Azure DevOps Connector for Informatica Azure DevOps Connector can be used to integrate Azure DevOps data in your App / BI Tools. You can create, read, query, modify, and delete WorkItems, Projects, Teams and more. In this article you will learn how to quickly and efficiently integrate Azure DevOps data in Informatica without coding. We will use high-performance Azure DevOps Connector to easily connect to Azure DevOps and then access the data inside Informatica. Let's follow the steps below to see how we can accomplish that! Download Documentation Azure DevOps Connector for Informatica is based on ZappySys API Driver which is part of ODBC PowerPack. It is a collection of high-performance ODBC drivers that enable you to integrate data in SQL Server, SSIS, a programming language, or any other ODBC-compatible application. ODBC PowerPack supports various file formats, sources and destinations, including REST/SOAP API, SFTP/FTP, storage services, and plain files, to mention a few.

Connect to Azure DevOps in other apps Connect to Azure DevOps in SSIS Connect to Azure DevOps in SQL Server Connect to Azure DevOps in Power BI Connect to Azure DevOps in SSRS Connect to Azure DevOps in MS Access Connect to Azure DevOps in MS Excel Connect to Azure DevOps in SSAS Connect to Azure DevOps in C# Connect to Azure DevOps in Python Connect to Azure DevOps in JAVA Connect to Azure DevOps in Tableau Connect to Azure DevOps in SAP Crystal Reports Connect to Azure DevOps in Azure Data Factory (Pipeline) Connect to Azure DevOps in Azure Data Factory (SSIS) Connect to Azure DevOps in Talend Studio Connect to Azure DevOps in UiPath Connect to Azure DevOps in PowerShell Connect to Azure DevOps in ODBC

Introduction

JSON / REST API is becoming more and more popular each day as everyone embrace cloud-centric services. This article is primarily focused on Informatica users who want to access Azure DevOps data or may be other API Integration in Informatica. However many tips and techniques described in this article will help you to understand how to integrate Azure DevOps / XML SOAP / JSON / REST API in other ETL / Reporting apps such as Tableau, Power BI, SSRS, Talend, Excel and many more.

After going through this article you will learn how to Read Azure DevOps / JSON / REST API data in Informatica and understand the concept of JSON / REST API. We will go through many screenshots and step-by-step examples to demonstrate  Azure DevOps or REST API integration in Informatica PowerCenter.

XML / JSON can come from a local file or REST API service (internal or public) so we will include both examples in this article (i.e. Read JSON files in Informatica,  Import REST API in Informatica). So let’s get started. Next article will focus on how to write data to API in Informatica (POST / PUT data)

Requirements

This article assumes that you have full filled following basic requirements.

1. Download Install ZappySys ODBC PowerPack (API Driver for Azure DevOps included)
2. Install Informatica PowerCenter Client Tools (e.g. Workflow and Mapping Designers)
3. Access to a Relational database such as SQL Server (or use any of your choice e.g. Oracle, MySQL, DB2 ). If nothing available then you can use flat file target.

High level Steps for Import Azure DevOps data using Informatica (Read Azure DevOps API data)

Before we dive deep to learn how to load Azure DevOps data in Informatica (i.e. Azure DevOps to SQL Table), Here the summary of high-level steps you need to perform to import Azure DevOps in Informatica (same steps for Import JSON / XML / REST API).

1. Download and Install ZappySys API Driver (for connecting to Azure DevOps)
2. Create ODBC DSN using ZappySys API driver and choose Azure DevOps Connector during Wizard
3. Create Relational > ODBC Connection in Informatica Workflow designer (Point to DSN we created in the previous step)
4. Import Azure DevOps Source Definition in the Informatica Mapping Designer > Sources Tab
5. Import Target Table Definition in the Informatica Mapping Designer > Targets Tab
6. Create source to target mapping in Mappings tab
7. Save mapping (name m_API_to_SQL_Load )
8. Create Session using the mapping we created in the previous step
9. Save Workflow and execute to load Azure DevOps data into SQL Table. Verify your data and log.
   

