication type that is suitable for complex configuration objects, shared workflow data, and simplified management of FaaS Terraform and FaaS Ansible configurations.

For more information about authentications, see Using authentications.