Collect payment data using source connectors and APIs

This tutorial covers the steps for retrieving data from a third-party payments application and ingesting it into Platform through source connectors and the Flow Service API.

Getting started

This tutorial requires you to have access to a payment application through a valid connection, as well as information about the file you wish to bring into Platform (including the file’s path and structure). If you do not have this information, see the tutorial on exploring a payments application using the Flow Service API before attempting this tutorial.

This tutorial also requires you to have a working understanding of the following components of Adobe Experience Platform:

  • Experience Data Model (XDM) System: The standardized framework by which Experience Platform organizes customer experience data.
    • Basics of schema composition: Learn about the basic building blocks of XDM schemas, including key principles and best practices in schema composition.
    • Schema Registry developer guide: Includes important information that you need to know in order to successfully perform calls to the Schema Registry API. This includes your {TENANT_ID}, the concept of “containers”, and the required headers for making requests (with special attention to the Accept header and its possible values).
  • Catalog Service: Catalog is the system of record for data location and lineage within Experience Platform.
  • Batch ingestion: The Batch Ingestion API allows you to ingest data into Experience Platform as batch files.
  • Sandboxes: Experience Platform provides virtual sandboxes which partition a single Platform instance into separate virtual environments to help develop and evolve digital experience applications.

The following sections provide additional information that you will need to know in order to successfully connect to a payments application using the Flow Service API.

Reading sample API calls

This tutorial provides example API calls to demonstrate how to format your requests. These include paths, required headers, and properly formatted request payloads. Sample JSON returned in API responses is also provided. For information on the conventions used in documentation for sample API calls, see the section on how to read example API calls in the Experience Platform troubleshooting guide.

Gather values for required headers

In order to make calls to Platform APIs, you must first complete the authentication tutorial. Completing the authentication tutorial provides the values for each of the required headers in all Experience Platform API calls, as shown below:

  • Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}
  • x-api-key: {API_KEY}
  • x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}

All resources in Experience Platform, including those belonging to Flow Service, are isolated to specific virtual sandboxes. All requests to Platform APIs require a header that specifies the name of the sandbox the operation will take place in:

  • x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}

All requests that contain a payload (POST, PUT, PATCH) require an additional media type header:

  • Content-Type: application/json

Create a source connection

You can create a source connection by making a POST request to the Flow Service API. A source connection consists of a connection ID, a path to the source data file, and a connection spec ID.

To create a source connection, you must also define an enum value for the data format attribute.

Use the following the enum values for file-based connectors:

Data format Enum value
Delimited delimited
JSON json
Parquet parquet

For all table-based connectors, set the value to tabular.

API format

POST /sourceConnections

Request

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/sourceConnections' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "PayPal source connection",
        "baseConnectionId": "24151d58-ffa7-4960-951d-58ffa7396097",
        "description": "PayPal source connection",
        "data": {
            "format": "tabular",
            }
        },
        "params": {
            "tableName": "PayPal.Catalog_Products",
            "columns": [
                {
                    "name": "Product_Id",
                    "type": "string",
                    "xdm": {
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "Product_Name",
                    "type": "string",
                    "xdm": {
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "Description",
                    "type": "string",
                    "xdm": {
                        "type": "string"
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "Create_Time",
                    "type": "string",
                    "meta:xdmType": "date-time",
                    "xdm": {
                        "type": "string",
                        "format": "date-time"
                    }
                }
            ]
        },
        "connectionSpec": {
            "id": "221c7626-58f6-4eec-8ee2-042b0226f03b",
            "version": "1.0"
        }
    }'
Property Description
baseConnectionId The unique connection ID of the third-party payments application you are accessing.
params.path The path of the source file.
connectionSpec.id The connection spec ID of your payments application.

Response

A successful response returns the unique identifier (id) of the newly created source connection. This ID is required in later steps to create a target connection.

{
    "id": "2c48a152-3d49-43cb-88a1-523d49e3cbcb",
    "etag": "\"8000c843-0000-0200-0000-5e8917ea0000\""
}

Create a target XDM schema

In order for the source data to be used in Platform, a target schema must be created to structure the source data according to your needs. The target schema is then used to create a Platform dataset in which the source data is contained. This target XDM schema also extends the XDM Individual Profile class.

