Create Cvent-Connected Nintex Workflows

Nintex Workflow Cloud is a cloud-based platform where you can design workflows to automate simple or complex processes using drag-and-drop interactions — without writing any code. When paired with CData Connect AI, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to Cvent data for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Cvent in Connect AI and build a simple workflow from Cvent data in Nintex.

CData Connect AI provides a pure, cloud-to-cloud interface for Cvent, allowing you to build workflows from live Cvent data in Nintex Workflow Cloud — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. Nintex allows you to access data directly using SQL queries. Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to Cvent, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Cvent data.

Configure Cvent Connectivity for Nintex

Connectivity to Cvent from Nintex is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with Cvent data from Nintex, we start by creating and configuring a Cvent connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "Cvent" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cvent.

   Before you can authenticate to Cvent, you must create a workspace and an OAuth application.

   Creating a Workspace

   To create a workspace:

   1. Sign into Cvent and navigate to App Switcher (the blue button in the upper right corner of the page) >> Admin.
   2. In the Admin menu, navigate to Integrations >> REST API.
   3. A new tab launches for Developer Management. Click on Manage API Access in the new tab.
   4. Create a Workspace and name it. Select the scopes you would like your developers to have access to. Scopes control what data domains the developer can access.
      • Choose All to allow developers to choose any scope, and any future scopes added to the REST API.
      • Choose Custom to limit the scopes developers can choose for their OAuth apps to selected scopes. To access all tables exposed by the driver, you need to set the following scopes:

        event/attendees:read	event/attendees:write	event/contacts:read
        event/contacts:write	event/custom-fields:read	event/custom-fields:write
        event/events:read	event/events:write	event/sessions:delete
        event/sessions:read	event/sessions:write	event/speakers:delete
        event/speakers:read	event/speakers:write	budget/budget-items:read
        budget/budget-items:write	exhibitor/exhibitors:read	exhibitor/exhibitors:write
        survey/surveys:read	survey/surveys:write

   Creating an OAuth Application

   After you have set up a Workspace and invited them, developers can sign up and create a custom OAuth app. See the Creating a Custom OAuth Application section in the Help documentation for more information.

   Connecting to Cvent

   After creating an OAuth application, set the following connection properties to connect to Cvent:

   • InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. Used to automatically get and refresh the OAuthAccessToken.
   • OAuthClientId: The Client ID associated with the OAuth application. You can find this on the Applications page in the Cvent Developer Portal.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The Client secret associated with the OAuth application. You can find this on the Applications page in the Cvent Developer Portal.
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Cvent Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to Cvent data from Nintex Workflow Cloud.

Connect to Cvent from Nintex

The steps below outline creating a new connection to Cvent data from Nintex (via Connect AI).

1. Log into Nintex Workflow Cloud
2. In the Connections tab, click "Add new"
3. Select "Microsoft SQL Server" as the connector and click "Connect"
4. In the SQL Server connection wizard, set the following properties:
   • Connection Name: Connect AI
   • Username: a Connect AI username (e.g. [email protected])
   • Password: the Connect AI user's PAT
   • Database Host: tds.cdata.com:14333
   • Database Name: the Cvent connection (a.g., Cvent1)
   
5. Click "Connect"
6. Configure the connection permissions and click "Save permissions"

Create a Simple Cvent Workflow

With the connection to CData Connect AI configured, we are ready to build a simple workflow to access Cvent data. Start by clicking the "Create workflow" button.

Configure the Start Event Action

1. Click the start event task and select the "Form" event
2. Click "Design form"
3. Drag a "Text - Long" element onto the Form and click the element to configure it
   • Set "Title" to "Enter SQL query"
   • Set "Required" to true
4. Drag a "Text - Short" element onto the Form and click the element to configure it
   • Set "Title" to "Enter desired result column"
   • Set "Required" to true

Configure an "Execute a Query" Action

1. Add an "Execute a query" action after the "Start event: Form" action and click to configure the action
2. Set "SQL Script" to the "Enter SQL Query" variable from the "Start event" action
3. Set "Column to retrieve" to the "Enter desired result column" variable from the "Start event" action
4. Set "Retrieved column" to a new variable (a.g., "values")

Configure a "Send an Email" Action

1. Add a "Send an email" action after the "Execute a query" action and click to configure the action
2. Set the "Recipient email address"
3. Set the "Subject"
4. Set the "Message body" to the variable created for the retrieved column

Once you configure the actions, click "Save," name the Workflow, and click "Save" again. You now have a simple workflow that will query Cvent using SQL and sand an email with the results.

To learn more about live data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, check out the CData Connect AI page. Sign up for a free trial and reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.