Real-Time Sync Example

1. Overview

This example will take you through the creation and execution of a real-time data sync where data will be synced between two Cinchy tables based on real-time changes.

Use Case: Your People table captures a view of various personnel information. Any time a new hire is added to the table, you want that information to be immediately synced into the New Employees table. We can solve this use case using the Cinchy Change Data Capture (CDC) function on our tables. This helps you to better keep track of all incoming people within your company.

Example Use Case:

You can review our documentation on Cinchy Table Sources here. You can review our documentation on Cinchy Table destinations here.

2. Sample Files and Code

This section contains steps on how to:

Create the People table.
Create the New Employees table.

When creating tables to be used with real-time syncs, you need to ensure that the Cinchy Change Data Capture feature is turned on through the Design Table > Change Notifications tab. This will ensure real-time updates are captured.

2.1 People Table Creation

Login to your Cinchy platform
From under My Network, click the create button
Select Table
Select From Scratch
Create a table with the following properties (Image 1):

Table Details

Values

Table Name

People

Icon + Colour

Default

Domain

Sandbox (if this domain does not exist please either create it or make sure to update this parameter where required during the data sync)

6. Click Columns in the left hand navigation to create the columns for the table

7. Click the "Click Here to Add" button and add the following columns:

Column Details

Values

Column 1

Column Name: Name

Data Type: Text

Column 2

Column Name: Title

Data Type: Text

Column 3

Column Name: Phone Number

Data Type: Text

Column 4

Column Name: City Data Type: Text

Click Change Notifications in the left hand navigation and ensure "Publish Change Notifications" is checked.
Click the Save button to save your table.

2.2 New Employees Table Creation

Within the Cinchy platform, from under My Network, click the create button
Select Table
Select From Scratch
Create a table with the following properties (Image 2):

Table Details

Values

Table Name

New Employees

Icon + Colour

Default

Domain

Sandbox (if this domain does not exist please either create it or make sure to update this parameter where required during the data sync)

6. Click Columns in the left hand navigation to create the columns for the table.

7. Click the "Click Here to Add" button and add the following columns:

Column Details

Values

Column 1

Column Name: Name

Data Type: Text

Column 3

Column Name: Title

Data Type: Text

Click the Save button to save your table.

3. Creating the Data Sync

There are two options when you want to create a data sync in Cinchy.

You can input all of your necessary information through the intuitive Connections UI. Once saved, all of this data is uploaded as an XML into the Data Sync configurations table.
Or, you can bypass the UI and upload your XML config directly into the Data Sync configuration table yourself.

This example will walk you through both options.

3.1 Using the Connections UI

Within your Cinchy platform, navigate to the Connections Experience (Image 3).

In the Info tab, input the name of your data sync. For this example we are using "New Hires" (Image 4).

Navigate to the Source tab.
Under "Select a Source", choose "Cinchy Event Broker" (Image 5).

In the Schema section, input the columns from your source table (in this case the People table) that you will want to use in your data sync. In this example we are using the Name and Title columns, both of which are data type Text (Image 6). You may also choose to set any Aliases or add a Description.

We are not using the RunQuery functionality in this example but you can review it's properties here.

Navigate to the Destination tab and select Cinchy Table from the drop down (Image 7).
In the Load Metadata pop-up, input the Domain and Table name for your destination. In this example, we are using the Sandbox domain and the People table.
Click Load.

Select the columns that you wish to use in your data sync (Image 8). These will be the columns that your source syncs to your target. In this example, we are using the Name and Title columns. Note that you will have many Cinchy system table available to use as well.
Click Load.

The Connections experience will attempt to automatically map your source and destination columns based on matching names. In the below screenshot, it has been able to correctly match the Name and Title columns (Image 9).

Navigate to the Sync Behaviour tab. There are two options for data syncs: Full File and Delta. In this example, select Full File.

Full load processing means that the entire amount of data is imported iteratively the first time a data source is loaded into the data studio. Delta processing, on the other hand, means loading the data incrementally, loading the source data at specific pre-established intervals.

Set the following parameters (Image 10):

Parameter

Description

Example

Sync Key Column Reference

The SyncKey is used as a unique key reference when syncing the data from the data source into the Cinchy table. It is used to match data between the source and the target. This allows for updates to occur on changed records.

Name

New Record Behaviour

This defines what action is taken when a new record is found in the sync source. This can be either Insert or Ignore.

Insert

Dropped Record Behaviour

This defines what action is taken when a dropped record is found in the sync source.

This can be either Delete, Ignore, or Expire.

Delete

Changed Record Behaviour

This defines what action is taken when a changed record is found in the sync source.

This can be either Update, Ignore, or Conditional.

Update

Navigate to the Permissions tab. Here you will define your group access controls for your data sync. You can set this how you like. For this example, we are giving all users access to Execute, Write, and Read our sync (Image 11).