   Loading Azure DevOps data to SQL Table in Informatica (Import REST API or JSON Files)

Video Tutorial – Read any API / JSON data in Informatica (Load Azure DevOps to SQL Table)

Getting Started – Import Azure DevOps to SQL Server in Informatica

Now let’s get started. For example purpose, we will read data from Azure DevOps and load data into SQL Server Table using Informatica Workflow.

Create ODBC Data Source (DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

Step-by-step instructions

To get data from Azure DevOps using Informatica we first need to create a DSN (Data Source) which will access data from Azure DevOps. We will later be able to read data using Informatica. Perform these steps:

1. Download and install ODBC PowerPack.

2. Open ODBC Data Sources (x64):

   

3. Create a User data source (User DSN) based on ZappySys API Driver

   ZappySys API Driver

   
   • Create and use User DSN if the client application is run under a User Account. This is an ideal option in design-time, when developing a solution, e.g. in Visual Studio 2019. Use it for both type of applications - 64-bit and 32-bit.
   • Create and use System DSN if the client application is launched under a System Account, e.g. as a Windows Service. Usually, this is an ideal option to use in a production environment. Use ODBC Data Source Administrator (32-bit), instead of 64-bit version, if Windows Service is a 32-bit application.

4. When the Configuration window appears give your data source a name if you haven't done that already, then select "Azure DevOps" from the list of Popular Connectors. If "Azure DevOps" is not present in the list, then click "Search Online" and download it. Then set the path to the location where you downloaded it. Finally, click Continue >> to proceed with configuring the DSN:

   AzureDevopsDSN

   Azure DevOps

   

5. Now it's time to configure the Connection Manager. Select Authentication Type, e.g. Token Authentication. Then select API Base URL (in most cases, the default one is the right one). More info is available in the Authentication section.

    OAuth [OAuth]

   Steps how to get and use Azure DevOps credentials
   Connecting to your Azure DevOps data requires you to authenticate your REST API access. Follow the instructions below:

   1. Go to https://app.vsaex.visualstudio.com/app/register to register your app.
   2. Fill in your application and company's information as required, and then select the scopes that your application needs. This should typically be Project and team (read and write) and Work items (read and write).
      Your selected scopes when registering your app must match the scopes you enter here on the connector screen. If they don't match, the connector will not be able to work with your Azure DevOps account!

      If you need further information about the scopes used in Azure DevOps, or need to see what to enter into the connector screen to match up with your selected scopes, visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devops/integrate/get-started/authentication/oauth?view=azure-devops.
      

      NOTE: For Authorization callback URL use your company's OAuth Redirect URL (if IT administrator provides you one) or you can use https://zappysys.com/oauth (it's safe).

   3. Select Create Application and then the Application Settings page will be displayed.
   4. Record the App ID for us to use later:
   5. And do the same with Client Secret:
   6. Then go to https://aex.dev.azure.com and select relevant organization on the left.
   7. Then copy Organization's host name part (e.g. acmeinc, if full host name is acmeinc.visualstudio.com), save it to a file, and click it:
   8. Back at the connector screen, enter the App ID into the Client Id (App ID) field that was recorded in the previous step.
   9. Enter the Client Secret that was recorded in the previous step into the Client Secret field. In order to edit the text in this field, select the ellipses (...) button that appears when the textbox is clicked, and edit the Client Secret with the dialog box that appears.
   10. Enter the organization that was recorded in step 5 into the Organization name or Id for url field.
   11. Click Generate Token. If proper authentication occurs, you will see a notice saying so. You can click Yes to save a backup file of your generated tokens.
   12. Select the project you want to connect to by default from the Default Project (Choose after Generating Token) field.
   13. Select the Security tab.
   14. Enter https://auditservice.dev.azure.com,https://almsearch.dev.azure.com into the Additional Trusted Domains field.
   15. Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Azure DevOps account.
   16. If the connection test succeeds, select OK.
   17. To edit previously created app you can visit https://app.vsaex.visualstudio.com/me and see Applications and services section. Click on your desired app name.

