MINHAZ KAZI: Welcome to "DataVis DevTalk."
I'm your host, Minhaz Kazi, Developer Advocate
for Data Studio.
In this video, we'll talk about the connector manifest
and why it is important to have the right information there.
Let's get started.
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Your connector's manifest is a special JSON file
in your Apps Script project that specifies certain metadata
about your connector.
Apps Script needs some of this information
to run the script successfully.
Data Studio also needs certain information
from the manifest to display and execute the connector.
You can find out more about Apps Script manifests
in general in the link below.
Apps Script automatically creates and updates
the project manifest as you create your connector
and make changes in the Apps Script editor.
However, there are a few properties
that you'll need to update manually for your connector.
First is the Data Studio property.
All information about your connector
will be added under this property.
Some of this information is mandatory.
Your connector's name is limited to 28 characters.
You'll need to provide the name of the developer
or the organization, as well as the URL for the organization.
You should have a logo or icon for your connector
that should be 40 pixels by 40 pixels.
That add-on URL should be a link to a page that is preferably
hosted on your domain and explains
what your connector does and how to use it.
This is the link users will go to when
they click on the Learn More button on your connector card.
The support URL should link to a support page for the connector.
Users should be able to report issues
with the connector at this link.
You'll also need to provide a description for your connector.
This will be visible in the connector configuration page.
Links in this description will be clickable.
It is always a good idea to provide
all information or instructions necessary to have
a basic understanding of the connector
and how to use it in the description.
This mandatory information is required for Data Studio
to render the connector interface on different screens.
This information also helps the user
to know more about your connector
and explore on their own.
Then we have some certain optional properties
under the Data Studio property.
These aren't required if you're building
a connector for a limited use.
However, if you plan to publish your connector,
you must include this optional information in the manifest.
This information helps to showcase
the connector in the gallery, and let
the users quickly search for connectors and filter
based on certain criteria.
The short description is limited to 114 characters.
If your connector is published, this short description
will be visible in the gallery card for your connector.
Use this to briefly describe what your connector does.
Users will view this short description
when they browse through the connectors in the gallery.
You'll need to provide links to your privacy policy
and terms of service, list authentication type, and fee
type for your connector.
If you want to provide a template for your users,
you can list it in the manifest.
The template will provide a seamless experience
for your users since they will start with the template instead
of a blank dashboard when they use your connector.
We will have a separate video focusing
on the template experience.
One important entry in the manifest is the sources.
Your connector might connect to one or more sources.
For example, if you create a Google Fit connector,
your source for data would be Google Fit.
To add the source's property, you first
must ensure that the source information exists
in our source registry on the Data Studio
open-source repository.
If your source does not exist there,
you can add it yourself by sending us a pull request.
Sources act as metadata when users search
for a specific connector.
More information about this can be found
in the link in the description.
There are two additional properties at root level
that you will need to be aware of.
If you're using the Apps Script URL fetch app call to fetch
data from HTTP endpoints, you should list all the endpoints
under the URL fetch whitelist property.
This is mandatory when you're publishing your connector.
You will not be able to make calls to endpoints
outside of this list.
So be careful to list all applicable endpoints,
including the ones required for authorization.
The second property is OAuth scopes.
Apps Script automatically determines
what scopes a script needs by scanning its code for function
calls that require them.
For most scripts, this is sufficient and saves you time.
However, for advanced use cases, like when
you're using a service account to access data,
you might need to explicitly define your scopes.
That covers the basics for your connector manifest.
As we add more features to Data Studio and community
connectors, more options might be
available in the manifest in the future.
Make sure to check the manifest reference
link below when you're developing your own connector.
You can always go to our developer site
at developers.google.com/datastudio
for more information.
If you liked this video, stay tuned on the GCP channel
for more Data Studio content.
Thanks for watching.
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