API Requirements

General Requirements

  • Web Service API is based on common protocols like SOAP
  • Application data ownership can be established by the user profiles
  • Object URL (a path to open the item in the Web application) can be resolved based on the user session and object information
  • Documents names and their allocation should map well to the local folders and file structure 1. 2. 3. 4.
  • Objects have unique IDs and timestamp or similar field which automatically increases with every object update
  • Get: a list of objects can be retrieved by two different methods: requesting objects by IDs or selecting and filtering them by complex criteria. A number of requested objects can be obtained
  • Add: when adding an object, its ID and timestamp are to be returned in response
  • Delete: an object can be deleted by addressing its ID.
  • Links: linked fields should identify reference object by its type and ID 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Customization support

Access to metadata is required to support automatic customization of UI elements of the desktop application to represent the data according to the configuration of the server. The following metadata is crucial:
  • A list of user available objects types.
  • A list of object fields with field data type (integer, string, boolean, date and time, etc.)

Optional requirements

  • The following recommendations need to be heeded in order to increase application performance and reliability: 1. 2.
  • Support few simultaneous connections for the same user
  • SQL-like selection criteria for object retrieval and update operations
  • Object type can be obtained
  • The list of object fields to return is specified in a query 1. 2. 3. 4.
  • Use timestamp as a parameter in Modify and Delete operations to protect data from being affected
  • Bulk operations are preferable to increase transaction performance. Result of each request and resulting timestamp are expected in return
  • Process Add, Delete or Modify operation in a single transaction, regardless of the internal structure of the object on the server side
SyncThroughAPI (.pdf)