TIBCO Scribe® Online and TIBCO Scribe® Insight software specializes in data integration for Dynamics CRM and ERP systems. The original offering, TIBCO Scribe® Insight, still provides a full-featured toolkit for fast, accurate, data integration for both on-premise and online applications.

With TIBCO Scribe® Online, we extended our existing knowledge to move data integration to a cloud-based 21st century tool with the flexibility and power that you require. If you are coming to TIBCO Scribe® Online as an experienced TIBCO Scribe® Insight user, you may find some TIBCO Scribe® Online features confusing. This topic describes the differences between some of these features.

To help you get started, we offer several free training webinars about using TIBCO Scribe® Online. For information, see Scribe Training Webinars.
 

TIBCO Scribe® Online Maps And DTS Files

NOTE: TIBCO Scribe® Online Maps are only supported with TIBCO Scribe® Online Integration Services (IS) and Migration Services (MS) Solutions.

When using TIBCO Scribe® Online IS or MS, you can create multiple Maps within a Solution. Advanced Maps allow you to perform structural transformations on your data in situations when, for example, the target is more normalized than the source, or when you need to process source data that contains header/detail data or hierarchical data. See Integration Maps in the TIBCO Scribe® Online Help.
 

Advanced Maps vs Scribe Insight DTS Files

As with Insight, TIBCO Scribe® Online provides field mapping functionality. However, with TIBCO Scribe® Online Integration Maps, you use a true drag-and-drop interface where Source, Target, and Control Blocks can be snapped together to define the data processing logic you need. While this is similar to the capabilities you have with steps and flow control in Insight, it is easier to use and to understand the flow of your logic. Blocks are similar to TIBCO Scribe® Insight steps, where Control Blocks, such as For Each Result, If/Else, and For Each Child, take the place of Insight's pre-operation formulas and step flow configuration settings.

When configuring an Integration Map in TIBCO Scribe® Online, you can:

• Perform create, insert, update, and delete operations on the Connection defined as the Source.
• Share TIBCO Scribe® Online Maps by exporting and importing Maps. See Exporting And Importing Maps in the TIBCO Scribe® Online Help.
• Use the TIBCO Scribe® Online Debug feature, like the Insight Test Window, to step through Map logic and monitor the values in source and results fields. See Debugging Maps.

• Use the Query Block Preview tab to preview source data in a TIBCO Scribe® Online Advanced Map. See Preview Source Data.
• Use the TIBCO Scribe® Online Formula Editor, which will be familiar to Insight users, though the TIBCO Scribe® Online function list is somewhat different. See Formula Editor.

 

Connectors And Adapters

To connect source and target datastores, we use Adapters in TIBCO Scribe® Insight, and Connectors in TIBCO Scribe® Online. For the most part, Adapters and Connectors serve the same function.

When working with TIBCO Scribe® Insight Adapters, note that:

• While there is some overlap, not all TIBCO Scribe® Insight Adapters are available as Connectors with TIBCO Scribe® Online, and conversely, not all TIBCO Scribe® Online Connectors are available as Insight Adapters.
• TIBCO Scribe® Online does not use Publishers. You can configure a TIBCO Scribe® Online IS Solution to run a query on a regular basis using a defined polling interval. This option is not available for MS Solutions.
• TIBCO Scribe® Online can process hierarchical source data, where Insight has some limitations.
• Depending on the specific datastore, both TIBCO Scribe® Insight and TIBCO Scribe® Online can load and process data in bulk.
• TIBCO Scribe® Online provides an Insight Connector that uses Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ) to allow you to connect your Insight and TIBCO Scribe® Online datastores. See TIBCO Scribe Online Connector For TIBCO Scribe Insight.

 

Using The LOOKUPTARGETVALUE Function

The LOOKUPTARGETVALUE function in TIBCO Scribe® Online is similar to DBLOOKUP in Insight. However, unlike the Insight DBLOOKUP functions, the TIBCO Scribe® Online LOOKUPTARGETVALUE function does not use a lookup table. To compare the arguments for DBLOOKUP and LOOKUPTARGETVALUE:

 

DBLOOKUP	LOOKUPTARGETVALUE
TextSourceField	Field_Value
Connection	Not used, defaults to the target Connection.
Table	Entity
Lookup_Field	Lookupfield
Substitution_Field	Returnfield

 

• In TIBCO Scribe® Online, the LOOKUPTARGETVALUE function calls an entity named TITLE_CODE, which contains the values shown in the table below. The entity for LOOKUPTARGETVALUE is always in the target.
• In Insight, DBLOOKUP uses a table with the following values named TITLE_CODE in a target database, which has the connection name of Target:

 

Code	Value
1	Owner
2	President
3	Manager
4	Executive Director
5	Principal

 

Examples

The following example shows the same result using each function:
 

 

Returns

In the following example, we have a field called "Number" in the target entity. For this record, the value of "Number" is 3:

NOTE: For DBLOOKUP "Number" is referenced as S7.
 

 

Returns

 

Last Run Date vs Most Recent Record Processed

TIBCO Scribe® Insight uses last run date and TIBCO Scribe® Online uses Most Recent Record Processed fields to determine whether a record has been modified, as follows:

• For Insight, last run date is based on the date on the server where the DTS file last ran.
• For TIBCO Scribe® Online, Most Recent Record Processed is based on the latest date found in a selected field, such as a "modified on" field, in the source data. See Most Recent Record Processed.

If you are moving from TIBCO Scribe® Insight to TIBCO Scribe® Online, this article highlights some of the key differences.