Data sources
OData
OData is a standardized REST-based protocol for exchanging data. With the OData data source you can connect Peakboard to any OData service and read one of its entities as a table. For a general introduction on how to configure external data sources and bind them to controls, see the following tutorial:
External dynamic data sources illustrated by an XML data source example.
Add the data source
Add a new OData data source via a right click on [Data], then [Add data source]. Select the [OData] tile (1) — you will find it in the [Generic] category or through the search box.
If you don’t have your own OData service at hand and just want to try things out, you can use Microsoft’s public TripPin sample service. It exposes several entities, such as People, Airports and Airlines:
https://services.odata.org/TripPinRESTierService/
Configure the connection and entity
First give the data source a name (1). Under [Connection], enter the service address in [Base URL] (2). Peakboard automatically separates the service path into the [URL path] field (3) in the [Request] section. If the service requires authentication, choose the method in [Authentication Type] (4) — for the public sample service this stays on [None].
Click [Load] (5) to read the available entity sets from the service, then pick the one you want in [Entity sets] (6) — in this example [Airlines]. The [Entity properties] drop-down (7) lets you choose which columns to retrieve; here the entity provides AirlineCode and Name. If you don’t want to retrieve all rows, you can enter an OData filter in [Filter string] (8). If you are not sure how an OData filter works, you can find a good introduction at odata.org.
A click on [Load data] sends a test request to the server and shows a preview on the right — here the airlines returned by the service, each with its AirlineCode and Name. Confirm with [OK] to add the data source; it then appears in the Explorer under [Data] and can be bound to controls like any other data source.
