> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://flatfileinc-remove-rss-json.mintlify.site/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Portal 2 <-> Platform Concepts > Key terms and concepts for your upgrade ## Overview This guide is designed to teach you about and use the new Platform syntax. We've also created a [V2 Shim package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@flatfile/v2-shims) to help expedite your upgrade. You can check out the [quickstart guide](/upgrade/v2_upgrade) that uses the shim to cut down your time to upgrade. As you transition from Portal 2.0 to Platform, you'll come across many familiar elements that resemble what you've known. However, there might be instances where certain components are no longer present, have been rearranged, or sport a fresh appearance. To ensure a seamless transition, this guide is designed to teach you those differences and how to convert. It will highlight both the similarities and differences between the two versions, enabling you to switch over with minimal effort. Want to see what it might look like to upgrade? Check out our [upgrade repository here](https://github.com/FlatFilers/Upgrade-Portal) to compare the beginning and end of upgrading. ## A comparison Explore this illustrative diagram that lays out the distinctions between the two products. While Platform introduces a range of additional and novel concepts compared to Portal, rest assured, you're not obligated to embrace every new element to transition your existing importer to Platform. Flexibility remains key in making the switch. ### Review V2 Portal v2 Portal ### Meet the Platform v2 Portal ## Before you begin ### Core Architecture #### Meet the Environment In Portal, setting `devMode: true` flagged imports as “dev” imports, but in Platform, there are true Environments. You can have many custom Environments, but upon signup, you will have a Development, Production, and Demo Environment configured. All of the other entities (like Spaces, Workbooks, and Sheets) will live in those Environments. #### Meet the Space A Space and its UI constitute the new data importer that has replaced Portal. The Space is what holds all the Files and Workbooks that are needed to import data. You can learn more about Spaces and all that they do in our [Spaces documentation](/learning-center/architecture/spaces). #### Meet the Workbook For Platform, it's a good idea to get to know the [concept of a Workbook](/learning-center/architecture/workbooks). When you're upgrading, you can think of a Workbook as the place where your import data hangs out. Unlike Portal, where all the editing and fixing of data happens right in the browser, Platform also has an option to perform these actions on the server side. The data gets saved in one or more Workbooks as you go along. Inside these Workbooks, you'll find one or more Sheets, which are similar to schemas in Portal. Other than some basic names and settings, the sheet has something called a "fields array," which is pretty similar to what you know from Portal. Keep in mind that if you had multiple importers to handle different data sets from different places, you will be able to consolidate them by having all your schemas now live in one Workbook. ### Configuring your schema #### Meet the Blueprint Back in Portal, when you received diverse data from the same users and wished to merge it afterward, you had to establish distinct Portal configurations and display the appropriate one for each file. However, leveraging Blueprints offers a more streamlined approach. You can employ a collection of Sheets (akin to the schemas you constructed in Portal) within a Workbook. This simplifies the process of centralizing all your data structures and collating the information cohesively. The added advantage is that you're no longer burdened with managing multiple uploads from various schemas. ```json Blueprint Example theme={"system"} { "sheets": [ { "name": "products", "slug": "products", "readOnly": false, "allowAdditionalFields": false, "access": ["add", "edit"], "fields": [ { "key": "code", "label": "Product Code", "type": "string" }, { "key": "description", "type": "string" }, { "key": "price", "type": "number" } ], "actions": [], "metadata": {} }, { "key": "manufacturers", "label": "Product Manufacturers", "description": "A list of maunfacturers for the products", "fields": [ { "key": "manufacturer_code", "label": "Manufacturer Code", "type": "string" }, { "key": "manufacturer_name", "label": "Manufacturer Name", "type": "string" } ] } ] } ``` ### Full Platform diagram v2 Portal ## Upgrade your importer Now we will do a side-by-side look at how we will go about upgrading your importer. This guide will show some simple snippets that will compare the different parts and how they are converted. You can follow along with the full example in our [Upgrade Repo](https://github.com/FlatFilers/Upgrade-Portal). ### 1. Update your Flatfile button The