Box

The Box connector lets you connect to a Box backend and use SQL to retrieve and update Box data.

Supported versions

This connector supports Box Content API version 2.0.

Before you begin

Before using the Box connector, do the following tasks:

In your Google Cloud project:
- Grant the roles/connectors.admin IAM role to the user configuring the connector.
- Grant the following IAM roles to the service account that you want to use for the connector:
  - roles/secretmanager.viewer
  - roles/secretmanager.secretAccessor
  A service account is a special type of Google account intended to represent a non-human user that needs to authenticate and be authorized to access data in Google APIs. If you don't have a service account, you must create a service account. For more information, see Creating a service account.
- Enable the following services:
  - secretmanager.googleapis.com (Secret Manager API)
  - connectors.googleapis.com (Connectors API)
  To understand how to enable services, see Enabling services.
If these services or permissions have not been enabled for your project previously, you are prompted to enable them when configuring the connector.

Configure the connector

Configuring the connector requires you to create a connection to your data source (backend system). A connection is specific to a data source. It means that if you have many data sources, you must create a separate connection for each data source. To create a connection, do the following steps:

In the Cloud console, go to the Integration Connectors > Connections page and then select or create a Google Cloud project.
Go to the Connections page
Click + CREATE NEW to open the Create Connection page.
In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.
  For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.
2. Click NEXT.
In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
1. Connector: Select Box from the drop down list of available Connectors.
2. Connector version: Select the Connector version from the drop down list of available versions.
3. In the Connection Name field, enter a name for the Connection instance.
  Connection names must meet the following criteria:
  - Connection names can use letters, numbers, or hyphens.
  - Letters must be lower-case.
  - Connection names must begin with a letter and end with a letter or number.
  - Connection names cannot exceed 63 characters.
4. Optionally, enter a Description for the connection instance.
5. Service Account: Select a service account that has the required roles.
6. Optionally, configure the Connection node settings:
  - Minimum number of nodes: Enter the minimum number of connection nodes.
  - Maximum number of nodes: Enter the maximum number of connection nodes.
  A node is a unit (or replica) of a connection that processes transactions. More nodes are required to process more transactions for a connection and conversely, fewer nodes are required to process fewer transactions. To understand how the nodes affect your connector pricing, see Pricing for connection nodes. If you don't enter any values, by default the minimum nodes are set to 2 (for better availability) and the maximum nodes are set to 50.
7. Impersonate User Mode: Specify the type of the user impersonation. It should be whether the User mode or the Admin mode.
8. Use proxy: Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection and configure the following values:
9. Optionally, click + ADD LABEL to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
10. Click NEXT.
In the Authentication section, enter the authentication details.
1. Select an Authentication type and enter the relevant details.
  The following authentication types are supported by the Box connection:
  - OAuth 2.0 - Client credentials
  - OAuth 2.0 - Authorization code
2. Click NEXT.
Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
Click Create.

Configure authentication

Enter the details based on the authentication you want to use.

OAuth 2.0 - Client credentials
- Client ID: The client id provided by connector for the app you created.
- Client Secret: Secret Manager Secret containing the client secret for the connected app you created.
- Private Key: Secret Manager Secret containing the contents of the private key file. The private key should match the public key/certificate provided to Connector.
- Private Key Password: Secret Manager Secret containing the password (paraphrase) of the private key file.
- Box Application Access Level: Application Access level for the Box App
- Enterprise Id/User Id: Enterprise Id if App level is enterprise and User Id if App Level is user
- OAuth JWT Public Key Id: The Id of the public key for JWT.
- Auth Scheme: Auth Scheme for Box Connector
- Initiatiate OAuth: Initiatiate OAuth parameter for Box Connector
- OAuth JWT Cert Type: OAuth JWT Cert Type for Box Connector
OAuth 2.0 - Authorization code

Client ID: Client ID as provided by your external application.
Scopes: Permission scopes. For example, root_readonly. To understand how the scopes work and to view all the available scopes for Box, see Scopes.
Client secret: Select the Secret Manager secret. You should have created the Secret Manager secret prior configuring this authorization.
Secret version: Secret Manager secret version for client secret.

For the Authorization code authentication type, after creating the connection, you should perform a few additional steps for configuring authentication. For more information, see Additional steps after connection creation.

Note: If you are using Authorization code authentication type and have made any cofiguration changes in your Box application, you must re-authorize your Box connection. To understand how to re-authorize, see Re-authorization for Authorization code.

Additional steps after connection creation

If you selected OAuth 2.0 - Authorization code for authentication, you must do the following additional steps after creating the connection:

In the Connections page, locate the newly created connection.
Notice that the Status for the new connector will be Authorization required.
Click Authorization required.
This shows the Edit authorization pane.
Copy the Redirect URI value to your external application.
Verify the authorization details.
Click Authorize.
If the authorization is successful, the connection status will be set to Active in the Connections page.

