REST Services

A REST service is a software construct that allows external users to get or set certain resources stored in a USoft application across the Internet in a predefined manner.

A REST service defines the resources that may be accessed in functional terms, not in terms of technical specifications.

A REST service is different from a conventional SOAP-based web service because its basic functionality is seen to be about interaction with data. The basic functionality of a SOAP-based service is seen to be about the execution of specific actions or tasks.

REST services in a USoft context generally perform one of three things:

•Retrieval of a specific data set, for example, a database record or a set of records.

•Atomic data manipulation, for example, updating a value in a specific database record or adding a new record.

•A task-oriented routine that performs a data transaction task, ie, a sequence of interrelated data manipulations, for example, adding an ORDER record with corresponding ORDERLINE records.

Batch-oriented routines are preferred over atomic data manipulations when it is important to be able to rollback the entire routine in the event of an error.

You can create predefined REST services that leverage off-the-shelf default behaviour shipped by USoft. You can also generate REST services from SQL, or program your own REST services.