An application programming interface
(API) allows applications to talk to each other. In our context API is
implemented as a REST API and the technical protocol which is used is Open Data
Protocol (OData). Because of this we can use standard HTTP methods
(GET,POST,PUT,PATCH,DELETE ) to call the API.
OData views data as a set
of entities each having its own properties which can be filtered by using query
options. The relationship between these entities are shown using the entity data
model.
IFS OData Provider exposes IFS business
entities and business logics through OData endpoints which is known as IFS OData
service or IFS REST API.
API Explorer facilitate developers to
discover IFS REST APIs as OpenAPI specifications and OData specifications in the
format of JSON. Each of these specifications describes available endpoints,
operation parameters, authentication methods and some other information. More
details about OpenAPI specifications can be found here.
(https://swagger.io/docs/specification/about/) . So, developers can use these
APIs to create new applications or connect existing applications without having
to invest development time from the scratch.
API Explorer makes the APIs
easily discoverable and allows and administrator to include these APIs in
Compatibility Application Type, thus making them available through HTTP Basic
Authentication. It also generates API specification URLs in OData and OpenAPI
formats.