Microsoft 365 Community Power Platform Connectors, 9 Nov 2022

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From YouTube: Power Platform Integrations / Connectors LABs Call - 9th of November, 2022

Description

Power Platform Integrations / Connectors LABs Call delivered on November 9.

Hosted by Jocelyn Panchal (Microsoft) - @JocelynP_PM, linkedin.com/in/jocepan00/

Agenda:
0:00 - Intro and Connector Count Update
4:16 - Connector Certification Process - Amjed Ayoub (Microsoft) | linkedin.com/in/amjed-ayoub/
24:40 - SHRTCODE Independent Publisher Connector Demo - Chandra Sekhar Malla | @ChandraSMalla
34:40 - WooCommerce Connector Demo - Nick Hance | @NHance

Learn more about Power Platform Connectors
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerPlatformConnectors
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/connectors/

Want to join the next LABs Call? Fill out this form: forms.office.com/r/VN6uEuYKnK

A

Perfect hello, everybody good morning, good afternoon, good evening from wherever you're tuning into I am so excited to be here. Welcome back to the Power Platform, connectors and Integrations lab call. It is November 9th 2022, and this is the first session that we have held for a long time, I'm so excited to introduce myself. I am Jocelyn. Some of you guys may have been familiar with Natalie I am her um I'm, a processor basically or actually she's. My predecessor, I, have taken over in her role. She is still here in power.

A

Automate working on the customer acquisition and retention team and I am new to the connector space. I previously worked on cloudflows as part of the maker experience team. You might know some of the features that I've worked on. I made the first iteration of the undo button, as well as the delay button and I also worked on cloudflows back when it was UI flows on the ppac integration.

A

I I am originally from the East Coast I was born in Brooklyn I spent, most of my life in New Jersey, before coming out to the West Coast to Seattle, where I am now where I graduated from the University of Washington Seattle with a major in mechanical engineering and a minor in Spanish.

A

We have a great schedule planned for today, I'll be giving a little bit of a connector count update since our last session in April, then I'll be handing it over to my colleague amjad our certification, PM, that some of you guys might know, but I also can tell that there's a good amount of audience here who is new to the connector space, so amjad will be telling you a lot about how you can also get a connector certified through our program.

A

After that we have two awesome demos lined up with Chandra and Nick and I'd also like to give a quick thank you to Rebecca for all of her support in putting this event together.

A

You're very welcome and welcome.

B

A

You everybody, and actually let me share some links in the chat for you guys to connect with me perfect. Here we go okay next slide, so I'm super excited to tell everybody that we are now at 870 total connectors. We had a train go out yesterday, thank you, I'm jedner, other vendorship Khan, um and just to put that into comparison of how much we've grown. Since we had our last session before summer break, we were at 685 at the end of April, so that's definitely a big boost in the ecosystem.

A

We have this little pie chart here to show how that breakdown happens. So of those 870. We have 196 made by independent Publishers 227 made from Microsoft first party apis and 447 that are made from verified. Publishers I'll do a quick overview of what that means for the people new to our community, but independent Publishers are community members like you guys that leverage open source apis to make connectors in our platform first party obviously is Microsoft and verified.

A

Publishers are third-party companies that own their own apis and and make connectors with us so think, Adobe or DocuSign Autodesk companies like that, but amjad will go into a lot more specific details there.

A

The other thing that I wanted to share with you all and I'll drop. This link in the chat as well is that I am super excited to have announced that we are bringing back the flow of the week blog post. A little bit of context is in 2019. There was a blog post series called flow of the week where we wrote about a great use case for a flow once a week.

A

Basically, but back then, it was focused a little bit more on the developer and maker experience, and now I really want to focus on business users like you guys, so how I'm going to do that is I want to hear stories and submissions from you all about a really important flow that you use or multiple flows that you use that affect your day affect your job and I would love to write about it to make a template about it and to share it with all the other users.

A

So I'm going to drop this link in the chat and I would love to hear from you guys and please reach out to me to any of my socials as well they're on the screen and they're in the chat and now I would like to introduce I'm dead.

C

Thank you. Thank you. So much Justin hi everyone, um I'm MJ, Ayub I'm, the certification PM for the team. um I started this. um This position like um eight months ago uh and I'm really excited for this opportunity uh with Microsoft. uh Today, I will present our certification process and showing our uh different type of connectors and how you can get your connector certified with us.

C

um So if you can go to the next slide, okay, so I want to give like just a quick idea.

C

What a connector is uh so just imagine that uh it's uh like a proxy or a wrapper around your API and that um a wrapper will allow this API to talk to Microsoft uh different platforms such like Microsoft flows per apps and logic apps, um and it will allow users for power automate uh to use your connectors, uh pre-built actions and triggers um to um without, without with like, with no code needed at all, and this is what makes uh connectors uh so powerful. So next slide.

C

Okay, so just imagine that uh this thing in the middle, the blue thing is the connector uh before we have the uh Azure APM management, and this is a website that will work as um uh like um to host uh your API definition. uh Your API definition will be um uh stored in something called Swagger. uh So if you we go back to to the connector here, we see that the smallest circle is open, uh API definition.

