Outbound REST call with timeout and error handling

A REST call without a timeout or status check is an outage waiting to happen. This wraps the essentials in one reusable function.

function callApi(endpoint, method, payload) {
  var rm = new sn_ws.RESTMessageV2();
  rm.setEndpoint(endpoint);
  rm.setHttpMethod(method || 'get');
  rm.setRequestHeader('Accept', 'application/json');
  rm.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json');
  rm.setHttpTimeout(10000); // 10 seconds
  if (payload) rm.setRequestBody(JSON.stringify(payload));

  var res = rm.execute();
  var status = res.getStatusCode();
  var text = res.getBody();

  if (status < 200 || status >= 300) {
    gs.warn('API call failed: ' + method + ' ' + endpoint + ' -> ' + status + ' ' + res.getErrorMessage());
    return { ok: false, status: status };
  }
  try {
    return { ok: true, status: status, data: text ? JSON.parse(text) : null };
  } catch (e) {
    gs.warn('API returned invalid JSON from ' + endpoint);
    return { ok: false, status: status };
  }
}

How it works

• setHttpTimeout() stops a slow API from holding a transaction open.
• Every non-2xx status is logged with the method and endpoint, never with tokens or payloads.
• JSON parsing is guarded, so a bad response can’t throw an unhandled error.

Gotchas

• For real integrations, define a REST Message record with credentials or a connection alias rather than hardcoding endpoints.
• Calls through a MID Server need setMIDServer().
• In a business rule, run slow calls asynchronously (an async rule or a flow) so users aren’t kept waiting.