The dreamfactory blog

Is Dell Boomi the best API management tool? Discover Boomi reviews, pricing, and some alternatives to Dell Boomi.

In less than a decade, cloud computing has gone from being a tech industry buzzword to a well-established best practice. The cloud is so popular that the vast majority of businesses are now using a “multi-cloud” strategy with two or more cloud providers—94 percent of enterprises, according to a study from McKinsey & Company.

Yet with so many applications and data scattered across multiple environments, organizations need a way to efficiently integrate their IT processes and workflows. It’s for this reason that many companies are turning to cloud integration software like Boomi.

Boomi—short for Dell Boomi—is a popular cloud integration and API management platform from Dell. This article will give a comprehensive, in-depth overview of everything you need to know: the features of Boomi, the pros and cons of Boomi, the Boomi pricing model, as well as user reviews of Boomi and the most popular Boomi alternatives. Continue reading “Dell Boomi: Reviews, Pricing, and Comparison”

These days organizations commonly rely upon dozens of databases, applications, and third-party services for powering critical business infrastructure such as web and mobile applications, business analytics, and customer outreach initiatives. Examples of such indispensable technologies include Microsoft SQL Server, Salesforce, and Intercom. Because this operational infrastructure can’t operate effectively in a silo, companies increasingly require ways to interweave the data managed therein, creating software-based bridges known as *integrations*.

Continue reading “What is iPaaS? Definition and Benefits”

Learn how you can modernize legacy databases and digitally transform your business through the power of APIs.

Continue reading “Ring-Fencing APIs: Modernizing Legacy Databases”

If Benjamin Franklin were alive today, some of his his famous words would have instead read, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes and Excel“. Microsoft’s ubiquitous spreadsheet application is as firmly embedded within the corporate world as TPS reports and the reek of a poorly chosen microwavable lunch (I swear it wasn’t fish). Given their prominence, it’s no surprise developers often spend a great deal of time wrangling spreadsheets, and among other questions wonder how to convert Excel to JSON format. Doing so is incredibly useful for a variety of reasons. Among other uses the JSON format would allow you to:

• Render the spreadsheet within a web page using a JavaScript tabular library such as Tabulator or DataTables.
• Periodically import the spreadsheet data into a database.
• Manipulate the spreadsheet data before importing it into any number of other systems or services.
• Parse the spreadsheet and deliver e-mail or text notifications based on values or thresholds.

The initial use case is particularly critical, because departments often use Excel as a group-based metric reporting tool. Frustration often sets in due to numerous duplicate and outdated versions eventually entering circulation. Of course there are more sophisticated solutions for workbook sharing, SharePoint being chief among them, however adoption of such technologies isn’t as widespread as Excel itself. So how can one go about sanely converting Excel workbooks to JSON?

Continue reading “Convert Excel to JSON Using DreamFactory”

Deciding between SnapLogic vs. DreamFactory for your iPaaS software? Compare SnapLogic alternatives like DreamFactory by pricing and features to find the best iPaaS software for you. Continue reading “SnapLogic vs. DreamFactory: An iPaaS Comparison”

DreamFactory includes a web-based administration console used for performing tasks such as managing APIs, administrators, and business logic. However many users prefer to instead automate administrative tasks through scripting. This is useful for several reasons. First, automation reduces the amount of work required to manage multiple DreamFactory environments. Second, it opens up the possibility of integrating DreamFactory features into third-party applications such as an API monetization SaaS. In this post we’ll demonstrate just how easy managing your DreamFactory instance using the system APIs can really be.

Continue reading “Managing Your DreamFactory Instance Using the System APIs”

Running a Scheduled Task for your API is a very common need for any business. Achieving such a feat is much easier with our tutorial for creating a CRON job for your API. Whether you are synchronizing data on a schedule or just simply do not want to call an endpoint manually anymore. So how is it done?

Continue reading “How to Schedule API Calls”

Synchronizing database data using an API is a topic that comes up repeatedly in conversations with DreamFactory users. The reasons for doing so are many, but perhaps the most commonplace is the need to fill in data gaps found in a new database. For instance, you might wish to periodically consult a customer database and synchronize relevant data with a marketing campaign database. So how might this be accomplished?

Continue reading “Synchronizing Database Data Using an API”