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Getting Started Connector Development

One of the benefits of working with Scribe Online is how easy they make it to create connectors if one does not exist.  In this blog post we are going to look at how to get setup, if this is the first time you have made a connector for Scribe Online.  But, before we get into that, we should first make sure that a connector doesn't already exist that can handle what we need.

We can do this by looking in the Scribe Online Marketplace.  Still not seeing what you need?  Reach out to Scribe directly or ask in the Scribe forums if a connector exists for an application.  There are instances where a connector exists but is not listed in the marketplace.  An example of this is for a client that I built a connector for.  They didn't want to setup a system to run the on-premise agent, so they asked me to set up the connector to run on Scribe's cloud agent.  This meant that I had to submit the connector to Scribe for validation.  Once published the connector is in the Scribe marketplace, but hidden.  Access to it is managed from within the client's Scribe Online org.  This means that only people that ask them for access can use it.  But, unless they tell you this, you won't know it.  So, it's worth asking Scribe before starting to develop a connector, if one exists.  As mentioned before, even if one doesn't Scribe makes it really easy to create one.

In this blog post we are only going to go over what you need to get setup.  We won't be getting in depth on connector development, that will come in future posts.  You will need the following to create connectors:

I will assume that if you are reading this you are already familiar with writing code and have Visual Studio installed.  If that is the case, then all you need to do is install the GitLab extension (only needed if you are going to publish to Scribe for validation or if you don't have a current source control solution).  At this point we will now install the fast connector framework (FCF) for both messaging and integration.  To do this, go into the FastConnectorFramework folder in the CDK that you downloaded.  There you will see 2 folders, each containing a .vsix file.  With visual studio closed, double click on these files to install the extensions in Visual Studio.  Once this is done, you will see the below, when creating a new project in Visual Studio:

With this all setup we can create connectors with the FCF for integration or messaging.  We can also create connectors from scratch using the CDK.  Then we can upload them to Scribe if we want them in the marketplace or use them with the cloud agent.  In future blog posts, we will go more in-depth on connector development and the differences between using the CDK or FCF.  I just wanted to put this post out as an introduction to connector development.
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