Configuration Files Creation Example
In this example, create the configuration files required to create a custom loader to pass data to your Connect instance.
Table configuration file example
Download or create configuration file County.xml to store county information.
The file XML example can be used as a basic template and contains inline assistance.
File XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xforms-apps xmlns="http://semanta.cz/schema/xf3">
<!-- The definition of the application -->
<xforms-app>
<!-- The application load code -->
<xid>county</xid>
<icon>
<!-- Set to an icon encoded in base64 code (https://www.base64encode.org/). The icon will be used to visually represent your application. -->
</icon>
<!-- The label of entries -->
<entry-name>County</entry-name>
<!-- The structure is declared as a grid to ensure great design potential across platforms. The grid is built with rows by columns, with one or more columns in a row up to the maximum of 12 columns. -->
<structure>
<row>
<column>
<width>9</width>
<!-- The group is the container for fields, which store information and have various datatypes. -->
<group>
<id>stream</id>
<name>Description</name>
<fields>
<!-- Use fragments, parts of previously-declared definitions that are imported and reused. The entry name, business name, and description are imported below. -->
<!--@import fragment="entry-name" name="Term Name"-->
<!--@import fragment="business-name" -->
<!--@import fragment="description" -->
<field>
<code>entryAttachments</code>
<name>Attachments</name>
<type>
<attachments>
<display-as>thumbnails</display-as>
</attachments>
</type>
</field>
</fields>
</group>
<group>
<id>nexus</id>
<!-- Generic relationship field that shows the nexus tool inside the page. -->
<name>Relationships</name>
<fields>
<field>
<code>my_relations</code>
<name>Relations</name>
<hide-in-edit-if-loaded>true</hide-in-edit-if-loaded>
<type>
<info>
<velocity>
<![CDATA[
#embeddedNexus("All", $entry)
]]>
</velocity>
</info>
</type>
</field>
</fields>
</group>
</column>
<!--@import fragment="standard-info-column" loadowner="false" tagging="manual-tagging-only"-->
</row>
<!-- Declare which fields are displayed in the entries list. -->
<list>
<fieldCode>entryName</fieldCode>
<fieldCode human-readable="Description">entryExcerpt</fieldCode>
<fieldCode human-readable="Rating">entryLikeCount</fieldCode>
</list>
</structure>
</xforms-app>
</xforms-apps>Upload the completed configuration file to your Connect instance.
- Log in to Connect using an admin account.
- Click your user avatar in the top right and click Administration.
- In the Upload section, drag and drop or browse to the configuration file: county.xml.
Alternatively, see Configuration File Upload Workflow to upload files with a Designer workflow via the REST API.
Verify configuration
Check that the uploaded configuration file is valid.
- Log in to Connect.
- Click Data Sources.
- Click the red plus sign in the lower right.
-
Type the Title "County Test" and click CREATE.
-
Under Folders, enter:
-
Folder entry type: County
Creates County instances in the folder.
-
All Entries: "type:county"
Define which entries are displayed in the folder, allowing multiple entry types from the descendants.
-
- Click SAVE. A new folder is now available.
- Click the red plus sign in the lower right.
- Select County in this Folder.
- Enter the Title "Orange County" and click CREATE.
- Access the folder "County Test" one level up. The descendant "Orange County" should be available.
Load job configuration file example
Download or create a loading job configuration file, which maps between the stage table and the Connect interface, allowing users to access loaded data.
The file XML example can be used as a basic template and contains inline assistance.
