Glossary

Reference this page for functional definitions of key terms used across the App Xchange platform. This glossary is a work in progress, with more definitions coming soon.

Action

Typically a variation on writing or changing data on the target system. This could also be a single item GET or other use cases.

API

Application Programming Interface. An API enables different computer applications to communicate with each other by acting as an intermediary between them. App Xchange connectors typically leverage the API of a connected product, database, or application to enable the transfer of data between it and the App Xchange platform.

App Network

A network of application interfaces. The App Network connects external applications to the App Xchange platform via connectors that typically use APIs. These connectors act as clients of the external APIs and have internal APIs for normalizing data between those applications. This includes features like caching and standardized API endpoints. 

CLI

Command Line Interface. This is used to call xchange commands and generate connector template code when building a connector using our SDK Documentation.

Connection

A definition is built into a connector to outline exactly what a user needs to connect the connector to a product or application. In these cases, App Xchange leverages that definition to enable certain features and behaviors on the platform, like different types of authentication or testing connections before executing the flows that depend on them. For more information, see Connections.

Connector

An intermediary between the App Xchange platform and an external product, database, or application. Connectors enable integrations to be built by facilitating interactions with those products or applications, typically by making API calls.

Data Object

The method of handling data on App Xchange, which does not have to be a direct recreation of the external database.

Data Reader

Performs Cache Writes on the platform. This reads data (complete or incremental) and automatically (by default) writes that data to the App Xchange cache.

OAuth Client

An application that makes requests to a resource server (such as an API) on behalf of a user. It is part of the OAuth protocol, a framework for authorization that enables third-party applications to obtain limited access to an HTTP service. The client typically needs to be registered with the authorization server to obtain an OAuth client ID and secret, which are used to authenticate the client to the server. The client uses the OAuth tokens received from the authorization server to access protected resources.

SDK

Software Development Kit for Connector Development. This is a collection of tools and libraries that allow developers to create applications for App Xchange. It Includes a local testing version.