Connecting to Simplebim Cloud

Two dialogs connect the Dataflow palette to Simplebim Cloud: Publish Dataflow to Simplebim Cloud and Get Dataflow from Simplebim Cloud. This article explains how you sign in, how a saved sign-in works, what a pipeline and the dataflow library are, and what exactly happens when you click Publish or Get.

The dialogs are opened from the Dataflow palette, which has its own article — Dataflow Palette. What the pipelines, workspaces and file locations do once they are in the cloud is documented with Simplebim Cloud itself.

Where You Find the Dialogs

The Cloud button on the toolbar of the Dataflow palette drops down a menu.

Open Simplebim Cloud opens the Simplebim Cloud web application in your browser.

Publish Current to Cloud opens the Publish Dataflow to Simplebim Cloud dialog for the dataflow that is currently open in the palette.

Get as Current from Cloud opens the Get Dataflow from Simplebim Cloud dialog. The fetched dataflow replaces the current dataflow in the palette.

Forget Cloud Credentials is shown only while a sign-in is saved on this computer. It removes the saved sign-in. See Signing Out and Forgetting the Sign-in.

Publish Current to Cloud first checks the current dataflow. A dataflow that uses something the cloud cannot run — for example a file on your own computer that is not behind a file location — is refused with a Dataflow Publishing Validation message that lists the issues. Nothing is sent and the dialog does not open until the issues are fixed.

Publishing and getting are the two modes of one and the same dialog. The layout is identical; the title, the main button and a few fields differ. This article describes both.

Pipelines and the Library

Simplebim Cloud organises work into accounts — typically one per company — and inside an account into workspaces — typically one per project. A workspace contains pipelines. A pipeline is an automated run of a dataflow in the cloud: it has file locations of its own that map to cloud storage, it is triggered when files arrive, and it holds one dataflow at a time.

Publishing to a pipeline puts your dataflow into that pipeline directly, replacing whatever the pipeline held before. Getting from a pipeline gives you the dataflow it holds right now.

Some accounts also have the dataflow library. The library keeps named dataflows in areas — an Account area for company-wide dataflows and a Workspace area for each project — and every publish adds a new numbered version that can never be changed afterwards. Pipelines can then be pointed at a library dataflow in Simplebim Cloud, and several pipelines can share one. Which pipelines use which library dataflow is managed in the Simplebim Cloud web application, not in these dialogs.

In the dialog the two routes are the Pipeline tab and the Library tab. The Pipeline tab is always there; the Library tab appears only when the chosen account has the library.

The Dialog at a Glance

From top to bottom the dialog has the following parts.

Sign-in line shows the Simplebim Cloud logo, the text Not signed in or Signed in as you@example.com, and the Sign in to Cloud button, which becomes Sign out once you are signed in.

Account is the account you are working in. Enabled after sign-in.

Pipeline and Library tabs decide where the dataflow goes to or comes from. Each tab has its own fields, described below.

Status line tells you what the dialog is doing — Getting workspaces for the account 'Acme', please wait... — and why something failed. Read it first when a button stays grey.

Stay signed in decides whether the sign-in is kept for the next time. See Staying Signed In.

Cancel closes the dialog without publishing or getting anything.

Publish or Get performs the action on the tab that is currently visible. Grey until everything it needs has been chosen.

While the dialog talks to the cloud the cursor shows an hourglass and the status line says please wait. Every drop-down is filled from the cloud one level at a time, so there is a short pause after each choice.

Signing In

If no sign-in is saved on this computer the dialog opens with Not signed in and every other part disabled. Click Sign in to Cloud.

If a sign-in is saved, the dialog signs you in by itself while it opens. The status line shows Signing in to Simplebim Cloud, please wait... and then Signed in to Simplebim Cloud, and the Account list is filled. If the saved sign-in no longer works the status line shows Sign-in required with the reason, and you click Sign in to Cloud as on a fresh computer.

The Sign-in Window

Sign in to Cloud opens the Sign in to Simplebim Cloud window. It is a small built-in browser that shows the sign-in page of Simplebim Cloud — the same page you would see in your web browser. The page offers two ways in:

• your Simplebim Cloud e-mail address and password;
• Sign in with Microsoft, for organisations whose users sign in with their Microsoft work account. For some organisations this is the only way in.

When the page accepts you the window closes on its own and the dialog shows Signed in as your e-mail address. If the page refuses you, a Sign-in failed message tells you why, the sign-in page is loaded again and you can try again. Close the window to give up; the dialog then stays signed out.

The built-in browser needs the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which is normally already installed with Windows. Without it the window reports Could not start the sign-in browser and closes.

Staying Signed In

Stay signed in decides whether the dialog remembers you. With it ticked, the next time either dialog opens it signs you in without showing the sign-in window and pre-selects the account you used last. The box is ticked automatically whenever a sign-in is already saved, so once you have ticked it you stay signed in until you untick it or sign out.