C

So that's your Swagger file, uh we're gonna, add to that API definition, some metadata, like actions and triggers which will bring that uh definition or API definition to live, and then maybe some code. um It's like not required to add code to your connector. You can definitely uh publish and certify a codeless connector, uh but this feature also is still available. You can add some code to your connector and by the end, when the connector is ready, it will allow um the API that is behind this connector to talk to Microsoft uh different platforms.

C

Next slide, I want to show that different types of connectors. We have three main different types and I want to start with the last one, which is the custom connector. uh This is a type of connector that is available for anybody. Anybody can go and build a custom connector. There is no uh restrictions there, no requirements, nothing. Anyone can go, build a connector custom connector and of course it will be available only for you.

C

uh You can share it with any like with somebody else, and it will become available for those people that you share it with only uh so here uh like in public when under availability, when I, say public I mean public that people that you share it with only so, it's not gonna be available for uh everybody uh on Power Platform.

C

um If you want to publish this and get it certified the custom connector, it needs to be one of these uh categories, either independent publisher and verified publisher, and, as you can see, that the only difference between those two types is the ownership of the API. uh So both connectors will be available for public. uh All users uh will be all power, automate users, um uh flows and power, apps and logic. Apps. All users can use this connector, uh but the only difference is the ownership.

C

If you own the API behind this connector, then you are a verified publisher. If you do not own uh the API, you still can publish a connector as an independent publisher.

C

Next slide, please yay and now after we know like what type of Partners we are, we're gonna uh start registering our connector. The first step would be to register uh the connector and fill out uh the Microsoft registration form, and this step is required only from verified, Publishers or API owners. Only and in this form we just like collecting some general information about partners, for example, about the company, the size of the company, um like a confirmation from them that they do own the API a privacy policy.

C

uh What is the purpose of the connector, and does it really like offer a good value uh value for for the community? Does it bring something new um after that, after we approved the connector um it will? We were gonna, start preparing the connector and getting like the artifacts ready, uh and this uh this step here is like required from both partners and dependent and uh and verified Publishers. They both need to meet the requirements for Microsoft, for example, the title of the connector should be less than 30 characters.

C

uh The description should be between 30 and 500. All operations should have summaries and descriptions um responses. For example, we do not allow default responses. You should Define a proper response with a valid schema definition, um the English language for all the files.

C

um This is a really good and important step to make sure that you there is no um like a grammatical errors or typos in your files, and this will help uh later on after your connector gets um uh published and certified. It might be eligible for localization later on. We do localize for multiple languages and just to make that job easier. I'm like make it going smooth with no issues. uh That's why we asked for a good, English language from the beginning.

C

So next slide after that, we're gonna get going into preparing our artifacts and metadata, and for that there is some important properties that, um like is important to include, for example, the publisher and stack owner for independent Publishers. Those two should be different, because the publisher is does not own. The API and stack owner is the owner of the API in case of verified publisher.

C

They should be the same because uh who is publishing the connector should be owning the API and then, for example, some properties like the contact, the website privacy policy and what categories are the connectors under and then uh the artifacts, which will include the API definition for the connector and the API properties for independent publisher. We ask only for two files: the API definition swagger.json and the API property to Json. uh There is no icon is required for the independent Publishers Microsoft will provide an icon for them and then for verified, Publishers or API owners.

C

We're going to ask for the API definition, Swagger file, API properties, and they have to provide an icon for their connector as well and from all Partners. We ask for a good nice. Small file called readme, and this readme file will be as like will will be the documentation for for your connector in our open source, repo in GitHub, and um we we recommend using a tool called bacon tool and, of course all these I can share after I finish. Presenting I will share all links for those tools and uh all those documents.

C

uh We have a tool called bacon tool. You can use it uh to download your custom connector from Power automate and you can use it also to validate your artifacts before submitting to um to our certification process. So you make sure that your files are ready and valid for certification. So it's very recommended highly recommended to valid, to validate your your artifacts before submitting them and then step five after we validate and we like get uh all our files ready.

C

We are ready to submit uh the first submission we ask is to submit, in our open source uh repo on great help uh for independent Publishers there, one more step here that we ask them to add some screenshots for their connectors uh um as like. They are confirming uh that they test their connector and the connector is working as expected, and this is the icon that they will um like Microsoft will give for all independent Publishers and for both Partners they have to submit all artifacts.

C

In GitHub we run some checks, uh for example the security uh check um and the Swagger and change validation check. um Those are checks that will will run. They are almost the same checks that runs in the bacon tool. So if you run the bacon.validate and there was no errors there, then those issues should be passing uh with no issues as well. The last one would be the CLA, our CLA agreement, um and it's required for all Partners to sign this agreement in GitHub.

