What is a Web Service?

A Web Service is a method of communication between two applications or electronic devices over web. You can either use pre-defined web services that come along with the SummitAI application or build Custom Services based on your organization's requirement.

Web Services are of two types:

1. Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)
2. Representational State Transfer (REST)

SOAP defines a standard communication protocol (set of rules) specification for XML-based message exchange. SOAP uses different transport protocols, such as HTTP and SMTP.

The standard protocol HTTP makes it easier for SOAP model to tunnel across firewalls and proxies without any modifications to the SOAP protocol. SOAP can sometimes be slower than middleware technologies like CORBA or ICE due to its verbose XML format.

REST describes a set of architectural principles by which data can be transmitted over a standardized interface (such as HTTP). REST does not contain an additional messaging layer and focuses on design rules for creating stateless services. A client can access the resource using the unique URL and a representation of the resource is returned. With each new resource representation, the client is said to transfer state.

While accessing RESTful resources with HTTP protocol, the URL of the resource serves as the resource identifier and GET, PUT, DELETE, POST and HEAD are the standard HTTP operations to be performed on that resource.

Provide the Service URL to create a Web Service.

Figure: Edit Service URL

Service URL example: http://<webserviceurl>/REST/Summit_RESTWCF.svc

Replace <webserviceurl> with base URL.

To preview a Web Service:

1. Select Admin > Basic > Infrastructure > Web Services.

2. Select a URL from the drop-down list.
3. Select a service from the Custom Services list.
4. Fill in all the mandatory fields and then click SUBMIT. The Output Data is displayed.
   
   
   Figure: Web Services Preview page

Field Description

The following table describes the fields on the WEB SERVICES EXPLORER page:

To create Custom Services:

1. Click CREATE NEW. The WEB SERVICE DESIGNER page is displayed.
   
   
   Figure: Web Service Designer page
   
   

2. Type in the Web Service Name and specify the number of records to be displayed.

   Note:

   You can also create SQL Views, SQL Table, SQL Procedure and modify the created fields.

    Create SQL View

   
   Figure: Create SQL View Page

    Create SQL Table

   
   Figure: Create SQL Table Page

   You can add indexes to improve the performance of the tables.

    Create SQL Procedure

   
   Figure: Create SQL Procedure Page

3. Click  icon to view, hide or customize the web service properties. 
   

   
   Figure: Web Service Properties
   
   

   Field Description

   The following table describes the fields on the PAGE PROPERTIES section:

   Fields	Description
   Module Name	Select a Module for the Web Service.
   Active	If selected, the Web Service Configuration becomes active.
   User Access	Type in the name of a user to whom you want to provide access to the Web Service.
   View Only	If selected, the user will have read only access to the web service, and cannot do any modifications to it.
   Report Description	Specify the description of the Web Service.

4. Select check box to select DATA SOURCE from the list. You can scroll down to see all the available Data Sources or type in the Data Source name in the search box to search a particular Data Source.

   Note:

   Create Relationship between the Data Sources, if you want to use multiple Data Sources.

    Create Relationship

   To create relationship, select a Data source. Fill in all the required details and click ADD RELATIONSHIP. A New Relationship is added.

   
   Figure: Relationship section
   
   

   Field Description

   The following table describes the fields on the RELATIONSHIP section:

   Fields	Description
   Join Type	Select a Join Type from the list.
   Data Source	If multiple Data Sources are selected then select a Data Source from the list to create a relationship with it.
   Table Alias	Select the alias name for the Data Source.
   Join Field	Select a field from the drop-down list for selected Data Source.
   Foreign Data Source	Select a Foreign Data Source from the drop-down list to create relationship with the selected Data Source.
   Join Field	Select a field foreign Data Source from the drop-down list.

    Add Fields to the Web Service

   To add fields to Web Services:

   1. Drag and drop the attributes from the list to FIELDS and FILTERS section to define the mandatory fields and Filter attributes. You can configure the properties of the attributes in the FIELDS and FILTERS section.
      
      
      Figure: Fields Section
      
      

      Note:

      • Click  icon to copy all the fields.
      • Click  icon to remove all the copied fields.
   2. Upon selecting attributes, PROPERTIES section is displayed (if not displayed, click icon) and configure Properties. Select an attribute on FIELDS/FILTERS column, FIELD/FILTERS PROPERTIES is displayed. If not then click the PROPERTIES icon.
      
      
      Figure: Page Properties for Fields

   Field Description

   The following table describes the fields on the PAGE PROPERTIES section:

   Fields	Description
   Source Name	Displays the Source Name of the attribute.
   Field Name	Displays the Field Name.
   Field Alias	If required, change the Field name
   Sort	Select the sort order from the drop-down list.
   Function	Select the function of the attribute from the drop-down menu.
   Custom Expression	Specify the custom expression such as SQL calculations.
   Mandatory	If selected, the corresponding field becomes mandatory.

5. Click GENERATE SQL to Generate SQL Query. 

    See Screen Shot

   
   Figure: GENERATE SQL (when Edit Query check box is not selected)
   
   

   
   Figure: GENERATE SQL (when Edit Query check box is selected)
   
   

   Note:

   • The string values should be entered in two single quotes only. Example: ''Username''.
   • Data Manipulation Language (DML) is not allowed in the SQL query. Example : Delete, Truncate, Drop, Comment, Rename, Merge, Grant, Revoke, Commit, Savepoint, Rollback, Exec and Execute.
   • If you want to pass any parameters, enter # before & after the respective Field name.

6. Click PREVIEW to view the Output of the ongoing Web Service. 

    See Screen Shot

   
   Figure: Output Preview pop-up page

7. Click SAVE. The Web Service is added to the WEB SERVICE PREVIEW list.
   
   

Creating Custom Tables in Web Services:

Importing Custom Data into Custom Tables: