Connection Channels and Schedules

Joshua Lovell · Updated

The Channels tab on a Connection shows every kind of data DropStream can move between the store and the warehouse. Each channel is a card, and each schedule inside a card gets its own row.

DropStream - Channels tab on a Connection, with a card per channel

What a schedule row shows

Part What it shows
Name and description The schedule, and what it moves
Schedule rules How often it runs, and the control to change that
Last completed When it last finished
Next update (or Next run) When it is due to run again
Actions The button that runs the schedule now

DropStream - Inventory card with three schedule rows, showing the Schedule rules column and the run-now buttons

Available channels

A channel is available only when both the store platform and the warehouse platform support it. What you see depends on the pair.

Channel Schedules in the card
Sales Orders Default schedule
Shipments Default schedule
Inventory Default schedule, Full sync schedule, Adjustment import
Products Catalog import, Product import, Warehouse export
Returns Import schedule, Status update schedule
Purchase Orders Import schedule, Status update schedule
Sales Order Changes Detection schedule
Invoices Import schedule
Transfer Orders Import schedule, Shipment import schedule

When a channel shows “Not supported”

A channel the two platforms do not support together shows its name and a Not supported badge, with no rows.

DropStream - Three channel cards marked Not supported

A single row can also be unsupported while the rest of the channel works, like the Adjustment import row in the Inventory screenshot above.

If a channel you expected isn’t there, check the integration docs for both your store platform and your warehouse platform — DropStream Integrations.

Turn a channel on or off

Each channel card has its own switch. Turning a channel off stops just that data flow; the rest of the Connection keeps running. Use it, for example, to import orders but not push inventory updates back to the store.

The Products card also has a switch on each row. The card switch suspends the whole group; each row switch decides whether that one schedule runs by itself. Turning the group back on restores what each row was set to before.

The connection-level switch is separate — see Enable, Disable, or Delete a Connection. The Connection must be enabled for any channel to run.

Change a schedule

The Schedule rules column shows how often a schedule runs, and holds the control to change it.

  1. Find the schedule you want to change.
  2. In its Schedule rules column, click the bold edit link after the cadence. If the schedule has no rules yet, the column shows an Add schedule button instead — click that.
  3. Change the rules in the dialog that opens.
  4. Click Save changes.

DropStream - Edit Schedule Rules dialog with a minutely rule and a daily rule

One schedule can carry several rules. To add one, use the Add schedule button inside the dialog and pick a rule type:

  • Minutely — every N minutes.
  • Hourly — every N hours.
  • At specific times — one exact time of day, on the days you pick. Use it to import on weekdays only.
  • Flexible — a fuller recurrence pattern.

Rules add up, so one schedule can run on one pattern during the day and a different one overnight. Times follow the time zone in your profile settings.

Most schedules have a limit on how often they can run, and the limit is not the same for all of them. The dialog will not accept a shorter interval.

Schedules with nothing to edit

Some schedules follow another one instead of running on their own clock. Warehouse export is the example: it has no cadence of its own, so there is nothing to edit. Its Schedule rules column reads “After each product import” when the row is on, and “Manual only” when it is off.

Run a schedule now

Click the play button on a row to run that schedule immediately. On the Products card this works even when the row’s own switch is off. That switch only decides whether the schedule also runs by itself.

Some rows ask you to confirm. Others open a dialog with options first. The Import Sales Orders dialog on the Sales Orders row, for example, lets you leave the date blank to import everything since the last successful run, or pick a cutoff date.

DropStream - Import Sales Orders dialog with an optional start date

Extra ways to run a schedule

A few schedules can run in more than one mode. The extra modes sit behind the vertical ellipsis next to the play button.

On the Catalog import row, that menu holds Full Catalog Sync. It re-imports every item from the warehouse and re-sends the whole catalog to the store, instead of only what changed. It asks you to confirm with Sync everything before it starts.

DropStream - Products card with the run-now menu open, showing Full Catalog Sync

On the Warehouse export row, the same menu holds Full Warehouse Export, which re-sends the whole product catalog to the warehouse.

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