C

Usually it takes two weeks for Microsoft to review your PR, but now we were taking like within one week to review uh the PRN forward. After the pr is merged and approved, uh we will ask verified Publishers only to take the same artifacts that they submitted in GitHub and they can use their latest commit ID from GitHub to submit to ISB studio for independent Publishers. This, uh this tip is not required at all. We do not require any independent publisher to create an account in ISP studio and submit there.

C

We will create the connector for them in ISP studio, so for independent Publishers. All what they need is to submit in GitHub.

C

um So after that, Partners verified Publishers will upload to isv Studio with their artifacts, our Engineers uh I'm. Still, in the same slide, sorry Jasmine, uh our our um you know, go back. Yes, thank you. Okay,.

D

C

So our Engineers uh will review your submission in in isv studio, making sure that you submitted the same files in GitHub or use the latest comment ID from GitHub, uh that you also submitted um a good icon that meets our requirements as well. If everything looks good in your submission, we will move forward and we will prepare your connector for testing. In that stage uh we will and that's that step also for both Partners verified and independent.

C

um We will deploy the connector to preview region and we will test all connectors Fields there all operations and all triggers making sure that it's it is working as expected.

C

um After the functional verification is done and if the connector passes our test, uh we will ask Partners to test and of course, this step now is only for verified Publishers, because if you remember um for independent publisher, we already asked them to add some screenshots, along with their PR in in GitHub, to to verify that they already did this partner testing testing so for independent publishing, it's done um for verified Publishers. We will ask them in icv studio, to go, create an environment and for creating this environment and testing your your connector.

C

You will need a valid uh Power automate license uh now next slide after partner is testing, and if, like um your, um your connector is working as you expect in uh in preview region, uh you will confirm with our engineers in ISP Studio that you tested and uh the connector is ready for deployment, and this is the latter latest step in the certification process. uh Usually it takes three to four weeks um because we are we deploy to uh different regions and each region take one day to deploy.

C

um For example, first region would be testing next region would be USA preview and then Asia, except of some countries, um and so on. So each each region will take one day and in total uh they will take like 12 to 14 days to to complete um and that's for deployments after next slide.

C

um Just like a quirky review over the steps uh and like see the difference between verified Publishers and independent Publishers for registration, uh this step is only required from verified. Publishers, preparing the connector, metadata and artifacts are required from both GitHub is required from both isv studio is required from vp's. Only verified Publishers for independent Publishers Microsoft will create the uh the connector in ISO studio for functional verification or Microsoft testing. It's required for both we test, both Partners, connectors and also partner testing is required from both deployment.

C

Also uh will be done for both connectors next slide, and now. uh This is a very good, uh Point uh and I think all Partners should be aware of this uh any uh we allow like updating the connector during the certification process and after after it gets deployed, of course, but any update uh during the certification process will reset the process to the beginning. You will go back to the first step. Well, you need to submit a pull request with your updated artifacts next slide, please and then um just uh like.

C

Why why it's good to certify a connector and not just have it as a custom connector? First of all, it's free and not cost at all to certify your connector. um The second thing you will be belonging to, uh like your connector, will be listed in in the official list of Microsoft connectors.

C

uh You can gain uh visibility uh for um or or connector your connector will be shown in the different Microsoft platforms, uh power, apps logic, apps and power, automate, uh of course, that will expand through each of your API by the users of power automates. uh You can unlock many marketing benefits. Of course we have a plug post, monthly, blog post, that we share our new and updated connectors in uh and that blog post, also gate listed in social media and I.

C

Think the most important thing uh is the last one that you can get a feedback and Technical feedback from Microsoft with any issue uh with your connector. You can reach out to our team and we will be more than happy to help and last thing just benefits of um deployment and what you can see after deployment. uh You can see your connected usage and key insights anytime in isv studio. You can submit an update and update your connector anytime after deployment.

C

You can monitor the connector in the community discussion, form and see users feedback and what they think about your connector and the last thing that you can remove the preview tag if your connector is qualified for General availability, and this is uh that a feature we have all connectors that we deploy all new connectors will be deployed and certified with a preview tag next to it at the beginning, and it's just for us a way to like know that this is still not eligible for General availability.

C

You can move to General availability if your connector meeting our requirements or require the criteria which is in the next slide. Iu connector, for example, should like the API should be in production, not interesting. The available ability of the connector should be 99.985 percent. The success rate, for example, should be above 80, and all these information will be available for you in ISB studio and they are connected under the connector Telemetry and, of course, we we ask for a support. uh 24 7.

C

um I think we changed that lately we are asking for a minimum 40 hours per week of support for the connector and also recommended criteria, for example active users above 500. uh In the last three weeks, usage should be above 50, monthly, active connections, uh but also this is just a recommended criteria, not required and there's an exception like if you do not meet those two, uh but your connector has been in uh like published and certified for more than six months and you meet all the required criteria. You still can move to ga.

C

So that's all and thank you.

A

Thank you so much amjad. That was a really fantastic I should know the certification process and I affirmed that when you guys are going and submitting your connectors, it is I'm Jed. Behind that GitHub, that's going to be giving you that feedback. That's going to be helping you along that certification process, so you got to meet the face behind GitHub today. Thank you so much and I'm Judd.