skeleton of your application should remain mostly the same. You'll see here that we can use the same updated UI element when integrating Platform. ```html Start-Portal-2/public/index.html theme={"system"} ``` ```html Finish-Platform/public/index.html theme={"system"} ``` ### 2. Initialize Flatfile ```js Start-Portal-2/src/index.js theme={"system"} const { contactSchema } = schemas; const importer = new FlatfileImporter( "YOUR_LICENSE_KEY", contactSchema ); $("#launch").click(function () { importer .requestDataFromUser() .then(function (results) { importer.displaySuccess("Thanks for your data."); $("#raw_output").text(JSON.stringify(results.data, " ", 2)); }) .catch(function (error) { console.info(error || "window close"); }); }); ``` ```js Finish-Platform/src/index.js theme={"system"} import { initializeFlatfile } from "@flatfile/javascript"; import { workbook } from "./schemas"; import { listener } from "../listeners/listener"; //create a new space in modal window.openFlatfile = ({publishableKey}) => { if (!publishableKey) { throw new Error( "You must provide a publishable key - pass through in index.html" ); } const flatfileOptions = { publishableKey, workbook, listener, sidebarConfig: { showSidebar: false, }, // Additional props... }; initializeFlatfile(flatfileOptions); }; ``` ### 3. Build a Workbook This is where you will convert your Schema(s) into a Workbook. This is the point where you can combine multiple importers into one by having multiple Sheets on the Workbook. Your end users would then be able to select which data model they are uploading into during the import process. #### Compare and contrast The workbook consists of three crucial components: the `name` and the `sheets` properties. Sheets will share many properties with those found in the Portal schema. You'll encounter a `name` property (akin to the `type` property in a Portal schema) and `fields` (which closely resembles your Portal `fields` array). When it comes to the `fields` array, you'll find quite a few familiar elements like `key`, `label`, and `description`, which all transition directly from Portal. #### About field types Let's delve deeper into the Portal and Platform `type` property for fields. When you don't specify this field, both Portal and Platform will assume a default `string` type. In Portal, the `type: "checkbox"` is now `"type": "boolean"`, and the `type: "select"` is now `"type": "enum"` in Platform. Furthermore, keep in mind that while Portal only had three types, Platform has broadened its range to include `number`, `date`, and `reference` types. To get more details about these new field types, you can check out our [documentation](/learning-center/blueprint/field-types). Also, we've prepared a handy reference table below, outlining all the new types and how they were handled in Portal. | Portal Type | Platform Type | | ----------- | ------------- | | String | String | | String | Date | | String | Number | | Select | Enum | | Checkbox | Boolean | | N/A | Reference | When providing select/enum options there is still an `options` array that has the same structure as it did in Portal. However, one thing to note is that this options array has been moved into a new property on the field object named `config` for Platform. ```js Start-Portal-2/src/schemas.js theme={"system"} { label: "Deal Status", key: "type", type: "select", options: [ { label: "New", value: "new" }, { label: "Interested", value: "interested" }, { label: "Meeting", value: "meeting" }, { label: "Opportunity", value: "opportunity" }, { label: "Not a fit", value: "unqualified" } ], validators: [{ validate: "required" }] } ``` ```js Finish-Platform/src/schemas.js theme={"system"} { key: "type", type: "enum", label: "Deal Status", constraints: [{ type: "required" }], config: { options: [ { label: "New", value: "new" }, { label: "Interested", value: "interested" }, { label: "Meeting", value: "meeting" }, { label: "Opportunity", value: "opportunity" }, { label: "Not a fit", value: "unqualified" } ] } } ``` #### Set up validations The final aspect of converting your Portal fields into Platform fields will be to handle the `validators` from Portal. While Portal offered many different kinds of validators, only two have been converted in the fields themselves, and those are `required` and `unique`. All other validations can still be handled, but are now handled in code instead of a setting. Check out the [other validators section](#other-validators) for examples. The `validators` property will now be called `constraints` which is still an array of objects. The object for each validator has traded in the `validate` property for a `type` property, but the `unique` and `required` values remain the same. ```js Start-Portal-2/src/schemas.js theme={"system"} const schemas = { contactSchema: { fields: [ { label: "First Name", key: "firstName", description: "First or full name", validators: [{ validate: "required" }] }, { label: "Last Name", key: "lastName", }, { label: "Email Address", key: "email", description: "Please please enter your email", sizeHint: 1.5, validators: [ { validate: "unique" }, { validate: "regex_matches", regex: "(?:[a-z0-9!