Web services¶
The web services are key to the interactions between the client website and the warehouse. Web services use the same protocols that we use everyday for browsing the internet but instead of providing a user interface (website), web services provide a programmatic interface. In a typical web transaction, a user sends a request to a specified web address. The server responds with the web page. A typical web service transaction is instigated by some code on the client website. The code sends a request to a specified web address. The server responds with some data. The code then processes that data before rendering the web page as appropriate.
The web services in Indicia are comprehensive in comparison with some systems where the web services were added as an afterthought, because the Indicia architecture means that every single interaction with the data on the warehouse must go through the web services. Every record, every report and every map you see on websites like iRecord is obtained via the web services. Indicia’s web services provide the following facilities:
Data services
Read individual database records
Read lists of database records according to provided sort and filter criteria. This supports pagination in grids by allowing limit and offset parameters
Write to records for edits and deletes
Reporting Services
Read the output of reports, also with support for pagination in grids by allowing limit and offset parameters
Other web services
Authenticate a client website
Spatial reference operations including transformations from map coordinates to and from any spatial reference notation.
Bulk import records
Apply verification rules to proposed records
The data access via Indicia’s web services requires secure authentication and applies authorisation so that each client website cannot see data that belongs to other websites by default.
