# Custom App Series - Step 2 - Creating a Connection

## Objective

This document will demonstrate how to set up a custom connection to an external Web API endpoint.

## Introduction to API

The iX Hello platform can integrate with external platform via Web API’s and to demonstrate this capability, we have created a demo API endpoint (<https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users>) in our web app “[https://bots.ixhello.com](https://bots.ixhello.com/)”. We created multiple API endpoints for Contacts module and will be using the endpoint that searches an underlying contacts database and returns the contact number of a specific person.

The web app that we created has the ability to perform CRUD operations against the underlying contacts database that is triggered by calls to the exposed contact API’s in [https://bots.ixhello.com](https://bots.ixhello.com/)

Web App URL: [https://bots.ixhello.com](https://bots.ixhello.com/)

Contact Finder: <https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users>

Here is a sample contact in the database.

<figure><img src="/files/INcA92mToSj9ATTnyIXw" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

## Goal

Our goal will be on how to setup a custom connection to an external web API endpoint and check if the connection is validated.

## Steps

To be able to set up a custom connection in the iX Hello platform, it is mandatory to first sign up on the iX Hello platform. To sign up, please go to this link [here](https://bots.ixhello.com/). Set up connection to the external web API

## Set up connection to the external web API

1. Login to the iX Hello platform, use left navigation menu and click “**Integration**” then select “**Connect System”**. In the resulting page, click “**Connect External Systems**”.

<figure><img src="/files/vAbYgFCwUQhjR5L0u7q2" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

2. In “**Connect External System**” select or do the following:

**Choose Connection:** Rest API Service

**Click**: Next

<figure><img src="/files/G4ut54wTXadPIZQUYXVM" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

3. Once in “**Rest API Service Setup**” select or enter the following:

**System Instance Name:** ContactFinder

**Authorization Type:** No Auth

**Base API URL:** jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/

**Click Save**

Click on Validate System and Click on Save after the connection is validated.

<figure><img src="/files/vWQzZWoT6agu52UiMSTz" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

<figure><img src="/files/h7WSVnNhvolKjIMee0hj" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>


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