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   AzureDevopsDSN

   Azure DevOps

   OAuth [OAuth]

   https://dev.azure.com

   Required Parameters
   Client Id (App ID)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Client Secret	Fill-in the parameter...
   Organization name or Id for url (e.g. mycompany)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Return URL	Fill-in the parameter...
   Scopes (Must match with App Registration)	Fill-in the parameter...
   API Version	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   Default Project Name (Choose after Generating Token)
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

    Personal Access Token (PAT) [Http]

   Steps how to get and use Azure DevOps credentials
   To connect to Azure DevOps using a Personal Access Token (PAT), you must first create a valid PAT:

   1. Start by by going to https://aex.dev.azure.com and selecting relevant organization on the left.
   2. Then copy Organization's host name part (e.g. acmeinc, if full host name is acmeinc.visualstudio.com), save it to a file, and click it:
   3. Next, click User settings icon and then click Personal access tokens:
   4. Then click New Token button to create a new personal access token:
   5. Continue by...
      • naming your token
      • selecting the right Organization
      • setting token's Expiration date (it's recommended to use Custom defined option and make it expire after one year or later)
      • and setting the Scopes:
      

      NOTE: You may be restricted from creating full-scoped PATs. If so, your Azure DevOps administrator in Azure AD has enabled a policy which limits you to a specific custom defined set of scopes.

   6. Now click Copy button and save the newly created token into a file for quick access later:
   7. Go back to the connector screen, input the token you saved in a previous step into the Personal Access Token (PAT) field.
   8. Then enter the Organization host name part that you noted recorded in previous step into Organization name or Id for url field.
   9. Enter the name or Id of the project you want to connect to by default in the Default Project (Choose after above fields) field.
   10. Select the Security tab.
   11. Enter https://auditservice.dev.azure.com,https://almsearch.dev.azure.com,https://analytics.dev.azure.com into the Additional Trusted Domains field.
   12. Select the Test Connection button at the bottom of the window to verify proper connectivity with your Azure DevOps account.
   13. Done!

   Fill in all required parameters and set optional parameters if needed:

   AzureDevopsDSN

   Azure DevOps

   Personal Access Token (PAT) [Http]

   https://dev.azure.com

   Required Parameters
   Personal Access Token (PAT)	Fill-in the parameter...
   Organization name or Id for url	Fill-in the parameter...
   API Version	Fill-in the parameter...
   Optional Parameters
   AuthScheme	Bearer
   AuthHeader	Authorization
   UserName
   Default Project Name (Choose after Generating Token)
   RetryMode	RetryWhenStatusCodeMatch
   RetryStatusCodeList	429
   RetryCountMax	5
   RetryMultiplyWaitTime	True

   

6. Once the data source connection has been configured, it's time to configure the SQL query. Select the Preview tab and then click Query Builder button to configure the SQL query:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Azure DevOps

   Azure DevOps Connector can be used to integrate Azure DevOps data in your App / BI Tools. You can create, read, query, modify, and delete WorkItems, Projects, Teams and more.

   AzureDevopsDSN

   

7. Start by selecting the Table or Endpoint you are interested in and then configure the parameters. This will generate a query that we will use in Informatica to retrieve data from Azure DevOps. Hit OK button to use this query in the next step.

   SELECT * FROM Projects

   
   Some parameters configured in this window will be passed to the Azure DevOps API, e.g. filtering parameters. It means that filtering will be done on the server side (instead of the client side), enabling you to get only the meaningful data much faster.

8. Now hit Preview Data button to preview the data using the generated SQL query. If you are satisfied with the result, use this query in Informatica:

   

   ZappySys API Driver - Azure DevOps

   Azure DevOps Connector can be used to integrate Azure DevOps data in your App / BI Tools. You can create, read, query, modify, and delete WorkItems, Projects, Teams and more.

