Question

Is it possible to use a Mendix application as a type of middleware?

0

Complete newbie when it comes to Mendix. I’m a simple salesforce admin by trade but my company wants to do the following. They want to use mendix application to pass data between multiple external sources. Is this even possible and if so, where would I begin?

asked 2022-07-29

Stanley Matteson

4 answers

Bill Fleming · Answer 1 · 2022-07-29

Stanley,

Depending on the final architecture my personal opinion is that Mendix is well-suited to that design. I have used Mendix REST APIs between an external data source and an internal application using Pega. And if you do it right, the licensing could actually be favorable as well since it will most likely have very few dedicated users. I also used OData to expose data to Tableau (via Excel due to licensing on the tableau side).

No idea how well it would scale and perform but on small data sets it does well.

Jon Higginbotham · Answer 2 · 2022-07-29

Sure can. You can spin up a mendix app, create a new api integration with your salesforce (check out the salesforce module: https://marketplace.mendix.com/link/component/111393). and then setup REST API’s for the outbound (or whichever coms method you want).

Bill Fleming · Answer 3 · 2022-07-29

Stanley,

My profile is here:

Mendix Developers - Overview (mendixcloud.com)

and if you click contact you can send me a note. I think a short call might help you with how to get off the ground.

Ivo Sturm · Answer 4 · 2022-07-29

Depends on the architecture and politics.

My personal opinion, Mendix can be a very good middleware solution, since middleware can be and mostly is expensive and needs specific consultants as well.

Mendix is not typical middleware, but very easily integrates with standard (web based) systems. Many standard integration types are supported. Typically all new REST based API’s are, SOAP based APIs, SFTP, database to database connections etcetera are supported and have their own modules and implementation examples available.

Typical things a middleware vendor will provide are things like mapping of messages between the two systems, error handling, retry mechanisms, alerting. These things need to be built in Mendix, but can be done by any experienced Mendix developer.

If the respective company invests in Mendix for the longer term, hence will have a strong internal capability, Mendix can be a very good alternative to expensive middleware.