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+(?:\\.[a-z0-9!#$%&'*+/=?^_`{|}~-]+)*|\"(?:[\\x01-\\x08\\x0b\\x0c\\x0e-\\x1f\\x21\\x23-\\x5b\\x5d-\\x7f]|\\\\[\\x01-\\x09\\x0b\\x0c\\x0e-\\x7f])*\")@(?:(?:[a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9])?\\.)+[a-z0-9](?:[a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9])?|\\[(?:(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?)\\.){3}(?:25[0-5]|2[0-4][0-9]|[01]?[0-9][0-9]?|[a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9]:(?:[\\x01-\\x08\\x0b\\x0c\\x0e-\\x1f\\x21-\\x5a\\x53-\\x7f]|\\\\[\\x01-\\x09\\x0b\\x0c\\x0e-\\x7f])+)\\])", error: "Must be a valid email address." } ] }, { label: "Phone Number", key: "phone" }, { label: "Date", key: "date" }, { label: "Country", key: "country" }, { label: "Zip Code", key: "zipCode" }, { label: "Subscriber?", key: "subscriber", sizeHint: 0.5, type: "checkbox", validators: [ { validate: "regex_matches", regex: "^$|^(1|0|yes|no|true|false|on|off)$", regexFlags: { ignoreCase: true } } ] }, { label: "Deal Status", key: "type", type: "select", options: [ { label: "New", value: "new" }, { label: "Interested", value: "interested" }, { label: "Meeting", value: "meeting" }, { label: "Opportunity", value: "opportunity" }, { label: "Not a fit", value: "unqualified" } ], validators: [{ validate: "required" }] } ], type: "Contacts", managed: true } }; ``` ```js Finish-Platform/src/schemas.js theme={"system"} export const workbook = { name: "Contacts", labels: ["pinned"], sheets: [ { name: "Contacts", slug: "contacts", fields: [ { key: "firstName", type: "string", description: "First or full name", label: "First Name", constraints: [{ type: "required" }] }, { key: "lastName", type: "string", label: "Last Name", }, { key: "email", type: "string", label: "Email address", description: "Please please enter your email", constraints: [{ type: "unique" }] }, { key: "phone", type: "string", label: "Phone Number", }, { key: "date", type: "string", label: "Date", }, { key: "country", type: "string", label: "Country", }, { key: "zipCode", type: "string", label: "Zip Code", }, { key: "subscriber", type: "boolean", label: "Subscriber?", config: { allow_indeterminate: false } }, { key: "type", type: "enum", label: "Deal Status", constraints: [{ type: "required" }], config: { options: [ { label: "New", value: "new" }, { label: "Interested", value: "interested" }, { label: "Meeting", value: "meeting" }, { label: "Opportunity", value: "opportunity" }, { label: "Not a fit", value: "unqualified" } ] } }, ], }, ], actions: [ { operation: "submitActionFg", mode: "foreground", label: "Submit foreground", description: "Submit data to webhook.site", primary: true, }, ], }; ``` ### 4. Transform Data Coming from Portal, you are likely familiar with the concept of Data Hooks. The same sort of functionality can be obtained in Platform, but they have moved into Listeners and use plugins like the [record hook plugin](https://flatfile.com/plugins/plugin-record-hook). You can read more about [Listeners here](/learning-center/tutorials/projects/meet-the-listener) and more about all of our [Plugins here](https://flatfile.com/plugins/). ```js Start-Portal-2/src/index.js theme={"system"} importer.registerRecordHook(async (record, index) => { let out = {}; if (record.email) { if (record.email.includes('flatfile.io')) { out.email = { info: [ { message: "Flatfile emails should use flatfile.com ending only", level: "error" } ] } } } if (!record.phone && !record.email) { out.phone = out.email = { info: [ { message: "Please include one of either Phone or Email.", level: "warning" } ] }; } if (record.phone) { let validPhone = formatPhoneNumber(record.phone); if (validPhone !== "Invalid phone number") { out.phone = { value: validPhone, info: [] }; } else { out.phone = { info: [ { message: "This does not appear to be a valid phone number", level: "error" } ] }; } } if (record.date) { //reformat the date to ISO format let thisDate = format(new Date(record.date), "yyyy-MM-dd"); //create var that holds the date value of the reformatted date as //thisDate is only a string let realDate = parseISO(thisDate); if (isDate(realDate)) { out.date = { value: thisDate, info: isFuture(realDate) ? [ { message: "Date cannot be in the future.", level: "error" } ] : [] }; } else { out.date = { info: [ { message: "Please check that the date is formatted YYYY-MM-DD.", level: "error" } ] }; } } //country name lookup, replace with country code if (record.country) { if (!countries.find((c) => c.code === record.country)) { const suggestion = countries.find( (c) => c.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(record.country.toLowerCase()) !