How the USoft Remote Rules Service API Works

When using the USoft Remote Rules Service, you have the following distinct layers:

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An ODBC-enabled application calls ODBC functions to access data in a database. These function calls are sent to the ODBC driver manager, which in turn passes them to the appropriate ODBC driver (e.g. USoft Remote Rules Service API). The ODBC driver processes the ODBC calls, converts them to the syntax of the specific RDBMS (for example: Sybase or Oracle) and then sends the calls to the RDBMS. The RDBMS performs the requests and returns the data and status of the actions. The ODBC driver passes the data back to the ODBC driver manager which in turn passes it to the ODBC-enabled application.

Before an application can retrieve data it must make a connection to a specific ODBC driver and thereby (implicitly) a Database. When making a connection to an ODBC driver you must specify which driver you want to use. ODBC drivers can be configured and given a user-friendly "Data Source Name". The data source name specifies which driver, database, and network parameters are to be used when an application connects to this data source. These parameters can be configured and stored, so that they do not have to be specified each time a connection is made.

The main difference between the Remote Rules Service and the Open Rules API used in previous USSoft versions is that the Rules Engine has been moved out of the Application process to a separate unit, which may, but does not have to, reside on a remote computer. Communication between the Remote Rules Service ODBC interface part and the Rules Service part is based on theTCP/IP protocol.