Introduction

With Elixir Repertoire Server 7.x onwards, all resources ( *.rml, *.ds, *.job ) are accessible via the REST API. All resources, at first attempt, will be prompted to enter a valid username and password. This ensure that all resources are secure and not easily accessible from the web.

REST Calls in Repertoire Server

Q: How can I call a resource ( i.e. rml/ds/pml ) directly to render a report / load data and show a dashboard ?

A: In order to issue a direct REST Calls from Java, you will need to know how to create a HTTP Request to be sent to Repertoire Server

Creating HTTP Request in Java

A suitable package to use in Java for easy creation of a Http Request is

See http://hc.apache.org/httpclient-3.x/index.html

Once you have make available the necessary packages in Httpclient, you will be able to construct Http Requests.

For example,

   ...

   HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
   PostMethod post = new PostMethod(url+"login.html");
   post.addParameter("username",username);
   post.addParameter("password",password);
   int ret = client.executeMethod(post);
   if (ret==200 || ret==302)

   ...

Refer to HttpClient^? Package official documentation on furthur details.

Adding Credentials on Http Requests

Since all resources within the Repertoire Server are protected, a set of credentials needs to be sent together with the Http Request. This can be done by inserting the credentials directly into the Http Header Information.

        ...
        HttpClient client = new HttpClient();
        Credentials defaultCreds = new UsernamePasswordCredentials("admin","sa");
        client.getState().setCredentials(new AuthScope(host,port,AuthScope.ANY_REALM), defaultCreds);
        HttpClientParams params = client.getParams();
        params.setCredentialCharset(CredentialCharset);
        params.setAuthenticationPreemptive(true); 
        ...

In this approach, a single Http REST Call will be able to gain access to the Repertoire Server Resources to render a report / load data and load a dashboard.

A sample java source file is attached to illustrate the above approach.

-- IrwinTan - 19 Mar 2008

• RestGenerateData.java: RestGenerateData^?.java