I have a very high-level, generic question related to the retrieval of data with an API, the storage of that data, and the ability to report off of the data. My background is primarily on the database side with a specific focus on reporting out of Crystal. That being said, I'm fairly green when it comes to APIs, SDKs, .NET, and Visual Studio, so feel free to respond as if I'm 5.
I've attached a quick mock-up of the application architecture for context. The vendor we're working with touts their APIs as the best way to retrieve data for reporting purposes, but I'm struggling with visualizing the layer between raw API data retrieval and a reporting environment. Having not worked with API data retrieval in the past, can someone explain to me in layman's terms how this process would work?
1.) How would I go about retrieving data from the app server via the vendor's API? Is it as simple as creating a visual studio project and coding the API call?
2.) Let's say I'm able to retrieve the data with an API call, what is the best method for storing / reporting against that data? Is it possible to develop real-time reports out of visual studio with API call data?
3.) If #2 is not possible, the data pulled from the API calls will have to be stored somewhere. Is it possible to code the API calls to write results directly to a separate reporting datamart?
Again, I apologize if these questions are extremely elementary. I'm basically looking for context around the scenario to identify how close or rather far off I am in my understanding.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!
i´m going to try to answer each question as high level as possible:
1) Retrieving the data via the API is fairly simple, you need to code the call with a proper requerst and handle the response, for example if your API is exposed with a REST web service all you need to do is make an http call to the ws endpoint according to the service definition.
2) You said that the report requirement is probably a SSRS report. The way to proceed depends on how you want to handle this data. One approach culd be to store it in a database and then create a report server project that generates reports with this data.
3) Yes, according to the data format you can do whatever you want with it, from exporting a csv file to store it inside a dedicated database.
I hope this was useful in some way, as i´m not super experienced in report generation but have worked with different APIs handling data
Related
I am here for your help. First time handling a task about the API, SAP/SOAP, Web services. Sorry, as this is a long post. Let me explain the workflow.
XYZ Server calls the API Application (which I need to develop) to obtain the UserIDs.
These UserIDs will be used to retrieve the data from API of 3 different source systems (ABC, PGS, KGT). ABC and PGS are using RestAPI while the KGT is using SOAP.
The retrieved data will be stored in the In-Memory.
The API Application will insert all the APIs in the In-Memory to the XYZ server.
Here's my question:
Is it possible to use only the VS Code for the development?
There's no database provided. How am I able to store the retrieved data into the memory?
Based on the workflow, is it possible to develop the API application in just a week? Given that I am only a newbie?
I just need your ideas on how I am going to start the development. Currently, I already have a method to get the user ID and to insert the data back into the XYZ server.
Note: The API Application is a non-UI. It serves or acts as a middleman, to transfer data from other systems to XYZ system.
Appreciate your response.
I don't know if it helps but I will try to help you.
First, I think it i totally possible to only use VS Code as you are just coding an API.
Second, have you though about having an in-memory database like Redis?
Third, I think it depends. It is possible to do that in a week at least for more experienced people, but as a "newbie" as you said, I think maybe some more time might be needed.
Hope it helps ^^
I have client requirement in which client wants to get output data of bio metric machine and want to process in asp.net c#. How to get Data from bio metric machine and process int asp.net?
Your question is very generic so here's a very generic answer.
Generally speaking processing data in asp.net consists of:
Creating controllers with HttpGet, HttPost methods
Saving data into a data store (e.g. a database)
There are many questions you need to ask before you come up with a good design. For example:
How much data?
How often?
How would the data be consumed (via an API by a 3rd party app?, published somewhere?
Would you be using an existing datastore?
What authentication and authorization requirements need to be met?
(Many, many more questions.)
One place to find samples for aps.net is https://github.com/aspnet/samples
As an example, if your data comes in as json, you could look at JsonUploadSample:
This sample illustrates how to upload and download JSON to and from an ApiController.
Good luck!
I am relatively new to this so if this is a dumb question please just link me to some relevant information.
We work with a third party vendor that recently opened up their databases using an API. Information on it can be found here: https://www.entrata.com/api-documentation. It returns the data in either an XML or JSON format as per usual.
