INTRODUCTION TO ODATA
WHAT IS ODATA
A web protocol for querying and updating data.
Built on top of technologies like http, AtomPub
and JSON.
Enables a standardized way for data to be
available over the web.
OData is RESTful service style as SOAP is to
RPC.
ODATA : UNIFORMITY
Uniform way of representing structured data
– JSON & XML
Uniform URL Conventions
– Navigation, Filtering, Sorting, Paging
Uniform Operations
– GET, POST, PUT DELETE always mean the same
ODATA ORG
ATOM PROTOCOL
OData is layer on top of Atom Publishing
Protocol.
Atom is simple way of exposing ‘feed’ of data.
ODATA COMPONENTS
A Service definition language
Error handling
Dataset paging
Advanced Queries
Batch requests
Two request response formats : Atompub &
JSON
ODATA BASICS
OData is composed of feeds, which are
collections of typed entries.
Each entry represents a structured record with
a key.
Entries can be part of type hierarchy
Example :
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Pr
oducts
SERVICE DOCUMENT
OData service may contain one or more feeds.
Service document lists all top level feeds.
Sample Service Document :
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc
OData service can expose service specific
operations
SERVICE META DOCUMENT
Service meta document describes the shape of
an OData service.
Describes the Entity Data Model (EDM) of a
given service.
Abstract data model of the resources exposed
by the service.
Sample Meta Document :
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/$
metadata
ENTITY DATA MODEL
EDM is the abstract data model used by the
OData Services.
EDM is independent of underlying data
persistence format or implementation.
Entities and Associations are main concepts in
EDM.
URI COMPONENTS
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/Name
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/Products
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/Products/$count
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/Products(1)/Supplie
r/Address/City
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/Products(1)/Supplie
r/Address/City/$value
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Categories(1)/$links/Products
SERVICE OPERATIONS
OData services can expose service operations,
which are simple functions.
A service operation can accept primitive type
input parameters.
Can be defined to return a single or collection
of primitive, complex type, entries or void.
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Pr
oductsByColor?color=%27red%27
QUERY STRING OPTIONS
System Query Options ($orderby, $top, $skip,
$filter, $select)
Expand query option ($expand). Eager Loading
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Ca
tegories?$expand=Products
http://services.odata.org/OData/OData.svc/Pr
oducts?$select=Price,Name
ODATA OPERATIONS
WCF DATA SERVICE
WCF Data services enables the creation and
consumption of OData services for the web.
Demo with VS2010, ADO.NET Entity Model,
Northwind DB and WCF Data Service.
SERVER PAGING IN DATA SERVICES
Allow the service author to limit the size of
response to a query.
For queries that exceeds size limit:
Partial response is returned without exceeding the
size limit.
In addition a link to get the rest of the results.
SERVER PAGING
SHAREPOINT & ODATA
Every Sharepoint 2010 server is Data Services
server.
Supports ATOM & JSON formats.
Enables client integration with sharepoint from
any platform & any language.
CUSTOM DATA SERVICE PROVIDER
Data services sits on top of Data service
provider.
Entity Framework
LINQ to SQL DataContext
Custom Service Provider – IDataService
Metadata, Query, Update, Paging, Stream
Provider
For more details on custom DSP see here
GDATA
Google has GData protocol for accessing
Calendar, Youtube.
Limited only to Google Services.
OData is an attempt to open up server side of
the protocol.
CONCLUSION
Simple, Uniform way of sharing data at the
protocol level.
Enables broad integration across products and
breaks data silos.
All you need is Http stack to integrate with any
OData producer.
Sharepoint and Office betting on OData.
REFERENCES
http://www.odata.org
http://www.odataprimer.com
