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Over the last several months, the MuleSoft Community has successfully transformed into an entirely virtual — but still as vibrant as ever — place for MuleSoft developers and architects from around the world to connect, learn, and share their expertise. Our Meetup leaders held high-quality and engaging virtual Meetups, our MuleSoft CONNECT events turned into digital experiences, and we welcomed 11 new MuleSoft Ambassadors this last quarter. 

Earning a feature in our Community Roundup is a great accomplishment and means you have helped our Community in some way, whether by answering questions, providing tips and tricks, or mentoring other MuleSoft Developers and Architects. We are always looking for new contributors to feature. If you are interested in sharing your own blogs and videos, use #MuleSoftDeveloper on social media, post on @MuleSoftDevelopers, and submit your content here!

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Below, we highlight some of the top contributions made by MuleSoft Community members over the past few months, recap our special MuleSoft CONNECT Digital events, and cover highlights from our past virtual Meetups. 

Special shout outs

MuleSoft CONNECT Digital events

Last quarter, we reimagined our MuleSoft CONNECT events into digital experiences in the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions. Six Community members, with varying levels of MuleSoft expertise and use cases, spoke during our Developer Meetups at each MuleSoft CONNECT Digital event. 

In the Americas, Joshua Erney, MuleSoft Ambassador and Independent Consultant, presented “The best thing to happen to DataWeave since sliced bread: the Update function.” He was joined by Veera Gopalakrishnan, a new MuleSoft Ambassador and MuleSoft Developer at UCSF. Veera shared “Dynamic DataWeave for secure access to UCSF’s EHR data.” 

In EMEA, Lilly Hulse, Digital and Technology Solutions Degree Apprentice at Bentley, presented her impressive MuleSoft journey and how she completed her first project using MuleSoft in “How I delivered my first project using MuleSoft to unlock data at Bentley.” MuleSoft Ambassador, and Integration Subject Matter Expert at PwC Poland, Patryk Bandurski concluded the Meetup with an insightful presentation on MUnit tests and best practices in “MUnit – Life savers.”

Our last MuleSoft CONNECT Digital event in APAC featured Tyler Haigh, DevOps Engineer at New South Wales Health Pathology. He presented “Creating reusable DataWeave scripts for Healthcare acceleration.” Concluding the event was Santosh Ojha, MuleSoft Ambassador, presenting “Integrating JIRA.”

Watch all three Developer Meetups here!

APIDays Interface

Miguel Martinez, MuleSoft Ambassador and Principal Solutions Architect at PhiDimensions, presented “The path to successful API-led connectivity.” Additionally, Priyanka Chavan, Software Engineer at Salesforce, spoke during a fireside chat about her MuleSoft journey and how becoming a MuleSoft Certified Developer has impacted her career.

MuleSoft blog and developer tutorials features

We also had some great technical use cases shared by MuleSoft developers on the MuleSoft blog! 

Automating life insurance with API-led connectivity

Written by Indra Battacharya, Enterprise Architect at SE2, and Ambrish Patel, Technical Architect at 27Global. Indra and Ambrish describe how SE2 transformed the life insurance new business and underwriting support process using MuleSoft to switch to an API-led integration approach. Learn how they created reusable APIs and utilized Anypoint Exchange to quickly deploy their integration solution.

Dynamic DataWeave for secure access to UCSF’s EHR data

Written by Veeraragavan Gopalakrishnan, MuleSoft Ambassador and MuleSoft Developer at UCSF. Following his MuleSoft CONNECT Digital talk, Veera transformed his presentation into a blog with a more in-depth look at how UCSF used dynamic DataWeave and Salesforce metadata to transform how they accessed and integrated varying healthcare apps in conjunction with EHR regulations. 

We also had two MuleSoft Ambassadors work on creating developer tutorials with Jordan Shuetz, Developer Advocate at MuleSoft. These tutorials offer educational resources to developers getting started with MuleSoft or looking to enhance their skill set. 

What is DataWeave? (three-part series)

Written by Joshua Erney, MuleSoft Ambassador and Independent Consultant. Joshua Erney provided his DataWeave expertise to create a three-part tutorial series to help developers master their DataWeave skill set. You can learn how to normalize, join, map, or filter any data format.

Setting up OAuth 2.0 & OpenID Connect

Written by Miguel Martinez, MuleSoft Ambassador and Principal Solutions Architect at PhiDimensions. In this tutorial, learn from MuleSoft Ambassador, Miguel Martinez, how to setup OpenID Connect Provides like Okta to provide OAuth 2.0 to your Anypoint Studio project.

Pro of the quarter

Each quarter, we feature one to two MuleSoft Certified Developers and/or architects who share their MuleSoft journey and offer tips for anyone looking to become MuleSoft Certified! 

