# How to: Connect to an XConnector service
This article walks through the process of connecting to a sample `XConnector` Spark service. In this guide we go through the following steps:
1. Review the assets and components needed to complete this how to, including the remote external service.
2. Call the remote `Xconnector` service.
3. Create a Spark Service with a sample `XConnector` Excel. Once uploaded to the Coherent Spark platform, it enables integration to this remote service.
4. Consume `XConnector` from Excel\
Use the model via [Coherent Assistant](/coherent-assistant.md) in the Excel application or Microsoft 365.
## Review the assets and components
| | |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Remote service | An Azure HTTP-triggered Function that allows anonymous access. It retrieves a filtered list of species based on the input criteria provided in the request. The function is hosted at .
If you are interested in creating your own XConnector see: /pages/CcbQ7RRe6egNYbEGGyst. The code for this XConnector is also attached below.
|
| `species.xlsx` Excel workbook | The sample Spark model file that defines the inputs, outputs, service type (`XConnector`), and the URL to the remote service. |
| `species-xcall.xlsx` Excel workbook | A sample Excel workbook that consumes the `species` service directly via `XConnector`. It can be used in the Excel application or Microsoft 365. |
{% file src="/files/n0qw8s1du2paao0zahPq" %}
{% file src="/files/iWJbcIkdDYPqsBPeO8ap" %}
{% file src="/files/Ob5pGYtpncheQcIC0Tdd" %}
## Call the remote `XConnector` service
In the `species` remote service, we provide a list of animal `species` `Type`s and we will receive a list of matching animal `name`s, `type` and `countries`.
1. Run the curl statement in your application of choice. The user guide includes instructions on using [Postman](/integrations/postman.md). Note the request body follows the "table of inputs" format from [Remote service input and output data formats](/xconnector/remote-service-input-and-output-data-formats.md#request-format-from-spark-xconnector-to-remote-service).
```sh
curl --location 'https://func-xconnector-sample.azurewebsites.net/api/species' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"inputs": [
["species"],
[
[
["Type"],
["Reptile"]
]
]
]
}'
```
2. You should receive this sample response. It conforms to the structure in [Remote service input and output data formats](/xconnector/remote-service-input-and-output-data-formats.md#response-format-from-the-remote-service-to-spark-xconnector).
```sh
curl --location 'https://func-xconnector-sample.azurewebsites.net/api/species' \
--header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
--data '{
"inputs": [
["species"],
[
[
["Type"],
["Reptile"]
]
]
]
}'
```
## Create a Spark service with the remote service call
1. If you have not created a Spark service before, please review [Get started in 5 minutes](/getting-started-in-5-minutes.md).
2. Open the `species.xlsx` file that is attached above. From the Named Ranges, in addition to `Xinput_types` and `Xoutput_results`, this file also includes important named ranges to identify this as a `XConnector` service.
| Named range | Description | Example value |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `XPROPERTY_DefaultEngineType` | The engine type for the model — must be set to `XConnector`. | XConnector
This entry is case sensitive. The C is capitalized.
|
| `XPROPERTY_XConnectorTargetUrl` | The base URL of the remote service endpoint (must end with `/`). | `https://func-xconnector-sample.azurewebsites.net/api/` |
| `XPROPERTY_XConnectorServiceName` | The specific service name (matches the endpoint name after the base URL). | `species` |
3. In Spark, create a folder called `xconnectors`.
4. Upload this Excel into the `xconnectors` folder as a Spark service. Keep the name of the service as `species`.
5. If you upload this Spark and use the [API Tester](/navigation/api-tester.md) to make an API call, you should see that the response includes a list of matching animal `name`s.
## Consume the `XConnector` from Excel
This step requires [Coherent Assistant](/coherent-assistant.md) to be installed and available in your Excel account.
1. Open the `species-xcall.xlsx` workbook that is attached above.
2. Open [Coherent Assistant](/coherent-assistant.md).
3. Log in to the Spark tenant where your `XConnector` service was deployed.
4. Coherent Assistant will automatically detect the `XConnector model` and allow you to run it directly within Excel.
5. The `Xcall` function is used to pull the data from the `XConnector`. Learn more about `Xcall` in [Call Spark service APIs (Xcall)](/build-spark-services/call-spark-service-apis.md).
1. If you had instead uploaded the `species` to another folder `more_xconnnectors`, change the `service` reference in the `CS.SPARK_XCALL()` function to point to `"more_xconnectors/species"`.
2. Within the formula there are the parameters `"!treat_as_table","type"`, this is needed because the animal `type`s are in a single column. If single cell inputs or multi-column tables are used, then these parameters are not needed.
6. If you create a Spark service from this workbook by adding `Xinput` and `Xoutput`, then you can create additional logic and calculations around the `species` remote service that can be used in an integration, e.g. return the number of matching animals.
---
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