OData V4.0

OData is a data access protocol built on core protocols like HTTP and commonly accepted methodologies like REST API for the web. Version 4 is suited for building inherently consistent REST APIs.

The OData V4 connector supports GET requests for requesting data.

POST, PATCH, PUT, and DELETE requests are also supported for some exposed entities.

A sample OData Service that you can use can be found by using the following URL: https://services.odata.org/V4/OData/OData.svc

This has multiple collections that you can connect to such as Products, Suppliers and Advertisements.

    {
   "@odata.context": "https://services.odata.org/V4/OData/OData.svc/$metadata",
   "value": [
       {
           "name": "Products",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "Products"
       },
       {
           "name": "ProductDetails",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "ProductDetails"
       },
       {
           "name": "Categories",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "Categories"
       },
       {
           "name": "Suppliers",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "Suppliers"
       },
       {
           "name": "Persons",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "Persons"
       },
       {
           "name": "PersonDetails",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "PersonDetails"
       },
       {
           "name": "Advertisements",
           "kind": "EntitySet",
           "url": "Advertisements"
       }
   ]
}

Download a ODataV4 Demo Project

Connection

To connect enter a OData service URL and then choose a collection to connect to.

OData Simple Connection

Authentication

The connector supports two types of authentication: OAuth2 Authentication and Windows Authentication.

Follow one of the guides below for help on how to use an authentication method when using the OData connector:

Connection Properties

Service URL

The OData service URL, this could be the sample OData service https://services.odata.org/V4/OData/OData.svc or specific to the connection you are using e.g. https://graph.microsoft.com/v1.0 for Graph API.

Entity

The entity in the service to run, this can also be known as OData collections. Choose the entity you wish to connect to from the drop down menu.

EntityUrlItemConvention

The OData URL Item Navigation Convention.

For Dynamics this will be {entity}({key}).

For Azure and other providers this will be {entity}/{key}.

OAuth2

The OAuth2 connection credentials, click onto the ellipsis ('...') to open the connection properties window.

OAuth2 Configuration

Field	Value
Authorise URL	URL to get authorisation from the service.
Token URL	Where the service can make a request to get an access token for a user e.g.Azure Token Endpoint URL
Client ID	A publicly exposed string that is used by the service API to identify the application
Client Secret	Used to authenticate the identity of the application to the service API, this must be kept private between the application and the API
Resource	The resource server that hosts the user account
Redirect URL	Where the service will redirect the user after they authorize (or deny) the application. You can set this to wherever you prefer or you can use the Simego default
State	Preserves some state object set by the client in the Authorization request and makes it available to the client in the response.
Scope	Can be used to selectively enable access to a user’s account based on the functionality needed
Grant Type	Authorisation Code - optimized for server side applications where source code is not publicly exposed. Implicit - used for mobile apps and web applications where the client secret confidentiality is not guaranteed. Client Credentials - provides an application a way to access its own service account. Resource Owner Password Credentials - user provides service credentials (username and password) directly to the application, these are then used to obtain an access token from the service.

Windows

Windows connection credentials, click onto the ellipsis ('...') to open the connection properties window.

Windows Configuration

Updating the Connection

If you make any changes to your OData connection you will need to delete the cache file to update the connection in Data Sync. To do this go to Tools> Open Schema Cache Folder and delete the cache file for your connection.

Now when you refresh your connection library the connection will be updated. E.g. New pages added to the Nav API will now show etc.