A

If you had the chance, would you mind dropping the links to the documentation for the certification process, as well as our connector partner management, email in case people have questions in the chat.

C

Yes, yes, I will and also I want to see if anybody has like questions, I might take them in the chat as well.

A

Yeah, yes, feel free to drop any questions.

B

Yeah I I thought I'll just raise my hand. I have a couple of questions uh two two. Actually. So what is in your experience, um the part of the the uh the process where most publishers struggle so because it wasn't very good overview, but is there like a specific part of the process that you need to help Publishers to get to the hurdle to actually get certified.

C

Oh well, like I, want to say most Partners uh like feel in preparing the Swagger file, which is the very important file. uh Some of them would like have empty properties which we, which we do not allow.

C

um um Another issue sometimes uh is like um an incorrect icon, and this is only for verified Publishers, um but I want to say that in our feedback in GitHub, we try to give the feedback exactly like at the line. That needs to be changed and the very descriptive like hey. Please change this to that.

C

um So we will we'll be like explaining everything for partners, letting them understanding why this change is needed and uh what needs to be done. Foreign.

B

Other question for the the uh going to GI with your connector, the supports for the connector is that the same requirement for independent publisher connectors and um let's go first party connector or third-party connectors, where you own, the API.

C

Yes, yes, uh both both Partners need to support their connectors. Yes,.

A

Thanks but it's it's, it's not 24! 7., it's 40 hours a week! That's a typo! Yes! Just.

C

Yeah, actually, that's why um yeah that's why we change it to 40 hours um to like also include our independent Publishers and make them uh like make them also available to to provide some support for their connectors as well.

B

Yeah because I know that most independent population will not be 24 7 available yeah great thanks.

A

Perfect, okay, we're doing really well on time, which is fantastic. So now I'm really excited to introduce our two demos. First, we have Chandra and I will drop his links in the chat and after that we will have Nick and I will also drop his contacts in the chat as well. I'm gonna, stop sharing and you go ahead and take over Chandra.

E

Thank you, uh hello. Everyone. My name is Chandra so nice to meet you all. Let me share my screen. I have a couple of slides that I want to share yeah. So today the demo would be shortcode uh demo where uh build a collector connector during uh while I was waiting. For my you know a new office to join so that was like couple of days. I had and then I was like. Okay, why? To you know stay free I can build a connector, so I thought of building it. So this is my little introduction.

E

I'm from India I'm working at damco, Solutions company in the Dubai as a Power, Platform Tech specialist, recently have been promoted. ah I am also a independent uh assemina, Community user group leader I've, been you know, maintaining monthly calls connecting with people and helping them with their problems in Power Platform. It can be power automate or it can be power apps and then making some demos and explaining new features in Power Platform. All sorts of things I've been doing, and also from past year, I've been working as, like.

E

You know, contributing to Microsoft in in the way of independent publisher. In in most of the time, I like to know know about Technologies and I like to play with the data and like building visualizations and making data analysis and also I like programming, I, always try to keep things and like and what is coming in the technology and what is the programming and all? So that's all about me and if we go next slide, this is where we have the shortcode uh connector that I built.

E

So it's simply like the title says the Privacy friendly URL shortener many of uh people in the world like using websites and all they might know about a tiny URL, so which is a famous one, but this is has like specific uh features that he a shortcode has so today, I'd like to show them. So let's go to the demo.

E

So right now uh you can just go on to uh Power automatic.com, like my make.power.com website and then go to connector section, and then you will be able to find a short code in independent web publisher section. So here we have currently only two. uh You know actions are available, which is even from the uh personal API. One is to create a shortened link and one is to get information about a short link, uh the link that you have created so today we are going to create a short links for URL.

E

So so, basically, what this requirement would come is where example, let's say in the organization you have: maybe a local on-premise applications with longer URLs or client applications are there that needs to access through web, and you need to always worry about URLs with longer URL, so I think either I just thought of okay. If this connector is there, everything can be stored now securely and then using a code only you will be able to get it uh that whatever the URL that you have provider.

E

So let's I'll show you right now here, I have list a SharePoint list with a few columns like website name, the code short link and everything. So we are going to use power automate flow to create a new item there for a website. Right now, I have two websites for I want to build. uh You know a short URL for so let's just go there and create instant flow, let's name it.

E

Let's create that and let's go ahead and create manually.

E

So now we have one character so because it is manual flow. We need to give the URL, we need to pass the URL, so let's say URL, and then we can go to Next Step. This is where we will take the uh independent publisher connector, which is shortcode.

E

Let's give it a minute.

E

There it is so here we have like two actions that we explained a seen earlier, so we'll click on the shorter link and then it should pop up the URL. Basically you it will ask you for all the terms and conditions about the connector, because it is an independent publisher, connector, so uh I've been already tried. So that is why it's directly asking me to show the URL so now I'll be inputting the URL from the manual flow, so there it is so right now we have the URL now.

