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WSO2 Data Services Server Quick Start Guide

The purpose of this guide is to get you started on creating and invoking a data service using WSO2 Data Services Server as quickly as possible. We'll create a simple data service using Data Services Server creation wizard and then look at creating clients to access that service.

Content

Introduction

WSO2 Data Services Server is a convenient mechanism to provide a web service interface for data stored in some data sources. Data sources such as relational databases, CSV files, Microsoft Excel files and google spread sheets can be easily service enabled using Data Services Server. Now, the data can be exposed and accessed in a secured(using WS-Security) and reliable(using WS-ReliableMessaging) manner, and is also available for mashing-up with other Web services.

You can download WSO2 Data Services Server from the following location.

[Download WSO2 Data services Server ]

Installing WSO2 Data Services Server and Accessing management console

  • If you downloaded WSO2 Data services server from the above link, extract wso2-dataservices-XX.zip in to a directory in your local file system.
  • From the command prompt, run bin/wso2server.bat{sh}
  • When the server startup is complete, access http://localhost:9443/carbon in your favorite browser. Welcome page of the WSO2 Data Services Server will be displayed. Click on Signin link at the top right corner of the page. Then you can sign in to the management console using default admin user credentials(username=admin, password=admin).


WSO2 Data Services Server Home page

Figure 1: WSO2 Data Services Server Home Page



Creating a sample database and populate data

This guide assumes MySQL is configured in your system. If not, please download MySQL 5 or later version from here.

  • From the command prompt, run MySQL_HOME/bin/mysqld.bat{sh} to start MySQL server
  • Lets create a simple data base with one table. Open a command prompt and type 'mysql -u root -p' to access mySQL prompt. If you installed mySQL default configurations, you may enter blank password and access mySQL prompt. Enter the following commands to create a sample database, create a table and populate sample data.

    mysql>create database employeedb;

    mysql>use employeedb;

    mysql>create table employee(id VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, name VARCHAR(100), address VARCHAR(100));

    mysql> insert into employee values('01','john','Boston');

    mysql> insert into employee values('02','Micheal','Dallas');

    mysql> insert into employee values('03','richard','Chicago');

    mysql> exit;

Since we are using a MySQL database for our demonstration, we should copy mySQL JDBC driver to CARBON_HOME/repository/components/lib directory (e.g:- cp mysql-connector-java-5.0.3-bin.jar /home/user/wso2ds/wso2-dataservices-2.5.0/repository/components/lib).

After copying the necessary jdbc driver, make sure to restart WSO2 Data services solution server.

Creating your first data service

We are ready to create our first data service using WSO2 Data Services Server. We will make use of the sample MySQL 'employeedb' database we have created in the previous step.

  • Select 'Create' from the left navigation menu of WSO2 Data Services Server management console. Data Service Step-1 will be displayed.
  • Provide a name for the data service (e.g:- EmployeeDataService) and you can give a description if you prefer.
  • Click on 'Next' once you enter the details.


WSO2 Data Services Create Data Service page

Figure 2: WSO2 Data Services Server Create Data Service page


Now we can enter the data source details in this step. Let's start with giving a name for the data source as 'DataSourceEmp'.

Select the data source type as 'RDBMS' and enter the following values.

Database Engine = MySQL

Driver Class = com.mysql.jdbc.Driver

JDBC URL = jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/employeedb

User name = root

  • Click on 'Test Connection' button. You should get 'Database connection is successfull with driver class com.mysql.jdbc.Driver , jdbc url jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/employeedb and user name root' message if the database connection is successful.


Create Data source

Figure 3: Create Data source


Click on 'Save' button. You will see the created data source as follows.


Preview of added data sources

Figure 4: Created data sources list


  • Next, click on 'Next' button at the Data Sources. Initially your service does not include any queries.
  • Click on 'Add New Query' to add a new query to our service. 'Add New Query' window will be displayed. Enter the following values there.

Query ID = DataQueryEmp



SQL Statement = select id, name, address from employee

Grouped by Element = Employees

Row name = Employee

Row namespace = http://test.org

  • Now click on 'Add New Output Mapping' button in 'Add New Query' window. 'Add New Output Mapping' window will be appeared. Add three output mappings as follows
  1. Mapping Type = Element

    Output field name = id

    Data source column Name = id

    Schema Type = xs:string

  2. Mapping Type = Element

    Output field name = name

    Data source column Name = name

    Schema Type = xs:string

  3. Mapping Type = Attribute

    Output field name = address

    Data source column Name = address

    Schema Type = xs:string

We have added one query to our data service configuration. In this example, we do not use an SQL statement which accepts input parameters. Therefore, we can ignore 'Input Mappings'.


Add New Query

Figure 5: Add New Querry

  • Save the query and click on 'Next' button at the operations. You will be directed to the 'Add Operations' page where you can add new operations to the data service configuration.

Add New Operations

Figure 6: Add New Operations

You will notice that the query we have created in the previous step will be shown in 'Query' dropdown of the 'Add New Operation' window. Provide a name for the operation (e.g:- getEmployees) and click on 'Save'.

  • Click on 'Finish' to deploy the service

Your new data service will be listed in 'Deployed Services' page as follows.


Deployed Services

Figure 7: Deployed Services

Invoking Data Service

In this section, we'll look at two different ways to invoke our data service without writing single line of code. First we will invoke our data service using 'Tryit' utility which integrated in to WSO2 Data Service Server Management console. Then we invoke it using a simple HTTP GET request.

  • Click on 'EmployeeDataService' in 'Deployed Services' page. You will be directed to 'Service Management' page as follows.


Service Management

Figure 8: Service Management

  • Select 'Try This Service' link. Following page will be displayed.


Try it page of EmployeeDataService

Figure 9: Try-it

Click on 'getEmployees' button to invoke our data service. You will get the response message in the same page. Note that employee id and name will be returned as xml elements and address will be wrapped as an attribute. This is due to our output mapping configuration at step 2 of the wizard. We have configured id and name as element mapping types and address as attribute mapping type. You can edit them and observe the associated changes in response very easily using Tryit.

  • Now, we will invoke the same data service using our second approach, HTTP GET request. Copy and paste the dollowing URL in your browser and hit enter.

http://localhost:9763/services/EmployeeDataService/getEmployees

You will get the same result back as in 'Tryit' approach

For more details on the Data services see User Guide