Retry API call?

Workflows
1

I have an API endpoint to a 3rd party that starts a process on their end. Then I have a 2nd endpoint that calls the status of that original request. I'd like to call that 2nd endpoint, and if the [state] property == 'In progress', then wait a bit, and re-run it. Eventually it will return 'Complete', or 'Approved' or something, and then I can move on down my branch.

I'm using a branch and some code to implement the wait, but I can't connect the wait block back to the previous query because it "creates a cycle". This is actually what I intend, but apparently it's forbidden. What's the best process to do this?

Thanks!

2

Here's a scrubbed screenshot if it helps for context.

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3

Hey @pyee!

Thanks for asking this question during Office Hours on Tuesday. Just posting here as a follow-up for anyone else who might run into this:

At the moment, I would try using a Function Block inside of a code block to try the query until it succeeds. You could do something like

const maxTries = 10;
for(let i = 0; i < maxTries; i++){   
  const result = await getQuoteFunction(/* ...params */);
  if(result.data.state === "In Progress"){
    await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 10000));
    continue;
  }
  return result;
}

throw new Error("max tries reached");

Doing automated retries for blocks is something the dev team is interested in, however, and we can let you know here if it's included!

4

Update!

Workflows blocks now support error handling that includes automatic retries :confetti_ball:

5

Excellent, thanks! I'll still use the current pattern, as what comes back in the case I mentioned above is not an error, but an 'In Progress' result, but I'm sure this will come in handy in other cases that do return error codes.