Using MailChimp with IBM App Connect Enterprise

MailChimp is an email marketing service that helps you to design and send email newsletters, invitations, reminders, and more, to lists of subscribers. IBM® App Connect Enterprise provides MailChimp Input and MailChimp Request nodes, which you can use to interact with MailChimp.

The following steps show you how to connect to a MailChimp account and configure a MailChimp Request node by using connector discovery. You can follow a similar procedure to configure a MailChimp Input node to monitor MailChimp for new or updated objects, by creating a flow containing a MailChimp Input node and configuring it through connector discovery.

1. In the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit, create a flow containing a MailChimp Request node.
2. Select the MailChimp Request node in the flow to show the node properties in the editor.
3. On the Basic tab, click Launch Connector Discovery.
   A panel is displayed in which you specify the name of the policy project and vault details to be used during connector discovery.
4. Specify the details of the policy project and vault to be used during connector discovery:
   1. In the Policy Project field, specify the policy project that is used to store the policies that are created during connector discovery.
      Alternatively, you can create a new policy project by clicking New and then specifying the name of the new policy project. Then click Finish.
   2. Specify the vault to be used during connector discovery. By default, credentials that are used during connector discovery are stored in an external directory vault, which is an App Connect Enterprise vault that can be used by any integration server. Alternatively, you can store the credentials in an integration server vault, which is created in the integration server's work directory and can be used only by that specific integration server.
      To specify the vault to be used for storing the credentials, complete the steps in the Using the Connector Discovery wizard section of one of the following topics:

      • Configuring an external directory vault
      • Configuring an integration server vault
   3. In the Vault key field, enter the vault key that is used to access the credentials stored in the vault. The vault key must be at least 8 characters in length.
   4. Optional: By default, the specified vault location and vault key are saved as preferences in the Toolkit so that the values are preset when you launch Connector Discovery. If you do not want the preferences to be saved, deselect Save in vault preferences.
5. Click Launch Discovery to start the Connector Discovery wizard for the MailChimp connector.
   The Connector Discovery window is displayed. If existing MailChimp connections (accounts) are available, a list of those connections is displayed. If there are no existing connections, the status of the MailChimp connector is shown as Not connected.
   • If one or more MailChimp connections (accounts) are available, complete the following steps:
     1. Select the connection (account) that you want to use, by clicking on it.
     2. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on the object. For example, to retrieve campaigns from MailChimp, click Campaigns and then Retrieve campaigns.
   • If there are no existing connections (accounts), complete the following steps:
     1. Click the required object type and then select the action that you want to perform on that object. For example, to retrieve campaigns from MailChimp, click Campaigns and then Retrieve campaigns.
     2. Click Connect.
        A window is displayed in which you enter the connection details for your MailChimp account. Enter the following information:

        • Access token: Register an application in your MailChimp account to create a client ID and a client secret. An access token is generated from the client ID, client secret, redirect URI and authorization code that is used to authenticate with MailChimp.

        For more information about obtaining these connection details, see How to use IBM App Connect with Mailchimp in the IBM App Connect Enterprise as a Service documentation.

     3. Click Connect.
6. Set the required connector properties in the wizard.
   You can also conditions for the retrieval of the data, by clicking Add condition and then selecting the property that you want to filter. For example, if you selected Campaigns and then Retrieve campaigns, you might want to specify campaigns with a specific Campaign ID. You can also set properties that specify the maximum number of records to retrieve and the action to be taken if that limit is exceeded.
7. When you have finished specifying the properties in the Connector Discovery wizard, click Save.
   The credential used for connecting to MailChimp is stored in the vault, and the other connection details are saved in the MailChimp policy. The values of the properties that you set in the wizard are returned to the MailChimp Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
8. When you have finished discovery and saved the property values, exit the Connector Discovery wizard by clicking the X in the upper-right corner of the window or by pressing Alt+F4.
9. Return to editing the MailChimp Request node in the IBM App Connect Enterprise Toolkit.
   The connector properties that were set in the Connector Discovery wizard (in step 6) are now visible on the MailChimp Request node in the property editor. The Basic tab shows the values of the Action and Object properties that you set in the wizard. For example, if you selected Campaigns > Retrieve campaigns in the wizard, the following properties will be visible on the Basic tab of the node:

   • Action - RETRIEVEALL
   • Object - Campaigns

   The values of the Action and Object properties are displayed in read-only format. If you want to change these values, you can do so by clicking Launch Connector Discovery again and setting new values in the Connector Discovery wizard.

   The Schema base name property specifies the base name of the schema files that describe the format of the request and response messages sent and received from the MailChimp connector. The schema base name is set automatically the first time you run discovery for the node, and it is based on the current flow name and node name. If you set this property manually before running discovery for the first time, the value that you set will be used. If you rename the schemas after discovery, you must edit this property so that it matches the schema base name used by the renamed schemas in the project. If you change this property after discovery, you must either rename the schema names to match or run discovery again.

   Depending on the action that was selected during discovery, the Connector Discovery wizard generates either a request schema and a response schema, or a response schema only. A request schema is generated only if the selected action and object require a request message. The generated request schema is used for validation of the request message. If the action was RETRIEVE or DELETE, only the response schema is returned by the connector.

   The generated schema files are added to the project and can be used by a Mapping node for transforming input or output data. The full filename of the schema is derived from the schema base name (such as gen/MyMessageFlow.Mailchimp_Request), suffixed with either response.schema.json or request.schema.json. You can open the schema by clicking Open request schema or Open response schema.

10. Check that the property settings on the MailChimp Request node are correct and then save the message flow.
11. On the Connection tab of the MailChimp Request node, the Policy property shows the name of the policy that contains the details of the security identity to be used for the connection. The policy has a type of MailChimp. For more information, see MailChimp policy.
12. Optional: Set the Timeout property on the Connection tab to specify the time (in seconds) that the node waits for MailChimp to process the operation.
13. The Filter tab of the MailChimp Request node contains properties that control the way in which the message flow selects data. The initial values of these properties are taken from the property values that were set for the MailChimp connector in the Connector Discovery wizard, including the filter options properties and any conditions that were specified (as described in step 6). If you subsequently return to the Connector Discovery wizard and change the values of any properties (by adding new conditions, for example) those updates are reflected in the properties set on the node.

    The Filter Options properties control which objects are to be operated upon when the MailChimp Request node executes. The Filter Limit properties control the maximum number of items to be retrieved and the action to be taken if the limit is exceeded.

    You can modify the values by clicking Edit next to the value that you want to modify in the Filter Options section, and by changing the property values that have been set in the Filter Limit section.

    The property values can be either text values or ESQL or XPATH expressions that are resolved from the contents of the message passed to the MailChimp Request node as it executes.

14. On the Request tab, set the Data location property to specify the location in the incoming message tree that contains the object data to be created in MailChimp. This data forms the request that is sent from the MailChimp Request node to the MailChimp system.
15. On the Result tab, set the Output data location property to specify the location in the output message tree that will contain the data of the record that is created in MailChimp.
16. By default, request messages are validated against the request schema that was generated during connector discovery. You can turn off request validation or change the validation settings by using the Validation properties of the MailChimp Request node.
17. Save the message flow.