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

1. Login to your Cinchy platform

2. From under My Network, click the create button

3. Select Table

4. Select From Scratch

5. 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)

Image 1: The People table

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

8. Click Change Notifications in the left hand navigation and ensure "Publish Change Notifications" is checked.

9. Click the Save button to save your table.

2.2 New Employees Table Creation

1. Within the Cinchy platform, from under My Network, click the create button

2. Select Table

3. Select From Scratch

4. 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)

Image 2: New Employees Table

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

9. 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

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

Image 3: The Connections Experience

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

Image 4: The Info Tab

3. Navigate to the Source tab.

4. Under "Select a Source", choose "Cinchy Event Broker" (Image 5).

Image 5: Select your Source

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.

Image 6: Define your source schema

6. Navigate to the Destination tab and select Cinchy Table from the drop down (Image 7).

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.

8. Click Load.

Image 7: Load the Metadata

12. 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.

13. Click Load.

Image 8: Select your columns

14. 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).

Image 9: Map your columns

15. 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.

16. 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

Image 10: Sync Behaviour

17. 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.

Image 11: Sync Permissions

18. Click Save.

19. 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.

20. 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).

Image 12: Test your Sync

Image 13: Test your Sync

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	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 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

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

Image 14: Data Sync Config Table

2. In a new row, paste the Data Sync XML into the Config XML column.

3. 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.

3. 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.

4. To execute your Data Sync you will use the CLI. If you do not have this downloaded, refer to the documentation here.

5. 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"

5. Launch Powershell and navigate to the Cinchy CLI directory.

6. 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"

7. 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).

Image 15: Test your Sync

Image 16: Test your Sync

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.

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

Image 17: Listener Config table

2. 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:

1. 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)

2. Enter the following into Powershell .\Cinchy.CLI.exe encrypt -t "password"

3. Hit enter to execute the command

4. 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).

Image 18: Execution Logs

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")

Image 19: Execution Errors table