This quarter, Priyanka Chavan, Software Engineer and MuleSoft Developer at Salesforce, shared her MuleSoft journey in a recent series on how she became a MuleSoft Certified Developer and the impact it’s had on her career. Here is what she had to say: 

“My journey with MuleSoft began while I was still in college — getting my undergraduate degree to become a junior software engineer. At the time, the demand for MuleSoft was quickly growing and I thought it would be beneficial for my career to become a MuleSoft certified developer. This led me to complete the self-paced MuleSoft training — and before I had even graduated — I was already getting calls from companies that were looking to hire me as a MuleSoft developer.

– Priyanka Chavan, Software Engineer and MuleSoft Developer at Salesforce,

You can find her story here and tips for prepping for your own exam here!

Community blogs of the quarter

Each quarter we highlight the best blogs our MuleSoft Community has contributed to help other developers and architects solve their integration problems or expand their MuleSoft skills. These top 10 blogs are high-quality, educational resources for you to use!

Managing MuleSoft API Policies using Maven by Mike Jakeman, Solution Architect at Slalom. In this blog, Mike explains how to create a custom Maven Plugin to manage API policies automatically in MuleSoft. He includes example code to help developers implement their own Maven Plugin that fits their integration needs.

Proprietá di configurazione in Mule (Configuration property in Mule) by Luca Bonaldo, Software Developer at Banca Popolare Etica. Improve your MuleSoft skills with Luca’s blog. He provides step-by-step instructions to successfully define and validate configuration properties in Anypoint Platform.

Secure calls from Salesforce to MuleSoft with JWT by Patryk Bandurski, MuleSoft Ambassador and Integration Subject Matter Expert at PwC Poland. Patryk created a blog series focused on integrating Salesforce and MuleSoft. In this article, he explains how to set up the JSON Web Token (JWT) validation policy in MuleSoft as well as how to send a JWT from Salesforce to MuleSoft. He also provides details on creating custom configurations for each client. Check out more of Patryk’s blogs here.

Step-by-step guide on how to apply ClientID Enforcement Policy in Mule 4 by Imran Aziz, Sr. Consultant at Deloitte Australia. This blog is a detailed guide on how to apply ClientID Enforcement Policy in Mule 4 using autodiscovery and API Manager. Imran provides example code and instructions to help readers follow-along the tutorial.

MUnit reloaded by Akshata Sawant, MuleSoft Ambassador and Sr. Consultant at Apisero. Akshata covers the MUnit Test Recorder and it’s capabilities to help developers write and execute MUnit tests faster. Her tutorial is well-documented and a great resource for developers unfamiliar with MUnit tests. 

How to configure and use secure properties in Mule 4 by Priyanka Paul, Sr. Consultant at Apisero. In this blog, Priyanka demonstrates how to encrypt data inside any property file to restrict unauthorized access and to protect sensitive data using MuleSoft’s Secure Property Placeholder.

DataWeave’s update function by Joshua Erney, MuleSoft Ambassador and Independent Consultant. Following his MuleSoft CONNECT Digital talk, Joshua wrote a blog summarizing how to effectively use DataWeave’s update function and work around common “gotchas.” His blog, jerney.io, offers resources on a variety of MuleSoft topics and in-depth explanations of DataWeave. 

DataWeave 2.0- JSON Writer Properties by Manik Magar, MuleSoft Ambassador and Architect at AVIO Consulting. Manik also created an insightful blog on DataWeave, specifically focusing on JSON writer properties. He covers eight different transformation examples to help developers understand how JSON Writer Properties may affect the writer and common errors. 

JSON Module Component in Mule 4 by Pravalika Nagaraja, Sr. MuleSoft Developer at Apisero Inc. In this blog, Pravalika discusses how to use the JSON Module Connector in Mule 4 when schema validation falls outside of DataWeave’s functionality. She also provides a proof of concept and her whole project can be found here

Integrating pub/sub with MuleSoft by Himanshu Gupta, Solutions Architect at Solace. Himanshu explains what is an event-driven architecture and what is pub/sub messaging. Using Salesforce as an example, he shows how to integrate pub/sub messaging with Salesforce and MuleSoft to dynamically filter data as it’s transferred.

Video tutorials of the quarter

Similar to the best blogs contributed, we also highlight the top video tutorials contributed by MuleSoft Community members over the last quarter. These video tutorials are easy to follow, range in difficulty level from beginner to advanced, and are another useful resource for our Community!

Mule 4 Object Store demo: currency exchange rates by Francesco Ganora, Sr. Consultant at ALTEN Switzerland AG. In this video tutorial, learn how to use the Mule 4 Object Store connector to cache currency exchange rates and search for them in a simple currency converter application. Francesco also shares his example use case on GitHub!

MuleSoft integration with Salesforce- real-time streaming APIs by Muhammad Aqib Memon, Sr. Software Engineer at Royal Cyber Inc. Muhammad demonstrates how to create PushTopics in Salesforce to achieve real-time streaming using MuleSoft and how to consume Salesforce streaming data in MuleSoft. He frequently shares MuleSoft tutorials on his YouTube channel Integration Bytes.

