Basics of connectors in Jitterbit Integration Studio

Introduction

When working with connectors, you should understand these basics:

Connectivity resources: Terminology and definitions of various connectivity resources, including connectors, endpoints, and activities.
Testing a connection: How to test an endpoint's connection to verify connectivity.
Activities as operation steps: How to add an activity as a step in an operation to use as a source or target of data.
Actions menus: How to access a menu of actions to take on endpoints, activity types, and activity instances.

Connectivity resources

Connectivity resources are accessed within the design component palette. Within the design component palette's Project endpoints and connectors tab, connectors are first configured to create endpoints. Activities associated with those endpoints can then be instantiated using the activity types and configured as sources or targets in a project. An endpoint refers to a configured data resource (connector) and its activities. The relationship between connectors, endpoints, and activities in a project are identified in the image below:

connectivity terms annotated

① Connectors: Connectors provide the interface for entering user-provided input for a data resource (such as credentials) to create an endpoint. You can also create custom connectors.
② Endpoints: An endpoint refers to a specific data resource and its activities. Endpoints can be local to the project or created as global endpoints that can be used across projects in an environment.
③ Activities: An activity type, shown when an endpoint is clicked, is a component that is configured to interact with a data resource. The activity types are used to create an instance of an activity in a project. Activity instances can act as sources (providing data) or targets (receiving data).
④ Component: When an endpoint's activity is placed on the design canvas, it becomes a component of the project and is listed in the Project pane's Components tab.

Testing an endpoint's connection

Once an endpoint is created, you can verify connectivity by testing its connection.

To test an endpoint's connection, click the Test button within the connection configuration. If the connection is successful, a message of Connection Success is displayed. If the connection is not successful, details about the error(s) are provided.

test connection

You can also test an endpoint's connection from the project pane using an endpoint's actions menu (see Endpoint actions below).

Activities as operation steps

Operations are formed by arranging activities, scripts, and transformations within an operation on the design canvas.

Once an endpoint's connection is established, activity types associated with the endpoint become available to place in an operation on the design canvas. When an activity type is placed on the design canvas, this creates an instance of an activity that can then be configured to use as a source (to provide data) or as a target (to receive data) in an operation.

create activity

More information about this process is covered in Adding steps to an operation in Operation creation and configuration.

Actions menus

Endpoints, activity types, and activity instances each have a menu where you can access actions relevant to these items.

After creating an endpoint, menu actions for that endpoint are accessible from these locations:

The project pane's Components tab (see Component actions menu in Project pane Components tab).
The design component palette's Project endpoints and connectors tab (see Endpoint actions in Design component palette).

These actions are available for all endpoints:

Menu Item	Description
	View/Edit opens the configuration screen for the endpoint's connection (see documentation on the specific endpoint connection under Connectors).
	Test tests the endpoint's connection. This action is the same as clicking the Test button available in a connection configuration screen (see documentation on the specific endpoint connection under Connectors).
	Promote to Global Connection converts the endpoint to a global endpoint in the environment where the project resides. This action is not available for API, Variable, or SOAP endpoints, endpoints that use variables in their connection configuration, or endpoints that are already a global endpoint (see Global Connections).

These menu actions are available only from the design component palette's Project endpoints and connectors tab:

Menu Item	Description
	Duplicate creates a new, unreferenced endpoint using the same configuration as the original endpoint (see Component reuse).
	Delete permanently deletes the endpoint (see Component dependencies, deletion, and removal).

The actions menu on each activity type associated with an endpoint is accessible only from the design component palette's Project endpoints and connectors tab (see Activity type actions menu in Design component palette). This menu action is available:

Menu Item	Description
	Copy places a copy of the activity type on your clipboard to be used to create an activity instance (see Component reuse).

After an activity instance has been created, menu actions for that activity are accessible from these locations:

The project pane's Workflows tab (see Component actions menu in Project pane Workflows tab).
The project pane's Components tab (see Component actions menu in Project pane Components tab).
The design canvas (see Component actions menu in Design canvas).

These actions are available from all activity actions menus:

Menu Item	Description
	View/Edit opens the configuration screen for you to configure the activity. For details, see the documentation on each connector under Connectors.
	Cut places a copy of the activity on your clipboard and deletes the original activity from the project (see Component reuse).
	Copy places a copy of the activity on your clipboard (see Component reuse).
	Remove removes references to the activity from the design canvas (see Component dependencies, deletion, and removal).

These actions are available only from the activity actions menus accessible from the project pane's Workflows and Components tabs:

The actions menus for these components share many of the same actions:

Menu Item	Description
	Rename positions the cursor on the activity name for you to make any edits as necessary.
	View Dependencies changes the view in the project pane to display any other parts of the project that the specific activity is dependent on (see Component dependencies, deletion, and removal).
	Delete permanently deletes the activity (see Component dependencies, deletion, and removal).

These actions are available only from the activity actions menus accessible from the project pane's Components tab: