Connecting to accounts

App Connect Designer provides a catalog of IBM, partner, and third-party applications for you to use in your flows. You can also import OpenAPI documents that contain API definitions into App Connect Designer, and use these imported APIs in your flows. To create flows that transfer data across applications and imported APIs, a connection needs to be established to each application or API in a flow, and you can do so by setting up accounts with the required credentials.

Note: This topic focuses on how to connect to accounts for applications, but you can connect to imported APIs in a similar way. For full details about importing OpenAPI documents as APIs and connecting to these imported APIs, see How to use IBM App Connect with APIs imported from OpenAPI documents.

About this task

The account credentials that you need to provide vary by application, and you might need to work with an administrator in some cases to obtain the values. You can view the type of credentials that each application requires from the App Connect Designer Catalog page, and can review the How-to guides for apps for guidance on obtaining the values.

In IBM® App Connect, connectors are used to establish a connection to the target applications and to run the configured actions or API operations that you add to flows. (The terms connector and application are sometimes used interchangeably.)

Note: An App Connect Designer 12.0.3.0-r2 or later instance supports the use of local connectors only. An App Connect Designer 12.0.3.0-r1 or earlier instance supports the use of local connectors only, or both local and cloud-managed connectors.

If only local connectors are enabled in your Designer instance, you'll see only the supported subset of connectors on the Catalog page. When you try to connect, the connection fields are presented for your input, so that you can create a local account by using the locally deployed connector.
If both local and cloud-managed connectors are enabled in your 12.0.3.0-r1 or earlier Designer instance, you'll see the full set of connectors. When you try to connect, you can choose whether you want to create a local or cloud-managed account if both account types are supported for that connector. You can then either specify the local credentials or link out to the App Connect on IBM Cloud instance that hosts that connector in the cloud. If only a cloud-managed account is supported, you are immediately presented with a panel to link out to the App Connect on IBM Cloud instance that hosts that connector in the cloud.
Note:
- If accounts are already configured in your App Connect on IBM Cloud instance, when you open the App Connect Designer Catalog page, those cloud-managed accounts are immediately shown and you can use them in your flows.
  If you need to add or update cloud-managed accounts, you must do so from the App Connect on IBM Cloud instance. Any cloud-managed accounts that you use in your flows must remain active in App Connect on IBM Cloud to enable those flows to run successfully.
- Predefined accounts are automatically created for the Callable flow connector when the App Connect Designer instance is created, so you do not need to manually create any accounts for this connector and no provision is made for adding accounts.
  - If both local and cloud-managed connectors are enabled in your instance, a predefined account named Account 1 is used to identify the cloud-managed account from your App Connect on IBM Cloud instance. A predefined account named Account 2 is similarly provided for use by the local connector. When you add a Callable flow node to your flow, you can select the account that you want to use.
  - If only local connectors are enabled, the predefined local account is selected by default and an account name is not displayed for the connector.
  For information about using the Callable flow connector, see Configuring connectivity between a calling flow and a callable flow.
- App Connect Designer 12.0.3.0-r2 or later : Only local accounts are supported for events and actions in event-driven or API flows.
- App Connect Designer 12.0.3.0-r1 or earlier: For event-driven flows, only local accounts are supported for events. For both event-driven flows and API flows, local and cloud-managed accounts are supported for actions.

You can add account details from the App Connect Designer Catalog page before you create a flow, or you can do so from within the flow editor (or API editor) of a flow that you are creating. While the connection is being established, you might be informed that App Connect wants to access your account for the application. If you see this prompt, be sure to grant App Connect access to the application.

The following instructions document how to add accounts from the Catalog page. The instructions for adding accounts while you are creating a flow are similar, except that you are prompted to connect after you select an application and action that you want to add to your flow.

Procedure

To add account details from the App Connect Designer Catalog page, complete the following steps:

If not currently displayed, open the Catalog page by clicking the Catalog icon .
The set of supported applications is listed in the Applications tab on the Catalog page. An APIs tab is also provided, which you can use to add imported APIs to the catalog. For information about imported APIs, see How to use IBM App Connect with APIs imported from OpenAPI documents.

For each application in the Applications tab, the account status is displayed as follows:
- An application with no accounts is shown in a Not connected state.
- An application with a single local or cloud-managed account shows the account name. A cloud icon is appended to the name if the account is detected to be cloud-managed from your App Connect on IBM Cloud instance.
- An application that contains multiple cloud-managed or local accounts will display the total number of connected accounts.
Click to expand the application for which you want to create an account.
If no accounts have yet been created for this application, click the Connect button. Then go to step 5.
If an account already exists for this application and you want to add another account, complete the following steps:
1. Click the Account drop-down list and then click Add a new account.
2. Go to step 5.
Add connection details by completing one of the following steps:
- If only local connectors are enabled for flows, the connection fields are immediately displayed. Enter the account information and then click Connect.
  Note: Local connectors do not require the IBM Secure Gateway Client connection that is required to connect some cloud-managed connectors to private networks in App Connect on IBM Cloud.
- If both local and cloud-managed connectors are enabled for flows, but only local accounts can be created for the application, the connection fields are immediately displayed. Enter the account information and then click Connect.
- If both local and cloud-managed connectors are enabled for flows, but only cloud-managed accounts can be created for the application, you'll need to create the account in your App Connect on IBM Cloud instance as follows:
  1. In the Connect application panel that is displayed, click Open the applications catalog.
  2. Log in to the App Connect on IBM Cloud instance if prompted.
  3. From the App Connect on IBM Cloud Catalog page, locate and click the application for which you want to create an account, and then click the Connect button.
  4. If the connection fields are immediately displayed, enter the account information and click Connect. If you are redirected to a login page for the target application, enter your login credentials, and grant access to IBM App Connect if prompted.
  5. When it's confirmed that an account has been created, close the App Connect on IBM Cloud browser tab and return to your App Connect Designer instance. Then click Done in the Connect application panel.
    You should now see the account in the Catalog page.
- If both local and cloud-managed connectors are enabled, and both local and cloud-managed accounts can be created for the application, you can choose the type of account that you want to create. Open the Connector location drop-down list and choose the required option.
  - To create a local account, click Local and click Continue. Then enter the account information in the connection fields that are displayed, and click Connect.
  - To create a cloud-managed account, click Cloud and click Continue. In the Connect application panel that appears, click Open the applications catalog and then create the account in your App Connect on IBM Cloud instance.
    When it's confirmed that an account has been created, close the App Connect on IBM Cloud browser tab and return to your App Connect Designer instance. Then click Done in the Connect application panel. You should now see the account in the Catalog page.

Results

After you connect the first account from the Catalog page or from the flow or API editor, a default name for the account is shown in a drop-down list below the application name.

Accounts are typically added using the following naming convention:
Account n (user_identifier)

Where:

Account n represents an account name. When you add an account, its default name is given as Account n, where n is a number that starts from 1 and increments for each account added for that application. You can change the default name to make it more meaningful; for example, by assigning a name such as Test instance, US Lab, or Inventory API (1000 calls per min), which helps you identify the application instance to which you are connected or the credentials used to connect.
(user_identifier) provides additional contextual information such as the email address or user name that is associated with the account, or a generic label; for example: (my_email@example.com) or (username). This value varies based on the application, and might not be applicable for some applications.

Note: If you have a cloud-managed account with the same name as a local account, the local account takes precedence and is the account you'll see. If you subsequently remove the local account, the cloud-managed account becomes visible. To see both accounts, you can rename one of them if they are not being used in a flow.

What to do next

After you create a local account in your App Connect Designer instance, it's good practice to rename the account for ease of identification. You cannot rename the account for an application if that account is currently being used in a flow; so it’s best to rename your account immediately after you connect. To rename an account, click the Accounts options menu for that application on the Catalog page, and then select Rename Account.

Cloud-managed accounts can be managed only from the App Connect on IBM Cloud host instance.

After you add an account for an application, you can use that account in multiple flows. You can also add multiple accounts for an application if required, and can update your account credentials in App Connect, rename accounts, or remove redundant accounts. For more information, see Managing accounts in App Connect.