File XML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!-- The definition of the application. -->
<loading-instructions xmlns="http://semanta.cz/schema/xf3/load">
<loading-instruction>
<!-- The unique job identifier, called from the API. -->
<job-id>load-alteryx-countries</job-id>
<!-- every job can have sub-jobs, creating a hierarchical loaded structures. In this example, we load a top level folder containing one County entry per record in the stage table. -->
<for-each-row>
<sub-job-id>mainFolder</sub-job-id>
<!-- The query to retrieve data from the stage table, to map to Connect's UI configuration. -->
<of-query>
<sql>
<connection-id>master</connection-id>
<query-body>select 1</query-body>
</sql>
</of-query>
<!-- For each row in the dataset returned from the query, an entry is created. In this example, there is only one row in the dataset, so only the top level folder entry is created. -->
<define-entry>
<!-- The definition of the entry type. -->
<app>folder</app>
<!-- The unique identifier of the parent entry, which must already exist to hold the entry being created. In this example, we use the Data Source folder ID, creating sub-folder. -->
<parent>f19f38ae-1c68-49f9-8654-288b92284bab</parent>
<parent-field>subfolders</parent-field>
<!-- The unique identifier of the entry, usually the UUID taken from the source system. In this example, we use a hash created out of string "counties". -->
<xid>$lu.toXidEncoded("counties")</xid>
<!-- The name of the entry as it is displayed in Connect's UI. -->
<name>Countries Example</name>
<!-- Set individual fields by defining the fieldcode of the application and the associated value from the datasource. In this example, the values are hardcoded. -->
<fields>
<![CDATA[
#set($foldertype="county")
#set($entrytypelist="type:county")
#set($platformDescription="<p>SDK Sample Countries.</p>")
#set($displaytype="smallcard")
#set($displaytype_readable="Small Card")
#set($displaytypeallentries="smallcard")
#set($displaytypeallentries_readable="Small Card")
#set($displaytypefolder="smallcard")
#set($displaytypefolder_readable="Small Card")
#set($integrationcode="promoteInstances")
#set($entriesgroupname="Promote Instances")
#set($subfoldersgroupname="Subfolders")
#set($allentriesgroupname="Counties")
]]>
</fields>
<!-- do not touch fields are fields which should be editable in UI and should not be touch (overwritten) by the loading job -->
<!-- usually description, owner are such fields -->
<do-not-touch>
<!--@import fragment="common-dont-touch"-->
<field>MainThumbnail</field>
<field>orderbytype</field>
<field>orderascending</field>
<field>entryOwner</field>
</do-not-touch>
<for-each-row>
<!-- this is the tick how to add attachment, in this case thumbnail of the folder -->
<add-attachment>
<xid>$lu.toXidEncoded("counties-icon")</xid>
<name>Alteryx_Counties.png</name>
<field-code>MainIcon</field-code>
<base64content>
<!-- Set to an icon encoded in base64 code (https://www.base64encode.org/). The icon will be used to visually represent your application. -->
</base64content>
</add-attachment>
</for-each-row>
</define-entry>
</for-each-row>
<!-- so right now, we have created just one folder -->
<!-- right now we are going to iterate on dataset of Counties and create a record for each County -->
<for-each-row>
<sub-job-id>countriesList</sub-job-id>
<!-- get datset of Counties (from the stage table EXT_COUNTRIES) -->
<of-query>
<sql>
<connection-id>master</connection-id>
<query-body>
<![CDATA[
SELECT name, key FROM EXT_COUNTRIES
]]>
</query-body>
</sql>
</of-query>
<!-- and now create entry one per each row from dataset -->
<define-entry>
<!-- creating entry of "county" app we have defined in previous chapter -->
<app>county</app>
<!-- start under folder created in previous step -->
<parent>$lu.toXidEncoded("counties")</parent>
<parent-field>entries</parent-field>
<!-- create uuid out of the county name -->
<xid>$lu.toXidEncoded("${name}")</xid>
<!-- county name -->
<name>${name}</name>
<!-- set values for the entry -->
<!-- in our case we are setting just one which is description, others are parameters for setting displaying behavior of the folder, entries, subentries and are not important for this example too much -->
<fields>
<![CDATA[
#set($description="${key}")
#set($foldertype="folder")
#set($entrytypelist="folder")
#set($platformDescription="<p>SDK Example.</p>")
#set($displaytype="table")
#set($displaytype_readable="Table")
#set($displaytypeallentries="table")
#set($displaytypeallentries_readable="Table")
#set($displaytypefolder="smallcard")
#set($displaytypefolder_readable="Small Card")
#set($integrationcode="")
#set($entriesgroupname="Promote Owners")
#set($subfoldersgroupname="Subfolders")
#set($allentriesgroupname="County List")
]]>
</fields>
<do-not-touch>
<!--@import fragment="common-dont-touch"-->
<field>entryOwner</field>
</do-not-touch>
</define-entry>
</for-each-row>
</loading-instruction>
</loading-instructions>Upload the completed configuration file to your Connect instance.
- Log in to Connect using an admin account.
- Click your user avatar in the top right and click Administration.
- In the Upload section, drag and drop or browse to the configuration file: loading-alteryx-counties.xml.
Alternatively, see Configuration File Upload Workflow to upload files with a Designer workflow via the REST API.
Verify configuration
Check that the uploaded configuration file is valid. The best way to test this is to perform an end-to-end test by running a workflow that pulls metadata into stage tables and calls a loading job to create entries in Connect.
See Data Upload Workflow.