Creating Platform objects from OpenEdge Object Services

Platform external objects can be associated with OpenEdge Data Objects hosted on an OpenEdge application server. An OpenEdge Data Object is a resource that provides well-defined client access to OpenEdge data and business logic on an OpenEdge application server. When you associate Platform external objects with OpenEdge Data Objects, the data persistence for these objects is handled by the OpenEdge application server.

To provide integration with Platform, OpenEdge developers create at least one Data Object Service and its Data Service Catalog, which defines the OpenEdge Data Objects they want the service to expose to clients (in this case, Platform external objects). This process is described in the OpenEdge documentation, specifically in the Data Object overview chapter of Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge Online Help.

OpenEdge developers deploy a Data Object Service that they create with one or more OpenEdge Data Objects either to a Progress Application Server for OpenEdge (PAS for OpenEdge) or to a generic Tomcat web server running OpenEdge REST with access to the OpenEdge AppServer. The endpoints will need to be accessible over HTTP(S) to the Internet for Hosted Platform users or to the Platform instance for Private Cloud users. The appropriate security settings are necessary to protect these endpoints. Using Basic Authentication over HTTPS is a recommended deployment option. Different security models can be used during development and deployment. For example, you could develop with anonymous access over HTTP and change the Service URI to HTTPS and add Basic Authentication at a later date without reimporting the Data Service Catalog.

Once the OpenEdge side is set up, you can import an OpenEdge Data Service Catalog (called a JSDO Catalog in the Platform user interface) to create Platform external objects or to create a new Platform application. Either way, you need the following information before starting the integration:

  • The file location of the Data Service Catalog
  • The URI for the Web application where the OpenEdge Data Object Service is deployed
  • If using Basic Authentication, the username and password required to access the Web application where the Data Object Service is deployed
Note: When using REST or SOAP APIs to create, update, or delete external objects linked to OpenEdge Data Object Services, you need to supply both the object integration name as a string and an object ID. See the SOAP and REST APIs described in Metadata API and XML Reference, Platform REST Methods, and Platform SOAP Methods.