== -1 ); out.country = { value: suggestion ? suggestion.code : record.country, info: !suggestion ? [ { message: "Country code is not valid", level: "error" } ] : [] }; } } if ( record.zipCode && record.zipCode.length < 5 && (record.country === "US" || out.country.value === "US") ) { out.zipCode = { value: record.zipCode.padStart(5, "0"), info: [{ message: "Zipcode was padded with zeroes", level: "info" }] }; } return out; }); ``` ```js Finish-Platform/listeners/listener.js theme={"system"} listener.use( recordHook("contacts", (record) => { const email = record.get("email"); const phone = record.get("phone"); const date = record.get("date"); const country = record.get("country"); const zipCode = record.get("zipCode"); if (email.includes('flatfile.io')) { record.addError("email", "Flatfile emails should use flatfile.com ending only") } if (!email && !phone) { record.addWarning(["email", "phone"], "Please include one of either Phone or Email.") } if (phone) { let validPhone = formatPhoneNumber(phone) if (validPhone !== "Invalid phone number") { record.set("phone", validPhone) } else { record.addError("phone", "This does not appear to be a valid phone number") } } if (date) { let thisDate = format(new Date(record.date), "yyyy-MM-dd"); let realDate = parseISO(thisDate); if (isDate(realDate)) { record.set("date", thisDate) isFuture(realDate) && record.addError("date", "Date cannot be in the future."); } else { record.addError("date", "Please check that the date is formatted YYYY-MM-DD.") } } if (country) { if (!countries.find((c) => c.code === country)) { const suggestion = countries.find( (c) => c.name.toLowerCase().indexOf(country.toLowerCase()) !== -1 ); record.set("country", suggestion ? suggestion.code : country); !suggestion && record.addError("country", "Country code is not valid") } } if (zipCode && zipCode.length < 5 && country === "US") { record.set("zipCode", zipCode.padStart(5, "0")) record.addInfo("zipCode", "Zipcode was padded with zeroes") } return record; }) ); ``` #### Other Validators In the [set up validations](#set-up-validations) section above, we talked about converting the `required` and `unique` validators, but validators like `regex` or `required_with` are now handled in code in a Listener. *Regex Validation Example:* ```js Portal 2 theme={"system"} fields: [ { label: "Company Code", key: "companyCode", validators: [{ validate: 'regex_matches', regex: '^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$' }] }, ] ``` ```js Platform listener.js theme={"system"} listener.use( recordHook("contacts", (record) => { const companyCode = record.get('companyCode') const regex = /^[a-zA-Z0-9]*$/; if (!regex.test(companyCode)) { record.addError('companyCode', 'Must be an alpha-numeric value') } }) ) ``` *`required_with` Validation Example:* ```js Portal 2 theme={"system"} fields: [ { key: "city", label: "City", }, { key: "state", label: "State", validators: [ { validate: "required_with", fields: ["city"], }, ], }, ] ``` ```js Platform listener.js theme={"system"} listener.use( recordHook("contacts", (record) => { const city = record.get('city') const state = record.get('state') if (city && !state) { record.addError('state', 'State must be provided if City is present') } }) ) ``` ### 5. Match your brand Custom theming in Portal was a crucial part of making the importer like a part of your application. Platform also has custom theming that you can use to do the same. Check out our [theming guide](/learning-center/guides/theming) to see what all is configurable in Platform. ### 6. Set the destination In Portal, you were able to specify a webhook endpoint using `webhookUrl` -OR- use the returned data within the Promise to do whatever needed to be done with your data. With Platform, we use the Listeners to wait for the submit action to happen and then act on it. ```js Start-Portal-2/src/index.js theme={"system"} $("#launch").click(function () { importer .requestDataFromUser() .then(function (results) { importer.displaySuccess("Thanks for your data."); $("#raw_output").text(JSON.stringify(results.data, " ", 2)); }) .catch(function (error) { console.info(error || "window close"); }); }); ``` ```js Finish-Platform/listener/listener.js theme={"system"} listener.filter({ job: "workbook:submitActionFg" }, (configure) => { configure.on("job:ready", async ({ context: { jobId } }) => { try { await flatfile.jobs.ack(jobId, { info: "Getting started.", progress: 10, }); console.log("Make changes here when an action is clicked"); await flatfile.jobs.complete(jobId, { outcome: { message: "This job is now complete.", }, }); } catch (error) { console.error("Error:", error.stack); await flatfile.jobs.fail(jobId, { outcome: { message: "This job encountered an error.", }, }); } }); }); ``` ### 7. Customize While everything above gives you all sort of great information about how your Portal implementation will convert to Platform, it's just the beginning of all the amazing new things you can do with the Platform. Below we are going to share some links that can help make your already great workflow even better.