Any groups given Admin Access will have the ability to Execute, Write, and Read the data sync.

Click Save.
Navigate to the Cinchy Listener Config table and set up your configuration. Ensure it is set to Enabled. Your real-time data sync should now be listening to your People table ready to push updates to your New Employees table.
Test your data sync by adding a new row to your People table. Ensure that the data is then updated across to the New Employees table (Images 12 & 13).

3.2 Using a Data Sync XML

In lieu of using the Connections UI, you can also set up a data sync by uploading a correctly formatted XML into the Data Sync Configs table within Cinchy.

We recommend only doing so once you have a good grasp on how data sync work. Note that not all sources/targets follow the same XML pattern.

Below is the completed batch data sync configuration for this example. Review the XMLs and then proceed to section 3.2.3 for further instructions.

3.2.1 Blank XML Example

The below XML shows what a blank data sync could look like for our Cinchy Event Broker/CDC to Cinchy Table real-time sync with full file synchronization.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<BatchDataSyncConfig name="" version="1.0.0" xmlns="http://www.cinchy.co">
    <CinchyEventBrokerDataSource runQuery="false">
        <Schema>
            <Column name="" dataType="" trimWhitespace="true" isMandatory="false" validateData="false"/>
        </Schema>
    </CinchyEventBrokerDataSource>
    <CinchyTableTarget reconcileData="true" domain="" table="" suppressDuplicateErrors="false" degreeOfParallelism="1">
        <ColumnMappings>
            <ColumnMapping sourceColumn="" targetColumn=""/>
        </ColumnMappings>
        <SyncKey readonly="false">
            <SyncKeyColumnReference name=""/>
        </SyncKey>
        <NewRecordBehaviour type=""/>
        <DroppedRecordBehaviour type=""/>
        <ChangedRecordBehaviour type=""/>
        <PostSyncScripts/>
    </CinchyTableTarget>
</BatchDataSyncConfig

3.2.2 Filled XML Example

The below filled XML example matches the Connections UI configuration we made in step 3.1. You can review the parameters used in the table below.

Parameter

Description

Example

Name

The name of your data sync.

New Hites

Column Name

The name(s) of the source columns that you wish to sync.

"Name" "Title"

Column Data Type

The data type that corresponds to our selected source columns.

"Text"

Domain

The domain of your Cinchy Target table.

Sandbox

Table

The name of your Cinchy Target table.

New Employees

Column Mapping Source Column

The name(s) of the source columns that you are syncing.

"Name" "Title"

Column Mapping Target Column

The name(s) of the target column as it maps to the specified source column.

"Name" "Title"

Sync Key Column Reference Name

"Name"

New Record Behaviour Type

This defines what will happen when new records are found in the source.

INSERT

Dropped Record Behaviour Type

This defines what will happen when dropped records are found in the source.

DELETE

Changed Record Behaviour Type

This defines what will happen when changed records are found in the source.

UPDATE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<BatchDataSyncConfig name="New Hires" version="1.0.0" xmlns="http://www.cinchy.co">
    <CinchyEventBrokerDataSource runQuery="false">
        <Schema>
            <Column name="Name" dataType="Text" trimWhitespace="true" isMandatory="false" validateData="false"/>
            <Column name="Title" dataType="Text" trimWhitespace="true" isMandatory="false" validateData="false"/>
        </Schema>
    </CinchyEventBrokerDataSource>
    <CinchyTableTarget reconcileData="true" domain="sandbox" table="New Employees" suppressDuplicateErrors="false" degreeOfParallelism="1">
        <ColumnMappings>
            <ColumnMapping sourceColumn="Name" targetColumn="Name"/>
            <ColumnMapping sourceColumn="Title" targetColumn="Title"/>
        </ColumnMappings>
        <SyncKey readonly="false">
            <SyncKeyColumnReference name="Name"/>
        </SyncKey>
        <NewRecordBehaviour type="INSERT"/>
        <DroppedRecordBehaviour type="DELETE"/>
        <ChangedRecordBehaviour type="UPDATE"/>
        <PostSyncScripts/>
    </CinchyTableTarget>
</BatchDataSyncConfig

3.2.3 Using the Data Sync XML

Once you have completed your Data Sync XML, navigate to the Data Sync Configurations table in Cinchy (Image 14).

In a new row, paste the Data Sync XML into the Config XML column.
Define your group permissions in the applicable columns. In our example, we have given All Users the Admin Access.

The Name and Config Version columns will be auto populated as they values are coming from the Config XML.

Be sure when you are pasting into the Config XML column that you double click into the column before pasting, otherwise each line of the XML will appear as an individual record in the Data Sync Configurations table.

Navigate to the Cinchy Listener Config table and set up your configuration. Ensure it is set to Enabled. Your real-time data sync should now be listening to your People table ready to push updates to your New Employees table.
To execute your Data Sync you will use the CLI. If you do not have this downloaded, refer to the documentation here.
In this example we will be using the following Data Sync Commands, however, for the full list of commands click here.

