Bug in AddQueueItem API

Hello,
I am having an error 500 when trying to invoke Orchestrator API to add queue items which contains complex information (i.e. not only primitives key-value pairs): the funny part is that even the Swagger API documentation example gives the error.

Here is an example:

Input:

{
  "itemData": {
    "Name": "Queue",
    "Priority": "High",
    "SpecificContent": {
      "DynamicProperties": {}
    },
    "DeferDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
    "DueDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
    "Reference": "string"
  }      
}

Output of Orchestrator 2018.1 APis:

   {
    "message": "queueItemParameters is null!",
    "errorCode": 0,
    "resourceIds": null
   }

The only way to make it work is to send only key-value pairs inside the “SpecificContent” field (you get the same error if you try to send anything different from a key-value, i.e. if you try to put a complex object inside or an array).
So the only way to work with the APIs is to send something like:

{
  "itemData": {
    "Name": "StageOneQueue",
    "Priority": "High",
    "SpecificContent": {
      "key1": "value1",
      "key2": 34,
      "myArrayItem1Field1": "item1Field1_value",
      "myArrayItem1Field2": "item1Field2_value",
      "myArrayItem2Field1": "item2Field1_value",
      "myArrayItem2Field2": "item2Field2_value"
    },
    "DeferDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
    "DueDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
    "Reference": "ref2"
  }
  
}

In this case it works, here is the full output:

{
"@odata.context": "https://vbox-uipath/odata/$metadata#queueItem/$entity",
"QueueDefinitionId": 2,
"OutputData": null,
"Status": "New",
"ReviewStatus": "None",
"ReviewerUserId": null,
"Key": "0f9d8618-cbe0-49a4-90d1-d898afe1a540",
"Reference": "ref2",
"ProcessingExceptionType": null,
"DueDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
"Priority": "High",
"DeferDate": "2018-04-02T15:41:44.806Z",
"StartProcessing": null,
"EndProcessing": null,
"SecondsInPreviousAttempts": 0,
"AncestorId": null,
"RetryNumber": 0,
"SpecificData": "{\"DynamicProperties\":{\"key1\":\"value1\",\"key2\":34,\"myArrayItem1Field1\":\"item1Field1_value\",\"myArrayItem1Field2\":\"item1Field2_value\",\"myArrayItem2Field1\":\"item2Field1_value\",\"myArrayItem2Field2\":\"item2Field2_value\"}}",
"CreationTime": "2018-04-02T16:33:41.7712822Z",
"Progress": null,
"RowVersion": "AAAAAAABMO8=",
"Id": 80,
"ProcessingException": null,
"SpecificContent": {
    "key1": "value1",
    "key2": 34,
    "myArrayItem1Field1": "item1Field1_value",
    "myArrayItem1Field2": "item1Field2_value",
    "myArrayItem2Field1": "item2Field1_value",
    "myArrayItem2Field2": "item2Field2_value"
},
"Output": null
}

As you can see as part of the output, you get this interesting information:

....
 "SpecificData": "{\"DynamicProperties\":{\"key1\":\"value1\",\"key2\":34,\"myArrayItem1Field1\":\"item1Field1_value\",\"myArrayItem1Field2\":\"item1Field2_value\",\"myArrayItem2Field1\":\"item2Field1_value\",\"myArrayItem2Field2\":\"item2Field2_value\"}}",
....

So it seems the “DynamicProperties” field is not usable calling the API: this is an issue because it does not enable us to send lists as data inside a queue item.

To my understanding, considering the documentation as “correct”, this is a bug in the implementation.

Any feedbacks on this ?

1 Like

Hi, sorry for the late reply.
I have tested this on my end too, and can confirm that the sample request in swagger cannot be used as-is.
Actually DynamicProperties is more of an internal thing, and is simply the key that maps the SpecificContent into SpecificData.
We are double checking in order to better document all this, but for now it is safe to assume that SpecificContent should be an Object containing only basic JSON types (string, number, boolean, or null)
Nested Objects or Arrays result in the error you mentioned.
Please also note that there are some limitations regarding the characters for string values, which may require some tuning:
https://orchestrator.uipath.com/reference#section-adding-a-queue-item

2 Likes

Hello,
thanks for replying: so in the current version of the APIs it is not possible to enqueue complex objects (eg. a list of items), am I right ?

Thanks and kind regards

Just to be safe, we are double checking, but after running tests using the Studio activity, or even creating a request with swagger/curl, an array of values resulted in an error.
So yes, you are right.

1 Like

Hello @qbrandon

Any update on this?
I have same situation.

Hello,
The expectation is indeed that of a 1-level object.
The documentation mentioned up there is still the source of truth.
On a side-note, you can use JSON.Net to play with JSON in your workflow, so technically, you can store a stringified JSON payload as on of the values of SpecificContent.
That would allow you to pass complex data structures including arrays.

I am using API “https://-----/odata/Queues/UiPathODataSvc.AddQueueItem”.
So, How can we pass Json Array to “SpecificContent”?

You cannot pass an array directly, you can at best pass a stringified representation of the array.

1 Like

Hi All,

Any update on this, as i am also facing the same issue.

No change so far: you still need to serialize/deserialize yourself your custom payload if you wish to work with non-primitive types in SpecificContent.

1 Like