Connections
A connection describes how Xchange communicates with an external system — through which interface, with which credentials, and with which technical settings. Connections are the technical foundation of every integration: before you can set up a route, you need a connection to the system you want to exchange data with.
A connection is set up once and can be used by any number of routes. Credentials and secrets are stored encrypted and are never returned in clear text.
The line between connection and route is a sharp one: the connection describes where Xchange connects to and how it signs in there. What is exchanged over that connection — which object type, in which direction, with which mapping of the fields — is decided by the route.
Connection type: REST
Xchange connects to external systems over REST interfaces — the most widespread standard for data exchange over HTTP. The connection type is fixed when a connection is created and cannot be changed afterwards.
The SAP Business One side of every integration needs no connection of its own: Xchange talks to the Service Layer internally through a built-in connection that isn't one of the connections you manage. Every connection you create therefore always describes the external counterpart of a route — never SAP Business One itself.
If a target system doesn't offer a REST interface, UNIORG assesses the connection on a case-by-case basis: we look at the target system's interface description and estimate the effort for a suitable solution. Get in touch with us directly in that case.
Authentication
To let Xchange log in to an external system, every connection supports one of two methods:
- No authentication for open interfaces without access protection.
- OAuth 2.0 using the client-credentials flow, for systems that require a machine access token. Xchange requests the token from the external system's authorization server on its own and renews it automatically before it expires — there is no end-user sign-in; the exchange happens exclusively between Xchange and the external system.
Authentication belongs to the connection, not to the route: every route that uses the same connection uses the same credentials. Credentials are stored encrypted and are never shown in clear text again after saving.
Testing the connection
A connection can be checked at any time, independently of any route: Test connection determines whether Xchange can reach the external system with the currently stored credentials and log in successfully. This is a pure diagnostic tool — a failed test blocks neither saving the connection nor activating a draft. That lets you set up and save a connection before the external system is even reachable, and use the test purposefully for troubleshooting.