.Net Api

The Iotellect Server open-source Application Programming Interface for .NET and .NET Compact (Iotellect Server .NET API) is a convenient library for accessing Iotellect Server from any .NET-based application using Web Service or Iotellect Communication Protocol.

An Application Programming Interface (API) is an interface that a program or library provides for other computer programs, to let them make requests to it.

.NET Compact API is not available for direct download on Iotellect website. Please contact Iotellect to obtain .NET Compact API package.

Features of .NET API

Using this API, you can:

  • Access server resources and connected devices;
  • Modify server and device configuration;
  • Execute server and device operations;
  • Acquire server and device events;
  • Connect to Iotellect Server in " Agent mode", i.e. write .NET code that emulates or implements a hardware device connected to Iotellect.

Technically, the .NET API provides the following functionality:

  • Full access to the server contexts through a so-called proxy context tree;

.NET API Distribution Package

The Iotellect .NET API is available as a ZIP archive that contains:

  • Source code
  • Examples
  • Microsoft Visual Studio solution

Essential Classes and Interfaces of the .NET API

Class Name

Description

RemoteLinkServer

A container server connection parameters (address, port, username and password). An instance of this class is passed to the constructor of RemoteLinkServerController.

RemoteLinkServerController

This class is used to establish and control connection with the Iotellect Server. It provides access to a ContextManager interface which, in turns, lets you access the server's context tree.

ContextManager

Interface that provides access to the context tree. An instance of the class implementing this interface may be retrieved from the RemoteLinkServerController through the getContextManager() method.

Context

Interface letting you work with a single context. Instances of classes implementing this interface are returned by different methods of ContextManager.

DataTable

Implementation of a Data Table. It provides access to the format and records of the table. Instances of this class are returned by getVariable() and callFunction() methods of Context.

DataRecord

Implementation of a single Data Table record.

TableFormat

Class implementing format of a Data Table. It includes table properties and a list of fields.

FieldFormat

Class implementing format of a single Data Table field. Defines name, type and other parameters of the field, including validators, selection values etc.

Accessing Iotellect Server from .NET Application via Web Service

To access Iotellect Server from a .NET application using Web Service, create a LinkServerClient object in your application by calling its constructor with the Web Service address and Iotellect Server user name/password.

Following is the LinkServerClient constructor's signature:

public LinkServerClient(String username, String password, String url)

Example: creating a Iotellect Server client object in C#:

String webServiceAddress = "https://localhost:8443/ws/services/ServerWebService";
String userName = "admin";
String userPassword = "admin";
LinkServerClient lsc = new LinkServerClient(userName, userPassword, webServiceAddress);

To access the Web Service via HTTPS, it is necessary to set up a certificate policy first. For example (in C#):

System.Net.ServicePointManager.CertificatePolicy = new TrustAllCertificatePolicy();

public class TrustAllCertificatePolicy : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy
{
public TrustAllCertificatePolicy()
{ }
public bool CheckValidationResult(ServicePoint sp, X509Certificate cert, WebRequest req, int problem)
{
return true;
}
}

The LinkServerClient object implements all methods defined by the Iotellect Server Web Service:

  • getXML
  • setXML
  • callXML
  • setByStringArray
  • callByStringArray
  • get
  • set
  • call

getXML, setXML, callXML, setByStringArray and callByStringArray methods are comprehensively described in Web Service article. In most cases it is more convenient to use get, set and call methods that represent Data Tables as objects of type DataTable that is defined in AggreGate namespace. Here are signatures of all methods provided by LinkServerClient:

Methods That Use XML Encoding of Data Tables

public String getXML(String context, String variable)

public void setXML(String context, String variable, String value)

public String callXML(String context, String variable, String parameters)

Methods That Represent Data Tables as String Arrays

public void setByStringArray(String context, String variable, String[] values)

public DataTable callByStringArray(String context, String variable, String[] values)

Methods That Process Data Tables as Objects

public DataTable get(String context, String variable)

public void set(String context, String variable, DataTable value)

public DataTable call(String context, String variable, DataTable parameters)

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