Building a Custom API Connector

If you cannot find the ZappySys built-in connector in API Integration Hub, have in mind, you can always create your own API Connector. With ZappySys API Connector Framework you can create and use your own API Connector in an SSIS or in any ODBC-compatible application.

Let's explore below when you would need one, and when you could simply use ZappySys universal JSON/XML SSIS connectors and JSON/XML ODBC drivers.

However, if you are ready to create a Custom API Connector, start by downloading SSIS PowerPack or ODBC PowerPack and go to step-by-step Tutorial section in the documentation:

Download for SSIS Download for Other Apps Documentation

Why create Custom API Connector for SSIS or ODBC application?

Usage simplicity

Custom API Connector enables you to hide all the configuration complexity. When making a call to a custom REST/SOAP API, you couldn't avoid it by using universal JSON/XML SSIS connectors and ODBC drivers. Every API technological detail is hidden from the developer who uses API Connector, so it makes reading and writing data from and to an API very simple — no custom API knowledge required for use. One simply accesses REST API in a source or destination component in an SSIS package or by executing a SQL query in an ODBC data source. Error-Prone Configuration Avoidance. UI validation

Code reuse

Using Custom API Connector enables the reuse of code inside an SSIS package or an ODBC data source. You can reuse the code for:

Pagination

You can define pagination only once in your Custom API Connector. So, if pagination method changes in an API, you only have to update it in one place in your solution — in your Custom API Connector.

You are free from going through all of your SSIS connectors, across all your SSIS packages and changing it in multiple places (which you couldn't avoid if you used universal JSON/XML SSIS connectors instead). So by making a central change in an API Connector, you don't have to be afraid you forgot to update one of your connectors.

Column metadata

You can define output columns metadata in your Custom API Connector only once too.

You don't have to configure output columns for each API Connector endpoint returning the same columns — you can simply use a template inside an API Connector.

Easy collaboration

By having a Custom API Connector in place, you can easily share it with your team mates. Then they simply become the users of the Custom API.

Team mates don't have to...

Know what a REST API is, what an HTTP request is, or what JSON is
Understand the internals of the API you will be using
Worry about handling OAuth, HTTP Basic, API Key, and other authorization schemes in depth

Only a few team members can be responsible for the development of a Custom API Connector and the knowledge of internals of a Custom API.

And yet, users who use a Custom API Connector are not limited by the predefined endpoints in API Connector. They can always craft a custom HTTP request to an API by using a generic endpoint in a Custom API Connector.

Advanced ODBC features

API Connector supports several advanced ODBC features that universal JSON/XML connectors and drivers do not:

External data Bulk loading

It provides the ability to import data from external sources, such as Microsoft SQL Server, ODBC data source, etc.

INSERT, UDPATE, and DELETE statements

If you implement insert/update/delete API endpoints in your Custom API Connector, you can execute SQL INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements in an ODBC data source.

When to use universal JSON/XML SSIS connectors and ODBC drivers?

ZappySys universal JSON/XML SSIS connectors and JSON/XML ODBC drivers offer a quick and easy way to connect to a Custom API.

Use them...

For a quick start, every time you want to connect to an API for the first time
When you have just a few SSIS connectors in a package
When you have just a few ODBC data sources
When API users understand or want to learn REST/SOAP API, OAuth, API Keys, JSON/XML, JsonPath on a deeper level