Overview

The iVendNext Action Node is the component that reads from and writes to your iVendNext tenant from within an n8n workflow. It is the operational arm of the connector — the part that creates documents, retrieves records, applies updates, and removes drafts. Where the Trigger Node listens for events, the Action Node does work.

This article explains what the Action Node does, how it is organised, what each of its five operations covers, and how to use its more advanced capabilities.

---

What the Action Node Is For

The Action Node executes on demand. It runs when the workflow reaches it — whether that workflow was started by a schedule, by a button, by another application sending a signal, or by the iVendNext Trigger Node detecting an event.

Every operation the Action Node performs is on a document. In iVendNext, every record — a Sales Order, a customer, an item, a purchase invoice — is a document. The Action Node works with all of them. When you configure it, you choose the Document Type (which category of record to act on), and then the specific operation to perform.

How It Is Organised

The Action Node always asks three questions in order:

A resource is always a document. Because every record in iVendNext is a document, a single resource cleanly covers the entire platform — there is no separate configuration for customers versus orders versus items.

Operation is what to do: Create, Get, Get Many, Update, or Delete. These five operations cover every interaction a workflow might need with iVendNext data.

DocType is which type of document to act on. The dropdown is loaded live from your tenant, so it always reflects your exact document structure, including any custom DocTypes you have defined.

The Five Operations

Create adds a new document to iVendNext. When you select a DocType and set the operation to Create, the node presents the field list for that document type. Required fields appear first. You fill in or map the values, and the node creates the document when the workflow runs. Use Create to turn a web order into a Sales Order, to add a new customer, or to record a stock transfer.

Get retrieves one document by its name — the unique identifier that iVendNext assigns to every record. You supply the Document Name (often mapped from an earlier step in the workflow using an expression), and the node returns the full document. Use Get to look up a single customer's details, to fetch a specific order, or to read a price record before deciding what to do next.

Get Many returns a list of documents, with optional filtering, field selection, and a result limit. It is the workhorse for reporting, bulk synchronisation, and any automation that needs to work across a set of records rather than a single one. A Get Many on Sales Orders can return every order placed today, every invoice over a certain value, or every item with stock below a threshold — depending on the filters applied.

Update changes fields on an existing document. You supply the Document Name and the fields to change. The node applies the update to the existing record without affecting other fields. Use Update to write a tracking number back to an order, to change an item's price, or to set a document's status after an external action has occurred.

Delete removes a document by its name. Only draft documents (those that have not been submitted) can be deleted. Use Delete to clean up cancelled drafts or to remove test records created during workflow development.

Entering Field Values

When you select a Document Type for Create or Update operations, the node fetches that type's full field list from your tenant and presents it. Behind-the-scenes housekeeping fields — created-on timestamps, internal counters, layout-only elements — are hidden automatically, so you only see fields that carry business data.

Fields are presented in the format that matches their type in iVendNext. A text field becomes a text box; a choice field becomes a dropdown; a date field becomes a date picker; a number field becomes a number input. You fill them in directly or map values from earlier steps in the workflow using n8n expressions.

For fields that are not shown in the standard panel — less common fields, custom fields on specialised DocTypes, or the line-item tables on transactional documents — the Meta Fields section accepts Field Name and Value pairs. The Field Name must match the field's exact internal name in iVendNext. The Value accepts n8n expressions, so you can pass numbers, dates, or nested arrays from earlier steps. This is how order line items are handled: the items table on a Sales Order is passed as an array via a Meta Fields expression, with each array element containing the item code, quantity, and rate.

Get Many: Filtering and Field Selection

Get Many has several options that shape the results it returns:

Filters let you narrow the result set by field, operator, and value. You can filter by exact match, exclusion, greater-than, less-than, or range comparisons. Combine multiple conditions to fetch precisely the records your workflow needs — for example, all Sales Orders from today with a grand total above a threshold, or all items in a particular item group with stock below a reorder level.

Field Names or IDs let you specify which columns come back. Returning only the fields your workflow actually needs keeps results fast and tidy, and avoids sending unnecessary data through subsequent steps.

Return All pages through the entire result set automatically, regardless of size. This is the correct setting for a bulk synchronisation that must process every matching record. When Return All is off, you can set a Limit to cap the number of results returned — useful for "top N" lists, live demos, and exploratory automations.

Continue on Fail

When a workflow processes multiple records — for example, a Get Many result feeding into a Create for each item — one bad record will normally stop the entire run. The Continue on Fail setting changes this behaviour. With it enabled, a record that fails is passed through the workflow with an error note attached, rather than halting the run. You can then route those failed items to a separate branch — a review list, an alert, a Slack notification — so nothing is silently lost.

This is especially important in retail automations that handle large batches, such as a nightly stock sync or a bulk order import. One anomalous record should not stop hundreds of good ones from processing.

Identifying Documents for Get, Update, and Delete

These three operations act on a specific record, so they require the Document Name — the unique identifier for that record. In iVendNext, a Sales Order might have the name SAL-ORD-2026-00148; a customer might be identified simply by the company name.

The Document Name is most often mapped from an earlier step in the workflow using an n8n expression. For example, a Trigger Node that fires on a new Sales Order delivers the full order document, including its name. The next Action Node — perhaps a Get to fetch the customer associated with that order — uses an expression like {{ $json.customer }} to pass the customer name forward automatically.