Reusing Connections

Overview

Modules represent functions in the backend (e.g. Customers, Accounts, Users). When those functions reside on the same backend, Modules use the same connection details.
Instead of cloning the connection details by value for every different Module, Connection objects can be created that are referenced by every module in the same backend. Note that modifying the Connection profile will apply to all the modules using this Connection profile.

Connection Profile

A Connection object can contain multiple Profiles (Default + Profiles).
A user can Create/Edit/Delete a Connection and its Profiles.
- Connection Name
- Connection Description
- Connection Attachments
- Referring Modules
For a Connection created with a Default Profile, the user may:
- Add a Profile
- Edit the Profile
- Delete the Profile (except from the Default)

Create a Connection

Select Connections from the menu.
Press + Create Connection.
The Create New Connection window opens.
Type a Connection Name and select a Backend Type from the list. Press the Create Connection button to create the connection with a default profile.
The new connection appears on the Connections page.
To add or edit a Connection Profile, click on the Connection icon:
The default Connection Profile is displayed:
To edit the default profile, press the edit icon .
To add a profile, press + Add profile. Enter a Profile name and edit the Connection Profile Details. Then press the Create button.
The new Connection Profile is displayed.
- You may enter a description for the new profile by pressing the Description icon.
- To delete the profile, press the icon.
- To test the profile, press the test icon.
- Note that the new profile inherits fields that are not modified from the default profile.
Note that if you try to edit an existing profile, you will be prompted to confirm.

Connections List

The Connections page displays the list of connections with the following properties:

Connection name
Connection description
Backend Type
Last update
Last updater
Profiles list
Referring Modules list

Using Connections

With New Module

On the Modules page, press + Create Module.
The Select Connector page is displayed.
Use the Filter to select the backend type.
Select one of the connector backend types by clicking on it.
Press the Create Module from the Connector button. Type the new Module Name. To use an existing Connection, choose Select Connection and select from the list of available connections..
Press the Done button to save the new module.
The new module appears on the Modules page.

With Existing Module

On the Modules page, click on the Module to select.
Click on the icon adjacent to the module name and select Change connection from the dropdown menu.
On the Change Connection references page, select a connection from the existing connections and press Replace.
A confirmation window opens. Press the Apply button to replace the connection.
The module is displayed with the selected connection indicated by the icon next to the connection name.

Using Connections in the CLI

Commands

ol list connections

Usage: ol list connections [OPTIONS]

  Display OL-HUB connections list

Options:
  --verbose          Enables verbose mode
  --verbose-debug    Enables debug mode
  --verbose-trace    Enables trace mode
  -l, --limit INT    The total number of connections to return in the
                     command's output
  -o, --offset INT   An offset to specify where to start paginating
  -f, --filter TEXT  RegEx filter by connections names
  -h, --help         Show this message and exit

Example

The command output includes the connection Id, Name, Connector Type and Description.

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ol list connections
DONE
 Id                                                     Name                                                   Connector Type                                         Description
============================================================================================================================================================================================================================
 a1ec7302-d17f-4ec2-a0da-8b0a05e0a117                   demo-account-default-connection                        oracle_db                                              Auto-generated connection for module demo-account
 8ced1e55-fbce-4773-bfae-087ed9e19a36                   m-as400-screens-default-connection                     as400Screens                                           Auto-generated connection for module m-as400-screens
 30b4d357-0407-464a-a586-e1437890032c                   as400-screens-default-connection                       as400Screens                                           Auto-generated connection for module as400-screens
 0129e054-0712-48c3-885a-ce1f073d7404                   as400                                                  as400Rpc                                               as400
 b23c9289-2057-4d0c-90af-9f3f904aad41                   as400-pcml                                             as400Rpc

ol create module MODULE_NAME --connector

Example:

ol create module as400-cobol --connector as400-cobol

The new module is created with the default connector type and default profile.

Linking Connections between the CLI and the OL Hub

The Connection is an OL Hub object. It does not exist in the CLI until the Module is pushed to the Hub.

Therefore, if you create a Module in the CLI, it behaves as follows:

Running the ol test connection command in the CLI will store the connection details in the profile (no Hub connection yet).
When you push the module to the Hub, it will create a new Connection for the profile/s or use the Hub Module Connection if it already exists.
If you link an existing Connection to the Module, then the Module Connection and its profiles are copied to the module.json. When you push the Module to the Hub, it will use the Module Connection that you've linked.