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Project Meta

Meta Information about the SWS product

1 - Why was SWS Created?

Some backstory on why and how SWS was created.

Innovation is often born out of frustration with the status quo. This was certainly the case for Chris Malek, who had been working on numerous integration projects that required the same web services to be re-implemented time and time again. Each one with some similar features and others with unique features. The process of deploying these services became increasingly difficult for even minor changes, particularly when pulling data from PeopleSoft, with the same tables being used repeatedly.

After deploying bespoke web services that were not generic enough, it became clear that a new more scalable solution was needed. This is where SWS comes in.

SWS was created to address the challenges of repetitive and unsustainable web services. It takes advantage of Chris Malek’s expertise with PeopleTools and web services, leveraging PeopleSoft metadata to create a single bolt-on web service that can handle up to 95 percent of use cases for extracting data from PeopleSoft.

Rather than re-implementing the same web services over and over again, SWS offers a one-stop-shop solution that can handle everything from small tables to large tables to nested data.

This innovative solution has been a game-changer for those in need of web services that are both efficient and sustainable. It has eliminated the need for constant re-implementation and made the deployment process much more streamlined. Development time of data extraction went from weeks to minutes!

Cedar Hills Group, Inc. has several clients and system integrators using SWS in various releases. This public release is the culmination of all 20 years of PeopleSoft integration experience and packaged in the best-of-breed solution.

2 - Terminology

This section highlights some terminology used in this SWS documentation

See our Integration Book - Terminology Sections

HTTP
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a standardized protocol used for the transfer of information on the World Wide Web. It establishes a connection between a client and a server, allowing for the request and delivery of web resources such as HTML pages, images, videos, and more. HTTP operates on a request-response model, where the client sends a request to the server, and the server responds with the requested data or an appropriate error message. It forms the foundation for web browsing, enabling the retrieval and display of web content in a user-friendly manner.
Client
An HTTP user of your API. This could be a simple command line (CLI) application like curl or wget. It will likely be some external application that needs to pull data from PeopleSoft.
PSIGW
PeopleSoft Integration Gateway - This is the web server that is running your integration broker.
Encoding
The way the data is “wrapped” and presented to the client: JSON, XML or CSV.
Request
The HTTP request made by the client. This includes the URL path, query strings, and HTTP Headers.
Response
The data that comes back from the server to the client in reply to an HTTP Request.
REST
REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style for designing networked applications, particularly web services, that emphasizes a stateless, client-server communication model. It promotes the use of standard HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE to perform operations on resources identified by unique URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). RESTful systems leverage the principles of scalability, simplicity, and modifiability, allowing different clients to interact with the server using a uniform and predictable interface. It facilitates the exchange of data in various formats, such as JSON or XML, and supports the separation of concerns between client and server components.
PsoftQL
A proprietary JSON and XML syntax to request data from SWS. Read more on the PsoftQL Syntax

3 - SWS Assumptions and Limitations

This article discussions some of the assumptions and limitations of the product.

Assumptions

  • You have a working integration broker setup.
  • You want to pull information from PeopleSoft.
  • PeopleTools version greater than 8.56

Limitations

  • SWS supports only extracting information out of PeopleSoft where PeopleSoft is acting as the HTTP Server.
  • As a general rule, data is exported in the PeopleSoft format with the PeopleSoft field names and field formats.
    • A future release may lift this limitation.
  • SWS does not yet handle data translation or transformation.
    • A future release may lift this limitation.