Connecting with REST API

CData Virtuality provides a REST API interface, enabling external API clients to access data in the virtual databases hosted on the CData Virtuality Server. This is how the process works:

This guide will use the API client tool Postman as an example. However, other API client tools can also be used.

For detailed specifications of the REST API used by the CData Virtuality Server, see REST API.

Postman

The API client tool Postman can be downloaded here for free.

Configuration for Windows

Checking API Endpoints

The API endpoints are as follows:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>:8080/rest/api/status/

In addition to the above, a CData Virtuality Server user name and password are required for basic authentication.

Communication Confirmation

Using Postman, first, verify the status of the CData Virtuality Server through the REST API with the following request details:
GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>:8080/rest/api/status/
Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from CData Virtuality Server user and password

If the response status is 200 and the body contains "status": "OK", the communication with the CData Virtuality Server is successful.

Obtaining the List of Schemas

To retrieve the list of schemas from the CData Virtuality Server, follow these steps:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>:8080/rest/api/source

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

Obtaining the List of Objects in a Schema

To retrieve the list of objects (tables and views) within a schema on the CData Virtuality Server, follow these steps:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>:8080/rest/api/source

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

Accessing Data in Objects (Table or View)

The example below demonstrates accessing data from the Customers table in the MySQL sample database.

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>:8080/rest/api/source/mysql/Customers

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

Configuration for SaaS

Checking API Endpoints

The API endpoints for the SaaS version can be obtained from the Preferences section in the CData Virtuality Web UI:

1. Ensure that REST under APIs is enabled and click the Copy link button.

2. Keep this string handy as it will be used in later steps.
   Note that Database Username (found under Database Credentials) is also required for authentication when accessing the REST API endpoint.

Communication Confirmation

Using Postman, first, verify the status of the CData Virtuality Server through the REST API with the following request details:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>/<token>/rest/api/status/

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

If the response status is 200 and the body contains "status": "OK", the communication with the CData Virtuality Server is successful.

Obtaining the List of Schemas

To retrieve the list of schemas from the CData Virtuality Server, follow these steps:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>/<token>/rest/api/source/

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

Obtaining the List of Objects in a Schema

To retrieve the list of objects (tables and views) within a schema on the CData Virtuality Server, follow these steps:

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>/<token>/rest/api/source/

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

Accessing Data in Objects (Table or View)

The example below demonstrates accessing data from the Customers table in the MySQL sample database.

GET http://<datavirtuality-server-address>/<token>/rest/api/source/mysql/Customers

Authentication: Basic Auth using the credentials from the CData Virtuality Server.

See Also

REST API for more details on using REST API in CData Virtuality