Helper actions

Helper actions are lightweight utility actions for connecting, transforming, and manipulating data between the larger actions in your flows. Use them to tasks such as parsing file paths, encoding URLs, extracting values from JSON objects, and building new data structures.

Helper actions do not consume Amplience Credits.

Tip

These action descriptions cover the most commonly used inputs and outputs. When designing flows, you may also notice additional input and output variables.

Set Custom Attributes

Allows you to add custom attributes for improved filtering and searching of review output.

Inputs: String

Outputs: None

How to use: Specify key-value attribute pairs in your flows - up to a maximum of 10 pairs per flow.

This example shows the Set Custom Attributes action being used to configure Image Type and SKU as custom filters. Once set, these filters appear automatically in the Flows Reviews list.

Tip

The attribute Name is case-sensitive, so use consistent capitalization to avoid duplicate filters.

The Variable is determined by what you want to create filters for, and must be a string value. In this example, the Custom Agent output defines the imageType property values that will be used for filtering reviews:

This would show as an additional filter in the Reviews list filters:

Split File Name

Splits a file path into its parts: directory path, base name, and extension.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
File Path	string	Yes	The file path or filename to extract parts from (e.g. documents/product-1.jpg)

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
Base Name	string	The name of the file without its extension
Extension	string	The file extension (e.g. .pdf)
Directory Path	string	The directory path leading to the file (empty if none)

Featured in these example flows

• Image tagging and Content Hub upload example

Convert from JSON

Converts a JSON string into structured data (objects, arrays, numbers, or text) you can use in your flow.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
JSON String	string	Yes	The JSON text to decode (e.g. {"sku": "123456"})

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
JSON Object	any	The result of decoding the JSON string. This may be an object, array, number, string, or boolean, depending on the input

Convert to JSON String

Transforms JSON data into a JSON string representation.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
Object	any	No	The object to encode (e.g. { product: "shirt" })

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
JSON String	string	The result of transforming the object into a JSON string

Featured in these example flows

• Webhook trigger example- JIRA

Get Values from JSON

Extracts specific fields or values from data using JSONPath expressions.

Configuration

Before using this action, define the values you want to extract. For each value, provide a name and a JSONPath expression that identifies the field to extract from the input data. Each configured value appears as a separate output on the action.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
Values to Extract	any	No	The data object or array to extract values from

Outputs

The output fields for this action are determined by the values you define in the action configuration. Each configured value appears as a separate output field using the name you provided.

Featured in these example flows

• Automatic alt text example

Build JSON object

Builds a JSON object from a set of properties you define when configuring the action.

Configuration

Before using this action, define the properties you want to include in the output object. Each property you add becomes an input field on the action, allowing you to populate it with a value or a variable from an earlier action in the flow.

Inputs

The input fields for this action are determined by the properties you define in the action configuration. Each configured property appears as a separate input field.

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
JSON Object	object	A JSON object containing the properties and values provided as inputs

Transform JSON

Transforms input data using either a Handlebars template or a JSONata query.

Configuration

Before using this action, choose the transform language and provide the template or query to apply.

Setting	Description
Transform Language	The language to use for the transformation. Accepted values: Handlebars, JSONata (default)
Template	A Handlebars template to apply to the input data. Only shown when Transform Language is set to Handlebars
Query	A JSONata query to apply to the input data. Only shown when Transform Language is set to JSONata

Inputs and outputs

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
Data	any	No	The JSON data to transform

Outputs

The output field depends on the transform language configured.

Output	Type	Language	Description
Output Text	string	Handlebars	The transformed output as a text string
Output Data	any	JSONata	The transformed output as structured data

Combining inputs to Transform JSON

The Transform JSON helper accepts a single input. If you need to transform JSON data from multiple inputs, you can first combine them into a single object by using the Build JSON Object helper.

Example

Transform JSON allows you to take JSON input and transform it into the required structure. This is particularly useful when getting data from another system, in the form of a webhook payload, for example, and easily changing its structure to send to an action.

In the simplified example shown below, we're building a JSON object from user input, in this case two images, and then transforming it into an image format that can be passed to an action that accepts two images. To do this we're using a JSONata query to combine the two image objects onto a single array:

$each($, function($v) { $v })

In the configuration section of the action, set the Transform language, in this case JSONata, but you can also use handlebars.

The input is the JSON to process, in this example the output of the Build JSON object action.

Here's an example of the flow running. The output of the Build JSON action is shown, containing the images chosen by the user. But we need this data as an array of images, so we need to transform it.

After running the Transform JSON action, the JSON is now has the correct structure to send as input to our action.

Encode URL

Encodes a string into a URL-safe format.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
URL	string	Yes	The URL to encode

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
Encoded URL	string	The result of encoding the URL

Decode URL

Decodes a URL-encoded string into plain text.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
URL	string	Yes	The URL-encoded string to decode

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
Decoded URL	string	The result of decoding the URL

Get Item from List

Identifies and extracts the value for the first, last, or nth item in a list.

Inputs

Input	Type	Required	Description
List	array	Yes	The list of items to choose from
How to select the Item	string	Yes	Whether to return the first item, the last item, or an item at a specific position. Accepted values: first (default), last, index
Position	number	No	The position of the item to extract, starting at 0. Only required when How to select the Item is set to index

Outputs

Output	Type	Description
Item	any	The item found at the requested location

Related pages

Adding actions to flows

Inputs, outputs and ports

Input field variables