What are web services?
  • 10 May 2024
  • 1 minute to read

What are web services?


Article summary

We do not recommend using legacy web services for new projects where there is a GraphQL API for the same service. All new services will be built for the external GraphQL API, which has a number of advantages over the legacy system. Please refer to the GraphQL developer documentation for more information.

To add a new external web service, follow these steps:

  1. Go to Quick-access menu > Plugins > Web services > External services.
  2. Click Add
  3. Fill out the form as required. You can click Show more... to see additional options. Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*).
  4. Click Add service to save this new external service.

Manage protocols

The Manage protocols page (Quick-access menu > Plugins > Web services > Manage protocols) allows you to enable or disable various web service protocols. Available protocols are: AMF, REST, SOAP, and XML-RPC.

It is recommended for security reasons that you only enable protocols that are in use by your site.

If you are either a developer yourself or you are working with a web services client developer then you will want to enable Web services documentation. You can do this by ticking the Web services documentation box, then clicking Save changes

Manage tokens

You can generate a unique token for any users in the system. Note that this is the only way to generate tokens for admin users.

The Manage tokens page (Quick-access menu > Plugins > Web services > Manage tokens) will show you a list of all currently issued tokens. You can click Delete to get rid of any of these. The list only shows the details of the current tokens, and not the tokens themselves (to maintain their security and integrity). 

To create a new token, follow these steps:

  1. Click Add (under the list of tokens).
  2. Complete the mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk). You can also add an IP restriction and Valid until date. 
  3. Once you have entered all the required information, click Save changes to generate the token. 
  4. You will be shown the newly created token, which you will need to copy before closing the page, as it will not be shown again.
Can't find what you're looking for? Contact us at documentation@totara.com. Alternatively, book a call to have a chat about your Totara platform with a dedicated Customer Success Manager.

© Copyright 2024 Totara Learning Solutions. All rights reserved. Some content originally obtained via GPLv3 license and continues to be available under GPLv3. All other content is the sole copyright of Totara Learning Solutions. 

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