E

Our next step is to add that uh whatever the code and the website name and everything into the SharePoint list is our goal. So let's go and search for SharePoint.

E

So here we can go to SharePoint connector and look for create item that it is here because it's I created in my personal, my list instead of SharePoint list, so I I just need to copy the URL paste it and then I'll be able to see the lists are available in my list just give a minute there. It is a shortcode list which we have there so here right now, title is there, which is nothing but the website name at the back end. It's always it stays as primary.

E

So right now, what we need to do is we need to use a formula to extract the domain name from The Domain, so that we can use that as a title, a little smart way so ah recently format. Data by example, has been you know in the preview. So let's give it a try here we want to extract the main URL from the original URL uh domain name from the original URL, and we can give the example okay this. uh This is what we will be giving to you and we will be expecting Dot.

E

Right and we can have another example for power automatic Maybe, so that it will be concrete- and you know, works perfectly.

E

So we can that expression and there it is, we can give it a try so that it will know exactly what the expression is doing. Then it's working fine. Now, let's click on apply and it it is there.

E

So we'll just go ahead, and so uh another thing here this is where we need to give shortened link I just want to say that here uh the column that I created uh as a hyperlink, because we'll be directly coming here and accessing the link instead of copying it again, then opening the item and all so that is the reason we just need to add HTTP here, so that we can directly add the shortened code here and the code here, so that everything will be there.

E

Now, let's just verify that everything is in place and then you can save.

E

Once it is saved, we can go ahead and test it. A little heads up here there might be a bug about a manual. uh You know manual trigger right now, but no issue. If bug is there, there is a workaround for that.

E

Okay, everything looks cool for as of now, let's paste the Link Storage. So let's get the link from here and paste it and run.

E

Oh there it is, uh that is a bug, so no worries, let's just those simple workout is just add that delete that again manually and I. Add it again so just I've already submitted about it. Let's see anything is missing from here. The URL is missing.

E

Put it here and everything looks, should look fine, okay, perfect now, let's go ahead and try it again and probably should work.

E

There it is so now. If we go here, we can see so the website name was extracted. The code is there, and here we have that little uh shortcode we can directly click it and then we can access it. So if right now we have only one so later on. If we might have a number of our list items, you can quickly see the name which one you want to access. I I know Microsoft in Azure people working on Azure developing they have like number of blades they have so they need to always remember so.

E

I think this will be a best solution for them to keep things everything interact. So that's the connector demo and here like little feedback. uh If anybody wants to join the community to you know, have conversations to share their experiences. We are all open to uh give you. You know, give you a platform for that and if you're having problems you can feel free to join and then you know we are. We are here to help each other and share share his uh caring sharing is caring, so yeah. That's all. Thank you.

E

Thank you, Jocelyn. Thank you. Everyone.

A

Thank you so much Chandra for sharing I also dropped the link to the documentation for your connector, as well as where um users can go, find it on power automates website to try to leverage it themselves, really appreciate you taking the time to demo for us today.

E

A

um And with that, we will hand it over to our last section and last demo for the day go ahead. Nick.

D

Okay, thank you very much. uh Adele I saw you had a question for Chandra. Did you want to ask him that.

B

No sorry I is like that.

D

Oh no problem: okay, I'm gonna go ahead and get started. The slides.

B

I have can I give you a short introduction. Oh yes, of course, so um so this is. This has been in the works for at least uh six months uh when we started with this call. uh We had the independent publisher, connector demos like Chandra just did and Nick said. Oh I have a connector to uh to show, uh and then we were talking about a thing yeah, but what he wants to show it's very useful for a lot of people. We want to give him some more time because we think it's it.

B

His story is good so but well long story short. It took a long while so I'm very happy that you're here and I just wanted to say that before you start so go ahead.

D

Thank you, I'm gonna have to move through the slides pretty quickly. um This was an hour-long presentation when I gave it at Summit in Orlando a couple weeks ago, um so I'll have to go through this pretty quickly.

D

um There is some I can skip over to give you a short, um a short uh preview of what we're doing it's going to be a fully Dynamic connector, so the connector runs completely Dynamic. The um the the connector shell itself that lives inside of power. Automate um really is just uh it's like a meta programming, sort of thing, so um really cool I'll get into it right away. So um this is about me I liked code, I, liked stuff I'm going to go through this stuff quickly.

D

I'm going to skip by a bunch of this um amjad did a great job talking about what connectors are so I'm, not even going to speak to these slides, but I will get into some of the interface that that we're all familiar with. This is how we make our connectors.

D

um You can do it this way and in this point and click the boring normal way to do it, but you can't do Advanced things in here um with the exception of policies.

D

um So what I'm going to talk about is in the Swagger editor, so you can get to that by clicking the little guy here or you can write it in something else. But this is what will um what we'll be using for the kind of primary, which is what I'm talking through here is the actual connector sub data. The you know the the raw code that we're going to be looking at, so um the standard features that we that we have in connectors are normal things.