   AzureDevopsDSN

   SELECT * FROM Projects

   
   You can also access data quickly from the tables dropdown by selecting <Select table>.
   A WHERE clause, LIMIT keyword will be performed on the client side, meaning that the whole result set will be retrieved from the Azure DevOps API first, and only then the filtering will be applied to the data. If possible, it is recommended to use parameters in Query Builder to filter the data on the server side (in Azure DevOps servers).

9. Click OK to finish creating the data source.

Video Tutorial

Create Connection in Informatica Workflow Designer

Once you create DSN using API Driver our next step is to define a connection for Azure DevOps source in Informatica PowerCenter Workflow designer.

1. Open Workflow designer [W] icon
2. Goto Connections > Relational
   

   Create a new connection for Azure DevOps in Informatica

3. Click New and select ODBC
   

   Select ODBC connection type in Informatica (Using ZappySys API ODBC DSN)

4. Now on the ODBC connection setup enter connection name, some fake userid / password (this is a required field but its ignored by JSON Driver)
5. In the Connection String field enter the exact same name of DSN (Open ODBC Data Sources UI to confirm)
   

   Configure Azure DevOps connection in Informatica for REST API – Using ZappySys API Driver

6. Click OK to close the connection properties.

That’s it. Now we ready to move to next step (define source and target in Mapping Designer).

Import Azure DevOps Source Definition in Informatica Mapping Designer

Now let’s look at steps to import Azure DevOps table definition.

1. Open Informatica Mapping Designer (Click [D] icon)
2. Click on Source Icon to switch to Sources designer
3. From the top menu > Click on Sources > Import from Database …
   

   Import Azure DevOps Source definition in Informatica Mapping Designer (JSON file or REST API)

4. Select ODBC data source from the dropdown (Find out DSN we created earlier to use as JSON Source)
5. Click Connect button to get a list of tables. Any array node is listed as a table. Also, you will see array node with parent columns (e.g. value_with_parent). You may get some warning like below but they are harmless so just ignore by clicking OK.
   
   DLL name entry missing from C:\Informatica\PowerCenter8.6.1\client\bin\powrmart.ini Section = ODBCDLL Entry = ZappySys JSON Driver
   —————————————————-
   Using EXTODBC.DLL to support ZappySys JSON Driver. For native support of ZappySys JSON Driver make an entry in the .ini file.
   

   Select Azure DevOps Source Table in Informatica Mapping Designer (JSON file or REST API)

6. Select Table you wish to get (You can filter rows by custom SQL query. We will see later in this article how to do)
7. Optionally once table structure is imported you can rename it
   

   Rename imported table definition in Informatica Source Designer

8. That’s it, we are now ready to perform similar steps to import Target table structure in the next section.

Import SQL Server Target Definition in Informatica Mapping Designer

Now let’s look at steps to import Target table definition (very similar to the previous section, the only difference is this time we will select DSN which points to SQL Server or any other Target Server).

Now lets look at steps to import target table definition in Informatica mapping designer.

1. In the Mapping Designer, Click on Target Icon to switch to Target designer
2. From the top menu > Click on Targets > Import from Database …
3. Select DSN for your Target server (if DSN doesn’t exist then create one by opening ODBC Sources just like we created one for JSON API source (see the previous section about creating DSN).
   

   Import target Table Definition in informatica

4. Enter your userid , password and Schema name and click Connect to see tables
5. Select Table name to and click OK import definition.
   

   Import Target SQL Table Definition in Informatica – Select table from the list

Create Source to Target Mapping in Informatica (Import JSON to SQL Server)

Once you have imported source and target table definition, we can create mapping and transformation to load data from JSON to SQL Table.