MUnit Test Recorder and Anypoint Studio 7.5 by Jitendra Bafna, Principal Architect at Apisero Inc. Learn more about the new MuleSoft MUnit Test Recorder and Anypoint Studio 7.5 during Jitendra’s tutorial. He demonstrates how to record a processing flow and generate automatic unit testing. Jitendra has quite a few MuleSoft tutorials available on his YouTube channel here!

DataWeave 2.0| Functions | Reduce |Flatten | Pluck | Mule 4.3.0 by Ankur Parashar, IT Architect Analysis at UnitedHealth Group. Ankur discusses how developers can use reduce/flatten/pluck DataWeave functions in writing different business logic. He covers concept building and provides a real-time use case. Ankur frequently shares MuleSoft tutorials and provides many use cases using different Anypoint Platform features. Watch them here.

Steps to create your first API in Mule | ClientId Enforcement | Generating ClientId from Exchange by Kirti Gurjar, Sr. Software Engineer at Yash Technologies. This is a great tutorial for developers new to Anypoint Platform. Kirti guides viewers through the steps necessary to successfully create and implement their first API in MuleSoft as well as explains how to generate ClientId in Exchange. She creates a wide variety of MuleSoft tutorials. Check them out here!

3 ways to concatenate objects in DataWeave 2.0 by Alexandra Martinez, MuleSoft Ambassador and Sr. MuleSoft Developer at Bits in Glass. In her tutorial, Alexandra explains what is object concatenation and how to achieve it in three different ways: using the plus plus (++) function, using the object destructor ( {()} ) function, and using the object destructor with an array ( {([ ])} ) function. Alex creates many skilled-technical tutorials on her channel ProstDev

Mule 4 Thread Management on CloudHub by Jason Estevan, MuleSoft Ambassador and Founder at EsteSolutions. Jason provides an in-depth explanation of the new Mule 4 threading strategy and how to navigate the new thread pools to create effective and efficient Mule applications in his latest YouTube tutorial. Check out all of Jason’s high-quality tutorials here

Advanced DataWeave exercises- Deep diving complex logic by Sivakumar Thankamanee, Systems Analyst at Aspire Systems. In this video tutorial, Sivakumar analyzes the internal workings of DataWeave to create complex transformation logic. He provides different DataWeave use cases to help viewers understand the core part of the technology. 

Top social contributor:

Our MuleSoft Developer groups on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter allow our Community to stay updated, connected, and share their expertise with thousands of community members. 

This last quarter, Sravan Lingam, MuleSoft Ambassador and Consultant at Virtusa, was our top social contributor! He is always sharing tips and tricks, innovative how-to’s, and helps us spread important news to the Community on all of our social channels. Some of his most popular posts include how-to create your own Tic-Tac-Toe game using Anypoint Platform and his Migrating Mule 3 to Mule 4 blog. On average, his posts get over 100 reactions! 

Top helpers of the quarter:

The MuleSoft Forum is a great resource for developers and architects with technical questions requiring help from the MuleSoft Community. These four contributors are being recognized for the quality of their answers and willingness to help other community members with their toughest MuleSoft questions on the Forum:

  • Vikalp Bhalia, MuleSoft Ambassador and Consultant at Capgemini
  • Lalit Panwar, Sr. MuleSoft Instructor at MuleSoft and Meetup leader in Chandigarh 
  • Manik Magar, MuleSoft Ambassador and Architect at AVIO Consulting

We would also like to give a special shout out to our moderators Ryan Andal and Manish Yadav, both MuleSoft Ambassadors, who keep the Forum running smoothly and are always ready to answer questions. 

MuleSoft Meetups highlights:

As mentioned above, every MuleSoft Meetup this past quarter was held virtually! Due to the continued hard work and innovation of our Meetup Leaders, our community interacted on a global level and learned from top MuleSoft experts on a variety of MuleSoft topics. Here are a few highlights from all of the awesome virtual Meetup events this past quarter.

  • We had 79 virtual Meetups last quarter that our Community could attend from anywhere in the world!
  • We saw some developers staying up late or waking up as early as 4 am (!) to attend virtual Meetups in other time zones.
  • We welcomed 22 new Meetup Leaders and 5 new Meetup groups to our growing program.
  • Our global Online Group-English held weekly events with hundreds of RSVPs. Their largest event had 693 RSVPs!
  • Our global Online Group-Spanish is now active and a great place for our Community to learn and connect in Spanish. 
  • The most popular topics for Meetups over the last quarter were DataWeave and Mule 4.

You can find all upcoming events here and be sure to join a local group or our global Online Group to be notified of all upcoming events. We also feature upcoming Meetups each month in a blog!

As you can see, this last quarter was fueled with awesome Community contributions and initiatives to continue connecting and learning virtually! Next quarter, we are looking forward to even more contributions. Join our Developer Community to stay connected and continue learning.