OData is an HTTP-based protocol with standard definitions for a wide range of operations. Any OData-compatible client application, from Business Intelligence applications to scripting languages, can connect to the Connect OData API. Once you’ve specified which Entities and Actions you want to be available in the OData API, as well as the Users and their permissions, you are ready to access the Connect OData API at the base URL https://myconnectserver/odata.rsc.

Connecting to OData

The Connect OData API requires users to provide authentication before accessing data. See Connecting to OData for detailed information on how to authenticate to the OData API exposed by Connect, as well as some examples of connecting to this OData endpoint using several common compatible applications.

Discovery

The OData standards define endpoints where the metadata of the API can be retrieved. The Connect API implements those metadata endpoint, as well as OpenAPI/Swagger endpoints for applications that support OpenAPI. See Discovery for information on how to list the data available through the API using the $metadata and OpenAPI endpoints.

OData Operations

Any HTTP client application can make request to read, create, update and delete records from OData entities. Most OData-client applications are configured to read and write data to an OData endpoint, however it may be useful to know how those API calls work. See OData Operations for examples on how to make simple CRUD request against entities exposed in the Connect OData API.

Query Options

The Connect OData API implements a large number of operation defined in OData requirements, which includes a lot more functionality than simple CRUD request. These operations allow you to restrict the data returned by the API. See Query Options for a list of available filters and other options to retrieve more specific ranges of results from the Connect OData API.

Procedures

OData also supports operations that do not map to typical CRUD operations. Such operations can be used to generate reports, restrict access to operations, or otherwise implement custom business logic on entities in the data-source. See Procedures for examples on how to invoke Procedures, actions or functions in the Connect OData API.

Search

The Connect OData API implements the OData Search functionality, which allows a request to look for any instance of a string in a record. See Search for details on how to use the OData Search functionality.

Expand

The Connect OData API also supports the OData Expand feature, which can be useful to retrieve data from more than one entity in a single request. See Expand for details on how to use the OData Expand functionality and retrieve an entiy along with all associated records.

Server Responses

The status of a request can best be described by the HTTP Status code. This status code may also provide additional context for any error you may encounter in the Connect OData API. See Server Responses for a list of server responses that Connect can return.

OData Settings

The Connect OData API is flexible, and supports different formats, which may be required by different client applications. See OData-Settings for more information on the options that Connect supports and what default settings are available.