We would like to use this API to copy relevant data onto our own SQL server so we can preform our own reporting (their provided reports aren't quite up to snuff with what we are looking for). We want this to be done regularly so I am really looking for a repeatable process. I have been searching around and I believe I am going to have to build a .NET application that GETs the data then parses it into a SQL friendly format for BULK INSERT, but I'm not sure if this is indeed the case or where to really start if it is.
Any information you can provide or even a point in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and effort.
P.S. At the moment I do not have access to our SQL server. I have been trying to get a logon from our IT department for the last week but they seem to be dragging their feet.
Use SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) to develop a package that imports the data. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms169917.aspx
I'm trying to prepare to build a database driven .net application and I have hit a roadblock early on due to my lack of knowledge on this topic. Searching around didn't yield anything so here I am asking for help.
I'm receiving weekly data in xml format that will be added to a database and then reports generated using that data. I have a limited license on the xml files so only I can download them and I need to get the results to my end users as well. As far as I can see, I have 2 options:
Feed the data from the xml files into a web hosted database and then have each user connect to the database.
Upload the xml data to a server, have each user download it and keep a local copy of their own database. I'm thinking this will invalidate my license to the original data.
Things / questions of note:
The database holds weekly sports historical data for about the last 10 years.
I need to limit access to the database to only subscribed users.
I'll need to decide how the database will be built.
I need to decide what kind of hosting I'll need.
As you can see, quite an ambitious project for someone new to this. I haven't asked any specific questions so far:
What kind of hosting solutions shall I look for?
Should I use SQL? (Complete newbie on this subject)
Should I use clickonce and then host the application?
Do you have any book or tutorial recommendations that would cover a project like this?
Do I need a script to feed the xml into the database if I go that route? Will that script reside on the server and do it automatically even if I'm not there to instigate it?
I hope the general topic isn't too vague. I tried to actually ask specific questions on it and I'm aware I don't have any code to show as it's just in the early stages of thinking.
The question is a bit vague since you are early on in the decision-making process. However, I do believe that I can offer some help in directing your thinking as you proceed. I think in the situation you are describing, one key thing you should consider is to host your data via JSON/WCF/REST. If you look into these technologies, you will see that there are different ways you can offer your data based upon your developing requirements. For example, how are you going to do authentication? Are you going to allow third-party clients?
What you really don't want to do is allow direct database access, even for authenticated users. Instead, put something in front of it. If you are working in the .NET space, look into all of the different things WCF offers and pick one based upon what fits best. Once you pick that, then you will know what you need for hosting and deployment. Even if you are going to provide the clients as well as the server, this is still a good way to protect your data and provide a way to expand your offering in the future.
I am basically new to this kind of work.I am programming my application in C# in VS2010.I have a crystal report that is working fine and it basically gets populated with some xml data. That XMl data is coming from other application that is written in Python on another machine.
That Python script generates some data and that data is put on the memory stream. I basically have to read that memory stream and write my xml which is used to populate my crystal report. So my supervisor wants me to use remote procedure call.
I have never done any remote procedure calling. But as I have researched and understood. I majorly have to develop a web or WCF service I guess. I don't know how should I do it. We are planning to use the http protocol.
So, this is how it is supposed to work. I give them the url of my service and they would call that service and my service should try to read the data they put on the memory stream. After reading the data I should use part of the data to write my xml and this xml is used to populate my crystal report.
The other part of the data ( other than the data used to write the xml) should be sent to a database on the SQl server. This is my complete problem definition. I need ideas and links that will help me in solving this problem.
As John wrote, you're quite late if it's urgent and your description is quite vague. There are 1001 RPC techniques and the choice depends on details. But taking into account that you seem just to exchange some xml data, you probably don't need a full RPC implementation. You can write a HTTP server in python with just a few lines of code. If it needs to be a bit more stable and log running, have a look at twisted. Then just use pure html and the WebClient class. Not a perfect solution, but worked out quite well for me more than once. And you said it's urgent! ;-)