Instagram

The Instagram connector lets you perform insert, delete, update, and read operations on Instagram.

Before you begin

Before using the Instagram connector, do the following tasks:

  • In your Google Cloud project:
    • 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:

  1. 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

  2. Click + Create new to open the Create Connection page.
  3. In the Location section, choose the location for the connection.
    1. Region: Select a location from the drop-down list.

      Supported regions for connectors include:

      For the list of all the supported regions, see Locations.

    2. Click Next.
  4. In the Connection Details section, complete the following:
    1. Connector: Select Instagram 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 49 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. Verbosity Level: Verbosity level for connection, varies from 1-5. Higher verbosity level will log all the communication details (request,response & ssl certificates).
    8. Optionally, click + Add label to add a label to the Connection in the form of a key/value pair.
    9. Click Next.
  5. 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 Instagram connection:

      • OAuth 2.0 Auth Code Grant
    2. To understand how to configure these authentication types, see Configure authentication.

    3. Click Next.
  6. Review: Review your connection and authentication details.
  7. Click Create.

Configure authentication

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

  • OAuth 2.0 Auth Code Grant
    • Client ID: The client ID used for requesting access tokens.
    • Scopes: A comma-separated list of desired scopes.
    • Client secret: The client secret used for requesting access tokens.
    • Secret version: The version of the secret that contains the client secret.

Re-authorization for authorization code

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

  1. Click on the required connection in the Connections page.

    This opens the connection details page.

  2. Click Edit to edit the connection details.
  3. Verify the OAuth 2.0 - Authorization code details in the Authentication section.

    If required, make the necessary changes.

  4. Click Save. This takes you to the connection details page.
  5. Click Edit authorization in the Authentication section. This shows the Authorize pane.
  6. Click Authorize.

    If the authorization is successful, the connection status will be set to Active in the Connections page.

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:

  1. In the Connections page, locate the newly created connection.

    Notice that the Status for the new connector will be Authorization required.

  2. Click Authorization required.

    This shows the Edit authorization pane.

  3. Copy the Redirect URI value to your external application.
  4. Verify the authorization details.
  5. 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:

    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. Normally, an action will have some input parameters, and an output parameter. However, it is possible that a connector doesn't support any action, in which case the Actions list will be empty.

System limitations

The Instagram connector can process 2 transactions per second, per node, and throttles any transactions beyond this limit. By default, Integration Connectors allocates 2 nodes (for better availability) for a connection.

For information on the limits applicable to Integration Connectors, see Limits.

Action examples

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

Example - List all IGMedia

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select IGMedia from the Entity list.
  3. Select the List operation, and then click Done.

Example - List all AccountFollowersNonfollowers

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select AccountFollowersNonfollowers from the Entity list.
  3. Select the List operation, and then click Done.
  4. Set the filter clause to List single AccountFollowersNonfollowers. To set the filter clause, in the Data Mapper section of the Data Mapping, click Open Data Mapping Editor and then enter Metric='reach' in the Input Value field and choose the filter clause as Local variable.

You must use the filter clause in the Data Mapper section of the Tasks to perform an operation with the AccountFollowersNonfollowers entity.

Example - Get single IGMedia

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select IGMedia from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Get operation, and then click Done.
  4. Set the entity ID to Get single IGMedia. To set the entity ID, in the Data Mapper section of the Data Mapping, click Open Data Mapping Editor and then enter 18008309540391873 in the Input Value field and choose the EntityId as Local variable.

Example - Get MediaInsightReels

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select MediaInsightReels from the Entity list.
  3. Select the List operation, and then click Done.
  4. Set the filter clause to Get single MediaInsightReels. To set the filter clause, in the Data Mapper section of the Data Mapping, click Open Data Mapping Editor and then enter MediaId='18018014180193817' in the Input Value field and choose the filter clause as Local variable.

You must use the filter clause in the Data Mapper section of the Tasks to perform a Get operation for the following entities: MediaInsightReels, MediaInsights, MediaInsightsPost, AccountFollowersNonfollowers, andAccountContactButtonType.

Example - Delete a comment

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Comments from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Delete operation, and then click Done.
  4. Set the entity ID to Delete Comments. To set the entity ID, in the Data Mapper section of the Data Mapping, click Open Data Mapping Editor and then enter 18435078259055638 in the Input Value field and choose the EntityId as Local variable.

Example - Create a comment

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Comments from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Data mapper section of the Task click OpenDataMapping editor and then enter a value similar to the following in the field:
     {
    "MediaId": "18008309540391873",
    "Text": "The Universe is with you"
    }

    Running this example, returns a response similar to the following in the Connector task's connectorOutputPayload output variable:

    {
    "Id": "18351045133102133"
    }
    

Example - Create a reply

  1. In the Configure connector task dialog, click Entities.
  2. Select Replies from the Entity list.
  3. Select the Create operation, and then click Done.
  4. In the Data mapper section of the Task click OpenDataMapping editor and then enter a value similar to the following in the field:
     {
    "CommentId": "18022630739158714",
    "Text": "conquered" 
    }

    Running this example, returns a response similar to the following in the Connector task's connectorOutputPayload output variable:

    {
    "Id": "18167970637306971"
    }
    

Use the Instagram 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.

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