Explore MuleSoft Composer

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

Launch MuleSoft Composer.
Describe the components of a MuleSoft Composer flow.
Describe the flow creation tasks.

Launch MuleSoft Composer

MuleSoft Composer is available as an application for authorized users in your Salesforce org after your admin has installed and configured the MuleSoft managed package into the org. To learn how to install and configure MuleSoft Composer, take the MuleSoft Composer Installation and Configuration module.

Now, let's get started with MuleSoft Composer by taking a look at this video demonstration showing the basics of how to create a flow.

If you are an authorized MuleSoft Composer user (with the MuleSoft Composer User permission set), you launch MuleSoft Composer by taking the following steps. Don’t try to take these steps in your Trailhead Playground. MuleSoft Composer is not available in the Trailhead Playground.

Log into your Salesforce org using your username and password.
From the App Launcher, enter Composer and select MuleSoft Composer.

Components of a MuleSoft Composer Flow

When you launch MuleSoft Composer, the first thing you see is the Composer Flows tab.

Welcome page with a Create New Flow button.

To create a flow, click Create New Flow; a blank canvas appears. This canvas is the working area where you design a flow. A flow is a sequence of steps that you assemble and configure to integrate systems and data.

When you design a flow, you can make use of a number of components. Let’s take a look at the key components of an example flow.

Step 1 of flow showing component 1, a Salesforce connection, and component 2, a new or updated opportunity as trigger.

If/Else block of flow showing component 3 with the stage equals closed won condition.

Steps 2 and 3 of flow showing component 4, actions to get accounts and opportunity products.

For Each block of flow showing component 5, looping through input list and creating a sales order for opportunity products.

(1) Connection: A connection is a configuration that uses a connector and associated user or system credentials to connect to a system. The flow uses connections at different steps to perform specific tasks, such as connecting to a system, checking for triggers, and retrieving or manipulating data. In this example, the first connection at the top of the flow is to a Salesforce org. The second connection at the bottom of the flow is to NetSuite.

(2) Trigger: The trigger kicks off the flow’s sequence of actions. Every flow must have at least one trigger. The trigger can be an event that occurs on a system and passes data into the flow to kick it off. The trigger can also be an elapsed period of time. In this example, the trigger is an event, the creation or updating of an opportunity in the connected Salesforce org.

(3) If/Else block: An If/Else block evaluates data from the preceding step against a specific condition.

If the data meets the condition, the flow takes a corresponding branch and performs one or more actions on that branch.
If the data does not meet the condition, the flow does not take the branch.

In this example, the condition is met if the Stage field of the opportunity record is equal to Closed Won.

(4) Action: An action is a task that the flow performs such as extracting data from a system, manipulating data, or evaluating whether or not to take an action. In this example, if the Stage field value is equal to Closed Won, the next two actions are to get the accounts and all the products associated with the opportunity in the Salesforce org.

(5) For Each block: A For Each block iterates over each record of the input data and performs one or more actions. In this example, the For Each first iterates over each account in the input list. Then, it connects to NetSuite and creates a sales order containing all the products associated with the opportunity.

Flow Creation Tasks

To create flows easily and efficiently with MuleSoft Composer, perform the following flow creation tasks.

Task	Description
1. Plan	First, identify your integration problems and come up with the appropriate solutions. Then, identify the systems you need to access, the credentials you need to access those systems, and the data you want to retrieve and synchronize between those systems.
2. Design and test	Next, use MuleSoft Composer to build flows by adding and configuring relevant connections, triggers, If/Else blocks, branches, For Each blocks, and actions. As you add each step to your flow, test it to ensure that the flow works as required.
3. Activate	After you’ve tested the entire flow, activate it so that it can start performing the integration tasks you designed.
4. Monitor and troubleshoot	After the flow is active, it continues to run in the background. If there's an issue with running the flow, MuleSoft Composer displays the information on the Flow Detail Page. Use the information for a failed instance to troubleshoot your flow.
5. Deactivate	Over time, if the flow no longer serves its intended purpose, deactivate it.

In this module, you learned when you can use MuleSoft Composer to automatically integrate systems and data. You also explored the MuleSoft Composer features, flow components, and flow creation tasks.

To learn how to use MuleSoft Composer to build and run flows that solve common integration problems, take the other modules in the MuleSoft Composer Trailmix.

Resources

Trailhead: MuleSoft Composer Installation and Configuration