D

This is sort of the format that we need to put into it, and um uh we've got the the the the the the operation- and this is the HTTP method that we're using the parameters that come into it and the responses, um and uh some of the things that you need to know is that power automate's super picky about formats um sure, as as uh independent publisher authors, you guys have all seen this where the um it has to be a string always and if it's not a string, you have to type convert it and power.

D

Automate will enforce that and break your flows if things come out in the wrong format.

D

um These are the types and formats that are available in the standard. Connectors I apologize, I'm moving through the standard stuff so quickly, because I'm trying to move us along so um just kind of going through that quick I assume. This is something you guys already know. What we're going to talk about today are the dynamic values, the dynamic schema and the policies there's also custom code, but I'm not going to get into that.

D

We're just going to focus on these three things here and I'm, going to try my best to get through this, so that we can have a time for a demo. So the first thing we're going to look at is the dynamic values, and this is um in the connector documentation as Ms Dynamic values and Ms Dynamic list, uh there's two of them and I. Don't really know the reason why there's two, but it doesn't hurt to include both.

D

um So what is a dynamic value? It's something like this. Where you want to say hey, we want to have a list here, a drop down list, but we don't know what it's going to be in that list until we ask the server what has in it, you know what what's in that list, so the dynamic values allows you to reach out and ask your API for what should populate a list in that in the in the drop down, and the way that that looks is um is like this in the connector schema.

D

So, as you build out, your schema you're going to be using this XMS Dynamic values and XMS Dynamic list and that what that does is this is a post request to this end point and- um and it requires this parameter of resource type and in order to get the resource type, it needs to call this other parameter. So we have this. Other operation called get resources documented elsewhere, and it looks just like this: it has its own operation, ID its own URL and its own HTTP method, and it's it.

D

It then returns data in term of in with a uh with a name and a resource, and we use this configuration to populate the drop down list here. So how does that work? We put it into the parameters here. So if you put it into a parameter for an operation, um which is what you see here with Dynamic values and the dynamic list, then it's basically just saying hey. We need this for the URL and, um like I said this is going to reach out and get this parameter data. So what's happening.

D

Is you see we have this resource in the path? So resource is the name of this variable and this.

B

Is saying we're going to get I? Think we're not looking at what you're talking about we're still on the dynamic value slide and.

D

B

D

B

It's understanding, Dynamic values, I'm, looking at yeah.

D

You know my connection. Upload is terrible here. I've got the other way to do this I'm going to do the present and beans option see if that works.

D

Okay, can you see the slide.

B

It's loading on my site.

D

Okay, yes, cool I'm, gonna jump us ahead, so this is where I was talking and now I get to use laser pointer, that's fun! Okay, so um let me explain a little bit more about what's going on in this operation. We need to get item so resource and that's that drop down list. So this is going to say um you know we need this resource type.

D

So in order to get the resource type, um we need to ask for this resource, so you're, basically saying we're going to get this resource value and in order to get that we're going to make a call to this XMS Dynamic values, which is a totally different operation. So when we make that call out we're going to get the we're going to call get resources and then these two things talk about the the data that comes out.

D

One of them specifies the um the title so we're going to show the user the title, but we're going to use the value of it differently. So we can have the machine readable value here and then the the human readable value here so what's presented in the drop down is a human, readable value and then what's put in here is the machine value.

D

So um this is what happens. Is it makes a call to the get resources? So you saw it in the previous slide. It says, get resources. This is what that operation looks like, and this is all still inside the same. uh The same connector definition file, and so you can see all this is doing is just the get requests to resources and it comes back with an object with key and name and resource, and this is going to be our human readable and this is going to be our machine readable one.

D

This is an example of what it looks like when it comes out. So here's how the whole thing flows we've got the in order to make this post request here. We need to know what parameter we want.

D

So we have to ask the resource type and say: hey we're going to say you know what uh get me a list of resources that makes this Json request out and it gets this array that comes back with all the different resources, and you can see that the name here is mapped to the name there and then the resource. You can only tell this because it's different capitalization but the resource, then is the machine readable one and that resource is going to get mapped back up into there.

D

So now we've got this cool fully Dynamic thing that in order to get a list here, we're going to see what the uh we're gonna ask the server for what what those values are.

D

So um we can take this a step further. I want to get a little further ahead, and um one of the things we can say is: we've got a example, API response, and that is saying that um you know we want to say uh here's the topic. This is the the attributes is an array kind of deep inside of here. But how do we present the list of attributes in a drop down? So here we want to say we're going to use the skill as the human reading human readable part and then for the machine.

D

A readable part, we're going to say: Nick is kind of bad at public speaking. So um in order to do this, we're going to use this value collection. So that means that when your API response has it coming back and it's not just a simple array like a simple um list of items, you can actually look kind of a little bit further down and you can get this nested item.

D

So you can say that this item, then this this attributes is going to be where the the collection of values is and then within that we can say skill. This is going to be the the human readable and then the rank is going to be what we're going to use for the machine readable, and this is what it would look like inside of your connector definition.

