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Who is using the Aras SQL 'Federation ItemType Sample v3-1' and can share experience?

AngelaIp

Hi community,

Does anyone of you use the 'Federation ItemType Sample v3-1'? 
It´s a sample project that can be used to access external SQL database data via federation more easily. It basically contains a configuring ItemType that helps to setup the SQL connection faster, so you don´t have to code anything. As far as I know it´s only available for subscribers, but I think also free-users that don´t use this project can benefit from this discussion. The basic concepts of federation are always the same.

I really like the project, cause it´s well designed and works fast and reliable. The project is a excellent foundation for federation. But form my POV there are still a lot of useful features missing (or simply weren´t implemented yet).

I am looking for people who also use the project and have some experience with it. Maybe you even have enhanced the feature and want to exchange your ideas? I have done a couple of customization and would be happy to exchange them with other users!

Enhancement that I have done myself:

  • Keyed_name support for federated items (by default they just can show the id). Very useful, also my implementation is a bit of a dirty hack. So I am looking for way to solve this one a more professional way.
  • Changed existing search mode to support wildcard search in item keyed_name (it´s an extension to the keyed_name support above)
  • Support for integer search modes like  >, <, <=, >= . By default you just can search for 'eq' and 'like' values. 
  • Support for maxResults, pageSize in the grid . This way users get better feedback when you have restricted the number of returned results
  • Bug fix that prevents MPP to crash when you use a federated relationship in ItemType 'Part'. 
  • Bug fix to prevent item Preview crash when you use a federated relationship

Enhancement or knowledge that I am looking for:

  • Support for 'sort accross pages'
  • Date Range search mode
  • Enhancement regarding security, e.g. add some kind of permission system.
  • The current Aras project seems to contain a lot of fields and functions that are just placeholders for future features. Or maybe I just don´t know how to use them?
  • Ideas for enhancements or alternative concepts to do this kind of federation
  • Of course also general feedback is helpful:
  • Do you use the feature? If yes, how? Just for simply display of external data, or do you mix-n-merge?
  • What is your experience regarding federation? Maybe you also know some bugs that occur in certain scenarios that I haven´t noticed so far? 

If you don´t use the project cause you´re not a subscriber you are also invited to join the discussion! If you are familiar with federation, you maybe also know some way to improve the display and work with external data. I assume similar pitfalls as in the project occur when you write your federation code by yourself. So most of the questions and enhancements should also be relevant for users who use a different concept

Would be happy to connect and hear your experience! Every input welcomed! Many thanks already!

Angela

Parents

  • Hi,

    I right now play around with Release 2023 and noticed that Aras changed a view things regarding "Federation" in this release. This version has an additional "Federated" flag in the ItemType properties. Not sure if this has a real technical impact or is just a way to "highlight" federated property in a better way.

    In my I12 you still can set DataType to "Federated" and there is no additional flag. Technically using DataType "Federation" never had some real technical impact, despite the quick erase of the existing db values.

    Not sure, I haven´t tested federation yet in Release 2023. But this is maybe an additional reason the mentioned project is not promoted by Aras anymore.

    You said you used Federation for many tasks. Have you noticed differences regarding the used Method when using Innovator 12 vs. Innovator 14? Of course only when you already work on a newer release... :)

    Best regards

    Angela

  • Offline in reply to AngelaIp

    hahha... oh no... we are still on 11 SP 12 :( 

    But we have looked at the latest release a bit and the new federated flags which I like a lot - I have properties that are federated Item Types for example and we have really had to hack that to make it work because we couldn't set the property type as "Item". If we set the data source in the DB (because you can't set it in the UI if it's federated) everything works beautifully - same things with lists.   So I am a big fan of this change and am very much looking forward to when we can upgrade. 

  • in reply to Jen Caputo

    Yes, the new federated flag makes sense! I right now use 'Federated' as type for regular string/integer properties, but 'Item' for federated items. It works, but is confusing. 

    I think Aras added this one as first modification for their own upcoming federation service. But I don´t think we will see it this year. I expect they want to cover REST and SQL and probably plan to provide a lot UI to make it simple for users. Will take them some time to cover everything.

    My federated dataset with above sample project currently looks like this.

    Search bar works mostly like usual. Items are clickable. We can link the federated data to other items cause they have static id. But I still weren´t able to make all of the paging buttons work as normal. Especially the counter for amount of found pages and items is still missing. It´s not high priority, but it would be a nice addition.

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  • in reply to Jen Caputo

    Yes, the new federated flag makes sense! I right now use 'Federated' as type for regular string/integer properties, but 'Item' for federated items. It works, but is confusing. 

    I think Aras added this one as first modification for their own upcoming federation service. But I don´t think we will see it this year. I expect they want to cover REST and SQL and probably plan to provide a lot UI to make it simple for users. Will take them some time to cover everything.

    My federated dataset with above sample project currently looks like this.

    Search bar works mostly like usual. Items are clickable. We can link the federated data to other items cause they have static id. But I still weren´t able to make all of the paging buttons work as normal. Especially the counter for amount of found pages and items is still missing. It´s not high priority, but it would be a nice addition.

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