Integration
Mendix supports connections to other apps and services through industry-standard interfaces and protocols such as REST, SOAP, JDBC, and OData. The platform offers many solutions for ensuring that new applications can both consume and expose data and services in heterogeneous environments.
Mendix Connect is a collection of functionalities available in the Mendix Platform that allow people in your organization to discover, understand, connect, and govern data securely. T
Mendix Connect functionalities include:
- Integration capabilities in Studio Pro 10.0
- Platform-supported connectors and modules available in the Mendix Marketplace
- The Catalog , a user-friendly way to view, share, and use data within your organization
These tools are collectively called Mendix Connect.
What Is Mendix Vision for Integration?
By focusing on the end-to-end journey—from publishing to cataloging, discovering, and using the functionality and data provided by other systems—we enable all users to leverage their core skills while seamlessly fitting into the strategic business and technical direction of their organization. As a result, users are empowered to easily publish, find, use, and manage data and functionality in their organization. These features are collectively called Mendix Connect.
How Can I Integrate with Mendix?
Connecting applications and services is simple with Mendix. There are several ways that we enable integration, ranging from consuming and exposing REST APIs, SOAP web services, and OData, to implementing connectors that use external SDKs to extend the native toolbox of the Mendix Platform with integrations such as Kafka event streams, Redis, MQTT, Slack, Twitter, and Salesforce. Many connectors already exist in the Mendix Marketplace, and they can be downloaded for immediate use inside your applications. Alternatively, you can build your own connectors, or wrap services in OData to be used with external entities.
For more information, see How Can I Integrate with Mendix?.
How Does Mendix Support Data Mapping?
Being able to easily and visually map external data formats to the entities used in your application is an important aspect of integration. Mendix helps you achieve this with its data mapping functionality that automatically maps incoming message structures (such as JSON, WSDL, or XML) in order to create domain models (if desired) and data mappings. Once the message structure is mapped, incoming data can then be transformed (if required) so it can be used inside your application models.
Read on in How Does Mendix Support Data Mapping?.
How Does Mendix Support REST & Web Services?
Mendix makes exposing and consuming REST and web services simple. To consume, map the incoming message responses from the API or service request using JSON or a WSDL, for example. Once mapped, microflow actions allow you to call the desired service from your logic and process the response directly into your app. Exposing your data and logic is also very simple. Using specific microflow actions, you can publish discoverable endpoints for your services, expose an API via a Swagger definition through microflows, or expose entities with a single click as OData resources.
Discover more in API Consumption.
Key Components of Integration
Integration Overview
Integration has always been an important part of application development, but the topic has not received much attention in the marketplace for developing apps until now.
Data Mappings
Being able to easily map external data formats to the entities used in your application is an important aspect of integration.
API Consumption
Mendix will automatically determine the structure of your message and the applicable attribute types.
API Publication
Most newer services use REST instead of web services, but using REST requires a small shift in the design of your services.
External Data
When using data acquired through integrations, you have two options for storing and using the data.
Architecture Overview
The Data Hub Catalog acts as a phonebook or map to the data and capabilities provided by software in your organization.
External Entities Overview
External entities are representations of data provided by services in other applications.
Data Hub Catalog Overview
The Data Hub Catalog is a global multi-tenant store of metadata with each organization’s information stored separately.
Connector Framework
The Data Hub connector framework is the core foundation for connecting external systems to Data Hub in both general and use case-specific ways.
Business Events
Business events can be used by applications as a signal to inform other applications that something interesting has occurred.