Create and manage Connections, Formats and Listeners

Overview

To configure a data integration Flow, you first need to create the required Connections, Formats, and sometimes Listeners.

These objects are managed from the Connections page, which includes three tabs:

• Connections – define how Etlworks connects to external systems such as databases, APIs, file storage, cloud services, etc. 
• Formats – define how data is structured (CSV, JSON, XML, Excel, EDI, etc.). 
• Listeners – define endpoints that allow external systems to push data into Etlworks or pull data from Etlworks.

All three object types are managed using the same interface and follow the same workflow for creation, editing, and bulk management.

Connections, Formats, and Listeners Page

The Connections page contains three tabs:

• Connections 
• Listeners 
• Formats

Each tab displays a grid of saved objects and allows you to:

• Create new objects 
• Search and filter existing ones 
• Edit or duplicate objects 
• Perform bulk operations 
• Export and import objects

Objects can be filtered by:

• Name 
• Tags 
• Type

Create a Connection, Format, or Listener

The creation process is the same for all three object types.

Step 1. Open the correct tab

Navigate to the Connections page using the left menu.

Select the appropriate tab:

• Connections 
• Formats 
• Listeners

Step 2. Click +

Click the + button in the toolbar to open the object type gallery.

Step 3. Select the object type

Select the appropriate type from the gallery.

You can quickly find a type by entering all or part of the name in the search box. Only matching types will be displayed.

You can also filter object types by category using the category list on the left side of the gallery.

Step 4. Configure parameters

After selecting the object type, enter the required parameters.

For example:

Connections typically require:

• Host 
• Authentication credentials 
• Connection options

Formats typically require:

• Data format parameters 
• Encoding and delimiters

Listeners typically require:

• Endpoint configuration 
• Authentication settings 
• Processing options

Note

While Etlworks stores credentials such as passwords, API keys, and authentication tokens, we:

• Always encrypt credentials using a strong encryption algorithm and a long encryption key
• Never send credentials to the web browser

Step 5. Test (if supported)

For many object types, you can click Test Connection to verify connectivity.

This option is not available for some types (for example HTTP endpoints).

Manage Connections, Formats, and Listeners

All saved objects are displayed in a grid within their respective tabs.

You can:

• Search objects by name and type
• Filter by tags 
• Sort objects 
• Open and edit objects 
• Duplicate objects 
• Delete objects

Each object row includes quick action icons for common operations.

Bulk Operations

You can perform operations on multiple objects simultaneously.

1. Enable bulk selection (enabled by default)

Click the Show selection icon in the toolbar to enable selection mode.

This displays checkboxes next to each object in the grid.

Selection mode can be turned off using Hide selection.

2. Select objects

You can:

• Select individual objects using checkboxes 
• Click Clear selected to remove the current selections

Available bulk actions

After selecting objects, additional actions become available, including:

• Delete selected 
• Advanced options

Bulk operations help manage large environments with many Connections, Formats, or Listeners.

Advanced Bulk Actions

The Advanced bulk actions dialog allows you to update multiple properties in a single operation.

Supported bulk updates include:

• Name prefix – add a prefix to the names of selected object.
• Name suffix – add a suffix to the names of selected object.
• Name regex replace – rename object using a regular expression pattern.
• Add tags – add one or more tags to all selected object.
• Remove tags – remove specific tags from selected object.
• Set tags – replace all existing tags with a new set.

These operations help maintain consistent naming conventions and organize Flows using tags across large projects.

Context Menu (Right-Click Menu)

You can quickly manage objects using the right-click context menu.

To open the menu:

• Right-click an object in the grid.

Available actions include:

For a single object:

• Open connection / format / listener 
• Duplicate 
• Delete

For multiple selected objects:

• Advanced options 
• Delete selected

This allows quick access to common operations without opening the editor.

Duplicate Objects

You can duplicate any Connection, Format, or Listener.

IMPORTANT: When duplicating a Connection, the stored password or credentials are reset and must be entered again before saving.

Find Usage

You can see where a Connection or Format is used.

To find usage:

• Open the object. 
• Click Find Usage at the bottom of the editor.

A popup displays all Flows that use the selected object.

Export and Import

You can export and import objects to move them between Etlworks environments.

Exported objects include:

• All parameters 
• Encrypted credentials 
• Related configuration

Read more about Export and Import.

Export

• Open the Export / Import menu. 
• Select Export. 
• Choose the objects to export.

Import

• Open the Export / Import menu. 
• Select Import. 
• Upload the exported file.

The imported objects will be created in the current environment.

Embed the Connection editor in another app

The Connection editor can be embedded in an iframe inside another web application, with selected parts of the Etlworks UI hidden. Useful when end users create connections in their own product and you generate flows from those connections via API.

Use cases

• End-user creates a connection; you generate the flow. Embed the connection editor so end users pick a connector, enter credentials, and trigger an API-generated integration on save.
• End-user creates a connection, then picks the data to integrate. Same as above plus a follow-up API call to retrieve metadata from the connection (objects, fields). For example, the user creates a Salesforce connection, clicks Get objects, picks Accounts and Customers, and your code generates a flow that pulls from those objects.

iframe URL

Set the iframe URL to {host}/#/app/io/connections/{connection_id}, where {host} is the Etlworks instance hostname and {connection_id} is either an existing connection ID or the literal string new-{connection_type} to create a fresh connection of the given type.

Query parameters tune what's visible and provide authentication:

• token — JWT authentication token from the Authentication API. Required.
• embedded=true — removes the top and side bars.
• ioEditorOnly=true — removes the list-of-connections sidebar.
• ioName — pre-set the new connection's name (URL-encoded).
• ioNameDisabled=true — disable the name input. Requires a non-empty name.
• ioHeaderHidden=true — remove the IO editor header entirely. Requires a non-empty name.