What is saved:

• Not your password. The cloud gives the dialog a sign-in token after you have signed in; only that token is stored, together with your e-mail address and the account you chose.
• Encrypted for you on this computer. The token is protected with your Windows user account. It cannot be read by another Windows user or on another computer, even if your Simplebim profile is copied there.
• Renewed on every use. Each time the token is used the cloud replaces it with a fresh one and the dialog stores the fresh one. The stored sign-in is therefore updated every time a dialog closes, whether you clicked Publish, Get or Cancel.
• Kept in your Simplebim profile, with the other settings of the Dataflow palette.

The saved sign-in is removed when you untick Stay signed in and close the dialog, when you click Sign out, when you choose Forget Cloud Credentials on the Cloud menu, and when the cloud rejects it — because it has expired, because it was revoked, or because it was saved by an older version of Simplebim. A failure to connect to the cloud does not remove it; the sign-in is tried again next time.

Signing Out and Forgetting the Sign-in

Once you are signed in the button reads Sign out. Clicking it ends the session, clears the Account list and the tabs, and also discards the saved sign-in, so the next dialog starts signed out. Untick Stay signed in as well if you want to be sure nothing is written back when the dialog closes.

Forget Cloud Credentials on the Cloud menu does the same without opening a dialog. It is only in the menu while a sign-in is saved.

Choosing the Account

After sign-in the Account drop-down lists every account you have access to. When there is only one it is selected for you. When there are several and a saved sign-in was used, the account you worked in last time is selected; otherwise pick one.

Choosing an account fills the Workspace list on the Pipeline tab and, when the account has the dataflow library, adds the Library tab and fills its Area list. Changing the account clears everything chosen below it.

The Pipeline Tab

Workspace

The workspace in the chosen account. Selected for you when there is only one. The same when publishing and when getting.

Pipeline

The pipeline in the chosen workspace. Selected for you when there is only one. The same when publishing and when getting.

Dataflow

When publishing: the name of the dataflow you are publishing. Not editable here; rename the dataflow in the palette.

When getting: the name of the dataflow the chosen pipeline holds, or <no dataflow>.

Comment

When publishing: starts as the description of the dataflow. Edit it to describe this upload — for example what changed.

When getting: the comment that was given when the dataflow was published. Read-only.

Choosing a pipeline fetches its full content from the cloud; the status line says Getting full pipeline content, please wait... while it does. Changing the workspace clears the pipeline.

Publishing to a Pipeline

Click Publish. The dialog does two things in turn:

1. Uploads the dataflow into the pipeline — status Uploading dataflow to pipeline, please wait.... The cloud checks the dataflow once more, records who uploaded it, when, from which application and version, and your comment, and replaces the dataflow the pipeline held before. If the pipeline was using a library dataflow, it now uses your upload instead.
2. Updates the pipeline's file locations — status Updating pipeline file locations, please wait.... Every enabled source and sink file location of the dataflow is written to the pipeline together with the names of the files the dataflow reads or writes there. A location the pipeline already had with the same name and type keeps its cloud-side mapping and only gets the new file list; source and sink locations the dataflow no longer has are removed; the trigger and handled locations that belong to the pipeline itself are left alone.

When both succeed the message The dataflow was successfully uploaded to the pipeline. appears and the dialog closes. If the upload fails the status line shows Uploading dataflow failed with the reason and nothing has changed in the cloud. If the upload succeeds but the file locations cannot be updated, the status line says so: the dataflow is in the pipeline, and clicking Publish again repeats both steps.

Getting from a Pipeline

Select the pipeline and check the Dataflow and Comment fields, which show what the pipeline holds. Get is grey while the pipeline holds no dataflow. Click Get: the dataflow is fetched and the dialog closes. See After the Dialog Closes for what happens in the palette.

The Library Tab

The tab is only present for accounts that have the dataflow library. Its fields differ more between the two modes than on the Pipeline tab.

Area

When publishing: the area to publish into. Areas are listed as Name [Account] or Name [Workspace]; an area you may only read from is marked (read-only).

When getting: the area to fetch from.

Name

Shown only when publishing. The name the dataflow has in the library. Starts as the dataflow's name. Required.

Dataflow

Shown only when getting. The dataflows in the chosen area, listed as Name (v3) with their latest version number.

Version

Shown only when getting. The versions of the chosen dataflow, newest first, listed as v3 — comment. The newest is selected for you.

Comment

When publishing: starts as the description of the dataflow. Edit it to describe this version.

When getting: the comment of the chosen version. Read-only.

Publishing to the Library

Choose an area you may publish into — a (read-only) area leaves Publish grey and the status line says You cannot publish into this area (read-only). Give the dataflow its library Name and a Comment, and click Publish.

The name decides what happens:

• a new name creates a new library dataflow with version 1;
• an existing name adds the next version to that dataflow — the earlier versions stay as they are and pipelines pointed at them keep running them until they are switched over in Simplebim Cloud;
• an existing name with identical content creates nothing: the message Identical content is already published as version 3 — no new version was created. tells you which version it already is.

