About Connections

A connection tells your integration how to connect to an application and what to do after connecting. Most integrations contain at least one connection.

Key Points for Connections

1. Every connection is based on an adapter.
2. Two types of connections are available:

   • Trigger connections run the integration and pull data from a source application.

   • Invoke connections send data to a target application.

3. To connect to an application from an integration, you must perform the following steps:
   1. Create a connection to an application.
   2. Add the connection to an integration.

Keep reading for more details.

Connections Are Based on Adapters

When you create a connection, you choose the adapter to base the connection on. An adapter provides an interface so that an integration can connect with an application.

Oracle Integration provides an always growing library of application-specific adapters, such as Oracle CX Sales and B2B Service Adapter and the Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow) Adapter.

Additionally, some adapters let you connect to just about any product's REST APIs, even if an adapter isn't available for the product. These adapters are the most popular and include:

• REST Adapter
• SOAP Adapter
• FTP Adapter

For a list of all available adapters, see Adapters on the Oracle Help Center.

Each Adapter Requires Different Information

After choosing an adapter, you specify the information that the adapter requires. For example, for a connection based on the Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow) Adapter, you must specify the WSDL URL, security policy, and security credentials to connect to it.

Tip:

If the connection is based on the REST Adapter, you can test the integration without having to deploy it. See Test REST Adapter Trigger Connection-Based Integrations in Projects.

Two-Step Process for Connections

An integration sends or receives data for one or more applications using connections. For example, a connection based on the Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow) Adapter can send and receive data from Oracle Service Cloud (RightNow). Adding a connection to an integration is a multi-step process:

1. Create the connection.

   Specify the adapter and the role of the connection, such as trigger connection, invoke connection, or trigger and invoke connection. Depending on the adapter and role you choose, you must provide additional information. For example, if you choose a database adapter, enter the IP address for the database, the user name and password for connecting to the database, and the security policy for securing the data. The role that you choose determines the security policies that are available for the connection.

   After creating the connection, test it to ensure that it connects to the application.

   See Add and Share a Connection Across a Project and Understand Trigger and Invoke Connections.

2. Configure the connection for use in an integration.

   You can use each connection in as many integrations as you want, and you can use the connection to move different data.

   For example, consider ten integrations that send data to Oracle ERP Cloud. All the integrations use the same invoke connection that is based on the Oracle ERP Cloud Adapter. However, each connection sends different data. When you add a connection to an integration, you choose the data to move in the source application and specify how it moves into the target application. If you need to process the data, you specify that information, too. Examples of processing tasks include the following:

   • Define the type of operations to perform on the data.
   • Specify the business objects and fields against which to perform the operations.
   • Define the required schemas.

   See Configure Connection Properties and Security Properties.

Typical Components of Integrations

Most integrations contain at least one of each of the following components:

• Trigger connection

  A trigger connection can be a scheduled trigger that is based on a schedule, or it can be a trigger that is based on a connection you define. A trigger connection does two things: It starts running the integration, and it pulls data from a source application.

  For example, consider an integration that automates the creation of an order when a customer approves an opportunity, such as a quote. The integration connects to Salesforce using the Salesforce Adapter. The connection is a trigger connection, and it pulls opportunity data from Salesforce.

  Every integration must contain a trigger connection.

• Invoke connection

  Create an invoke connection, also called a target connection, when a target application must receive data from the source application using the integration.

  Most integrations contain at least one invoke connection. For example, if your integration obtains the lowest price for an item from suppliers, it uses one invoke connection for each supplier to receive this data.

  In the Salesforce opportunity-to-order scenario, Salesforce is both the source application and the target application. The integration collects opportunity information from Salesforce and uses it to automatically generate an order in Salesforce.

• Mapping between the trigger connection and invoke connection

  The mapping between the connections specifies how the integration transfers data from the trigger (source) application to the invoke (target) application.

  The integration uses the connections to sends request messages to applications and to receive response messages from applications. You map the request and response messages as required by your use case. For example, you can map a request message to a response message, or map two request messages.

  Most integrations contain at least one mapping.