@PL/SQL API Overview
The ]po[ PL/SQL API allows external applications to Create, Read, Update and Delete (CRUD) all data in the ]po[ system, allowing for complete control of the ]po[ application.
Access to the PL/SQL API
The ]po[ PL/SQL API can be accessed from external application in several different ways:
- Access via ODBC (SQL):
ODBC is an industry standard for accessing databases on the SQL level.
All PL/SQL API functions below can be accessed via a plain ODBC interface, so that any application can access ]po[, as long as it can connect to the underlying PostgreSQL database.
- Access via XML-RPC:
XML-RPC is a light-weight Web-service protocol. ]po[ includes a XML-RPC interface allowing to expose the PL/SQL API.
Other APIs:
- Access via SOAP:
SOAP 1.1 is an industry standard for Web-services. ]po[ provides a SOAP API to access all important ]po[ for external applications
Important Concepts
- Constructors are PL/SQL functions capable of creating a new object.
- Destructors are PL/SQL functions capable of deleting an object.
- Name Functions are PL/SQL functions returning a human readable name for an object.
- Shortcut Functions are PL/SQL functions usually returning a certain field of an object, given the object_id.
All of these functions could be replaced by a simple "join" as part of an SQL query, so these functions are not really necessary.
However, using these functions allows to keep SQL queries more compact and readable.
]po[ PL/SQL API