Connect to FTP Data in RunMyProcess through Connect Server

Akorbi Digital RunMyProcess makes it easy to create applications for complex business processes, such as budget application and contract management. CData Connect creates a virtual database for FTP and can be used to generate an OData API (natively consumable in RunMyProcess) for FTP. By pairing RunMyProcess with the CData Connect Server, you get direct connectivity to all your SaaS and cloud-based Big Data and NoSQL sources - no need to migrate your data or write your own integrations. Simply connect to Connect Server from RunMyProcess as you would any other REST service and get instant, live access to your FTP data.

In this article, we walk through connecting to FTP from CData Connect and accessing FTP data through an OData feed in RunMyProcess.

Configuring Connect Server

To work with live FTP data in RunMyProcess, we need to connect to FTP from Connect Server, provide user access to the new virtual database, and create OData endpoints for the FTP data.

Add a Connect Server User

Create a User to connect to FTP from RunMyProcess through Connect Server.

1. Click Users -> Add
2. Configure a User
3. Click Save Changes and make note of the Authtoken for the new user

Connect to FTP from Connect Server

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Open Connect Server and click Connections
2. Select "FTP" from Available Data Sources
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to FTP

   To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.

   Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.

   Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.

   The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:

   • RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
   • TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of folders to list as views.
   • FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.

   Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions (SELECT is all that is required for RunMyProcess).

Add FTP OData Endpoints in Connect Server

After connecting to FTP, create OData Endpoints for the desired table(s).

1. Click OData -> Tables -> Add Tables
2. Select the FTP database
3. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Next
4. (Optional) Edit the resource to select specific fields and more
5. Save the settings

(Optional) Configure Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS)

When accessing and connecting to multiple domains from an application, such as Ajax, you might violate the limitations of cross-site scripting. In that case, configure the CORS settings in OData -> Settings.

• Enable cross-origin resource sharing (CORS): ON
• Allow all domains without '*': ON
• Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, PUT, POST, OPTIONS
• Access-Control-Allow-Headers: Authorization

Save the changes to the settings.

Sample URLs for OData Feeds

Once you have configured a connection to FTP, created a user, and created OData endpoints in Connect Server, you can access OData feeds for FTP data. Below, you will see the URLs to access tables and the list of tables. For information on accessing the tables, you can navigate to the API page for Connect Server (click the API link on the top right of Connect Server Web page). For the URLs, you will need the URL of Connect Server, likely in the form: CONNECT_SERVER_URL/. Since we are working with Angular, we will append the @json parameter to the end of URLs that do not return JSON data by default.

As with standard OData feeds, if you wish to limit the fields returned, you can add a $select parameter to the query, along with other standard OData URL parameters, such as $filter, $orderby, $skip, and $top. See the help documentation for more information on supported OData queries.

Retrieve FTP Data from RunMyProcess DigitalSuite Studio

With the connection to FTP and OData endpoints created, we are ready to add FTP data to RunMyProcess for retrieval.

Create a Provider

1. Log into RunMyProcess and open DigitalSuite Studio.
2. Click Resources to bring up the Resources page, then select then the CONNECTORS tab. 　　
3. Click the + (New Provider) button to create a new provider, choose the project to use, then click Confirm.
4. In the provider settings page, configure the following properties.
   • URL：Set the OData endpoint in the CData Connect Endpoints page.e.g. CONNECT_SERVER_URL/api.rsc/
   • Authentication Schema：Select Login/Password.
   • Login：Specify the CData Connect User name configured above.
   • Password：Specify the Authtoken of the user.
5. Fill in the same properties in the ACCEPTANCE and TEST tabs. Note: You can copy the configured settings by clicking 'Copy this configuration button,' then pasting the content in the new tab by clicking 'Paste previously copied configuration.'
6. Click Save to save the properties.

Retrieve FTP Data by Creating a Connector

1. In the CONNECTORS tab, click the button with three dots to create the provider, then select Add connector from the menu.
2. In the following page, set Connector URL to the OData endpoint configured in Connect Server.e.g. odataendpoint/
3. Click Save then Launch to test the connector execution. Click Launch test to execute. The process is successful if you get the JSON response of your configured table information.

More Information & Free Trial

Now, you have created a provider and connector to retrieve FTP data. For more information on creating OData feeds from FTP (and more than 200 other data sources), visit the Connect Server page. Sign up for a free trial and start working with live FTP data in RunMyProcess.