1. First open Mapping Designer (Click [D] icon)
2. Drag JSON Source from sources folder
3. Drag SQL Table from Targets folder
4. Map desired columns from Source to target
   

   Define Source to Target mapping for Azure DevOps to SQL Table load in Informatica

5. For certain columns you may have to do datatype conversion. For example to convert OrderDate form nstring to DataTime you have to use Expression Transform like below and map it to target. In below example, our JSON has date format (e.g. 2018-01-31 12:00:00 AM ). To import this to DateTime field in SQL server we need to convert it using TO_DATE function. Use double quotes around T to make this format working.
   

   TO_DATE(OrderDate,'YYYY-MM-DD H12:MI:SS AM')
   
    --For ISO use below way
           TO_DATE(OrderDate,'YYYY-MM-DD"T"HH24:MI:SS')

   

   Informatica Azure DevOps to SQL Table Mapping – Datatype conversion (nstring to datetime)

6. Once you done with mapping save your mapping and name it (i.e. m_Api_To_SQL)
7. Now lets move to next section to create workflow.

Create Workflow and Session in Informatica

Now the final step is to create a new workflow. Perform following steps to create workflow which with a session task to import JSON data into SQL table.

1. Open workflow designer by click [W] icon.
2. Launch new workflow creation wizard by click Workflow top menu >  Wizard
   name your workflow (e.g. wf_Api_Tp_Sql_Table_Import)
   

   Creating Informatica Workflow – Wizard UI (Import Azure DevOps data to SQL Table)

3. Finish the wizard and double-click the Session to edit some default properties.
4. First change Error settings so we fail session on error (By default its always green)
   

   Fail Informatica Session on error (Azure DevOps data to SQL Load)

5. Select JSON connection for Source
   

   Select Azure DevOps Source Connection in Informatica – Load Azure DevOps data to SQL Table

6. Change default Source query if needed. You can pass parameters to this query to make it dynamic.
   

   Modify Azure DevOps Source SQL query – Pass parameters, change URL, set filter etc

7. Select Target connection of SQL Target Table
   

   Select SQL Target Connection in Informatica – Load Azure DevOps data to SQL Table

8. Save workflow
9. That’s it. We ready to run our first workflow to load JSON data to SQL.

Execute Workflow and Validate Log in Informatica

Now once you are done with your workflow, execute it to see the log.

Loading Azure DevOps data to SQL Table in Informatica (Import REST API or JSON Files)

POST data to Azure DevOps in Informatica

There will be a time when you like to send Source data to REST API or SOAP Web Service. You can use below Query for example. For detailed explanation on how to POST data in Informatica check this article .

Video Tutorial – How to POST data to REST API in Informatica

Here is detailed step by step video on REST API POST in informatica PowerCenter

Keywords

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Actions supported by Azure DevOps Connector

Learn how to perform common Azure DevOps actions directly in Informatica with these how-to guides:

• Create Project
• Create Team
• Create Work Item
• Create Work Item Comment
• Delete Project
• Delete Team
• Delete Work Item
• Delete Work Item Comment
• Get List of Projects
• Get List of Queries
• Get List of Teams
• Get Project Details
• Get Query Fileds
• Get Team Details
• Get Team Iteration Capacities
• Get Team Iterations
• Get Team Members
• Get Work Item Column Fields
• Get Work Item Comment by Comment Id and Work Item Id
• Get Work Item Comments (by WorkItem Id)
• Get Work Item Types
• Get Work Items by Ids
• Get Work Items for Specified Query Id
• Query Work Item Comments
• Query Work Items
• Search for Work Items by Text
• Update Project
• Update Team
• Update Work Item
• Update Work Item Comment
• Generic Request
• Generic Request (Bulk Write)

Conclusion

In this article we showed you how to connect to Azure DevOps in Informatica and integrate data without any coding, saving you time and effort. It's worth noting that ZappySys API Driver allows you to connect not only to Azure DevOps, but to any Java application that supports JDBC (just use a different JDBC driver and configure it appropriately).

We encourage you to download Azure DevOps Connector for Informatica and see how easy it is to use it for yourself or your team.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact ZappySys support team. You can also open a live chat immediately by clicking on the chat icon below.

Download Azure DevOps Connector for Informatica Documentation

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