Connecting sources & destinations
A working flow needs three things in the same project: a connected source, a connected destination, and a field mapping between them. This page covers the mechanics common to all connectors. Credential details are on the individual source and destination pages.
Source categories
Section titled “Source categories”| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| API | The Datahash API, for pushing events from your own systems. |
| App | Mobile app events from your iOS or Android app. |
| CRM | Customer relationship systems. |
| Database | Relational and NoSQL databases read directly. |
| File and storage | FTP, object storage and cloud drives. |
| Lead generation | Lead form submissions from ad platforms and Google Forms. |
| Messaging ads | Click to WhatsApp, Click to Messenger and Click to Instagram Ads. |
| Warehouse | Data warehouses queried directly. |
| Website and E-commerce | Site traffic through NeoTag or dhPixel, and e-commerce platforms. |
Destination categories
Section titled “Destination categories”Destinations are grouped in the Destination list by what the data is for: Web Conversions, Messaging Conversions, App Conversions, Offline Conversions, Lead Conversions, Custom Audience, Product Catalog, CRM, Files and delivery, and Warehouse.
Creating a connection
Section titled “Creating a connection”-
Open Sources or Destination and click the connector tile.
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Select the Integration Type where the connector asks for one.
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Provide credentials. This is a sign in for connectors that support it, or manually entered keys for those that do not.
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Validate before continuing. CRM connectors use Test Connection. File and storage connectors, and manual destination authentication, use Validate Credentials. Query based connectors offer Preview Results so you can see what the query returns before committing.
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Name the connection so it is identifiable later.
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Click Next through the remaining steps, then Finish.
Connection status
Section titled “Connection status”A connection is either Pending or Completed. Exiting setup before the final step leaves it Pending. Select the connection name to resume from where you stopped.
Integration Type
Section titled “Integration Type”On sources that ask for one, the Integration Type decides which destinations the connection can feed. Choosing offline events on a CRM source gives you the offline conversion destinations. Choosing audience gives you the audience destinations. You cannot mix them within one connection.
Web conversions, lead generation and messaging conversions have no Integration Type step. The source connector itself determines the valid destinations.
How often your data is pulled
Section titled “How often your data is pulled”Signals pulls your data frequently, so changes in a CRM, file, database or warehouse reach your destinations without you triggering anything. Website, app and messaging sources send as events happen rather than on a schedule.
Field mapping
Section titled “Field mapping”On Field Mapping you match the fields a destination expects to columns in your source. Studio filters each dropdown to columns whose data type is eligible, and rejects an ineligible selection with “The selected field is not of eligible data type. Please select a correct field.”
Two things are worth getting right at this point, because both fail quietly.
- Column names have to match what the connector expects. On query based sources, alias your columns in the
SELECTto the expected names. A query that runs correctly but returns differently named columns will validate and then deliver nothing. - Formatting has to be consistent. Lowercase emails, phone numbers in international format including the country code, no stray whitespace. A badly formatted value hashes to something that will never match.
Managing connections
Section titled “Managing connections”Configured connectors appear as connector widgets. Use Edit on a widget, or the Manage connections section, to change a connection, add another instance of the same connector, or resume one that is still Pending.
One connector can have several instances. Two FTP folders, or two CRM objects, are two instances of the same connector.
Connector changes
Section titled “Connector changes”There is no public changelog for connector or API version changes. Where a change affects your setup, Datahash contacts you directly.
Where to go next
Section titled “Where to go next”- Use cases for which sources can feed which destinations.
- Event validation & schema for what a destination will accept.
- Identifier normalization & hashing for how to format identifiers.