How to use IBM App Connect with IBM Food Trust

IBM Food Trust is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) food-safety solution that is powered by the IBM Blockchain Platform. IBM Food Trust enables a network of participants across the food supply chain to collaborate and securely share permissioned data to improve the traceability and safety of food that is brought to market.

Availability:
  • App Connect Enterprise as a Service connector
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Continuous Delivery release)Local connector in containers (Continuous Delivery release)
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Long Term Support)Local connector in containers (Long Term Support release)
  • A local connector in a Designer instance of IBM App Connect in containers (Support Cycle 2)Local connector in containers (Long Term Support Cycle-2 release)
Tip: If you don't have an IBM Food Trust account, you can find an interactive guided demo at https://www.ibm.com/account/reg/us-en/signup?formid=urx-34579

The following information describes how to use IBM App Connect to connect IBM Food Trust to your other applications.

Supported product and API versions

To find out which product and API versions this connector supports, see Detailed System Requirements on the IBM Support page.

Connecting to IBM Food Trust

To connect App Connect to an IBM Food Trust account that you want App Connect to use, you need the following connection details. If necessary, work with the Food Trust Account Administrator of your organization to obtain these details.

IBM Food Trust connection fields:

URL
The base URL for the IBM Food Trust Connector API; for example, https://food.ibm.com/ift/api/connector
  • Required: True
  • Default value: https://sandbox.food.ibm.com/ibmfoodtrust/api/connector
API key
The API key used to generate an access token for App Connect
  • Required: True
Organization ID
The Organization ID used to generate an onboarding token for making API calls to IBM Food Trust
  • Required: True
  • The following example shows the completed fields to connect to IBM Food Trust from App Connect.Example of completed fields for connecting from App Connect

To connect to a IBM Food Trust endpoint from the App Connect Designer Connect > Applications and APIs page (previously the Catalog page) for the first time, expand IBM Food Trust, then click Connect. For more information, see Managing accounts.

Tip:

Before you use the account that is created in App Connect in a flow, rename the account to something meaningful that helps you to identify it. To rename the account on the Applications and APIs page, select the account, open its options menu (⋮), then click Rename Account.

What should I consider first?

Before you use App Connect Designer with IBM Food Trust, take note of the following considerations:

  • App Connect supports version 2.0 of the IBM Food Trust Connector API, which is used to upload asset data in XML format or certificate data in JSON format from client systems to the IBM Food Trust solution.
  • To successfully upload data to IBM Food Trust, you need to be registered with IBM Food Trust and assigned the Onboarding Team Member role. Consult your IBM Food Trust Account Administrator for further details.
  • To use IBM Food Trust as a target application in a flow, you can choose from a set of actions that enable you to update or create records in the Food Trust ledger.
  • (General consideration) You can see lists of the trigger events and actions that are available on the Applications and APIs page of the App Connect Designer.

    For some applications, the events and actions depend on the environment and whether the connector supports configurable events and dynamic discovery of actions. If the application supports configurable events, you see a Show more configurable events link under the events list. If the application supports dynamic discovery of actions, you see a Show more link under the actions list.

  • (General consideration) If you are using multiple accounts for an application, the set of fields that is displayed when you select an action for that application can vary for different accounts. In the flow editor, some applications always provide a curated set of static fields for an action. Other applications use dynamic discovery to retrieve the set of fields that are configured on the instance that you are connected to. For example, if you have two accounts for two instances of an application, the first account might use settings that are ready for immediate use. However, the second account might be configured with extra custom fields.

Events and actions

IBM Food Trust events

These events are for changes in this application that trigger a flow to start completing the actions in the flow.

Note: Events are not available for changes in this application. You can trigger a flow in other ways, such as at a scheduled interval or at specific dates and times.

IBM Food Trust actions

Your flow completes these actions on this application.

Basic party registration
Update or create basic party registration
Certificates
Update or create certificates
Despatch advice
Update or create despatch advice
EPCIS aggregation event
Update or create EPCIS aggregation event
EPCIS extension
Update or create EPCIS extension
EPCIS object event
Update or create EPCIS object event
Item data notification
Update or create item data notification
Purchase order
Update or create purchase order
Receiving advice
Update or create receiving advice