A target XDM schema can be created by performing a POST request to the Schema Registry API.

API format

POST /tenant/schemas

Request

The following example request creates an XDM schema that extends the XDM Individual Profile class.

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/schemaregistry/tenant/schemas' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "type": "object",
        "title": "PayPal target XDM schema",
        "description": "PayPal target XDM schema",
        "allOf": [
            {
                "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile"
            },
            {
                "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-person-details"
            },
            {
                "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details"
            },
                    {
                "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details"
            }
        ],
        "meta:containerId": "tenant",
        "meta:resourceType": "schemas",
        "meta:xdmType": "object",
        "meta:class": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile"
}'

Response

A successful response returns details of the newly created schema including its unique identifier ($id). This ID is required in later steps to create a target dataset, mapping, and dataflow.

{
    "$id": "https://ns.adobe.com/{TENANT_ID}/schemas/14d89c5bb88e2ff488f23db896be469e7e30bb166bda8722",
    "meta:altId": "_{TENANT_ID}.schemas.14d89c5bb88e2ff488f23db896be469e7e30bb166bda8722",
    "meta:resourceType": "schemas",
    "version": "1.0",
    "title": "PayPal target XDM schema",
    "type": "object",
    "description": "PayPal target XDM",
    "allOf": [
        {
            "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile",
            "type": "object",
            "meta:xdmType": "object"
        },
        {
            "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-person-details",
            "type": "object",
            "meta:xdmType": "object"
        },
        {
            "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details",
            "type": "object",
            "meta:xdmType": "object"
        },
        {
            "$ref": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details",
            "type": "object",
            "meta:xdmType": "object"
        }
    ],
    "refs": [
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-person-details",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile"
    ],
    "imsOrg": "{IMS_ORG}",
    "meta:extensible": false,
    "meta:abstract": false,
    "meta:extends": [
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-person-details",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile-personal-details",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/common/auditable",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/data/record",
        "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile"
    ],
    "meta:xdmType": "object",
    "meta:registryMetadata": {
        "repo:createdDate": 1586042956286,
        "repo:lastModifiedDate": 1586042956286,
        "xdm:createdClientId": "{CREATED_CLIENT_ID}",
        "xdm:lastModifiedClientId": "{LAST_MODIFIED_CLIENT_ID}",
        "xdm:createdUserId": "{CREATED_USER_ID}",
        "xdm:lastModifiedUserId": "{LAST_MODIFIED_USER_ID}",
        "eTag": "952e8912724d7f43cbc1471e3987bc5b6899519c186126b7c50619f2dddf8650"
    },
    "meta:class": "https://ns.adobe.com/xdm/context/profile",
    "meta:containerId": "tenant",
    "meta:tenantNamespace": "_{TENANT_ID}"
}

Create a target dataset

A target dataset can be created by performing a POST request to the Catalog Service API, providing the ID of the target schema within the payload.

API format

POST /dataSets

Request

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/catalog/dataSets?requestDataSource=true' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "PayPal target dataset",
        "schemaRef": {
            "id": "https://ns.adobe.com/{TENANT_ID}/schemas/14d89c5bb88e2ff488f23db896be469e7e30bb166bda8722",
            "contentType": "application/vnd.adobe.xed-full-notext+json; version=1"
        }
    }'
Property Description
schemaRef.id The $id of the target XDM schema.
schemaRef.contentType The version of the schema. This value must be set application/vnd.adobe.xed-full-notext+json;version=1, which returns the latest minor version of the schema.

Response

A successful response returns an array containing the ID of the newly created dataset in the format "@/datasets/{DATASET_ID}". The dataset ID is a read-only, system-generated string that is used to reference the dataset in API calls. Store the target dataset ID as it is required in later steps to create a target connection and a dataflow.

[
    "@/dataSets/5e8918669cbbee18ad9771f3"
]

Create a target connection

A target connection represents the connection to the destination where the ingested data lands in. To create a target connection, you must provide the fixed connection spec ID associated to the Data Lake. This connection spec ID is: c604ff05-7f1a-43c0-8e18-33bf874cb11c.

You now have the unique identifiers a target schema a target dataset and the connection spec ID to data lake. Using the Flow Service API, you can create a target connection by specifying these identifiers along with the dataset that will contain the inbound source data.

