When you add Web API support to your Scaffolded project, the AB Suite MVC Scaffolder generates the following API Controller classes that can be used to expose RESTful services from the application over HTTP. The generated Controllers provide a base for further customization to include additional API calls if required.
IspecController class – This class exposes API calls that connect to the runtime system and perform transactions against it.
ListController class – This class exposes API calls for retrieving lists from the runtime system.
PMController class – This class is a placeholder for adding API calls to call public segment methods. You can add these classes as required.
The following table summarizes the API calls and gives an example of the call in each case:
| Type | Controller | Method | Parameters | Example and Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
GET | <SystemName>Ispec For example, SampleIspec | GetConnect() | String userId | api/SampleIspec/Connect?userId=John Connects to the host application. The user id is passed to the call, but is not used. It could be utilized as the station name. |
GET | <SystemName>Ispec | GetStatus() | None | api/SampleIspec/Status Retrieves the current status line information. |
GET | <SystemName>Ispec | GetErrors() | Int num | api/SampleIspec/Errors?num=10 Returns up to ten errors from the current error list maintained by the application. |
GET | <SystemName>Ispec | Get() | String ispec | api/SampleIspec/SampleIspec?ispec=PROD Returns the data for the ispec named PROD. |
GET | <SystemName>Ispec | GetMaint() | String ispec, String maint | api/SampleIspec /maint?ispec =PROD&maint=FIR Retrieves data for the first record in the PROD ispec. Maint values can be FIR, NEX, BAC, LAS, DEL, and INQ. |
POST | <SystemName>Ispec | PostTransmit() | Object ispec (FromBody) String TransmitIspec Bool context | api/SampleIspec /Transmit?TransmitIspec =PROD&context=true This transmits the data sent in the request body as a JSON string. The TransmitIspec parameter specifies the ispec to be used. The context parameter determines whether to load the specified ispec before transmitting the data (that is, is the application state required or not). |
POST | <SystemName>Ispec | GetList() | String listName | api/SampleList/list?listName =ProductList Retrieves a list called ProductList from the host application. |
POST | <SystemName>Ispec | GetList() | String listName String listFormat String hc String dc | api/SampleList /list?listName =ProductList&listFormat =%1%2&hc=1&dc=2 Retrieves a list called ProductList from the host application. Uses the format parameter to display columns 1 and 2 in the list. Specifies that the host column is column 1 and the display column is column 2. |
The APIs exposed by the Web API interface are typically called through Ajax requests from the browser by using JavaScript. A typical scenario is where a SPA loads in the browser once and then makes calls to the Web API services to populate the parts of the application with data as required.
Additional custom APIs can be added to these Controllers as required.