Creating a Reference Data

Let us see how to create a reference data and use it in a flow service with the help of an example. In this example, we will upload a file that contains a list of courier vendors as reference data in IBM® webMethods Integration, and then import the list of vendors as contacts into Salesforce CRM.

Before you begin

  • Log in to your tenant.

  • Check if you have the Developer and Admin roles assigned from the Settings > Roles page.

  • Obtain the credentials to log in to the Salesforce CRM back end account.

  • Create a Salesforce CRM account in IBM webMethods Integration. You can also create this account inline at a later stage.

Basic Flow

1.Select the project where you want to create the reference data. You can also create a new project.

2.Click Configurations > Flow service > Reference Data > Add Reference Data.

3.Provide a name (CourierVendors) and an optional description for the reference data.

4.For the Reference Data File, click Browse file and select the file. Both csv and a text file having tabular data are supported. The maximum file size you can upload is 1 MB. As shown in the sample, the file should not have an empty column heading or space in the first row and that row cannot be empty. This is because the first row of data is read as column headings.

5.Click Next to define the reference data. Select the Field separator and the Text qualifier. Determine the encoding of the reference data file and from the File Encoding drop down list, select the same encoding.

6.Click Next to preview the data. If you select an incorrect encoding, garbage characters may appear in the preview pane.

7.Click Done to create the reference data. The new reference data appears in the Reference Data page. The reference data also appears under the Services category in the flow services workspace.

8.Go to Flow services and create a new flow service. Provide a name ImportCourierVendorsAsContacts and description of the flow service. Then type reference data in the first step and select Reference Data.

9.Select CourierVendors. Click the icon to add a new step. We need to create a contact for each vendor, so type Repeat to select the Repeat step, and then select the CourierVendors option.

10.Select Salesforce CRM, the action as createcontact and associate the SalesforceCRM_1 account.

11.Click the mapping icon and map the input and output fields as shown below.

12.Save and run the flow service, and view the results.

Note: As Reference Data generally varies across different environments, you need to reconfigure the Reference Data as per the respective environment. So if you are publishing a project that has a flow service with Reference Data, the Reference Data will not be published along with the flow service. You are required to create the Reference data in the destination environment. Further, if a flow service you are exporting has Reference Data, the Reference Data will not be exported along with the flow service. You are required to create the reference data in the destination environment.