Tutorial: Creating a local file to salesforce.com integration

You can create and run integrations with IBM® Cast Iron® Express®. This tutorial describes how to create an integration from a local file to salesforce.com. You can quickly define the integration and upload your data in a one-off operation.

Step 1: Create the Integration

After signing in to Cast Iron Express, click Integrations. With the Integrations view open, create an integration by selecting your source and target endpoints.

Tip: You might want to click Save at regular intervals when creating and defining an integration. Your work is not lost if you then experience web browser problems or you are signed out of Cast Iron Express because of inactivity.

For this tutorial, select Local File as the Source and salesforce.com as the Target.

Source and Target endpoints panel

Click New Blank Integration, which is displayed under the Target selection.

An outline integration is displayed in which the Source, Transformation, and Target, must be defined. The numerals indicate the integration definition sequence:
  1. Define the source endpoint
  2. Define the target endpoint
  3. Define the transformation by mapping the data path from the source endpoint to the target endpoint

The Integrations panel

Step 2: Configure the endpoints

In the Source header, click Edit.

The source endpoint configuration view opens.

Click Select File and choose the local file that you want to upload the data from. The file must be a delimited file.

For this tutorial, we are using a file named accounts.csv.

The file contains some account information and includes a field called "id" that uniquely identifies each of the account records in the file. The contents of the accounts.csv file used is included here:
id,name,streetAddress,city,postcode,phoneNumber
0,AcmeCo,10 Downing Street,London,SW1A 2AA,02012345678
1,MyOtherCompany,221b Baker Street,London,SW2B 3FG,020654321

The Source window

If you want to select a different file, click Change.

Click Load Fields and verify the details that are automatically generated about your selected file. For example, the delimiter character used in the file.

For this tutorial, the accounts.csv file uses a comma as the delimiter character. Also, the remaining fields can be left with their default values.

The Available Fields window

Click Continue to display all of the available fields within the selected file.

The source available fields selected

Select the fields that you want to upload the data from. By default, all of the fields are selected.

For this tutorial, we are using all of the selected fields.

When you are finished, click Done.

The source endpoint is defined for this integration.

You return to the integration overview and the selected Source fields are displayed.

Selected fields in the Source endpoint

You can now define the target endpoint.

In the Target header, click Edit. Enter the credentials required to sign in to salesforce.com.

These credentials are validated, and if correct, you are signed in to the salesforce.com account. The available business objects that you can use in your integration are listed.

For this tutorial, from the list of objects, select Account. The description of the Account object is presented in the Available Fields section which shows all fields in the Account object.
Note: You can select the fields that you are interested in and want to load with the data from your local file. You do not have to integrate the whole object, only the fields that are required for your integration definition.

Use the Operations option to specify the context of the data operation that you want for your integration.

For this tutorial, select Update objects as the operation. When the integration is running, it automatically updates the selected Accounts fields in salesforce.com.

Select the required Account fields as shown in the following screen capture:

Available fields in the Target endpoint

When complete, click Done.

The target endpoint is defined for this integration.

You return to the integration overview. The integration is updated with the Target selected fields in salesforce.com.

The defined source and target endpoints are displayed in the integration overview

In the integration overview, you can now see both the source and the target fields that are ready to be mapped.

Step 3: Define the transformation

To complete the integration you must map the fields from the source to the target.

Connect the source and target fields as required. For each source field, click the anchor point and then click the corresponding target field anchor point.

In this tutorial, you map the data from the source fields to the target fields as shown in the following screen capture. You are not required to define functions on the data.

Defining transformations

Defining functions and more complex transforms is covered in the tutorial on transformations.

Enter a name that is meaningful and representative of the integration. For example, Local File Accounts to salesforce.com Account.

Adding an integration name

Save the completed integration by clicking Save. Then, click Close to return to the Integrations view.

The Integrations view lists all of the defined integrations and their current state.

Integrations and their current states

Step 4: Run the integration

Now that integration is defined, you must run the integration to copy the data from the source endpoint to the target endpoint.

Click Run, displayed to the right of the integration that you created.

The integration runs and the data is uploaded from your defined source local file to the defined target salesforce.com object in a one-off operation.

The integration status changes to running:

The integration view

You can click Activities > Integration Activity to view the recent Cast Iron Express integration activities. The activities are displayed with the most recent at the top of the list.

For this tutorial, the following screen capture shows the completed integration details.

Activity feed

To verify the successful integration, go to the target system and check that the data arrived.

When the integration completes, a successful integration acknowledgment message is also displayed momentarily in the lower part of the view.

Integration message




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Timestamp icon Last updated: Thursday, 2 June 2016


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