REST for Progress Application Server for OpenEdge is Secure and Scalable

Progress Application Server (PAS) for OpenEdge can use its RESTful Service Interface to deploy REST services, creating a secure and scalable API interface for your application.

What is the RESTful Server Interface for PAS for OpenEdge?

The "standard" that is most widely adopted for enabling communication between users and apps over the web is REST. It is an architectural style for network-based software that requires stateless, cacheable, client-server communication via a uniform and documented interface between components.

How does it help your application?

Many development projects today include requirements to “open up” your OpenEdge application to interface with other applications in your enterprise. Often, the easiest way to accomplish this is using REST services. With PAS for OpenEdge, you can deploy services to provide access to tables or business logic in your database for Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD). Using Progress Developer Studio, you can use a wizard-based interface to accomplish this in a few steps.

Additionally, you can easily create REST services from ABL procedures or Object Oriented ABL classes that use standard interfaces (inputs and outputs.) That means you can create interfaces to your existing business logic. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel because you can leverage the code you have written and maintained over the years!

The third reason many Progress OpenEdge application developers find for using REST in PAS for OpenEdge is the ability to control access to the data in their database. If you currently offer SQL Access to your OpenEdge data using ODBC or JDBC, you may not be happy with how these users make SQL calls into your database. Often, improperly formed queries can impact performance in your production system by creating improper joins or asking for off-index sorting. Using REST in PAS for OpenEdge, you can create more efficient queries using procedures and expose them to users as REST calls. If they still need ODBC or JDBC access to these REST calls, you can consider using the Progress DataDirect Autonomous Rest Connector to expose the services you build as ODBC or JDBC tables.

Modernize Your Current OpenEdge-Based Application

Another common reason to provide REST services for your application is to modernize your current OpenEdge-based application so that you can start to build user interfaces in different, more modern technologies. Once you have encapsulated your business logic into a REST service API, your new modern application has a simple, documented interface to your business logic. This also gives you the ability to talk to newer interfaces like:

• Web Pages
• Phones
• Watches
• E-Commerce Sites

Evolve Your OpenEdge Application to Deliver Today’s Business Needs

PAS for OpenEdge has a built-in security layer based on Spring Security. This means securing your REST calls with multiple ways to authenticate and authorize access is straightforward.

PAS for OpenEdge will make it simple to establish services using pre-existing tables and business logic and will provide you better and more control over how users and applications access your data, regardless of how you choose to use REST.

Check out PAS for OpenEdge here to learn more.

Learn more about PAS for OpenEdge