To the base Presentation API provided by the core MDEX Engine, Endeca Analytics adds a powerful integrated Analytics API, which can be used to construct interactive analytics applications.

Some of the important features of the Endeca Analytics API are:

Tight integration with search and navigation The Endeca Analytics API allows analytical visualizations that update dynamically as the user refines the current search and navigation query, allowing Endeca Analytics to be controlled using the Oracle Commerce Guided Navigation interface. Further, analytics results support click-through to underlying record details, enabling end users to refine their navigation state directly from a view of their analytics sub-query results, exploring the details behind any statistic using the Guided Navigation interface.

Rich analytical functionality The Endeca Analytics API supports the computation of a rich set of analytics on records in an MDEX Engine, and in particular on the results of navigation, search, and other analytics operations. The API includes support for the following:

Efficiency Although the Endeca Analytics API allows the expression of a rich set of analytics, its functionality is constrained to allow efficient internal implementation, avoiding multiple table scans, complex joins, and so on. Good performance for analytics operations is essential for enabling the interactive response time associated with the Guided Navigation interface.

Familiarity The Endeca Analytics API uses concepts, structure, and terminology that are familiar to developers with a knowledge of SQL. API terminology, operators, and behavior match SQL for the majority of the Analytics API. Also, the Analytics API reuses familiar Presentation API classes and concepts, allowing developers to seamlessly move between working on navigation, search, and analytics functionality.