Understanding REST Data Sources

17.4.1 Understanding REST Data Sources

REST Data Sources enable developers to access to Representational State Transfer (REST) services or generic JSON data feeds in applications and use the data in Oracle APEX components.

About REST Data Sources
Use REST Data Sources to access to REST services or generic JSON data feeds in applications and use the data Oracle APEX components.
How REST Data Sources Differ from Legacy Web Service References
Learn how REST Data Sources differ from Legacy Web Service References.
About Authentication and Credentials in REST Data Sources
Learn about supported authentication types and credentials in REST Data Sources.

Parent topic: Managing REST Data Sources

17.4.1.1 About REST Data Sources

Use REST Data Sources to access to REST services or generic JSON data feeds in applications and use the data Oracle APEX components.

Oracle APEX provides direct integration of REST Data Sources in classic reports, interactive reports, CSS Calendar, and JET Charts. A REST Data Source can contain one or many Operations which are the references to a concrete external web service. Configurations at the REST source level are shared across all contained operations.

Oracle APEX supports the following built-in REST Data Sources types:

Simple HTTP - Select this option for a simple HTTP data feed. Oracle APEX assumes that all data is returned with the first request and that the server does not support server-side filtering, ordering, or other advanced REST service feature. All invocation details and parameters must be configured manually.
Oracle REST Data Services - Denotes Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS). These REST services follow the Oracle REST standard, which means that GET, POST, PUT, or DELETE operations are standardized. Server-side filtering and ordering are supported. Oracle APEX can leverage these features by delegating report order-bys and filters to the REST service.
REST Enabled SQL Query - Denotes a REST Source on top of a SQL Query executed on a REST Enabled SQL reference. Oracle APEX supports filtering and pagination, but no DML on these endpoints.

Advantages of the REST Enabled SQL Query type include:
- Provides a REST Source for a dedicated SQL query to all components in the APEX application.
- Components can simply use the REST Source and do not have to replicate the remote SQL query.
- REST Source Synchronization enables you to download data from a REST Enabled SQL Source to a local table.
Oracle Cloud Applications (SaaS) REST Service - Denotes RESTful web services provided by Oracle Cloud SaaS Applications. Use this web service type to integrate Oracle SaaS REST Services into your Oracle APEX application. Oracle Oracle APEX pagination for these services.
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) REST Service - Denotes RESTful web services provided by Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Use this web service type to integrate OCI REST Services (for example, accessing the Object Store) into your Oracle APEX application. Oracle APEX supports pagination for these Services.

17.4.1.2 How REST Data Sources Differ from Legacy Web Service References

Learn how REST Data Sources differ from Legacy Web Service References.

Unlike Legacy Web Service References, a REST Data Source contains metadata about the Web service which can be used by APEX Components or PL/SQL processes to invoke the service and to process the responses.

REST Data Sources contain multiple operators that differ depending upon the Web service target. For a REST services, an operation is a specific service handler (such as, GET, PUT, POST, or DELETE). Developers assign Operation a Database Action such as Fetch Multiple Rows, Fetch Single Row, Insert Row, Update Row, and Delete Row. However, you can assign each Database Operation only once to a REST Data Source Operation.

17.4.1.3 About Authentication and Credentials in REST Data Sources

Learn about supported authentication types and credentials in REST Data Sources.

REST Data Sources supports various authentication types. Authentication credentials can be specified at the Remote Server-level for all REST Data Sources using the Remote Server). If credentials are set at the REST Data Source-level, that setting supersedes credentials stored at the Remote Server level.

A Credential denotes the Authentication method, a Client ID (or user name) and a Client Secret (or password). Credentials are stored as a named entity within Shared Components and can be re-used across multiple REST Data Sources or Remote Servers.