Create Kintone-Connected Nintex Workflows



Use CData Connect Cloud to connect to Kintone Data from Nintex Workflow Cloud and build custom workflows using live Kintone data.

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

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

Configure Kintone Connectivity for Nintex

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

  1. Log into Connect Cloud, click Connections and click Add Connection
  2. Select "Kintone" from the Add Connection panel
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Kintone.

    In addition to the authentication values, set the following parameters to connect to and retrieve data from Kintone:

    • Url: The URL of your account.
    • GuestSpaceId: Optional. Set this when using a guest space.

    Authenticating with Kintone

    Kintone supports the following authentication methods.

    Using Password Authentication

    You must set the following to authenticate:

    • User: The username of your account.
    • Password: The password of your account.

    Using Basic Authentication

    If the basic authentication security feature is set on the domain, supply the additional login credentials with BasicAuthUser and BasicAuthPassword. Basic authentication requires these credentials in addition to User and Password.

    Using Client SSL

    Instead of basic authentication, you can specify a client certificate to authenticate. Set SSLClientCert, SSLClientCertType, SSLClientCertSubject, and SSLClientCertPassword. Additionally, set User and Password to your login credentials.

  4. Click Create & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Kintone Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

If you are connecting from a service, application, platform, or framework that does not support OAuth authentication, you can create a Personal Access Token (PAT) to use for authentication. Best practices would dictate that you create a separate PAT for each service, to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on your username at the top right of the Connect Cloud app and click User Profile.
  2. On the User Profile page, scroll down to the Personal Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give your 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, you are ready to connect to Kintone data from Nintex Workflow Cloud.

Connect to Kintone from Nintex

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

  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: a Connect Cloud
    • Username: a Connect Cloud username (e.g. [email protected])
    • Password: the Connect Cloud user's PAT
    • Database Host: tds.cdata.com
    • Database Name: the Kintone connection (a.g., Kintone1)
  5. Click "Connect"
  6. Configure the connection permissions and click "Save permissions"

Create a Simple Kintone Workflow

With the connection to CData Connect Cloud configured, we are ready to build a simple workflow to access Kintone 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 Kintone using SQL and sand an email with the results.

To learn more about live data access to 100+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, check out the CData Connect Cloud page. Sign up for a free trial and reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.

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