Anyone in this forum has created a Web Service which calls WebFOCUS RESTful Web Services? (a Web Service calls another Web Service). Our platform mainly is HTML/jQuery/SQL Server and WebFOCUS8.2 in Windows Server 2012R2, and our apps are mainly WebFOCUS self-service applications. If you have experience and can share your knowledge, it is greatly appreciated.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FP Mod Chuck,

I think I am a bit confused with your request.

Is a third part app calling WebFOCUS RESTful API expecting JSON to be returned or something else ?

Thanks Waz! I updated my post after discussing the project requirements. It is a project that one web service calls another web service (WebFOCUS REST Web Service) project. WebFOCUS REST Web Service returns JSON object to calling Web Service, and this We Service returns same JSON object to a web application.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lusheng,

Hi Lusheng. Do you have a specific question?

Have you read the WebFOCUS manual "WebFOCUS Embedded Business Intelligence User's Guide Release 8.2 Version 03" available at https://webfocusinfocenter.inf...dded_bi_user8203.pdf ? It has examples in JavaScript.

I have experience using the REST API with Python. I will be posting my code, a Python wrapper for many of the WF REST calls, to GitHub in the next month or so.

A good module for making HTTP (REST) requests will handle putting the HTTP header and body together. Python's Requests library (http://docs.python-requests.org/en/master/) and JavaScript Request (https://github.com/request/request) are both relatively easy to use.

Here is an example (prompted by Waz) to run an ad hoc fex and return JSON. And I highly recommend using Fiddler for debugging REST calls (https://www.telerik.com/fiddler)


URL: http://localhost:8080/ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/EDA

Header: {'User-Agent': 'python-requests/2.18.4', 'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip, deflate', 'Accept': '*/*', 'Connection': 'keep-alive', 'Cookie': 'WF-JSESSIONID=12E4A798EE2EAF81232EC5A5884471D5', 'Content-Length': '248', 'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}

Body (manually formatted):
IBIRS_action=runAdHocFex &
IBIRS_path=EDA &
IBIRS_nodeName=EDASERVE &
IBIRS_fexContent=TABLE+FILE+CAR%0APRINT+%0A++MPG%0A++SEATS%0ABY+COUNTRY%0ABY+CAR%0ABY+MODEL%0AON+TABLE+PCHOLD+FORMAT+JSON%0AEND%0A&IBIWF_SES_AUTH_TOKEN=f149ec78dfcced2f9eb2520af06ebd7b

The ad hoc (inline) fex is:
TABLE FILE CAR
PRINT
MPG
SEATS
BY COUNTRY
BY CAR
BY MODEL
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT JSON
END


Results:
{"records" : [{"COUNTRY" : "ENGLAND","CAR" : "JAGUAR","MODEL" : "V12XKE AUTO","MPG" : 16,"SEATS" : 2},{"COUNTRY" : "ENGLAND","CAR" : "JAGUAR","MODEL" : "XJ12L AUTO","MPG" : 9,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "ENGLAND","CAR" : "JENSEN","MODEL" : "INTERCEPTOR III","MPG" : 11,"SEATS" : 4},{"COUNTRY" : "ENGLAND","CAR" : "TRIUMPH","MODEL" : "TR7","MPG" : 25,"SEATS" : 2},{"COUNTRY" : "FRANCE","CAR" : "PEUGEOT","MODEL" : "504 4 DOOR","MPG" : 21,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "ITALY","CAR" : "ALFA ROMEO","MODEL" : "2000 4 DOOR BERLINA","MPG" : 21,"SEATS" : 4},{"COUNTRY" : "ITALY","CAR" : "ALFA ROMEO","MODEL" : "2000 GT VELOCE","MPG" : 21,"SEATS" : 2},{"COUNTRY" : "ITALY","CAR" : "ALFA ROMEO","MODEL" : "2000 SPIDER VELOCE","MPG" : 21,"SEATS" : 2},{"COUNTRY" : "ITALY","CAR" : "MASERATI","MODEL" : "DORA 2 DOOR","MPG" : 0,"SEATS" : 2},{"COUNTRY" : "JAPAN","CAR" : "DATSUN","MODEL" : "B210 2 DOOR AUTO","MPG" : 0,"SEATS" : 4},{"COUNTRY" : "JAPAN","CAR" : "TOYOTA","MODEL" : "COROLLA 4 DOOR DIX AUTO","MPG" : 27,"SEATS" : 4},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "AUDI","MODEL" : "100 LS 2 DOOR AUTO","MPG" : 23,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "2002 2 DOOR","MPG" : 24,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "2002 2 DOOR AUTO","MPG" : 24,"SEATS" : 4},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "3.0 SI 4 DOOR","MPG" : 18,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "3.0 SI 4 DOOR AUTO","MPG" : 18,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "530I 4 DOOR","MPG" : 18,"SEATS" : 5},{"COUNTRY" : "W GERMANY","CAR" : "BMW","MODEL" : "530I 4 DOOR AUTO","MPG" : 18,"SEATS" : 5}]}

Python source code (using Requests) module:

def rs_run_ad_hoc_fex(self, nodename='EDASERVE', fex_content=''):
"""Reporting Server: Running a Report Within an Application."""

method = 'post'
data = {
'IBIRS_action': 'runAdHocFex',
'IBIRS_path': 'EDA',
'IBIRS_nodeName': nodename,
'IBIRS_fexContent': fex_content
}
url = '{}://{}:{}/ibi_apps/rs/ibfs/EDA'.format(self.protocol,
self.host,
self.port)

# add the CSRF token value to the body (data) of the request
if self.IBIWF_SES_AUTH_TOKEN is not None:
data['IBIWF_SES_AUTH_TOKEN'] = self.IBIWF_SES_AUTH_TOKEN

return self.request(method=method, url=url, data=data)


Prior to making the REST call, the user or calling program must sign on and also get session authorization token to use in subsequent calls.

Thanks Ira for sharing your python example! I have tested IBI's HTML and jQuery Example in my local host and that works fine. The issue is how to create another Web Service to call IBI's REST Web Service.

Lusheng, I don't do web development, but my understanding is a web service is simply a program. So, in this case program #1 (your web service) is calling program #2 (the WF REST service). What is tripping you up?

Agreed, this seems to be a more generic question of creating a RESTful Web Service what is not WebFOCUS based.

May be worth googling creating a RESTful web service.

Is there a reason for needing two Web Services to return the results to the APP ?