Server Request (Obsolete)

Audience: Low-code Engineers

Skill Prerequisites: Actions, Tokens, HTTP, JSON

Sends an HTTP request to a URL and saves the response in tokens.

caution

This action is obsolete. Use Server Request instead. It has the same parameters, plus file uploads and client certificates. See Migrating to Server Request.

note

This action requires the Data Integration feature to be licensed.

Typical Use Cases

• Keep existing applications that already use it running
• Call a REST API or webhook with form, JSON or XML data

Don't use it to

• Build anything new. Use Server Request.
• Upload files or use a client certificate. Only Server Request supports them.

Related Actions

Action Name	Description
Server Request	The replacement for this action.
Parse JSON Into Tokens	Turns a JSON response into tokens.
Regex	Extracts values from a text response.

Input Parameter Reference

Parameter	Description	Supports Tokens	Default	Required
URL	The address to send the request to. Can be absolute or relative to the portal.	Yes	http://example.com	Yes
Url Token Encoding	How token values in the URL are encoded. URL Encoding URL-encodes each token value. No Encoding inserts token values as they are. Use it when a token holds a whole URL or a path with /.	No	URL Encoding	No
Enforce SSL	Rewrites the URL to use https instead of http.	No	false	No
Timeout	How many seconds to wait for the response. Empty or 0 means 100 seconds.	Yes	100	No
Choose an HTTP Method	GET, HEAD, POST, PUT, PATCH or DELETE.	No	GET	Yes
Data	The request data. For GET, each key=value line is added to the query string. For POST, PUT and PATCH, it's the body, in the format of the Content-Type header.	Yes	Sample lines name=[FirstName] and page=[Tab:TabName]	No
Do not escape tokens in Data	For XML bodies only. By default, token values in Data are XML-escaped. Check this when a token holds XML that must be inserted as is.	No	false	No
Disable Referer Header	By default, a Referer header with the current site address is sent. Check this to leave it out.	No	false	No
Headers	Extra request headers, as rows of name and value.	Yes (both columns)	Empty	No
Use DNN Proxy Settings	Sends the request through the proxy set in the DNN host settings.	No	false	No
Add Current Cookies	Sends the current user's browser cookies with the request.	No	false	No
Ignore Errors	Continues with the next actions when the request fails. On Error still runs.	No	false	No
On Error	Actions to run when the request fails. [<OutputTokenName>:ErrorCode] has the HTTP status code and [<OutputTokenName>:ErrorResponse] the response body.	No	Empty	No

Output Parameters Reference

Parameter	Description
Output Token Name	The name of the token that receives the response body, for example ApiResponse for [ApiResponse].
Output Headers	Response headers to save, as rows of header name and token name. For a token named Location, you get [Location] and [Location:Json] (all values as a JSON array). [Location:Csv] isn't created by this action.
Cookie Container	A name for a cookie container that keeps cookies between Server Request actions that use the same name.

The response body is also saved in the [HttpResponse] token. It's kept for old applications only, so use Output Token Name instead.

Behavior

• Form data. Without a JSON or XML Content-Type, Data is sent as key=value pairs joined with &. Values are URL-encoded for you. Content-Type defaults to application/x-www-form-urlencoded for POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE.
• JSON and XML. With a JSON Content-Type, token values are inserted without escaping, so a double quote in a value breaks the JSON. With an XML Content-Type, they're XML-escaped unless Do not escape tokens in Data is checked.
• DELETE sends an empty form body. Data is ignored.
• Errors. A failed request runs On Error. If On Error doesn't end execution and Ignore Errors isn't checked, the action fails with Server request to the following URL failed:, the URL and the server's response. All users see this message.
• Ignored errors. When Ignore Errors is checked, the error response, or the error message if there was no response, is saved in [<OutputTokenName>].

Migrating to Server Request

Change the action type from PostData to ServerRequestHttpClient. All parameter IDs are the same, so the values carry over:

Server Request (Obsolete)	Server Request	Notes
URL, Url Token Encoding, Enforce SSL, Timeout	Same	No change.
Choose an HTTP Method, Data, Do not escape tokens in Data	Same	DELETE sends no body in either action.
Headers, Disable Referer Header, Use DNN Proxy Settings, Add Current Cookies	Same	No change.
Ignore Errors, On Error	Same	Administrators see more detail in the error message.
Output Token Name, Cookie Container	Same	With Ignore Errors, [<OutputTokenName>] holds the server's error body, not an error message, when the request fails.
Output Headers	Same	Also creates [<Token>:Csv]. Content headers such as Content-Type can't be read.
[HttpResponse] token	None	Use [<OutputTokenName>] instead.
None	Client Certificate, Files, File Identifiers	New options.

Considerations

• Clear the sample Data. With GET, the sample lines in Data are added to the query string.
• Portal context. Relative URLs and the Referer header need a portal, such as in forms or Automation. Where there's no portal, use an absolute URL and check Disable Referer Header.
• Keep secrets out of the action. Put API keys and passwords in tokens, not as plain text.

Examples

tip

To understand how to use the below examples, please see Running Examples.

1. Post form data to a webhook

This action posts two form fields and saves the response in [WebhookResponse]. To migrate it, change ActionType to ServerRequestHttpClient.

{
    "Title": "Server Request (Obsolete)",
    "ActionType": "PostData",
    "Description": "Notify the webhook about a new signup",
    "Parameters": {
        "URL": "https://api.example.com/webhooks/signup",
        "HttpMethod": "POST",
        "Data": "email=[Email]\nsource=website",
        "Headers": [
            {
                "name": "X-Api-Key",
                "value": "[ApiKey]"
            }
        ],
        "OutputTokenName": "WebhookResponse"
    }
}

Revised 09/26/2026