Integration Providers

An integration provider is a piece of software for moving data between Dynamicweb and an external data source, like an XML file, a CSV file or an SQL database.

Integration providers are used in integration activities, which are jobs which accomplish something every time they are run, e.g. 'import products from a file' og 'export users to a file'.

An integration activity consists of:

  • A source provider matching the data source - either the Dynamicweb solution (export) or a file (import)
  • A destination provider matching the data destination - either the Dynamicweb solution (import) or a file (export)

Here's an overview of the built-in providers supplied by Dynamicweb:

Provider

Description

Dynamicweb Provider

Can access the full Dynamicweb database. High performance, but complex. Supports SQL Views.

SQL Provider

Import and export data directly to and from a Microsoft SQL server database. Supports SQL Views.

User Provider

Import and export user and user group data in a more straightforward manner than the Dynamicweb provider.

Excel Provider

Import and export data to and from Microsoft Excel.

CSV Provider

Import and export data from and to CSV files.

XML Provider

Import and export data from and to XML files.

Ecom Provider

Import and export ‘incomplete’ data to and from the Dynamicweb database. Able to e.g. auto-assign IDs to imported products.

Item Provider

Import and export items (content).

Order Provider

Import and export order and orderline data.

If you're in doubt about which provider is most suitable, here are a couple tips and tricks to help you get started:

  • 9 out of 10 times your import data source will be XML, but occasionally end-users prefer Excel or CSV. XML is also a very popular destination format.
  • When importing data to Dynamicweb, it usually makes sense to use the Dynamicweb Provider as the destination provider – but in some cases the specialized providers may be useful:
    • The Ecom Provider allows you to import incomplete product data and have the provider auto-assign the missing values. Comes with significant memory overhead.
    • The User Provider contains options for e.g. removing inactive users, generating passwords for new users, and notifying new users by email after import.
  • The XML Provider lets you use XSL transformation files to modify either your source or destination XML – this can be very useful. The downside is that you have to work with XSLT.

Click the links in the table to read in-depth information about each provider – or read about creating custom providers.

When importing data to Dynamicweb, and you import and set the Id's of tables explicitly, it is important that you use Id's that conform to Aa-Zz and 0-9 ONLY. Using space, comma, dot and/or any special characters may cause for the application to fail.