API format

POST /targetConnections

Request

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/targetConnections' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "Target Connection for payments",
        "description": "Target Connection for payments",
        "data": {
            "schema": {
                "id": "https://ns.adobe.com/{TENANT_ID}/schemas/14d89c5bb88e2ff488f23db896be469e7e30bb166bda8722",
                "version": "application/vnd.adobe.xed-full+json;version=1"
            }
        },
        "params": {
            "dataSetId": "5e8918669cbbee18ad9771f3"
        },
            "connectionSpec": {
            "id": "221c7626-58f6-4eec-8ee2-042b0226f03b",
            "version": "1.0"
        }
    }'
Property Description
data.schema.id The $id of the target XDM schema.
data.schema.version The version of the schema. This value must be set application/vnd.adobe.xed-full+json;version=1, which returns the latest minor version of the schema.
params.dataSetId The ID of the target dataset.
connectionSpec.id The connection spec ID used to connect to the Data Lake. This ID is: c604ff05-7f1a-43c0-8e18-33bf874cb11c.

Response

A successful response returns the new target connection’s unique identifier (id). This value is required in a later step to create a dataflow.

{
    "id": "c8e12917-ac33-44d7-a129-17ac3364d7b7",
    "etag": "\"0f015874-0000-0200-0000-5e8918e60000\""
}

Create a mapping

In order for the source data to be ingested into a target dataset, it must first be mapped to the target schema the target dataset adheres to. This is achieved by performing a POST request to the Conversion Service API with data mappings defined within the request payload.

API format

POST /mappingSets

Request

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/conversion/mappingSets' \
    -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "version": 0,
        "xdmSchema": "https://ns.adobe.com/{TENANT_ID}/schemas/14d89c5bb88e2ff488f23db896be469e7e30bb166bda8722",
        "xdmVersion": "1.0",
        "id": null,
        "mappings": [
            {
                "destinationXdmPath": "_id",
                "sourceAttribute": "Product_Id",
                "identity": false,
                "identityGroup": null,
                "namespaceCode": null,
                "version": 0
            },
            {
                "destinationXdmPath": "product.name",
                "sourceAttribute": "Product_Name",
                "identity": false,
                "identityGroup": null,
                "namespaceCode": null,
                "version": 0
            },
            {
                "destinationXdmPath": "product.description",
                "sourceAttribute": "Description",
                "identity": false,
                "identityGroup": null,
                "namespaceCode": null,
                "version": 0
            },
            {
                "destinationXdmPath": "product.type",
                "sourceAttribute": "Type",
                "identity": false,
                "identityGroup": null,
                "namespaceCode": null,
                "version": 0
            }
        ]
    }'
Property Description
xdmSchema The $id of the target XDM schema.

Response

A successful response returns details of the newly created mapping including its unique identifier (id). This ID is required in a later step to create a dataflow.

{
    "id": "b54a8dc38e8d4e31a2dc096e413ae8e5",
    "version": 0,
    "createdDate": 1586043319604,
    "modifiedDate": 1586043319604,
    "createdBy": "{CREATED_BY}",
    "modifiedBy": "{MODIFIED_BY}"
}

Look up dataflow specifications

A dataflow is responsible for collecting data from sources and bringing them into Platform. In order to create a dataflow, you must first obtain the dataflow specifications by performing a GET request to the Flow Service API. Dataflow specifications are responsible for collecting data from an external database or NoSQL system.

API format

GET /flowSpecs?property=name=="CRMToAEP"

Request

curl -X GET \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/flowSpecs?property=name=="CRMToAEP"' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}'

Response

A successful response returns the details of the dataflow specification responsible for bringing data from your source into Platform. The response includes the unique flow spec id required to create a new dataflow.