Re-authorization for authorization code

If you are using Authorization code authentication type and have made any cofiguration changes in your Box application, you must re-authorize your Box connection. To re-authorize a connection, perform the following steps:

Click on the required connection in the Connections page.
This opens the connection details page.
Click Edit to edit the connection details.
Verify the OAuth 2.0 - Authorization code details in the Authentication section.
If required, make the necessary changes.
Click Save. This takes you to the connection details page.
Click Edit authorization in the Authentication section. This shows the Authorize pane.
Click Authorize.
If the authorization is successful, the connection status will be set to Active in the Connections page.

Entities, operations, and actions

All the Integration Connectors provide a layer of abstraction for the objects of the connected application. You can access an application's objects only through this abstraction. The abstraction is exposed to you as entities, operations, and actions.

Entity: An entity can be thought of as an object, or a collection of properties, in the connected application or service. The definition of an entity differs from a connector to a connector. For example, in a database connector, tables are the entities, in a file server connector, folders are the entities, and in a messaging system connector, queues are the entities.
However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support or have any entities, in which case the Entities list will be empty.
Operation: An operation is the activity that you can perform on an entity. You can perform any of the following operations on an entity:
- List
- Get
- Create
- Update
- Delete
Selecting an entity from the available list, generates a list of operations available for the entity. For a detailed description of the operations, see the Connectors task's entity operations. However, if a connector doesn't support any of the entity operations, such unsupported operations aren't listed in the Operations list.
Action: An action is a first class function that is made available to the integration through the connector interface. An action lets you make changes to an entity or entities, and vary from connector to connector. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

Actions

This section lists all the actions supported by the Box connection.

DownloadFile action

This action lets you download a file from your Box instance.

Input parameters of the DownloadFile action

Parameter Name	Data Type	Required	Description
FileID	String	Yes	The ID of the file to download.
HasBytes	Boolean	Yes	Specifies whether do download the file as a string or as a Base64 encoded string.

Output parameters of the DownloadFile action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body indicating the results.

Parameter Name	Data Type	Description
Success	String	Specifies whether fhe file download was successful.
ContentBytes	String	The file content as a Base64 encoded string.

For example on how to configure the DownloadFile action, see Action examples.

UploadFile action

This action lets you upload a file to your Box instance.

Input parameters of the UploadFile action

Parameter Name	Data Type	Required	Description
ParentID	String	Yes	ID of the folder in which you want to upload the file. If this parameter isn't specified, the file will be uploaded to the root of the Box account. The default value is 0.
Content	String	Yes	The file content to be uploaded.

Output parameters of the UploadFile action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body indicating the results.

Parameter Name	Data Type	Description
Success	String	Specifies whether fhe file upload was successful.
ID	String	ID of the newly created file.
VersionID	String	ID of a specific version of the file.
Hash	String	The `SHA1` hash of the file.
Etag	String	Etag value of the file or the folder. The default value is 0.

For example on how to configure the UploadFile action, see Action examples.

CopyFile action

This action lets you copy a file from your Box instance.

Input parameters of the CopyFile action

Parameter Name	Data Type	Required	Description
FileID	String	Yes	ID of the file you want to copy.
DestinationFolderId	String	No	ID of the destination folder where you want to copy the file. If you don't specify any value, the latest version of the file is copied.
NewName	String	Yes	New file name for the copied file.

Output parameters of the CopyFile action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body indicating the results.

Parameter Name	Data Type	Description
Success	String	Specifies whether fhe file copy was successful.
ID	String	ID of the copied file.

For example on how to configure the CopyFile action, see Action examples.

CopyFolder action

This action lets you copy an entire folder from your Box instance.

Input parameters of the CopyFolder action

Parameter Name	Data Type	Required	Description
FolderID	String	Yes	ID of the folder you want to copy.
DestinationFolderId	String	Yes	ID of the destination folder where you want to copy the folder.
NewName	String	No	New file name for the copied folder.

Output parameters of the CopyFolder action

This action returns the status 200 (OK) with a response body indicating the results.

Parameter Name	Data Type	Description
Success	String	Specifies whether the folder copy was successful.
ID	String	ID of the copied folder.

For example on how to configure the CopyFolder action, see Action examples.

Action examples

This section describes how to perform some of the actions in this connector.

