Create JSON-Connected Nintex Workflows



Use CData Connect Server to connect to JSON from Nintex Workflow Cloud and build custom workflows using live JSON services.

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 Server, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to JSON services for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for JSON in Connect Server and build a simple workflow from JSON services in Nintex.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL Server interface for JSON, allowing you to build workflows from live JSON services 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 Server pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to JSON, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested JSON services.

Create a Virtual SQL Server Database for JSON Services

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

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

    See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation to authenticate to your data source: The data provider models JSON APIs as bidirectional database tables and JSON files as read-only views (local files, files stored on popular cloud services, and FTP servers). The major authentication schemes are supported, including HTTP Basic, Digest, NTLM, OAuth, and FTP. See the Getting Started chapter in the data provider documentation for authentication guides.

    After setting the URI and providing any authentication values, set DataModel to more closely match the data representation to the structure of your data.

    The DataModel property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

    • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your JSON data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
    • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
    • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

    See the Modeling JSON Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

  4. Click Save Changes
  5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

With the virtual database created, you are ready to connect to JSON services from Nintex.

Connect to JSON in Nintex

The steps below outline creating a new connection for access to JSON CData Connect Server from Nintex to create a new JSON data source.

  1. Log into Nintex Workflow Cloud
  2. In the Connections tab, click "Add new"
  3. Select SQL Server as the connector and click "Connect"
  4. In the SQL Server connection wizard, set the following properties:
    • Connection Name: name the connection (e.g., CData Connect Server JSON Connection)
    • Username: your Connect Server username
    • Password: your Connect Server password
    • Database Host: your Connect Server SQL Server endpoint (e.g., connect_server_url)
    • Database Name: the virtual JSON database (e.g., JSON1)
  5. Click "Connect"
  6. Configure the connection permissions and click "Save permissions"

Create a Simple JSON Workflow

With the connection to CData Connect Server configured, we are ready to build a simple workflow to access JSON services. 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 (e.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 JSON using SQL and send an email with the results.

To learn more about SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, check out the CData Connect Server. Sign up for a free trial and reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

Ready to get started?

Learn more or sign up for a free trial:

CData Connect Server