{
    "items": [
        {
            "id": "14518937-270c-4525-bdec-c2ba7cce3860",
            "name": "CRMToAEP",
            "providerId": "0ed90a81-07f4-4586-8190-b40eccef1c5a",
            "version": "1.0",
            "sourceConnectionSpecIds": [
                "3416976c-a9ca-4bba-901a-1f08f66978ff",
                "38ad80fe-8b06-4938-94f4-d4ee80266b07",
                "d771e9c1-4f26-40dc-8617-ce58c4b53702",
                "3c9b37f8-13a6-43d8-bad3-b863b941fedd",
                "cc6a4487-9e91-433e-a3a3-9cf6626c1806",
                "3000eb99-cd47-43f3-827c-43caf170f015",
                "26d738e0-8963-47ea-aadf-c60de735468a",
                "74a1c565-4e59-48d7-9d67-7c03b8a13137",
                "cfc0fee1-7dc0-40ef-b73e-d8b134c436f5",
                "4f63aa36-bd48-4e33-bb83-49fbcd11c708",
                "cb66ab34-8619-49cb-96d1-39b37ede86ea",
                "eb13cb25-47ab-407f-ba89-c0125281c563",
                "1f372ff9-38a4-4492-96f5-b9a4e4bd00ec",
                "37b6bf40-d318-4655-90be-5cd6f65d334b",
                "a49bcc7d-8038-43af-b1e4-5a7a089a7d79",
                "221c7626-58f6-4eec-8ee2-042b0226f03b",
                "a8b6a1a4-5735-42b4-952c-85dce0ac38b5",
                "6a8d82bc-1caf-45d1-908d-cadabc9d63a6",
                "aac9bbd4-6c01-46ce-b47e-51c6f0f6db3f",
                "8e6b41a8-d998-4545-ad7d-c6a9fff406c3",
                "ecde33f2-c56f-46cc-bdea-ad151c16cd69",
                "102706fb-a5cd-42ee-afe0-bc42f017ff43",
                "09182899-b429-40c9-a15a-bf3ddbc8ced7",
                "0479cc14-7651-4354-b233-7480606c2ac3",
                "d6b52d86-f0f8-475f-89d4-ce54c8527328",
                "a8f4d393-1a6b-43f3-931f-91a16ed857f4",
                "1fe283f6-9bec-11ea-bb37-0242ac130002"
            ],
            "targetConnectionSpecIds": [
                "c604ff05-7f1a-43c0-8e18-33bf874cb11c"
            ],
            "optionSpec": {
                "name": "OptionSpec",
                "spec": {
                    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
                    "type": "object",
                    "properties": {
                        "errorDiagnosticsEnabled": {
                            "title": "Error diagnostics.",
                            "description": "Flag to enable detailed and sample error diagnostics summary.",
                            "type": "boolean",
                            "default": false
                        },
                        "partialIngestionPercent": {
                            "title": "Partial ingestion threshold.",
                            "description": "Percentage which defines the threshold of errors allowed before the run is marked as failed.",
                            "type": "number",
                            "exclusiveMinimum": 0
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "transformationSpecs": [
                {
                    "name": "Copy",
                    "spec": {
                        "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "deltaColumn": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "name": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    },
                                    "dateFormat": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    },
                                    "timezone": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                },
                                "required": [
                                    "name"
                                ]
                            }
                        },
                        "required": [
                            "deltaColumn"
                        ]
                    }
                },
                {
                    "name": "Mapping",
                    "spec": {
                        "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
                        "type": "object",
                        "description": "defines various params required for different mapping from source to target",
                        "properties": {
                            "mappingId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "mappingVersion": {
                                "type": "string"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            ],
            "scheduleSpec": {
                "name": "PeriodicSchedule",
                "type": "Periodic",
                "spec": {
                    "$schema": "http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#",
                    "type": "object",
                    "properties": {
                        "startTime": {
                            "description": "epoch time",
                            "type": "integer"
                        },
                        "frequency": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "enum": [
                                "once",
                                "minute",
                                "hour",
                                "day",
                                "week"
                            ]
                        },
                        "interval": {
                            "type": "integer"
                        },
                        "backfill": {
                            "type": "boolean",
                            "default": true
                        }
                    },
                    "required": [
                        "startTime",
                        "frequency"
                    ],
                    "if": {
                        "properties": {
                            "frequency": {
                                "const": "once"
                            }
                        }
                    },
                    "then": {
                        "allOf": [
                            {
                                "not": {
                                    "required": [
                                        "interval"
                                    ]
                                }
                            },
                            {
                                "not": {
                                    "required": [
                                        "backfill"
                                    ]
                                }
                            }
                        ]
                    },
                    "else": {
                        "required": [
                            "interval"
                        ],
                        "if": {
                            "properties": {
                                "frequency": {
                                    "const": "minute"
                                }
                            }
                        },
                        "then": {
                            "properties": {
                                "interval": {
                                    "minimum": 15
                                }
                            }
                        },
                        "else": {
                            "properties": {
                                "interval": {
                                    "minimum": 1
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            },
            "attributes": {
                "notification": {
                    "category": "sources",
                    "flowRun": {
                        "enabled": true
                    }
                }
            },
            "permissionsInfo": {
                "view": [
                    {
                        "@type": "lowLevel",
                        "name": "EnterpriseSource",
                        "permissions": [
                            "read"
                        ]
                    }
                ],
                "manage": [
                    {
                        "@type": "lowLevel",
                        "name": "EnterpriseSource",
                        "permissions": [
                            "write"
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

