Create Samanage-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 Samanage data for business applications. This article shows how to create a virtual database for Samanage in Connect AI and build a simple workflow from Samanage data in Nintex.

CData Connect AI provides a pure, cloud-to-cloud interface for Samanage, allowing you to build workflows from live Samanage 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 Samanage, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return the requested Samanage data.

Configure Samanage Connectivity for Nintex

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

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

2. Select "Samanage" from the Add Connection panel

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

   Start by setting the Profile connection property to the location of the Samanage Profile on disk (e.g. C:\profiles\Samanage.apip). Next, set the ProfileSettings connection property to the connection string for Samanage (see below).

   Samanage API Profile Settings

   Navigate to Setup > Users in Samanage, click your username, and select Generate JSON Web Token from the Action dropdown.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add Samanage 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 Samanage data from Nintex Workflow Cloud.

Connect to Samanage from Nintex

The steps below outline creating a new connection to Samanage 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 Samanage connection (a.g., API1)
   
5. Click "Connect"
6. Configure the connection permissions and click "Save permissions"

Create a Simple Samanage Workflow

With the connection to CData Connect AI configured, we are ready to build a simple workflow to access Samanage 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 Samanage 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.