Example connector

The example-connector provides eleven services that return data from a hardcoded data set:

• Example Search demonstrates how to specify a form that users can interact with.
• Example Seeded Search 1 ('find like this') demonstrates how to find records that are similar to a set of Person seed records.
• Example Seeded Search 2 ('expand') demonstrates how to expand a set of Person seed records to find connections to other records.
• Example Seeded Search 3 ('edit property values') demonstrates how to update property values of the seed records provided to the search.
• Async Example Search demonstrates how to create an asynchronous query that can report progress back to the user through the use of substatus messages.
• API Key Authenticated Search demonstrates how to request an API key from a user in order to run the service.
• Search Within a Data Source demonstrates how to change the behavior of a service based on data in the request.
• Semantic Property Search demonstrates how to require seed records that have values for properties with specific semantic types.
• Search for Stations Within an Area demonstrates how to use the geospatialArea logical type in a service.
• Example Search with Custom Source Identifiers is similar to Example search, but also demonstrates how to use source identifiers.
• Example Seeded Search 2 ('expand') with Custom Source Identifiers is similar to Example Seeded Search 2 ('expand'), but also demonstrates how to use source identifiers.

Running the example connector

You can run the example connector by executing an npm package directly, or by cloning its repository.

Running without cloning the repository

Execute the following command:

npx @i2analyze/example-connector

After the server starts, its configuration is available at http://localhost:3700/config.

Note: To configure the connector, you can use environment variables, as defined in Configuring the connector server. The connector also uses dotenv to load any .env configuration files in the working directory.

Running the server during development

To run the server in development mode:

1. Clone the repository.

2. Navigate to the samples/example-connector directory.

3. Install the packages that the server requires.

   npm install

4. Build the service and start the connector server:

   npm start

In this mode, the server monitors the project source files for changes, and rebuilds the service if necessary.