Chapter 2. Fuse Online
Fuse Online provides a web browser interface that lets a business expert integrate two or more different applications or services without writing code. It also provides features that allow the addition of code if it is needed for complex use cases.
Fuse Online runs an integration on OpenShift as a Spring Boot application that uses Apache Camel.
2.1. About Fuse Online distributions
Fuse Online is Red Hat’s web-based integration platform. Syndesis is the open source project for Fuse Online. Fuse Online runs in these OpenShift environments:
| Host Environment | Installation |
|
OpenShift Online | Red Hat installs and provisions Fuse Online on Red Hat infrastructure. |
| OpenShift Container Platform | Customer installs and manages. |
In the Fuse 7.0 release, Fuse Online running in OpenShift Container Platform was named Ignite. With Fuse 7.1, the product name is Fuse Online regardless of where it runs. The Ignite product name is no longer used.
2.2. Changes and new features in 7.1
The changes and new features in Fuse Online 7.1 are:
New connectors for:
Updates/changes to connectors:
- New Delete Object action is available to an Amazon S3 middle or finish connection.
- Copy Object action now lets you specify the name of the file that you want to download.
- Twitter connector now requires a Twitter developer account for OAuth authorization of Fuse Online as a Twitter client application.
-
In the middle of an integration, a SQL database connection that executes a
SELECTstatement can now obtain more than one record.
Data mapper updates:
- To combine multiple source data fields into one compound target field, you can now select the target field, and then select all the source fields that you want to combine in the target field.
- To separate a compound source field into multiple target fields, you can now select the source field and then select all the target fields that you want to separate the compound field into.
- For a compound data field, you can now identify unwanted or missing parts of the content, and you can drag and drop the parts of a compound field to correctly order them.
- Transformations that convert measurement units now provide From Unit and To Unit drop down menus to select from. For example, after you select the ConvertAreaUnit transformation, the From Unit drop down lets you select Square Meter, Square Mile, or Square Foot.
- When you upload an OpenAPI specification you can now choose to review/edit the specification in Apicurio Studio, which is a visual design tool for APIs that adhere to the OpenAPI specification. You can update the specification, save it, and create an API client connector based on the updated specification.
- When you start running an integration for the first time, Fuse Online now shows the progress of the publication process as it moves through phases for assembling, building, deploying, and starting to reach the Running state.
- Installation of Fuse Online on OpenShift Container Platform now uses OpenShift operators.
- As mentioned earlier, the Ignite product name is no longer used.
2.3. Upgrading existing integrations running on OpenShift Online
Around the time of the Fuse 7.1 GA, the Fuse Online infrastructure on OpenShift Online is automatically upgraded. During the infrastructure upgrade, any existing integrations running on OpenShift Online will continue to run both during and after the upgrade. However, the existing integrations will continue to run with the older versions of Fuse libraries and dependencies.
We recommend that you upgrade the existing integrations as soon as you can, which can be done simply by redeploying the integrations: go into edit mode and publish the integration again. This step forces a rebuild using the latest Fuse dependencies.
The Fuse Online UI shows a warning/info, if any element of an integration has a newer dependency that needs to be updated.
2.4. Important notes
Important notes for the Fuse 7.1 release of the Fuse Online distribution:
- A Fuse Online account is limited to a specific number of integrations that can be running at one time. For details, see the pricing plan. If you are using a Fuse Online evaluation account, then only one integration at a time can be running.
- An OpenAPI specification that you upload to Fuse Online might not define input/output types. When Fuse Online creates a custom API client from an OpenAPI specification that does not specify input/output types then it is not possible to create an integration that maps integration data to fields that the API client can process or from fields that the API client processed. If an integration requires data mapping to or from a custom API, then when you upload the OpenAPI specification, click Review/Edit to open Apicurio Studio, which is an API design tool, and add input/output type specifications.
- Published integrations that connect to Gmail stop executing when their Gmail API access token expires. To enable the integration to execute, re-register your Fuse Online envrionment as a Gmail API client and enter the new client ID and client secret in the Fuse Online Settings page. In the next release, it is expected that Fuse Online will obtain a new access token when needed and you will not need to re-register.
2.5. Obtaining technical support
To obtain technical support, in Fuse Online, in the upper right, click
and then click Support to display the Fuse Online support page. Use this page to download diagnostic information for all integrations or for one or more integrations that you choose. The page provides instructions for opening a support ticket and providing the diagnostic information that you downloaded.
2.6. Technology Preview features
This release includes the Technology Preview features that are listed below.
Technology Preview features are not supported with Red Hat production service level agreements (SLAs), might not be functionally complete, and Red Hat does not recommend using them in production. These features provide early access to upcoming product features, enabling customers to test functionality and provide feedback during the development process. For more information, see Red Hat Technology Preview features support scope.
Connectors for:
- IRC - connects to text-based Internet Relay Chat to receive and send messages.
- Log - connects to the log where you can direct messages that are in addition to automatic logging.
- SAP Concur - connects to SAP Concur, an expense management tool, to obtain, update, and create lists, as well as perform other operations.
- Telegram - connects to cloud-based messaging app to receive and send messages.
-
Timer - triggers execution of an integration at an interval that you specify or based on a Unix
cronexpression.
For a REST API client that use OAuth, when you create an API client connector, you can change the default OAuth2 behavior of connections that you create from that connector. Fuse Online vendor extensions to OpenAPI specifications support the following:
- Providing client credentials as parameters.
- Obtaining a new access token based on HTTP response status codes.