D

So that's cool um for dynamic uh values, but let's go a little bit further and let's say well: we've got this dependent values right so essentially here this is one of our connectors for contact form. Seven and what's Happening Here is it's saying: well, we need to pick out the so we want to find out what form we want for this trigger.

D

So what's happening is it's it's going to say well pick the website that has a has our plugin installed and then from that website, we're going to reach out and find out the list of forms, but you can't get the list of forms until you've actually picked the website.

D

So to do that, we've got two parameters in here and I'm using um the the references here, because this connector ended up reusing it all over the place. So this is a cool little thing that you can use to reference um reference parameters. So essentially, um this is our trigger here.

E

D

uh And uh so anyway, the the it has two parameters that it had that it needs. First, is the uh this header parameter, which is the the website URL and then that needs the form parameter in the path. So in order to get the header um it has here, you can see the X Dynamics values and that's just doing the drop down for the header.

D

So that's the one for the I'm, sorry for the for the the WordPress site, URL um and that's going to get the list of domains, and um so that just calls this other operation, but then to get the uh to get the form, which is the list of forms then it needs to. uh It needs to call the X Dynamic values. That's a little further down. Yep.

D

Here's X Dynamic values here calls get the forms, but you can see, there's a new parameter or there's a new block that appeared that I haven't talked about yet, and that is parameters. So you can see this one here for X they make values, doesn't have the parameters, and then this one does. So. That means that this one requires this WP site URL, which is this guy and um and that's how you can then make it dependent so now, when it tries to fill out this one and present it to the user.

D

It says: oh, we can't do this, yet we need to fill out this parameter and then it goes back and it looks up here for where the, where that parameter is so that's where it looks, I think the sides here kind of describe this um it so there's the form, ID parameter and um now this is just everything. I just spoke about, so um ah here we go so when we get into what the actual um we're gonna take a look at the next part of this, and that is the dynamic schema.

D

So Dynamic schema is the other cool part, and that's basically saying the first part here: we've selected our resource type. We did that with the X Dynamic values, but then this is all the the stuff that we have to submit, and this is the X Dynamic schema.

D

So what this is saying is we know the server has told us the resources that we can work with we're going to work with a coupon and then, when we want when we choose coupon, we need to know what the shape of that coupon object looks like and we're actually, depending on the server to tell us what the shape of the object looks like.

D

So um that's going to go through something called The, xmx X, the dynamic properties- and this is in the um this one happens to be passed as a as a body uh to the post, but the resource schema is going to be then another parameter, and it's going to be the body and we're using this Dynamic properties to get that list of uh to get that that scheme.

D

So essentially, um what that means is we've got the um the magic endpoint here, so this resource schema operation is this guy over here and um that's saying that we're gonna make this call to the server and it's going to be an options request to the same uh to this to this endpoint.

D

um At with that, with that initial coupon item that we picked from the drop down, we're going to make this options request and then when that data comes back, it looks like this, so it comes back with all of these things and we say that the the schema that we're interested in is in this get object item.

D

So um this is what that request looks like. So if we make this request here- um and this is actually the um the options request to this, so we make an options request here. Then uh we get back this and the the get item here has this data. That comes back. So if you can control your API, if you can control what comes back from it and have it come back in formatted data like this you're able to use this to describe uh to describe the objects and uh and have it be fully dynamic.

D

This is how um this is directly used to render these fields over here. So this is coming from our end server uh installed onto the the um person's WordPress site and then that's that's actually describing itself to power automate at runtime. So when you go to build this out, it's fully Dynamic. So if you were to customize the WordPress side, then it will be customized on the power automate side um instantaneously at the time of build.

D

So um a couple of things to know is that the operation ID for the resource schema has to exist in your connector, so you have to actually put it in there. It doesn't need to be public, but you have to write the definition for it. The one you want to use is called xmx Dynamic properties.

D

um There's only two there's Dynamic schema as well that you only really need to use the new one I, don't know why there's two there's, probably some kind of backwards compatibility reasons for that, and then the response from Json needs to be in the open, API format.

D

So that's the same format that you're writing your connector definitions in you need to provide that back from your server, and um so, if you were going to put it all together, this is how you'd be able to write the connector specification just one time and send that off and get it certified. But then any updates that you want are fully Dynamic handled outside of power automate.

D

um So that's what we're doing with our woocommerce connector. It's 100, driven by the client side, which means that different users of the um of the woocommerce connector are going to see different interfaces on power automate using the same connector, um the same connector definition.

D

So um this means that you're not going to talk to amjet a whole lot. Sorry I'm Ted, because once you've written this, then it becomes fully Dynamic and you're able to control it outside of the um outside of the the connected definition space.

D

um And this is what that looks like with a fully Dynamic connector. We essentially have complete coverage of the entire API, but it's covered in just these six actions or seven actions, so we've got the trigger and then we have a create delete, find a get and an update, and then there's another one here for batch operations, um but these all kind of translate over to the HTTP verbs if you're familiar with those at all.

