---
title: "How to use URLs in macros"
canonical: "https://support.appfire.com/space/HTML/70616292/How%20to%20use%20URLs%20in%20macros"
format: markdown
---
> Macro (aura-html)
This article discusses the recommended way of using URLs, especially in correlation with profiles, in the *Html-bobswift* and* XSLT* macros. This page also contains more information about the URLs that can be given, the order used to process URLs, and finally, how URLs must be used with profiles in the macros.
You can connect to an external application or location through a URL and display relevant HTML/XML content on your pages. For this purpose, the macros allow you to use profiles and URLs to specify the complete path to access the required application data. The best practice though, is to specify both, a profile with a base URL and a relative path in the *Location* fields in the macros configuration. This way, you can access multiple locations through the same profile, and render HTML/XML content on your pages.
> ℹ️ Contact your Confluence administrator to know which profiles are available in your instance.
## > Macro (anchor)
URLs in macros
First, it is important to understand how the macro processes profiles and URLs. A URL provided in a macro can be:
- an absolute URL that can be used to access the relevant HTML/XML file,
- a relative path to the actual location of the file to be rendered, or
- an application link (a link between Confluence and another Atlassian application such as Bitbucket or Jira).
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Precedence in URL processing
URLs given in the macros are processed in the following order as explained:
| **Priority given** | **URL type** | **Description** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Application links | If the given URL is linked to a specific application like Bitbucket or Jira, the macro does not require any user credentials, and processes and renders the given file. Refer to [application links](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/14Q1B) for information. |
| 2 | Profiles | If *Profile* is specified, the macro appends the URL given here with the URL specified in the profile configuration, and accesses the location to render the required file. |
| 3 | Simple URLs | Lastly, if no application links or profiles were given, the URLs are processed as-is and the required file is rendered. |
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Importance of URLs with respect to profiles
The correlation between URLs and profiles with respect to the macro can be explained as:
| **Is *****Profile***** given?**
**(Y - Yes, N - No)** | **Is *****Location***** given?**
**(Y - Yes, N - No)** | **Macro behavior** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Y | N | Accesses the URL specified in the profile through the pre-configured information. |
| N | Y | Accesses the URL specified and renders the HTML or XML content as required. |
| Y | Y | Appends the URL mentioned in the *Location of HTML data* or* Location of XML data* parameter to the *URL* configured in the profile. Thus, the macro(s) creates an absolute path to the required file. If this path is not valid, a network error message is displayed. To resolve this issue, contact your Confluence administrator for more information. |
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How it all works
### Profile configuration
For this example, let’s assume the profile has the following values specified:
> ⚠️ - Here, the profile is to be linked with GitLab and the base URL of the application is taken automatically in the *URL* field. This URL is editable and can be changed according to your requirement.
> ⚠️ - In the given screenshot, an *Access token* is provided whereas the *User* and *Password* parameters are left empty. This is because the access token works almost like a direct link to the specified URL and thus, does not require user credentials. See the [profile configuration](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/l4E1B#Configuration-html_57_config_profiles) documentation for more information about access tokens.
> ⚠️ - See the [Additional links](#HowtouseURLsinmacros-html_57_tutl_URLProfiles_AddlLinks) section for more information about profile creation.
### Macro editor settings
1. Create or edit a page, add the *Html-bobswift* macro (for this example), and edit to open the macro editor.
2. Select the relevant profile in *Profile*.
3. Enter a relative path (partial URL) to access the required file in *Location to HTML data*.
4. Save the macro and publish the page to see the content.
> ℹ️ *Points to remember:*
> ℹ️
> ℹ️ - Profiles are a means to access and retrieve contents from external applications such as GitHub, GitLab, and so on.
> ℹ️ - A profile already contains the base URL and the required credentials (user credentials or an access token) to access the relevant application.
> ℹ️ - If you specify a profile in the macro editor, enter a *relative* path in the *Location *fields to access the required file(s).
> ℹ️ - You must specify a profile or a URL in the macro editor.
> ℹ️ - If you specify an absolute URL in the *Location *fields, the macro can directly access the file(s) in the specified path.
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Additional links
- [Add a GitHub profile](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/IIU1B)
- [Add a GitLab profile](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/FoU1B)
- [Create a profile with URL](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/94Q1B)
- [User guide](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/4YE1B)
- [Administrator guide](https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/x/r4M1B)