Connecting to accounts

App Connect Designer provides a catalog of connectors that you can use to interact with IBM®, partner, and third-party applications and APIs when you create your flows. IBM provides a set of connectors, but also enables you to add custom connectors to the catalog by importing OpenAPI documents or community connectors. To create flows that transfer data across applications and APIs, you need to establish a connection to these applications and APIs by setting up accounts with the required credentials.

Note: This topic focuses on how to use the set of IBM-supplied connectors to connect to accounts for applications, but you can use custom connectors to connect to applications or APIs in a similar way.
  • An OpenAPI document contains an API definition. When you import an OpenAPI document into App Connect Designer, the imported API is added as a custom connector. For information about importing OpenAPI documents and connecting to these imported APIs, see How to use IBM App Connect with APIs imported from OpenAPI documents.
  • Community connectors are developed by App Connect users and are shared as assets in IBM Automation Explorer. You can download a community connector from IBM Automation Explorer and then import that community connector into App Connect Designer as a custom connector. For more information about developing, importing, and connecting to community connectors, see Working with community connectors.
    Availability: Support for community connectors is available only in App Connect Designer 12.0.7.0-r2 or later.


About this task

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

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.

App Connect Designer supports the use of local connectors, which are local to the Designer instance in your cluster.

Note: A predefined account is 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. The predefined account is selected by default and an account name is not displayed for the connector.
Preconfigured Callable flow account for a local connector

For information about using the Callable flow connector, see Configuring connectivity between a calling flow and a callable flow.

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:

  1. From the navigation pane, click the Catalog icon Catalog icon to open the Catalog page.

    If you have not yet created any accounts in your App Connect Designer instance, the full set of IBM-supplied connectors is shown in a single list on initial access, to indicate which applications you can connect to. The connection status for each application is shown as Not connected.

    Initial Catalog page in App Connect Designer
    After you create one or more accounts, these applications are separated into Connected and Not connected lists. The account status is displayed as follows:
    • An application with no accounts is shown in a Not connected state.
    • An application with a single account shows the account name; for example, Account 1.
    • An application with multiple accounts displays the total number of connected accounts; for example, 2 accounts.
    "Connected" and "Not connected" lists of applications on the Catalog page

  2. To create an account, click the application that you want to connect to (in the Connected or Not connected list).
    Selected application on the Catalog page in App Connect Designer
  3. If no accounts are created for this application, click the Connect button, and then go to step 5.
  4. 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.
      "Add a new account" option
    2. Go to step 5.
  5. Enter the account credentials in the connection fields that are displayed and then click Connect.

    Connection details are specific to each application. For help with completing these fields, go to How-to guides for apps and locate the guide for the specific app.

    Connection fields for a local account

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.

What to do next

After you create an 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.

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, and can update your account credentials in App Connect, rename accounts, or remove redundant accounts. For more information, see Managing accounts in App Connect.