CODEWITHSUNDEEP
odata
Water Cooler v2
Water Cooler v2

Reputation: 33850

Does OData get data on the client or does it offer an XML syntax to express Linq queries?

I am just reading up on OData from here.

http://msopentech.com/odataorg/introduction/

Sorry, I am getting a bit impatient.

I just have a simple question for now before I go through the rest of the material. Which of the two options describe OData?

I understand it provides a protocol (much like SOAP or XML/Json over HTTP or XML-RPC) to transfer data from services over the web to clients. What I am intrigued by is that it also helps query that data, which is a great problem to solve as it help reduce payloads that you usually encounter when querying large data sets with XML/SOAP web services or other means (XML over Http, Json over Http, RPC responses, you name it).

Option A Does oData get all the data to the client, use some client-based storage (like HTML 5 local storage for desktop browsers) to store it, and then query the data on the client using an in-process API?

Or

Option B Does it provide an XML-based syntax for translation Linq like expressions and getting only the relevant result sets (filtered, ordered, whatever else) stuff from the server?

It's funny how when you type your thoughts, you end up solving your own problems. I think just typing the question has given me the answer. Option A sounds preposterous for so many reasons:

1) If it's a data-centric protocol, it has to not care about what type of client or consumer will want the data, so it cannot have any affinity to client or the capabilities (caching on client side) of the client.

2) It is a data-centric protocol and hence does not prescribe how data must be read or offer any tools on the client or server sides. It merely prescribes a data format, I would imagine.

It has to be Option B. Still, I just want a confirmation or correction.

Upvotes: 1

Views: 158

Answers (1)

Nuno Linhares
Nuno Linhares

Reputation: 10234

Yes, it is Option B.

You could obviously write a terrible implementation of a client that would download ALL the data and then filter and show data based on client-side logic. But that would be rather silly.

The way you "write" your queries is quite well detailed in OData.org's "URL Conventions" page, typically something along the lines of: http://someserver/odata.svc/Customers(Location eq 'New York')

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions