diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/services/capability-launcher.service.ts b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/services/capability-launcher.service.ts
index a50ef7c3856c55097932c6819fac49edb951ec0e..4b47559c65b1e66e4b93ff3763931a9b1de0354e 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/services/capability-launcher.service.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/services/capability-launcher.service.ts
@@ -20,16 +20,14 @@ export class CapabilityLauncherService {
    */
   createRequest(
     capabilityName: string,
-    parameters: string
+    parameters: any
   ): Observable<CapabilityRequest> {
     const url =
       environment.workspacesUrl +
       this.endpoint +
       capabilityName +
       '/request/create';
-    const requestParams = JSON.stringify({
-      parameters,
-    });
+    const requestParams = JSON.stringify({'parameters': parameters});
     return this.httpClient.post<CapabilityRequest>(url, requestParams);
   }
 
diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.html b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.html
index 2179fa900a7d0c18c5c3a6399091244daa6e75f9..9a20be8a2eec4a181402ec24e3009d75b5f70769 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.html
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.html
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 
   <div class="md-form">
     <label for="splInput" class="">Science Product</label>
-    <input type="text" id="splInput" [value]="splInput" (change)="setSPLInput($event.target.value)" class="form-control">
+    <input type="text" id="splInput" [value]="productLocator" (change)="setProductLocator($event.target.value)" class="form-control" placeholder="e.g. uid://evla/execblock/27561b56-4c6a-4614-bc26-67e436b5e92c">
   </div>
 
   <br/>
diff --git a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.ts b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.ts
index f7be9e39960ca609bc5e68f44af6464e10cab3d9..99bc7cbb55e9370e910571d7f668a807fb194bd1 100644
--- a/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.ts
+++ b/apps/web/src/app/workspaces/workspaces.component.ts
@@ -13,11 +13,12 @@ export class WorkspacesComponent implements OnInit {
   public capabilityRequests: Array<CapabilityRequest> = [];
   public capabilityExecutions: Array<CapabilityExecution> = [];
 
-  public splInput: string;
+  public productLocator: string;
   public userEmail: string;
 
   constructor(private capabilityLauncher: CapabilityLauncherService) {
-    this.splInput = null;
+    // this is the famous 394 MB 13B-014 execblock, a useful smallish test
+    this.productLocator = "uid://evla/execblock/27561b56-4c6a-4614-bc26-67e436b5e92c";
     this.userEmail = null;
   }
 
@@ -36,8 +37,7 @@ export class WorkspacesComponent implements OnInit {
   downloadButtonOnClick(): void {
     this.launchCapability(
       'test_download',
-      this.splInput,
-      this.userEmail
+      {'product_locator': this.productLocator, 'user_email': this.userEmail}
     );
   }
 
@@ -45,8 +45,8 @@ export class WorkspacesComponent implements OnInit {
    * method that sets the user input Science Product Locator for the download capability
    * @param spl the Science Product Locator to download
    */
-  setSPLInput(spl: string){
-    this.splInput = spl;
+  setProductLocator(spl: string){
+    this.productLocator = spl;
   }
 
   /**
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ export class WorkspacesComponent implements OnInit {
    * @param parameters      Parameters of capability request
    * @param email           User email for notifications (Optional)
    */
-  launchCapability(capabilityName: string, parameters: string, email?: string): void {
+  launchCapability(capabilityName: string, parameters: any): void {
     // Create capability request
     this.capabilityLauncher.createRequest(capabilityName, parameters).subscribe(
       (requestResponse) => {