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URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/domino-cloud-mendix.rst

⇱ Build HCL Domino-Connected Apps in Mendix

Build HCL Domino-Connected Apps in Mendix

👁 Dibyendu Datta
Dibyendu Datta
Lead Technology Evangelist
Use CData Connect AI to create an OData feed for HCL Domino Data and create custom apps in Mendix.

Mendix is a high-productivity app platform that allows you to build and maintain both mobile and web applications at-scale. When paired with CData Connect AI, Mendix provides instant, cloud-to-cloud access to HCL Domino data for applications. This article demonstrates how to connect to a CData Connect AI data source from within Mendix.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for HCL Domino, allowing you to import data from live HCL Domino data in Mendix — without replicating the data to a natively supported database. As you build web and mobile applications from within Mendix, CData Connect AI pushes all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc.) directly to HCL Domino, leveraging server-side processing to return the requested HCL Domino data quickly.

Configure HCL Domino Connectivity for Mendix

To work with HCL Domino data from Mendix, we need to connect to HCL Domino from Connect AI, provide user access to the connection, and create a Workspace for the HCL Domino data.

Connect to HCL Domino from Connect AI

CData Connect AI uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources.

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
    2. 👁 Adding a Connection
  2. Select "HCL Domino" from the Add Connection panel
    3. 👁 Selecting a data source
  3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to HCL Domino.

    Connecting to Domino

    To connect to Domino data, set the following properties:

    • URL: The host name or IP of the server hosting the Domino database. Include the port of the server hosting the Domino database. For example: http://sampleserver:1234/
    • DatabaseScope: The name of a scope in the Domino Web UI. The driver exposes forms and views for the schema governed by the specified scope. In the Domino Admin UI, select the Scopes menu in the sidebar. Set this property to the name of an existing scope.

    Authenticating with Domino

    Domino supports authenticating via login credentials or an Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) OAuth application:

    Login Credentials

    To authenticate with login credentials, set the following properties:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to "OAuthPassword"
    • User: The username of the authenticating Domino user
    • Password: The password associated with the authenticating Domino user

    The driver uses the login credentials to automatically perform an OAuth token exchange.

    EntraID (formerly AzureAD)

    This authentication method uses Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) as an IdP to obtain a JWT token. You need to create a custom OAuth application in Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) and configure it as an IdP. To do so, follow the instructions in the Help documentation. Then set the following properties:

    • AuthScheme: Set this to "EntraID (formerly AzureAD)"
    • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
    • OAuthClientId: The Client ID obtained when setting up the custom OAuth application.
    • OAuthClientSecret: The Client secret obtained when setting up the custom OAuth application.
    • CallbackURL: The redirect URI defined when you registered your app. For example: https://localhost:33333
    • AzureTenant: The Microsoft Online tenant being used to access data. Supply either a value in the form companyname.microsoft.com or the tenant ID.

      The tenant ID is the same as the directory ID shown in the Azure Portal's Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) > Properties page.

    👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add HCL Domino Connection page and update the User-based permissions. 👁 Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

  1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
  2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
  3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

Configure HCL Domino Endpoints for Mendix

After connecting to HCL Domino, create a workspace for your desired table(s).

  1. Navigate to the Workspaces page and click Add to create a new Workspace (or select an existing workspace). 👁 The Workspaces page.
    👁 Adding a new Workspace.
  2. Click Add to add new assets to the Workspace.
  3. Select the HCL Domino connection (e.g. Domino1) and click Next. 👁 Selecting an Asset (Salesforce is shown).
  4. Select the table(s) you wish to work with and click Confirm. 👁 Selecting Tables (Salesforce is shown).
  5. Make note of the OData Service URL for your workspace, e.g. https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}

With the connection, PAT, and Workspace configured, you are ready to connect to HCL Domino data from Mendix.

Build a HCL Domino-Connected App

Downloading the OData Metadata File

When creating a connection in Mendix, the connection flow requires a Data Source Contract File. Follow these steps to download the OData metadata file for CData Connect AI using curl, a command line tool:

  1. Open a command-line window for your operating system. On Windows, open the start menu, type cmd, and press the Enter key to open a command prompt. On macOS and Linux, open a Terminal window.
  2. To check if curl is installed on your system, type curl -help and press the enter key. If it is not installed, install it from the curl website.
  3. Issue the following curl command, replacing USER with your CData Connect AI username and PAT with the PAT you generated above: 
    curl -u USER:PAT https://cloud.cdata.com/api/odata/{workspace_name}/$metadata -o metadata.xml
  4. Locate the metadata.xml file that the curl command created and move it to an accessible location.

Connecting to CData Connect AI in Mendix

Follow these steps to establish a connection from Mendix to CData Connect AI:

  1. Login to Mendix and open the Data Hub page.
    2. 👁 Mendix landing page
  2. In the Register a Data Source section, select OData.
    3. 👁 Registering an OData data source
  3. Upload the metadata.xml file from the steps above and click Next.
    4. 👁 Uploading metadata file
  4. Enter your desired values for Data Source Name and Data Source Version. In the Data Source Relative Path field, enter /api/odata/{workspace_name} and click Next.
    5. 👁 Creating the data source
  5. On the Application information page, click Register a new application.
    6. 👁 Register new app
  6. Enter a name in Application Name and select a technical owner (by default, this is the user who is currently logged in).
    7. 👁 Filling in fields for the app
  7. Click Next. In the Environment Name field, enter a desired name (for example, CData Connect AI). In the Environment Location field, enter https://cloud.cdata.com and select the appropriate Environment Type (e.g. Production), depending on what is needed.
    8. 👁 Creating the environment
  8. Click Done! to create your connection.
    9. 👁 Finalizing the connection

You can now use your connection in Mendix Studio Pro to easily create applications with access to live HCL Domino data.

Get CData Connect AI

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