Effortlessly Connect Webstatus247 via Webhooks :

An application needs to communicate with other applications, servers, and users. There are different software tools and techniques to accomplish this. Application programming interfaces (APIs) are commonly used for such purposes. APIs are two-way communication systems and require more computing resources to maintain. Webhooks provide a simpler and less resource-intensive way to achieve some common information-sharing needs.

Let’s say you are a huge fan of the Boston Red Sox. You absolutely have to be in the office on a World Series game. You would love to know the scores in the game, but you cannot access the websites you’d need to visit from the office network. You just need to know the status of the number of home runs in the game, maybe because you made a small wager on the number of home runs.

Even if accessing the website or API was possible, you need to actively send requests to get the status of home runs. That means you’d have to check-in periodically to find out if the score has changed and who has hit the most recent home runs. This takes up bandwidth and computational power, and it’s not the best utilization of resources.

Introduction to Webhooks

Webhooks are a way to communicate automated messages between applications using the HTTP protocol. Unlike APIs, webhooks are one-way communication systems. One application triggers an action in another based on specific events.

How to Use Webhooks

Set Up URL: The application receiving the message needs to provide a URL.

Define Event: Specify the event that triggers the webhook.

Each individual call is rate-limited. For specific details please review the documentation for the specific call or contact Splunk On-Call support.

Message Structure:

URL: Specifies the destination.

Body: Contains data (JSON/XML format).

Header: Defines how the payload is formatted.

Request Method: Actions like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE.

Webhooks vs. APIs

Due to the nature of webhooks, they are also called lightweight APIs. They are also sometimes referred to as reverse APIs. However, webhooks and APIs have many differences between them in spite of some similarities.

CRUD

APIs can be used to create, read, update and delete data from the API provider. Webhooks cannot manipulate data. They can only be used to read information.

Push vs. Pull

Actions performed with APIs require active effort from the user, and specific instruction has to be passed with the API. This can be considered a pull operation. On the other hand, webhooks trigger messages when an event occurs, which is a push operation.

Request vs. Events

APIs are request-based. This means the application or user that needs information has to send a request to the respective server according to the API standards. On the other hand, webhooks are event-based. When an event occurs, a message is pushed out to the recipient, usually with HTTP protocol.

Resource Utilization

Implementing an API requires more resources. It uses more bandwidth and computing power to receive, process, and respond to the API calls. Also, to keep tabs on status changes with APIs, requests have to be sent constantly. Webhooks require relatively few resources, as HTTP messages are triggered only when the defined event occurs.

Communication Direction

APIs support two-way communication, meaning that two services connected with an API can talk to each other. On the other hand, webhooks only allow for one-way communication. The messages originate from the service at which the events occur and are sent to the service receiving the information.

Data Volume

Webhooks are typically used when the volume of data to be transmitted is small. Webhooks are generally not capable of handling large data volumes. APIs don’t have such limitations. Instead, the limitations on APIs are determined by the API provider’s infrastructure capability.

Real-time Data

When data is required in real-time, webhooks are a better solution as the messages are pushed out. APIs aren’t as useful for real-time information dissemination, because API calls have to be made regularly to receive real-time data. This can result in wasted resources and bandwidth.

Other Real-World Examples of Webhooks in Practice

E-commerce websites send regular emails while users are transacting with the site. Adding a product to their shopping cart, making a purchase, product movement with the logistics provider, etc. are all considered events. These events can trigger emails to the user. This can be accomplished by a webhook integration with the e-commerce platform and a transactional email provider. This automatically sends the appropriate transactional emails according to the events triggered.

One of the common two-factor authentication techniques used is a code provided as an SMS message. When a user tries to log in to a website by entering the login credential, it’s an event. This event triggers sending an SMS message to the user. This can be implemented by a webhook with the platform and a messaging service like Twilio. The action of sending the code is automated and happens based on a trigger event, which is the user entering the correct login credentials for the website.

Event-driven Automation

Webhooks are increasingly being used in modern application development, and more applications are adopting webhook support as a feature. This will help to simplify app-to-app communication and enable event-driven software process automation.

Whether you use APIs or webhooks to set up notifications, MagicBell’s complete notification system allows you to centralize and sync notifications, ensuring that users never miss important notifications while also ensuring that you don’t notify users twice on different platforms. Try it yourself.