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 |
Can access the full Dynamicweb database. High performance, but complex. Supports SQL Views. |
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Import and export data directly to and from a Microsoft SQL server database. Supports SQL Views. |
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Import and export user and user group data in a more straightforward manner than the Dynamicweb provider. |
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Import and export data to and from Microsoft Excel. |
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Import and export data from and to CSV files. |
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Import and export data from and to XML files. |
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Import and export ‘incomplete’ data to and from the Dynamicweb database. Able to e.g. auto-assign IDs to imported products. |
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Import and export items (content). |
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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.