Otherwise the message The dataflow was published to the library as version N. appears and the dialog closes.

Getting from the Library

Choose the Area, the Dataflow and the Version — the newest version is pre-selected, so for the latest state you only pick the dataflow — and click Get. The dialog fetches that version and closes.

When Publish and Get Are Available

The main button acts on the tab that is visible, and it is grey until that tab is complete.

Pipeline tab — Publish needs a pipeline selected. Get needs a pipeline selected that holds a dataflow.

Library tab — Publish needs an area you may publish into and a non-empty Name. Get needs an area, a dataflow and a version selected.

Switching tabs re-evaluates the button, so it can be grey on one tab and enabled on the other. While the dialog is waiting for the cloud the button is grey as well.

After the Dialog Closes

After publishing nothing changes in the palette. The dataflow is not marked as changed and your local copy is untouched; the comment you typed is kept only in the cloud.

After getting the fetched dataflow opens as the current dataflow of the palette, exactly as if you had opened a file:

• its name is the name it had in the pipeline or the library, and its description is the comment;
• the palette caption shows it under the workspace name (pipeline) or the area name (library) instead of a folder name;
• it is marked as changed, because it exists nowhere on your computer yet. Save it with Save on the toolbar if you want to keep it or find it in the Open menu later; closing Simplebim without saving asks you the usual question.

Any dataflow that was open in the palette before is replaced. If it had unsaved changes, save it first — the Get dialog does not ask.

Whether you cancelled or not, the saved sign-in is written back according to the Stay signed in box, as described under Staying Signed In.

Status Messages

The status line at the bottom is where the dialog reports. The messages you are most likely to see, and what they mean:

Signing in to Simplebim Cloud, please wait... A saved sign-in is being used.

Sign-in required: Saved sign-in is no longer valid. The saved sign-in has expired or was revoked. It has been discarded; sign in again.

Sign-in required: Saved sign-in could not be read on this machine and user. The sign-in was saved by another Windows user or on another computer. It has been discarded; sign in again.

Sign-in required: Saved sign-in is from an older version and is no longer usable. Saved by an earlier Simplebim. It has been discarded; sign in again.

Sign-in required: Cannot connect to … No connection to the cloud. The saved sign-in is kept; check your network and try again.

Getting workspaces for the account '…' succeeded Normal progress; every list that is fetched reports this way.

Getting … failed: … The cloud refused or the connection broke. The text after the colon is the cloud's own explanation and usually names the cause, such as missing rights.

You cannot publish into this area (read-only). Choose another area or ask an administrator for publish rights.

Uploading dataflow failed: … Nothing was published. The cloud's message lists what it objected to.

The dataflow was uploaded but updating file locations failed: … The dataflow is in the pipeline; its file locations were not written. Publish again.

Publishing dataflow failed: … Nothing was published to the library.

Errors that are not about a single step — the sign-in window failing to start, or an unexpected failure — are shown in a message box instead.

Troubleshooting

The Cloud menu has no Forget Cloud Credentials item.
Nothing is saved on this computer. The item appears only while a sign-in is stored.

The dialog signed me in as somebody else.
A saved sign-in of another user is stored in this Simplebim profile. Click Sign out, then Sign in to Cloud with your own credentials and tick Stay signed in.

The sign-in window says it could not start the sign-in browser.
The Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime is missing. Install it from Microsoft and try again; the runtime is free and is used by many other applications.

The sign-in page keeps coming back after I sign in.
The cloud refused the sign-in and the Sign-in failed message told you why — a wrong password, or an account that must use Sign in with Microsoft. Fix the cause and sign in again, or close the window.

I ticked Stay signed in but the next time I still had to sign in.
The status line tells you why the saved sign-in was not usable. A saved sign-in can expire, and it stops working if it is revoked in Simplebim Cloud.

There is no Library tab.
The chosen account does not have the dataflow library. The Pipeline tab works for every account.

Publish is grey on the Library tab.
Either the area is (read-only) — the status line says so — or the Name field is empty.

Get is grey on the Pipeline tab.
The pipeline holds no dataflow; the Dataflow field shows <no dataflow>. Choose another pipeline or use the Library tab.

Publish Current to Cloud shows a Dataflow Publishing Validation message.
The dataflow uses something that cannot run in the cloud. Fix each listed item and choose the menu item again; the dialog opens only when the list is empty.

Publishing to the library said no new version was created.
The library already has a version with exactly the same content. Change the dataflow before publishing again, or use the version the message named.

Publishing to a pipeline replaced the library dataflow it was using.
That is what publishing to a pipeline does. To keep the pipeline on the library, publish a new version to the library instead and switch the pipeline to it in Simplebim Cloud.

The dataflow I got is marked as changed and I did not touch it.
A fetched dataflow exists only in the palette until you save it. Click Save.

The dialog was cancelled but Simplebim still wrote something to my profile.
The saved sign-in is renewed on every use and written back whenever the dialog closes. Untick Stay signed in if you do not want a sign-in kept at all.