We encourage you to follow these best practices along with tips on connector naming so that you can successfully develop connectors with the Sacumen Connector Designer. Suggestions for naming and describing connector triggers and actions, and recommendations for defining configuration parameters and authorization information.
To complete these tasks, see Adding API definition files to create connector-related fields, Adding connector triggers to start the flow, and Adding connector actions in the target application.
Best practices for naming connectors
The name chosen for the custom connector is similar to the name of the embedded application.
Best practices for naming triggers
Follow these guidelines when naming activators:
Make the name unique within the folder.
Do not use any special characters (spaces, accents, etc.).
Follows the Object Action pattern. Where the object is the name of the object and action is the past tense verb that explains the reason for the trigger.
Set the object Name field to the name of the object that this trigger will process. For example, JIRA Connector object names are Event, Change Request, Issue, and so on.
Best practices for trigger identification
Follow these guidelines when defining triggers:
Use a fragment of a statement that describes what the script is doing. The description pattern is as follows: “Trigger a flow when a specific event occurs in the source application”
The description should use the standard capitalization rules.
Best practices for naming actions
Follow these guidelines when naming actions:
Make the name unique within the folder.
Don’t fill the space.
Follows the Action Object pattern. Where action is the active verb that describes the action of the action and object is the name of the object.
Set the action’s object Name field to the name of the object to which this action applies. For example, JIRA Connector object names are Event, Change Request, Issue, and so on.
Best practices for defining actions
Follow these guidelines when defining actions:
The description should be a fragment of a statement describing the action of the action. The description pattern is as follows: “Perform the action specified in the target application”
The description should use standard case rules.
Best practices for configuring connectors
When you Connector Development, you define the configuration parameters that the connector might need when connecting to the target application. Avoid adding hard-coded values to your scripts. Instead, use configuration to pass parameters like the server to connect to the connector.
Best practices for defining connector authorization and authentication
If the target application requires authorization or credentials, define the authorization type and specify it using the configuration section instead of hard coding it. If you are sure that the connector uses only one set of credentials, you can specify them in the connector configuration. Otherwise, we recommend defining them individually in the Permissions area.
BASIC authentication types can be used for any credential type that takes two values. You can set the prompt for BASIC authentication credentials.
Best practice for retrieving values from the target application (search operation)
If you can obtain valid values for the target application’s trigger output field or action input field, define a search operation to obtain a list of those values. For example, you might want to display a list of companies and select a specific company. The field can refer to a lookup, and when the field is selected, the do Lookup connector method is called to get a list of values and display them in the UI, as shown below.
If the internal value of the value and the image label is different, both can be returned in the result. However, only image tags are used. The connector toggles between the internal value and the displayed label.
Best practices for running connectors
Check the availability of the target application using the connector’s initialize method. For example, you can test the usability of your LinkedIn connection with a LinkedIn connector.