Parameter

Description

Example

-s (server)

Required. The full path to the Cinchy server without the protocol (e.g. cinchy.co/Cinchy).

"pilot.cinchy.co/Training/Cinchy/"

-u (userid)

Required. The user id to login to Cinchy that has execution access to the data sync.

"admin"

-p (password)

Required. The password of the above User ID parameter. This can optionally be encrypted. For a walkthrough on how to use the CLI to encrypt the password, refer to the Appendix section.

"DESuEGqfffsamx55yl256hjuPYxa4ncc+5+bLkoVIFpgs0Lq6hkcU="

-f (feed)

Required. The name of the Data Sync Configuration as defined in Cinchy

"Contact Import"

Launch Powershell and navigate to the Cinchy CLI directory.
Enter and execute the following into Powershell:

.\Cinchy.CLI.exe syncdata -s "pilot.cinchy.co/Training/Cinchy/" -u "admin" -p "DESuEGqmx55yl2PYxa4ncc+5+bLkoVIFpgs0Lq6hkcU=" -f "Contact Import"

Test your data sync by adding a new row to your People table. Ensure that the data is then updated across to the New Employees table (Images 15 & 16).

4. Setting the Listener Config

Setting up a Listener Configuration is a required step when doing a real-time data sync. While this example shows how to configure the sync using the Cinchy Event Broker/CDC, Cinchy also supports other Event Stream Sources. You can review the full list here.

Navigate to the Listener Config table in Cinchy (Image 17).

In a new row, add in your listener config data using the below table as a guide:

Column

Description

Example

Name

The name of your Listener Config

New Hire Sync

Event Connector Type

Select from the drop-down list which event stream you are listening in on.

Cinchy CDC

Topic

This column expects a JSON value with certain specific information. Please review the Topic Column table below for details.

{
    "tableGuid": "3daba5da-5e07-4d35-8d7c-d451a2c9068e",
    "fields": [
        {
            "column": "Name"
        },
        {
            "column": "Title"
        }
    ],
}

Connection Attributes

This section is not required for data syncs using the Cinchy Event Broker/CDC, so we can just enter "{}"

{}

Status

This sets where your config is Enabled or Disabled. You can leave this blank until you want to turn on your config.

Data Sync Config

The name of the Data Sync Config you created in the Connections UI or via XML.

New Hires

Auto Offset Reset

In the case where the listener is started and either there is no last message ID, or when the last message ID is invalid (due to it being deleted or it's just a new listener), it will use this column as a fallback to determine where to start reading events from. Earliest will start reading from the beginning on the queue (when the CDC was enabled on the table). This might be a suggested configuration if your use case is recoverable or re-runnable and if you need to reprocess all events to ensure accuracy. Latest will fetch the last value after whatever was last processed This is the typical configuration. None will not read start reading any events.

Latest

4.1 JSON Topic Column

For the topic JSON, you need to provide the following:

Parameter

Table GUID

The GUID of the table whose notifications you wish to consume. You can find this in the Design Table screen for Cinchy v5.5+, and in the Tables table otherwise.

Column(s)

The names of the columns you wish to include. Note: If you will be using the runQuery=true parameter in your data sync, you only need to include the Cinchy Id in the topic JSON.

BatchSize

The desired result batch size. This will default to 1 if not passed in. The maximum batch size is 1000; using a number higher than that will result in a Bad Request response.

Filter

Optional. When CDC is enabled, you can set a filter on columns where you are capturing changes in order to receive specific data.

4.2 Topic JSON Example

{
    "tableGuid": "3daba5da-5e07-4d35-8d7c-d451a2c9068e",
    "fields": [
        {
            "column": "Name"
        },
        {
            "column": "Title"
        }
    ],
}

5. Appendix

5.1 Password Encryption

Prior to executing the data sync command, let's encrypt the password using Powershell

To encrypt a password using Powershell, complete the following:

Launch Powershell and navigate to the Cinchy CLI directory (note, you can always type powershell in the windows explore path for the Cinchy CLI directory)
Enter the following into Powershell .\Cinchy.CLI.exe encrypt -t "password"
Hit enter to execute the command
Copy the password (e.g. notepad, Visual Studio Code, word etc.) so you have it accessible at batch execution time

Please note, you will need to replace "password" with your specific password.

5.2 Execution Logs

The Execution Log table is a system table in Cinchy that logs the outputs of all data syncs. You can always review the entries in this table for information on the progression of your syncs (Image 18).

5.3 Execution Errors

The Execution Errors table is a system table in Cinchy that logs any errors that may occur in a data sync (Image 19). Any data sync errors will also be logged in the temp directory outlined in the data sync execution command (e.g. -d "C:\Cinchy\temp")

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