Tag: OData

Consuming SQL Azure OData Service using OData Explorer


OData Explorer is free Sample Silverlight Application available in http://www.silverlight.net/content/samples/odataexplorer/

To run this you should have Silverlight 4.0 Runtime installed

Step 1: Click on the above URL to browse the application online. To Access SQL Azure OData service, You need to install it as Out of Browser application or else you will get the following error while adding the service to workspace

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To avoid this, right click and click “Install OData Explorer onto this computer…”

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Once installed, you will see the below shortcut in your desktop, double click the short cut to run OData Explorer

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Step 2: By default, it will prompt you to add a new OData Service to Workspace

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Please provide workspace name and enter the SQL OData Service URI and then click “Ok”

Step 3: Once successfully added, you will see below screen showing the list of Data Collections available through the SQL Azure OData service

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Step 4: To browse data you can click on any table and data will be loaded on the right pane

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Step 5: To filter the data, you can use “Build Query” option and then select the field name and then specify criteria and filter value and click “Add Query Option” to add the filter

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Click “Ok” and then click “Go” on workspace to apply the filter on the data

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Step 6: To Edit the record, click on “Edit”

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To modify the data, you can change the required values and click “Save Changes” and to delete the entire record use “Delete” option

This is not full fledged data management interface, but it provides quick access to your data with no need to write any code

Happy OData Exploring and Programming !!!

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SQL Azure OData Service –Publish your data as service painlessly


SQL Azure OData Service is a beta project from SQL Azure Labs. You can sign up for free trial account from http://www.sqlazurelabs.com/

OData (Open Data Protocol) is Web protocol for querying and updating data that provides a way to unlock your data and free it from silos that exist in applications today. For more information about OData, please visit http://www.odata.org/ 

Step 1: After signing up, click on “SQL Azure OData Service” and then read and accept the terms of use and click “Register” to start

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Step 2: To Configure OData service, provide the SQL Azure server name and credentials and click “Connect”

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Step 3: Select Database which you want to publish using OData Service and click on “Enable OData”

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Step 4: After selecting the database, select which users can access the data and whether Anonymous Access is allowed or not

Click “Add User” to add a new user

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The users should be already added in SQL Azure Server and Database to enable access over OData

Once the user is added, a Unique OData link and Secret Key to access the database will be generated

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To remove an existing User, click “Remove”

To provide read only access, please make sure to add a user who has only SELECT permissions is added in OData

To Enable Anonymous access, select the User account to be used for Anonymous acccess

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Now you are ready to consume the Database using any OData client. Please see the below screenshot showing the data being browsed directly in Internet Explorer

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You can access OData Service from .Net 3.5 or 4.0 or Silverlight 4.0 based application.

The following features are not available in SQL Azure OData Service at this point of time

1. Ability to control what tables to be published over OData service

2. Option to publish Views or Stored Procedures or Functions

This is a beta product, so don’t use this for production applications and also be aware of the data you are publishing with anonymous access, since anyone who with the URI can access the data.

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