Connections determine where the information used by an Auclio application physically lives.

Once configured, a connection can be used by datasets to retrieve, display, create, or update information. Depending on the connected system, this may include business objects, properties, files, dropdown values, workflows, or other related data.

Internal and external connections #

There are two kinds of connection, and every dataset uses one of them.

The internal connection is created automatically with every application. Objects that use it are stored in Auclio, and Auclio is the only place they exist. Nothing has to be installed or configured, and the internal connection does not appear in the connections list because there is nothing to manage.

An external connection links the application to another system. Objects that use it live in that system, which remains the source of the information. Auclio reads them, displays them, and writes changes back.

M-Files is currently the only external system Auclio connects to. An M-Files connection is created for one vault, and gives the application access to that vault’s object types, metadata properties, value lists, workflows, and documents.

A connection is not required for every application. Applications that use only data created and managed directly in Auclio can work without one.

What a connection gives an application #

An external connection is more than a data feed. When a dataset uses one, the external system shapes what the dataset can do.

• Which objects belong in the dataset is decided by a query against the external system.
• Which properties are available comes from the external system’s metadata structure.
• Dropdown values can come from the external system’s own lists.
• Workflow states come from the external system’s workflows, and are read-only in Auclio.
• Files are stored in the external system, not in Auclio.
• Some properties are owned by the external system and cannot be edited in Auclio.

Datasets stored on the internal connection have none of these constraints, because you define their structure yourself.

Choosing between them #

Use the internal connection when the information does not exist anywhere else, or when it is specific to this application.

Use an external connection when the information already lives in a system of record that should stay in charge of it. Documents and their metadata usually belong there, so that Auclio becomes a simpler interface onto the vault rather than a second copy of it.

One application can use both. Holding documents in M-Files while keeping supporting information in Auclio datasets is a common case.

What a connection does not do #

A connection does not copy permissions. Auclio applies its own permission model to everything it shows, and does not read or write the external system’s own access rules. Granting a user access in Auclio does not grant them access in M-Files, and restricting them in M-Files does not restrict them in Auclio.

A connection also does not change which application owns a dataset. A connection belongs to one application, and so do the datasets built on it.

See Create and manage a connection for detailed instructions on creating connections, and Connect Auclio to M-Files for M-Files connectivity.