ESB Integrations
The Formbird API provides a developer with RESTful web service access to create, update, and query their Formbird data. This is often all that is required in order to develop external services and integrate with other systems. However, there are situations where additional tools may need to be employed. This may be due to a number of factors, including:
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lack of RESTful web service capability (particularly for legacy systems)
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integrating with systems with no API (eg. access only via direct database calls)
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integrating with auxiliary systems that must stay behind a corporate firewall
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complex integration jobs involving more than one source or target
For these situations we recommend using Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) software.
There are many ESB products available on the market, including both paid and freely available, depending of course on your deployment circumstances. In the examples that follow, we will be using Talend Open Studio for ESB.
Talend Open Studio for ESB is a free, open-source application integration tool. We will use it here for:
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its flexibility to build complex jobs;
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the variety of built-in connectors available to handle integrations involving REST, SOAP, and RDBMS connections; and
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its simple deployment capabilities.
As part of its offerings Talend Open Studio for ESB provides an overwhelming amount of features and tools to help fulfill your integration requirements. This guide provides tips to using Talend, by introducing the key components and approaches you need to quickly get started.