D

So what that means is to create does a post, the delete does the delete, and so you can see this is all like pretty cool the way it's engineered, um because now, if you understand the apis, you can see how this directly maps and it becomes very understandable because we've done it across everything the same way.

D

So um as we keep going, um you can see uh that you only really have to read one connector, um so you really only have to read one of these operations to know how everything works. So essentially, if you, if you understand one of the actions, you understand all of the actions, because it's all engineered in the same way and um there's more to go over here with the um so I'll go over this more in the demo and I think we still have time if I keep going quickly. I'll go to that demo.

D

um So yeah, let's skip over the rest of this, because now I start to get into policies I'm going to skip stop here, because this is the coolest part. I didn't want to, and I'll go and go into the demo instead. So I'm going to exit here and we'll go to the demo.

D

um I, don't know that I understood your question. Rebecca.

D

B

Is it's more about you can't you obviously have to define something, so you define more generic kind of actions, but what you can? What you do in these actions is totally depending on how something on the other end is configured or.

D

Totally right yep, so this trigger, we only have one trigger and it's called when a woocommerce event happens and then from here you pick what what resource type you want to work with. So let's say hey when an order- or you know say, wait like when a coupon um and then from here you'll do you can see it's dependent so the first list there it reached out already that's kind of cached, but now it just asked for you know well when a coupon is updated.

D

Now your trigger is for when a coupon is updated, but you can easily change it and you can say when in order and then um we'll wait for it to load, you can say when an order has the status changed. Now your trigger has changed. You haven't had to change anything in the trigger, but you can see it's fully dynamic.

D

So essentially this whole coupon section doesn't even appear unless you've turned on coupons in your in your store. So you won't see coupon as an option, because it knows when you run when you do it at build time to ask the server what the capabilities are and then the server describes itself and um and then that's that's how the whole thing the whole thing works and the.

E

D

Thing works across all of the different ones, so we can see. We only have a couple of actions. So this one's find a list. So this one, you can see it says, find a list of customers, and this is this is what the um the search parameters are. So we pre-fill, because the server can tell us what these things look like. We pre-fill all of the parameters here, so it's very similar to what you'd see in like the dataverse connector and you can see if I switch it to order the whole field.

D

The whole form changed this, so I switched to order, and now it's going out and it's asking for what, how you know, what does an order look like and you can see it's totally different and that works on the back end like this. So the first thing it does is it asks for a list of resources and that's all we're doing here. Is we get a list of resources and then, if we wanted to get a um a product, so this would be to get a single product. For example, um now we get I'm sorry.

D

This is a list of products, but because I built it, the HTTP standards.

E

D

Only thing we need to do is plot this over to options and options are basically saying you know what is this? What is this? um You know it's an options request is used to get kind of detail or options about what it's. What escaping so we're using the options request here to provide us with the API schema, which you can see is all in this Microsoft um kind of swagger API, schema format, and this object that it returns.

D

um You come back, you go to this resource here for product and it tells you how to use it for all the different things. So the schema here describes the object itself, but if you were going to make a get request, then um the get request is a different sort of request. So when you say get the product, then you have all these options that are available.

D

So this is how you then would search for products, but you can also make a post request the same endpoint, and if you were going to make a post then this is what it's going to look like.

D

So this is how we're returning all of the options here and it becomes a very understandable thing across the entire space I've shown you two endpoints and now you understand the entire space of the entire, the entire implementation, and it can be easily extended, and just as long as we build to that standard, um then it will just extend the whole. The whole thing across the entire, the entire API states of the woocommerce connector, we're at time did I did I cover this. Does this make sense.

A

I think this was great. It was in additional I give examples. This was fantastic. Thank you so much Nick and thank you for I. Don't know, rushing a little bit too, because I'm sure you've had so much content to cover, but that was fantastic.

A

um That about concludes our session for this week. Thank you so much to everyone who came and thank you as well too Chandra who had to drop for an appointment and to amjad and to Rebecca and you of course Nick. um This was really fantastic. I see people in the chat appreciate it. That's so great um we're going to start this back up as a monthly Cadence.

A

So please keep your eyes out on social media for hearing about the next Cadence I'm, hoping that we'll just continue doing whatever this is second Wednesday of the month or something logistically should work out. um Please fill out that form. If you have specific things that you would like to talk about that, you would like to learn and if you are a connector publisher, please let me know if you would be interested in demoing, just like Nick or Chandra did today. We would love to see your demo as well.

A

Also any closing remarks from you guys.

D

Yeah, thank you reach out. If you have any questions, shoot me an email. um Yes, hopefully.

B

It's just uh it was great to see uh CBS and just a great uh to be back again. Yes,.

A

This was fantastic and I'm, also going to be investigating how we can get this on YouTube as well to share with a larger audience who maybe was not able to be present today. So keep your eyes open.

D

Awesome, that would be great. Thank you, so much Rebecca and I'm Jed and Chandra and Jocelyn.