Create a dataflow

The last step towards collecting data is to create a dataflow. At this point, you should have the following required values prepared:

A dataflow is responsible for scheduling and collecting data from a source. You can create a dataflow by performing a POST request while providing the previously mentioned values within the payload.

To schedule an ingestion, you must first set the start time value to epoch time in seconds. Then, you must set the frequency value to one of the five options: once, minute, hour, day, or week. The interval value designates the period between two consecutive ingestions and creating a one-time ingestion does not require an interval to be set. For all other frequencies, the interval value must be set to equal or greater than 15.

API format

POST /flows

Request

curl -X POST \
    'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/flows' \
    -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
    -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {IMS_ORG}' \
    -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
    -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
    -d '{
        "name": "Dataflow between payments Platform",
        "description": "Inbound data to Platform",
        "flowSpec": {
            "id": "14518937-270c-4525-bdec-c2ba7cce3860",
            "version": "1.0"
        },
        "sourceConnectionIds": [
            "2c48a152-3d49-43cb-88a1-523d49e3cbcb"
        ],
        "targetConnectionIds": [
            "c8e12917-ac33-44d7-a129-17ac3364d7b7"
        ],
        "transformations": [
            {
                "name": "Copy",
                "params": {
                    "deltaColumn": {
                        "name": "updatedAt",
                        "dateFormat": "YYYY-MM-DD",
                        "timezone": "UTC"
                    }
                }
            },
            {
                "name": "Mapping",
                "params": {
                    "mappingId": "b54a8dc38e8d4e31a2dc096e413ae8e5",
                    "mappingVersion": "0"
                }
            }
        ],
        "scheduleParams": {
            "startTime": "1567411548",
            "frequency": "minute",
            "interval":"30"
        }
    }'
Property Description
flowSpec.id The flow spec ID retrieved in the previous step.
sourceConnectionIds The source connection ID retrieved in an earlier step.
targetConnectionIds The target connection ID retrieved in an earlier step.
transformations.params.mappingId The mapping ID retrieved in an earlier step.
transformations.params.deltaColum The designated column used to differentiate between new and existing data. Incremental data will be ingested based on the timestamp of selected column. The supported date format for deltaColumn is yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.
transformations.params.mappingId The mapping ID associated with your database.
scheduleParams.startTime The start time for the dataflow in epoch time.
scheduleParams.frequency The frequency at which the dataflow will collect data. Acceptable values include: once, minute, hour, day, or week.
scheduleParams.interval The interval designates the period between two consecutive flow runs. The interval’s value should be a non-zero integer. Interval is not required when frequency is set as once and should be greater than or equal to 15 for other frequency values.

Response

A successful response returns the ID id of the newly created dataflow.

{
    "id": "e0bd8463-0913-4ca1-bd84-6309134ca1f6",
    "etag": "\"04004fe9-0000-0200-0000-5ebc4c8b0000\""
}

Monitor your dataflow

Once your dataflow has been created, you can monitor the data that is being ingested through it to see information on flow runs, completion status, and errors. For more information on how to monitor dataflows, see the tutorial on monitoring dataflows in the API

Next steps

By following this tutorial, you have created a source connector to collect data from a payments application on a scheduled basis. Incoming data can now be used by downstream Platform services such as Real-time Customer Profile and Data Science Workspace. See the following documents for more details:

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