Synchronizations

Overview

A Synchronization defines a complete data flow between a source system and a target system. The synchronization engine reads objects from a configured source (via CallService), applies a mapping, detects changes via hash comparison, and writes the transformed result to a target (OpenRegister schema or another source). Per-object state is stored in SynchronizationContracts.

Synchronization Configuration

Source Configuration

Field	Description
sourceId	ID of the Source to fetch data from
sourceEndpoint	Path appended to the source base URL
sourceType	api or other supported types
resultsPosition	Where objects live in the response: _root, dot-notation (e.g. data.items), or auto-detected common keys (items, results, result)
sourceIdField	Path to the unique ID field in each source object
paginationQuery	Query parameter name for page-based pagination
usesPagination	Set to "false" if the source does not paginate (default: auto-detect)
conditions	JSON Logic expression to filter which objects to sync
restrictDeletion	If true, only delete objects whose origin ID appeared in the most recent source response

Target Configuration

Field	Description
targetType	register/schema (OpenRegister) or source-based target
targetId	Register ID for register/schema targets
targetSchema	Schema ID for register/schema targets
targetSourceId	Source ID for source-based targets
targetMapping	Mapping ID for outgoing data transformation
idInRequestBody	Key to inject the target object ID into the request body (for targets that require it)

Mapping

Field	Description
mappingId	Mapping applied to inbound data before writing to target

Process Flow

1. Fetch all pages from source (pagination handled automatically)
2. For each source object:
   a. Compute origin hash (SHA256 of source JSON)
   b. Look up or create SynchronizationContract
   c. Skip if: origin hash unchanged AND sync config unchanged AND target exists
   d. Apply mapping (source → target schema)
   e. Write to target (POST create or PUT/PATCH update)
   f. Update contract: targetId, targetHash, sourceLastChecked
3. For objects in contracts but absent from source response:
   a. Mark as deleted in target (DELETE) unless restrictDeletion applies
   b. Update contract status
4. Write SynchronizationLog entry with result summary

Change Detection

The synchronization engine skips updates when all of the following are true:

1. Origin hash matches the stored hash in the contract (source object unchanged)
2. The synchronization configuration has not been updated since the last check
3. The source-target mapping (if used) has not been updated since the last check
4. The target ID and target hash exist in the contract (object not deleted from target)
5. force parameter is not set

This prevents unnecessary API calls and database writes on unchanged data.

SynchronizationContracts

A SynchronizationContract tracks the state of a single synchronized object:

Field	Description
synchronizationId	Parent synchronization
originId	Unique ID of the object in the source system
targetId	Unique ID of the object in the target system
originHash	SHA256 of the last-seen source object
targetHash	SHA256 of the last-written target object
sourceLastChecked	Timestamp of the last check against the source
targetLastChecked	Timestamp of the last write to the target

Sub-Object Support

Related or nested objects inside a parent can be synchronized with their own contracts. Configure subObjects in the source configuration with the path to each sub-object and its own synchronization reference. The engine finds and updates existing contracts for sub-objects rather than duplicating them.

To enable sub-object deduplication, map an originId field in the sub-object's mapping so the engine can locate the existing contract.

Pagination

OpenConnector handles pagination automatically:

• Detects next link in response for cursor-based pagination
• Supports page-number-based pagination via paginationQuery
• Respects a maximum of 50 pages per run (safety limit, configurable)
• Set usesPagination: "false" to disable pagination for sources that return all results in one response

XML Support

Sources returning XML are automatically parsed into JSON before mapping. Attribute values are preserved using the @attributes convention.

Force and Test Modes

Mode	Behavior
force: true	Skip change detection; update all objects regardless of hash
test: true	Run through the full flow but do not write to target; log results only

Logging

Each synchronization run writes a SynchronizationLog entry with:

• Run start and end timestamps
• Number of objects processed, created, updated, deleted, skipped
• Error details per failed object
• Overall result (success, warning, error)

Log retention is configurable per synchronization (success retention, error retention, error contract retention).

Implementation

• lib/Service/SynchronizationService.php — Core sync engine, pagination, change detection
• lib/Controller/SynchronizationsController.php — REST CRUD API
• lib/Controller/SynchronizationContractsController.php — Contract management API
• lib/Db/Synchronization.php — Synchronization entity
• lib/Db/SynchronizationContract.php — Contract entity
• lib/Db/SynchronizationLog.php — Log entity
• lib/Db/SynchronizationContractMapper.php — Contract mapper
• lib/Db/SynchronizationLogMapper.php — Log mapper