One request that I've heard a couple of times from customers is how to migrate content into Lotus Connections. My common answer is to use the included IBM Tivoli Directory Integrator (a.k.a. TDI) to migrate data into the Lotus Connections databases. While this approach works, it's probably not the best in a production environment. Why? Well, it's never good to circumvent the application and modify its database. Instead, it would be nice if we could use the Lotus Connections APIs to batch import data into the system.
Up until today, this was a bit difficult because TDI did not include an Atom connector and it just so happens that the Lotus Connections APIs are Atom-based. A connector is nothing more than a plug-in into TDI which simplifies data exchanges. In TDI, there's already an HTTP connector, but the Atom layer is missing and time consuming to code. Well, not anymore!
Today, a great article was published on developerWorks which explains how to use an AtomConnector to read and write data to Lotus Connections. And, it even includes an AtomConnector you can use in your own assembly lines. The article focuses on how to read and write data from the Lotus Connections Blogs component, but it can be extended to any of the other components.
For more information, you can find the article here: Integrating Tivoli Directory Integrator and Lotus Connections. Oh and if you are interested in learning more about TDI, check out my two quick demos on How To Load Users from a Spreadsheet and How To Load Photos from LDAP.