Create a Custom Backend

You can create your own backend to map to a custom server other than the built-in Integration Applications, Process Automation, and Oracle Cloud Application backends.

A custom backend lets you access a service when you know its URL. You can create a custom backend with a free-form URL, or create a custom ADF backend when you know the Describe URL that points to an ADF Describe service.

To create a custom backend:

  1. Click Services in the Navigator.

  2. In the Services pane, click + sign and select Backend.

  3. In the Create Backend wizard, select the type of backend you want to create:

    • To create a backend with a free-form URL, click Custom.

    • To create a backend with the Describe URL of an ADF service, click Custom ADF Describe. Use this option only when your custom ADF Describe endpoint does not have any child backends.

  4. Enter a name and description for the custom backend. Your description will be the backend’s display name in your application.

    Description of the illustration create-backend-vis-apps.png

  5. Optionally, add static headers:

    1. To add a static header that is passed from the browser to the service (for example, a REST-Framework-Version header), click + Header under Custom Headers. Enter a name for the header and its value, then click OK. Custom headers become available to you from the browser’s Developer Tools console.

    2. To add a static header that isn’t passed from the browser to the service and is automatically inserted only at the server, click + Header under Secure Headers. Click the Create Secure Header icon, enter a name and value for the header, then click Save. Secure headers are useful when you want to apply a credential to a header and never want it to be available on the browser.

  6. Click Next to display the second page in the wizard:

    Description of the illustration create-backend-details-vis-apps1.png

  7. Enter the instance URL and other information that your visual app requires to connect to the custom backend.

    Note: If you’re using an IP address instead of a proper DNS-based URL in a production environment, you’re probably using self-signed certificates. Be aware that certificates based on IP addresses are less secure and more difficult to maintain than DNS-based URLs. To avoid potential security issues, self-signed certificates should never be used in production environments. For this reason, an audit warning is displayed whenever an IP address-based service connection is used.

  8. If you need more information about the options in the Authentication drop-down, see Set the Backend’s Authentication Method and Connection Type.

  9. To add server variables, see Add Server Variables for Backends.

  10. Click Create.

A new custom backend displays in the Backends tab on the Services pane. Click the newly created custom backend to view and edit its details. See Edit a Backend.

Now that your custom backend is registered, you can click + Service Connection to create a service connection to your backend, either by providing a service specification document or by pointing to the URL of a service endpoint. See Create a Service Connection from a Service Specification or Create a Service Connection from a REST Endpoint.