Connecting Oracle B2C Service with the world using the External Objects & Integrations feature – EP2

January 2, 2023 | 4 minute read
Nithin Nassar
Product Manager - Oracle B2C Service
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Episode 2: Connecting to OData API-based services

In this blog, we will explore how External objects can be used to establish a connection to services that use the OData endpoint, and how we are committed to helping customers in accelerating their business changes.

OData service Connection

Customers can now connect to services that use OData services, under External objects feature by providing connection details. Then the data can be extracted from the external system and used as if it is the data available within the Oracle B2C Service database. This data can be used to create reports and dashboards to derive better insights for the customers.

Now… How to achieve this..?

First, we need to enable Profile Permissions to access the External Objects & Integrations Configuration UI

Then, follow these three steps,

  1. Configure the connection using the External Objects UI
  2. Create reports using the report designer
  3. Run the report

Please go throw the below mentioned documentation to know more details about each step: XOI in B2C Documentation

Let’s take you through the steps with an example. For this example, we’re going to use publicly available data from the TripPin service with uses the OData endpoint.

1. Configure the integration

First,  the connection needs to be configured using External Object & Integrations configuration UI.

The configuration requires a base URL for the external OData service that you want to integrate with and the service credentials for authentication.

 

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External Objects configuration UI

2. Create the report

First Log out of the .Net console and log in again to reflect the changes. Next from the report designer, reports can be created using the newly available external tables as virtual tables in the report designer.

For this instance, the report is created for the Airport table. (Filters can be added to the report. Joins are not supported at this time.)

Error! Filename not specified.​

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External virtual tables in analytics

 

3. View the data

Once the report has been saved, you can place the report on a workspace or run it standalone.