The first step to creating your integration is to determine what data you need to retrieve from which logical Tables; usually, you only need a subset of all of the columns that are available. Start by analyzing which table you need to work with, and then which of the columns in that table you need to export.

For this scenario, you would identify the Marker table, and then you would make note of which columns you want to export:

1. Tag
2. StreetNumber
3. StreetName
4. City
5. Region
6. PostalCode

Now you can now open your favorite text editor and begin drafting the contents of the template. The template itself follows the simple text format of an INI configuration file: a collection of name/value pairs, which are grouped into a few sections.

You begin by writing the [Template] section, which declares four required items: the template version, the target table, the template name, the template type ("intent"):

[Template]
TemplateVersion = 1.0
TableID = Marker-1.0
TemplateName = GetMarkerByState
Intent = Retrieve

Tips

• You can query TDE for a complete list of templates.
• To develop a new template, find one that is close to your goal and copy it to serve as a starter.
• Create self-documenting template names with a naming convention that clarifies the intent and affected table, as well as the goal.
• Use the pound (#) character to start in-line comments; leave ample comments to explain your choices.
• For TableID, the best practice is to always include the table name in a comment after the GUID.

The [Filter] section lets you restrict which items TDE retrieves for you. You can filter by these criteria:

• Between(lower, upper)

• Contains(value)

• ContainsAny([array of values])

• Equals(value)

• GreaterThan(value)

• In([array of values])

• NotEquals(value)

[Filter]
Region = Equals("Ohio")

To finish your template, add each of the columns you want to export to the one-to-one mappings of fields to columns:

[Output]
CityName = Input.City
Label = Input.Tag            # Tag is the TDE column; Label is your output field
Number = Input.StreetNumber
State = Input.Region
Street = Input.StreetName
Zip = Input.PostalCode

Finally, rearrange the Output columns in the order you want them to appear in the export file. Now your final template looks like this:

[Template]
TemplateVersion = 1.0
TableID = Marker-1.0
TemplateName = GetMarkerByState
Intent = Retrieve

[Output]
Label = Input.Tag
Number = Input.StreetNumber
Street = Input.StreetName
CityName = Input.City
State = Input.Region
Zip = Input.PostalCode

[Filter]
Region = Equals("Ohio")

Tips

• For Retrieve templates, the data is returned in the order of the [Output] section.
• For Retrieve templates, you can sort results by one or more columns by adding OrderBy = to the [Template] section.

TDE integration offers a web service that you can call directly (via REST) to POST data into the Verizon Connect Platform.

When you are ready to upload your template to Verizon Connect, follow this process:

1. Request a token, or else include the user/password on each query string.
2. Upload your template as the text body of a POST call.
3. Run your template with whatever parameters you need.
4. Update your template if you discover an error or need to make a refinement.

Tips

• See Using the Web Service for details about these REST calls.
• Review the HTTP status codes for help with any errors you may encounter.