BigCommerce Query activity

Introduction

A BigCommerce Query activity, using its BigCommerce connection, queries data from an object in BigCommerce, and is intended to be used as a source to provide data in an operation.

Create a BigCommerce Query activity

An instance of a BigCommerce Query activity is created from a BigCommerce connection using its Query activity type.

To create an instance of an activity, drag the activity type to the design canvas or copy the activity type and paste it on the design canvas. For details, see Creating an activity instance in Component reuse.

An existing BigCommerce Query activity can be edited from these locations:

• The design canvas (see Component actions menu in Design canvas).
• The project pane's Components tab (see Component actions menu in Project pane Components tab).

Configure a BigCommerce Query activity

Follow these steps to configure a BigCommerce Query activity:

• Step 1: Enter a name and select an object
  Provide a name for the activity and select an object.

• Step 2: Select a sub-object
  Select a sub-object from the list that is available in the BigCommerce endpoint. This list changes dynamically depending on what is selected from the previous step.

• Step 3: Review the data schemas
  Any request or response schemas generated from the endpoint are displayed.

Step 1: Enter a name and select an object

In this step, provide a name for the activity and select an object. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Name: Enter a name to identify the activity. The name must be unique for each BigCommerce Query activity and must not contain forward slashes (/) or colons (:).

• Select an Object: This section displays objects available in the BigCommerce endpoint. When reopening an existing activity configuration, only the selected object is displayed instead of reloading the entire object list.

  • Selected Object: After an object is selected, it is listed here.

  • Search: Enter any column's value into the search box to filter the list of objects. The search is not case-sensitive. If objects are already displayed within the table, the table results are filtered in real time with each keystroke. To reload objects from the endpoint when searching, enter search criteria and then refresh, as described below.

  • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to reload objects from the BigCommerce endpoint. This may be useful if objects have been added to BigCommerce. This action refreshes all metadata used to build the table of objects displayed in the configuration.

  • Selecting an Object: Within the table, click anywhere on a row to select an object. Only one object can be selected. The information available for each object is fetched from the BigCommerce endpoint:

    • Name: The object name from BigCommerce.

    • Description: The object description from BigCommerce.

  Tip

  If the table does not populate with available objects, the BigCommerce connection may not be successful. Ensure you are connected by reopening the connection and retesting the credentials.

• Save & Exit: If enabled, click to save the configuration for this step and close the activity configuration.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 2: Select a sub-object

In this step, select a sub-object. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Select a Sub-object: This section displays sub-objects available in the BigCommerce endpoint. When reopening an existing activity configuration, only the selected sub-object is displayed instead of reloading the entire sub-object list.

  • Selected Object: The object selected in the previous step is listed here.

  • Selected Sub-object: After a sub-object is selected, it is listed here.

  • Search: Enter any column's value into the search box to filter the list of sub-objects. The search is not case-sensitive. If sub-objects are already displayed within the table, the table results are filtered in real time with each keystroke. To reload sub-objects from the endpoint when searching, enter search criteria and then refresh, as described below.

  • Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to reload sub-objects from the BigCommerce endpoint. This may be useful if sub-objects have been added to BigCommerce. This action refreshes all metadata used to build the table of sub-objects displayed in the configuration.

  • Selecting a Sub-object: Within the table, click anywhere on a row to select a sub-object. Only one sub-object can be selected. The information available for each sub-object is fetched from the BigCommerce endpoint:

    • Name: The sub-object name from BigCommerce.

    • Description: The sub-object description from BigCommerce.

  Tip

  If the table does not populate with available sub-objects, the BigCommerce connection may not be successful. Ensure you are connected by reopening the connection and retesting the credentials.

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Next: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and continue to the next step. The configuration will not be saved until you click the Finished button on the last step.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Step 3: Review the data schemas

Any request or response schemas generated from the endpoint are displayed. Each user interface element of this step is described below.

• Data Schemas: These data schemas are inherited by adjacent transformations and are displayed again during transformation mapping.

  Note

  Data supplied in a transformation takes precedence over the activity configuration.

  The BigCommerce connector uses the BigCommerce REST API v3.0. Refer to the API documentation for information on the schema nodes and fields.

  The request and response data schemas consist of these nodes and fields:

  • Request:

    Request Schema Field/Node	Notes
    queryRequest	Node representing the query request
    include	Parameters used during querying
    cartId	This cart's unique ID

  • Response:

    Response Schema Field/Node	Notes
    queryResponse	Node representing the query response
    items	Node representing the items that were queried
    created_time	Time when the cart was created
    updated_time	Time when the cart was last updated
    discount_amount	The discounted amount
    cart_amount	Sum of cart line-item amounts minus cart-level discounts and coupons. This amount includes taxes (where applicable)
    tax_included	Returns true if tax was included, or false if tax was not included
    line_items	Node representing the line items queried
    physical_items	Node representing the physical attribrutes of the items queried
    items	Node representing the items queried

• Refresh: Click the refresh icon or the word Refresh to regenerate schemas from the BigCommerce endpoint. This action also regenerates a schema in other locations throughout the project where the same schema is referenced, such as in an adjacent transformation.

• Edit: Click the edit icon above each data schema to enter the editor. The editor allows you to add, delete, and reorganize nodes and fields and change their data types. All newly added nodes and fields are set to [0, 1] cardinality. Changes made to the data schemas must be acceptable to the endpoint and should be made only after consulting any available documentation for the endpoint.

• Back: Click to temporarily store the configuration for this step and return to the previous step.

• Finished: Click to save the configuration for all steps and close the activity configuration.

• Discard Changes: After making changes, click to close the configuration without saving changes made to any step. A message asks you to confirm that you want to discard changes.

Next steps

After configuring a BigCommerce Query activity, complete the configuration of the operation by adding and configuring other activities, transformations, or scripts as operation steps. You can also configure the operation settings, which include the ability to chain operations together that are in the same or different workflows.

Menu actions for an activity are accessible from the project pane and the design canvas. For details, see Activity actions menu in Connector basics.

BigCommerce Query activities can be used as a source with these operation patterns:

• Transformation pattern
• Two-target archive pattern (as the first source only)
• Two-target HTTP archive pattern (as the first source only)
• Two-transformation pattern (as the first or second source)

To use the activity with scripting functions, write the data to a temporary location and then use that temporary location in the scripting function.

When ready, deploy and run the operation and validate behavior by checking the operation logs.