Data Exchange Gateway (DEX) Resources

This page provides information regarding integration with DEX resources and how to automate and interpret the HTTP responses. Additional integration guidelines will be added as they become available.

How to submit to a DEX resource using curl

Curl is command line tool and library for interacting with URLs. It is available for all major operating systems and comes installed to Windows 10 and 11 by default. Each DEX resource will come with the required curl command to test access to the resource.

Example:

curl -L -X PUT https://dex.web.health.state.mn.us/api/resources/proxy/nonprod/do/not/use -u $USERNAME:$PASSWORD -H "Content-Type:application/octet-stream" -H "Content-Disposition:inline; filename=$FILENAME" --data-binary @$FILEPATH$FILENAME

• $USERNAME should be your email address.
• $PASSWORD should be your password.
• $FILENAME is the name of the file on your local system you wish to send.
• $FILEPATH is the location of that file on your system.

For Windows users that are not familiar with command line tools, try this approach: 

1. Navigate to the folder where the file exists you wish to send. In Windows this is called the explorer window.
2. Click once into the navigation bar of the explorer window. The path in the navigation bar should appear blue.
3. Type “cmd” (without quotes) and hit enter. This will open a command prompt in the directory you have navigated to.
4. Run the curl command provided on the resource page.

In addition, if there is no need to automate these tasks. You can skip the curl components entirely and simply use the resource page to upload the file via the “Choose” button.

How to use curlconverter.com

Curlconverter is a useful utility for developers to translate a curl command into a programming language. Simply paste the curl command in the curl command windows and select the language below you want to curl command converted into.

Response codes

• 200 - The request was accepted.
• 307 - The location of the request has moved. Redirect to the provided URL.
• 422 - Unprocessable Entity. The data was unable to be validated. The format is correct, but elements of the message do not meet the specification.
• 400 - Bad Request: The data was not manageable.  This can be caused by the message being too large.
• 401 - Unauthorized:  The request was not authorized to be allowed.
• 403 - Forbidden: The request if forbidden by the authorization services.
• 404 - Not Found.  Unknown resource
• 500 - Internal Server Error:  This is normally caused by temporary network outages.  Retry the message later and if it does not work, reach out for assistance.

Informational errors and warnings

Just because you are receiving a 200 ok response does not mean the message does not have errors. Informational and warning level messages will not cause the message to fail validation, but warning and informational level messages may be updated to error level messages and begin producing 422 response codes. DEX resource updates will always allow for 90 days between introduction of a warning before it may be escalated to an error level. All warnings within a response should be reviewed on a regular basis so that corrective action can be taken before the messages begin to fail validation.