Example - Download a file

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
Select the DownloadFile action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"FileID": "1283194869422", 
"HasBytes": true
}
```

This example downloads a file as a Base64 encoded string. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[
{ "Success": "True"},
{"ContentBytes": "JVBERi0xLjQKJcfl9OXwCjIgMCBvYmoKJSBbMjRdIAo8PAovRmlsdGVy"}
]

Note: If you want to download a non-binary file, set the HasBytes value to false.

Example - Upload a file

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
Select the UploadFile action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"ParentId": "0",
"Content": "12345"
}
```

This example uploads string content as a file. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
"Success": "true",
"ID": "1283902965389",
"VersionID": "1403546001389",
"Hash": "8cb2237d0679ca88db6464eac60da96345513964",
"Etag": "0"
}]

Example - Copy a file

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
Select the CopyFile action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"FileID": "1288751886061",
"DestinationFolderId": "219105724517", 
"NewName": "NewCopiedFile"
}
```

This example copies the file with ID 1288751886061 to the folder with ID 219105724517. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
"Success": "true",
"ID": "1308006018536"
}]

Example - Copy a folder

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Actions.
Select the CopyFolder action, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:
```
{
"FolderID": "218475301279",
"DestinationFolderId": "0", 
"NewName": "NewCopiedFolder"
}
```

This example copies the folder with ID 218475301279 to the folder with ID 219105724517. If the action is successful, your connector task's connectorOutputPayload response parameter will have a value similar to the following:

[{
"Success": "true",
"ID": "226312444517"
}]

Entity operation examples

Example - List all the files

This example lists the files in the Files entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Files from the Entity list.
Select the LIST operation, and then click Done.
Optionally, you can enter values in the filterClause to filter the result set.

Example - Get a ticket

This example gets a specific file from the Files entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Tickets from the Entity list.
Select the GET operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click EntityId and then enter 35 in the Default Value field.
Here, 35 is the primary key value of the Tickets entity.

Example - Create a ticket

This example creates a ticket in the Tickets entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Tickets from the Entity list.
Select the Create operation, and then click Done.

In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

{
"Subject": "Create_Ticket_01",
"Description": "Test",
"Type": "incident",
"Priority": "urgent",
"Status": "open",
"Recipient": null,
"HasIncidents": false,
"DueAt": null,
"RequesterId": 3.84625885158E11,
"SubmitterId": 3.84625883418E11,
"AssigneeId": 3.84625883418E11,
"OrganizationId": "16665992392721",
"GroupId": 3.60008282358E11,
"TicketFormId": 3.60001719218E11,
"BrandId": 3.60003285058E11
}

If the integration is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:

{
"Id": 38.0
}

Example - Update a ticket

This example updates the ticket whose ID is 35 in the Tickets entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Tickets from the Entity list.
Select the Update operation, and then click Done.

In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click connectorInputPayload and then enter a value similar to the following in the Default Value field:

{
        "Subject": "Update_Ticket_02",
        "Description": "Updating the ticket",
        "RequesterId": 1.6854335860497E13
      }

Click entityId, and then enter 35 in the Default Value field.
Alternately, instead of specifying the entityId, you can also set the filterClause to 35.

If the integration is successful, the connector task's connectorOutputPayload field will have a value similar to the following:
```
{
Id": 35.0
}
      
```

Example - Delete a ticket

This example updates the ticket whose ID is 35 in the Tickets entity.

In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
Select Tickets from the Entity list.
Select the Delete operation, and then click Done.
In the Task Input section of the Connectors task, click entityId and then enter 35 in the Default Value field.

Note: The Delete operation does only a soft delete of the record. If required, you can later recover the deleted record.

Use terraform to create connections

You can use the Terraform resource to create a new connection.

To learn how to apply or remove a Terraform configuration, see Basic Terraform commands.

To view a sample terraform template for connection creation, see sample template.

When creating this connection by using Terraform, you must set the following variables in your Terraform configuration file:

Parameter name	Data type	Required	Description
impersonate_user_mode	ENUM	True	Specify the type of the user impersonation. It should be whether the User mode or the Admin mode. Supported values are: User, Admin
proxy_enabled	BOOLEAN	False	Select this checkbox to configure a proxy server for the connection.
proxy_auth_scheme	ENUM	False	The authentication type to use to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: BASIC, DIGEST, NONE
proxy_user	STRING	False	A user name to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_password	SECRET	False	A password to be used to authenticate to the ProxyServer proxy.
proxy_ssltype	ENUM	False	The SSL type to use when connecting to the ProxyServer proxy. Supported values are: AUTO, ALWAYS, NEVER, TUNNEL

Use the Box connection in an integration

After you create the connection, it becomes available in both Apigee Integration and Application Integration. You can use the connection in an integration through the Connectors task.

To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Apigee Integration, see Connectors task.
To understand how to create and use the Connectors task in Application Integration, see Connectors task.

Get help from the Google Cloud community

You can post your questions and discuss this connector in the Google Cloud community at Cloud Forums.

What's next

Understand how to suspend and resume a connection.
Understand how to monitor connector usage.
Understand how to view connector logs.