SDMX API

Description

The SDMX API activity builds and executes an SDMX data request, asks the service for CSV output with labels, and parses the CSV response into workflow data rows. It supports SDMX agency, dataflow, version, data key, period filters, detail level, and dimension-at-observation configuration.

Supported Features

GET and POST request methods: Supports GET and POST.
SDMX data path construction: Builds data/{AgentId},{DataflowIdentifier},{Version}/{DataKey}.
Full data fallback: Uses all when DataKey is empty.
Optional query filters: Supports startPeriod, endPeriod, detail, and dimensionAtObservation.
CSV parsing: Parses the SDMX CSV response into data rows.
Numeric conversion: Converts integer and decimal-looking values into numeric values where possible.

Input

Type	Required	Description
None	No	This activity does not consume data or file input from previous activities.

Input Scenarios

1. Full Dataflow

No input data is required. Leave DataKey empty to request all series.

2. Filtered Dataflow

No input data is required. Configure DataKey, StartPeriod, and EndPeriod to limit the SDMX response.

Output

The activity returns rows parsed from the CSV response body.

Field	Type	Description
Data	Array	One row per CSV record returned by the SDMX API. Column names come from the CSV header row.
Errors	Array	Returned only when the request fails with an exception.

Example Output

{
  "Data": [
    {
      "STRUCTURE": "DATAFLOW",
      "STRUCTURE_ID": "ABS,CPI,1.0",
      "TIME_PERIOD": "2025-Q4",
      "OBS_VALUE": 125.6
    },
    {
      "STRUCTURE": "DATAFLOW",
      "STRUCTURE_ID": "ABS,CPI,1.0",
      "TIME_PERIOD": "2026-Q1",
      "OBS_VALUE": 126.1
    }
  ]
}

Configuration Fields

Field Name	Type	Required	Description
RequestType	Dropdown	Yes	HTTP method. Options: `GET`, `POST`. Any other value fails with `Unsupported request type`. Default is `GET`.
Base URL	Text	Yes	Base SDMX REST endpoint, for example `https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest`.
AgentId	Text	Yes	SDMX agency identifier, for example `ABS`.
DataflowIdentifier	Selector	Yes	Dataflow identifier used in the SDMX path.
Version	Text	Yes	Dataflow or structure version used in the SDMX path.
DataKey	Text	No	SDMX series key. If empty, the activity uses `all`.
StartPeriod	Text	No	Optional `startPeriod` query parameter, for example `2020` or `2020-Q1`.
EndPeriod	Text	No	Optional `endPeriod` query parameter, for example `2023` or `2023-Q4`.
Detail	Text	No	Optional SDMX `detail` query parameter.
DimensionAtObservation	Text	No	Optional `dimensionAtObservation` query parameter.

Conditional Field Rendering Rules

No conditional configuration fields are defined for this activity.

Sample Configuration

Field	Value
RequestType	`GET`
Base URL	`https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest`
AgentId	`ABS`
DataflowIdentifier	`CPI`
Version	`1.0`
DataKey	`all`
StartPeriod	`2020-Q1`
EndPeriod	`2026-Q1`
Detail	`dataonly`
DimensionAtObservation	`AllDimensions`

Request Built By Activity

https://data.api.abs.gov.au/rest/data/ABS,CPI,1.0/all?startPeriod=2020-Q1&endPeriod=2026-Q1&detail=dataonly&dimensionAtObservation=AllDimensions

Sample Output

{
  "Data": [
    {
      "TIME_PERIOD": "2026-Q1",
      "OBS_VALUE": 126.1,
      "UNIT_MEASURE": "Index"
    }
  ]
}