How to write-back changes from SharePoint list to external data sources | SharePoint Data Connector - BoostSolutions App, Saas & Software for Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint

How to write-back changes from SharePoint list to external data sources?

After you sync data from external data sources (SQL Server 2000-2014, Oracle Database, MySQL 5.0 Database and external SharePoint list) to a SharePoint list using BoostSolutions' Data Connector, you can manipulate these data in the SharePoint list, and sync or write-back the changes (creation, modification and deletion) in the SharePoint list to the external data sources.

In this article, we will demonstrate how to write-back the changes from a SharePoint list to the external data sources.

WHAT YOU'LL GET

Enable WRITE-BACK operationsoption enables you to sync changes back from SharePoint list to external data sources

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Data Connector

The sample data we use for this case

And we have a table named as Computers in the SQL database BoostSolutionsEnterprise on the SQL server dbserver3, the table contains these fields and items as following.

Write-back changes from SharePoint list to external data sources

Download the trial version of Data Connector and install it to your SharePoint server.
Navigate to the site in which the Computers list is located.
In the upper right corner, click Settings and then click Site Settings.
On the Site Settings page, click Data Connector Settings under BoostSolutions Software section in the bottom right corner of the page.
On the Data Connector Settings page, click Create Job.
After clicking Create Job, you will enter the Edit Job page.

In the Job Name section, specify a unique name for the job, such as job-2.
In the Direction section, specify the direction for the data connection. Select From external data to list option which means we will sync data from the external data source to this SharePoint list.
In the List section, specify a SharePoint list or Document Library to which you want to sync data from the external data source. Select Choose an existing list option. Click to browse and select the Computers list from the drop-down list.
In the External Data and Authentication section, configure the settings as following. Specify the external data type and database authentication. (Ensure the user account you specify has the appropriate permissions to access the external data source.)

External Data Type: Select SQL Server as the external data type.

Database Server: Enter the SQL server’s name or its IP address.

Database Authentication: There are two types of authentication, Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication.

Windows Authentication: Select this authentication if you want to use the application pool account to access the SQL database. You need to enable Windows Authentication as the Authentication Mode in SQL Server in order to access the database successfully.

SQL Server Authentication: If you select this authentication, you need to enter a SQL user name and password to access the database.

Here we select the SQL Server Authentication.

Username: Enter a SQL user name. The user should have Write permission to the database.

Password: Enter the user’s password.

Click Connect to connect the SQL Server we specified (the dbserver3 in our case). If everything goes right, it will show Connection successful below the Connect button. And the databases existed on the specified SQL server will be populated to the dropdown list as shown in the picture above.

Database: Select a database, here we select BoostSolutionsEnterprise.
In the Data Settings section, specify which external data will be connected to the SharePoint list. Select Specify a table/view to filter option, and select dbo.Computers (the table Computers stored in the BoostSolutionsEnterprise database as we described in the sample data section) from the drop-down list as following.
In the Column Mapping section, map the fields in the external database to the columns in the SharePoint list as following.

By default, the database fields which have the same name and type with that of the columns in the SharePoint list will be automatically mapped.

And then select Barcode as the key. A “key column” is one that uniquely identifies records and can be used to compare data sources.

If the columns name or type are different between SharePoint list and external data source, you have to map the columns manually by clicking Add a column mapping link.
In the Run Options section, specify whether to enable Add, Update or Delete operations separately while running this job. The first three options are selected by default. Select the Enable WRITE-BACK operations option.

After you select Enable WRITE-BACK operations option, any changes made in the SharePoint list will be write-back to the external data source, including creation, modification and deletion.

Note:

Note that the write-back function works in the same way for all external data sources, here we just take SQL server database as an example.
Keep other settings as default and click Save to save the settings.
And then you will find that the job has been created on the Data Connector Settings page, the job-2.
Click the Run button for the job-2 and waiting for the job to be run completely.
After the job run completely, click Close. And navigate to the Computers list, and you will find that the data stored in the table “Computers” in the SQL server database BoostSolutionsEnterprise have been synced to the SharePoint list successfully as following.
In the Computers list, create a new item V004.
On the Data Connector Settings page, click the Run button for the job-2 and waiting for the job to be run completely.
After the job run completely, click Close. In SQL server database, check the table Computers and you will find that the item V004 has be added in the table.
In the Computers list, modify the item V004, change its Owner from Cecilia Wen to Amy Fetter.
On the Data Connector Settings page, click the Run button for the job-2 and waiting for the job to be run completely.
After the job run completely, click Close. In SQL server database, check the table Computers and you will find that the Owner of item V004 has be updated to Amy Fetter as following.
In the Computers list, select item V003 and delete it.
On the Data Connector Settings page, click the Run button for the job-2 and waiting for the job to be run completely.
After the job run completely, click Close. In SQL server database, check the table Computers and you will find that the item V003 has be deleted in the table as following.