How to Visualize & Explore SAP NW Gateway OData Services online? : XOData Connect - Beta

Updated : 29/05/2014 :
Please see XOData Product Page for Details

As mentioned in my last post , new version of XOData is now available at XOData Connect with several improvements along with the connection/authentication option enabled - so now there is a way to access and explore any OData service from XOData - even if it's local and/or requires user/password.

Also, there is a special feature added for SAP NetWeaver Gateway OData services - to fetch all the available services from 'Gateway Service Catalog'  and populate the Service List drop-down for easier exploration. In this post, I'll provide the details on how to use XOData to start online exploration of SAP Gateway OData Services.

If you want to try it now then drop us a quick note and we'll send you user/password.   Request for Access

UPDATED : Striking through the steps that are not relevant for XOData Chrome App:

• If your SAP server is local or accessible through VPN then please select the connection option as below on “Connection” tab: With this option, any information exchange will be between your Browser and the Service Provider System.
  
  
  

• Just to add that, browser settings/proxy etc. won't be required if this tool is installed on premise at a server within the same domain as that of the service provider system. Please contact us, if you are interested.

• To get the above connection option working, you may need Google Chrome browser and it has to be started with --args --disable-web-security : *after* closing all other Chrome sessions. e.g. create copy of desktop shortcut for Chrome and then add --args --disable-web-security at the end as below: ( This is required for CORS to work - if Server does not support HTTP headers required for CORS - see this post on StackOverflow )
  
  
  

• Now if you'll launch Chrome through this shortcut, it should start with following screen : And you can start exploring your OData services on http://pragmatiqa.com/xodata by selecting the above mentioned option on Connection Tab.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Once Chrome browser is started as above then you need to fill-up the following details :

• Connection Option :  Choose green one
• Service System Type - Choose "SAP NW Gateway" - After selection, it will show you the pre-populated Service List URL.
• Adapt the service-list url : ( e.g. change the host name as per your SAP system's host name - Note that service catalog list URL will remain the same for any NW Gateway System, except for the <host name:port> part in the URL): 

• You can also use SAP Provided Demo NW Gateway System ( You need user/password for the demo system as mentioned in http://scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-40986 ) and in that case the service list URL will be as below:
• https://sapes1.sapdevcenter.com/sap/opu/sdata/IWFND/CATALOGSERVICE/ServiceCollection
• OR you can connect to your own SAP Gateway Server using similar url e.g. 
• http://localhost:8000/sap/opu/odata/IWFND/CATALOGSERVICE/ServiceCollection 
• or http://<your_sap_server_host_name>:port/sap/opu/odata/IWFND/CATALOGSERVICE/ServiceCollection
• Note that the URL is for OData Channel ( New Gateway Services ) - if you need the sdata services ( old ones ) then replace odata with sdata in the catalog list URL.

• Press 'Use this Setup' : Enter user/password in the pop-up coming from SAP system - then it will fetch a list of all the services available and populate the Service List ( ready for selection - in the top-menu-bar ).

• Now you can choose the service that you want to visualize ( on Diagram tab ) and explore ( on Query Builder tab ). e.g. for RMTSAMPLEFLIGHT, following query is to select future-flihghts and then drill-down to see relevant details using Links on flight detail-row.

If you need any help - please drop me a note ( ram at pragmatiqa.com ) or as comment on this post.