TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset

Introduction

DreamFactory offers REST API creation without writing code. Via a web interface, the various characteristics of the REST API you want to create to let your application access data and other services on the back-end, can be configured. As such, you can create a REST API that can be consumed by a TMS WEB Core web client application. For handling CRUD operations on data that are exposed by a DreamFactory REST API, the TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset is available. The TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset is the bridge between the REST API and the DB-aware controls that are used in the web client application.

Configuring your DreamFactory back-end

Download the DreamFactory installer from https://bitnami.com/stack/dreamfactory/installer and install the software. After install, DreamFactory can by default be started via http://127.0.0.1/dreamfactory/dist/index.html#/login

To create a REST API service for a SQLite database used in the demo, follow these steps

Create the SQLite Service 'tasksdb'

Select Services on the top menu
Click Create on the left menu
Click on "Service Type" dropdown to select Database--SQLite
Namespace: tasksdb
Label: Tasks DB Service
Go to Config tab
Database: tasks
Save

Create Schema Table Task

Select Schema on the top menu
Click on Service dropdown to select "Tasks DB Service". If not visible, click on Refresh button next to it or refresh the page.
Click on upload JSON and upload the following JSON code. This will create the table.

{
  "resource": [
    {
      "name": "task",
      "label": "Task",
      "plural": "Tasks",
      "alias": null,
      "auto_increment": true,
      "is_primary_key": true,
      "field": [
        {
          "name": "id",
          "label": "Id",
          "type": "id"
        },
        {
          "name": "userid",
          "label": "User Id",
          "type": "user_id_on_update"
        },
        {
          "name": "status",
          "label": "Status",
          "type": "string",
          "db_type": "nvarchar(80)",
          "size": 80,
          "allow_null": false
        },
        {
          "name": "descr",
          "label": "Description",
          "type": "text",
          "allow_null": false
        },
        {
          "name": "due_date",
          "label": "Due Date",
          "type": "date",
          "allow_null": false
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Setup CORS

Select Config on the top menu
Click CORS on the left menu
Click the + button
Path: *
Click on Methods dropdown to select "All"
Enabled: ON
Save

Set up a Role "LoggedIn" to access the “tasksdb” service

Select Roles on the top menu
Click Create on the left menu
Name: LoggedIn
Active: ON
Go to Access tab
Click on + button to add a rule
Select Service as tasksdb
Select Component as *
Select Actions as All
Click on Show/Hide in the last column "Advanced filters". A Filter set up form appears.Click on + button to its right
Enter Field as userid
Leave Operator as =
Enter Value as {user.id}
Save

Create App Tasks

Select Apps on the top menu
Click Create on the left menu
Application Name: Tasks
Click on "Default Role" dropdown to select our role created earlier, "Default"
Active: ON
Save
Copy the API key from the Tasks app, it is required for the TMS WEB Core w.

Set up User service for Open Registration

Select Services on the top menu
Click on User service in the list
Go to Config tab
Allow Open Registration: ON
Click on + button to add a Per App Open Reg Role
Select App as Tasks
Select Role as LoggedIn
Click on "Open Reg Email Service" drop down and select the EMPTY value.
Save

Using DreamFactory via TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset

Drop a TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset component on the form. First set the API key for the use of the DreamFactory REST API. This API key was obtained in the setup step 5 “Create App”. Configure the URL of WebDreamFactoryClientDataset to the URL of the DreamFactory server. When testing on localhost, this is for example 'http://127.0.0.81'. Setup the WebDreamFactoryClientDataset.DBServiceName to the name of the DreamFactory service you created, i.e. for this sample ‘tasksdb’ and set the WebDreamFactoryClientDataset.TableName to the name of the table you want to use for this dataset, i.e. for this sample ‘tasks’ and also set the unique key field name via WebDreamFactoryClientDataset.KeyfieldName. Finally, setup the fields the dataset will use via the WebDreamFactoryClientDataset.FieldDefs.

Reference

These are the properties, methods, events of the TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset component

Properties

Property	Description
Active	Set this to True to activate the DataSet. Field definitions must be present along with other properties described below.
ApiKey	Sets the DreamFactory unique application secret obtained after creating a collection
DBServiceName	Sets the name of the service created in DreamFactory for accessing the database
DreamFactoryURL	Sets the URL for the DreamFactory server
KeyfieldName	Sets the name of the unique key field in the table
TableName	Sets the name of the table in DreamFactory to work with as a dataset for user management

Methods

Property	Description
Login(UserName,Password: string; IsSignup: boolean)	Performs a login on the `DreamFactory` service. When successful, the data is fetched in the dataset. When `IsSignUp` is true, a new account is created on the Rad Server instance
Refresh	Reloads the data from `DreamFactory` table in the web client dataset
AddSortFieldDef(aField: string; isAscending: Boolean)	Sets the sort order of data returned from `DreamFactory` in the dataset
ClearSortFieldDefs	Clears any previously set sort order

Events

The TWebDreamFactoryClientDataset exposes the standard TDataSet events and is as such similar in functionality. It offers an additional event for handling a signup attempt with an already existing username

Event	Description
OnUserExists(Sender, UserName)	Event triggered when a signup is attempted using a username that already existed.